"Adventure is out there!" - Up
Madeline's POV (A/N This is not a Disney character, I just created her. How you ask? Magic. *waves hands around like a hyper magician as readers back away slowly*)
Oh, great. 8th grade. Don't get me wrong, I love hanging out with my friends at school. I just was not looking forward to this particular year. My best friends, Court Goof and Dani Duck understood, since they also had parents who worked at Disney School District.
"Maddie, did you finish packing yet?" I glanced at my empty suitcase, ripped off my headphones, tossed them to the side with my phone, and hurriedly crammed clothes inside.
"Uh, yeah Dad, I'll be done soon." I went to my closet and grabbed polka dot dress after polka dot dress, some with large buttons and others with bows.
"Alright, don't forget your schedule! Mom and I have to leave now, have a great first day!"
Court and Dani were meant to meet at my house soon so we could walk to school together, since my house was right in the middle of their houses and it was a common meeting spot for us. I lived right across the street from school, considering my mom and dad worked there, but with the large amount of people in Disney, some students lived on the very outskirts of the large city (which really was a small island). So to make things easier for everyone, Uncle Walt had constructed a building for dorm rooms in the center of the school for grades 8-12 and a nursery for grades PreK-7 before he left my dad, Mickey Mouse, in charge of DSD and left to build Disneyland and Disney World.
I quickly finished zipping up my two hot pink luggage with gold polka dots. I started to try and get a comfortable grip on everything so I could move it out of room when I heard the doorbell ring. I dropped my bags and ran to the door in excitement.
"Maddie!" Court and Dani shouted my name with joy when I opened the door and I hugged them, glad to see them after spending two months in Hawaii while they were in France and England. They dropped off their luggage in my living room and we began to discuss our schedule, hoping it matched.
"What's your first period?" I asked the two as we headed to my room so I could move my bags.
"I have band, so you guys have it too then, right?" Court's hazel eyes shone with excitement. We all were huge fans of the class, taking it since we could in 4th grade. Court played the saxophone, Dani played the bassoon, and I played the trumpet.
"Oh, yeah, I do, I totally forgot that the entire band is combined into a one period class starting 8th grade. Well that was a stupid question to ask." We giggled and I opened my door. I grabbed all my bags, struggling to do so, and Dani and Court picked theirs back up when we passed by the living room again.
"What about second period? I have Japanese with Mr. Hamada so you guys won't be there but I'm still curious," Dani asked, her blonde ponytail swishing in front of me as we walked out the front door.
"I got Story Studies with Calliope," Court replied.
"French with Monsieur Lumiére. I have Calliope for Story Studies, too, just a different period." I locked the door behind us and we quickly glanced down both ends of the circular road then scurried across to school. I pulled out my DSD key card and scanned it past the reader, then walked through the glass doors that opened automatically and closed immediately after I walked in, a system that stopped tailgaters from sneaking into the school. Dani scanned her card next, and then Court came after.
Students' safeties were first priority, so even though there was already a transparent, bulletproof, camouflage dome surrounding the island that concealed it from the prying eyes of humans, another surrounded the school.
I still remember the first time I had really begun to understand the security system in Disney. I had been sitting in the lounge on Floor A of the dorm building with Court and Dani in second grade when a massive ship glided through the walls and sped towards us. At first we dropped everything and ran to the farthest corner of the room, screaming bloody murder, when our chaperone came over and told us to calm down. She explained that the ship and anything else going through could not feel, touch, or see the island, nor anything within the dome. Then she gestured towards a group of high schoolers sitting at the back of the room calmly doing work as the ship passed right through them. I shuddered at the eerie memory of seeing a huge bulk of material slide through students' bodies.
"What about third?" Court asked us, as we let our eyes rest with happiness at the small pack of students surrounding the office building to ask for their dorm numbers and roommates. The three of us were pretty early, as usual, since we all had a weird irrational fear of being late. Even being on time was stretching it. We bounced over to the line leading towards the office, the familiarity of school giving us an excited energy.
"I have History with Clio." This I bit my lip at saying because in grades 8-12, everyone kept the same schedule. If Dani and Court didn't have the same teachers as me, we would be separated for the next 5 years.
"Same here!" Dani and Court cheered. Dani then took a deep breath of hope at her next words.
"4th period Algebra with De Vil, 5th period Science with Yzma, 6th period PE with Coach Phil, and 7th period Story Studies with Calliope."
