XX. Homecoming, October 2

Ella looked in the mirror proudly. She had to admit that she was impressed with her own ability to dress herself nicely on a budget. She had made the pink dress she was wearing with a soft cotton fabric she had bought at the local craft store and sewing machines from the clothing construction classroom in the school basement. The dress was a simple maxi dress with a bow at the front, but Ella thought it looked quite elegant, especially considering the material's relatively cheap nature. She smiled, checking her makeup and making sure the intricate bun she had put her hair into was still in place and that no hairs had come loose. She looked at the clock. Charm would be here soon. Charm—her date for homecoming. She could still hardly believe that it was true.

She headed downstairs to wait for Charm. When she reached the bottom of the stairs, however, Drizella and Anastasia were waiting for her. Both of them had sour looks on their faces, but then again, they always looked like that. They looked a strange mixture of jealous and smug. Both were wearing their own homecoming dresses, though as far as Ella knew neither of them had dates. Drizella had on a lime green dress and Anastasia wore magenta. Both dresses were made of shiny, somewhat gaudy looking fabric, but Ella didn't doubt they were both expensive dresses. Anastasia was sipping coffee from a mug as Drizella stepped forward to confront Ella.

"Where do you think you're going?" Drizella sneered.

"I'm going to the homecoming dance, just like you," Ella said. "My date will be here soon to pick me up."

"You can't go to the dance without a dress," Drizella said.

"What's that even supposed to mean?" Ella asked, pretty sure her step-sister had gone off the deep end. "I have a d—"

Before she could even finish the sentence, Drizella had grabbed Anastasia's mug of coffee and tossed the steaming hot beverage onto the front of Ella's dress. Ella screamed involuntarily as the searing liquid hit the fabric and soaked through to the skin.

"Drizella!" she shouted, hardly believing her step-sister could be quite so cruel and vicious.

As though the giant brown stain that was expanding across the front of the dress wasn't enough, Drizella reached forward and forcefully ripped the bow off the front of the dress, leaving an unattractive, lopsided hole right below Ella's chest. Ella could feel tears beginning to form in her eyes, but didn't want to give Drizella the satisfaction of seeing her pain. She turned to run back up the stairs, and as she did, Drizella reached up and pulled at Ella's hair, releasing the bun so that her blonde locks fell down messily. Ella hurried up the stairs to the sound of her step-sisters cackling. She was about to go back into her room and lock the door when she heard the doorbell ring. Quietly, she crept as close as she could to the top of the stairs without being seen. She heard the door open.

"Hello, is Ella here?" she heard Charm ask in his amiable voice.

"She decided she's not going to the dance," Drizella said with a laugh.

"But you can take me if you'd like," Anastasia interrupted, clearly trying to make her voice sound sensual and just sounding ridiculous.

"Don't be ridiculous, Anastasia," Drizella said. "You're far too young, Charm is clearly looking for a mature lady like myself. Aren't you, Charm?"

"Um… sorry, ladies, but Ella was the only girl I really wanted to take to the dance," Charm said, and Ella felt as though her heart might melt or burst or just stop working altogether. "Can I at least talk to her?"

"No," Drizella said bluntly.

"She's not here," Anastasia filled in.

"Oh?" Charm said. "That's… strange."

Ella wished she could tell him that she did want to go. That she wasn't standing him up—she didn't choose this. But he couldn't see her right now. Not like this.

"Well… goodnight, ladies," Charm said.

"See you later," Drizella said suggestively.

Ella heard the door close and she hurried to her room and closed the door. She looked out the window and saw Charm walking slowly away from the front door, head down, looking worried. He began to look up and Ella hid so he wouldn't see her in the window. She walked slowly to the bed, pulling her bun all the way out so it wasn't just hanging there, limp and sad. This was supposed to have been the best night ever, and now it had become the biggest disappointment of all time.

