XI. Aurora, September 20

Aurora leaned close to the mirror as she brushed the wand of mascara over her eyelashes. From behind her, she saw her friends Snow White and Ella Miroir push open the swinging door into the bathroom. They were so involved in chatting about some dress they had seen in the hallway that for a moment they didn't notice that Aurora was already here.

It was basically a tradition for the three girls to meet up in this same ladies' room every morning. They would meet there, freshen up, then head out to the lobby to socialize. To strangers, they may have looked like some elitist clique. But it was never a good idea to allow oneself to be deceived by appearances. The girls were always kind to anyone who approached them and none of them thought that they were better than anyone else. And Snow was truly a saint—Aurora honestly looked up to her a bit. While Aurora and Ella occasionally engaged in petty gossip, Snow was never one to talk about a person behind their back, even if the rumor wasn't a specifically negative one. Aurora had never heard Snow say a bad word about anyone, and she admired her for it. In theory, it should be an easy concept, but Aurora was surprised, when she paid attention, how easy it was to join in on a gossipy conversation.

"Hey Aurora!" Ella said, finally noticing her friend and skipping over to the mirror on her right.

This particular bathroom had exactly three stalls, three sinks, and three mirrors. Snow took the mirror to the left and pulled out a tube of bright red lipstick which she began to reapply.

"So how was your date with Charm?" Ella asked as she brushed on a bit of blush.

"Ugh—don't ask," Aurora said, then pouted to gloss her lips.

"That bad?" Ella looked at Aurora curiously.

"No, it's just—it was fine, I guess," Aurora said. "But he just isn't the guy for me. He's a really nice guy, really sweet, but—we're not really compatible, that's all. I like him more as a friend and I think he feels the same way about me."

"So who's next, then?" Ella asked, fluffing her hair.

Aurora knew Ella hadn't meant it to be rude or mean-spirited, but Aurora couldn't help but be a bit taken aback. Who's next? The perpetual question, it seems. Aurora wondered if she was becoming that girl. The one who was constantly dating a different guy. Was that even a thing? She wondered if she looked desperate to other people. That wasn't it at all. In reality, there were plenty of guys willing to date her, but she wanted to find the perfect guy. A fit. A match. Kind of the opposite of desperate. Maybe she looked like a bitch. Maybe people even thought she was a slut.

"No one," Aurora said, putting her hands defiantly on either side of the sink.

"What?" Ella looked over in surprise, putting her hairspray down. "You're giving up?"

"It feels like I've been on dates with just about every guy in this school," Aurora said, then begun to count on her fingers. "Charm, Eric, Hercules, John, Naveen, Phoebus, Shang, Tarzan, Thomas… All of them nice guys, but… Not the guys for me, you know? And I know I'm not the girl for any of them either."

Ella nodded absently, though Aurora wasn't sure she actually understood, "You forgot Gaston."

"Don't even mention Gaston—I try to forget that ever happened," Aurora said.

Talk about the date from hell. Why she had ever thought that was a good idea, she would never be able to figure out.

"But seriously," Aurora said. "I think… I'm going to wait a while. Yeah. I'm not going to do any more dating until college—at least. If I'm ever going to find my prince, it's certainly not going to be here."

"Oh, you never know, Aurora," Snow said in her most soothing voice, brushing Aurora's long golden locks back over her shoulder. "Maybe if you stop looking so hard for it, love will just fall into your lap."

Aurora smiled at her friend's kind words, "Thanks Snow, but… not all of us have it so easy. Are you ever going to tell us about the first time you and Prince met anyway?"

Snow smiled brightly and looked down, "Maybe some other day."

Aurora suspected the memory was so special to Snow that she just wanted to keep the memory all to herself. Aurora wanted something like that. And she could survive two years of not dating in order to find it. Two years—next year, she and Ella would be seniors and Snow would be gone off to college. It was weird to think that their trio would be split, but of course they would still keep in touch and hang out as much as possible. Aurora knew it wouldn't be the same without Snow, though.

"Your perfect match is out there somewhere," Snow assured Aurora with a comforting hand on her shoulder. "You just have to be patient and you'll find him. Or maybe he'll find you. But it will happen, I just know it will."

She thought it was a little corny and overly optimistic, but Aurora thanked Snow anyway. It was a nice thought. Aurora was okay with just sticking to dreaming for now, though. It was only high school, after all. While most other students were only concerned with dating for fun, Aurora was really looking for "the one." It was silly—she knew it was silly—but she couldn't help feeling that way. All the more reason to wait. After all, if there was some person out there who she was meant to be with, their paths would cross eventually, wouldn't they? Somehow they would find each other without trying.

Aurora found herself unable to focus for most of the day. She couldn't stop thinking about the decision she had made and whether she would follow through with it. Seeing the guys she had previously dated throughout the day was actually kind of helpful in building her resolve. Since she wasn't dating anymore, she wouldn't have the opportunity to hurt any nice guys—at least not in a deeper way than a simple rejection—or to be subjected to the rudeness of any not-so-nice ones. Gaston in particular brought up this last thought.

