Hey Cuties!

Welcome to the Princess and the Frog! This is a cute little mini-fic that I wrote up sometime last year but never got around to posting. Since my 2-year ficiversary is around the corner, I figured I might as well share it. 10 chapters that will post daily.

This story is self-beta'd.

Chapter 1: Bella

"All right girls!" Rose called, clapping her palms together to get everyone's attention. "Great work today! Go home, rest up, and get ready for the first day of school tomorrow!"

There was a round of cheers from the girls in response to Rose's words, and she grinned wide. Rose turned her light-purple eyes on me, her smile still bright. "You ready, junior captain?" she asked, coming over to me. I nodded, wiping sweat from my forehead with the back of my hand. I bent over to pick up my water bottle, grabbing Rose's for her while I was down there. I stood up and offered it to her. She took it gratefully.

"I'm ready," I told her before taking a sip. "I can't believe I got voted for junior captain." When I had been a kid, I'd been the most uncoordinated kid in town. I was a walking disaster and I never would have dreamed I'd be able to get on the cheer team until my mom enrolled me in a cheer camp the summer before freshman year. I'd been furious, and terrified, but I'd gone because despite it being my worst nightmare, it was a chance to get out of Forks for the summer. I'd gone down to the camp that was hosted in Tacoma, and to my great shock—and everyone who knew me—found out that I was actually a really good cheerleader. I was flexible, and strong despite being completely uncoordinated. When I got back that summer, I enrolled in a tumbling class, and by September, I was trying out for the squad.

It had been the absolute best part of my life over the last two years. I had no idea how much I'd love cheerleading. Mom always hoped I'd be a cheerleader—her being the cheerleader captain herself when she was in high school. She'd held out hope, but I don't think she ever expected me to actually take to the sport.

I looked at Rose, our senior captain. She'd been my mentor since day one on the squad. She'd only been a sophomore when I'd joined, but her confidence and skill had made her a natural leader on the squad. She'd been the Junior Captain last year, and this year, the squad was finally hers.

"You still up for coffee?" she asked, looking me over. I nodded, capping my water.

"Yeah, absolutely."

All summer Rose and I had been leading practices with the girls. A couple of times a week, the two of us would head to the only coffee shop in town, a tiny Starbucks, and we'd discuss the squad and what our goals were for the year. Well, that had been how things had started. Now, we usually went for coffee and gossiped.

Rose smiled at me, nodding to her car. It was a shiny new red Honda, and though it wasn't overly extravagant, any new car in the student lot at our school stood out like a sore thumb. Rose had been saving since she was twelve, and finally, at the beginning of the summer, she'd bought it. Usually, if we were going anywhere together, Rose drove us. I had a beat-up old truck that used to belong to my dad that I was allowed to drive, but more often than not, it stalled out on me, and it was easier to just ride with Rose.

We scooped up our cheer bags and headed toward her car. Across the field, the football team was still running drills, and Rose paused, her tongue swiping across her bottom lip as one of the guys shouted victoriously. I smiled at her. "Do you want to wait for him?" I asked. Rose dragged her attention away from the massive football player and looked at me. She and Riley, our school's star quarterback, had been together nearly all of high school. As a result, I'd spent a lot of time with Riley and he was one of my closest friends. Rose shook her head.

"I'll see him tonight. It's girl time now," she said shaking out her hair. Her blond ponytail swayed behind her and I smiled, nodding. We put our cheer bags into the trunk and climbed up front. "You know," she said starting the car and glancing at me. "Ri said that Mike was asking about you, again."

I sighed. Mike was a wide receiver on the team and had been dropping hints since last year about us getting together. He hadn't explicitly asked me out, and I had tried to avoid leading him on in any way, not wanting to face the awkward conversation. There was nothing inherently wrong with Mike, he was cute, popular, and really nice. I'd known him as long as I'd known most of my peers—since we were toddlers—and maybe that was the problem. It felt weird dating someone in my friend group. Most of us just knew too much about each other, the curse of growing up in a small town I guess.

Beside me, Rose snickered, and I looked at her. "I have a feeling he's going to be asking you out any day now," she said, turning the car on. I grimaced.

"Thanks for the heads up, I'll make sure to dodge him," I joked. Rose laughed as she pulled us out of the parking lot. I stared at the tiny modular buildings that made up our high school. Tomorrow was the first day of my junior year, and though I'd loved the summer off, I was actually excited to get back to school. Being a cheerleader had brought me out of my shell and had opened up my social life tremendously. Though most of my friends were on the squad with me, plenty of my friends weren't, and I was excited to see them all again.

