A girl with chestnut brown hair down in a french braid sat in the middle of a library nose deep in a book as she continued on turning page after page. She looked up from her book and looked to her left and saw a girl with long red hair with her elbows on the table and resting her head in her hands as she looked intently on something. To the brunette's right was a girl with porcelain skin and ebony black hair, writing on a piece of paper.
The girl sighed never moving her eyes from her target, "Isn't he so dreamy, Belle?"
Belle only sighed as she put her book on the table, "You know Ariel, you could always I don't know, talk to him."
Ariel sighed as she looked down and pouted, "Whenever I get anywhere near Eric I get all nervous."
"Nervous how?"
"It's like my voice is gone and I can't talk to him. Like I'm able to form the words in my mind but I just can't say them for some reason."
"Just relax and you should be fine."
"I tell myself that every time and the I'm still not able to talk to Eric, no matter how hard I try."
"Your too hard on yourself Ariel."
"I just don't what is wrong with me whenever I'm around him."
The pale girl stopped her writing and gave Ariel a reassuring smile, "But you're always so outgoing just think that Eric is just one of us and you should be fine."
"I can't do that Snow, " pouted Ariel as she looked at the boy again and sighed dreamily. "He's just so dreamy."
Belle had put her book on the table and scowled, "You shouldn't concern yourself with boys too much."
Ariel quickly shot back, "Easy for you to say Belle. Every guy in this school wants to be with you."
Belle smiled and as she chuckled she remarked, "Too bad none of them have a chance for me."
Ariel snorted, "Is that so?"
Belle responded, "Very much so."
"What kind of girl focus on school more than guys?"
"The kind of girl who is the valedictorian."
"Well when you put it like that-"
Snow interrupted the two bickering girls, "As much as I enjoy you two constantly bickering-"
Belle introjected, "I need to ask you something Ariel."
Ariel smiled, "What?"
"What happened to Phillip and Aurora at the aquarium?" asked Snow, "Ever since that trip they been a bit off."
"Off how?"
"They aren't themselves, they just seem well you know. Different. Like something happened to them."
"Off. How?"
Snow shrugged, "It just-"
Belle interrupted, "Aurora used to be so close to us and now she seems all distant. On the other hand Philip is all-"
Snow then finished, "Cold and distant. Like what happened to a cute little couple before? It's almost like they're complete strangers now. What happened to them?"
"Well I-" began Ariel.
Belle nodded along with Snow's comment and stopped Ariel from speaking, "I asked Aurora if anything was wrong and as usual she said she was fine. That's clue number one. Usually when people say they're fine they're aren't fine."
"Okay Miss. I took a psychology course so I know how the world works." mocked Snow.
"Shut up." said Belle as she walled up a piece of paper and threw it at her.
"It's bad enough you can't talk to Eric, we should at least let you be able to talk to us."
"Ouch, Snow."
"It's the truth. So shut up Belle and let Ariel speak up."
Belle glared at Snow who went to file her nails oblivious to the brunette's glares.
Ariel shook her head ignoring their comments, "I know as much as you two know."
"What do you mean by that?" asked Belle.
"Mulan saw them passed out in the middle of the aquarium. Next thing I know is that I see an ambulance come in so I panic and ran to see if everyone was all right."
"You visited them in the hospital right?" asked Belle and Ariel nodded and she added, "Didn't you ask them what happened?"
"Philip told me about how he saw boy dressed in green but Aurora didn't say a thing."
"That's very unlike Aurora."
"Dressed in green?" asked Belle.
"Yes," nodded Ariel, "Philip said dressed in head to toe in green. Aurora however was silent about the whole thing."
"How odd."
Ariel nodded, "You're telling me. She looked pale."
"What kind of pale?" asked Snow as she raised a brow, "My kind of pale or-"
"Paler than that," introjected Ariel, "Like she saw a ghost kinda pale."