Aladdin pulled into the school parking lot as the sky was turning a darker shade of blue. He walked around to the passenger side and helped Alice out. She looked so grown up tonight. She had pulled her blonde hair back into a simple up-do involving a couple of tiny braids woven into a twisted bun. She was wearing a cornflower blue semi-formal dress. The neckline was conservative enough to satisfy Aladdin's brotherly, protective feelings for Alice and the skirt was short enough to be fun and somewhat casual. At the waist, there was a tiny geometric bow made of fabric.

The pair walked arm-in-arm towards the entrance to the gym. They had grown very close in the few weeks since they'd met. Aladdin, an only child as far as he was aware, felt like he finally knew what it was like to have a little sister—or any kind of sibling. He felt emotionally invested in Alice's happiness. He wanted her to have fun, be safe, and get good grades. And he had a lot of respect for the kid. She was one of the only people who was upfront with him, and he appreciated that—especially now. She would tell him when he was being stupid or unreasonable, but she was supportive when he was rightfully feeling down. He could sense that their friendship was one that was going to last.

Although she hated to admit it even to herself, Alice had a little crush. She would never tell a soul—didn't even have the courage to write it in a diary—but it was true. She figured—hoped—it would go away after a little while. It was a harmless crush, and she knew it. For the most part, Aladdin was her friend and nothing else. That was how she was able to be so brutally honest with him, and how she felt so comfortable around him practically immediately. But every once in a while he would say or do something and she would feel a small pang of attraction. She figured no one could ever blame her, though, as it was an undisputed fact that Aladdin was one of the most attractive guys in the school.

"You ready for this?" Aladdin smiled down at Alice, squeezing her arm as they approached the door.

"Uh-huh," she nodded.

They gave the chaperones at the doors their tickets, showed their IDs, and stepped into the loud, crowded gymnasium. There was a DJ at one end and the crowd was most condensed near the speakers. The overhead lights were all turned off, but there were disco balls and strobe lights placed throughout the gym. The DJ was spinning indistinguishable house music as they walked in, and those closest to him were jumping up and down to the beat. At the other end of the gym was the refreshments table.

"I'm thirsty," Alice said when she saw it.

"Let's go get something then," Aladdin said, and they headed towards the table.

He couldn't help but notice that people were staring at them. A multitude of eyes were following the pair as they walked from the entrance back to the refreshments table. He wondered if Alice was aware of all the attention they were drawing, or if she was as oblivious as usual to the social happenings all around her. He was pretty sure he could guess why they were staring—maybe for a number of reasons. He wished they would stop, though. It was none of their business. But, come to think of it… he should have seen this coming.

Rapunzel was doing her very best to have a good time at the dance. It was homecoming, after all, the major dance event of the year for underclassmen. She tried to focus on the music, but there wasn't much substance there. She had to find something to focus on or else her thoughts would just drift back to her mother and… well, she couldn't have that.

She looked to her two friends to distract her—Mulan and Wendy Darling. Rapunzel and Mulan had been friends for a while, but the two had only recently become friends with Wendy through their mutual friend Peter. Peter and Wendy were best friends, although Rapunzel suspected Wendy liked Peter in a way that was more than just friendly. That was part of why Rapunzel had invited Wendy to come along with them—Peter would, of course, be going with his girlfriend, Tiger Lily, and Rapunzel didn't want Wendy to feel left out. Besides, Rapunzel really liked Wendy so far, and if she could she wanted to help Wendy to maybe get over Peter. If such a thing was possible.

Unfortunately, Rapunzel found, as she looked at Wendy, she already looked disappointed. If Rapunzel couldn't enjoy the night, she wanted to at least help Wendy to do it. She followed Wendy's gaze out to the crowd and saw Peter and Tiger dancing together at the edge of the crowd. Just as she was watching, the DJ slowed the music down and Peter put his arms around Tiger's waist and pulled her close. Rapunzel searched the crowd for some kind of distraction. Her eyes rested on Phillip LeRoy, Wendy's French peer tutor. He was standing by the refreshments table, sipping from a cup and looking bored—and hot.