"Yes!" I did a small fist pump. "I have the exact same classes!"
"The only thing that's different for me is I have Spanish with Pacha for 7th period, but everything else matches!" Courtney shouted. We squealed, getting stares from others that weren't confused looks, since they most likely knew why we were squealing, but were more of a "dear lord that was loud" kind of expression. Trust me, we get that look a lot.
The girl in front of me got her forms and I stepped up, eager to receive mine as well.
"Morning Mrs. Duck," I said to Dani's mom, the secretary, and she smiled in return, already typing in my name without having to ask. It wasn't just me she was familiar with, she knew every single student's name, face, and contact info.
"Good morning, sweetie! Excited for this year?" She asked as the papers printed. No, not at all, I thought in reply but shook the thought off.
"Yep." She handed me the sheets and room key and I quickly moved to the side so she could print Dani and Court's information. Room D28. Roommates - Alice Wonders, Ella Cinders, and Lilo Kahakai. Yes! Lilo! I had spent most of my summer at her family's house in Hawaii, and we had gotten along great. She and her sister were second-generation characters, so they could actually choose whether to attend DSD or stay in the human world as "crossers," a mix of character and human. I was a bit saddened that I didn't have Dani or Court, but I somewhat knew Ella. She was a bit of a neat freak from what I could tell, but in my opinion, there was absolutely nothing wrong with that. I had no idea who Alice was, though. Despite each individual grade only having 28 students at most, classes at DSD were always combinations of certain grades so we hardly so people form our own grade. I looked up from my sheet as Dani walked over to me with her papers.
"I'm in Room D26 with Aurora Briars, Maleficent Crow, and Belle Rose," Dani shrugged. "I've talked to Belle a couple times, she's ok, but I really don't know Maleficent or Aurora very well. Who do you have?"
"I've got Alice Wonders, Ella Cinders, and Lilo Kahakai. Oh, and I'm in D28 so at least our rooms will be right next to each other!" Dani grinned and was about to reply something when Court walked up, eyes scanning her paper quickly.
"I've got Mulan Fa, Jessie Lasso, and Merida DunBroch with me in Room D23. What about you guys?" Dani and I showed her our papers and she frowned a bit, an unusual expression on the crazy, happy-go-lucky girl. "My room is a bit far from you guys, but at least we have similar schedules!" We started towards the dorm building and began talking about our roommates.
(A/N D23 is a Disney fan convention that stands for Disney '23 since the Disney company started in 1923. In 1926, the animation company was officially named The Walt Disney Studio, and in 1928, Mickey and Minnie were created, after Oswald was lost :( Anyways, just wanted to explain the little reference I made.)
"Mulan was in our Science class before, she's ok. I've never met Merida or Jessie before though. I've never even heard their names!" Court talked in the fast pace and twisted her dark brown-red pigtails like she usually did when she was stressed. She loved meeting new people, but worried that they didn't like meeting her.
"You will be absolutely fine, don't worry!" I reassured her as we approached the dorm building doors and repeated the same individual scanning process we went through at the school entrance. She seemed to be calming down, as she continued twisting her pigtails out of habit but at a slower pace than were only four students on Floor A, and they had only their backpacks with them so must have already unpacked and wanted to look around the game room, lounge, and kitchen on this floor. I pressed the button to go up on the South elevator, the one closest to the dorm entrance. The metal doors opened immediately and we stepped in one at a time, struggling a bit to fit comfortably because of all our luggage and the elevators weren't exactly large. The doors began to close when a girl rushed in, holding not as much luggage as us but still enough to struggle to run with.
"Wait! Hold the door!" I quickly pressed the "keep door open" button and she jumped in, panting slightly, her fair skin flushed and closed her blue eyes with relief as the doors slid closed again. She opened her eyes again soon and slid off her black hairband so she could finger-comb her frenzied hair quickly before putting the headband on again.
"Thank you so much, I would hate to be late on the first day," she gasped gratefully while smoothing out her blue skirt and white blouse. I opened my mouth to tell her we had plenty of time when she spoke again. "Well, late to be early anyways. Don't ask, it's a weird quirk of mine." Dani, Court, and I made eye contact quickly and we smiled.
"Yes! Someone finally understands us!" Court jumped with glee, stopping quickly because she still had to hold her bags.
"We have a thing about being early always, too," I told her, giggling. The girl widened her eyes.
