Hey Guys, this chapter is SOOO eventful! Enjoy
January flew by, as it tends to do and February was up and away and everyone was already commenting on how fast the year was starting up, it was Valentines Day and there was a lack of occasion at Disney High, almost as if Christmas stole all the cheer from other seasons.
Aurora had been asked by Clopin and Crab to finally get ready the outfits. Three outfits for each character. A casual outfit, a basketball outfit for Eric or for the others, other sequence outfits and an outfit for the final dance, 'We're all in this Together'. With a given budget and with Cindy's tailor skills, they sat in the Prom Committee office at Lottie's desk on the internet and with a notebook ordering and choosing costumes.
They ordered a basketball outfit and sweatsuit for Eric, found on Amazon with 'Bolton 14' on the back of the vest and t-shirt'. They noted it down. Then they decided that Eric could wear his own clothes throughout, a baseball style shirt and jeans. They noted that down too, then they ordered a shirt and blazer in light blue for the New Years scene, and that was Troy sorted.
Cinderella grinned, "God the guys are always easier to dress"
"Only because of double standards" Aurora stated,
"True" Cindy shrugged, "right now let's do Phoebus and Naveen"
"Naveen's super stylish and already wears hats, he already dresses like Ryan"
So they adored two fedoras, one black, one red for the 'Bop to the Top' and 'We're all in this Together' scenes. They ordered a white shirt and red shirt for the scenes too and then a pink granddad cap. They figured Naveen would have plenty of shirts and trousers to choose between and could dress himself fine.
They ordered another basketball outfit for Phoebus writing 'Danforth' on the back, it cost the most as they ordered it personalised but didn't mind. They figured Phoebus could wear his usual clothes in other scenes too and they sighed proud of the acomplishment so far.
They ordered a few caps and a pair of fake glasses for Tiana along with a red top and gold trousers,
"I am so excited for Taylor's preppy outfits" Aurora said, "I wonder if I'll be aloud to keep them"
Aurora ordered two 2 in 1 shirt jumpers, one green and the other navy with some school style trousers and loafers.
"It's a bit less fashionable than the usual" she admitted, "but the role calls"
She also ordered a head band in green and a red tie and white skirt for the final scene.
Next was Sharpay's outfits, Aurora's favourites.
"I so wish I was playing Sharpay- just for the adorable costumes"
"I love the pink one at the beginning" Cindy agreed
"Esmeralda so won't appreciate the pink" she frowned,
They found a cute little pink lace midi skirt and matching jacket and white blouse for Esmeralda's casual outfit, they also ordered kitten heels- Charlotte La Bouff style- and a little pink purse. Then they found a blue salsa dress for the 'Bop to the Top' scene on Etsy and a huge flower to match. They knew Esmeralda had been struggling in rehearsals to dance even in her small heels and left out shoes, Aurora had a hunch Esmeralda was going to go bare foot opening night. Then finally, a white bedazzled vest and skinny jeans for the final scene was chosen.
Finally, Gabriella's outfits. They scoured the internet for almost 40 minutes before they found a replica of the little red dress on ASOS. It wasn't exact but they were sure it nearly was but before they ordered they considered a problem,
"Do I order it with Vanessa or Ariel in mind? What if Vanessa's voice isn't better?"
Cinderella shrugged,
"Ariel's smaller but-"
"Order it for Vanessa and we can tailor it if need be"
Aurora nodded and ordered the cute dress and matching shoes,
Then they ordered a floral sundress for Gabriella and then a lab coat to use for her science scenes. Lastly, they found an adorable light blue top and jeans for the first scene along with some little brown heels,
"The jeans in 2006 were a joke"
"I liked them" Cindy shrugged, "but the low waist line is embarrassing"
Aurora stretched out her hands and grinned, staring at the notepad that was now full of ticks.
"Costumes, finished"
Cindy smiled, "I'll tailor any if need be"
At that moment Tiana and Lottie came in,
"Working on the costumes, girls?"
