Once Upon A Time . . .

Ever After High is a place where all the children of Fairy Tale characters come to prepare for when the time their destinies as the next generation of characters. Or, it used to, before Raven Queen (daughter of Evil Queen) decided that she was going to write her own destiny, and now the school is divided into those who will sign and those who wonʻt. But for me, I wasnʻt sure until I found out something remarkably strange. And that strangeness would cause a lot of rotten and nasty problems.

But first, introductions. Normally, Iʻd really hate introductions because Madame Marian is such a bore and makes us practice introductions every day for a whole five minutes. I could do intros with the whole class in less than one! But youʻre not Madame Marian, and you have no idea who I am, so Iʻll start.

My name is Julia Capulet, and yes, I am the future Juliet. My mom is Julietʻs sister, and the future Romeo is actually a Charming. So that means the Capulets and the Charmings (at least the Montague Charming Clan) donʻt get along. Sarcastic yay.

My little sister, Jules, will be the next Julietʻs sister, and the story will go on and on and on for eternity, after the story barely continued after Juliet's cousin had the next Juliet. And my future prince, Monroe Charming, will slay my cousin and take suicide by drinking poison. Shakespeare wrote pretty darn harsh writing.

Iʻm a first year, so I didnʻt really ʻtransferʻ from anywhere. Technically, I went to Shakespeare Academy, and I stayed there for a bit, but they decided that I should go with where the Charmings were. And the Charmings were in Ever After High. So that was how I ended up here.

I walked into the school with my modern Renaissance dress on. My high heels clicked up the stairs to the front of the school. It was a rule that princesses, or at least royals, should always wear high heels everywhere, every time. I rubbed the heels of my feet. Those high heels could hurt!

I walked up to my locker and started doing the combo. Little did I notice a pretty girl with white hair and almost comical cat-ears smile at me, "Hello there. Are you new?"

"Oh!" I said surprisedly, "Yes, Iʻm new. My name is Julia Capulet. Whatʻs yours?"

"Whitney Katt," she replied, "Daughter of the White Cat, destined to marry Puss in Boots. Iʻm a princess, and I assume you are too?"

I nodded, "Nice to meet you, Whitney. Iʻd tell you what my story is, but my name practically gives it away."

Whitney smiled with pretty white teeth, but her canines were pointed a little bit like a catʻs, "Yes, my future Juliet. Who is Romeo? Do you know him? Is he a Charming?"

I nodded, "Yeah. Actually, the first Romeo had no brothers or anything really. So these generation, itʻs a Charming."

"Thatʻs intruiging," Whitney tapped her chin, "According to everyone, Puss in Boots is a fourth year. Iʻve never seen a fourth year before. Do you think heʻll be handsome?"

I raised my eyebrows, "Well, heʻs kind of bound to be, isnʻt he? Cats are beautiful creatures, so Iʻd expect a handsome face."

Whitney blushed prettily, "Youʻre too kind. What class do you have next?"

I looked down at my sheet of paper with my classes on it, "Umm . . . Damsel-in-Distressing. What is that?"

Whitney clapped her hands excitedly, "Ooh! Itʻs my favorite class! And I have it first period too! Cʻmon, Iʻll tell you on the way."

We gathered our things and started walking towards Damsel-in-Distressing. Whitney explained to me what she knew, "Well, technically, I donʻt have to do this class, but all of my other friends are in it, so Iʻm in it too. Itʻs kind of fun, as well. But first, always remember that ʻan active imagination is every princessʻs friendʻ. We need to use it when weʻre up trapped in a tower, and—"

"Wait, what?" I fell back, "We get trapped in towers?"

"Well, yeah," Whitney looked confused, "Why are you asking that? Weʻre princesses, not village girls! The princes in Hero Training have to save us from towers, and we have to be damsels-in-distress to prepare for our destinies!"

"Our destinies . . ." I mumbled, not loud enough for Whitney to hear. My destiny included stabbing myself in the heart and dying. Not your Happily Ever After.

Whitney burst open the door, "Madame Marian? We have a new student!"

A woman with a tall cone hat looked up from some papers she was holding. She immediately smiled and stood up, "Well, hello there, Your Majesty. Please, sit down. Whitney has an empty seat next to her."

I sat down awkwardly besides Whitney, then I raised my hand. Madame Marian pointed to me, "Yes?"

"Should I introduce myself to the class, or will you do the introductions?" I tried to ask elegantly. Apparently, it was elegant enough, and Madame Marian nodded her head.

"I will do the introductions, my dear Julia," Madame Marian stood in front of the class, "Princesses, this is Julia Capulet, the next Juliet. I hope you will all become very nice friends with such an astounding young lady. Now, today I have something very exciting to share with you girls!" All of the girls squealed excitedly in response. I perked up, wondering what such a surprise could be.

