Phillip jolted awake to the sound of his blaring alarm clock. He groaned. He did not want to go to classes today. Soft snores drifted from the other bed in his room. His roommate, Eric slept peacefully, a blissful smile on his face. For a second, Phillip considered waking him, then decided against it. Let him be late to class, it won't be the first time, he thought. Phillip threw on his school uniform (a black sweater vest with the school crest on the left breast, a white long sleeve button down shirt with a tie, and khaki pants), quickly brushed his sparkling white teeth and short sandy blonde hair, and quietly exited the room to go to breakfast.
The cafeteria was nearly empty because of how early it was. He always liked to eat early because the food was so much better. After he got his food, he spotted a couple of his friends at a center table.
"Hey guys," he greeted, sitting next to Charming and across from Florian.
"Hey man," Florian answered, "Where's Eric?"
"Still sleeping. I figured I'd just let him sleep. It was a hard game for him last night."
Last night's football game was played against Carver Remedial School. Those boys might not have been too smart, but they sure knew how to hit! Eric played as a runningback for the team and he got the brunt of the pain which resulted in Percival suffering its first loss of the season. 49-21.
"Thanks for waking me up, Phil!" Eric thumped Phillip upside the head then sat down by Florian. "Now all the bacon's gone."
Phillip laughed at his misfortune and bit a chunk out of his greasy strip of bacon. "Sorry dude. You snooze, you lose!"
"Anyway, have you guys seen Vanessa around? I've been looking for her everywhere," Eric wondered. Behind Eric, a group of girls entered: Helga, Megara, and Vanessa.
"Speaking of the Devil . . ." Phillip remarked as Vanessa sauntered up to the boys.
"That's not how the saying goes," Eric muttered, confused.
Vanessa slid up to Eric's side and kissed him on the cheek. Eric grinned and put his arm around her waist. Florian fake gagged. Megara and Helga sat down by the boys, too. Phillip suddenly felt uncomfortable with Helga, a.k.a. the spawn of Satan, so close to him. Helga was not what you'd call the nicest person, and Phillip knew that personally. He cleared his throat, muttered something about going to class, and left without a word to the girls.
After getting his books from his room, he went on to his first class with Mr. Radcliffe. He was still distracted by his encounter with Helga, so he wasn't paying attention when he ran smack into something. His books and papers flew everywhere. Phillip looked up to see what he had run into.
A beautiful blonde girl stood in front of him, a shocked look on her face. She dropped down to gather her stuff, so Phillip kneeled down to help. "I'm so sorry," she said, "I just wasn't looking where I was going."
"No, it's my fault. Here I think this is yours. I was distracted," he apologized. The two stood up. "Where are you going?"
"U.S. History with Mr. Radcliffe, but I can't seem to find it. I just transferred out of Professor Porter's class."
Phillip's eyes brightened. "That's where I'm going! We can walk together. What's your name?"
"Aurora," she answered.
"That's a beautiful name, it really fits you," Aurora blushed. Phillip introduced himself, "I'm Phil-"
"I know who you are. You're the quarterback of the football team; everyone knows you," she interrupted.
"Really? Do you come to a lot of the games?" Phillip asked.
Aurora nodded. "Every one. I kind of have to. My best friend is on the dance team. You probably know Ariel."
"Oh yeah! Eric's good friends with her. She doesn't talk much, does she?"
"Actually she does, just not around Vanessa. And it seems like every time she's with Eric, Vanessa is there too."
Phillip grimaced, "Yeah, I'm not too fond of Vanessa either. Hey, we're here!" He guided her into the classroom.
"We passed this door at least twice," Aurora noted.
"Yeah, but I was having too much fun talking to you!" Phillip grinned, which made Aurora blush. Again. When she went up to talk to the teacher, Phillip sat in his seat beside Phoebus. Aurora was assigned a seat beside Jasmine, across the room. Phillip waved, and Aurora giggled and waved back.
Yes! Phillip silently cheered. He knew it sounded weird, but he felt like he had met Aurora before. There was something about those eyes that just seemed familiar to him, but he couldn't put his finger on it. He kept sneaking glances at her throughout Mr. Radcliffe's lesson. Usually Phillip enjoyed Mr. Radcliffe's class, but today analyzing the effects of WWI on the global economy just wasn't holding his attention.
The bell rang after an agonizing 1 1/2 hours. He leaped up at the ringing and tried to catch up with Aurora, but she and Jasmine had started up a conversation and had left without a second glance to Phillip.
