Middle School Curse
by Serena Tyndall
For all the students I ever taught, you'll never know how much you inspired me.
Chapter 1
New School Year
Once upon a time...
Sylvie the Fairy Godmother bandied about the school. All the teachers were busy preparing for the upcoming school year. Sylvie was excited for a new year to get these children ready for the fairy tale world. Lakeside Middle School was the last stop before these children would enter the fairy tale world, and make their mark whether for good or evil.
Sylvie was also proud of her staff. Little Bo Peep taught math, Genie taught history, Doc taught science, Alice taught reading, Puss in Boots taught P.E/Health, the Pied Piper of Hamelin taught music/band, Rapunzel taught art, Aladdin taught foreign language, Red Riding Hood taught computer, Belle ran the library, Maleficent ran study hall, Jiminy Cricket was the guidance counselor, Gretel was the secretary, Rumpelstiltskin took care of the discipline issues, Krisna the Blue Fairy was the vice principal, and Sylvie was the principal.
Sylvie shifted through the papers in her hands. These were the admissions for the upcoming school year. Sylvie wanted to make sure that she had familiarized herself with the student roster before the school year got underway. As she looked through the list she made notes for herself.
When Sylvie arrived in her office she created the school schedule. She said the magic words, "Consilium Itineribus" and the school schedule appeared on her desk.
6th grade
7th grade
8th grade
8:00-8:15
Homeroom
8:20-9:20
Science
Math
Reading
9:25-10:25
History
Reading
Math
10:30-11:30
Reading
History
Science
11:35-12:00
Lunch
12:05-12:35
Study Hall
12:40-1:40
Math
Science
History
1:45-2:45
Exploratory Classes (25 minutes each)
2:50-3:00
News and Announcements
Sylvie flitted back into the main office and went to the loudspeaker. She cleared her throat and spoke into the microphone, "Staff, there will be a mandatory meeting in the library in 5 minutes. Come to the library in 5 minutes for a mandatory meeting."
When Sylvie arrived in the library several minutes later it was abuzz with activity. She tried to calm the activity with no luck. Maleficent cleared her throat, and a pervading silence filled the room. Sylvie began the meeting, "Thank you Maleficent. Welcome back, everyone. I trust that you all had a fantastic summer."
There were murmurs of approval. Sylvie continued. "It's time once again for another new school year. I have already looked over the roster for this year. We have several returning students, and many new faces as well. I expect this will be a wonderful year. A couple of housekeeping items we need to go over before I let you go back to your classrooms and work. Piper, please make sure to let the office know before taking the children anywhere. Gretel, please stay out of the cafeteria. The cooks had many complaints last year. And lastly, Maleficent if you could refrain from putting any students under a sleeping curse, it took 3 months to get the last one out."
There was a polite round of laughter around the room. Sylvie finished up, "Let's make this a fabulous year!"
When Sylvie was finished everyone started milling about. Some seemed reluctant to leave. They talked amongst themselves. Occasionally Sylvie would speak to a few of them. Some seemed genuinely excited about the new school year. Others kept their thoughts to themselves. No matter what any of them thought the year would turn out to be, they would not know anything for a few more days. Eventually, they dispersed.
The next several days the teachers finished up their rooms and had a few more professional development opportunities. In no time at all the students would arrive on campus for the school year to begin. Would it be "Happily ever after..." or something else? Only time would tell.
Chapter 2
Friends, Enemies... Frenemies?
The day quickly came for the new school year to begin. The teachers stood outside and waited for the students to arrive and funnel into their classrooms. Delia stood in the walkway as the students poured on campus. She stared at the little red cell phone, waiting. She was absorbed in watching the screen, so she didn't see the person slip up behind her. The person suppressed a laugh and poked Delia on the shoulder. She shrieked and jumped, turning to face the person who intruded upon her. Once Delia saw who it was her mood lightened. She said, "Molly you scared me to death. I thought you were gonna text me when you got here."
"I was, but then I saw you and couldn't resist."
Delia uttered an audible tsk. Molly turned her head and saw why. "Stupid little hero club! It's bad enough that we should be running things because we are the oldest on campus, but the popular girls get privileges no one else does," Delia complained.
They watched as the girls embraced one another. "I don't know what's worse, the little hero club getting privileges no one else does, but also you got the teacher's kids too. I can't help it, I think that they are favored," Molly complained back.
Puss in Boots watched as his team came off the buses. Zeb, Jared, Alistair, Geoffrey, Esau, and Chase came together and slapped each other's hands. Zeb eyed the 6th graders carefully. "You think they'll join?" Jared asked.
"Hard to say. I certainly hope so… we need the numbers, we lost several members last year." Zeb answered.
"They look like they could be part of our group," Chase offered.
The rest of the students poured on campus. During Homeroom Sylvie came over the intercom, "Welcome to the new school year. I trust you all had an excellent summer. We are excited for this year to begin. I trust that you will try to do your best in all that you do this year. I look forward to having a great school year. Have a great day!"
The day progressed normally for everyone on campus. The teachers had been told that the first week of school really needed to be centered on teaching the students the school and class rules. Every teacher on campus did this. Then in Science that afternoon, Mr. Doc stood at the front of the 8th graders. Before he taught these particular students he had some news that they all needed to hear. Delia and Molly were barely paying attention. Raine pushed her glasses up from the edge of her nose to the bridge, and she playfully tossed her curly black ponytail and flashed a sly smile at Carver. Mr. Doc cleared his throat to get the students attention, then he said, "This year we are going to be doing our class just a bit different than in years past. This year you will be working in groups pretty much all year. It will be girls against boys."
Molly and Delia exchanged horrified expressions. Raine looked back at the two girls with a pained expression. Carver raised his hand and asked, "Mr. Doc, how will we be graded in the group?"
"That is a good question, Carver. You will be graded as a group. Everyone in the group must work together. If I find out, or see that you are not working together then your grade will reflect that."
Molly whispered to Delia, "There goes my idea then!"
"I know right," Delia groaned.
Raine smiled secretly. She had a feeling that the group of girls were going to use her to get a good grade, but not do the work to earn it. She was glad Carver had asked Mr. Doc that question.