Rose navigated us through town toward the Starbucks. It was crowded, like it always was, being the only coffee shop in town.

Rose parked and we headed inside. Rose winced when we cleared the doors. "Why don't you get us a table and I'll get the drinks," I told her. Rose nodded and started walking through the coffee shop while I hopped in line. There weren't too many people waiting to order, and soon enough, it was my turn.

I recognized the girl at the cash register, though we didn't travel in the same social circles. She was a tiny little thing with a black pixie cut that actually looked pretty good on her.

"What can I get you?" she asked, no hint of a smile on her face. I smiled at her anyway.

"Hi! Can I get one iced green latté with soymilk and one iced mocha, please?" I ordered. She frowned at me.

"You know soymilk doesn't have fewer calories," she said, shooting me a look. I blinked.

"What?"

She rolled her light green eyes and leaned forward. "Soymilk doesn't have fewer calories than regular milk," she said slowly. Her tone was harsh and condescending, and I frowned at her. What was her deal?

My eyes narrowed and I leaned in toward her a bit. "No, but it won't put my friend into anaphylactic shock either," I hissed. The girl's mouth pursed, and she punched the order into the screen. I threw down a ten-dollar bill on the counter without seeing the total and the girl huffed, picking it up and punching numbers on the till. She handed me the change and I took it, pocketing it. Had she not made such a comment, I would have happily tipped the leftovers in the tip jar.

The girl glared at me as I moved away from her. What a bitch.

I moved to the side of the counter while I waited for our drinks. On occasion, people recognized that I was a cheerleader and lashed out like that, but it had never been so unprovoked before. Sure, sometimes my friends and I were loud and annoying, I got that, but I'd been perfectly pleasant to her.

"Bella?"

I looked up at the sound of my name. A guy I kind of recognized was standing behind the counter, sliding my drinks to me. He was wearing a backward black baseball cap and I couldn't see his nametag, but I was sure I knew him from school. I smiled at him, reaching out for the drinks.

"Thanks!" I chirped, stepping away from the counter. I moved through the busy coffee shop and found Rose sitting at a table while a few people stood around her. I smiled to myself. That was Rose, always drawing a crowd to her.

I moved past everyone and sat down across from her, sliding her drink over the table in front of her. "Thanks!" she said, taking the green tea latté. I nodded. "Bells, you remember Tanya's friends, right?" she asked. I looked up at the people around us. Tanya was Rose's older sister and had been the cheer captain before our time. I recognized a few of them, though I'd been a freshman when they were seniors. "Yeah, hey," I said smiling. There were two girls and a guy, though I couldn't quite remember their names.

"Hey Bella, Rose was just telling us you made Junior Captain. That's awesome," one girl was saying. I smiled at her, trying desperately to recall her name. Was it Irene?

"Yeah, thanks. I'm pretty excited," I admitted. They nodded.

"Have you given any thought to cheering after high school?" the other girl asked. I looked at her in surprise.

"Oh, I don't know. I think right now I'm just trying to pass high school," I joked lightly. They all laughed.

"We get it," the first girl said. "But hey, if you decide it's something you want to do, give us a call. We're pretty well connected, and we could put in a good word for you."

I didn't quite know what that meant, but I smiled at them, nonetheless.

"That's great, thanks!"

They smiled and turned to Rose. "It was great seeing you, Rose. We'll catch up again soon, alright!"

Rose nodded and watched as the three of them left.

"Names?" I asked, desperately. Rose snickered.

"You are the worst with names," she teased. I huffed but she grinned and nodded to them. "Irina, Maria, and Alec," she reminded me. I let out a long breath.

"I was close," I grumbled. Rose snorted and I grinned at her. "Are they all at Brown with Tanya?"

Rose shook her head. "No, they are at UW. Everyone was so mad at her for leaving the group, but I think it was probably for the best. She's got new friends at Brown whose worlds aren't quite so small."

I stared at her in surprise. Rose had never implied before that she thought there was anything close-minded about our town. She'd only ever had positive things to say about it.

Her lavender eyes met mine and she frowned. "What?" she asked. I blinked, shaking my head.

"Nothing," I looked down at my drink in thought. I knew Rose was graduating this year, and she'd be heading off to college, but I guess I hadn't thought too much about it. I assumed she'd be heading to UW like most of the students at Forks High had planned. What if she was planning on going further? What would happen to our friendship?

"I can hear you overthinking," she said quietly. I looked up at her and saw a smile on her face. "Tell me what's up."

