Ice Skates & Guitar Strings

Chapter 5- Sparks and Growing Back Down

            “Okay, hand in your journals by the end of the class.” North spoke out before beginning his lesson. I had already placed my notebook on a corner of his desk to start the growing stack. North sat at the edge of his desk and looked at us.
            “How is everyone today?” he asked us crossing his arms. A lot of people shrugged their shoulders or murmured ‘okays’ and ‘goods’. I, however, was the only one to say:
            “Could’ve been better.” My response earned the attention of the professor.
            “Ms…” He trailed and looked at the seating plan. “Arendelle. What makes you say that?” I could feel everyone’s eyes on me, waiting for my response… including Jack’s.
            “It- just- could’ve been better.” I stammered.
            “Really? How so?” he asked.
            “Well for one, it would’ve been better if I wasn’t put on the spot in front of a bunch of people I don’t even know.” I answered, receiving a few laughs from everyone. North’s eyes were still fixed on me, waiting for more of an answer.
            “It just could’ve been a better day.”
            “How would you know? You didn’t experience it.” North countered.
            “Because nothing really good happened today. Nothing made me feel like today was a great day.” I answered. North’s mouth twitched to show a little smile, indicating that was the answer he was looking for.
            “Repeat that.” He ordered.
            “Nothing made me feel like today was a great day.” I repeated.
            “How many of you ever had something take place and it changed the course of what happened next? For the good.” North asked the class. Everyone raised their hands.
            “And that’s exactly what we’re going to talk about today.” He said standing from his desk and grabbing a piece of chalk.
            “Whenever something good happens to you, or makes you feel really good, you tend to remember it.” North began writing on the board. “There is a specific name for such things; they are called your sparks; or sparkles if you want it to sound my mythical. On average, a person will have at least 10 major ones by the time they are 20. Your assignment is to make your list.”
            “But what would count as a spark sir?” someone asked.
            “A memory that you will never forget because of the let’s say extraordinary feeling you experienced in that particular moment.” North explained. “One of mine would be… seeing my wife walk down the aisle on our wedding day.” I heard the ‘awes’ and the snickers from the class, but I couldn’t help but notice a slight glint of sorrow in his eyes once he said his memory.
            “Okay!” he snapped himself out of his trance. “Is anybody willing to share one of theirs? Don’t worry, nobody has a wrong answer.” Lots of hands shot up in the class.
            “Re-uniting with my dad after he finished his first tour in Iraq.”
            “Finding out my little sister beat cancer.”
            “Getting my first puppy.” Were some of the answers.
            “How about you Mr. Frost?” North challenged the student beside me. Everyone, including myself, turned to him. Jack however had the most unimpressed expression on his face. “Care to share one with us?”
            “I’d have to dig deep to find one sir.” He responded leaning back into his chair.
            “Surely you can think of at least one.” Jack stared him down, as if he was studying the professor. I could feel the tension coming off of Jack like he was expanding his own bubble of awkward and trying to reach it to North.
            “Taking my little sister ice skating for the first time when she was six.” Jack practically spat.
            “Did anything happen on that particular day?” North pushed. The tension beside me nearly tripled; these two definitely knew each other and North was plucking some serious nerves.
            “No.” Jack responded with a pinch of anger in his voice. North took one more look from Jack before changing the subject.
            “This assignment will be due in four weeks; that way if you can’t think of your sparks then you can make them.” He announced writing the date on the board. “The day it is due, I am going to make you feel like shit.” Hearing the professor swear caused everyone’s breath to be held.
            “Your task is to make up a list of ten sparks. After I am done with my part of the exercise, you will read your list and it is supposed to make you feel back to normal, or even better than how you felt walking into the classroom. You have fifteen minutes to get a jump start; then I’ll have to interrupt you for another lesson.” North set the chalk down and set a timer on his desk. Everyone began typing or writing away. I just started typing, it couldn’t be that hard.
My Sparks
1.
 
 
            And… stuck on the first one. I looked around the room, and I could guess that everyone was probably on their third or fourth spark. Even Jack had written something down on the page in front of him. He set his pen down to put his earphones in his ears. His eyes met mine, and that’s when I realized I was staring.
            “What’s up Queeny?” he asked out of nowhere. It wasn’t hard to tell that he was pissed.
