The horse drawn carriage was congested with the bodies of twenty diverse, and very cranky young women. The names of the most notable girls were as follows: Belle, Isolé , Nouille, Jovianne, Rêverie, Maladie, Râleur, and Odieux. Belle was the beauty of the bunch, kind, intelligent, gentle and generous. Isolé was so incredibly shy, that she barely dared to utter a single word, and should one of the other nineteen girls happen to make eye contact, well, Isolé would simply look the other way. Some girls are intellectual, and Nouille...wasn't. Politely put, Nouille had noodles for brains. Jovianne was a happy girl. Now, surely, that sounds endearing, but try to imagine what the other girls in the carriage had to endure, a solid two day's journey,with a giddy, laughing lunatic. Then of course, there was Rêverie. When that girl wasn't daydreaming, she was sleeping soundly, emitting the most unladylike of snores. Now, the girls surrounding Maladie to the left and right, were truly unfortunate. You see, Maladie was a very sickly girl, and sprayed her contagious sneezes clear across the carriage. Let's not forget Râleur. She was a piece of work, and for censorship reasons, we shall describe the girl as grumpy. Lastly there was Odieux, who's father was a poor country doctor in Southern France. Odieux was a bright little thing, and she knew it. Only, Odieux was apt to display her smarts at every available moment, rubbing the other girls the wrong way, and being quite the irritation.

But why would such an eclectic group of young women be packed together in a cart, sitting on barley stacks, you ask? Well, these particular girls, one for each district of Southern France, had been awarded a scholarship to study at L'académie de Agréable Demoiselles, a very prestigious boarding school in the far North of France.

The carriage trundled along a worn dusty path, and the young ladies tried to make themselves as comfortable as possible, which was difficult, seeing as they were packed tightly as sardines. For the next few hours, their journey was filled with the loud snores of Rêverie, and the frenzied laughter of Jovianne. The poor girl couldn't help herself though, the sight of the fluffy white clouds against the bright blue sky, just made her feel so... happy. Belle tried to engage herself in conversation with Odieux, but soon found her company to be unpleasant, and hurriedly, but politely dropped the conversation.

Suddenly, the carriage came to a full halt. They had come to a fork in the road, and Monsieur Marceaux, the driver, was contemplating which direction to take. He had gotten lost hours ago, but was much too ashamed to admit as much to the young ladies. As it was, there were two paths for Monsieur Marceaux to choose from. One was pleasant looking, with golden leaves strewn upon the dirt path, bathed in the pale orange light of the sunset, and the other path cut through a dark and twisted wood. Wouldn't you know, that Monsieur Marceaux decided on the road less traveled.

As the sun sank below the horizon, the sinister looking woods grew very dark indeed. Worse, it was difficult to tell which way they were traveling, seeing that the scenery of large, gnarled trees, appeared to be alarmingly familiar.

Could we be driving around in circles? Monsieur Marceaux thought to himself.

"Excusez-moi, Monsieur?" Belle began in an unsure voice, "are you certain we're going the right way?"

"Mais oui, mademoiselle," the driver assured, "I know the way."

Just then, Monsieur Marceaux spied a large clearing between two particularly fearsome looking trees. Surely a clearing was a good omen, for it suggested that it was a path well traveled by humans. He ordered his horse Éponine to advance towards the clearing, and all seemed to be going fine. That was, until two large gray wolves came bounding out from the underbrush. If the wolves were chasing something, or running from something, the travelers were never destined to find out, because the sudden appearance of the animals spooked poor Éponine so badly, that the horse took off at a startling speed. Monsieur Marceaux did all he could to regain control over the mare, but to no avail. The frightened Éponine was far beyond that of consolation, and soon enough the creature tripped on a thick, tangled root, and the carriage toppled over. The wheels of their carriage spun on its axles, catching the air. Somehow, Éponine had freed herself, and now was no where to be seen.

"Comment ça va, mademoiselles?" Monsieur Marceaux inquired of his charges.

"Bien."

"Bien."

"Bien."

All twenty voices called out in turn. The driver sighed to himself in relief, at least no one had been injured during the accident. Unfortunately, their carriage was badly damaged, and Monsieur Marceaux had lost his only horse. Poor Éponine was probably now at the mercy of the wolves.

"Stay put, mademoiselles," the driver ordered, "I will go find help."

