Chapter 8
The next day, all the Royals and Rebels were each still sleeping in their little sleeping bags like logs. Although a few them had to adjust their position or fluff their pillows to get comfortable they managed to sleep pretty well that night.
None of them were aware at the time that sunlight was peeking in through the windows of the shop or that Jared had just entered carrying an air horn.
"Morning guys, rise and shine!" Jared announced as he pressed the button on the air horn and cause all of them to wake up with a start, Dexter even fell off the table he was sleeping on.
"Gah! What was that for?" Cerise exclaimed, rubbing her ears.
"Sorry, had to wake you all up somehow." Jared shrugged. "Now come on, school's a waiting."
They all groaned and mumbled to themselves as they each got out of their respective sleeping bags and stepped onto the cold ground.
"Wow, you guys are not morning people are you?" Jared remarked.
"What was your first clue?" Daring grumbled.
"Hey, no attitude mister." Jared warned him, before he began to leave. "Now come on, time for the official tour."
"Yay!" Maddie cheered. "Isn't that great? We get to get to on a tour of a brand new place that none of us have ever been to!"
"Yeah… we know Maddie…" Raven informed her.
"Oh. Ok, good, I was worried I'd have to tell the story of how we got here again." Maddie shrugged.
"Huh?" They all asked.
"Oh nothing," she smiled.
"Come on, time for the 'tour'." Cerise told them as they each began to leave and follow Jared out of the woodshop room and as soon as they did Cedar breathed a very long sigh of relief before running off to catch up with the others.
A little while later, they all arrived in the school foyer which Bette showed Jared last time he was here.
"Now I've only been around this place once but here we are the foyer, where all students can just hang out or do whatever." Jared said.
"It's massive!" Hunter remarked. "And check out all that neatly carved wood… I think I might cry."
"Go ahead, I won't judge." Ashlynn told him.
"Um… Jared can I ask you a question?" Apple asked.
"What kind of question?" Jared inquired.
"Um… who is the one who rules your country? Do you think the King or Queen may be very viable to helping us?" Apple questioned, politely.
"Yes, maybe he or she might be more polite to us." Daring added.
"Oh we're not ruled by royal figures anymore, it's kind of a democracy." Jared explained. "You know, when people vote on whose going to be in charge?"
Apple and Daring gasped in horror. "How terrible!" she proclaimed.
"Not really…" Jared voiced. "Folks here really prefer it, it makes them happy when someone new takes over."
"Really?" Raven asked.
"Yeah, it's kind of a tradition, you guys do traditions right?" Jared asked.
"Well… I guess you could say that." Raven admitted.
"Then there you go." Jared shrugged.
"Except most of those traditions involves fairy tale kids 'following in the footsteps of their parent'." Cerise mentioned.
"Oh… never mind then." Jared stated.
"How is that a bad thing?" Briar asked.
"Do we really need to go over this again." Jared questioned.
"Uh… no, you made your point quite clear yesterday…" Dexter responded, nervously.
"Good." Jared nodded.
"Hey, guys!"
They all turn and saw a familiar crown, wearing pretty boy with brown hair approaching them. It was Hopper Croakington the II AKA the boy who was sent to the nurse during the Fairy Tale Kids first day on Earth.
"Hopper! You're ok!" Raven said, relieved.
"Yeah… more or less." Hopper before he unexpectedly turned into a frog and dropped into Jared's hands. He held him out disgusted.
"Ew…" he muttered. He turned to the others. "Could someone hold this?"
"Ok!" Maddie said as she quickly took Frog Hopper out of his hands and cuddled him a little bit.
Briar then gazed at the some of the other students and as they pass by, while she looked a bit disturbed by what some of them were wearing she also noticed them carrying little devices that she seemed to recognized.
"Hey! Those kids have MirrorPad's!" she realized. The Royals and Rebels turned and began to notice this as well.
"Hey! Your right!" Dexter remarked. "They all have similar designs to ours too. Just like on our world."
"Jared, how come you never told us your world had MirrorPad's?" Raven asked.
"Those are actually called IPad's." Jared stated, he then turned and gestured to a kid talking on his flat phone. "And that over there is an IPhone."
"Why do they all start with 'I'?" Raven questioned.
"I don't know!" Jared said.
Maddie giggled a bit. "Good one!"
"And moving on…" Jared said, slowly as he began to lead them all away.
Later on they all poked their heads into a another classroom that had long black desks, a projector showing a picture of the inside of a frog and all the students that were seated inside had a dead frog in front of them as well.
"What's this place?" Raven asked.
"Oh, this is biology class." Jared said. "Right now it appears that they are trying to dissect a frog."
Everyone's eyes became as wide as dinner plates after he said this and they instantly froze up as well. Maddie even dropped a tea cup she was suddenly carrying and let it shatter while Hopper just fainted dead away.
"DISSECT A FROG!?" They all exclaimed.
"Yeah, why? You don't have that in your world?" Jared asked, innocently.
"No, thankfully not…" Raven said, disturbed.
"They're cutting one open?" Dexter questioned, equally disturbed.
