Rivals (A Jelsa Story)

Chapter 18 - Breaking the Ice

A/N: Artwork is from the Rise of the Guardians Fanfiction wiki. All credits go to the artist. This is kind of how I've been picturing Jack's mom (except older and not dressed like a princess lol).

Elsa's POV

I don't know how Jack's mom did it, but she somehow managed to get the grape juice stains out of all of my clothes. In fact, my pants almost looked whiter than they did when I put them on this morning. I wondered if she'd be willing to teach classes or something.

I changed in Jack's bathroom, and then we walked downstairs. His mom met us in the foyer. "Mom, this is Elsa," Jack said. "Elsa, this is my mom, Emma Frost."

"It's very nice to meet you, Mrs. Frost," I said, holding my hand out. "Thank you so much for helping me with my clothes."

She took my hand. "Oh, it's no trouble at all, sweetheart. I was happy to do it. So, do you go to Disney Prep?"

"Yes, I'm on the court there."

"Oh, how nice! Jack's on the student council at DreamWorks, but I'm sure you already knew that."

"Yes, we met because we both had to be up on the stage at the opening ceremony," I said.

"Well, I'm very glad that you were able to make friends. That's the point of the whole thing, being able to meet people from the other school." She laughed. "I went to DreamWorks back when the Touchstone Games were a regular occurrence, so I know all about them. I'm sure some things have changed, though."

"Sorry, Mom, but we really need to get going," Jack cut in. "There's a competition starting soon that Elsa wants to go to."

"Oh, of course. Well, it was very nice to meet you Elsa. Come by anytime."

"Thank you!" I smiled at her as Jack and I walked out the door.

"Your mom is nice," I said as we walked to his car.

"Yeah, she's the best."

He pulled his keys out of his pocket just as I heard someone yell "Jack!"

We both turned to where the voice had come from. A little boy was running across the yard of the house next door.

Jack's face split into a huge grin. "Hey, Jamie!" He ran over and hugged the boy. "What are you doing home from school?"

"A pipe burst in the basement yesterday so we're out for the rest of the week until they fix it."

"Oh dang, lucky!" Jack ruffled his hair. "Well I've got to get going now, but what do you say we hang together this weekend?"

"Really?" Jamie smiled brightly, showing off a gap where his front tooth used to be. "That would be awesome!"

"Great! See ya!" Jack unlocked the car, and we climbed in.

"He's cute," I commented.

Jack smiled. "Yeah, he's great."

"Is he your neighbor?"

"Yeah, they live next door. We've known each other for a long time; he and his sister are like little siblings to me."

"Oh, that's nice." I wondered if his sister was the little girl from the picture in Jack's room.

We drove in silence for a few minutes. At first I tried to think of something to say, but eventually decided I preferred awkward silence over awkward small talk.

"I'm sorry about...this morning," Jack said finally. He wasn't looking at me.

"I mean, it's fine." I tried to sound nonchalant. "You're allowed to flirt with whoever you want."

"Well, yeah, but I mean, I thought..." He shook his head. "Never mind."

I folded my hands in my lap and looked out the window. We were on the main city street and about to drive back into Pixie Hollow. I looked at the clock. It was almost 1:30; that should be plenty of time to get back for the cooking competition.

"I don't like her," Jack said, breaking the silence again.

I looked at him. "Who?"

"Silvermist."

"Why not? She's super nice and really smart, not to mention pretty." I bit my lip.

He shrugged. "I don't know her."

"Well, maybe you could get to know her better," I said, and then mentally face-palmed. What was I doing?!

"Yeah, I don't know. I don't really feel like we connected. She seems great, but if there's no spark there's not much you can do."

"I guess so." I turned back toward the window.

"I mean, if I saw you flirting with someone else..." He said it under his breath, but I still heard him.

"Jack, why did you hit Hans?" I asked.

"Because," he replied, still not looking at me. "No one deserves to be treated the way he's been treating you, but especially not you."

I didn't know how to reply to that.

Jack sighed. "There was an...incident, at my school last year. This guy liked one of my friends, and he would never leave her alone. We all thought if she just ignored him he would take the hint and stop, but he didn't. And it got a lot worse. So I've learned you have to nip these things in the bud before anything really bad happens."

I didn't want to know what was worse than getting grape juice poured on you. I wondered if this friend was someone I'd met. Was it Tooth? Or Astrid, maybe?

"You know you'll probably get in trouble for that, right?" I said instead. I appreciated what he'd done, but I didn't want him to face disciplinary action for something he did on my behalf.

"Yeah, I know. But it was worth it. And he better get in trouble too; there were so many witnesses who saw what he did to you. I think that qualifies as starting it."

I didn't think that warranted physical violence, but I decided not to say anything.

"Well, we're here now," Jack said, pulling into the front parking lot of the school. "Let's go watch people cook some stuff."

A/N: I can't believe this story has over a hundred reads, thank you guys so much!