"Finally! Where have you guys been all my life?" she joked. "I especially can't afford to be late on this very important date! We get to start story development!" Me and my friends' smiles dimmed a bit as we shared a look of how much we were not looking forward to be told to work and manage others for the rest of our lives. Dani quickly changed the subject.
"I'm Danielle Duck by the way, but you can just call me Dani." Dani stretched her hand out for a handshake, which was kind of a formal move for an 8th grader but very casual for an 8th grader like Dani.
"I'm Court! Well, actually Courtney Goof but no one calls me that, just Court. On occasion I'm called Courtney but that's in very serious situations and I don't like those situations 'cause serious means not fun," Court rambled. Dani frowned at the "serious means not fun" bit, since she considered herself serious and fun, but let it pass. The other girl laughed at her hyper behavior.
"I'm Alice, Alice Wonders." She gave a small wave and turned towards me, waiting for my introduction. At the sound of her name, my eyes widened.
"Hey, I think you're in my dorm! Room D26? I'm Madeline Mouse, but feel free to call me Maddie."
"Yeah, nice to meet you! Wait, so you guys all have parents in the head of DSD staff? That's so cool!" Alice said, to which we only nodded silently in half-agreement. "Glad to know at least one of my roommates are friendly! I don't even know Ella or Lilo," she explained. By now we had begun to walk out of the elevator and were staring down the long hallway. I had heard descriptions from older students in the past talking about how amazing the Floors D-H were, but it still dazzled me as we walked underneath chandeliers towards the dorms. The four of us walked in silence taking in the sight as we approached Court's room.
"Well, this is me, I'll see you guys at breakfast!" Court energetically bid farewell and the remaining three of us walked to D26, my room.
"Bye Dani," Alice and I said at the same time as I unlocked our door. I gasped and stepped aside so Alice could admire the view as well. Two queen-sized beds were backed against the wall we were facing with a floor-to-ceiling window in between. Another queen-sized bed was on our right with the foot of the bed facing us, and on the left a fourth bed was symmetrical to it. Between that bed and the bed on the left of the window was a large door and Alice and I dropped our luggage in the middle of the room to explore what was behind that door. A large bathroom awaited us with shining white marble tiles, a large bathtub with jets, a spacious shower, and a large counter for everyone's bathroom necessities.
"Whoa," was the only thing I could think to say. We walked back to the beds and I claimed the bed between the window and bathroom, Alice choosing the one next to mine. Alice and I chatted while stripping our beds of their previous white sheets and replacing them with our own. Alice's was an odd checkered sort of pattern with different poker cards on a blue background. Her pillows were a swirly, slightly hypnotizing pattern of red and white. My sheets and pillows were dark pink with a large golden bow on each pillow and gold polka dots on the sheets. I put my now empty suitcase under my bed, left with only my clothes suitcase to unpack.
I unzipped my second suitcase and as the two of us began to hang up our dresses, we heard a the door unlock. We both stopped what we were doing to see which roommate was going to arrive. Ella poked her head in the room and Alice and I waited a moment for her to take in the amazing room before introducing ourselves.
"Hey Ella!" I said cheerfully as she walked in.
"Hey Maddie! Wow, this room is quite extravagant, isn't it?" Her orange-blonde hair was in its usual casual up-do as she scanned the room some more with her blue eyes.
"You should see the bathroom," Alice spoke up. Cinderella turned towards her and smiled.
"You must be either Lilo or Alice," Cinderella said in a friendly tone.
"Alice," the blonde confirmed.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Ella Cinders. So, I guess I'll take the bed over here," Ella said, gesturing towards the bed on near Alice as she walked over. She began to unpack and Alice and I compared our schedules with hers. I didn't have any classes with her, but Alice had four in common. I finished emptying the second suitcase, hung up my purse and shoulder bag on hooks on the inside of the closet door for later occasions, and slung my backpack over my shoulder, ready to leave. School started at 8:15 and it was now 7:30, leaving time for a sit-down breakfast and a casual walk to get to band early. Alice was ready to leave as well and we said bye to Ella before heading towards the kitchen.
When we got there, Court was already frying some eggs and four pieces of bread were in the toaster. She turned around to greet us, not even looking at the frying pan but still flipping her egg perfectly.
"Hey guys! I wasn't sure when you would be here, but I toasted a piece of bread for each of us and I'm scrambling the second egg now." Alice and I thanked her and started slicing apples when Dani arrived.
"Hey Dani, how are your roommates?" I asked while cutting.