I shrugged. "I guess, I just realized this is our last year in school together," I said, shrugging. Rose let out a little breath and reached across the table to hold my hand.

"Hey, you're my best friend," she said quietly. "Literally, there isn't a place in this world I could go where that wouldn't still be true. You and me, B, our friendship is going to outlast this town."

I smiled at her, squeezing her hand.

"You're a good friend, Rose," I told her. She smirked, shaking her ponytail again.

"I know." She preened. I laughed and she grinned. "You are too, B. I mean it. One day, we're going to have fabulous lives, away from this place. It's going to be amazing; you'll see."

Rose and I finished our coffees before deciding that we needed to head home to get ready for the first day of school. She drove me home, promising me she'd be by first thing to pick me up in the morning.

In the living room, I found mom humming off tune to herself, her legs folded under her as she sat on the floor in front of the coffee table. She had a big notebook spread out in front of her, and I could see her colorful pens scattered around her. The page she was writing on had at least seven colors already.

"Hey, mom," I said, dropping my cheer bag. She looked up at me, smiling.

"Hey baby, how was practice?"

I moved to the sofa to sit across from her. "Good," I said, shrugging. Mom nodded, turning back to her notebook. "What are you doing?"

Mom glanced up at me. "Oh, these are my notes for the Harvest fest committee," she said glancing down at the book. "Rebecca Stanley tried to suggest streamers, in the middle of Harvest Fest. Can you believe that?" Mom shot me a look and I smirked. Mom taught fourth grade at the elementary school, but in between teaching, she was heavily involved with town events. Not that we had many events. There was a Harvest Festival that we tried to hold outside—though inevitably it moved from Mr. Johnson's farm into the community hall due to rain, every year. Then there was the Christmas market that was also hosted in the community hall. The Taylors took advantage of that one and set up a Christmas tree stand in the parking lot. Anyone in town that didn't chop down their own tree, bought one from the Taylor's. Mom was trying to get a town Easter event going, and this year had been the first full run of the event. It had been small and had also been held in the community center, but mom had hopes it would take off next year.

"What's the theme this year?" I asked. Mom looked up at me and grinned.

"Picture this," she said fanning her hands in front of her, a pen still tucked between the fingers of her left hand. "Cinnamon. We'll have a cinnamon baking contest, and cinnamon-spiced drinks and Billy Black even thinks he knows a guy who will even donate a cinnamon carving. Imagine, the school mascot in cinnamon!" she said, her eyes wide. I stared at her, not entirely sure what to say. Mom was eccentric, and though I loved her, sometimes I didn't quite get her. I guess I was just too much like my dad.

"Sounds like you've got it sorted out," I said slowly. Mom nodded, grinning and tucking the pen behind her ear.

"You'll see Belly, it's going to be wonderful and delicious," she said, smacking her lips. I smirked and shook my head.

"Okay, well, I'm going to shower," I told her standing. She looked up at me.

"Okay baby. Do you mind helping out with dinner tonight? I gotta finish these notes and get them to the committee tonight or Rebecca is going to be completely unmanageable," mom huffed. I snorted and nodded.

"Sure mom, I'll start it when I'm done."

Mom grinned, turning her attention fully to her notebook again. I smiled to myself as I made my way upstairs to my room to grab a towel. Mom might have been odd, but there was hardly anyone in town who didn't adore her and didn't absolutely love the festivals she managed to pull off.

I took my time in the shower, spending time shaving and primping for my first day of school tomorrow. I wasn't a knockout like Rose, but I knew I was cute and enough guys hung around me to let me know that I was at least appealing to them. I didn't spend inordinate amounts of time on hair and makeup, not usually, but I did love to pamper myself every once in a while.

When I was done in the shower, I spent time washing my face before applying a mask to it. A couple of years ago, mom and dad had finally added on a master bathroom to their room, which meant that though my bathroom was also the guest bathroom, I basically had it to myself. I took full advantage of that now.

When I was done, and just waiting on the mask to dry, I went back out into the kitchen to start some dinner. Mom was on the phone, curled up on the sofa now, her head bobbing up and down as she nodded vacantly to whatever the person on the other end was saying. I glanced at her as I passed by, but she didn't even look up.

In the kitchen, I pulled out the chicken we'd set in the fridge to defrost last night. I took a quick look over the contents of the fridge and realized someone would have to go grocery shopping soon.

Sighing, I yanked out as many vegetables as I could manage and dumped them all on the counter.

