"I know every mile will be worth my while. When I go the distance, I'll be right where I belong." - Hercules

Meg's POV

The tick of the clock was monotone, but deafening in my ears, like it was counting down the time until my death by boredom. My stomach growled in protest of not eating lunch on the first tiring day of freshman year. Unlike other teachers, Mr. Scar did not allow eating during lunch detention, because why not just make students already being unfairly punished suffer more by starving them to death? Flynn began tapping his foot two seats to my right and one row behind me and drumming with his pencils. Scar lifted his head from the pile of pile of tests he was grading and sent Flynn a withering glare.

"Do you mind?"

"Oh, not at all, sir. Continue grading your papers if you wish," Flynn answered cheekily with an award-winning smile. I had to bite my tongue from laughing but a small snort still escaped. The dark-skinned teacher raised his eyebrow so high I thought it would rip another gash around his eye.

Scar rolled his eyes and returned to his work just as a Frisbee whizzed through the open window between my seat and the row in front, ricocheted off the back wall, and slammed into his face. I gasped at the impact and the teacher stood up slowly, his wild mane of hair shaking with anger, and slammed his palms into the table.

"Who. Is. Responsible." He said it more as a statement than a question as he narrowed his dark green eyes into slits. Still giggling a bit, I leaned over my desk to peek out the window where the Frisbee had come flying in and saw Esmerelda, her thick mass of dark locks and vibrant aqua eyes chaotic. She was giggling as well, but much louder, and sent me a smirk before poking her head through the window.

"Sorry, Sir. I'm afraid my aim has been just a tad bit off these past few days." Flynn and I gave each other a knowing grin.

"Get in here, sit down, and do not make a sound or so help me I will strangle you. Is that clear?" He growled, literally growled, but Es seemed to be having the time of her life as she grabbed the top ledge of the window and slid into the classroom gracefully. "Please use the door next time, Esmerelda," Scar sighed with exasperation.

"Huh, how did it not occur to me to walk in through the very place most people walk in? I must be really out of it today," she replied with a mischievous tone of innocence, purposefully causing Mr. Scar to rolls his eyes and not notice as she tossed me an apple she had hidden behind her back and a napkin with a chocolate chip cookie folded inside to Flynn. We both gave her a grateful look and I bit into my apple as quietly as I could. Flynn was silent as well seeing as he devoured the entire cookie in one bite. Es plopped into her seat and propped her leather jean clad legs on the table. "Lunch in here can't be too bad," she whispered to me cheerfully.

"FEET! OFF! THE TABLE!" Scar roared, his voice shifting the first row of chairs. Es rolled her eyes and mocked the teacher at his commands but slid her combat boots off nonetheless.

"The things I do for you two..."

"Haha, look, if I put three of my beans together in this shape it looks like a-"

"Esmerelda!" Pocahontas quickly chided Es before she could finish her sentence, but Flynn, Hercules, and I just howled with laughter. "You can't avoid eating your veggies by making them into the shape of genitalia, you know." Es scoffed and rolled her eyes, a small smile on her lips.

"I can do what I want, it's a free island. Also, no one says genitalia anymore. Just call it a di- HI QUASI!" Her words were cut off as she loudly acknowledged Quasimodo, who just entered the dining room, where me, Flynn, Hercules, Pocahontas, and Es were having dinner the night before we had to leave for Disney World.

"Uh, hey Es," Quasi replied quietly, as always, giving his best friend a strange look. Es propped her elbow on the table and grinned at him with the best innocent face she could muster. I took this moment to shove my plate to the side, too worried about the trip, and blurted out the question I had been dying to ask all week.

"Is anyone else scared to death they won't find the bars on time or at all?" The atmosphere of the room dropped as tension built at the thoughts of our expectations.

"I am, but I thought you guys wouldn't understand, being Black Roses and all," Hercules admitted shyly, Black Roses being what other kids had nicknamed me, Esmerelda, and Pocahontas. The others quickly agreed that they were scared, except Flynn who didn't say anything, but that was as good a confession as writing it in stone for him.