"They all seem really nice, and Belle has Story Studies with us for third period. Aurora and Maleficent have completely different schedules though. How about you guys?"
"Lilo didn't arrive yet when we left, but I met Ella and she's really nice. She has 1st, 4th, 5th, and 7th with me, but none with you guys, I think," Alice answered for the both of us. Court jumped in immediately, eager to share.
"At first, only Merida and Mulan were there, and they're alright, I think we'll get along great. Turns out Merida is new here, she just moved from Scotland! Isn't that so cool?" Not waiting for our answer, Court continued to babble. "And then Jessie arrived and she is absolutely awesome! I might have actually met someone who's just as crazy as me! I have been waiting for this day for so long! She's always been a student, just never in my class. She's adopted and has a twin brother named Woody and another brother in our grade who is the son of the parents that adopted her and his name is Andy and she has a horse named Bullseye which is so cool I've always wanted a horse but then again dogs are super cool so I guess I would choose dogs cuz they're easier to take care of wouldn't you but even if you wouldn't I guess to each his own am I right?" She didn't even breathe once during that entire monologue, and we all just nodded our heads, unsure of what she said exactly. Alice looked completely bewildered, not as used to these fast speeches as Dani and I were. We had all finished breakfast by now so the four of us left the kitchen. We saw Merida, Mulan, and Belle heading towards the kitchen and we introduced ourselves to each other, then headed for the East elevator.
"Oh, I just remembered, I actually have to go to the West elevator, I have Cooking with Mrs. Potts first. Bye!" Alice said when we reached the intersection of the floor and turned left. We waved and turned right, and began discussing what music we would play in band.
"Apparently this year, instead of just having Sebastian to teach us, we have a crosser writing the music. I can't remember his name, but I heard he was really good from older students," Dani said cheerily as we stepped inside the elevator. Her description rang a bell in my head and I eagerly told them what I knew about the crosser teacher.
"Oh! I know who you're talking about! It's Professor Menken, and he is an amazing composer. I'm not entirely sure why he has to come here to write music instead of just sending us scores, but anyways, expect good music this year." I explained, since Professor Menken was a good friend of my dad and his brothers.
"It's the first day though, I bet we're just gonna be talking about story development and not about music since it's the first period." At Court's words, we all groaned, mood dampened. Soon the doors slid open and we walked towards the band room, shoulders slumped and feet dragging. When we got there, everyone chatted and we sat in our seats when the bell rang, not having to set up on the first day. Sebastian walked up to the podium with a familiar click-clack sound. His character was a crab, so he had a special screen that enlarged him to human size when he wanted us to be able to see him. He did this now, and everyone smiled at his familiar face.
"Morning, music lovers! I have missed you all over the summer," he greeted in a chipper Jamaican accent.
"Morning Sebastian!" we all chorused loudly.
"Tomorrow we will talk about the music we will play this year, but for now, I am required to inform you about... Drumroll please," he said, gesturing towards the percussionists in the back, who complied. "Story development!" Everyone besides Dani, Court, and I cheered loudly. I spaced out while the teacher waited for students to settle, and got lost in my own thoughts. I guess I could see the appeal for other students, since it was basically telling them what the adventure of their lives would be. My story, though? Go through school, take over my dad's job, and what else? Oh, right. Nothing. It wasn't too bad, I supposed, since I knew Dani and Court would always be close, and I didn't mind having my dad's job. His job actually sounded great, being able to work with kids and see them grow up and go through their story. I just wished that I could do something else before, and get some excitement.
"For 8th graders, next week you will take a trip to Disneyland to find your glass train. If you're new, the glass trains are miniature and personalized for each character. In order to find yours, you have to do something that represents your character, and it should lead you to your train. The train has a clue to what your story beginning is, and everyone has one week to find their train, which is plenty of time, do not worry. Then you will all go to Disney World to narrow down the vague train clue a bit. High schoolers, you will either start collecting train track bars or keep collecting them, depending on your year. Each student must find four each year in order to complete the train track, so your individual trains can take you back to school where we can play our music!" Dani, Court, and I were the only 8th graders in band, and I was pretty sure our glass trains would say "work until death" so I only smiled at the last part of Sebastian's explanation. I just wanted to get the whole ordeal out of the way so I could play my trumpet. Sebastian then went on to explain more details for the new students. I zoned out on the information that didn't apply to me and when the bell rang, I walked extremely quickly with Dani and Court to the language wings where we all split up, not wanting to hear other students chat about stories.