At lunch, Molly and Delia were already over the school year, and it was only the first day. They sat alone. No one else really wanted anything to do with them. Molly watched Brandi and Laiken. Those two heroines had already reached out to the new 6th grade girls. Delia was angry about this. She had always felt the judgment of the other children in the school. Then they saw her pull back from one of them very quickly. Then the whole group got up and moved away. What had that been about? The only reason they knew that anyone would do that was... Molly got up and brought the new 6th grader over to their table. She introduced herself as Wysteria. Molly asked, "Why did everyone leave you all alone at that table?"
"They-" the young girl teared up, "they found out who my mum was."
"Oh..." the girls said together.
Delia got up, came over, and patted the young girl's shoulder. She said, "Trust me, we've all gone through that. You can sit here with us."
"But you guys are 8th graders!" she sobbed.
"And?" Molly asked.
Wysteria smiled. Delia was glad, but she hated the little hero club and how they made her and her friends feel. They all watched her like a freak experiment in science. Delia felt like everyone expected her to follow in her mother's footsteps. Did anyone, except Molly, try to find the truth out from her? No, of course not. She was destined to be a villain no matter what. What if she didn't want to follow in her villain mother's footsteps? Delia knew her mother's story. She raked her hands through her frizzy red hair as she thought back to the discussions that she had with her mother. Delia's father gave her mother everything that she wanted. Not that she could blame him. Her mother's temper was well known throughout Wonderland. In fact, Delia often wondered if Ms. Alice hated her because of who her mother was. It had not been Delia's fault that her mother was like for real crazy and tried to kill Ms. Alice long before Delia had come along. She just shook her head. Part of her wanted to go home, but she knew that was not an option. She wanted to distance herself from her mother. Delia even remembered way back in 1st grade how she and Molly had become friends.
Molly's mom was also a villain. She had died when Molly was young, but Molly couldn't escape the tales of what her mother did to Snow White. Jared and Alyssa were constantly looking at Molly and Delia like the two girls were planning their demise. As Delia was mulling this over Molly was looking around the lunch room. Her eyes fell on Raine. Molly took a small mirror from her backpack. It had been a gift from her mother. She studied Raine from behind the mirror. Was she seeing things? Had this always been in front of her? Raine was flirting, albeit poorly, with Carver. Molly suddenly had an idea. She turned to Delia and said, "Hey, check out Raine."
"What about her?" Delia asked.
"You see what she's doing right?"
Delia watched the girl a little closer. Then she saw what Molly was talking about. "Is she doing what I think she's doing?"
"Most definitely."
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Delia asked.
"I believe I am."
So without many words, Delia and Molly decided that they would help Raine get and keep Carver's attention. Maybe this would help everyone's perception of them.
Alyssa, Rose, and Ruby sat together, talking. Alyssa massaged her temples and said, "Why do I always get the feeling that Delia is talking about me?"
"It could be the whole incident between your mom and her mom Alyssa," Ruby offered.
"Probably."
"You know you should just give her a chance. She might not be anything like her mom," Ruby added.
"You really think so?"
"Look at her. She actually has great fashion sense. I mean red doesn't look good on everyone, but she pulls it off quite nicely," Rose said.
"What is it with you and clothes?"
"I love clothes. I'm gonna be a fashion designer someday," Rose proclaimed
"I'm glad you have a life plan."
Jared and Zeb sat at a large table with Chase, Alistair, Esau, Jay, Kaleb, Geoffrey, and, Hudson. Jared and Zeb were telling the boys about the school. Jared asked, "Jay...Kaleb... Hudson? You guys want to join the sports squad? We could really use the numbers."
"I can't wait!" Jay exclaimed.
"Totally," Hudson added.
"Of course!" Geoffrey exclaimed.
Jared and Zeb exchanged a look, then Zeb added, "Have you guys heard about the curse?"
"What curse?" Esau asked.
"You know, the curse," Jared said emphatically.
Zeb kicked Esau's leg and he said, "Oh, that curse... yeah."
"What kind of curse?" Hudson asked.
"No one knows for sure. All anyone knows is the name of the curse and where it centers around," Zeb explained.
"Tell us," Jay begged.
"It's called the Curse of Lake Iwatchau," Alistair told them.
"Where's this lake?" Jay asked.
"On campus, just outside the cafeteria here," Jared answered.
"What does this have to do with anything?" Kaleb asked.
"Well, it's a tradition of the sports squad. The new members have to spend one of the exploratory class periods standing by the lake," Jared explained.
"Yeah, we all did it," Esau added.
Jay, Hudson, and Kaleb exchanged pained expressions, but they wanted so much to be accepted. "You're on!" They exclaimed at once.
Later during exploratory classes, Rumpelstiltskin was walking around campus when he saw the three 6th graders standing by the lake. The lake stood just off the cafeteria wing of the campus. There seemed to always be a thin layer of mist or fog that lay over the lake, giving the area a strange vibe. Rumpelstiltskin saw that the boys looked thoroughly uncomfortable, not to mention they were breaking one of the school rules. Weren't the teachers supposed to be reviewing the school and class rules during the first week of class? He went over to the boys and told them to follow him to the office. As he entered the office Sylvie was there and saw the three boys with Rumpelstiltskin. She asked, "And what is wrong with these three boys? Were they fighting?"
"No ma'am," Rumpelstiltskin said, "I found them out by the lake when they should have been in one of their exploratory classes."
"That is a serious offense young men. You have broken one of the rules. You boys were out of area. What were you doing at the lake?" Sylvie probed.
Hudson clammed up. Kaleb didn't want to be the one to be a tattle-tale. Then Jay saw how the principal was looking at them. He knew he was in serious trouble. His parents would be disappointed in him should he get in trouble, especially on the first day of school. He blabbed, "We were dared to go there."
"By whom?" Sylvie asked.
"The older boys. They said it was a tradition and that we had to spend an exploratory class down by the lake if we wanted to join the sports team," Jay told her.
"Mm-hmm. Anything else?"
"They told us there was a curse. The curse of Lake Iwatchau."
"Well thank you for coming clean Jay. I am quite proud of your truthfulness. I will let Mr. Puss know what the boys did to you so that they may be appropriately punished for filling your heads with this nonsense."
