Chapter Five: Scholar's Athenaeum

Elsa glared at her history professor, the rubric crinkling underneath her fingertips when it finally got to her row by the window. She imagined is peppered hair falling out, or him breaking a leg, or anything really that could cause pain. But he just continued talking into the small mic on the pulpit, pointing at the slides with a laser pointer.

"-by next class." He finished off, and with that the class was dismissed. Elsa didn't get up, she stared at the crinkled paper with furious cornflower blue eyes, her white arched eyebrows twitching. Yes Paulina told her that it was going to happen, but still she hoped deeply, desperately, that there would be a clause in there. She despised working with people, she was always the one that was going all the work, getting the notes, staying up until the wee hours in the night where morning slowly cusped, and she thought that she escaped group work here.

With a sigh she straightened the paper, but it stayed wrinkled. The anger slowly receded from her shoulders, fine. She would work with another person, but whoever was up there better help her not knock their heads off. She slipped the paper in her yellow binder when Anna bounced up the steps, her bright red hair placed in a bun, one fishedtailed braid looping back. Her brown dangly earrings danced with her steps, and they perfectly matched the heeled boots she wore. Elsa wanted to laugh, but didn't. Everyone wanted to be pretty nowadays, dressed to perfection, why wouldn't Anna be any different?

"Hi Elsa!" Anna enthusiastically bounced before she settled herself on Elsa's desk, her newly painted nails laying close to where Elsa's hand lay. Elsa leaned back a bit, not comfortable having her face so close to Anna's body. Didn't the girl know personal space?

"Hello Bisset," Elsa greeted back, her lips twitching a bit- really the girl's enthusiasm was a bit amusing. "Do you need something?" She asked as she smoothly picked up her lightweight backpack, so different from her high school one where it couldn't contain everything she carried.

"I was wondering since Paulina will work with her boyfriend, and since we are friends now, that we could work on this paper together." Anna quickly closed her glossed lips, her teeth worrying the bottom one a bit. Elsa made a sound, pushing her chair into the desk. Anna scrambled to follow her down the steps, her earrings making a dainty sound that matched her footsteps.

"I-is that a yes?" Anna stumbled over her words, excitement making her Nordic blue eyes sparkle. Elsa pretended to ignore her a moment, but really she was mulling it over in her mind. She wasn't friends with anyone else in this class, not to the lack of trying from the boys. And she wasn't allowed to work on it alone, since the professor would dock her points. . . She guessed Anna wouldn't be too bad, she showed determination in her actions when they went running together, and clever diction at the museum. . .

"Yes, it's a yes." Elsa concluded with a small smile to set Anna at ease, which worked when her red eyebrows stopped trying to meet in the middle with worry. For a moment it looked like the shorter girl was going to jump up and shout in joy, but she contained herself. It made Elsa want to laugh for a moment, and it reaffirmed her private nickname of puppy for her.

"We should probably start on it today, we don't have much time to work on it." Elsa muttered to herself, pondering which library they should go to on campus.

"Yeah, yeah that's for the best. We could go the Scholar's Athenaeum, it has a large portions of history textbooks, and they have a food vendor. The third floor is probably where we should go- I love their bean bag chairs!" Anna chattered and Elsa could feel her gaze on her face.

Elsa nodded, ignoring how her white hair slowly slipped from her messy ponytail as she unlocked her grey bike. It was old, the paint chipping and only one of the brakes worked, but she couldn't bear to part with it and she didn't have enough money to buy a new one. She placed the heavy bike to her right, away from the side Anna was on.

Anna kept up a steady stream of chatter about how one time she fell asleep at her home town library, and her friends decided to place a pile of books on her instead of walking up. "—and they just left me there! I was awoken up by a janitor, and I just about jumped out of my skin as the books crashed around me! I thought I was going to die with embarrassment, really!" Elsa laughed softly as they cut across campus, passing through a small pebbled path with flowers. Soon summer would bloom around them and this semester would be over, the thought filled her with anxiety.

The Scholar's Athenaeum was one of the smaller libraries on campus, but it had beautiful paintings, and of course bean bag chairs. But the things Elsa loved the most about it was the silence, and seeing other students creating things of beauty around her- even if it was just a paper, sketches, or notes. She locked her bike quickly while Anna waited impatiently, her face glowing. Elsa couldn't understand what the red head was so happy about, but she didn't feel like questioning it at the moment.