"Just because people think we're intimidating, we're not any different, ya know," Esmerelda reminded Hercules in response to his thought that the three of us wouldn't be scared. It bothered Es that a stupid nickname from kids who didn't want to keep saying our long names had developed into a name others used to judge us before getting to know us. As a social butterfly, being considered simply a dark-haired beauty with nothing more in her character was seen as a an obstacle that blocked her from making new friends. I was fine with it, not big on making friends anyways. Pocahontas said people see what they wanna see, and we can only do so much about it. Flynn snorted at Es's defense.

"Are you kidding me? When I first realized you guys were in my grade and we got to know each other, you three scared me so bad I almost didn't talk to you." Hercules and Quasi agreed with him adamantly.

"It was worse for me, I had never been outside the bell tower before, and on my first day in school, the first people I met were intensely gorgeous girls," Quasi laughed, a slightly bitter tone at the reminder of his adoptive father, an ambitious pope.

"Please, I met Wonderboy over here when he saved me from being run over by a horse by picking up the whole horse before it could go farther. I think that qualifies as way more intimidating," I noted, nudging Hercules at the fond memory of how I discovered his incredible strength.

"Look, we're all going to be perfectly fine, ok? I bet students before us have worried about this, and they got through it, so we can too," Pocahontas assured us, always one to believe in overcoming problems. We nodded, and I stood up to clear my dishes.

"You're leaving already?" Es asked, probably disappointed to have a smaller crowd to talk to.

"Yeah, not really hungry anymore," I explained, even though I had barely eaten.

"At least have some pomegranate, I went to the town to get these, and they're super good, but have seeds-"

"No!" I shouted, interrupting Pocahontas rudely. Everyone gaped at me, and I quickly lowered my voice and apologized for my outburst. "I mean, uh, no, thanks. I haven't done any packing either and I should get started on that." They all gave me a weird look but let it go as I chuckled nervously. I left the dishes in the sink since it was Flynn's turn to wash dishes and walked back to my dorm, which was empty since Es and Pocahontas were my only roommates.

Closing the door behind me, I breathed out in exhaustion, and reluctantly dragged my already packed luggage from underneath my bed. I found my makeup remover bottle, which actually held a secret potion. I walked to the bathroom, ran the sink water with the plug on until the sink was halfway full, and dumped one drop of the potion into the water. Hades' face immediately showed up, impatiently tapping his fingers and waiting for my "call."

"Ah! There you are, what took so long?" He asked, fiery blue hair crackling. I opened my mouth to make an excuse but he stopped me with an outstretched, pale, bony hand. "Never mind, I don't want to know. Let's get to the important information. Does he doubt himself?" my master asked, referring to Hercules. I guiltily nodded my head, hand on my cocked hip so Hades wouldn't suspect any weakness. "Good, now we can use that seed of doubt to make him weak! Speaking of seeds, have you changed your mind about the pomegranate seeds yet?" he asked, changing the conversation slyly.

"No. I refuse to eat those and stay in the Underworld, and I'm not going to change my mind," I answered firmly.

"Are you sure? I mean, what do you have to stay for? Your ex-boyfriend who you traded your soul to me for him to be alive again left you for another girl. It seems to me you don't have much luck in love, and it's not like your 'friends' actually care about you." Hades indifferently checked his nails, and I gritted my teeth.

"I would rather be lonely up here than have you as company in the Underworld," I fired back, to which Hades tutted in response.

"What, do tell, are we going to do about that sass of yours, Megara?" I muttered "Meg" to remind him my nickname but he ignored me. "Fine. Be that way. Once you get Hercules down, you'll have your freedom, I promise." I heard Es and Pocahontas in the hallway chatting, footsteps quickly approaching.

"I have to go, I'll speak to you tomorrow night," I hurriedly said, glancing at the door and draining the water out, willing for the now cyan blue liquid to disappear faster. I rushed to my bed and stuffed the bottle back into the front pocket of the suitcase, then threw some clothes out of the suitcase and began slowly packing them back in as my roommates opened the door.