"Just finished" Aurora grinned, and looked up to see Philip and Charles knocking on the office door. She beckoned them to come in and the two boys came in with little grins
"Happy Valentines, sunshine" He cooed, handing her a bunch of red roses,
"Oh Phillip!" she ooed, jumping out of her seat and hugging him,
"And we'll get some dinner later" he gave her a quick kiss and she took her roses,
the two shared a cuddle while Lottie and Tiana watched on, amused expressions and big eyes
Cindy however, watched on sadly and caught eye with Charles who looked away quickly.
Meg paced through the corridor. She saw Aurora earlier that morning with a bunch of roses and rolled her eyes. Red roses? Cliche or what. She repeated it in her head about four times before admitting to herself she'd love it if Hercules got her some.
She headed for geography with Milo Thatcher, glad to not have history which wasn't so awkward only draining even if Hades hadn't spoken to her in weeks and was looking worse and worse every day. Meg was sure he'd come in high the other morning but shrugged it off.
"Meg, little nut meg" a voice drooled behind her and she audibly groaned before swivelling around
"How are you?" Hades lips curled upwards and he began walking beside her
"Fine" she said bluntly, "How are you, Professor Gray?"
He scoffed at the title, "Could be better. It seems you and Hercules are an item now huh?"
"You're very observant" she commented, "What's it to you, anyway?"
"Oh nothing, only that you were sleeping with me and going out with him at the same time... what do they call that? Adultery?"
She turned, her eyes narrowed and she whispered harshly, "That's not strictly true, you blackmailed me"
"Whatever" he shrugged casually, "we're over now, finished, done"
Meg nodded and went to head away but he grabbed at her wrist in the bundle of students and staff and she faced him again,
"Besides I've found a new favourite student" his voice was barely above a whisper. Meg just grimaced and walked away again, this time he let her. She knew he was stood, smug, trying to make her jealous but if he knew her at all he'd know she wasn't jealous. Not at all-
Hercules rounded the corner beside Meg's locker and waited, he saw her coming and then his face grew into a huge round grin. In his arms were a huge bunch of flowers, massive purple Crocus' and a few white ones scattered too.
"These are for you, Meg" he grinned proudly, "and I booked us into go bowling later- sound good?"
Meg grinned hugely and cheesily and took her flowers,
She was not jealous of Hades' new girl at all. She had everything she could ever have wanted right here.
Tiana sat on the bench in gym class, they were taking it in turns that day to bat baseballs and all sat, lounging around bored waiting for their turn. She sat beside Andrina who was ongoing about the prom dress she had bought, and Arista whom was telling her sister to shut up about her ugly dress, it seemed Andrina had purchased the one that Arista wanted.
On the other side of her was Kronk, crunched up on the bench beside Wasabi, a meek and scientific classmate. Half of the class skipped gym these days, claiming they couldn't be bothered but Tiana knew she had to keep attendance up.
Kronk on the right of her made a giggling noise for the third time in the past five minutes.
"Kronk?" Tiana said finally, "is something funny?"
He pressed his lips together and his whole body jigged as though he needed the toilet,
"Oh Tiana" he said finally, his lips bursting open "I can't hold it in anymore!"
"Kronk if you need the bathroom just go!"
"No!" he cried, "I'm talking about what I know that you don't know that you aren't aloud to know but I want to let you know but I can't tell you"
Tiana shook her head, "what don't I know?"
"Well you can't know" he repeated, "but I might let you know, you know?"
Tiana just stared on confused, lost for words
"Oh I'll just tell you!" he decided to himself,
"Please do" she sighed with a smile, expecting some sort of odd confession about a change in his spinach puff recipe
"Naveen's going to ask you to prom!" he giggled in a whisper,
Tiana's eyes widened, "you can't be serious!" she exclaimed, "you- you must have misheard him"
"No, no, he told me, he told me!" Kronk said, grinning "he said he likes you- well actually he said something about you being his Evangeline which I don't understand"
Tiana looked confused at that too, "who's Evangeline?"
Kronk shrugged, "OK OK forget Evangeline, he's going to ask you! He likes you!"
Tiana just shook her head, "Oh that's silly" but then she began to grin, her face grew and her heart sped up. Could it be he liked her? She did admit that she had grown some feelings towards him, when they danced in rehearsals and when they kissed at the party. He felt the same! He felt the same.