"We don't want any trouble," Hudson suddenly said.
"Yes, ma'am. We just really want to be a part of the team," Jay added.
"I admire that boys, I really do, but it does not change the fact that if not for those boys you would not have gotten into trouble. It will be a mild punishment... this time. I should hope to not see you three gentlemen in this office again for that reason."
"No ma'am," the three 6th graders said, and they left the office.
"May I speak with you?" Rumpelstiltskin asked.
"Sure Rumpel," Sylvie agreed.
"In your office?" Rumpelstiltskin pressed further.
"Certainly."
Once they were away from prying ears Rumpelstiltskin blurted, "Sylvie, there is a curse."
"Surely you can't be serious Rumpel. Those boys were just having fun with the, forgive me for saying, fresh meat. They just wanted to scare them is all."
"No Sylvie I am telling you, there is a curse."
"How can you be so sure?"
"I have done much reading on the history and background of the school. The lake was man-made by the founders of the school, 50 years ago."
"So what about this curse."
"The lore states that things in the school were going well. The founders were writing the original tales, but once they completed their manuscripts something strange happened."
"What?"
"They disappeared without a trace. The only thing that anyone could find was a handwritten note left by the founders."
"And what did it say?"
"Half a century complete, the authors shall rise from the deep. Watch for the signs, before the authors write their lines. The future at stake, so prepare before they wake. A curse is placed, happy endings will be erased. To beat the curse, before things get worse, the awakening you must reverse. All endings will turn should the lesson you not learn. The lesson: Whether hero or villain a character be, true friendship will set them free."
"What does this mean?"
"We all know that the authors' tales were dark, bloody, and grim indeed, but at least, for the most part, the tales ended happily for the hero character. If the curse is not lifted before the authors rise, the tales will get worse, much worse. All the happy endings will be erased, forever. The curse can only be lifted if we learn the lesson talked about in the note."
"Do you know when the authors will wake so that we have some kind of timeline?"
"No ma'am, but I do know they disappeared just after 8th-grade graduation 50 years ago."
"So we have to figure out the lesson so that the authors do not rise and make the stories worse?" Sylvie asked.
"That is what I got out of the note."
"True friendship? And as best as I can tell it must be a hero and a villain."
"Yes."
"That is a tall task for our resident villains. They have never even tried to ingratiate themselves with anyone on campus, especially the heroes."
"Should we tell the student body about this?"
"Not yet Rumple, but we should keep a close eye out for the signs and watch them. Should push come to shove we will tell them. Friendship cannot be forced, it must form on its own."
"Yes, ma'am."
The bell rang for the end of the day. Sylvie and Rumpelstiltskin came out of her office and watched the students heading towards their dorms. Sylvie wished that magic could help them out, but she knew that it wouldn't. Sylvie truly began to question if the stories these students would be a part of would become worse because the authors would rise and write them that way, or if the curse could be broken. It was a lot to ask for, but Sylvie was optimistic, for now.
Chapter 3
Reaching Out
The first week of school was so boring, Molly thought. Every year it was the same thing. Every class they had during the week every teacher went over the rules of the school and their individual classrooms. Nothing really changed from year to year, so it was incredibly boring.
Molly looked over and saw that Delia was tapping her pencil, which usually meant that she was bored too. Molly spent her time doodling and thinking about how she and Delia could help Raine without it looking bad. Molly and Delia's reputation was so tarnished Molly wasn't sure that Raine would ever trust her and Delia. Molly hated that no one trusted the two of them. It had been that way as long as they could remember. The other students never gave the two of them a chance to prove that they weren't like their villain parents. She supposed that it didn't help that she Delia had played pranks on the other kids in their class. Would anyone trust them, ever?
Molly suddenly had a stroke of genius. She would write Raine a note. That way Molly wouldn't have to worry about getting a face-to-face rejection. If Raine didn't want Molly and Delia's help that was fine with Molly. She took the paper that she was using as doodle fodder and composed a note for Raine.
Raine,
Delia, & I couldn't help but notice u have been tryin 2 get a certain classmate's attention. We believe we could help u in this area. He hasn't noticed u, but w/ our help u could get his attention. I promise this is not a prank. Delia & I really wanna help. Plz, give us a chance.
Molly
Molly folded the note up. Then she had a quandary. What was the best way to get Raine the note? Give it to her? Put it in her locker? Get someone else to give it to her? Finally, Molly settled on putting the note in Raine's locker. The day dragged by and Molly watched Raine carefully to see when she would get the note. It wasn't until lunch that Molly and Delia noticed Raine with a folded piece of paper. Raine unfolded the note and read its contents. She was confused, and read the note several times until its meaning sunk in. She looked up from the note and looked at Molly and mouthed, "What?"
Molly motioned for Raine to come over. Raine looked around. No one else seemed to be watching this bizarre exchange. She thought for several minutes before she acted. Once she made up her mind Raine got up and walked over to the table where Molly and Delia sat. Wysteria sat back and just listened as the three senior girls talked. Once Raine reached it she held out the note and said, "What does this mean?"
Molly said, "Sit with us Raine."
"Umm… and why should I trust you? You lost that privilege when you played that horrible prank on me in 3rd grade."
Molly chewed her lip as she remembered that day. Before the day was over Raine's glasses were broken and she looked like a dalmatian. Molly finally answered, "Okay so maybe we aren't the most trustworthy people on campus. I don't know what we'd have to do to get you to believe we aren't planning any kind of prank on you. We just want to help you."
"With what? I don't need your help. My GPA is the highest in the school."
"It has nothing to do with grades Raine," Delia said.
"Then what? What are you trying to tell me I need help with?"
"Flirting with a certain classmate," Molly answered.
Raine's cheeks flushed red, and she plopped down on one of the empty seats at the table, and said, "Okay, and I'm not saying you're right, but how could you know anything about that? Not to mention, how in the world do you think you could help me?"
"Please Raine. It is so obvious, and you are horrible at masking it," Delia answered.
"Flipping your hair. Glancing in his direction. Sound familiar?" Molly added.
"Okay, so you think you could help me? And why should I trust you? How do I know you won't do something evil?"
