A/N: Yeah, so I know this whole AU boarding school/college thing for Disney and DreamWorks is really friggin cliche and there's a ton of these, but I couldn't help it. The ideas just keep coming! You should take a read, and leave me feedback. That'd be wonderful. Also, I think I'm going to take quite a bit of liberties with the original plots, like ages of the characters, and ships. If you don't approve of one of my non-canon ships that'll probably happen later- get out. Wait no, don't do that. Stay awhile and enjoy the other, hopefully decent, good parts. I'd like that.

No, I do not own anything, and I really hate author notes, so don't expect too many of these, at least not in the beginning of a chapter. Yeah, read this story. And my cover image is a drawing by Kristina Webb.

Chapter 1

On her first day of school at The Disney and DreamWorks Academy for Exceptional Young Men and Women, Rapunzel Gothel, age 18, walked through the school's gates into the campus with a suitcase. Having said a tearful goodbye to her mother, the distinguished Dame Gothel of a province in the province of Corona, before flying to the academy, Rapunzel took confident steps into her new life. Her mother had insisted on going with her to the school, but since they'd already toured the grounds before, Rapunzel had set her foot against Mother coming. She wanted to make an impression as being independent.

The Academy was set up by two rival companies with an extravagant amount money- Michael Mouseman and Shrek Duloc in a peaceful ground between the two- in an attempt to raise successful students as part of their legacy. The school offered a multitude of classes, from culinary arts, to economics, to film production, to simple mathematics. With a board of directors that hand picked fifty students a year, as it didn't matter what grade a student was in. Money didn't affect much, but they did cause the board to look more closely at your application. One had to have a rather diverse application in order to get accepted. The Academy had no exact grade systems, but the youngest age that a student could start attending the school was 8, and the oldest, 24, as long as they met certain requirements, such as avoiding a total of four disciplinary punishments, and staying at or above a GPA of 4.0 in all their enrolled classes.

As Rapunzel headed towards the main office building on campus, a boy carrying a briefcase, who looked around fourteen, crashed into her. With his round Harry Potter-esque glasses askew, he looked at her apologetically and helped her up.

"I'm so sorry. Hi, my name's Cornelius. Cornelius Robinson. Is this your first day?"

"Hey, it's totally fine. My name's Rapunzel, and yes, it is my first day here," she said as she looked around. "Is that so obvious?" she asked with a nervous giggle.

"No, not at all," he grinned. "You'll fit right in with the crowd here."

"So are you a student here? I'm sorry, but I'm curious, and I have to ask. How old are you?"

"I'm fourteen, turning fifteen in a month. I'm just finishing up some credits to graduate within the week, but I'm giving some lectures and teaching a few classes this year," he said, fairly modestly.

"Oh, wow! That's so amazing. I just turned eighteen, and here's you, only fourteen, already making a difference! What do you do?"

"I invent things. I want to help change the world and make it a better place. What are you here to learn?"

"That's great. You're a great person. Me, on the other hand? I have no idea what I want to do. I just wanted to get out of my surroundings at home, and see the world. Who knows what's out there?"

"That's a great mindset. Keep moving forward, and I'm sure you'll make it. Do you need help finding anything, Rapunzel?"

"Nope, I think I'll be fine. Thanks, Cornelius!" and with a wave, she set off again.

"HI! How are you? My name's Rapunzel Gothel, and I'm a new student here!" she exclaimed excitedly.

The receptionist in the office gave her a thin-lipped smile and blankly stared at her through her round glasses. "Yes, I believe your mother sent us the transcripts of your records. Here's your schedule, your boarding and food information, the key to your dorm room, and some information about the town. Orientation for new students will be held in the general purpose Great Hall. Have a good day, Miss Gothel. Next student, please."

Rapunzel walked out of the building, dragging her suitcase and a backpack. Using the map that the office lady had given her, she attempted to search for her dormitory. Having trouble locating it, she sought help. Seeing several people who looked like students on the school grounds wearing matching shirts that read "HELPER", Rapunzel approached one of them. As she went to one of them, one of the helpers with a black pixie cut turned and smiled at her.

"Hey, my name's Snow. Do you need help finding anything?"

"Actually, yes, thank you Snow. I'm having a bit of trouble finding my dorm. It's Building E, room 8?"

"Oh, that's easy. Just go up the stairs, and it'll be the second door on the right. Come find me if you need anything else."

"Thanks!" Rapunzel headed into Building E, otherwise known as the Enchanted House, and made her way to the room. She weaved her way through a crowd of girls on the first floor, and climbed up the stairs. She inserted the key she had received in the office, and turned. Closing her eyes, she opened the door to Room 8. She opened her eyes to a decently sized room with a two beds, a desk, two dressers, and a nightstand. There were two other doors, on the right side of the room, side by side. She opened both of them, to a bathroom- Thank God, she thought to herself- and a closet. First things first, she decided to start decorating her half of the room and unpack her belongings. She had only brought one suitcase, but the rest of her stuff were in boxes at home, waiting to be shipped within the next week. She started by folding and organizing her clothes into the dressers.