"Belle, hey" Adam approached her in the school library. She was sat with her head in a book and papers spread around her working on an English essay.
"Hey, Adam" she smiled meekly, pretty stressed over her work "how are you?"
"Good actually" he said oddly upbeat, "just finished reading 'Jane Eyre'"
"You, read Jane Eyre?" she asked shocked
"I've decided to read classics" he said sitting beside her, "I figure it'll benefit me"
She nodded with a smile, "read The Jungle Book" she said, "it's a lot lighter than Jane Eyre"
"I didn't know it was a classic" he said,
"Rudyard Kipling was very famous" she stated, "I am glad you've taken a liking to reading"
he chuckled, "yeah I guess it's your influence"
There were a few moments of silence while Belle scribbled away and Adam checked out The Jungle Book,
"So we're attending a sort of banquet this weekend" he said, "my mother and father invited you along, apparently everyone took a liking to you"
Belle blushed, "really?"
He shrugged, "Yeah, I guess you had an impact"
"I don't see why not" she considered,
"It's at some fancy resaraunt for my dad's colleagues promotion celebration- or something like that"
"How fancy?" she frowned, "Will I be able to afford it?"
"Oh not to worry, my father will pay for you - we can get you a new dress"
"Adam you don't need to do that" she tried, "I can buy myself one"
"It's OK, my mother even wanted to come... God it took ages convincing her not too"
"They really liked me, huh?" Belle was rather shocked, especially hearing how insistent his mum was
"Yeah weird right? It's like they're proud of me for going out with you"
there was an awkward pause, Adam's mouth closed and shut
"Not that we go out" he said with a dry mouth, "they just think that- well"
"It's fine" Belle said quickly to try and make the conversation less uncomfortable, "I know what you meant"
Adam went pink,
"I'll come, we'll get a dress" she smiled
"Oh- Oh - Kay cool" Adam stood up quickly, "I'll see you then- well... I'll see you Saturday morning to grab a dress... OK" he fumbled with his things and jumped up and left.
Belle half giggled as he hurried to grab his things and ran off, awkward from his comment and leaving Belle to write her essay.
Naveen had thought about what Kronk had said, and what he had said to Kronk. Honesty, pure honesty.
He pushed open the door to the prom committee office, it was lunch time and he knew Tiana was usually in there at this time.
He looked over at her desk, the big computer chair was facing the laptop, Naveen peered and saw the computer screen open with Tiana's cooking homework, he saw the huge essay she had written and titled 'nutrition in carbohydrates'.
He took a deep breathe,
"I have to tell you something" he said, and the chair went to turn around but he couldn't handle that, he couldn't look her in those big brown eyes and be honest, he was too nervous
"Please" he said quickly, "stay turned, I- I'll find it easier"
The chair stayed facing the laptop,
"I've really grown to like you in the past few months and- I never ever thought I would... you are different to any other girl I have ever liked and suddenly I'm not as shallow as I used to be"
He paused,
"So I'm working on being more honest and I want you to - if you will that is - be my date to the prom"
He closed his eyes and took a deep breathe, the chair turnt and he blushed
"OH Naveen!" Lottie squealed, jumping out of the chair and bouncing over to him
"I can not believe you feel that way, sugar!" she giggled and pulled him into the biggest hug
"Charlotte!" he cried, a sinking feeling in his heart appeared and he cursed himself for not checking who was at the computer. He was the biggest idiot in the world right now, and how could he retract what he had said now?
"Charlotte- I..." he tailed off, unaware of what on earth to even say now
"You'll have to get a pink tie" she said matter-of-factually, "Oh I'm so excited- And you asked me on Valentines day! How romantic!"
Tiana headed into the office, she had popped to Duke's over her lunch break and grabbed her and Charlotte a coffee. They were planning on staying till after hours today to work on the yearbook and she knew they'd need extra shots of espresso.
"Hey Charlotte I got you a cappuccino, they ran out of-"
"Oh Tia!" Charlotte interrupted, giggling, "You'll never guess who's just asked me to prom!"