Anna grabbed her hand swiftly, it was warm and soft in her cold one, and all but dragged her up the steps in her excitement. Elsa shook her head, a smile curving her lips, she had never been friends with someone so energetic before. She pulled her hand out of Anna's before the girl could drag her into the closing door. "Did you have an energy drink or something?" She whispered as they stepped in, the girl was walking towards the elevator.

"No. . . But I did eat a lot of chocolate!" Anna whispered back, mirth crinkling in her Nordic eyes. Elsa couldn't help the eye roll as she too stepped into the elevator.

Soon the duo was settled at a table, on the third floor. Anna snapped up a bean bag chair and settled close to Elsa's normal wooden chair. With a quick game of hand-paper-scissors-shoot it was decided that Elsa would find resources on the internet while Anna pulled from the textbooks and others the library had to offer them. But deciding on a topic proved to be harder than the game, and their argument on the topic took up two pages in their elegant handwriting. No ill feelings bundled in Elsa's chest, if it had been anyone else besides Anna or Paulina if she were here, she would have snapped by now.

Elsa took out her notebook, writing NAPOLEON BONAPARTE AND HIS REGIME in blue ink at the top. She settled into her chair, already engrossed in hunting out everything needed, but Anna fluttered back and forth beside her. It was hard not to be distracted with the red head getting up, plopping a few books down and then leaving again. When she did sit down she changed position like an excited puppy, whispering under her breath that words in the books. But she was diligent in writing down everything in her own note book, so Elsa didn't scold her.

Time slipped from Elsa's typing fingers, but the sound of crunching pulled her out of her focus. She stared incredulously at Anna eating hot Cheetos, small crumbs falling to the table. "You can't eat here!" She whispered and snapped her hand out to take the bag. Anna stared at her empty hand for a second before launching herself at Elsa to grab the bag back.

"I'm hungry!" She protested, her Cheetos fingers reaching by Elsa's head for the crinkly bag, but Elsa used her long arm to keep her away.

"Then go outside and eat. This is a no eating zone." Elsa scolded, her white eyebrows pulling down to give Anna the best do-as-I- say face. It worked when a pout pulled at her glossed lips, her Nordic eyes wide.

"I'll eat it outside if you give it back." She pleaded, cling as if a child. Elsa breathed out her nose, an amused sound.

"No-" Elsa's phone vibrated on the table, enhancing the sound. There wasn't many people around them, and the ones that were, were too far away to hear it. She sighed, placing the bag on the other side of her and picked up the phone.

"Hey! We're going down to spooky rock, want to join us?" Paulina's voice broke through the phone and Elsa bit the inside of her cheek.

"Ohhoo, can I come too?" Anna whispered beside her head, Elsa's white hair pushing into the red heads face, and she gripped the Cheetos bag while Elsa had picked up the phone.

"Is that Bessit?" Paulina asked, her voice echoing.

"Yeah, it is." Elsa conceded, moving so that Anna could comfortably sit beside her to hear the conversation.

"Good! Tell me where you are."

"I'm at the Scholar's Athenaeum. I need to drop by the dorm to grab a bathing suit and towel." Elsa glanced at the work they had. Elsa alone had three notebook pages of facts, and all they really needed to do was articulate the information. . .

"That's fine. . ." Paulina's voice lowered to a whisper. "We're going skinny dipping for the first time, and I would feel better if you were there." Anna gasped softly, her face flushing.

"Fine. But do you at least have towels?" Elsa growled out, shoving her things in her backpack.

"Yeah, I'll be there in fifteen to pick you guys up." Paulina hung up, Elsa's phone flashing then going black.

"Good thing it's already dark outside." Anna whispered as she picked up one of the books in her small arms.

"Yeah," Elsa sighed, pinching her nose. "I don't usually do things like that. . ." She admitted.

"It's fun. I used to do it with a group of friends . . . its better in the dark." Anna shrugged, her face still flushed. Elsa didn't say anything but packed everything up.

A/N: Hey! Long time no update Yes the OOC-ness still lurks, and I'm sorry for those that are disappointed. No there will be nothing sexual between the two in the next chapter- it's too early for that! Hope you enjoyed.