            “You okay?” I asked with genuine sympathy.
            “Peachy.” He responded with minor irritation. “Why would you care anyway?”
            “Because…” My mind went completely blank because there really was no answer.
            “Um… try to mind your own business.” He scoffed. “Haven’t you heard that curiosity killed a cat?”
            “But satisfaction brought it back.” I countered. “Look, I just wanted to see if you were okay. I could feel the anger radiating off of you.” His eyebrows knit together trying to study me.
            “Queen here’s checking up on her people.” He teased. I was about to say something, but he interrupted.
            “Look, just because you’re friends with my roommate doesn’t mean that you have to check up on me.” He reasoned.
            “Good to know.” I sighed. I turned back to my laptop without another word; but my mind was screaming out other responses.
            Jerkface, I didn’t even want to check up on you anyway.
            Yeah you did.
            No, I only did it to be a nice person.
            You sure about that?
            … Yes? I think so at least.
            I hope you realized the other option is there too.
            What? That I didn’t check up on him because he’s Hiccup’s roommate? And I checked up on him because-
            You actually care for him…
************************
            “Finally, you came along.” Anna said as we walked up to the door.
            “I finished a good half of my assignments, and I caught up on all my shows. Plus it’s boring and quiet at home.” I reasoned.
            “So will you be coming out with us more often?”
            “We’ll see.” I said before she got any ideas. Anna knocked on the dorm waiting for our host. Running was heard on the other side of the door and it swung open.
            “Took you long enough.” Rapunzel snorted, then her eyes went to me. “Elsa! You came!”
            “Yeah, I-“ I was cut off when she jumped on me for a bear hug. Her bone crushing arms wrapped around me and let me go.
            “Anna didn’t tell me what we were doing tonight.” I huffed as she dragged me inside her dorm.
            “That’s because she doesn’t know what I’ve got planned.” Rapunzel revealed. “It’s something we made up; Spontaneous Fridays. Whoever’s the host plans out what happens.”
            “We rotate every week.” Anna smiled. “This would be our second one.”
            “And Rapunzel’s the one who planned it all out.” Merida called out from the kitchen.
            “Okay, so what’s happening tonight?” I asked. Rapunzel just smiled and took a folded piece of paper from her pocket.
            “I thought this would be good.” I took the paper from her hands. I opened it up and read the flyer.
            “Open rink.” I read. “Free admission.”
            “We’re going ice skating?!” Anna squealed. Rapunzel nodded and the two and a little freak out.
            “Elsa, thank goodness you came!” my sister cheered. “You get to show off on the ice.”
            “Anna, it’s a community event. That means my stunts are banned.” I giggled handing the flyer back to Rapunzel.
            “Wait, you ice skate?” Merida questioned as she came out of the kitchen with an apple in her hand.
            “Yeah. It’s really the only thing my parents allowed me to do.” I answered. “I was a competitive skater, but my dad made me stop so I can focus on his company.”
            “Which makes no sense.” Anna cut in. “in my opinion anyway. You could’ve been a professional skater my now.”
            “I know.” I agreed. “Remember when my dream was to make it to the Olympics? And I just needed to try out a year after that was my dream.”
            “And your parents stopped you?!” Rapunzel exclaimed. I nodded.
            “I was able to be a board member of his company when I turned sixteen. That’s the same time I could’ve tried for the Olympics.” I explained. Rapunzel looked at me with a look of shock, confusion and disbelief.
            “Let’ go.” Punzie said getting her keys from the table. “Elsa, you are going to skate, no matter how packed it is.”
            “What? Why?” I asked as Anna started pushing me out the door.
            “I want to see how good you are.” She reasoned.
            “It’s been a few years Punzie.” I defended. “I don’t know if I can do the same things I could when I was sixteen.” Rapunzel locked the dorm door and turned to me, waiting for Anna and Merida to lead before she said something.
            “Don’t you want to go back to that time?” she asked. “I remember that time Elsa. You were at the happiest moment in your life, then you moved and now you aren’t the same.”
            “I grew up.” I bluntly said. Rapunzel smiled and took my hand.
            “Time for you to grow back down.”
*******************
            “Come on Elsa.” Rapunzel encouraged me.
            “Hang on. Just making sure my laces are tied.” I called as I double knotted the rental skates.