Madame Marian smiled, "You will all take part in the first annual Secret Siren Games! There will groups of girls together based on age, such as first years with first years. It will be mixed up so that you can get to know other first years better. In your groups will be one Siren, but no one except that person and maybe the rest of the group may know who it is. The groups will be scattered across the Enchanted Forest, and finally the princes, also in groups, will go out and find you."

"What will the princes be doing, other than trying to find us?" asked a girl out loud, then she smacked her mouth. She mustʻve been scolded a lot for blurting out questions.

Madame Marian simply smiled, "Other than wanting to find you, the princes will also try to avoid you, too. The princes want to save all of your team members BUT the Siren. The team of princes who have a Siren will automatically lose. The team or teams without the Siren will win! Any other questions?"

We all shook our heads. Madame Marian clapped her hands happily, "Spelltacular! Now, your assignment today is on the board, so you better get started, otherwise you will not participate in the Secret Siren Games."

Everyone immediately opened their textbooks to the assigned pages. Madame Marian strolled over to me, "Julia, may I speak with you for a moment?"

"Of course, Madame Marian," I responded. We both walked out into the hallway.

Madame Marian ringed her hands, "Julia, I have something to tell you. For the Secret Siren Games, you will not be with the rest of the first years. You will be with the second years because I think that you would be better in their hands than with your own age. Youʻre new and might need extra experience to help you. Or, at least you will get to meet other princesses such as Apple White and princes such as Daring Charming."

"Daring Charming?" I thought for a moment, "Are Monroe and Daring related?"

"Yes, theyʻre cousins," Madame Marian answered, "Why? Just a thought?"

"Yes," I waited for her to scold me for going off-topic, since I had been scolded so many times before.

Madame Marian just smiled, "Itʻs great that you let your mind wonder. For remember, ʻan active imagination is every princessʻs friendʻ. Especially if youʻre stuck in a tower for a really long time."

"Yes," I trailed off from it, not wanting to say any more. All the other girls didnʻt have to worry about dying. They didnʻt have to worry about falling in love only to find him dead. They didnʻt have to worry about their true love killing their cousin and being banished. Life would be hard.

The bell rang suddenly, making both of us jump. Madame Marian put her hands on her hips, "Well, I suppose I will just have to let you off the book for that assignment. Go onto your next class!"

I looked down at my scedule sheet. Next, I had Crownculus. I had heard that it was hard and not very fun, and I believed it. I walked to Her Majesty, the White Queenʻs class. I walked into class clutching my hextbooks, and saw Whitney again. I sighed in relief. She patted to seat next to her, and I walked over to her. I was just about to sit down when another girl shoved me out of the way.

"Hey, Whitney! Arenʻt you excited for the Secret Siren Games? I am! I hear that the Rebels are going to try and hack the Games! Do you think thatʻs true?" the girl kept talking and asking and talking and asking some more. She looked like the girl who blurted the question.

Blanca had an anxious look on her. She turned to the girl, "Hey, Dora, Iʻd like to sit next to Julia today, okay?"

"Julia?" the girl turned towards me, "Oh, hey there! You were in Damsel-in-Distressing! My name is Dora Pan, daughter of Pandora. Iʻm just so curious about you! Like, did you come from Shakespeare Academy? Do you know C.A. Cupid? She transferred from Monster High. Do you know the Charmings? C.A. Cupid has a crush on Dexter of the two. Honestly, heʻs kind of nerdy and relatively unattractive to me. Iʻd prefer Daring. Ooh, heʻs so princelike!"

Right then, the bell rung to start class. Dora rushed to the seat on the other side of Whitney. Whitney cast me a relieved look, and I stifled a laugh before Her Majesty, the White Queen had settled into her desk. She looked at some papers, and then turned her gaze towards us, "I believe we have a new student. Julia Capulet, are you here?"

I raised my hand, "Yes, Your Majesty."

The White Queen nodded approvingly, "Yes, I believe you will make a fine student, Princess Ette. Do you have some knowledge of Crownculus?"

"Yes, Your Majesty," I wanted to make a good impression, and apparently I was, because the other students started looking at me with interested gazes.

"Good, so we can resume our lessons and youʻd be alright," the White Queen turned to the board, "Today we will learn about . . ."

The class was not as uninteresting as I was told. A lot of students were chatting around me, but as I took notes, I realized how easy it was. All you had to do was actually hocus focus and you were spellbound to do it.

When the bell rang, all the students gathered their things and went to their next period. My next period was Kingdom Management. "Heh," I thought, "I will probably have a castle for about two years before I die."

The rest of the day was pretty normal. I had Cooking Class-ic, then Princessology 101, then Castle Design, and finally Home Ecomyths.

Hello, everybody! This is my first fanfiction post ever! Donʻt worry; the mysterious stranger will show up in the next chapter. This is just the intro. Weʻll loop back around to the Secret Siren Games at the end. Please review! I need all the help I can get! Thanks!