Ok. CHAPTER 25! We are half way through to chapter 30! Wicked, am I right? I got a review who wants some Shulan. XD Ok, no worries, that is gonna happen some chapter, but I need to come up with a plan on how they are going to become romantic interests. So, patience. :)
Actually, hang on. I have a plan. MUAHAHAHAHAHA. It's gonna involve Yao, Ling and Chien-Po. yup
Um, for Ariel and Eric, I am going to do them maybe a few chapter later. I said she is his swimming teacher and I stick to that. But I am going to write a chapter on their next lesson. The next Saturday. This one has already passed. So that will be coming.
For Tiana, she will also be in a later chapter maybe. I still need to get my plans straight.
Rapunzel could be this chapter or next chapter. So look out for lanterns. :)
Plus I want to get Giselle involved in this story. XD
Chapter 25
"You are serious about reading everything, aren't you." Adam said from an armchair. When Belle glanced up at him, she froze, finding it hard to recognize his face for a moment. She had grown too used to a mop of light ginger hair over his face.
"Well, of course. If I could get my hands on some scroll from the Middle Ages, I would." Belle smiled.
"I don't think I have those." Adam frowned, eyes wandering around the library.
"Of course you don't. You really think I'd read something out of the Middle Ages?" Belle laughed.
"Seemed like it for a moment." Adam shrugged, running his hands through his hair which was getting slightly more fluffy and untamed with each rough comb.
"Stop that." Belle huffed, uncrossing her legs.
"Stop what?" Adam asked defiantly, ripping his hand mid-comb and officially destroying the ponytail, that was on the brink of extinction anyway.
"Grr... Come here." Belle ordered, pointing to the ground.
"No." Adam refused, probably already guessing what was to come.
"Three, two-"
"Fine."
Belle smirked, surprised that her tactics actually worked on him. It was like working with an overgrown child. He made his way towards her half-heartedly, and then took his seat on the ground, back facing her.
"You've got to learn how to tie your own hair." Belle told him, pulling out his hair band that was barely hanging on to some last strings of hair.
"Why?"
Belle rolled her eyes, "Because, tomorrow on Monday, this should be your new hairstyle when I see you in school."
"I look ridiculous." He repeated.
"You look presentable." She shot back, raking her fingers through his hair and beginning to pull his hair back together again.
"That hurts-"
"What do you think I go through every morning?" Belle sighed, cutting his protests off as she smoothed out of his hair. There was a pause until he attempted to defy her again.
"Since when do men wear ponytails?"
"Since forever. Want a specific date? Stop trying to win."
"Are you done?"
"Done." Belle announced, pushing her hand into his shoulder blade to help her move away.
"So remember," she instructed him, "Just use a comb and even out your hair when you tie it all up. It's not that hard."
~B~B~B~B~
"Worth it." Belle breathed, nuzzling into her scarf and hugging her chest. She was quickly walking over the dark pavement, her eyes darting back and forth as she approached the next block where her father awaited her with hopefully, good news about the log-cutting machine.
She knew she was entering dangerous territory as she began to pass a small, quaint house with a bright red roof. It wasn't dangerous because there was some creepy old man who sat on the porch with a shotgun, but because of the strange girl Giselle Adams. Belle kept her eye on the front door as she passed briskly, breathing shallowly and praying for the girl not to hop out of nowhere.
"Belle!" called a high-pitched, musical voice, just as she thought that she was safe from Giselle. Belle took a deep breath and wore a fake smile, turning around and staring at the red-roofed house, expecting a Giselle poking her head out of a window.
"Here!" repeated the voice. Belle looked up, squinting as red hair suddenly fell out of a tree, close to brushing her expectant face.
"Hello." Giselle's face suddenly emerged from a cluster of leaves.
"Hello." Belle greeted stiffly, "What are you doing up there?"
It was only polite to make conversation after all.
"I thought I saw a pixie."
"Of course." Belle sighed. Typical Giselle.
"So why are you out so late?" Giselle asked.
Belle bit back the urge to ask, "Why are you in a tree searching for pixies?"
"I went to my friend Adam's house." Belle explained, treading her feet and ready to be on her way.
"We have the same name!"
Belle cringed, realizing she had made the most noobish mistake of mentioning his name infront of Giselle Adams.
"Great observation." Belle said, "I really got to go home-"
"So you are friends?" she asked, beginning to emerge fully and crawl down the trunk of the tree.
"Well, yes." Belle said, eyes widening.
