pre-lunch-

"I guess you can, if you don't spy," Jasmine scooted closer into the group.

"I'm not going to spy on you. I guess you didn't see Aurora kick me out. Or me smashing my gumbo in her face. She never liked it." Tiana then went on to describe Aurora's reaction.

"Really? All because you are going out with her ex that nobody knew existed? Because I want the beans on who it is," Ariel never let go of the thought of Tiana as a friend, so she warmed up the quickest.

Tiana had been part of their group before middle school. She had changed, but not really. She tried to be part of the popular group, but she always was a geeky person. Ariel was most affected when Tiana became one in to popular group. They had hung out every day for years, until she kicked her to the curb. But Ariel always liked Tiana, they just grew seperate.

Belle was quite confused. Why was Tiana, a popular girl, sitting with them? Belle thought that she was spying, but her explanation was very convincing. She could always give her a try...

"What happened was Aurora went out with Noah, one of Phil's closest friends. Then Phil came to the school and she dumped Noah. Since Phil is friends with Noah, they vowed not to go out with her because she really didn't care much," Tiana ended her monologue with a huff. Simple enough right?

Most of the girls were swaying for a bit. But Tiana's huff gave them hope. She always huffed when she that something was stupid. And Aurora kicking her out of the group was pretty stupid.

While discussing the earlier events, the girls had failed to notice Erik was waiting by their table. He cleared his throat after 5 minutes of waiting. Was he invisible to them?

"Uh, hi Ariel? I was thinking that maybe the show could be changed to a musical. Since your the head of the script and a-"

"I'd love for it to be a musical! You must have been reading my mind or something!" Ariel bursted with excitement. She got the whole group excited too, it must have been contagious.

"If you don't mind, you could come to my place and help with lyrics. We could record some demos for the director. If that's okay with you, of course." Erik pulled at his sweatshirt nervously. The faded grey color was the result of too many washes on the blue it once was.

"If singing is a problem for Belle then we don't have to, but Phil let his guard down and sang in science today. I heard it was epic." Erik addressed Ariel's only concern.

"Belle happens to be a great singer, so it must be done!" Jasmin butted in to the conversation, earning a glare from Erik. She knew what was going on here.

"Wait. This is the same Phil who nearly left school when someone cast him in a musical for April fools day?" Cindy brought everyone to there senses for a was quickly assured that even though it was the same Phil, there had been a change.

Phil had been watching Erik, surprised at how long he was taking to ask her out. And did he see him talking to- no. He wouldn't. Erik would never even think about flirting with her. She already had a boyfriend. All except Ariel and Belle, and Belle might as well have been taken. But to make sure...

"So Ariel, did he ask you out yet?" It was a real question, but mostly just a entrance line to get into the conversation. Phil had got a hit to the arm, and later Erik had promised to make it hurt a bit more.

Ariel look confused, "Hm? Him? I don't think so. We were just talking about your scene in science." She replaced the confused look with a smug one. She knew this would make him a bit uncomtrable.

"I didn't sing. Nope totally nope." Phil's face was flushed as red as the fire trucks. He didn't want to sing. He didn't want to have to sing. And he certainly didn't want anyone to here him sing.

"Erik told us differently!" All the girls had chimed in. This was their argument. He had to sing.

"Words have gone around,
No escaping us now" Jasmine and Cindy harmonized, hoping they could trick Phil into singing.

"I'm not singing. Don't let Erik trick you into thinking I can." Phil left the girls upset because he didn't sing. But he really left Belle upset, she thought they could trust each other.

"He likes you. It's obvious." Jasmine could point the obvious out. Everyone could tell that Phil liked her. He always helped her in rehearsal, and gave her tips.

"He even told Noah that he liked you," Tiana spoke up. She been silent this whole time, and she finally decided to share her input. The others found this easy to process, but not Belle. She didn't think that Phil could like her, that would be absurd.

"Guys, we're just friends. He couldn't possibly like me," Belle hoped someone would uplift her spirits, but everyone seemed done persuading.

"She's right, rumor has it, Aurora is going out with him," Belle's thoughts were finalized with Cindy's words. They couldn't have been more hurtful, in this matter at least, but they brought light onto the situation.

Everyone was quiet for a bit. The room was still filled with teenagers munching on their food, singing happy birthday to someone, and the occasional "food fight" to see if anyone would start one. But to the five girls, the room was silent. They got a few glances from the table over to see why they had stopped talking but it wasn't very obvious.

Tiana wasn't sure if she should say it, but it need to be said. Soon she just couldn't hold it in anymore.

"That's the biggest lie I have ever heard. Phil can't stand her. She annoys him soo much and you guys think they are going out? That's idiotic," the few people who noticed they were silent were the first to look over. Soon enough, the whole cafeteria was silent and staring for the las part.

Belle got up, "just kidding! He asked me out!"

"Wait, what?"

A/N: sorry? What happened after I posted the last chapter is the cast list came out. I didn't get the part I wanted.(I wanted the witch, I got the bakers wife in Into The Woods.) so I then had 3 rehearsals for that show a week. I just finished Suessical April 2. So I had 5 rehearsals a week. Plus I had Science Olympiad too. (I got third in one of my events!) Btw, this was supposed to be up in April but my sister never posted it./pre