Punzie had always loved painting. It wasn't just the beauty it created, it was the way the paintbrush could change the paper forever with a single stroke.
Drawing with charcoal was almost as beautiful. She sat on the bleachers patently waiting for school to start, and regretting her decision to come to school so early. So she had decided to work on her art homework, drawing something from memory with charcoal. Thinking of Hiccup, she had started drawing a dragon, but it was proving more difficult than she had expected.
She had almost given up and drawn a sun when her light was blocked by three heads.
Punzie looked up at the cheerleaders who had approached, she'd never officially met any of them, but as was the way with Royals, she already knew who they were. Jazz was the dark haired beauty with the dark skin, Ariel had red hair that always floated around her as if she was under water, and Aurora was the blonde that slept through Punzie's Algebra class.
"Um, hi?" Punzie said. "Can I help you?"
"Hi!" Aurora smiled excitedly. "Jazz and I have a bet, and Ariel has an opinion, about you and Jack."
"There is no me and Jack." Punzie said firmly.
"Not yet, but rumour has it that he's planning on asking you out!" Jazz said.
Punzie burst out laughing, "That's not going to happen!"
"Maybe, maybe not," Ariel said, "Either way, we'd really love it if you could inform us on the romantic side of it!"
"Huh?"
"When, slash if, he asks you out, can you tell us?" Aurora rolled her eyes.
"I guess, but I doubt it'll ever happen."
"Yay! Here's my message name!" Aurora handed her a scrap of paper with a squiggle of pink ink on it, "Tell, me, like, immediately!"
"Sure." Punzie sighed, and the three girls skipped off to join the rest of the Princesses as the bell rang.
"Dude, it's like, Thursday." Mavis said as she and Punzie walked into the cafeteria, "Where did the week go?"
"In my opinion, very very slowly." Punzie said.
"Hey Punze! Mavis!" Hiccup waved from the table filled with Artsy Fartsies.
As soon as they had sat down, Merida bounded over.
"Tadaa!" She announced, showing off a piece of paper to the whole group seated.
"What is it?" Punzie asked.
"It is an invitation to the first Royal Ball of the year!" Merida said proudly before sitting down between Sandy and Mavis.
"Two questions," Jack said, "One, how did you get an invitation to a Royal Ball? And two, what does this have to do with all of us?"
"Well, Jack, my friend," Merida stole one of his French fries, "I got it because I am a now a possible recruit for the honorary princesses! And, I can bring whoever I want, so ya'll are coming!"
There was a short silence before everyone burst out with laughter.
"You? A princess?" Jack spluttered.
"Who died and made you royalty?" Mavis snorted.
"For your information, I am perfect materiel for a princess!" Merida crossed her arms over her chest, "And I don't appreciate your reactions."
"I'm sorry, Merida," Punzie wiped tears from her eyes, "It's just, of all people, you are the last one I expected to be Royalty!"
"Well, honestly, I think the only real reason that I am is because Johnny wanted to ask a certain someone to the ball, but couldn't without betraying his feelings." Merida slyly glanced at Mavis, who was now, apparently, choking on her own saliva.
"We could do a quadruple date!" Pascal clapped his hands excitedly, "Have dinner then go to the ball, all of us and Johnny, it's perfect!"
"Wait, who makes up these four couples?" Hiccup asks.
Mavis rolled her eyes, "Duh, Hiccup, me and Johnny, you and Merida, Jack and Punzie, and Sandy and Pascal!"
Jack and Hiccup both spluttered.
"Me and Merida?!" Hiccup gasped.
"Pascal and Sandy?!" Jack gaped.
Punzie sighed and put one of her hands over each of the boys' mouths to keep them from gabbling on.
"Man up, both of you." She said, "Everyone knows that you and Merida like each other, Hiccup, and Jack, you're supposed to be Sandy's cousin! Don't tell me you have noticed his sexuality!"
"Technically I'm his adoptive nephew." Jack said from under her hand. "And I've spent all day fighting up the courage to ask you out, and bloody Pascal does it before me?! What has the world come to?"