"But then how does he know you love him?" Giselle asked innocently, lip trembling.
"Excuse me?" Belle asked, her eyebrows raised.
"I mean, you can't just be friends." Giselle explained with a frown.
"Why not?" Belle challenged.
"Do you take him out for dancing?" Giselle asked, her eyes wide and hopeful.
"No."
"Do you wear clothes the colours of his eyes."
"Yes, kind of." Belle admitted, gazing longingly at her house only a house away.
"Ooh, how romantic!" Giselle squealed, "Well, remember that before you two get married, you have to share-"
Belle resisted an eye roll.
"True love's kiss." Giselle sang, rocking back and forth.
"Alright, goodnight and happy pixie hunting." Belle said, finally losing her patience and turning away and quickly departing Giselle. She stopped in her path, turning around and remembering to add, "We are not in love! Nor are we getting joined in marriage!"
"You'll come around!"
That was highly unlikely.
~M~M~M~M~
"Fa Mulan!" called a raspy voice over spitting oil that Mulan could hear from her bedroom. It was plain to her that her grandmother had began to cook dinner at 3 in the afternoon.
"What?" Mulan sighed, shutting her laptop and pulling out of her earphones.
"Come down!" it was her mother who spoke next, also sounding slightly impatient. Mulan groaned softly and unfolded her legs, hopping off her bed and making her way downstairs.
"Has anyone seen my bunny slippers?" Mulan asked from the top of the staircase, unwilling to leave the fuzzy carpet for the cold waxed wood floor of the staircase.
"Don't tell me we have to buy you a new pair!" her Mother shouted. Not wanting to trigger a lecture about losing things, Mulan bit her lip and stepped gingerly down the staircase, braving the steel cold floor. She approached the dining table, where her grandmother was busy stir frying prawns, and her mother washed the dishes.
"Eat!" Grandmother called, pointing a bony finger at the table where a plate of leftovers sat.
"What about dinner?" Mulan asked.
"Just a snack." Grandmother said impatiently, continuing to wave at the plate of leftovers.
"Snack, huh?" Mulan snorted, poking at an entire half of a roasted chicken that survived last night's dinner thanks to the countless appetizers Grandmother had prepared.
"So what's up?"
"I have been thinking-"
"We," Mother corrected, drying her wet soapy hands on her apron, "Have been thinking about you."
Mulan grimaced, wondering where this conversation was going. Her mother sat down infront of her, savagely ripping off a leg and handing it to Mulan, who accepted it and began to eat as she watched in amazement as her grandmother single-handedly washed the dishes and flipped prawns around in a pan.
"Now that you're sixteen-" Mother began in her coaxing voice.
"You have boobs!" Grandmother interrupted, causing Mulan to choke on her drum stick.
Her Mother shot a dirty look at Grandmother, before hopping straight to the point, "We want you to take self-defense classes."
"What?" Mulan asked, wide-eyed.
"Yes. Your father agreed to this too." Mother nodded, continuing to pull apart the chicken.
"I am fine on my own." Mulan stammered mid-chew.
"When-" fire blasted up from the stove, "I was your age, we didn't get any classes like that." her grandmother said.
"And we want you to be prepared." Mother explained.
"What if I don't want to learn how to kick ass?" Mulan asked, crossing her arms and getting grease on her sleeves.
"You're sixteen. Every girl needs to know this stuff." Grandmother droned, dumping a plate of steaming hot prawns on the table, and throwing some plastic foil paper to her mother, who automatically covered the prawn up neatly.
"My friend Jasmine doesn't know this stuff, and she happily wears bikinis." Mulan exclaimed, her reluctance only growing.
"Well she's not my daughter." Mother sighed, sucking on a burnt thumb. Mulan huffed and leaning back into her chair. It was blatantly obvious that through the body language of her grandmother and mother, that they didn't give a crap whether she liked it or not.
"So, um, tell me about these classes." Mulan said, continuing to frown.
"All my friends send their kids there." Grandmother raved, finally sitting down.
By friends she meant every other Chinese-American in town.
"Really."
"The ones I make mooncakes with." Grandmother specified with a smile.
"Wait, you mean Yao, Ling and Chien-Po?" Mulan asked, "The sons of your mooncake buddies?"
They nodded.