            “You better hurry. Anna requires assistance out here.” Merida giggled as my sister fell on her butt for the fifth time since arriving.
            “My butt’s going to get swollen.” She whined as she got to her feet.
            “Well you did fall five times in five minutes.” Merida pointed out.
            “Eight minutes.” Anna corrected as I got on the ice. The skates were duller than I’m used to, but they’d have to do.
            “Okay Anna, I’ll help you.” I laughed as I skated to her with ease. I took her hand to pull her to the ledge.
            “Hold on to this for now. Find your balance and try to skate forward.” Anna pulled both hands on the railing, and used it to pull herself forward, trying to stay on her feet.
            “There you go Anna.” Rapunzel cheered. That’s when I noticed her and Merida were watching instead of skating.
            “You two go ahead. We can catch up with you later.” I told them.
            “Are you sure?” Merida asked.
            “Yeah. We came here to skate, not watch.” I reasoned.
            “And I think I’m starting to get it.” Anna called out as she kept pulling herself along the railing, then immediately fell on her butt. I skated towards her to help her up.
            “Go.” I called to the other girls before pulling my sister to her feet. The two girls laughed before going on their own into the rink.
            “Hold onto the edge Anna.” I instructed. “You need to learn balance first.”
********************
            “Ready?” I Asked her.
            “Yeah, just make sure I don’t fall.” My sister whined.
            “Let go of the edge.” I said holding my hands out. Anna quickly released her grip on the edge and held onto me.
            “Now, we’re going to go slow. Just relax and you’ll be fine.” I started to skate backwards and Anna came forward.
            “Try to move your feet so it’s not just me pulling you.” I said.
            “I’m gonna fall.” She panicked.
            “No you’re not. Just relax and go with the flow.” Anna took a breath and started to move her feet to push herself forward. Not too long after, we had done a full lap around the rink.
            “I’m doing it!” Anna cheered.
            “Still need me?” I asked. Anna answered by letting go of my hands. She stumbled a little, but regained her balance and pushed herself forward.
            “I can do it!” Anna squealed moving forward again.
            “WOOOO!” Merida cheered as she got closer to us. “That was faster than I thought.”
            “She’s a fast learner.” I remarked while watching Rapunzel skate to Anna.
            “That only took half an hour.” Merida replied. “Either you’re a great teacher or Anna just knew how to skate.”
            “She’s a great teacher!” Anna called out, holding onto Rapunzel for some support. It made me feel really happy knowing I was finally making my sister happy. Merida punched me in the arm to bring me back to reality.
            “Come on figure skater. Let’s skate.” Merida giggled as she pulled me around the rink. I was surprised by how many people came to this. It’s Friday night, how many parties are taking place on campus right now?
            “Hey Elsa!” Punzie called out. “Remember what I said.”
            “There’s too many people here Punz.” I said as she skated towards me with my sister.
            “So. Just go off and skate on your own. You don’t need to do any jumps or anything, maybe go with a little routine.” She pleaded.
            “Fine.” I sighed. “Does anyone have earphones?”
            “Here.” Anna said digging into her pocket to pull out the white cords. I took them from her hand and fished out my phone.
            “Pick a song for me Anna.” I said handing her my phone. While her and the girls scrolled through my music, I was adjusting the wires.
            “Slow or faced paced?” she asked as I fed the end down my shirt.
            “Doesn’t matter.” I put in the earbuds.
            “Then let’s give you a challenge.” Merida smirked as she pointed to a song on the screen.
            “That’s to acoustic version Mer.” Anna pointed out. “That’s not really a challenge.”
            “Then go for the studio version.” Punzie smirked tapping it. My sister connected the earphones to my phone and the song began playing.
            “Pompeii?” All three of them nodded.
            “Okay, give me your phone Anna.” I demanded.
            “Why?”
            “There’s no point in me doing this if you don’t get the full effect.” I reasoned as I took her phone and searched for the song.
            “Hey I want to be a part of this.” Rapunzel cut in.
            “Me too.” Merida added as she pulled out her phone. They all found Pompeii on their phones while I stretched. I looked around to see where I was going to do this; to my surprise there were less people on the ice, giving me lots of space near the edge of the rink.
            “Press play.” I ordered as I started to back away from them. The second we were all synced, I started the routine.
