Hi everyone. I know I've been MIA for a while. I've been going through a lot of personal stuff lately and now I'm here. I'm still going through it, but when I need encouragement sometimes I'll read your feedback. Please tell me what you think, tell me anything.
After next chapter we will be going into Descendants 2. I wonder how Uma, Harry, and Gil will react to this little redhead?
CHAPTER 17
"Hello Fairy Godmother," she said. Antoinette approached the desks for students and sat at her usual spot. Center-right. As if someone would take her spot. No one else came to this room. After all, she was the only student in this class.
"Let's review some," Fairy Godmother began. She flipped over the chalkboard. Several key points were written on the board.
"What are some forms that fairies may take? And why?" Antoinette leaned her head against her fist.
"Any form, however, many fairies will choose their birthright. Many appear as another living being such as an animal, however, some are able to go beyond this and transform into non-living beings. The best example would be the Blue Fairy. She is known for appearing as a dove or shooting star often." Fairy Godmother nodded.
"Very good. The reason I bring this up dear, is because, well, we- your mother and I, as well as the Council of Fairies- believe you may be ready for your first step of transformation," Fairy Godmother explained. Antoinette nodded, and leaned back in her chair. She took a deep sigh as she started pulling her books out of her bookbag. Fairy Godmother observed her, fiddling with the wooden pointer she was using. Fairy Godmother then leaned up against desk.
"Antoinette," she called. The redhead glanced up.
"How often are you having these headaches now?" The younger girl shifted.
"Once or twice a week. Three this week," Antoinette explained. Fairy Godmother nodded.
"Has anything changed?" Antoinette felt very small under the gaze of Fairy Godmother.
"Jay tried to contact me. Several times this past week." Fairy Godmother nodded.
"We won't be able to continue our studies then." Antoinette glanced up in shock.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean," Fairy Godmother paused to start packing up her stuff, "until you work through these feelings of resentment you won't be able to continue your studies. Negative moods have to be perfectly balanced with positive moods as a fairy. Otherwise, your magic won't work properly. You need to work through this feeling you have for him."
Antoinette gnawed on her pencil nervously.
"How?" Fairy Godmother snorted.
"Try talking to the poor boy. He's still completely in love with you!"
"Infatuated!" Antoinette shouted. Fairy Godmother stared at her as Antoinette tried to stop herself from spilling everything. Her lip quivered before she let out a sob.
"He was infatuated with me," Antoinette said in a small voice, wrapping her arms around herself. Fairy Godmother gave her an encouraging look.
"I was the goody two-shoes who he could have some fun with. He never really cared about me. I was just a way to get to the wand." Antoinette wiped a tear away from her cheek. Fairy Godmother sighed before approaching the desk, she crouched down to eye level with the younger female.
"He cares for you. Truly he does. But if you aren't willing to talk to him. Well, then you need to do another way to release these emotions. You should write. Write a journal entry to see what your emotions are, even if you just need to write about the weather." Fairy Godmother patted her hand and stood to walk away.
"I'll be in contact with you. Otherwise, you won't be able to go any further." With those words, Antoinette was the only one left in the room.
Ben sat at his desk. He ran his fingers across his lips, a nervous habit he had developed when he was younger. Ben sighed before leaning back. A knock at the door caught his attention, glancing at the clock he saw it was 10:30. Far too late for any sensible person to be out. Ben straightened up.
"Come in." A girl with purple hair and kind, green eyes came in. Immediately Ben relaxed. Mal came over to stand in front of the desk, before Ben made a motion for her to come closer to him. Mal sat on his lap.
"You're stressed," Mal said, resting her head against his. Ben rubbed her back.
"Trying to figure out what Ant isn't telling me," he explained.
"Have you discussed the issue with Fairy Godmother?" The young fairy asked. Ben cracked a smile.
"She refuses to even acknowledge their meetings," he explained. Mal started playing with the curls on the back of his neck. Ben sighed through his nose, fiddling with his pen on the table.
"Tell me about your classes. How are your lady lessons coming along?" Ben asked. Mal grinned at him.