"But-"
"They are very nice boys." Mother sighed. That was not true. Mulan knew them since birth and things started off pretty smoothly. It wasn't hard to get Ling to like you, with the only step being to stick chopsticks up your nose. For Yao all you needed to do was morph into a punching bag and for Chien Po you just eat his food, no matter how bad it became. But none of these worked once Mulan accidently spilled hot rice all over them at a gathering and it was safe to say they didn't exactly like Mulan. At all.
But it being that their grandmothers were faithful mooncake-factory buddies with Mulan's grandmother, they were forced into hanging around each other.
~M~M~M~M~
"It sounds like the most prestigious school." Mulan groaned, "Students have to wear buns in their hair? What kind of rule it that?"
"A stupid rule." Jasmine said.
"Wait, what was the name of that school?" Aurora asked.
"Huns Taekwondo Academy."
"Sounds familiar." Aurora muttered suspiciously.
"Sounds lame."Jasmine said, sounding like the one who had to go there in the first place.
"Exacty. And I have to go there with the mooncake sons." Mulan added.
"The mooncake sons?"
All three girls gawked at Mulan, Ariel even losing grip of her spoon. Mulan nodded firmly, secretly amused by their reaction.
"Those three boys? The Ling, the Yao and the-" Ariel gasped.
"Yes."
"On the plus side, after learning a couple moves you can probably kick their ass for a change." Jasmine pointed out. Mulan shrugged, still not convinced that this academy might not be all that bad. However, there was a moment of silence when Mulan began to make sense of what Jasmine said, applying it to that strong Chinese culture she knew so well.
"Well actually that's why I'm joining." Mulan said in revelation, her eyes widening.
"What do you mean?" Aurora asked, baffled.
"It started out with Yao. The violent mooncake son."
They nodded.
"Then Ling hopped on then Chien-Po then me. My grandmother and mother just want me to out do them." Mulan finished.
"Ok." Ariel said blankly.
"Com-pe-titi-on." Mulan cried out, clapping for every syllable.
"So they just want you to become a black belt?" Aurora summed it all up.
"I guess. And all this time I thought they just wanted me to learn self defense. Use it against molesters and stuff. Seems like the kind of thing they would do." Mulan said out loud, mostly to herself.
"I just better not mention this to my father. He'd totally send me there too." Jasmine sighed.
"But then we could do it together." Mulan said hopefully.
"Don't drag me in." Jasmine warned, an eyebrow cocked.
"Fine."
"Change of subject: How was Eric, Ariel?" Mulan asked, trying to forget her frustration.
~M~M~M~M~
"I really don't want to do this!" Mulan yelled, racking the mirror as she stared, distraught, into her reflection. She was standing there, in her uniform, with a long white belt around her neck like a scarf.
"Mulan, don't do that! This is fine." her Mother yelled, dragging her out the door.
"Where are you all? I packed lunch!" Grandmother called from the car outside.
"It's 8am!"
"Eat it in the car!"
"Are you ready?" Mother asked, grabbing Mulan by the cheeks at the front door.
"Of course she's ready!" Grandmother laughed, batting her mother's hands away and pulling Mulan towards her like she was a ragdoll.
"I found this cricket in the backyard." Grandmother whispered, pulling Mulan's head to her height, "It's lucky."
She gave Mulan a wink and a toothy grin before producing an actual cricket from her pocket. Mulan gritted her teeth and took a hasty step back, "No thanks."
"Who's driving?" Her mother asked, fitting a cooler box into the boot.
"What is that-" Mulan asked, rushing forward.
"Your lunch, now Mom, are you driving?" Mother replied.
"I drive, I drive."
Mulan opened the cooler box, her eyes widening.
"What is all this food?" Mulan asked, "Twenty plus ham and cheese sandwiches? Ten Arizona teas?"
"You don't like my cooking?" Grandmother accused, highly offended and waving her (dead) cricket in the air.
"It's your lunch. Me and your grandmother thought you would need a lot of food. Become strong." Her mother explained, shutting the cooler box and directing Mulan into the back seat.
"If you don't want to eat my food, fine, give it to your friends." Grandmother sighed, crawling into the front seat with the help of her daughter, "Now, where is the stupid machine?"
"GPS." Mulan sighed, correcting her grandmother, "It's right there."
Her grandmother had received a GPS for her seventy-ninth birthday two years ago, after a history of getting lost in nature reserves on the way to grocery stores or mooncake gatherings. So, she was blessed with a GPS she showed no sign of gratefulness for, christening it 'stupid machine' the day after her party.
"Ah. Where are we going?"