Merida Mor'du was in a bad mood. She was pissed off. Having just turned eighteen last month (If Brave was a modern AU, I'm having the events of the contest happen when she was 14, so this happens four years later. Her brothers are now 8.), she was reminded of when her parents had tried to arrange a marriage, no, a contest, with her as the prize. This was the twenty-first century, where Westernization swept the planet, and arranged marriages were subplots from the Dark Ages. This was America, home of the free, not somewhere random like, for instance, Scotland, or anything. Just because it was a family tradition did not mean she had to partake it in. She had run away then, and prevented the deal from happening. Now she was being shipped to a private school halfway across the country! And worse yet, the three guys that her parents had tried to force her into a trap with were all going to be there. Apparently one of the most selective schools, she hadn't even been the one to submit her own application. Her parents had done it for her, Just because she could take care of herself, and had unintentionally built up a great resume for herself did not mean that she wanted to go to the so called Disney and DreamWorks Academy for Exceptional Young Men and Women. This was absurd. She was going to kill the first person that crossed her, along with all three of those brainwashed bobbleheads- Alistair Macintosh, Bruce Dingwall, and the babbling idiot, Cormac MacGuffin. For goodness sakes, Cormac MacGuffin wasn't even understandable when he had talked, which was rare, because of his rushed, mumbly speaking.

The car stopped, and her mother looked at her, in an attempt to smooth things over.

"Mother, don't even say anything. I don't get why I couldn't stay at the school at Dunbroch. It was perfectly acceptable, and I was doing fine there!"

"Merida- you're so grown up now. I'm proud of you, and your father and I are very sorry about that. We just thought it was for the best. And it's such a little school! You'll have so many more opportunities here."

"Sure, sure. Whatever you say, Mother," Merida said, not caring much.

Elinor Mor'du only wanted what was best for her daughter. The two got out of the parked car, and started taking her stuff out. Merida didn't want any help from her traitor mother, who hadn't bothered to help with her attempts to get out of coming here. They unloaded six boxes and two suitcases and a laundry basket out of the trunk. "Stay here until I find something to help me take those into my room."

Already having been enrolled by her parents, in case she tried to run away, she had no choice but to attend. The tuition that her parents were paying was extravagant, and she might as well make the best of it. Merida walked dejectedly into campus, looking for a cart or something to help carry her belongings. Ahead of her, there was a guy with a rather nice build with an empty cart. She approached him. "Hey, are you done with that?"

He looked at her, and seemed rather surprised. Hesitating a bit, he answered. "This? Yeah! Yeah, I'm done with it."

He was rather cute up close. He had an open, honest face, with a frame of blond hair, with a bulky build of a jock."So then can I use it?"

"Oh, yeah. Of course. Do you want some help with it?"

"Well, since you offered. That'd be great!" They started walking to where her mother was. "My name's Merida, and this is my first time here."

"I've been going here for the last three years."

They reached her mother, and her mother did a double take and reached to hug the boy. "MacGuffin? Cormac MacGuffin? It's been so long!"

"Hi, Mrs. Mor'du. It's nice to see you again," MacGuffin said sheepishly. "Both of you."

Merida looked at him incredulously. "You recognized me, didn't you?"

"Well, yeah. It'd be hard to forget hair like yours, Merida."

Pissed off again, and no longer as impressed with Cormac MacGuffin's looks again, she fumed. "Yeah, whatever. You two catch up, and I'm going to go find my room. Mom, I'll see you at break, MacGuffin- see you never. Bye." She stacked her boxes and suitcases onto the cart and walked away from two opened-mouthed figures staring at her back.

She made a stop at the office to pick up her key and a map and other orientation related things. The Enchanted House. She scoffed at the name. She went up the stairs and into Room 8. The door was open, and the room smelled like paint. There was a girl with blond hair in a ponytail down to her waist. The girl turned, and smiled hugely at her.

"Hi, I'm Rapunzel! It's so nice to meet you. Are you Merida?"

"Yes, I am. Love what you're doing with the room, man," she said, as she took in the room.

"Oh, thanks! Is it a bit much? If it's too much, I can always tone it down, but I think it's turning out nicely so far. I hope you don't mind it." On her side of the room, the wall was painted a dark, rich blue, with bright suns and floral patterns beginning to take shape.

"No, not at all! I might as well have you do something great to my side, too."

"Really? That'd be great! I like you already, Merida."

"You're pretty great too, Rapunzel. I think we'll get along." Merida opened her first box, with a sigh. At least her roommate seemed like a nice person, even if she was a bit too happy. Way too happy. Things could've turned out worse.

A/N: So there's the first chapter, hope you stick with it!