This Flower's Force in Stirring Love: A Jelsa One-Shot

This Flower's Force in Stirring Love

 Elsa loved Shakespeare.

 Something about the way his words flowed and the way his layered stories of rich, romantic, and sometimes funny language rolled off her tongue made the young girl's heart soar. So she was excited when her high school announced it as their spring semester production.

 She did not, however, enjoy speaking in front of people. Something about it made her feel like she was revealing too much to an audience, like she was naked. But her younger sister Anna's puppy dog eyes had somehow worn her down to audition.

"Oh, come on!" Anna had grinned. "You used to read it to me all the time, and you sounded beautiful! I don't wanna try out alone!" Anna had caught her in the middle of the school hallway, knowing that her sister wouldn't raise her voice in public. 

 "Well, you're going to have to. Because I am not looking to make a fool of myself in front of the entire school," Elsa had insisted. 

 "Not the entire school!" She pleaded. "Just parents and old people!--A small price to pay for your sister's happiness." She had blocked Elsa's path to her locker to pout exaggeratedly. What choice did Elsa have but to give in?

 That was why she was standing in the wings of their school's tiny stage after school, waiting for her turn to go up. Her heart was thrashing around in her chest like a caged bird. She was afraid that it would jump right out of her mouth as soon as she started the scene they'd been given. But Anna kept a comforting hand on her shoulder.

 "Hey, look who's here," Anna whispered in her sister's ears, ripping her gaze away from the stern-looking drama teacher wearing tiny spectacles and sitting in the audience. Anna was pointing to a lanky boy in a blue sweatshirt who was bouncing on the balls of his feet in front of the stage: Jack Frost. 

 "Why should I care?" Elsa kept a calm voice. Anna smiled like she knew a secret her sister didn't.

 Elsa sat behind the boy in her third period and could never seem to keep her eyes from following him. The senior's cobalt eyes never stopped darting from side to side from underneath his pale bangs, and his mouth was always turned up in a faint smile. Though it didn't help that he tapped her on the shoulder to ask her a stupid question every five minutes.

 "Elsa Arendelle!" The drama teacher's rough voice penetrated Elsa's eardrums and bounced around in her skull until she finally willed her feet shakily to center stage. 

 "Break a leg!" Anna whisper-shouted. Why do people say that? Elsa thought desperately.

 When Jack saw Elsa onstage, he grinned and waved. Elsa giggled, loosening up immediately. She fixed her eyes just above his head, not needing to look at the script to know the words.

 "Oh, I am out of breath in this fond chase!" Elsa was surprised at the ringing of her clear voice in the cavernous auditorium. "The more my prayer, the lesser is my grace. Happy is Hermia, wheresoe'er she lies; for she has blessed and attractive eyes." 

 Once Elsa had finished, she went to sit down next to Jack and watch Anna. 

 "That was really good," he said, leaning over to her. "I've never seen Mr. Wesselton look so impressed."

 "Really?" she raised an eyebrow, glancing at the small, scowling man. 

 "He doesn't like to show emotion." 

 She giggled, fiddling with her blond braid. Soon, Anna had stepped out, her sunset-colored braids neat and her blue eyes sparkling. Her portrayal of Hermia was bright and perky; she was sure to get it.

 "I didn't know you were into drama," she turned back to Jack when Anna had finished. 

 "Yup, you'll see me at the Oscars one day," he joked. "Nah, it's just something I try out every once in a while."