"I'll do it." Mother volunteered, climbing into the front seat, beside Grandmother who was taking the wheel for whatever reason.
"So later, I'm thinking about making some trifle." Grandmother began to say as Mother typed in the address, "Strawberry trifle for the strong girl."
Mulan grunted, "If I make it out alive."
"What do you mean?" Grandmother exclaimed, finally throwing the limp cricket out the window.
"I don't want to go learn Taekwondo!" Mulan muttered, crossing her arms and staring out the window, no interest in hearing about Grandmother's fantastic plans for dinner.
"I don't care." Grandmother dismissed her, snatching 'stupid machine' from Mother, "Hello? Are we done yet?"
"You aren't going to do anything shouting into the machine!" Mother chided, taking 'stupid machine' back and finishing the address.
"Then we will invite the owner and his family over to dinner." Grandmother moved on.
"Hang on, you didn't tell me-"
"His boy goes to your school, Mulan." Grandmother told her, looking at Mulan through the back view mirror.
"What's his name?" Mulan asked, curiosity bubbling.
"Dunno."
"You don't know the names of your guests?" Mulan asked, laughing slightly.
"Doesn't matter. But he is a strong boy, you might like him." Grandmother sighed, fitting on her sunglasses and hat.
"Just because he's strong, doesn't mean I would like him." Mulan frowned, dying to discover who was this 'strong boy' that went to her school.
"I said might."
~M~M~M~M~
Mulan learnt one thing the moment she set foot in the Taekwondo class. It was the fact that she was the only female attending that school. It was so strange and so bewildering that Mulan had take time to plainly asked people if there were actually any female students. Anyone would have thought that at least one other girl in town would learn Taekwondo, but the answer was no, making Mulan wish she had done everything she could to get at least one of her friends to join her.
Settling with the answer of 'No, you are the first female homo sapien to step in here', Mulan eventually realized that the female bathroom was all to herself. So, there was a pointless sum of five cubicles, of which only one Mulan would ever end up using.
Then, of course, came the onslaught of mooncake sons who stumbled past a stunned Mulan without any acknowledgment.
"My mom says tattoos prevent people from harm." Ling said, walking past Mulan.
"Oh yeah?" Mulan said out loud, glaring at the three of them. All three turned around, realizing only then that she existed.
"Hi." Mulan said, giving them a shallow bow.
"I thought you were a man." Yao snorted.
"I thought you were a 'My Little Pony'." Mulan retorted, happily watching his face and ears beginning to grow beetroot red.
"Well you don't have a tattoo, so we can harm you." Yao growled, beating his fists together, and stamping his feet like an agitated rhino. Mulan's eyes widened, and seeing his sloppily planned attack from a mile away, she ducked, tip-toeing out of the way as his fist collided with a sickening crunch into the wall behind her. Mulan stifled a laugh, knowing she wouldn't let him forget this moment too soon.
"Ow!" he yelled, shaking his throbbing fist and stumbling after Mulan.
"Yao, don't get so angry!" Chien-Po exclaimed in his soft voice. Yao eyed Mulan for a moment longer before turning away, "Not worth my time."
"Yeah, I can't believe I almost had the honour of getting punched by mooncake boy." Mulan growled, her anger continuing to shoot out of control.
"Say that again." Yao growled, slowly turning to her again, rolling his sleeves up his arms. Mulan poked her tongue out at him and to her surprise, his face softened and he looked at her innocently.
"Um..." Mulan furrowed her eyebrows, forgetting her irritation and turning around.
"Good morning." Shang greeted her, his arms tightly crossed.
~M~M~M~M~
Mulan burst out of the classroom, her brow covered in sticky hair and sweat and her eyes wide with relief. Her grandmother was already waiting for her, two exploding shopping bags in her arms and a smile on her face.
"Did you eat lunch?" she asked.
"No. There is no time to eat, grandma." Mulan complained, fixing her uniform.
"Then what are we going to do with all that food?" Grandmother asked, pulling Mulan towards her as she lead her to the car.
"I don't know, but the point is, is Shang the owner's son?" Mulan asked.
"So that's his name. Shang..."
"Yes or no?" Mulan asked again, already knowing the answer.
"I think."
"Yes?"
"So? He's a nice, strong boy." Grandmother sighed, getting back into the front seat.
"No. I don't like him." Mulan said, "Please get me out of there."