"Dang it," he muttered. As he ran out of the classroom, he collided with someone. Again. Today was just not his day. The person he had run into this time was what Phillip guessed was the janitor, wearing a pair of red overalls and pulling around an old yellow cart and mop.
"Sorry, man," he apologized. He glanced at the man's name tag. Mortimer Mickey. Phillip kept on walking, but for some reason couldn't get the man out of his mind. He didn't look like your typical janitor, with a full head of jet black hair and a beaming smile on his face. His big eyes and baby nose rung a bell in Phillip's head, as well. Gosh, too much deja vu in one day! Phillip sighed.
He was interrupted by a commotion in the hallway. He turned around to see Clayton holding Flynn Rider by the collar of his shirt and then slamming him up against the lockers. "I saw you, you little scumbag! You can't hide from me!" Clayton growled, not even two inches away from Flynn's face.
"Listen, man, I don't even know what you're talking about! By the way, could I interest you in some breath mints?" Flynn cracked a crooked grin. during this exchange, Phillip noticed Aladdin saunter up behind Clayton and deftly slip his hand into Clayton's back pocket and retrieve his leather wallet. Clayton was completely oblivious and so were many of the students gaping at the scuffle. The few students who did notice tried to stifle their laughter.
"Is there a problem here, Mr. Rider?" A booming voice interrupted. Phillip had never seen a hallway clear out so quickly. Principal Percival stood in the middle of the hallway, his brawn enough to scare people into their classes even without the menacing voice that accompanied it.
Now it was Clayton's turn to grin. Flynn's smirk fell from his face as Percival stepped closer and closer. "Uh, no sir, no. Clayton and I were just sorting out a couple of things, but we're good now, right, buddy?"
"Actually, sir," Clayton started, "I caught this thief trying to steal my stuff. He would have gotten away with it if it weren't for my acute observational skills."
This time, Phillip couldn't hold it in. A short burst of laughter escaped his lips. All six eyes snapped to him. He gulped.
"Mr. Shirley, is it?" Percival asked. Phillip nodded hesitantly. "Whatever are you doing out of class?"
"I-I was uh, just, you know-" Phillip stammered.
"He was helping me," the janitor from before wheeled his cart up from behind Phillip. "I needed him to help me carry some boxes to the art room. He just finished. I was just about to write him a note." Mortimer pulled out a notepad from his breast pocket and scribbled out an excuse note.
"Is that so, Mortimer?" Percival seethed through gritted teeth.
Mortimer nodded confidently. "It sure as heck is, Percy," the principal seemed to bristle at the name. "Now get on to class, Phillip! You don't want to miss too much!"
Phillip nodded and shuffled to his next class, Physics with Dr. Doppler. He had given Doppler the note and sat down before he realized, I never told that janitor my name!
Pete lowered himself down onto his seat and dropped his forehead into his hands. This is not what he wanted. He thought that when the Horned King had given him the potion that all of his trouble would be over and finally, finally, he would be king! But why should he have trusted that old fool? Experience should have taught him to only trust himself. But it was too late to go back now. He had survived a whole semester already in what was supposed to be his kingdom. Sure he could enforce whatever rules he wanted or pick on whichever kid he liked, it still wasn't what he had expected. This was Hell on Earth for him, so he would ruin as many "good souls" as he could to compensate.
But then comes the issue of Mickey. Pete thought he as pretty clever by assigning Mickey and the rest of that crew in low or boring jobs, such as janitor or librarian, but something told him that his old nemesis remembered. He remembered every last thing.
Mickey watched as Phillip scurried down the hall. He remembered when Phillip was a strong king and ruled over his and Queen Aurora's kingdom with a firm and caring hand. But alas, everything had changed now. The pair didn't even remember each other, which was the same for every Disney citizen. Except for the six who were there that night: Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, Daisy, and Pete. Suddenly he had an idea.
Mickey pushed his cart through the halls into the janitor closet then made his way to the library. Minnie sat at the desk, handing a book to a student who was once a shining knight in armor, but was now just a scrawny teenager.
"Minnie!" Mickey called out. She looked up at him.
"What is it dear?" she wondered with that wonderful squeaky voice of hers.
Mickey could barely contain his excitement. "We're going to fight this thing!"
"Fight?" Minnie scrunched her brow in confusion. "Fight what?"
Mickey's smile faded. "Pete's curse, of course."
"Oh, yeah, that! You have fun with that, I have work to do." She gathered up the books on the table and began sorting them. Mickey stood frozen for a few shocked moments before turning and walking away. He needed to stop this thing.
Before it was too late.
