Chapter 4: Meeting Aladdin

Victoria's POV

Soon after the guards landed in that disgusting fertilizer! The girls, Aladdin, and I used our carpets as parachutes and landed on the ground safely. After we all landed, Aladdin and Abu laughed and high-fived each other. The young Arabian man then turned his attention to us and said,

"Hey, thanks for helping us out, girls. What you all did was impressive!"

I said with a small smile, "Hey, don't mention it! We were all glad to help you out."

Natalie added, "Yeah! Whenever we see any injustice, we act on it."

We all nodded in agreement and Aladdin said while introducing himself and Abu,

"Well either way, we can't thank you all enough. By the way, my name's Aladdin, and this is my pet monkey, Abu. Are you all new in town?"

Abu happily chirped at us in response and he came by each of us to shake our hands. We all smiled and I said, introducing myself,

"It's nice to meet you both, and yes, we are new in town. My name's Victoria, but most friends call me Vivi."

Natalie said introducing herself, "And my name's Natalie, but some friends call me Nat or Nattie."

Jenna said introducing herself, " And my name's Jenna."

Danielle said rather shyly, "And m-mine's, Danielle. But, you could call me Dani if you want to."

Aladdin smiled and said, offering us some bread, "Well, it's nice to meet you all. Say, would you like a piece of our bread? After all, it's the least we could do."

Abu was about to object, but Natalie said kindly rejecting the offer, "No, no. W-We couldn't, it's your bread."

I added with a nod, "Yeah, you two go ahead and eat. We'll be alright."

Aladdin shrugged his shoulders and said while breaking the loaf of bread in two and handing the other half to Abu,

"Okay, suit yourselves. And now, my esteemed effendi, we feast! All right!"

Just as they were about to take a bite however, Aladdin looked over towards a dumpster and we noticed two small children rummaging through the garbage for food. The little girl pulled a fishbone out of the garbage, but as soon as she saw us, she dropped her finding and she and the young boy shyly tried to hide. Seeing the sight personally made me feel awful. It's bad enough that Aladdin had to go through living in the streets and stealing to survive, but to know that there were children going through the same struggles really hurt me inside.

Aladdin looked at the scared and shy children, then at his share of bread, and down at Abu. The small monkey screeched out an'Uh oh.' And scowled at him, stubbornly taking a bite out of his bread portion. The two children looked at us with sad eyes and the young girl licked her lips as Aladdin gave a heavy sigh, got up, and started walking towards the young children. The young girl pulled her little brother close to her, and the girls and I approached them with me saying,

"It's okay! You don't need to be afraid."

Natalie said with a kind smile, "Yeah, we mean you no harm."

The young girl looked up at us as Aladdin held out his bread for her and said to her, "Here...Go on, take it."

She shyly took the bread from him, and Aladdin ruffled the young girl's hair, making the young children giggle in response.

Jenna said to them with a warm smile, "Enjoy your meal, kids."

Danielle added, "And good luck to you both out there."

The young girl said with a smile, "T-Thank you."

We all smiled to them in response, and Aladdin started walking away from them as we started walking towards Abu. The small monkey looked up at his master, and started to feel guilty as he swallowed a bite of his bread. He looked down at his bread and said with regret,'Awwww.' Jenna came up to him and kindly asked, bending down to his level,

"You wanna go up to those kids and give them your bread?"

The small monkey nodded while looking at her with a pouty face.

Danielle joined the two and said to Abu, "Then go ahead...Nothing's stopping you."

With that kind of motivation, Abu walked towards the children as they were taking a few bites of the bread, with the girl having a piece of the bread while her little brother took bites of the larger portion. As soon as he got close enough to them, Abu chirped at them, offering them the second piece of bread. The young girl happily took the bread and patted Abu on the head, making the small monkey giggle and playfully swatting them away.

Soon enough, we all heard drumming sounds and we walked up to Aladdin to see what was going on. Abu jumped onto his master's shoulder, and we looked through the crowd to see the ignorant Prince Achmed on his horse arrogantly walking by the crowd towards the palace.

One of the bystanders said, "On his way to the palace, I suppose."

Another bystander muttered in a rather annoyed way, "Another suitor for the princess."

As we continued to watch the event, we were all startled as we saw the young children run right past us. The young boy laughed as he ran in front of the prince's horse, startling it. The young girl pulled her little brother back protectively while Prince Achmed yelled angrily,

"Out of my way, you filthy brats!"