She was being very serious. There was nothing in that class she liked. From buckets of sweat, humiliation, being the only girl, mooncake boys and Shang to cap it off, Huns Taekwondo Academy was Mulan's literal definition of disaster.
"He can't come for dinner." Mulan continued to cry out as Grandmother tapped pointlessly on 'stupid machine'.
"Why not? He's a nice strong boy!" Grandmother said, still clueless.
"Give me that stupid machine- I don't think he is a nice strong boy! He is horrible!"
Grandmother laughed, "You know, when boys are mean and annoying, that means they like you."
Mulan paused, digesting what she just heard, "Wait- what? That makes no sense!"
"Your grandfather always pulled my hair." Grandmother cackled, hand beating the driving wheel.
"And you married him?"
"It was arranged." she sighed, "So glad he died."
Mulan thought about her late grandfather for a moment. Unsurprisingly, he had died of obesity, seeing that he was addicted to Grandmother's Tou Tiao.
"Ok. We are side-tracking. But the thing is, I don't want him over for dinner!"
"You want me to call it off? What about my shopping?" Grandmother asked with round, innocent eyes. Mulan stared at her for a moment. There was nothing she could do.
"Fine!" she yelled, throwing herself into her seat, "Do whatever you want."
"Then let's go get ice-cream!"
"Not, what I had in mind."
OK! DONE WITH THIS CHAPTER. WOOOF. So I did a little Mulan and Belle in this chapter. Hope you liked my plans for Mulan, I like it. Her family is like... so based off of my family. Or at least the Canadian-Taiwanese part of my gigantic hullabaloo family. So, I loved writing about it, disclaimer I don't live in Canada or Taiwan (i'd like to). Don't even ask where I live. XD But anyway, trust me, I tried to capture that craziness, that food all of that culture. It's hard. Because if I did, there would be no time for Mulan. Yeah. Cray.
So, I don't have much else to talk about. Belle is just growing closer to Adam. But ya'know, barely even friends, then somebody bends. So, who's gonna bend, and how?
And for Mulan... will she survive this dinner?
Stay tuned for more in the next chapter! :D
Freshman (15):
Girls:
-Rapunzel Goth *******
-Anna Summers *
-Merida DunBroch *
-Snow White
Boys:
-Hiro Hamada
-Kristoff Rudd
-Jim Hawkins
-Florian Weber
Sophomore (16):
Girls:
-Ariel Crabbs ****
-Fa Mulan **
-Aurora Bruyère
-Jasmine Agrabah **
Boys:
-Eric Mogensen
-Li Shang
-Philippe Remy
-Flynn Ryder/Eugene Fitzherbert ****
Junior (17):
Girls:
-Belle Se Leva ******
-Cinderella Tremaine
-Elsa Summers
-Tiana Sanders ***
-Charlotte Labouff
-Adella Crabbs
Boys:
-Adam Bete *
-Charles Charmant
-Aladdin Ababwah ***
-Naveen Maldonia
-Milo James Thatch
-Gaston Riou
-Hans Westergaard
-LeFou (real name is unknown)
Senior (18):
Girls:
-Esmeralda Agnes *****
-Pocahontas/Rebecca Powhatan *
-Nakoma Jones
-Kidagakash Nedakh
-Jane Porter **
-Megara Sagona *
-Alana Crabbs
Boys:
-Phoebus Deschamps *
-John Smith
-Quasimodo Frollo *
-John Rolfe
-Tarzan Greystoke
-Hercules Olympus
Extra Little Characters:
-Nina Pelekai (works at a coffee shop along with Esme and Pocahontas)
-Lilo Pelekai (Nina's younger sister who causes hell)
-Giselle Adams (Belle's neighbour)
-Ursula (the malicious life guard)
-Phil (Hercules' bossy uncle)
-Kocoum
-Yao
-Ling
-Chien Po
Staff Members:
Mr Walt Disney- Principle
Ms Helga Katrina Sinclair- Math Teacher
Clopin- Literature Teacher, Head of Drama Club
Mrs Anita Radcliffe- English Teacher
Mr Porter- Biology Teacher
Mr Vincenzo/Vinny Santorini- Chemistry Teacher
Mr Cogsworth- Physics Teacher
Mr Lumiere- Art Teacher
Mr Roger Radcliffe- Music Teacher
Ms Calhoun- PE Teacher, Coach of Soccer Team
Mr Hades- Geography Teacher
Mrs Potts- History Teacher
Dr Joshua Strongbear Sweet- Sick Bay
Babette- Librarian