"Hey, you're almost done!" Pocahontas noted as I folded one of the four dresses I had thrown out of the suitcase. "Dang, girl, you're fast." I smiled, which was a hard feat to accomplish as my guilt from lying to them was weighing down the corners of my mouth.

Having already showered before dinner, I changed into my nightgown and slipped under the covers of my purple and gold bed, leaning over to my desk drawer to pull out my glass train. It fit nicely in my hand and I brought it near my eyes to read the small engraved letters.

I sighed, stomach twisting as I listened to the sound of Esmerelda and Pocahontas talking and teasing merrily, laughing when Es got tangled in the sheet covers and fell off the bed. Once I ruined Hercules, I couldn't bear to face the others and keep lying, and I would have to escape to the human world, which Hades had agreed to arrange. I would miss these simple moments with my friends, but I had to what was meant for me. The three words on my train rang in my ears as I put it back in the drawer and closed my eyes.

Defeat for freedom.

Naveen's POV

I laughed, twirling Tiana in the middle of the empty Cooking classroom. The jazzy song playing from my phone ended and I brought her forehead to mine, looking into her chocolate colored eyes.

"See? You can dance. You just need an amazing guide, such as me," I whispered, a teasing smile on both our lips.

"Sure, keep telling yourself that," she responded, pushing away from me gently and picking up the brownie container on the table. "I have to take this to the office for the teachers now."

"Ok, ok. Can I have just one?" I asked sneakily, referring to the brownies since I knew everything edible Tiana made was absolutely delicious.

"I knew you would ask for some, so I made you an extra batch," my kitchen whiz of a girlfriend responded, nodding to another brownie container on the countertop. I grinned in excitement and quickly removed the lid to inhale one, or five. "But!" she cut in before I could take a bite. "Don't eat all of it right now, you'll get a stomach ache. Remember what happened last time I warned you about the beignets and you didn't listen?"

"Ugh, don't remind me. I was sure my insides we're going to melt in my stomach then explode." I grimaced at the horrible memory, then gave her a quick kiss goodbye before she left.

Biting into the brownie piece, I closed my eyes and felt warmth and happiness spread over me. Tiana's food was something special, like you could taste the heart and soul she poured into making each little crumb. I was glad more people could experience this feeling, once she got her restaurant. If she got her restaurant, a tiny voice in my head reminded me, and I shook my head to clear the despairing idea. We would find a way... Somehow. I told Tiana I could always go back to my parents and ask for the money, but she insisted on doing it through hard work. While I admired her independent determination, this was our senior year and things would get much harder once we left school. Just wanting to study music already had me stressed about money, so I couldn't even imagine how she had the mental strength to strive for owning a restaurant.

I glanced at my phone to check the time as I waited for her to come back, but the background caught my eye instead. It was us last year in junior year, after Tiana had been chosen to cook for the end of the year party for grades 8-12, and staff. I had recently just had the nerve to ask her out a couple months prior, and I was hugging her around the waist from behind, a smile on my lips. Tiana was in her apron, holding the wooden spoon from the gumbo proudly, a grin so wide on her face it looked as if she was about to explode with happiness.

I smiled to myself and blinked out of my trance as my phone fell asleep again, and thought about the picture. I wanted her to stay that happy for as long as possible, as soon as possible. I wanted her to keep having faith in herself, never give up, and have the feeling of making people from everywhere happy with her food for forever. No matter what mountain I had to climb, river I had to cross, I would find a way to make her happy.

A/N: Ok so I had this done a while ago, but I never posted it cuz I kept thinking I was gonna add another POV, but I had absolutely no inspiration for the other one, so hopefully I can write that up soon. I'm a huge Belle fan, and when I saw Belle at Disneyland I almost melted cuz she was that gorgeous. Tip: if you need to get somewhere by 9:00, don't see the Paint the Night Parade cuz even though it's supposed to end at 8:50, stupid people who have been warned four times previous to get off the streets will still be on the streets at 8:40 and you will have SEVERAL mishaps trying to make your way to your destination... My editor and I can attest to that.

Editor's note: Buy our fish at 50% off today! They're in a great mood!

... This is why I made her Court.
Best Blue Fairy Wishes,
Coco