"I suppose you'll just have to trust us," Delia answered.
Alyssa looked over at the table. She was horrified. She turned to Ruby and Rose and said, "Look over there! What're those two up to?"
"Alyssa don't read too much into it. It could be nothing," Ruby offered.
"Please, Ruby! Those girls are nothing but trouble, and it can be nothing but trouble that they are planning."
"I guess we'll just have to wait and see," Rose said.
"I'm gonna tell my mom!" Alyssa exclaimed.
"Alyssa don't do that yet. It's bad enough that everyone thinks we get away with murder, but if you involve your mom and we don't even know what's going on, everyone will think worse of us," Ruby said.
"Okay, Ruby. I'll keep it to myself for now, but if I even think that it's some kind of prank or something, I'm snitchin," Alyssa said back.
"Fair," Ruby responded.
For the rest of lunch, Alyssa never took her eyes off Molly and, Delia.
During study hall, Raine sat close to Molly and Delia. There was no way that they were going to talk, but they exchanged notes when Maleficent wasn't looking. No one wanted to make her angry. At the end of the day Sylvie came over the intercom and addressed the school, "We have had an information-packed first week of school. I trust that everyone understands the rules of the school and their classes. Should you not, I suggest that you ask some questions. Starting next week classes will be officially in session. Make sure that you are prepared. Have a great weekend. Remember, if you intend on staying on campus over the weekend you must let me know before 5 so that I might let the cleaning crew know."
Molly, Delia, and Raine e-mailed Sylvie shortly after they got back to their dorms, and let her know they were staying over the weekend. When Raine emailed her parents, and let them know she wasn't coming home the first weekend after the start of school, she thought it would start World War III in her household. She knew she couldn't tell them the truth, so she just told them that she had a lot of reading that she wanted to do before the next week of classes began. Her mom seemed to buy it.
All the other children went home to see their parents. Over the weekend Raine just listened as Molly and Delia gave her some pointers. She had still not completely decided if she should trust or believe them. She hoped they were really trying to help her, but she couldn't shake that there was more to it than there appeared. Only time would tell, and Raine was ready to wait and see what would come out of this. Jiminy Cricket had stayed on campus as well and saw the three girls talking together. He decided that he needed to let Sylvie know when she got back on campus, and for the whole weekend, he watched Molly and Delia to see if they had some kind of prank they were trying to pull.
It was Labor Day weekend so practically all the students and teachers were gone for three days. Molly and Delia thought they were prepared to help Raine, but they were sorely out of their element. They knew that make-up, a wardrobe overhaul, and confidence were the things that Raine needed to get a boy's attention, but they had no idea how to help Raine do these things. Finally, as the weekend was drawing to a close and the girls could see the other students meandering back onto campus Raine had a suggestion, "What if we ask some of the other girls to help?"
"Like who?" Delia asked,
Raine put a finger next to her mouth as she thought, then she finally answered, "Well I think that Rose is quite fashionable, beyond that, maybe we can get her input she can help up with the other parts," Raine suggested.
"Do you really think she'd help?" Molly asked.
"Yeah, she may think we have something planned. How will we get her to help?" Delia added.
"Let me worry about that," Raine remarked.
Chapter 4
Allies in Strange Places
With the first two weeks of school overcame most students worst nightmare… homework. Raine whizzed through it as usual, but she kept her eyes open for an opportunity to get Rose's attention. Finally during lunch on Thursday Raine saw an opening. Rose got up to throw her lunch trash away, and then Raine went up too. "Rose I need to ask you something."
"What is it Raine?"
"Well, I've been hanging with Molly and Delia…"
Rose's eyebrow raised. "I know," Raine continued. "I wasn't sure I could trust them in the first place either. We've been hanging out for the last week or so."
"What do you guys want from me?" Rose inquired.
Raine suddenly felt stupid. This had been a mistake. "Just never mind. I won't bother you anymore."
Raine and Rose sat back down. Alyssa asked, "What was that all about?"
"Raine said she needed my help," Rose answered.
"Whoa! An 8th grader said they needed your help," Ruby exclaimed.
"That seems fishy," Alyssa proclaimed.
"I promise there is nothing weird going on," Rose lied.
She hated lying to her friends, but she would never hear the end of it, especially from Alyssa. The rest of lunch was normal. At the end of the day, Rose went with Raine to her dorm. Lurking nearby Alyssa followed. After Raine and Rose went into the room, Alyssa listened at the door. She could hear voices inside. She recognized the voices. Raine and Rose were not alone, Molly and Delia, were with them. Alyssa wanted to go and tell her mom, but she didn't know what this was, so she just stayed at the door and listened in. "Rose you know Molly and Delia," Raine introduced.
"We've never formally met, but yeah I know them. Why am I here?" Rose asked.
"I couldn't tell you at lunch, I just felt so embarrassed. They have been giving me pointers lately, but we find ourselves in need of your expertise," Raine explained.
"My expertise in what?" Rose asked.
"Fashion," Molly answered.
"That is one area we know you could help Raine out on way better than we could," Delia added.
"What exactly are you helping her with?" Rose asked.
There was silence for a moment and then Raine answered, "I've been trying to get Carver to notice me, but he's too involved with his studies."
"We've been trying to think of ways that Raine could do that, but we ran up against a wall," Molly said.
There was silence again and it took all Alyssa's resolve not to run and tell her mom about what she had heard thus far, but nothing that had been said was against the rules. Finally, she heard, "Well you know what this means?" Rose asked.
"No," came the response.
"It means that it's time for a makeover."
Alyssa wished she could see what was going on now. Inside the room, Rose studied Raine's features. Her curly black hair, when loosed from its tight bun fell just below her shoulders. Her eyes, hidden behind hideous glasses, were a beautiful light brown. Her skin could use some moisturizer. Rose made some mental notes as Raine just stood in front of her. "So…" Delia finally interrupted.
"Sure, I'll help you out," Rose said.
"That's so great! Thank you!" Raine exclaimed.
With that being heard, Alyssa slipped down the hall to her own dorm to think about all that she had heard. "Alyssa are you sure you have all the facts?" her mother Alice asked later.
