Over the next week, Cerise spent more time with Daring Charming than she did with any other friend(with the exception of Cedar, who was her roommate). She found through their strange conversations and mild arguments, that Daring Charming was actually a rather interesting guy. He was brave, and funny, and a little bit strange. Cerise put down the taco that she had been eating. He was a little bit more than strange.

The General Villainy project was going really well. She knew from Raven's tales of her and Ginger's families that this was going to be a really hard topic to present. After all, she couldn't walk to the front of the room and say 'All of our ancestors defeated your ancestors, except my mother, who defied the rules and fell in love with the big bad wolf instead, and the person currently teaching this class is actually my father'. Cerise shook her head. She couldn't say that, so she'd have to twist the story a little.

Someone sat down across from her, and Cerise looked up, surprised to find Daring on the other side of the table. She would've pinched her arm if she hadn't been so shocked. Daring hardly ever talked to her outside of class or working on the project.

"What are you doing here?" Cerise asked Daring.

Daring just smiled. "If I'm not mistaken," he said, "you have a free period next period, and I was thinking that we might be able to work on the project."

"We're finished," Cerise said, "And we're presenting today."

"Right," Daring said, "But there are a few things that I want to add before we actually present."

"Like what?"

"Things."

Cerise sighed. "Can I bring my tacos?"

Daring looked down at the four tacos sitting on her plate. She could tell that he was a little surprised that she was eating so many. She smiled. It was a good thing that he hadn't seen the other three, then.

"As long as you promise not to stain the hardwood."

Cerise nodded. "Promise."


Daring Charming had absolutely nothing to add to the project. It was finished, and it looked good too. It was a map of the kingdom with all of the woods and castles where villains were defeated by their ancestors. It was done and that was that. Yet Daring had still gone to talk to Cerise.

He hadn't planned it. All that Daring knew as he walked in to the cafeteria was that she had a free period and he had a free period that he wanted to spend with her. Daring shook his head. He might like her, but he couldn't date her. She was a Rebel, and Daring didn't date Rebels. He was a strictly Royal kind of guy.

He watched her as he led her down the corridor, her eyes closed. He'd have to come up with something to work on real quick if he didn't want her to find out about his little crush.

"We're almost there," he said and she nodded. She seemed to know where they were better than him most of the time.

He reached the intricately carved door and stood there studying it for a moment. Just like with the paintings in the hall, he felt like the Charmings on the door were staring at him with disapproval written on their faces.

"We're here," he told Cerise and she opened her eyes.

She glanced at Daring for a moment before asking, "Are you going to open it or are we just going to study it for the rest of the period?"

"I was going to open it," Daring said and pushed through the door that would only respond to the touch of a Charming.

Daring glanced around the hall that he had seen a million times before. Pictures of his ancestors that used to scare him covering the walls. A portrait of his parents sat at the far end. In it, they were not bickering for once with smiles on their faces looking like the perfect example of true love.

Their project was underneath a bookcase at the far end. Cerise walked over to the bookcase and pulled out the project. Her eyes rolled over the project before flicking over to Daring.

"So, what do we need to do?" she asked Daring.

Daring walked over to the project, hoping that she wouldn't notice the blush that was slowly creeping up his cheeks. He glanced down at the project and let out a sigh of relief.

"We need to write our names on it," Daring said.

Cerise nodded. She took out a pen and scribbled her name across it. She then handed it to Daring and he did the same. When he was done, he rolled the project up and stuck it in his backpack. He looked back over at Cerise, who was sitting at one of the tables devouring her tacos. He took the seat on the other side of the table.

"Are you going to Briar's party this weekend?" Daring asked Cerise.

She studied him for a moment, and Daring realized that what he had just asked her made it sound like he was asking her out on a date. He wasn't asking her on a date. Most definitely not.

"Why?" she asked.

Daring shrugged. "I was just curious?"

"Oh," Cerise said and then she nodded, "Yeah, I suppose I am."

"Good," Daring said, much to the shock of both Cerise and himself. "I mean, I look forward to actually seeing you at one of Briar's parties."

"I go to parties," Cerise scoffed.

Daring just shrugged and smiled. "I haven't seen you at any of them recently."

"That's because I haven't gone to any recently."

"Well, I look forward to seeing you at this one."

"Me too," Cerise said, biting in to her last taco. "Have you eaten?" she asked Daring as he watched her eat.

"I had pancakes for breakfast."

"But you haven't had lunch?" she asked.

Daring shook his head and Cerise fished an energy bar out of her bag and tossed it at him. Daring caught it and began to munch down on it as Cerise finished her last taco.

"That's a lot of tacos," Daring commented, finishing off the energy bar.

"I like tacos," Cerise said.

Daring nodded. "So, are you ready to present this project?"

"Yeah," Cerise said, "But we're going to have to be really careful about it. I mean, it's a pretty sensitive topic. I don't really want Raven to turn me in to a toad."

"She'd do that?"

Cerise shrugged. "If she doesn't, then someone else will."


"And that concludes the history of the Queens and the Breadhouses," Raven said, flicking the storyboard up to reveal a sign with a question mark on it. "Any questions?"

No one raised their hands. Raven and Ginger sat down as Professor Badwolf rose from his seat. He glanced over his listed, making a couple of marks with his pen.

"Alright," he bellowed, "Charming, Hood, you two are up."

Daring and Cerise made their way to the front of the room. Professor Badwolf looked down at his clipboard and mumbled, "This should be interesting," which was the signals for the presentation to start.

"So," Cerise looked nervously out at the crowd, "there actually aren't any villains on the Hood or Charming family trees," She made sure not to look at her father as she said it, crossing to look at Daring instead.

"But," Daring said, stepping forward, "there are quite a lot of villains tied up with the Charmings and Hoods."

Cerise nodded and flicked the pointer to a section of the forest. "For ages the Hoods have been going up against the Badwolfs. Each tale, however, takes its own course. In the earliest of versions the wolf would feed Little Red her grandmother's stewed body. Not knowing what it was, Little Red would eat it."

The looks on the faces of the class members ranged from pure horror to joy. Cerise continued, "Over time, that story lost its appeal and Little Red and the wolf became more docile. There's no more eating of grandmothers, but there are equally gruesome tales where the wolf will get his stomach stuffed with stones or he will be beheaded by woodcutters-"

"Huntsmen," Daring interrupted.

Cerise nodded. "Yes, huntsmen. Though recently the wolf has been getting away unscathed." A general "boo" won't up from the class. Professor Badwolf took out his detention slips and started writing names. "The Badwolfs and the Hoods go way back." Cerise stepped back, which meant that it was Daring's turn. He stepped forward with his signature smile on his face.

"It would seem," Daring said, "that the Charmings have been around forever-and they have. Since the dawn of time, Charmings have been responsible for slaying dragons and defeating evil queens," Cerise heard Raven groan. "The Charmings are part of almost every story. They defeat the evil queen. They break evil enchantments. They bring down the evil fair-"

Daring didn't get to finish what he was saying. A puff of blue smoke filled the room, and Daring Charming was replaced by a rather handsome toad. The Daring-toad looked astonished and croaked loudly. Cerise tried to hide her laughter behind her hand, but it was no use.

Still laughing, she scooped up toad-Daring and turned to the class. "You know," she said, "I told him not to do that. So, I guess that ends our presentation. Any questions?"