And the prince pulled out a whip and swung it out at them. Fearing for the children's safety, Danielle, Natalie, Jenna, and I all shouted in unison,

"NO!"

And the four of us, including Aladdin, ran towards them. The girls and I stood protectively in front of the children, while Aladdin stood in front of us and blocked the blow with his arm before the children could endure it.

Aladdin then snapped at the prince, saying while he threw the whip right in his face,

"Hey! If I were as rich as you, I could afford some manners!"

Danielle shouted angrily, "How could you do that?! Preparing to whip two innocent children!"

Jenna berated him angrily, "What kind of a human being are you, huh?!"

Prince Achmed snarled as he shoved us into the mud, "Oh! I'll teachyou some manners!"

Some bystanders in the crowd started laughing at us but were soon silenced when I snapped,

"Hey! You don't talk to my friends like that!"

The prince stopped and sneered at her, "You better watch yourself, peasant! Who do you think you're talking to?!"

Natalie stood up and snapped, "Who do you think you're talking to?!"

Everyone, including the prince and Aladdin gasped at her outburst.

She soon turned her attention towards the crowd and shouted, "And all of you! Shame on you for laughing at all of us! How would you like it if it was any of you in the mud?! Would you liked to have gone through what he's gone through?! Think about it! Or don't you ever think about anything!"

The crowd just continued to look at in shock, and some with looks of guilt. As the prince continued to walk towards the castle, Aladdin said to us while directing his insult towards the prince,

"And look at that, guys. It's not everyday you see a horse with two rear ends!"

The crowd gasped while the girls and I laughed at his funny insult. Offended, Prince Achmed stopped at the palace gates and turned to us with a sneer and shot back while continuing to walk into the palace,

"You and your friends are worthless street rats. You were all born street rats, and you will die street rats. And only your fleas will mourn you."

Enraged, we all raced towards the prince, only to have the palace gates slam in our faces.

In that instant, Natalie lost her temper and shouted through the doors, "You ignorant bastard! Why don't you come back out here and say it to our faces!"

I pulled her back and said, "Nattie, calm down. It's no use, he's gone."

Natalie said, "Well I don't care! He shouldn't have been saying that stuff about us or Aladdin to begin with."

We soon stopped however, as we noticed Aladdin looking up towards the palace and snarl,

"I'm not worthless! And I don't have fleas."

Danielle said to him, feeling bad, "Oh, Aladdin! We're sorry!"

Jenna added, "Yeah, what that prince said was horrible."

Aladdin sighed and said with a small smile, "Thanks, girls. Ya know, since you all are new in town, don't any of you guys have a place to stay?"

I answered as we all shook our head, "No, not really. Do you know of any place where we could stay?"

Aladdin offered, "Well, you're all more than welcome to stay with me and Abu at our place."

Danielle asked shyly, "R-Really?"

Aladdin answered with a sad smile, "Yeah, especially after what you all did for us today."

I said with a smile, "Thanks, Aladdin."

Jenna added, "Yeah, we really appreciate it."

Aladdin nodded and said to Abu, "Come on, Abu. Let's go home."

And with that, we started walking with Aladdin and Abu through the streets until nightfall came and we reached a poor part of the town. Aladdin, Abu, the girls and I climbed up a ladder to an abandoned building, and he helped us get across the building by having us walk along a wooden beam. Once we got inside the building, we looked around to see some broken pots, rags, blankets, and other stuff. Throughout that small journey, Aladdin sadly sang;

Riff-raff, street rat
I don't buy that
If only they'd look closer
Would they see a poor boy?
No, siree!
They'd find out
There's so much more to me

As Aladdin looked out the window, Danielle walked over to him and said as she placed a comforting hand on his shoulder,

"Don't worry, Aladdin. I'm sure things will get better for you and Abu soon."

Aladdin smiled at her kindness and said, "Thanks, Dani."

Danielle slightly blushed in response.

We all joined the two and Abu by the window as Natalie said, getting a view of the palace, "Wow, that's a great view of the town."

We nodded in agreement and I added, "Especially of the castle."

Aladdin nodded and said looking towards the castle with hopeful eyes, "Yeah, and someday, things are gonna change. Abu and I will be rich, live in a palace, and never have any problems at all."