"Hey Wendy," Rapunzel said.

"Hm?" Wendy said, seemingly coming out of a Peter-induced daze.

"How about that Phillip, huh?"

"What—Phillip?" Wendy asked, confused. "Phillip LeRoy?"

"Yeah, he's your tutor, right?" Rapunzel asked.

"Sure—what about him?" Wendy asked.

"He's pretty cute, isn't he?" Rapunzel pointed over to where he was standing.

"Uh, yeah—yeah, I guess he is," Wendy said, looking across the gymnasium as though she was seeing Phillip and for the first time realizing that he was an attractive man. "What's your point?"

"Dance with him!" Rapunzel said enthusiastically. "He looks so bored—and you seem kind of bored—and you guys would totally make a cute pair."

"No way, Rapunzel," Wendy said, giving her a you-can't-be-serious look. "He's way out of my league anyway."

"Are you joking?" Rapunzel said. "You're gorgeous—no one in this room is out of your league. Seriously. Go do it. You won't regret it. If you don't ask him—I'll ask him for you."

"Oh—fine," Wendy said. "But just one dance."

"That's all I ask," Rapunzel smiled and watched Wendy walk off towards Phillip.

She watched Phillip look up as Wendy approached. He stood up straight as she came closer and he looked pretty excited when she began talking to him, and then they walked closer to the crowd and started slow dancing. They weren't dancing too closely, but Rapunzel sensed that there was some chemistry and she was proud of the match she had made. She turned to Mulan.

"What's your bet?" Rapunzel asked.

"I don't think they'll let each other go the whole night," Mulan said.

"I wouldn't bet against that," Rapunzel smiled.

Ariel and Tiana had to practically drag Belle to the dance, but there she was. The three arrived as a group, looking like they had coordinated outfits, all wearing different shades of blue semi-formal dresses of approximately the same length, although all of different cuts. Ariel's was asymmetrical and off-the-shoulder, Tia's was rather well-fitting with the neckline cutting straight across, and Belle's was loose and flowing with a lower neckline than she would usually feel comfortable with—borrowed from Ariel's closet at the last minute.

Ariel had actually called Belle earlier that day to see when she was going to be at the dance and had essentially freaked out when Belle said she wouldn't be attending. She and Tia had showed up at Belle's house soon afterwards with a dress, makeup kit and hair tools for a quick mini-makeover. Belle was grateful for her friends. Though she hadn't planned to come to the dance and would probably have preferred staying home cuddled up with a book as she'd planned, it could be some fun. And she liked Ariel and Tia, so she imagined it could turn out to be a good time.

"Oh, just ignore them, Ariel," Belle heard Tia say.

"What is it?" Belle asked.

"Eric and Vanessa," Tia said.

"Oh," Belle said, following Tia and Ariel's gaze to see the couple dancing together.

Belle was well aware from their lunchtime conversations of the Eric-and-Vanessa situation. Vanessa was a senior who helped out in Ariel and Tia's biology class, and Eric was Ariel's big crush. Belle had been hearing the saga of Vanessa-and-Eric over the lunch table, about how Vanessa was constantly flirting with Eric in what Ariel described as "a completely unprofessional way." Last Belle had heard, the two weren't officially an item, but apparently they were now, or pretty close to it.

"There's Lottie and Naveen," Belle said. "You going to go say hi?"

The three girls looked over at the newly arrived couple. Lottie had a hand on Naveen's chest possessively, and she was leaning towards him as much as was probably possible while still maintaining a forward momentum. Naveen looked slightly uncomfortable with the way Lottie was leaning on him, but he still flashed his charismatic, characteristic smile at everyone he passed by anyway.

"Eh, I don't think so," Tia said. "I think Lottie's got a bit of a one-track mind right now. Maybe we'll catch up later."

"If she ever lets go of him," Ariel said, laughing.