"That's pretty pale." remarked Snow as she put the nail filer down.
Belle snorted, "And that's coming from Snow White."
"That's all that I know. Trust me, if I knew anymore I would tell you both."
"I see." mumbled Belle.
"How strange." mumbled Snow as well.
Before anything else could be said the bell rang and everyone rose from the seats. Gathering their books, the trio of girls then stood up and made their way towards the exit. As the trio exited the library the waved and went off their separate ways. Ariel froze dead in her tracks as she saw the raven haired boy walking and talking to his friend. She stood frozen in place as she his dreamy blue eyes and that charming smile of his. Ariel gripped her book closer to her chest as she slowly walked behind him as he turned to his right towards a door to a classroom she soon followed. As he held open the door for her he smiled and Ariel felt her heart explode in seconds. Ariel was soon brought back into reality as she heard someone clear their throat she turned around saw the glares of a girl with auburn hair.
Ariel gave the girl a sheepish smile, "Oh hi-"
The girl drew a hand to her hips and interrupted her, "Are you stuck frozen there or are you going to move?"
"Well I was-"
"Sorry. I just remembered, I don't care. Just next time don't stand in the middle like that. It's rude." retorted the girl.
"Sorry." muttered Ariel as she did her best to avoid eye contact.
"Did you say something?" asked the girl. She sighed and rolled her eyes, "What's wrong cat got your tongue?"
Ariel didn't say anything and went and sat down in of the desks.
The girl mocked and walked past her, "Jeez with the way you were standing still there it was like you saw Medusa or something."
"Sorry," muttered Ariel again softer and much more quiet.
Ariel looked down the ground as she turned her back and made her way towards her seat. As she sat down she felt someone poking her with their pencil she looked and saw that is Belle.
Belle noticed that Ariel wasn't herself. She asked, "What was that all about?"
Ariel sighed and rested and laid her head down on her arms. Muttering, "Nothing."
"That didn't look like nothing."
Ariel raised her head up and sighed, "Do you really want to know?"
Belle nodded and Ariel sighed again.
"You were staring at Eric again, weren't you?
Ariel gave her sheepish smile, "Yeah."
"You need help." teased Belle doing her best to cheer her friend up.
That seemed to work as Ariel stuck her tongue out at Belle and mocked, "Says the girl who owns more books than she has friends."
Belle glared at the laughing redhead and defensively said, "Hey, what's wrong with being well read?"
"What's wrong with having a crush?" shot back Ariel with a playful grin.
Belle laughed, "Point taken."
Chatter in the classroom began to start but as soon as the final bell rang. All the students went back into their seats and older woman wearing a blouse and white shirt walked in and started to walk on the whiteboard. The chatter died down as as the teacher turned around and faced the students.
"Class." greeted the teacher, "We have a new student today. So please stand up and introduce yourself."
The auburn haired girl's hand were still on her hip as she shifted to her right. "My name is Megara."
"Thank you miss for the introduction. Now please sit down."
Suddenly the person who sat in front of Ariel turned and turned around. "Hey."
Ariel looked up and nearly gasped when she saw it was Eric. She felt her palms grow sweaty and and suddenly had a craving for mom's spaghetti. She stood there frozen solid trying to come up with something to say. What seemed to be for several seconds seemed to be forever. .
Eric had broken the silence and smiled at her, "Do you have a pencil that I can borrow?"
Ariel's heart was beating at a frantic rate and she was at a loss of words to say. She felt like someone had casted a spell on her and now she was frozen solid. Meg stopped her walking and saw Eric's look of confusion and Ariel looking frozen solid.
Meg sighed and rolled her eyes as she took the pencil from Ariel's desk and handed it to Eric, "Here I'll save you waiting for an entirety."
"Uh thanks-"
"Meg."
Eric smiled, "Well thanks Meg."
Meg sighed and went back to her sea, "Whatever."