"They're going great! Who knew there were so many forks and spoons?" Mal laughed. Ben chuckled and pecked her cheek. Mal's heart thumped heavily in her chest, and happiness bloomed like the roses in the royal garden. Life was good.
Antoinette leaned back on her bed scrolling through her phone. Mindlessly, looking at social media posts, not really caring what she was seeing.
"Okay, so you have to write down your thoughts unless you actually talk to this guy who you definitely, totally, absolutely don't have feelings for?" Charlene asked for clarification. Antoinette nodded.
"Yes, that's about right." Antoinette continued scrolling. Charlene placed her hands on her hips, and eyed her friend.
"Then we're going to need some dresses to smack the socks off of those fancy smancy princesses!" She proclaimed. Antoinette turned her full attention to Charlene. For Charlene was already reaching for her own phone.
"I'll arrange for an appointment to make sure everything is great. I think a subtle blue would look best on you. I know you usually don't go for blue, but my goodness woman it's the Blue and Gold ball. So, I'm thinking a soft powder blue-"
"Charlene. What are you talking about?" Antoinette interrupted. The blonde turned her attention to the girl sitting on the bed. Charlene gave her a sad sort of smile. The type of smiles reserved for children who said something too grown up. The type of smile given to people who didn't exactly understand the situation.
"We are going to go to that Blue and Gold ball and you are going to have a heart to heart with this Jay fellow-" Antoinette went to interrupt, but Charlene continued, "AND then afterward you are going to meet with Fairy Godmother and start working towards your transitioning process. Do you understand me?"
Antoinette sighed and grabbed hold of her pillow. She tucked the pillow under her chin.
"I'm scared," she said. Charlene sat next to her before wrapping an arm around her friend's shoulders. Antoinette leaned her head on Charlene's shoulder.
"I know. But being afraid just means you have an opportunity to see your bravery," she explained. A pause rested over them. "That and we're totally going to be using my dad's sphere to get there."
Antoinette pulled away and turned towards Charlene quickly.
"I thought your mother took that off of you!" She said, Charlene giggled.
"Yeah, and?" The two collapsed into giggles. A nervous feeling soon crept up Antoinette's spine, fear of the unknown swirling at her feet.
"Chère, everything will be okay. You're going to have to talk to him eventually, regardless of how much you've been putting it off." Antoinette nodded at Charlene's words. Antoinette allowed her thoughts to carry her off while Charlene talked rapidly into her phone.
"How will I know when my prince will come, Maman?" A small voice asked. She was five when she had asked the question, and her mother eyed her carefully, thinking before Anastasia spoke to her daughter.
"Well, you kind of just know," her mother explained. When Anastasia saw Antoinette was not impressed with this answer she decided to figure out why her daughter was asking such a question.
"Why do you ask, Cookie?" Anastasia asked. Antoinette grinned at the nickname.
"Aunt Cinderella told me about how her and Uncle Henry met. She said they danced the night away before midnight hit," Antoinette explained with a dreamy sigh. Anastasia bit her lip nervously. She had always expected this conversation to come up, but not when Antoinette was so young.
"What else did Aunt Cinderella tell you about that night? What was I doing?" Anastasia asked. Antoinette glanced up at her mother from her cookies.
"You were wearing a pretty purple dress," her daughter said excitedly. "But Maman, how do you know it's true love?"
Her mother gave her a warm smile, before hugging her.
"Feel that?" Her mother asked. Anastasia nodded.
"It'll feel like that, but you still feel it even after you've stopped touching one another."
Anastasia looked down at her hand. A warm and tingling sensation from the tip of her fingers to the end of her wrist sat there. Dancing across her skin so calmly and gently. She laid down and fell asleep to her roommate talking in rapid Louisiana French with her deep southern accent.
"Thanks again for meeting with us so quickly. We really appreciate it, Miss Eudora," Charlene's voice carried into the changing rooms that Antoinette was in. Antoinette slid her clothes off easily, kicking her jeans to the side.
"Oh, not a problem. It's good to have another La Bouff girl in the midst to be honest with you, but how did you get here so quickly? I thought you and your friend were part of an internship in Motunui." Antoinette pulled the dress on. She could practically see her friend trying to calculate what to say, but that's what happens when someone inter-world travels. People start asking questions.