Pocahontas and John arrived at the dance together, to no one's surprise but Pocahontas's own. The two had agreed that it would be a platonic date—that they'd be going as friends, and only friends. Neither of them expressed any problem with this arrangement. Pocahontas saw that Kocoum and Nakoma had also arrived together as the couple that they were. Of course she knew that they were a couple, but for some reason seeing them at the dance together, with Nakoma in a gorgeous tan pleated dress, hurt in a new way. But Nakoma and Pocahontas were best friends, and the only normal thing for the two couples to do would be to greet each other.

"Hey, Pocahontas," Nakoma said something first as she and Kocoum came face-to-face with Pocahontas and John.

"Nakoma," Pocahontas forced a smile.

"You two, then, huh?" Nakoma gestured at Pocahontas and John.

"Oh, no, we're just here as friends," Pocahontas said.

"Ah, sure," Nakoma said with a wink.

"Really," Pocahontas insisted.

"Hey—Kocoum—I'm sorry about Thomas, if he's been a pain," John said. "He's just an immature kid and… he has the wrong ideas about how to solve problems. No hard feelings, yeah?"

"Of course," Kocoum nodded to John. "I only see Thomas's… heckling… as a reflection of his own undeveloped social abilities."

"Great," John said, reaching across and giving Kocoum a firm handshake. "And, uh… I'll try to talk to him about not being such an ass."

Despite the conversation going on between Kocoum and John, Pocahontas couldn't keep her eyes off of Nakoma. Luckily Nakoma seemed captivated by Kocoum and didn't notice. Nakoma always looked beautiful, but Pocahontas thought she looked especially so tonight. Maybe it was because Pocahontas hadn't seen her as often lately as they usually saw each other, since Nakoma and Kocoum had been spending a lot of time together. Pocahontas didn't like to think about the fact that Nakoma was spending so much time with Kocoum. She missed her best friend, but she also wished something more could come of their friendship, and Kocoum was a major roadblock in those efforts. She tried to focus on something besides Nakoma, but her eyes kept drifting back.

Ella was alone in the house now. Drizella and Anastasia had left to go to the dance and Mrs. Tremaine was off doing whatever it was she did on Saturday nights—Ella couldn't care less, she was usually just glad to have the house to herself. But tonight she shouldn't be here at all—she should be at the dance with Charm having the time of her life. And if not for her horrible step-siblings, she would be. She was in her pajamas now, having stuffed the dress in the trash angrily. Maybe she could have fixed it, but it didn't seem worth it since she didn't have anywhere else to wear it to. She stood in the kitchen cooking macaroni for herself—comfort food was exactly what she needed at this moment.

Tap, tap, tap.

Ella jumped, looking around, trying to find the source of the loud tapping noise. This was no ordinary creaking of an old house. No, this was something new. She heard it again, looked up, and saw where it was coming from. There, on the other side of the window pane, was Charm, tapping his finger against the glass. Ella hurried over to the window and pushed up the frame. There was no screen in this particular window.

There Charm stood, standing just outside the window. He looked perfectly charming—quite suited to the name. Not a single black hair on his head was out of place, and the cream jacket he wore was without a visible wrinkle or speck of dirt. He looked very handsome and perfectly dapper, and Ella immediately felt even sorrier than she already did that she wouldn't be able to accompany him to the dance. Seeing him now, framed by the windowsill, she thought he was perhaps even more perfect than she had previously imagined.

"What are you doing?" Ella whispered, even though there was no one in the house to hear at this point.

"I thought your sisters—"

"Step-sisters," Ella corrected, then felt a little bit foolish.

"Step-sisters," Charm affirmed. "I thought they were acting a bit suspicious… So I decided to go park around the corner and come back after they'd gone. I just wanted to ask you why you stood me up."

"You know I would never—"

"I know," Charm said, and Ella found that his dark, chocolaty eyes were staring directly into her own light blue ones. "I didn't really think you'd stood me up—not on purpose, anyway. You were far too excited about this dance to do that. So what happened?"

Ella looked down, "Drizella ruined my dress."