Prom! Tiana thought, I have to tell Lottie about what Kronk said!
Tiana looked up from the coffees and smiled, but her smile faltered in less than a second,
Naveen stood, Charlotte was clutching at his arm and grinning and he was smiling nervously
"Oh" Tiana tried, and suddenly a tear pricked her eye "Naveen?"
"What do you think?" Lottie asked, "do we make the cutest couple ever or what?"
Tiana forced a chuckle, "Yeah... yeah"
"Well I er" Tiana placed the coffees down and backed out of the room, "I have to see- someone... Clopin! About my lines"
"I can help with your lines" Naveen offered, stepping away from Charlotte slightly,
"No" Tiana said quickly, "I mean.. I have to go alone... it's fine"
Tiana dashed out of the office and headed into the girls bathrooms as soon as she could, a few sophomore girls were touching up their makeup but Tiana hastened into a cubicle and then the tears fell.
Seeing Charlotte and Naveen like that, she thought, 'the cutest couple'... was Kronk just lying? God, he was an idiot. He had obviously not understand he wasn't asking her he was asking her friend, her best friend. Her prettier friend, the friend who got everything even Naveen. HA! And as if he could like her with her watiressing job, her empty ambition and her thrift store clothes.
She wiped her eyes, dabbed her cheeks and titled her head back slightly to stop the tears from coming anymore. Her hands shook a bit, and she listened for the sophmore girls to leave the room before heading out. She stared at her bloodshot eyes in the mirror and wiped them again. She sniffed and then decided to just head to the library.
Work. she said to herself, is more important than any prom date.
Mulan had a skip in her step that day after school, heading for practice. Hercules wasn't in today unfortunately, he and Meg went bowling, Mulan, however, wasn't feeling to anxious about practice. The guys had seen how good she was, this was it now. She was just as good as them.
They started with some dribbling practice and then laddering, which Mulan did with ease after practicing with Hercules. Then they went over some team tactics for the end of year game,
"So if there are any penalties-" Shang said,
"I'll do it" Hans said, "I always do the penalty shots"
"Actually" Shang said, narrowing his eyes "I thought Mulan could"
The entire team turned to stare at her, she grinned initially at his faith in her but then she caught her teammates eyes and her face faltered.
"Her?" Gaston spat, "why?"
"She's half the size of us" Kokoum said,
"She couldn't kick beach ball let alone score a penalty"
"This is ridiculous, someone remind me why she's even on the team?"
"Guys that's enough-" Shang tried
"In fact" Hans said, "she's bring the team down"
"I'm not playing with a girl and that's that" Gaston said, crossing his arms, "girls aren't as good as boys anyway, athletically- or in any case actually"
"Now wait just a minute-" Shang tried again,
"Less agility, logic and aim" Lyle agreed
"She's not bad," Kronk said, "She's quite good"
"Good?" Ling spat, "only because Hercules helped her"
"We've had help" Shang said,
"Let's make a petition" Lyle suggested
Mulan stood off the grass and everybody stopped arguing and stared at her, Shang smiled. He had faith she was going to tell them all to shut up, it was about time she was confident.
"I quit" Mulan said with a defeated sigh, "I quit"
"What?" Shang asked, "Mulan-"
"I'm not wanted here" her voice cracked now, "You're right, I am crap"
Mulan walked away back across the pitch, her pink trainers scraping in the mud and the team speechless behind her, apart from Gaston who she heard mutter,
"Good riddance"
Mulan got to the gates, she saw Kida the gym teacher who gave her a bleak smile and Mulan rushed into the changing rooms, quickly got out of the muddy sportswear and in between changing burst into tears.
The cheer squad were in the gym after school, practising their routine for the schools football game at the end of term.
"We're fighting for our team girls" Aurora said, "We've got to make sure we're fierce, and the other cheer squad won't know what hit them"
Phillip suddenly ran into the gym, two cardboard boxes in his arms,
"Aurora," he cried, "they're here!"
Aurora squealed, "Girls, come look quick!"
She opened the boxes and saw the cutest cheer outfits, ordered at the beginning of the year,
The turtle neck underneath was black and the top was white, lined with red and gold and the black bold letters read 'DH', and the skirt was black and white, red and gold stripes at the bottom.