And so, Monsieur Marceaux set off on foot, in the direction of the clearing that he had spotted only moments before disaster had struck. Belle, Isolé , Nouille, Jovianne, Rêverie, Maladie, Râleur, Odieux, and the others waited for their driver's return, but when Monsieur did not return within the hour, they began to worry.

"What if he's hurt?" Belle asked the group, concerned for Monsieur Marceaux's safety.

"I do not care," replied Râleur, "it is his fault that we are in this mess in the first place."

Her remark was met by one ridiculous giggle from Jovianne.

"What is so amusing?" snapped Râleur.

"I can't help it," Jovianne insisted, "nature makes me so very happy!"

"I think we should go and search for him," Belle suggested, "don't you agree Isolé?"

The bashful girl did not answer, but instead turned all shades of pink.

"Non," huffed Râleur, "I refuse to go trudging through the mud."

"Belle may have a point girls," Odieux added, "you see as we come nearer to the winter solstice, the days grow shorter and shorter, which means it will be dark earlier than usual. We already know that wolves live nearby, and they are nocturnal predators. It would be excessively easy for a pack of hungry wolves to make a meal out of a few defenseless young women like us, not to mention the fact..."

"Thank you, Odieux," Belle interjected, "It's decided then, we go and find help."

The girls all nodded their head in agreement. Well, almost all of them, Rêverie did not, seeing as the poor, narcoleptic thing was fast asleep.

"Won't someone wake up Rêverie?" asked Belle.

"Oh, fine," Râleur sighed in annoyance, "I'll do it. Ouvre les yeux, silly girl!"

Thus, the girls began their trek, making their way through the bramble and thorns of the forest. They would have to move quickly, seeing that what little light they had left was fading by the minute.

"Achoo! S-sorry," sniffled Maladie, "allergies, you see."

"Oh, well, feel better soon," Belle wrinkled her nose in disgust as she wiped Maladie's spittle off her cheek.

The girls continued on a little ways, when they suddenly became aware of Nouille cooing sweet little words, to a bundle of fur, warped in the folds of her dress.

"Um, Nouille?" Belle gave a nervous laugh, "what have you got there?"

"A puppy!" the girl blurted out excitedly.

"A puppy?" Belle repeated in confusion. Where would the girl have gotten a puppy from? "Nouille, let's see it."

Nouille unwrapped the tiny fur ball, and presented it to the group, "I call him Petit Chien!"

"What a very creative name, girls. Don't you think?" Râleur jeered, "C'est tellement stupide!"

Belle's face fell, immediately at the sight of the creature, "Nouille, That's no puppy! That's a wolf cub!"

"And where there's a wolf cub," Odieux added, "there's bound to be..."

Odieux's sentence was cut off, by the angry growl of a mother wolf. All the girls gasped at the sight of the vengeful looking carnivore, that expertly bared it's sharp, white fangs at them.

"Okay, Nouille, put down the cub... gently," urged Belle.

"Non, Petit Chien is my little pet," the girl said sadly, "Je l'adore."

But when the mother wolf took an aggressive lunge towards her, Nouille abruptly dropped the cub in a crisp pile of autumn leaves and the women all shrieked, and ran for their lives. The angry adult wolf gave unrelenting chase for the next half hour, but somehow she had disappeared just as suddenly as she came. Belle and the other nineteen girls stopped for a moment to catch their breath, all thanking their lucky stars to still be alive. Many of them were caught off guard and nearly jumped out of their pretty little skins, when Jovianne unexpectedly called out in jubilation.

"Oh look! A castle!" Pointed Jovianne, "I am so delightfully happy!"

Each of the young women traced Jovianne's finger to where the girl was pointing. Sure enough, sitting upon a tall hill, was the imposing form of a prominent castle.

"Ah, yes," mused Odieux, "It looks to have been erected during the classical period. The architecture is a tell tale sign. Just look at the facade of polished marble, and granite..."

"That's just lovely, Odieux," Belle interrupted again, "but why don't we just go ahead and knock on the door?"

Quick French Lesson

Ouvre les yeux! = Open your eyes/wake up!

Petit Chien = Little Dog

C'est tellement stupide! = It's so stupid!

Une Note Intéressante

Bonjour, readers! This is xJadeRainx with my first ever, Beauty and the Beast fanfiction. Prepare to laugh, and be pulled into one ridiculous situation after another with Belle and her new found, err... friends.

Incidentally, this is also my first attempt at writing a comedy. I hope you enjoy!

When I'm a human being, at least I'll act like one.
If you do your best each and everyday,
good things are sure to come your way!

xJadeRainx