Once upon a time, in the land of Ever After…
It was a gloomy, damp morning, and the students had to rush to class to avoid the downpour. The day was especially bad for the students attending Mr. Badwolf's General Villainy class because they had to cross the courtyard to get to the dungeon area, avoid slipping down the narrow steps, and uncomfortably sit in class soaked to the bone. The only comfort they had was that the unusually humid classroom would provide some comfort from the bitter cold. Mr. Badwolf's first period class consisted of quite the unusual band of misfits: Ginger the chef, Raven the not-so-evil evil queen, Duchess the ballerina, Faybelle the bad fairy, Lizzie the red queen, and Sparrow the thief/rocker. For the most part, the students did not get along well and always caused trouble during class, causing Mr. Badwolf to deal out several detentions every class.
Duchess was always eager to get to class early to let her teachers know that she was serious about her studies; unfortunately, her roommate Lizzie, a fan of sleeping in, was always dragged along and was constantly complaining about it.
"I just don't understand why we must leave so early in advance," Lizzie said, yawning.
"If we are the first ones to class everyday, then Mr. Badwolf will think better of us and ultimately help me achieve my goal of becoming the top student of this school," Duchess said matter-of-factly.
"But Mr. Badwolf is never here when we get here," Lizzie sighed. "We're always here excessively early and…"
Duchess groaned. "Yeah, well one day Mr. Badwolf will be there early, and I will get recognition for it. Lizzie, don't you ever think about these things? I mean, you are-" Duchess turned to her side to find that Lizzie was no longer there. "Lizzie?"
The swan princess looked behind her to find her classmate several steps behind on the narrow staircase, looking off into the distance with glassy eyes.
""LIZZIE!" Duchess yelled, clapping her hands loudly. Startled, Lizzie jumped and almost slid down the steps, catching herself in the nick of time.
"WHAT!" Lizzie yelled back, upset on being interrupted.
Duchess rolled her eyes and continued along the path, saying, "C'mon, lets keep moving."
After the long hike down the stairs, the two girls finally reached the classroom and pulled the heavy brass door open to enter. As usual, Mr. Badwolf was not there (much to the disappointment of the girls), but the room was not empty.
"Hello, losers," Faybelle drawled, perched atop the teacher's desk. Duchess stopped short, causing Lizzie to stumble into her.
"Wait- how is this possible!?" Duchess shrieked. "We saw you at the Castleteria on our way here- there's no way you could have gotten here-"
"Hang on, I'm gonna stop you there," Faybelle said. "I just used a transportation spell to get here. No biggie." Faybelle smiled. "I know you and Lizzie like to get here early by leaving in advance, but…" She chuckled, "Look what good that has done for you.
Duchess growled, remembering the mad dash through the rain she had taken in swan form that helped her avoid the mud but not the rain. Lizzie, not having swan powers, had to run in the mud, and it would have frazzled her more had she been more awake.
Desperate to draw attention away from the embarrassing circumstance, Duchess decided to change the subject. "What are you doing on Mr. Badwolf's desk!? He's going to be crazy mad if he sees you," Duchess pointedly said.
Faybelle rolled her eyes. "What-ever-after. We all know it's going to be awhile before he comes here. Why don't you and your soaked friend take a seat and leave me alone."
Duchess was about to come up with a really good comeback, so great that it would take that overgrown sprite down a notch, when suddenly…
"Ach!" Lizzie had finally passed out and had fallen onto Duchess, bringing both girls to the floor. Duchess tried to push the girl off of her, but then noticed the mud from Lizzie's shoes staining Duchess' white attire and dropped the red queen. "Nooooo! Lizzie, you are the worst!" Duchess yelled at her still-sleeping friend. Duchess desperately looked at the clock to see if there as enough time to change, but sadly there was not.
Groaning, the swan princess dragged her friend to the stools and sat down with her head on her desk. This day was, simply put, ruffling Duchess' feathers.
A little while later, Raven and Ginger walked into class together, chatting and eating muffins. The girls were soaked from their walk but noticeably happier than the previous pair.
"Well, it's about time the dumb duo showed up," said Faybelle. "I'm surprised you guys bothered to come." Ginger looked as if she was going to retaliate but then stopped short, glumly looking down. Raven noticed this and said, "We have every right to be in this class, and there's nothing you can do to make us leave or feel bad about it." Raven smiled at Ginger, and she smiled back.
"How cute. You're standing up for yourselves," Faybelle sarcastically said.
"At least some of us try in this class," Duchess mumbled. "Raven and Ginger don't even find it necessary to act evil."
"Well Duchess, it must be easy for you to be evil when your destiny doesn't require it," Raven shot back.
"Are you calling me evil!?" Duchess exclaimed. The group started to argue, with Ginger and Raven standing up for their right to not follow their destinies while Duchess fired back insults, all while Lizzie occasionally shouted "OFF WITH YOUR HEADS!" in her sleep.
All of the sudden, magic sparked by the group and caused them to stop yelling. "I don't mean to spoil your fun, but Mr. Badwolf's approaching," Faybelle warned. The group immediately straightened up and found their seats, while Faybelle used a spell to quickly get into her stool just as the door to the classroom door swung open.
But instead of a fairytale villain walking through the door, a purple-haired princess waltzed through, the only one who had thought to bring an umbrella. She closed her umbrella and shook the rain off of it, and then peeled off her raincoat before smiling up at the class.
"Who. Is. That?"