Rivals (A Jelsa Story)

Chapter 36 - The Truth About Jack

A/N: Edit is by jensa_kj

Jack's POV

I was nervous. All my friends knew what I was about to tell Elsa, but they had learned about it as it happened. I'd never told the whole story to anyone in one shot before. I wasn't sure if I could do it.

I also had no idea where I was going. I turned around. "Maybe you'd better lead the way?"

Elsa smiled softly and took my hand, leading me out of the room and down a hall to a door. We exited into a small covered area by the parking lot. "Is this okay?"

"Yeah, this is fine." I let out a breath.

"You don't have to tell me, you know," Elsa said, rubbing my arm. Her touch was so calming.

"No, I want to. I think it'll be good for me to talk about it. Plus I feel like you deserve to know, after...everything."

She opened her mouth to protest, but I stopped her. "Please, just listen. You'll understand when I'm done."

She nodded, looking at me expectantly.

I took a deep breath and ran my hand through my hair. Here goes. "My parents went through a nasty divorce earlier this year," I began. "But things have been bad ever since my freshman year of high school. They got into fights a lot and never seemed to be able to do anything together. It was really hard on my sister and me. They finally decided to separate at the end of my junior year, but things didn't end there. They got into a vicious custody battle over us. I'd always been closer to my mom and kind of blamed my dad for the whole thing anyway, and since I was seventeen I decided to live with her. But my sister was only nine, so she got stuck with joint custody and having to move back and forth from each house every two weeks."

I sighed and glanced at Elsa. Her brow had furrowed slightly, but she still looked like she was listening intently.

"That's why I'm so afraid of commitment. I've seen how relationships can end up, and I never want to go through that. So when I thought you'd left me, I just let you go, because, well, I thought things would be easier that way." I swallowed hard, my eyes stinging.

"Wow," Elsa murmured. She reached up to touch my arm again. "I'm sorry you had to go through that."

I didn't answer. I didn't know what to say.

"So...that's why you changed your name?"

I nodded. "Yeah, my parents named me John Matthew Overland. Matthew is my dad's name, and John was his dad. When I was growing up everybody always called me Jack to keep us separate, so that's the name I got more comfortable with. And when my mom changed back to her maiden name, Frost, I did too. I didn't want to have any of my dad's family names anymore."

"But your sister's still...?"

"Mary Overland." I sighed. "Yeah, it's weird not having the same name as her anymore."

"Do you think she'll change it, once she's old enough?"

"I don't know. We've never talked about it. I don't want to sway her either way – it's her decision. Once she gets older, she might decide she wants to keep it." I scratched the back of my neck. "I kind of want her to change it, though. Is that wrong?"

"I don't think so," Elsa said quietly. "I mean, I'd want to have the same name as my sister."

I nodded slowly, not looking at her.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"I don't know." I sighed. "I wasn't expecting to think about him tonight. He keeps popping up at the most random times," I finished with a half-hearted chuckle.

"Maybe you should stop coming to these Disney dances," Elsa joked.

I glanced at her. "No, I don't think I want to do that."

She smiled and rubbed my arm again. "Well, we can stay out here for as long as you want."

"That's okay." I took a deep breath. "I think I'm ready to go back in."

"Are you sure? There's no rush."

"No, I'm sure," I said, nodding. "Wouldn't wanna waste this glorious evening moping out here."

She laughed lightly. "Well alright then. Come on." She took my hand and led me back inside.

"Hey!" Rapunzel said as we re-entered the ballroom. "Where were you guys?"

"Oh, we stepped out for some air," Elsa replied.

Flynn smirked at me and raised his eyebrows. I felt myself go red and rolled my eyes.

"They're about to do the speech," Rapunzel said. "Come on, let's go sit down."

I followed them across the room to our table. Merida, Astrid, Anna, and Kristoff were already there. Everyone was either heading toward their tables or already sitting except for Snow White and two other girls, who were standing on the stage.

"Who are they?" Astrid asking, nodding toward them.

"That's Snow White, Cinderella Tremaine, and Aurora Briar," Elsa replied. "They're the cabinet for this year. They're in our graduating class too."

Once everyone was seated, the girls stepped up to the microphone. Snow White welcomed us all and gave a short speech, then they announced the elected cabinet members for the next year. Everyone clapped as the new cabinet went up to the stage and accepted their certificates.

"Well, thank you all for coming!" Cinderella said. "We hope you have a good rest of the dance."

We clapped again as they walked off the stage, and then the music started up again.

"Last dance!" Elsa jumped up and grabbed my arm. "Let's go!"

I chuckled and let her pull me up and toward the floor.

A/N: WE HIT 1K READS!!!!!!!!!!

I honestly teared up a little when I saw that. I'm so proud and grateful that this story has gotten so many views; I really love working on it, and I'm glad there are people who like reading it.

Also I changed my profile picture! It's a sort of self-portrait I did last summer and I'm really happy with how it turned out, so I decided to make that my picture since I've had the default Wattpad picture ever since I joined like six years ago lol.

Lots, lots, LOTS of love and the happiest of readings!

Livi <3