Punzie yelped and brought her hands back to herself, "You were really going to ask me out?"
"Well I can't now because it seems like we're going on a date anyway!" Jack complained as Punzie's face broke into a grin.
She threw her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek.
"I ain't kissing you." Merida told Hiccup.
"I'm fine with that." Hiccup agreed. "So, what do ya say, platonic?" He put out his hand.
Merida sighed. "Platonic." And shook his hand.
"So, it's all sorted then?" Pascal translated Sandy's hand signals for him.
"Oh, yeah, very, except the very tiny fact that Johnny knows nothing of all this?" Mavis put her arms out to emphasise her point.
"Actually, it was his idea in the first place." Pascal indicated to his phone.
Mavis's surprised yelp was drowned out by the school bell signifying the end of lunch, and everyone went on to their classes laughing.
"Mr. Frost, I would most grateful if you allowed Miss Tower to handle the harmful chemicals to avoid an incident like yesterday." The chemistry teacher, Mr. Maurice, told Jack as the class laughed.
"Yes sir, that sounds like the best idea, I will sacrifice the fantastical experience to Punzie, though it pains me greatly." Jack answered dramatically. Maurice rolled his eyes and went back to teaching.
"Psst, Punzie!" Came a voice behind her. Punzie whipped her round a little too fast.
"Jazz?" She whispered, in the whole week and a half of the school year, she hadn't noticed that Jazz and her boyfriend, Ali, sat right behind her in Chem.
"Yeah, who else?" Jazz rolled her eyes, "Did he ask you yet?" She indicated to Jack, who was trying to look like he wasn't paying attention to them.
"Kind of." Punzie explained the quadruple date.
"That's so much less romantic." Jazz said, "I'm going to have a word with Johnny about it."
"Something you ladies would like to share with class?" Maurice called to them.
"Only how hot the Princes looked at practice today." Jazz told him, and every girl in class giggled.
"Ahem!" Ali faked being offended.
"Don't worry, you're hot too!" Jazz assured him.
"Yes yes, very funny, now if we could get back to the lesson at hand? Without the gossip?" Maurice went back to explaining the properties of hydrogen peroxide as Jazz winked at Punzie.
"What was that all about?" Jack whispered to Punzie.
"Nothing, girl stuff." She whispered back.
"You have girl stuff talks with Princesses?" He commented, "No wonder our group is being roped into Royals."
Group chat.
PrincessRapunzel6: What day is the Ball?
MissDracula: My dad wants to know if there'll be alcohol.
JaneInTheJungle: Am I invited?
MrSandman: πβ
Merida101: Saturday. I doubt the use of alcohol, they're all goody two shoes. Sure, you can come Jane. And I think either Hiccup or Mavis's dad is driving us.
PascalCrayon4: I can drive Sandy, Jack, and Punzie, they're all in my area.
HicHicHiccup411: I'll take Mavis and Merida, and Johnny if he needs a lift.
PascalCrayon4: Johnny's parents own the restaurant that we're going to, but if you can take him from there to Cindy's then it would be most appreciated.
PrincessRapunzel6: Were going to Cindy's house? Isn't her family super mean?
Merida101: Her dad and stepmom are having a 'second honeymoon' and her stepsisters are going to some concert in Chicago. So she's home alone.
MrSandman: ππ©πΈβ
Merida101: No, it's not that kind of ball, Sandy, it's just a normal party that they call a ball.
PrincessRapunzel6: If it's not a proper ball then how should I dress?
MissDracula: I'm going for not too casual, but not too fancy.
FrostFlake: Can't you talk about dresses at school rather than exploding my phone?
A/N
This chapter was so much fun to write! And Pascal finally spoke!
What do you think about Pascal and Sandy? I'm still not too sure about it because it makes no sense with cannon but sorta happened with how I wrote them.
And we've met some more Princesses! They'll be more of them in the next chapter, and maybe a couple Princes, too!
See you then!