"I told you everything I heard Mom, exactly as I heard it," Alyssa exclaimed.
"Well dear, as you have told me it all as you heard it, there is nothing I can do." Alyssa looked at her mom, shocked.
"Alyssa, my dear, nothing you have told me is against the rules. There is nothing I can do right now."
"Then I'll keep watching and listening. I know those girls. There is only one thing they are good at, playing tricks."
"I cannot sanction that, but you do what you think is right," Alice ruffled Alyssa's hair as she got up to open the door. "I love you Alyssa. Try not to get in trouble by doing what you think is right."
Out on the field, the sports squad was running laps. Ever since Jay, Hudson, and Kaleb had told on the older boys, Mr. Puss had tried to discourage any more bad behavior by making the team run laps before and after practice. They were having a water break. The 6th graders had tried to make themselves small ever since the incident, but it hadn't worked. Every day the older boys bullied them. They were now afraid to come forward for fear that things would only get worse. All the older boys, led by Chase, came waltzing over to the three younger boys. Chase taunted, "Oh, are the babies thirsty? Poor babies! Why don't you go cry to coach?"
"Leave us alone!" Hudson exclaimed finally getting tired of the bullying.
"What're you gonna do about it fresh meat? Go tattle?" Chase sounded deadly.
"Just leave us alone!" Jay exclaimed
"You know what? You two look so hot and thirsty. Why don't you let me help you cool off?" Chase sneered,
Chase uncapped his water bottle and flung it towards the 6th graders. Hudson had little time to think, he just reacted. He threw his hands up to keep most of the water off his face. He braced for the icy blast and shut his eyes tight, but nothing happened. He heard the hushed conversation. Finally, he opened his eyes. Then right in front of him, the icy water was frozen in place like a wall.
Hudson rotated his right hand just a little, and the wall of icy water turned too. He stopped and tried the other hand, and the water obeyed. Hudson was completely in awe of the powers he appeared to have. The other students did not look on the display with awe, but rather confusion. Jay elbowed his friend, and Hudson seemed to come out of a trance. He cleared his throat and said, "You know Chase you look like you could use a shower."
He pushed the water away from himself and willed it to hit Chase. The icy wall of water slammed into him, but no one else got wet. Chase spit a small stream of water from his mouth and gave Hudson a murderous look. The other older boys caught on and started chanting. Puss heard the chanting and with some fancy footwork got between the two boys. "Chase, Hudson, do not do something that you will regret."
Chase backed down. Puss continued, "The rest of you go to study hall while I take care of these two."
The other boys walked off with much mumbling and grumbling. Puss led Chase and Hudson to the assistant principal's office. After telling everything he saw Puss left the two boys to get his class. Krisna took Hudson back first. She asked him to tell her what happened. Hudson refused to speak. He didn't want to give the older boys any more reason to not like Jay, Kaleb, and himself. Krisna opened her desk drawer and took out her magic wand. She looked at Hudson and tried one more tactic, "Hudson please tell me what happened or I will be forced to extract it from you by magic."
"Can you legally do that?" Hudson huffed.
"It's in the school rules which you and your mom signed. So what's it going to be? Tell me on your own or I take it from you?"
Hudson folded his arms across his chest, and the message could not be clearer. Krisna sighed deeply, waved her wand, and spoke the spell, "Veritatem Revelare."
Hudson's body shivered as if from cold, then his mouth opened and he spoke, "After Jay told Principal Sylvie what happened after we were found by Lake Iwatchau, and the older boys have been bullying Jay, Kaleb, and me. Today was no different. The boys came toward us and Chase started in on us. I was sick of it, so I told him to stop. Chase then threw water towards me. I didn't know I had inherited my mom's powers, but I stopped the water and then made it fall back on Chase."
Krisna thought for several minutes about a proper punishment for this bad behavior. She asked, "You do realize that you assaulted Chase?"
"What's assault?"
"It's a crime. It means trying to hurt someone physically, you carried out the battery which is to actually hurt the person. Since this is your first offense I will show you some leniency. I am going to call your mother and let her know what happened. Your punishment will be for you and Chase to be on the beautification committee for one week."
"You mean Chase and I have to work together?"
"Yes! And in the future let someone know if someone is messing with you so that this doesn't happen again. You may go, and please tell Chase I'm ready to speak with him."
"Yes ma'am," Hudson said reluctantly.
Hudson headed out of the office to his dorm, and as he passed Chase he grudgingly told him Krisna was ready to see him. Chase went back to her office and sat down. Krisna could tell from Chase's demeanor that he had an attitude and was not going to talk to her of his own free will. She began the meeting by summarizing what she had learned from Hudson, "Hudson told me that you boys had played a trick on Jay, Kaleb, and he. After Jay told on you, and you all got in trouble, you began to bully the three of them. Then you tried to assault Hudson by throwing water on him, but you got the trick reversed on you. Do I have all the facts straight?"
Chase just scoffed and said, "Snitch."
"Don't give him too much grief, I didn't really give him much of a choice, as I will do the same for you. Veritatem Revelare! Now in what I've detailed to you, I need to know Chase, is it everything or is there more?"
Chase tried to clamp his mouth shut, but in spite of himself, he answered, "Yes."
"Good! I'm glad I have the whole story. As far as your punishment goes, for the assault you will enjoy working on the beautification committee with Hudson for one week, I am going to call your father, and I am assigning you to one day of ISS."
"But Ms. Krisna!"
"No buts. You should have thought about the consequences of your actions before you acted on them. And I would think of this statement hard: If this happens again, it will be worse."
Chase left the office not completely sure what she meant, but he knew he would be hearing from his dad about his behavior. He also wondered what coach would do to Hudson and him because of his actions. Krisna was right, he should have thought about all this before now. He would talk with the rest of the squad about all this soon.
Chapter 5
Magic in the Air
School had been in session for nearly a month now. Sylvie decided that it was time for the first school dance. She came over the intercom Monday afternoon and let the students and faculty know, "Friday will be the first dance of the year. We hope that you will all join us there. The cost will be $3.00."
The next day Raine and Delia talked during Reading. With help from the girls, Raine had blossomed. Rose had told her to act no different around Carver yet, but now with the dance quickly encroaching the stakes were high. Raine entrusted Delia by telling her, "I really want Carver to ask me to the dance. I don't know if he has noticed me or not."
