6. Ever After
Belle was feeling rather uncomfortable about this whole thing.
"Who invited her?" she hissed at Cinderella.
"Alice," the other girl whispered back furtively. "She thought it might be fun."
"Fun?" Belle asked, casting a dubious eye over to where the young blonde woman was lounging. "She's having fun, all right. Look, she's made Snow White cry already!"
"Maybe you're right," Aurora whispered from her other side. "I'd hate to spoil Alice's party, but…"
"It'll be spoiled anyway if we don't do something," Belle said decisively, and she made her way through the pillows, half-empty nail polish bottles, and teacups that littered the floor.
Larxene was halfway through a detailed account of Aladdin's sordid escapades (Jasmine pretended not to listen as she comforted a hiccupping Snow White) when Belle tapped her on the shoulder.
"Is something the matter?" the Nymph asked, the picture of innocence.
"It's getting late," Belle told her. "Don't you think you should be going soon?"
"Going? I thought this was a slumber party. You know, a 'sleepover,'" Larxene responded smugly. Belle didn't back down. She wasn't as fun to mess with as the others; she hadn't even batted an eye when Larxene told a little story about a certain beastly prince and a mop, but had responded in kind with rumors about the forces of attraction between pink-haired assassins and frosty blond scientists. "Besides, no one else has any of the gossip."
Belle just crossed her arms. Larxene scowled.
"But I haven't even gotten to Eric's thing with tentacles yet," she whined, and Ariel suddenly remembered something she'd left in the oven.