Aurora had gone on a date with him when she was a freshman and he was a sophomore. It had been at the beginning of the year when she didn't know many people and didn't know who was good news and who was bad. Gaston had approached her to ask her on a date and he had seemed nice enough. A bit overly flirtatious, but Aurora was too flattered to care. An older student had asked her out at the beginning of her freshman year, and she didn't know better to be anything other than excited. She told him her address and he told her he would pick her up at her house at five o'clock the following Friday. Even though she barely knew him—the invitation occurred during her first short conversation with him—she was excited. It didn't really matter if the relationship went anywhere. It was a status thing at this point.

Aurora was ready by four forty-five on Friday, dressed in a summery light blue dress. She waited in the living room of her house for Gaston, keeping an eye on the clock. She tried to read for a while, but she was so nervous she couldn't concentrate. Five o'clock came and passed. Then five thirty. It was nearly six when she heard a call pull up the driveway. She waited a couple of minutes for Gaston to come to the door. She heard a honk of the horn and realized he wasn't coming in—he expected her to come out.

Feeling slightly frazzled, Aurora checked herself quickly in a mirror and headed out to the car. Gaston had the window of the car rolled down and he flashed Aurora a cheesy smile. She forced a smile in return.

"I thought you said five o'clock," Aurora said somewhat sheepishly—actually, she knew he said five o'clock. It wasn't a detail she would easily forget.

"I did," Gaston said, seeming completely unconcerned.

"It's nearly six!" Aurora said.

"Fashionably late," Gaston said casually. "Hop in."

Aurora was somewhat taken aback, but she came around the passenger side of the car and got in anyway. Gaston backed out of the driveway quickly and peeled out into the road. He maintained a speed of at least fifteen to twenty miles above the limit at all times and rolled through stop signs carelessly, but Aurora kept her mouth shut. She wondered where they were going but thought it might be uncool to ask.

When they pulled up to a McDonalds, Aurora had to suppress a groan. Surely he couldn't be serious. Aurora was of the opinion that there were few things in this world that couldn't somehow be made romantic. Fast food restaurants were unfortunately one of those few things. The greasy food completely devoid of nutritional value, the apathetic staff of unhygienic teenagers, the wiped-down booths, the flies. Gaston parked the car and she hoped to god he just had some bizarre sense of humor or had to use the bathroom or something. Anything that would mean their date wasn't going to be at a McDonalds, of all places. Gaston got out of the car, then looked back at Aurora expectantly. She slowly got out of the car and followed Gaston in the building and up to the counter.

Gaston looked a bit annoyed at something then said, "Pick something off the Dollar Menu."

Ah. Cheap. At least that meant he realized that it was polite for him to pay. That had to count for something, right? At this point, actually, it didn't count for much. Anyway, Aurora thought, politeness probably didn't have much to do with it.

"Um, it's okay, I'll just pay for my own," Aurora said, and Gaston didn't protest.

He ordered himself some deluxe burger that definitely cost more than a dollar, but Aurora didn't care at this point. She looked over the menu. Nothing here was really appealing. In fact, that pictures made her want to gag a little bit. She finally settled on just getting a small M&M McFlurry and headed over to the booth where Gaston was already seated, having eaten almost half his burger already. The way he was ripping the thing apart was just disgusting. There was sauce dripping down his fingers and the back of his hands and vegetables falling onto the wrapper on the table. Aurora checked the seat before sliding into it across from Gaston. She didn't dare to so much as touch the table, so instead sat with her arms close to her body and ate her McFlurry without putting it down on the table.

Gaston didn't bother to make any conversation, though Aurora doubted the conversation would be very interesting anyway. She was completely repulsed by him and completely regretted taking him up on his offer for a date. How could she have known, though? In retrospect, she supposed it should be suspicious that a guy would approach a freshman who he knew nothing about to ask her on a date—unless no one else would date him. Later, though, she would find out that there were plenty of girls who wanted to date him, though not for the right reasons. Apparently there were some girls trashy enough to find him attractive. To each her own. But, as it turned out, Gaston wasn't interested in any of those trashy girls—the ones on his level. Instead, he always went after the kind of nice girl who would never be interested in him. Luckily for every other girl in the school, soon after his date with Aurora, Gaston met Belle, and fixated solely on her from that point on. Of course, it wasn't so lucky for Belle, but she was witty enough to keep him at bay with her clever words and she seemed like a strong girl. Aurora wound up admiring Belle quite a bit when she saw all the unwanted attention the girl received from Gaston. Aurora knew she wouldn't be able to handle it.

Aurora only finished half her McFlurry, losing her appetite after basically watching Gaston digest his hamburger, as he apparently never learned to close his mouth while he ate. She wrinkled her nose up in disgust, but he didn't seem to notice. It was like she wasn't even there. It was just Gaston and the hamburger. When he finally finished, he crumbled up his wrapper into a ball and tossed it at the trash can. He missed, but didn't bother to pick it up. Aurora couldn't help but let a small noise of disgust escape her. Gaston didn't seem to notice anyway.