I heard the front door open and slam shut with a heavy thud. I glanced up through the doorway into the living room. Mom hadn't even flinched. Our door was way too heavy, and dad kept saying he was going to get it fixed so it wouldn't rattle the windows when it shut, but so far he hadn't done a thing about it.

A second later, dad was clomping into the kitchen, his holster empty at his waist. "Hey Dad," I said nodding to him. He looked at me in surprise before smirking, his mustache twitching slightly on his face.

"Hey, Bells, I think you got a little something on your face," he said, opening up the fridge. I frowned, then belatedly remembered the mask.

"Ha-ha," I said dryly. Dad grinned as he cracked open a beer.

"What's for dinner?" he asked, eyeing the vegetables warily. I glanced at them.

"I was going to do maybe a salad or something," I said glancing at him. Dad let out a breath and nodded.

"Alright then." If it was up to him, he'd be eating steaks and baked potatoes every night. Fortunately for his health—but not so much for his taste buds—mom and I were adamant about rounding out his diet to include more vegetables and less red meat.

"We're going to the diner tomorrow," I pointed out to him. "You can have your steak then."

Dad harrumphed, but nodded, taking his beer into the living room. It was a family tradition that went back all the way to my first day of preschool. After the first day of school every year, the three of us went to the diner for dinner. Dad always got the steak, mom almost always chose something at random, and I had been ordering the same burger and French fries with a chocolate shake since the tradition started.

It was our longest-standing family tradition.

In the kitchen, I heard mom hum over the phone before finally hanging up. I could hear my parents talking, but I tuned them out, focusing on chopping up veggies.

I got the salad ready, slipping the chicken into the oven to bake. By the time I was done prepping the salad, there were still about twenty minutes left on the chicken, which was perfect because my face needed to be washed. I paused my cooking, going back to the bathroom to finish my skincare treatment.

When I was done and properly moisturized, I went back out to finish dinner. Mom was gone and dad had the TV on as highlights from different sports flashed by him.

"Dinner will be ready in about ten minutes," I told him. Dad grunted as I walked by him into the kitchen. I pulled the chicken out of the oven, making sure it was cooked through before letting it rest. I brought the salad to the table and set out three dishes with flatware. By the time I was done, mom was slamming through the front door and shaking her head. "That Rebecca, I'm telling you!" she said huffing. "Is her daughter as bad as she is?"

I shrugged one shoulder noncommittally. Jess was on the squad with me, and while we weren't the closest of friends, I didn't hold anything against her. Though, she'd been pretty salty about me winning out the Junior Captain position.

"Dinner's ready," I called. Dad paused the TV, pulling himself off the sofa. Mom came into the kitchen, sniffing deeply.

"Smells great, baby. Thank you!"

I nodded as we all settled around the table.

"So, Bells, you excited about school tomorrow?" Mom asked, picking up the tongs. She started scooping salad onto dad's plate. He grumbled but she ignored him.

"Yeah, I am," I said honestly. Mom nodded, absently scooping more and more salad on his plate.

"Honey," dad said, holding his hand out to stop her. She glanced at his plate and giggled.

"Sorry, hon, I got distracted." She scooped some of the salad off his plate and onto her own, flashing him a bright smile. Dad grumbled, but I could see him smiling under his mustache. He grabbed a piece of chicken as I served myself salad.

"How about the squad? How is that looking?" Mom asked. I looked up at her.

"We're good. The girls are focused, and we've been practicing hard this summer," I paused, scooping up my own slice of chicken. "I was voted Junior Captain."

Mom shrieked so loud dad dropped his fork, his hand automatically moving to his waist where his gun normally would have sat. Mom was out of her chair and wrapping her arms around me almost immediately. "Oh, baby! That's such great news!" she squealed. "This is it, baby. Next, you'll be voted winter court princess, then next year it'll be senior captain and prom queen, and we will be a dynasty!" Mom cheered. Dad let out a long breath, shaking his head and picking up his fork again.

Mom was squeezing me so hard, I was afraid she was going to knock us both over. "Okay mom, maybe," I said laughing. "I'll just take junior captain for now. It's a great honor," I told her. Mom pulled away and cupped my face in her hands.

"It is, oh baby, this is so exciting! I'm going to call Rebecca later to make sure she heard the news. I'll bet she'll be green with envy!"

Dad cleared his throat. "Honey, eat your dinner," he said softly. Mom looked at him.

"Oh, of course." She sat down and grinned at me. "Baby, I'm so proud of you."

Dad cleared his throat again and nodded next to mom. "Me too, Bells. Congratulations."

I smiled at them. "Thanks, I just, I have a really good feeling about this year for me."