"Oh is so not just right!" Blondie remarked, disgusted.
"Yeah, not cool…" Cerise agreed.
"Hey, don't look at me, blame the school board, it was their idea." Jared stated.
"Well, it was a really, really, bad idea." Cedar told him.
"Oh, trust me, I know." Jared nodded. "I hate this class…"
"And yet they still do it?" Raven asked. "Even if it grosses some kids out?"
"Yeah, it's supposed to be very educational or something." Jared shrugged.
Daring then walked further into the class, got one look at a picture of one of the dissected frogs and fainted dead away while everyone stared at him blankly.
"So… is he your boyfriend?" Jared asked Apple.
"No... but we are going to get married one day!" Apple said, trying to sound cheerful. "It's our destiny."
"Wow. You must be so proud…" Jared remarked, sarcastically.
"Indeed I am." Apple nodded, sounding pleased.
"Yeah… I don't think that was a compliment." Raven voiced.
"She's right, it wasn't." Jared confirmed.
"Oh…" Apple said, slowly. She then glared at him insulted. "Hey!"
"Ok, let's move on, shall we?" Jared quickly asked.
"Yes, please!" Cedar nodded.
"What she said." Briar added.
"Alright, this way." Jared said as he began to lead them all out of the classroom. Though he did stop when he saw Dexter looking over some text books.
"Fascinating… it never would have occurred to me that…" he began before Jared pulled him away.
"Come on, Dex." Jared told the glasses wearing Prince as he dragged him out of the room while the other Royals and Rebels followed him out.
Jared then began to show them all over the school and introduced them to many things that were similar to the items they had on their world. He showed him various other classrooms like English Class, Science Class, Chemistry Class, Physics, etc. They were all amazed by it and even more amazed that Earth was a world where magic wasn't needed.
Eventually they reached what appeared to be a crossroads, one path going one way and another going some other way.
"And that way leads to the cafeteria… and that way leads to the Gym." Jared explained pointing in two different directions.
"Interesting, we have places like those in our world too." Dexter observed.
"Yep, just take out the Fairy Tale parts of it and our worlds are exactly the same!" Jared pointed out.
"And does everyone here have a destiny?" Briar eventually asked, annoying Jared.
"Ugh, for the hundredth, millionth time… no! Around here, are destinies are up to us and us alone, we're not a bunch of dumb puppets like you royals are." Jared stated, making them gasp. "No offence Cedar."
"Well I'm kind of offended… but I know you didn't mean it," she said.
"Thank you." Jared nodded.
"We are not puppets." Briar told him, firmly.
"Yeah, we just like the destinies that have been given to us." Blondie added.
"And you want them so bad enough you don't care if it hurts others?" Jared questioned.
"Well we…" Dexter began.
"Don't you guys get it? Destiny isn't about following someone else' path; it's a matter of choice!" Jared told them. "I mean come on! When are you Royals gonna get that through your thick skulls!"
Jared then noticed that instead of listening Daring was admiring his reflection in the glass trophy casing and flirting with girls at the same time, his face fell.
"Uh… dude? Are you even listening?" he questioned, annoyed.
"Huh? What?" Daring asked, confused, unaware of what Jared just asked him.
"Never mind…" Jared groaned.
"Excellent, now be a good boy and tell me where all the ladies hang at this little school of yours." Daring told Jared as he walked over to him.
"Uh, dude, we already established that I was not your servant boy, remember?" Jared asked him. The others all nodded and confirmed that this was true.
"Oh really? I wasn't paying attention. In fact I barely paid attention to a word you said, for I was thinking of something else." Daring admitted.
"Was it about girls and your looks?" Jared guessed.
"Ha! Like I need to explain myself to you." Daring huffed, arrogantly. "But... yes. Now as the next Prince Charming I demand that you tell me where the ladies are, little man!"
"You're not the boss of me, Prince Stupid." Jared stated, scowling.
"Don't call him stupid!" Apple said, upset.
"Yes, to call him stupid would mean insulting all the other stupid in the world." Jared nodded, bitterly. The others all gasped.
"Oh, no he didn't!" Cedar breathed.
"You little boy are in a great deal of trouble." Daring told Jared almost threatening as he approached him. Then Hunter stood in front of him.
"What? You gonna do something about it?" Hunter stated, firmly.
"Yes, he is." Briar confirmed.
"After all unlike you, he is the hero of his story." Blondie added.
"Not if we can help it!" Raven declared.
"We'll see about that!" Apple huffed.
The two groups then began to argue and shout, much to the annoyance of Jared who crossed his arms and sighed before walking over to them.
"Wait! Stop! Enough already!" Jared cried as he got in-between the two groups and got them to back away. "Who really wants to settle things this way?"
Both groups slowly raised their hands.
"Ok… I can understand why the Rebels want to, but really, Royals… are you telling me you want to be something like a King or Queen your whole lives?" Jared questioned them.
"Of course we do!" Daring stated.
"Yeah… it's the only paths we know." Hopper added.
"And we want to become the next Snow White, Frog Prince, Sleeping Beauty or Prince Charming." Apple said.