In fact, Carver had noticed the changes in Raine. He found it difficult to be around her. His mouth went dry, his hands were clammy, and he broke into a small sweat. Zeb couldn't help but notice the changes, and even though he and Carver had never been friends Zeb felt it was his duty to help. Plus any time he could spend away from Hudson the better. Ever since Hudson discovered he had powers he had been nearly impossible to be around. Zeb was glad for any excuse to ditch the 6th grader. Zeb approached Carver at lunch. Carver looked confused, normally he ate lunch alone. As soon as Zeb sat down Carver asked, "What do you want this time Zeb? Help with math?"
"I'm not here for you to help me. I'm here to help you."
Carver's face flushed and he fussed with his glasses as he said, "Whatever could you help me with?"
"Please, Carver it's so obvious. You like a girl."
Carver seemed suddenly interested in his lunch. Zeb continued, "I'm not going to ride you about it. I want to help. Why don't you ask the lucky girl to the dance?"
"You make it sound so easy," Carver lamented.
Zeb and Carver sat in silence for a few minutes. Finally, Zeb said, "I could help you if you want."
"Is it really that obvious?"
Zeb shook his head. "Who's the girl?"
Carver hesitated a moment. He still was not sure he could trust Zeb. Finally, he confessed, "It's Raine!"
"Wow! It took you long enough to figure it out!" Zeb exclaimed.
"You knew?"
"It was anything but subtle Carver."
"Now what do I do?"
"You ask her out, like to the dance or whatever."
"You make it sound so easy. I could never just come out and ask her, I'm too shy."
"There are ways to do it if that's what you really want."
"I do. Can you help me? The dance is only a few days away."
Zeb thought for a while before he got a brilliant idea. "I have the perfect idea."
"What is it?"
"How do you feel about magic?"
Carver wasn't sure how to answer that question. Ms. Krisna had really helped his dad out, but part of him always worried that she would show up at random and curse him like his father. Carver had always been made fun of because of his father. The last thing he wanted was to give his classmates more reason to make fun of him. He finally answered, "In truth, it makes me a little nervous, but I'm up for anything that will help me in this current situation."
"Do you know anything that Raine likes?"
"No!"
Zeb looked over at the table where Raine sat and said, "I guess I'll have to ask one of them."
Carver turned and saw Raine, Molly, Delia, and Rose. He offered as encouragement, "Good luck!"
Zeb rolled his eyes and said, "Thanks!"
As Zeb cautiously approached the table Molly noticed him first. She had kept it secret even from Delia, but Molly had had a crush on Zeb since last year. She knew there was no way he would ever be interested in her, but she couldn't help but get nervous at his approach. Once he approached the table he spoke the words Molly secretly wished he'd say, "Molly can I talk to you for a sec?"
As Molly followed Zeb away from the table it seemed that everything around her paused. Zeb was concerned when all around him the students froze in the middle of what they were doing. Zeb wondered if Hudson was to blame. He led Molly to an empty table, and they both sat down. Molly seemed oblivious to the silence around them. When Zeb finally said something, even though he did not say it loudly, his voice echoed in the silent room. "I need to ask you a question."
"Yes?" she asked in a girly voice.
"It's about Raine."
"Oh," Molly said deflated.
Around them, everything unfroze and went back to normal. Molly took notice. She asked, "So what do you want to know about Raine?"
"What's her favorite animal?"
"Why do you wanna know?"
"I'm tryin to help Carver ask her to the dance."
"Oh," she sounded a bit perkier.
"So, do you know her favorite animal?"
"I do. Big shocker, it's a frog."
"Thanks Molly!"
"Anytime Zeb," and she really meant it.
As Molly went back to her table she began to wonder about the strange bit of magic she had seen. She had noticed that Zeb didn't think too much of it. Had it been her… or someone else?
Later that day during a water break Zeb approached Hudson. "How's it going?"
Hudson looked dejected. Zeb continued, "Sorry I've been a bit distant."
"Just you?"
"Okay, the whole team."
"Why?
"You've been a little difficult to be around lately."
"How?"
"You make everyone nervous. Ever since you discovered you had powers."
"I guess I could see that."
"I could use your help Hudson."
"My help"
"Yes. I'm helping Carver and I need you to use your powers for something."
"What?"
"I need you to create a frog out of ice."
"A frog?"
"Will you do it or not?"
"Sure, but only if you promise the team will stop treating me like an outsider."
"Can do."
"Okay"
It took Hudson a couple of minutes to create the little ice frog. He handed it to Zeb who took it back to Molly. Zeb asked Molly to enchant it for him. Molly looked at him a bit shocked, but he just smiled a big, toothy grin. Molly giggled and twirled her hair. She had to really concentrate to get the magic to work, but eventually, she was able to enchant the little ice frog before it could begin to melt. After Molly had enchanted the little figure to not melt and a little something extra Zeb took it to Carver. Carver was impressed with the little figurine. And he got excited about giving it to Raine. But then that made him think, "How will I give it to her? I couldn't possibly just hand it to her."
Zeb said, "I think we can come up with something."
It was now 3 days until the dance and Carver was getting nervous. He had still not asked Raine to go with him. He had no idea what Zeb had in mind to do. Carver watched Raine head to her locker. When she opened it she saw a bag. She took the bag out and looked around. Carver ducked down. Raine didn't see anyone around. She opened the bag and took the little figurine out. She smiled. Then the little figure glowed. It shot a light out onto the wall. Raine looked that way and saw what it said. The message on the wall read, "Please go to the dance with me. Carver."
Carver came out and walked slowly Raine's way. When Raine saw Carver she looked down. The two came together like two comets whose whole existence had been leading to this point. Carver then said, "So…"
Raine said, "So…"
Carver looked around. No one was around. He was so nervous, but Zeb had helped him. Carver then asked, "So what do you say?"
Raine laughed, "Sure."
They were both so excited!
