Middle School was hard. Even harder in a new place, with new people. Elsa wasn't so good with people. Her father had told her it was a matter of projecting confidence, which her mother explained only meant you had to fake it until it felt real. Conceal any worries stirring up butterflies in your stomach, try not to allow yourself to feel scared or unhappy, don't show any signs of discomfort - pretend it's like a play. Elsa had been on the stage before, under her mother's influence, during a brief stint of participating in pageants, but the attitudes of the other mothers quickly chased the Winters family away. She knew how to smile even if she didn't mean it.

Still, sixth grade meant she was out of elementary school, and therefore was supposed to be maturing into a young woman. Or so she assumed. The other girls at Arendelle Middle School hadn't seemed to have gotten that particular memo. Those in her class stared and whispered plainly when she was introduced to the class by Mrs. Corona - who happened to be her aunt - and the girl she was placed next to sneered at her when she sat down.

She sat with her eyes glued to her desk for the rest of class, wishing she could be home. Once they were dismissed for recess, Elsa lingered, watching everyone pile out to escape to the outside world for a half-hour and play with their friends. She stood next to her aunt's desk, leaning against it in what she hoped was a nonchalant way, and didn't meet her gaze until she called her name.

"Aren't you going to go outside, Elsa?" Mrs. Corona asked.

"No thank you, Auntie," Elsa responded, fiddling with her small braid. "I would like to talk to you, please." The woman looked bemused, but nodded all the same.

"Alright. What would you like to talk about?"

"Well, I started reading a new book today," she began, letting her eyes wander around the classroom as she spoke. "It was very interesting." Her aunt gave her a strange smile and shook her head.

"Elsa… Why don't you go outside? I'm sure one of your classmates would love to talk about books with you." Elsa nibbled on her lip and furrowed her brow, trying to read the older woman's face to see if she could get away with arguing. The quirked brow, a trait shared with her brother - Elsa's father - told her that it was best to give up now.

Still, she gave it one last shot. "Um, Auntie? I'm kind of…" She wracked her brain to come up with a word for how hard it was to swallow down the sick feeling churning in her stomach.

"Scared?" Mrs. Corona suggested, laying a hand on Elsa's shoulder. "Listen, Elsa, it's okay to be a bit nervous. I know you don't do very well with strangers, but I assure you, if you just go up and introduce yourself to one of the girls in class, you'll make a friend."

Elsa sighed and nodded, adjusting her skirt and brushing the front free of dirt, real and imaginary. Her legs trembled as she walked outside. She felt a brief urge to climb the jungle gym, but it was full of screaming children running around, chasing each other and laughing raucously. She spotted a gazebo, but there was already a group of girls, hunched and whispering. One of them looked her way, locked gazes with her, and then turned back to the group, whispering faster and making gestures with her hand. More glances shot her way, and tittering laughter shook the group. Elsa clenched her hands and looked down at the ground, making her way over to the fence and sitting down with her back against it, hugging her knees and hiding her face in her arms. She sat there for a while, wishing that recess could be over faster.

"It's because you're too pretty," a voice said, accompanied by a rattling and the jerking of the chain link fence against her back. She looked up and saw a redheaded girl dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. She was very dirty, and had scratches all over her face. Her hair was wild even in its twin braids.

"Pardon?"

"You're too pretty," the girl repeated, grinning down at Elsa. Elsa frowned at her and the redhead waved her hands in front of her like she was trying to stop a car from hitting her. "I mean, I don't think you're too pretty - not that I don't think you're pretty, I mean, you're gorgeous, but that's the problem - they don't like it when girls are prettier than they are, so they're gonna make you beg to play with them." The girl snorted and then made a hacking noise in her throat before spitting through the fence. She largely missed the hole she was aiming for, so her loogie ended up dripping from the metal.

Elsa wrinkled her nose. "That's disgusting."

The girl shrugged and smiled brightly at her. "Sorry." There was a pause, and the girl stuck out her hand, her grin growing wider. "I'm Andersen. Anna, Andersen." Elsa quirked an eyebrow at the silly voice Anna introduced herself in, but stood, brushing off her bottom, and delicately took her hand.

"Elsa Winters," she said, wincing when Anna shook her hand up and down with an extreme excess of force.

"Nice to meet you, Winters," Anna said, grinning. They stood, staring at each other for a few moments, before Anna shoved her hands into her pockets and kicked the fence again. "Okay, now you can go make friends."

Elsa blinked in surprise. "But, um," she began, gnawing on her lip. She saw Anna looking at her mouth, so she stopped immediately. She knew it was a bad habit. "Aren't we… Can't we be friends?"

Anna looked surprised for a moment, threw back her head and laughed. Elsa felt her stomach becoming upset again. "Naw," Anna said, shaking her head and giving Elsa a sheepish grin. "You don't wanna be friends with me. Tell you what. There's a girl who always sits on the bleachers by the basketball court and reads during recess." She jerked a thumb to indicate the place she was talking about. "Her name is Belle. I'm sure you guys would make great friends."

"But…"

Anna started to look uncomfortable as she glanced around. "I gotta go. Good luck!" She tossed Elsa one last grin and raced off. Elsa watched her jump on the back of a boy almost twice her size and give him a noogie, cackling all the while. Her eyes drifted over to the basketball courts, and she saw the girl that Anna had most likely been talking about. She seemed calm and collected, sitting with her legs together and reading a rather large book. She was clean, and her hair was neat, and she seemed actually rather approachable to Elsa. The blonde girl fiddled with her braid, resisting the urge to chew her lip again, and with one last look towards the jungle gym, walked over towards the basketball courts.