"But haven't you wanted to be something else?" Jared asked, honestly. "Don't you have your own dreams?"
"No! I like my destiny! It's what I have always wanted to do." Apple replied.
"Wow, then you have a one track mind sister." Jared remarked.
"Hey!" Apple White said, insulted.
"You can't talk to a Princess like that!" Daring scolded.
"Technically… he kinda did." Dexter pointed out, which earned him death glares from the other Royals.
"Look, just because someone calls you or treats you like something…" Jared began, looking towards Raven. "It doesn't mean you are it. The thing that actually matters… is what you think of yourself. You are who you choose to be. I mean… Dex!"
"Yeah?" The glasses wearing Prince said, surprised that Jared called him.
"You said that because Daring was the oldest he gets to be the next Prince Charming, but is that really what you want to?" Jared asked him.
"Well… I kinda would like all the attention Daring gets…" Dexter admitted while Daring flashed a smile at two girls who fainted lovingly.
"But you already said that that role was already given, so what's left for you, huh?" Jared inquired. "I can tell you're a smarty-pants so you should be able to figure out what your good at and what could be doing with your life easily. Plus…"
Jared then turned his attention to Raven. "Do you really want to live in a world where Raven is the enemy?" he added. A sad look then began to appear on Dexter's face as he began to consider the point Jared was trying to make.
"Ashlynn, if you go down the same path as your mother then you'll never be with Hunter again, so which is more important to you? Your relationship with him… or the destiny someone has already set for you?" The thirteen-year old asked the daughter of Cinderella who looked over much torn.
"Hey! Stop talking to them like that! They're stories need to be on the path they were given or else… bad things will happen!" Apple despaired.
"Actually… if you remember on Legacy Day, I didn't disappear when I refused to sign the book." Raven pointed out.
"Well that's good!" Jared smiled.
"It's still dangerous!" Apple reminded them.
"So even though Raven didn't disappear because she didn't sign some stupid book and follow her destiny… you still think something bad is gonna happen?" Jared questioned Apple.
"Uh-huh!" she nodded.
"You are a sad, strange little girl and you have my pity." Jared said to Apple while shaking his head, before turning to Daring. "An you, sir, are the most uncharming prince I have ever met, just like your fellow pain-in-the-neck royals!"
The Royals all gasped, shocked and insulted while the Rebels watched on with wide eyes and interested looks.
"Ooh! This is getting good!" Maddie said, sipping her tea.
"Boy… he hates them more than we do." Hunter remarked.
"But he's also kinda right." Cerise pointed out. The other Rebels then started to agree.
"Now let's just keep on moving and keep all our opinions to ourselves, ok?" Jared offered.
"Agreed!" Hopper nodded.
"No! Not if she's gonna still be here!" Blondie stated, looking at the Evil Queen's daughter, who frowned. "It may be wrong but at least one good thing comes out of Raven not being a part of Apple's story; she won't have to deal with her anymore!"
"So now this is her fault?" Jared inquired, gesturing to Raven. "But she hasn't done anything wrong!"
"My story isn't about her!" Apple exclaimed. "It's…"
"Right, it's all about you! Because that's all you care about! You talk about being a good Queen, but a good queen doesn't force someone into a destiny that she doesn't even want just so you can have yours. You're no queen, you're just a selfish child!" Jared exclaimed.
Apple gasped and automatically started crying, with her friends all comforting her, Jared looked at her sadly, feeling guilty for what he said.
"Maybe you should apologize…" Ashlynn told Jared before all the Rebels exchange looks and nodded.
"Or maybe it's better that we all stay out of each other's way for a while." Hunter stated, which saddened Ashlynn.
"Agreed." Raven nodded.
"Come on, let's go." Jared told the other Rebels as they began to walk away from the Royals with disgruntled looks on their faces. But before they could go any further Dexter stepped toward and called out to them.
"Wait! I'm coming with you."
The Rebels and especially the Royals all looked surprised by this as Dexter walks over to where Jared and Raven were.
"Dexter?" Briar asked, surprised.
"Are you kidding me?" Daring said, incredulously.
"Sorry Daring, but the kid's right, it's time I followed my own path. I don't belong with the Royals and neither do you Ashlynn, not unless you wanted to be separated from Hunter forever." Dexter told the still torn Princess who eventually, after a long pause, walked over to Jared and the other Rebels and hugged her boyfriend.
"Ashlynn… not you too…" Apple said, sadly.
"Your disgracing your family little brother, you know that." Daring reminded Dexter a bit smugly.
"Hey, I've heard all the nonsense you have to sell me… between your nonsense and their nonsense… I like their nonsense better. At least they're trying to do something." Dexter stated.
"And they're kinda right, but your all just too stubborn to see it." Ashlynn said, sadly as they begin to walk away again.
"Guys… I try but I just don't understand you Rebels…" Apple sighed, sadly.
Jared turned to her with a sad smile. "I hope someday you will," he admitted as he, the Rebels and the now smaller group of Royal began to take different pathways that lead to opposite sections of the school, dividing them even more.