Without saying anything, Gaston headed toward the door. Aurora followed him, hoping this meant the date was almost over. They got in the car and drove off. Aurora wondered briefly if closing her eyes would help, then decided that if she was going to die she'd want to know ahead of time. Plus, there was always the small hope that if a collision was about to happen she could somehow warn Gaston in time. He seemed oblivious to driving laws. Aurora admittedly didn't know too much about driving, not having even started Driver's Ed yet, but she figured she probably knew considerably more than Gaston did. She wondered how he had passed the test at the DMV, then realized maybe he hadn't—maybe he didn't even have a license. How old was he, anyway? She decided she didn't even want to know.

Gaston pulled the car over in an area near Aurora's neighborhood where there were no street lights. She rolled her eyes.

"Shall I walk the rest of the way then?" Aurora asked, not attempting to hide her sarcasm—she didn't care what this guy thought of her anymore. He was clearly a slob and a creep. She reached for the door handle but Gaston hit the button on his side to lock all the doors.

"Not yet," he said. "I thought we could—talk for a while."

It was immediately evident that Gaston did not have any interest in "talking." He leaned over across to Aurora's seat, lips pursed. She was lucky enough to dodge the kiss, turning her head and fumbling with the lock until she practically fell out the door. Gaston shouted and tried to grab her wrist, but she was able to pull away. She took off her rather uncomfortable shoes and walked briskly in the direction of her house. Gaston drove alongside her on the road for about half a minute, then apparently gave up, turning his car around. A couple of minutes later, a car pulled up along Aurora and for a moment she thought it was Gaston, back for round two. But when she looked up she didn't recognize the car, and when the window rolled down she saw that it was a kind-looking girl with pale skin and a black bob.

"Are you alright?" she asked. "Do you need a ride?"

"Um, I'm okay, just had a… bad night," Aurora said.

"First date?" the girl asked.

"How did you know?" Aurora looked up, surprised.

"Hop in," the girl said.

She introduced herself as Snow White and told Aurora all about Gaston and his track record with girls. She happened to live on the same street on Aurora, and drove her right up to her front door. Aurora thanked Snow for the ride. The pair's friendship was almost immediate. Aurora soon introduced Snow to her longtime best friend, Ella, and the three were practically inseparable from then on out.

Snow was the one who set Aurora up on dates with Naveen, Phoebus, and Shang. She finally gave up, deciding her matchmaking skills were obviously not meant for Aurora. All the guys had been nice enough—certainly leagues above Gaston—but just not quite right. Naveen meant well, but he was a little bit self-absorbed. Phoebus was more of the kind of guy Aurora would want to hang out with and joke around with as a friend. He was a genuinely nice guy with a good sense of humor, but he just felt more like a brother than someone Aurora could have romantic feelings for. And Shang was just a little too serious for Aurora's taste. She wondered often if she was being too picky, but she couldn't help it.

But all that was in the past now. Now she wouldn't have to worry about guys or dating anymore. She would enjoy her last two years of high school with her friends and she wouldn't waste any time wondering if this guy or that guy would be a good boyfriend. It didn't matter anymore, and if it did matter… Well then, it would happen on its own. She told herself this over and over again.

After school, Aurora went out to the parking lot to meet up with Snow, who had agreed at lunchtime to give her a ride home. She spotted Snow talking to a tall, slim boy with light brown hair by her car. Aurora didn't recognize the boy, but he had to be an upperclassman. She slowly approached the pair, not wanting to intrude on their conversation uninvited.

"Aurora!" Snow said with a smile. "We were just talking about you."

"Good things, I hope," Aurora said, although she of course knew that Snow would never say a bad word about anyone, never mind her.

"Of course," Snow said. "This is Phillip, he's new to WDHS this year. Phillip, this is Aurora."

"Hi," Aurora said somewhat shyly.

"Nice to meet you Aurora," Phillip said.

"Um… Snow, can I talk to you for a minute?" Aurora asked.

"It's alright, I was just going anyway," Phillip smiled, then looked at Aurora pointedly. "Hope to see you around."

He walked off with a wave and Aurora gave Snow a look.

"What?"

"Stop trying to set me up, I told you…"

"I'm not trying to set you two up," Snow said innocently, getting in the driver's seat of her car. "You know I gave up on that ages ago. Phillip's just a nice guy, and he's new—I think you guys could be friends. I thought it would be good to introduce him to some people. It's hard going to a new school your senior year."

"I guess," Aurora said warily.

"Well, what if there was an attraction there?" Snow asked. "Would you just ignore it?"

"Yes," Aurora said without hesitation.

"Why?"

"You know why."

"You should at least give the poor boy a chance," Snow said. "If he's interested, that is."

"I'm done with dating, I told you," Aurora said. "Anyway, I just met the guy—I have no idea if we even have anything in common. We might not even get along."

"Oh, I think you will," Snow said.

"And you know everything, huh?" Aurora looked over at Snow, who just smiled.