Chapter 6
The School Dance
The next three days flew by for Carver and Raine. When the day of the dance arrived, Rose helped Raine get dressed. She wore a simple light green dress, and Raine had even let Rose put a small amount of makeup on her. Raine descended the steps and headed to the gym. When she arrived she saw Carver standing outside the gym. She walked up to him. When Carver saw Raine walking toward him he said, "Wow! You look amazing!"
Raine blushed. "You really think so?"
"Totally! You ready to do this?"
"Lead the way."
The two of them went into the gym hand-in-hand. The other students were already in the gym. Molly, Delia, and Rose looked happily on as Raine and Carver began to dance. "We did it," Delia congratulated.
"She's like this year's Cinderella tonight," Molly commented.
Rose looked at the girls. She had gotten so caught up in helping them with Raine that she had not even realized what she was doing. She scanned the room. Then she saw her. Crystal was watching Carver and Raine, and Rose was not sure what kind of expression was on her face. Why had she not thought about this? How could she have been so blind?
Crystal and Lynn stood together. The two girls had not even wanted to come, but Alyssa had convinced them. Now all Crystal wanted to do was go back to her room and not come back out. "Who does she think she is?" Crystal fumed.
"Who?" Lynn asked.
"That 8th grader," Crystal said through gritted teeth.
"That's Raine. Alyssa told me about her," Lynn responded.
"How does Alyssa know her?"
"That's the girl she's been helping the other 8th grade girls with."
"You mean Molly and Delia are the ones that helped that girl?"
"Yeah."
Crystal steamed. She knew who those girls were. Well everyone knew who they were. They were infamous for their pranks and bad behavior, and even though they had not yet done something to her, Crystal knew who they were. So this was their game? Crystal didn't think so. She had it in her head to give them a piece of her mind. You know what, that's exactly what she was going to do. She looked around to see if she could find the girls. She spotted them across the room. Was Rose really staring at her? Crystal was peeved. She grabbed Lynn's wrist and dragged her along. "Where are we going?" Lynn asked.
"To give those three a piece of my mind."
Lynn pulled back, but couldn't free her wrist, "Whoa! What do you mean?"
"They hijacked my story Lynn, and I'm not going to stand for it."
"Crystal what are you thinking? Not only are those girls 8th graders, but their villains. Villains! Do you have any idea what that means?"
Crystal just stared at her. "Do you really want to get on their bad side? If you follow your mom's story all you have to worry about is an evil stepmother and stepsisters. I don't want to get involved. Don't you remember my mom's story? I'm not studying to be in a coma for centuries. Think about it, it was a villain who put my mom in that coma."
Crystal stopped and thought about it. Lynn made a lot of sense. She looked back over at the interlopers. Molly and Delia just watched as Raine danced like she was floating on a cloud. Rose was still staring at her. The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. She spit out, "I don't care!"
She continued to drag Lynn over to the four girls. Rumpelstiltskin noticed Crystal and Lynn heading over to Molly, Delia, and Rose. This could end badly. He rushed to find Krisna. Crystal marched up to the girls and demanded, "Just what do you think you're doing?"
"Excuse me?" Delia asked.
"Did you think that you could get away with it?"
"With what?" Molly asked.
"You really don't know what you did? Seriously?"
"I'm so sorry Crystal. I didn't even realize," Rose explained.
Molly and Delia looked at her with a strange expression. "What are you talking about?" Delia asked.
"You stole my story!" Crystal fumed.
"Nu-uh! We were just helping," Molly said.
"Doesn't this all seem familiar to you?"
"No. Not really," Delia admitted.
"I just noticed it, I swear," Rose said.
"Whatever Rose! It's bad enough that you totally abandoned your classmates to hang out with 8th graders, but these aren't normal 8th graders, they're villains. Duh!"
"They're different Crystal. They want to change."
"Yeah right! And I'm a teapot!"
"That could be arranged," Molly seethed.
"No! No Molly! Please don't! You've done so well. Don't become like your mother," Rose begged.
Molly stopped cold. She looked down and noticed what looked like blue electricity sparking around her fingertips. Was she seriously about to turn this little girl into a teapot? Had she been the one that had stopped time earlier? She wanted to stay far away from her mother's story, but yet here she was about to jump smack dab in the middle of it. By the time that Molly looked back up, she could see Ms. Sylvie looking at the group. She hadn't even realized it, but the whole gym was watching the exchange to see what would happen. Molly looked at Zeb, and his face told her everything she needed to know. He looked totally horrified. "So you have anything to say for yourself?" Crystal asked impatiently.
"We weren't trying to steal your story. We just wanted to help." Delia interjected.
"Likely story!"
"It's true, whether you want to believe it or not."
Molly said as she stalked out of the room with Delia close behind her. Ms. Krisna came up to Crystal and said, "Young lady, you are very fortunate that things did not escalate further than they did, but you are still in trouble."
"What for? I didn't do anything!"
"You most certainly did, young lady. You were trying to start a fight. Whether you realize it or not. If you had a problem, you should have come and talked to me, or anyone else before you jumped in to try and deal with it yourself. You have detention for the next week."
"So not fair… they stole from me and I'm the one in trouble?"
"Let that be a lesson to you my dear, things are not always what they appear to be. You just cannot see the good that was done here."
Krisna turned and walked away. The music began again. Crystal huffed and ran out of the gym to her room. Raine and Carver looked around and saw everyone looking at them. Carver asked, "You wanna go somewhere else?"
"Yes!" Raine exclaimed.
The two of them left the dance together. Rumpelstiltskin followed after them. He had to make sure no hanky-panky went on.
Back in Molly's room, Molly was on the verge of tears. Delia didn't know how to comfort her friend. Molly had tried so hard to distance herself from her mother's story, but she came dangerously close to jumping right into it tonight. Was this true of all of them? Could they really change their stories, or were they written in stone? Did they have free will or were they destined to be a part of stories that they hated? Delia couldn't even imagine being like her mother toward Alyssa. They had changed, right? Or hadn't they? It didn't escape Delia's attention that Molly had almost used magic. Had it happened before? Had Molly known she could use magic like her mom? Delia wanted to wait until Molly was in a better headspace before she started asking questions. Why did it have to be like this? Suddenly there was a knock on the door. Delia opened it to see Rose standing there. "I'm sorry about everything," she apologized.