I would do anything to have a better story.
The week before story development passed in a blur. My teachers seemed alright for the most part, except for De Vil and Yzma. Well, mostly De Vil, Yzma was easy to deal with if you got on her good side and obeyed her every whim. Ms. De Vil yelled at me on the first day for solving a badly worded problem wrong. It was something along the lines of "there are 50 puppies with 40 spots and 49 puppies with 34 spots. How many puppies are there in total?" I had said 99 because clearly the number of spots was a distraction and 50 + 49 = 99. Ms. De Vil, however, said it was 101 because the puppies had parents. I had been extremely annoyed because 1) the problem said nothing about parents and 2) even if it did, the parents would count as full-grown dogs and not puppies, so I was still correct. Then Ms. De Vil had gone on a full rampage on how I wasn't listening to directions she didn't give, and I swear I saw steam coming out of her ears. It's not just me she hates, but I'm certainly at the top of her hate list. Another kid got in trouble because she overheard him joking that she probably made her spotted fur coat by skinning all the puppies in the problem.
Clio and Calliope were really great, and a lot of their lessons went hand-in-hand, making workload easier for us. They used to be in an acapella group together, with Terpsichore, the dance teacher, Melpomene, the drama teacher, and Thalia, who ran the stand-up comedy club after school.
Some electives were only school subjects, others only after-school classes, and some were both. I signed up for after-school fashion design class, since Court, Maddie, and I didn't have many options for during-school electives with two full-year electives. The teacher, Ms. Mode, was known to be brutally harsh but made amazing designs and helped us create amazing things as well, so I didn't mind. Dani signed up for shop class with Geppetto and Court had art with Professor Lasseter, another crosser teacher probably because he taught an elective and went by Professor.
Lilo still hadn't arrived for some reason, but she texted me saying she got caught up and would meet the other 8th graders in Disneyland. The rest of us had grown pretty close to each other, especially Maleficent and Aurora who seemed like soul sisters. Alice and I had grown pretty close as well, Ella being a bit distant but sharing her life with us nonetheless. Dani, Court, and I had a new pattern in life we were gladly falling into, when next thing we knew, we had to pack for Disneyland.
I groaned, aggressively throwing a loose crop top and a skirt in my suitcase while sitting on my bed with my legs hanging off. I was facing my drawer and closet, so I couldn't see Alice or Ella, but could hear them humming and laughing and being happy and all fine and dandy-
"Why are you guys so happy?" I practically shouted at them as I swung my legs around to face them. They immediately stopped chatting and stared at me with baffled eyes. "I'm sorry, that came out really harsh, I just... I'm just curious as to why your story beginning makes you so excited is all." Ella glanced at Alice then back to me.
"Well, I mean, for me it's like a dream come true. I have wished for so long for something amazing to happen to me after my mom died, and I guess this is my chance." I flinched a bit at the mournful words, knowing how important her mom was to her, but Ella seemed more concerned about me, setting down her skirt and walking over to my bed with a worried look on her face. "Are you alright, Maddie? You're usually so bubbly. Why does this, of all things, make you upset?" Alice sat down on my bed as well, a look matching Ella's etched on.
"Um," I avoided Ella's question and looked at Alice. "What about you? Why does this make you happy?" Alice sighed, taking a moment to think.
"I guess, all my life, I've never felt like I knew anything for certain. Most of the time I don't even feel like I'm somewhere real. Like I'm just walking through an imaginary land or something. Once I know what I have to do, what I'm meant to do it's like I don't have to worry about being lost again. Like Ella said, it's a dream come true." After this speech, I couldn't bear to tell her I had my whole life planned out and didn't want it. The three of us sat in a comfortable silence, lost in our own thought. "So, Maddie," Alice started, breaking the sound barrier. "Why does this not make you happy?" I bit my lip, thinking quickly. I didn't want either of my roommates to hate me for the rest of the year and think I was some spoiled unappreciative kid.
"Nothing really, I guess I'm just PMSing." I added a laugh at the last bit for good measure, and the other two joined me. "We should get packing again, I don't wanna be on time."
After that, everything felt like I was underwater. My movements felt significantly drowsier, attempting to drag my heavy heart, and everyone and everything around me sounded muffled. I was sinking deeper and deeper under the surface, but everyone up on the sun couldn't do a thing to help.