Eh-eh-o eh-o
 
I was left to my own devices
Many days fell away with nothing to show
 
And the walls kept tumbling down
In the city that we love
Great clouds roll over the hills
Bringing darkness from above
            I skated a lap with a few swivels around the rink at the speed I normally figure skate; building up speed to perform a jump, but I did it to feel the wind on my skin. I forgot how much I loved this feeling; feeling one with the ice, becoming one with the winds, just feeling free. Every twirl I made, my hair flowed in the wind with it. The cool, crisp winds leaking into my cloths and caressing my body gave me a familiar thrill. My heart was pounding adrenaline through my veins bringing me back to the first time I performed. I closed my eyes and imagined everything; the crowd, the cheering, the freedom.
But if you close your eyes,
Does it almost feel like
Nothing changed at all?
And if you close your eyes,
Does it almost feel like
You've been here before?
How am I gonna be an optimist about this?
How am I gonna be an optimist about this?
            Without another thought I leaped into the air, twirled my body and landed perfectly just before the mid- chorus. The energy of the song brought me to bend down and do my favourite spin top move, extending my knees beck to standing position as if I was a blossoming flower. I ended the routine mid- song with my hand in the air. 
            Now I remembered why I loved skating; the rush of joy that overcomes you the moment you finished a perfect routine. The cheering of friends and some strangers caused me to open my eyes and reconnect with reality, essentially replacing my happiness with disappointment. I went back to my group, and realized that it had gotten slightly bigger.
            “That was incredible Elsa!” my sister exclaimed as she wrapped her arms around me.
            “No way was that a simple routine.” Merida scoffed in disbelief.
            “Told you! I knew you would love it once you started.” Rapunzel said.
            “Thanks guys.” I smiled. “I would’ve done better but this was the first time I’ve done this in four or five years.”
            “Didn’t seem like it.” A guy said from behind the girls. He had brown hair and brown eyes, wore a leather jacket accompanied by a plain white shirt and brown pants. I just gave him a small smile since I had no clue who he was.
            “Elsa, this is my boyfriend Flynn.” Rapunzel introduced as she grabbed his hand. “This is my cousin Elsa.”
            “She’s my sister.” Anna added. I offered my hand and he returned in with a firm handshake.
            “So you finally came along.” He smirked.
            “Yeah, I had lots of time on my hands so why not?” I answered.
            “Well it’s good to finally match the description with the face.” He chuckled.
            “You guys talk about me?”
            “You’re kidding right? They won’t shut up about you.” Rapunzel hit Flynn in the arm from his response.
            “Hey, I only call ‘em like I see ‘em.” He raised his hands in defense. As they started bickering, I caught a glimpse of Anna talking to a tall blond guy behind Rapunzel.
            “Merida, who’s that with Anna?” I asked.
            “Kristoff.” she answered. “Have you met him before?”
            “Once. It wasn’t really an official meeting though.”
            “Well you might want to.” Merida suggested.
            “Are they official yet?” I asked.
            “With how close they are, they might as well be. They’ve been dating for almost a month.” She answered just as Anna kissed him. Knowing my sister was able to find someone made me mile… but was he trustworthy?
            “Earth to Elsa!” Punzie interrupted.
            “Sorry what was that?”
            “Astrid, Hiccup and a few other friends wanted to meet us for dinner, then we can walk around the city.” She said. “Are you coming with us?”
            “Uh… sure.” I said even though my gut was telling me something different. I would want to go home and watch movies or read; but I knew I should let loose, not just for Anna but for me as well. Plus, the last time my gut told me not to, it was to a party. Now I’m with a group of people and we’re just going to the city, how bad could it be? 

Hey guys!!!! I know i've barely been posting, and i am sorry for that. However i wanted to get this out to you asap so i could start working on the next chapter. so here i am, almost 11 pm and exhausted. LOL whatever. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I got a good response of Jack's little 'action' from the last chapter, and i know there wasn't that much going on in this chapter but don't worry. We'll see what happens next chapter ;) I also just wanted to say that i have started working on the sequel, and it is coming out AMAZEBALLZZ!!! I cannot wait for you guys to read it. Maybe i should post a little preview soon? i dunno we'll see ;) Thank you for all of you who've stayed with me this long. I Luv you all!!! Happy Reading ;)