"It wasn't your fault," Delia explained, "We should have never gotten involved.
"No you guys did the right thing. Don't let this get you down. I'm the one who should have seen the signs," Rose said.
"Don't even. We're villains. Or didn't you hear?" Molly huffed.
"You can be whatever you want to be. I mean look at Raine and Carver."
"She has a fair point Molls. Raine and Carver's story were changed, at least for tonight, and we gave them that," Delia offered.
"But didn't you see. I almost did magic, and this is not the first time," Molly cried. She couldn't bring herself to tell them about enchanting the little ice frog or the strange time stopping around Zeb.
"But you didn't!" Delia exclaimed, "At least not this time. That girl was asking to get blasted, but you didn't do it. Your mother would have."
Molly looked at her friend, "You have a point. I didn't turn her into a teapot. I could have, but I didn't! But did you see the way everyone looked at us? Me? They still think we're villains. There's nothing we can do to change their minds."
"I wouldn't bet on it. The school year has barely begun. We still have months before graduation. We can still change our stories. And the stories of the other "villains" in the school. We don't have to become like our parents," Delia explained.
"Will you continue to help us?" Molly asked Rose.
"You can't keep me away!"
Chapter 7
Getting to Know You
Molly hated to admit it, but Delia had been right. In the several weeks since the dance, things had changed so much. They had reached out to the underclassmen and had amassed a slew of friends. Now not just Wysteria hung out with them, they had Leona and Tabitha from 7th grade hanging out with them, and occasionally the boys from the sports squad would sit nearby and chit-chat. Raine and Carver would even stop their homework and join in occasionally. They had learned the stories of their new friends if they hadn't known them, and even the ones that they thought they had known turned out that there was something that was a little something different about them.
Raine said that it was true what they said about her mom and Prince Naveen being turned into frogs, and true love breaking the kiss. She even admitted that, yes, frogs were her favorite animal, but she absolutely did not want to follow her mom's story. Who wants to spend part of your life as a frog?
Carver said his father had told him many stories about being a wooden boy. He wasn't sure if many of them were true. His father said that he had grown donkey ears, been sold into slavery, been swallowed by a whale… some pretty strange things, but eventually when he learned his lesson Ms. Sylvie turned him into a real boy for good. When Carver had heard this he confessed that ever since he had been looking around for Ms. Sylvie to come for him.
Wysteria told them that her mom had gotten slighted by the other fairies, and then not invited to the birth of Princess Rose. Wysteria still felt that didn't fully warrant her mom's reaction, but that was the story that she had heard. Molly wondered if Wysteria had powers like her mom.
Leona's dad was a thief! He had pretended to be a prince to her mom, but fell in love with her. Then her mom forgave him and they were married.
Tabitha had met her mother only a few times, and she was scared to death of her. Tabitha told the girls her mother terrorized her, by trying to suck youth out of her just like she did Princess Rapunzel.
Delia thought that was messed up, even for a villain, to do that to her own daughter. Tabitha had a single strand of gray hair that ran down her black locks from the run-ins with her mom. For now, Tabitha said she was safe. Ms. Sylvie had her staying with Ms. Maleficent. Delia thought it was odd that Wysteria had not mentioned this, but Delia noticed Wysteria was a very quiet girl. So it seemed Tabitha was safe. Delia thought no one in their right mind would cross Ms. Maleficent.
Zeb recounted how his father had met Princess Ella at the dance, and been smitten by her. Zeb had often wondered how it was possible his dad didn't recognize her when he saw her again. It turns out that his dad told him that that was part of the Ms. Sylvie's spell. The spell also made it so that the shoe only fit Princess Ella and no one else.
Geoffrey said that his father was a hunter, he was strong, and he liked to brag. Geoffrey said that was what got him into trouble. It turns out his father liked Princess Belle, but she didn't like him. When he thought she had been kidnapped by the Beast, who turned out to be Prince Adam, he flew into a rage. He stormed the castle and tried to kill the Beast, and he nearly succeeded. The Beast threw Gaston off of himself, but Gaston survived, very badly injured. He never forgot what happened. He hated Prince Adam, but never tried to hurt him again, scared there might be more magic, and not wanting to hurt Princess Belle. So he just talked up his hate to his son. Funny thing though, Geoffrey didn't hate Rose. Geoffrey had told Delia on the downlow that he had a crush on Rose.
Jared told how his father had happened upon mother and the seven dwarves. The dwarves looked so sad and his mother had looked so beautiful. His father had begged to let him kiss her. When he had a piece of apple fell out of her mouth and she began breathing again. Then they got married.
Chase said that when Lilith Dupree, the Evil Queen,
Child's Name
Age
Grade
Sibling(s)
Parent(s)
Crystal
10
6
Zeb
Prince Charming and Princess Ella
Aislyn (Lynn)
10
6
Brandi
Prince Philip and Princess Rose
Rose
11
6
Griffin
Prince Adam and Princess Belle
Hudson
11
6
Anna
Eira the Snow Queen
Jian (Jay)
10
6
none
Li Shang and Fa Mulan
Alyssa
11
6
none
Alice of Wonderland
Kaleb
11
6
none
Cruella de Vil
Wysteria
10
6
none
Maleficent
Brandi
11
7
Lynn
Prince Philip and Princess Rose
Laiken
11
7
Chelsea
Prince Eric and Princess Ariel
Leona
12
7
none
Prince Aladdin and Princess Jasmine
Esau
12
7
Arian
Prince Flynn and Princess Rapunzel
Ruby
12
7
none
Red Riding Hood
Alistair Prince
12
7
none
Drizella Tremaine
Chase
11
7
none
Omen Black, The Huntsman
Tabitha
11
7
None
Gothel
Zebulon (Zeb)
13
8
Crystal
Prince Charming and Princess Ella
Jared
14
8
Melody
Prince Ferdinand and Princess Snow White
Molly
14
8
none
Lilith Dupree, The Evil Queen
Cordelia (Delia)
13
8
none
Jasper and Scarlet Leroux, the Red King and Queen
Raine
14
8
none
Prince Naveen and Princess Tiana
Carver
14
8
none
Pinocchio
Geoffrey
13
8
none
Gaston