"We are. We're on a break right now for the anniversary of the King and Queen's wedding. It seems to be keeping you busy as well." All true. The internship is run by a government facility and like all other government facilities, non-essential employees (which were mainly unpaid and uninsurance interns) were free to do whatever they wanted. In the case of Antoinette and Charlene, they were getting dresses for the Gold and Blue dance.
As was every other girl in New Orleans. The hole-in-the-wall shop that Eudora owned was filled with gold and blue gowns.
"Can you zip me up?" Antoinette said as she kept her back to them.
"Oh, this is so pretty on you," Charlene said. Antoinette could see Charlene come up behind her and pull the zipper up. The dress was lovely, slim-fitting, and gold. Antoinette stepped up on the platform to turn this way and that.
"You don't like it," Eudora said. She was fixing a mannequin, not paying her full attention to the girls.
"It-it's lovely, Miss Eudora," Antoinette said. Eudora gave her a smile filled with the same feeling of a fresh-baked sugar cookie.
"It is lovely, and like Charlene said, it is pretty on you. But, regardless, you don't like it. I've seen plenty of people come through my doors, Baby, and I can tell when someone doesn't like a dress."
Antoinette wrapped her arms around herself. She felt shame bloom in her chest. The dress didn't matter, what mattered was talking to Jay and being able to transform.
"Now, I know when people aren't telling me something, and it doesn't necessarily matter. What matters is me putting you in the right dress," Eudora explained as she riffled through the dresses.
"After all, the perfect dress can make a complete difference to the night. Your aunt knows all about that." Eudora chuckled as Antoinette laughed. Eudora glanced through the rack before sighing.
"You know, a couple years ago, I had a custom order. Problem is the lady never picked it up, she had gone off and completely disappeared. Paid for everything. But I think she would have really liked you to have it." Eudora held up a large dress bag that was hanging in the back away from clients.
"Let's get this on you, darlin'," Eudora said. She led Antoinette back into the changing room and helped her out of the slim, gold dress. Antoinette watched as the bag opened and saw a deep navy blue.
Holding her arms up, she felt the soft material slip over her.
"Funny thing is, the lady said she was going to the Gold and Blue ball as well all those years ago."
"Do you know who she was?"
Curiosity killed the cat, and it had bit Antoinette.
"I can look at my books, the name has faded on the bag, and I see so many names," Eudora explained. She tied the corset against Antoinette, and led her out.
"Oh, wow," Charlene said softly. Antoinette stepped up on the platform. Deep, dark blue fabric swished around her legs. A ruffled ballgown with a ruching bodice and sweetheart neckline, but what had grabbed Antoinette's attention was that the end of each ruffle layer there was a thin lining of gold.
She played with the dress' layers. They were cut and sewn to mimic the ocean waves. Antoinette smiled.
"You know, my aunt also asked for shoes," Antoinette said. Eudora and Charlene laughed loudly.
"Oh honey, you are different," Eudora said. Kindness in her eyes.
The two girls were sitting in their dorm room. Antoinette was dressed in her dark blue and gold ball gown, whereas Charlene had found an attractive gold fit and flare. Charlene was staring in the mirror dapping a bit of perfume behind her ears, her eyes fell upon Antoinette's reflection.
"Hey, we'll only be there for a few hours max." She sat down beside her dear friend.
"You know, if someone would have told me that I was going to be going to one of these balls with a girl I only had met a couple weeks ago and saw her as a close friend, I wouldn't have known whether to believe them," Charlene said. Antoinette glanced at her. The blonde handed her the perfume.
"My mom had it on when she met my dad, says it's good luck," Charlene explained. Antoinette put a dab of it on her finger and placed the perfume under her chin on both sides. Antoinette turned to Charlene.
"Okay, I'm ready."
The girls had quickly gone outside, away from the facility and to an open area. Antoinette glanced around, as Charlene fiddled with the sphere. A magnificent swirling pattern of gold sprang forward. A portal opened in front of them. Charlene clicked on the appropriate runes before she found the one she was looking for: Beast's Castle. The party had already started, as people were lining up to enter. However, neither girl cared as they felt their bodies become significantly lighter as they traveled through space and time.