"Red, gold and black" Cindy smiled, "Love it"
"These are the cutest!" Tinker Bell cried,
"Oh Aurora yay!" Arista giggled
so they all took their little costumes and Phillip and Charles were given black t-shirts, 'DH' was printed on them too and the joggers were lined with red and gold too, matching the cheerleader outfits.
"These are the cutest!" Charlotte cried, "I have to show Naveen!"
"Naveen?" Charles asked,
"Didn't you hear?" Snow White giggled in her little voice, "Naveen asked Charlotte to prom"
"Everyone knows" Arista said,
"Everyone's jealous!" Laura, one of the triplets, sighed, "if only Gaston would ask me to prom!"
"Ah prom!" Phillip said, "I don't need to ask do I?"
Aurora shook her head, "You earned prom when you asked me out two years ago!"
Laura oohed, "If only Gaston were like you" she said, seemingly the only thing she spoke about was Gaston,
"What about yo Cindy?" Tinker bell asked, "Who are you going with?"
"Oh... Er" Cindy chuckled awkwardly,
"I can't wait for our prom!" Snow White sighed, "I really hope Ferdinand asks me..."
"I hope Wasabi asks me" Arista sighed, "He's just the sweetest"
Cinderella caught Charles' eye and looked away quickly, she wished Charles would ask her.
Flynn, Phoebus and Pocahontas were at Phoebus'. Esmeralda was due round any moment and the three were playing Mario Kart. Flynn however was hardly playing,
"Flynn, you usually thrash us at this game" Phoebus said, pausing it in frustration "What's going on?"
Flynn groaned, "Nothing"
Pocahontas raised her eyebrows, "Flynn?"
"I'm just" Flynn paused and his friends stared,
"Just?" Phoebus asked
"Stressed the fuck out" Flynn cried, "I mean I've always been so casual and chilled out! Now what? Didn't you hear that Naveen and Charlotte are going to prom? Who am I going to go with? And what about exams? I know you guys think I don't care I do! Pocahontas you and your fancy James Bond guy are going to run away, go prom get married and Phoebus you and Esmeralda and I'm going to be alone and not even that but my attendance is at like 60% what college is going to take me?"
Flynn flopped onto the fluffy rug,
"Come on man, we'll never leave you. Besides if you start studying your exams will be fine" Phoebus tried,
Pocahontas however was just staring blankly, "Phoebus and Esmeralda?"
The two boys blinked
"What?" Phoebus asked nervously
"Phoebus and... Esmeralda?" she repeated
"Don't act like you don't know" Flynn scoffed, "besides this is about me, not them"
"You like her don't you?" Pocahontas smiled, "I knew it!"
"Oh for crying out loud" Phoebus face palmed, "have you all figured it out?"
"Not Aladdin" Pocahontas shrugged, "and definitely not Esmeralda"
"Do you think she feels the same?" Phoebus asked, "I mean-"
"-Did I or did I not just pour my heart out to you guys?" Flynn cried,
"Sorry Flynn" Pocahontas said, "we had no idea you were so stressed"
"Well I am" he stated,
"What about Rapunzel?"
Flynn propped himself on his elbows, "What about her?"
"Ask her to prom?" Pocahontas suggested, "we all know you like her"
Flynn began to chuckle lowly, shaking his head
"No no no, see that's where you're wrong"
Phoebus sighed, "She's a nice girl, Flynn. She could be good for you"
"Rapunzel may be sweet" he began, "and she may be pretty, and she may be kind, she may have the nicest eyes but-"
he stopped,
"Where was I going with this?"
Pocahontas giggled, "Please, just ask her out"
"It's not that easy" Phoebus said, "you think I could ask Esmeralda? No"
"Sure, why not?" she asked, "you never know if you don't ask"
"Pocahontas" Phoebus turned to her seriously, "I know you're best friends but if you tell Es about this I will never ever speak to you again"
"That's a bit dramatic" she said, "but fine, my lips are sealed"
and she meant it, after all she didn't want to come between true love.