Ariel silently cursed to herself as she began writing in her notebook. She looked at the edge of her left and saw Meg sit down on the desk next to her hers. She saw Meg's smirk has she waved at her but averted her gaze back to the front of the room.
Ariel cursed under her breath, "Nice one Ariel. Nice one."
Belle hide her smirk behind her hand the best she could, but still chuckled, "Smooth."
Ariel turned her head, narrowed her eyes, and glared, "Shut up."
Belle smirked, "Not my fault you can't talk to guys."
"Yeah well it's not my fault that you-" stammered Ariel as she tried her best to come up with something clever to say.
"You suck coming up with comebacks." remarked Meg.
Areil glared the aburn haired girl and turned her head back to the front and resumed writing in her notebook.
Belle laughed quietly and whispered to her friend, "I'm just teasing Ariel, relax."
"Just. Just shut up Belle." whispered Ariel."
"Teasing you just too easy sometimes." mused Belle as she too resumed writing in her notebook.
Class went by and Ariel was in a daze. She still couldn't believe that she actually got to talk to Eric. The boy of her dreams. She sighed dreamily as she was able to get a closer look at those crystal blue eyes of his and saw that warm smile of his. Her thoughts of Eric were now replaced by thoughts of how brash the new girl was. Whoever this Meg was she wasn't afraid to speak her mind it would seem.
"Ariel!" a voice shouted and Ariel thoughts snapped back into reality. She looked to see that her friend and Home Ec partner Tianna was now glaring at her. Tianna was fuming at her as she made a gesture to smoking oven in front of them.
Ariel gasped and quickly bent down to open the oven, "Oh no."
Tiana crooked her head on an angle and saw the brunt dish in the oven. She asked, "How bad is the damage?"
Ariel had brought the dish from out of the oven and onto the stovetop. She sighed, "See for yourself."
Tainna had examined the dish for herself and covered to her nose from the awful burnt smell. She saw Ariel's pout and and gave her friend a reassuring smile, "It's not that bad."
"Are you sure because it looks pretty bad to me."
"You don't have to sugarcoat it Tia-"
"Well I say this. Good thing Snow isn't in this class with us."
"Why?"
"Well you know how much she loves apple pie, don't you?"
"Oh n-"
Tianna quickly interrupted, "What caused you to be daydreaming so often?"
Ariel drew her eyes to the floor and twirled a piece of her hair with her fingers.
"You're crushing on Eric bad, huh?"
She nodded and Tiana sighed. Tianna shook her head and gave her a slight smile, "Well if you're crushing so bad on him, I can help ya."
"How?"
Tiana smirked and began to speak, "Rumor has it that Jasmine's dad is out of town. On a business trip."
"Where you hear that?"
"From the gossip queen herself, Snow White." explained Tianna.
Ariel narrowed her eyes, "That's not really a rumor. Her dad is always out."
Tianna crossed her arms, "Well I was getting to the point, 'till you interrupted me."
"Sorry."
"As I was saying, the rumor is that she is throwing a party at her house."
"Eh, why are you telling me?"
"Well if the party is at Jasmine's house then odds are that Eric is going to be there too."
Ariel felt her face grow hot and tried her best to hide her blush, "Oh."
"What I'm saying is that maybe you'll finally be able to talk to Eric for once."
"Tianna, I'm not allowed to go out. Especially that late and definitely not for parties."
"Right sorry, I kinda forget your dad is pretty protective."
Ariel sighed and started to look off into space again, "I wish daddy would let me go out and hang out with you girls for once."
"Don't be harsh on him Ariel. He just wants to make sure that your safe and all."
Ariel sighed, "I know, but still. I have seven other siblings and he isn't nearly as strict with them like he is with me."
"Well you are the youngest so I-"
Ariel had shot up from her slumped and beamed, "But if it's a chance to finally be able to talk to Eric, then I'll definitely go for it."
"Well that's one way of looking at it."
"So uh Tianna. What time is the party?"