"On purpose?" Charm asked. "What am I saying—of course on purpose."

"You've met her, huh?" Ella asked rhetorically. "It was the only dress I had that was formal enough to wear to homecoming—I actually made it just for tonight. But…"

"You made your own dress?"

Ella nodded.

"Impressive," Charm said. "You know, I don't really mind that you can't go to the dance—don't look like that, I'm not going to go without you."

"Why not?" Ella asked, surprised. "You're all dressed up for it."

"Dances aren't really my thing anyway," Charm admitted. "I just wanted to spend time with you—and this is kind of better, because we can talk and it's just us."

"You mean that?" Ella said.

"I don't know, do I?" Charm asked with a smile, then leaned through the window and surprised Ella with a kiss.

"Hey, Aurora!" Phillip spotted her over by the refreshments table grabbing a snack.

"Oh… Phillip… hi," she said, feeling surprisingly shy.

The two had spoken a couple of times since Snow's ill-fated attempt to set them up, and they had gotten along pretty well. Aurora could see the two of them being good friends. And she wouldn't be against the prospect of a dance or two with him—dances didn't have to mean anything.

"You look nice," Phillip said, pouring two cups of fruit punch.

"Thanks," Aurora said. "Who's the other cup for?"

"Oh—Wendy," Phillip said, gesturing towards the girl standing over by the wall waiting for him. "I tutor her in French—she's a really smart girl. Really nice, too. She asked me to dance and we just kind of hit it off. I wasn't expecting much from this dance, but it's actually been really fun so far."

"For me, too," Aurora lied, smiling.

"Glad to hear it," Phillip said. "I'll see you later Aurora, yeah?"

"Of course," Aurora said as he headed back off towards Wendy.

She couldn't help watching as Phillip handed Wendy one of the cups of fruit punch. The two were now having some intense conversation about who-knows-what. Wendy was watching Phillip intently, seeming very interested in what he had to say. Aurora knew what she was feeling was something akin to jealousy, and she did not appreciate it. She was not supposed to be jealous because she was not supposed to be interested. She pushed the feelings to the side and tried to remember why she'd even come to this dance in the first place.

"Meg."

Megara turned towards the voice and found Hercules standing behind her. She gave him the once-over, cocking an eyebrow in question and crossing her arms over her chest.

"What's up, Wonder Boy?" Meg asked, looking bored and inspecting her nails.

"Wonder Boy?" he questioned.

"It's my new nickname for you—just came up with it," Meg said. "Because it's such a wonder how you seem to always be following me around, hm?"

"I—um—well, anyway, Meg," Hercules said. "I wanted to see if… maybe you'd like to dance with me?"

Meg scoffed, "Why would I want to dance with you?"

"Well, I… kind of did get mixed messages but…" Hercules looked confused. "I got the impression there was some kind of chemistry between us… In fact, I know there was, because…"

"What on earth are you talking about?" Meg asked, putting her hands on her hips.

"We kissed, Meg," Hercules said, leaning forward and speaking in somewhat hushed tones. "You can act as weird as you'd like towards me, but I know what happened between us—and we both know it was real."

Meg appeared unfazed. "You must be drunk, Wonder Boy. Have fun with that. I should warn you, though, it's against school policy."

She tossed her ponytail in the air as she turned and walked off in search of someone more worthy of her time.

Rapunzel sat on the bleachers admiring her handiwork. Phillip and Wendy had been dancing for quite a few songs now—enough that Rapunzel had stopped bothering to count. They seemed to be getting along really well, and better than just your average tutor-and-tutee. Someone had dragged Mulan off to socialize, so it was just Rapunzel by herself now. Alone. With her thoughts. She tried to concentrate on all the weird little couples that were formulating on the dance floor, but it wasn't quite enough. Then she saw that Flynn guy—and he was coming towards her. She rolled her eyes, thinking about if it might be worth it to get up and run in the opposite direction.

"Why so serious?" Flynn asked, taking a seat next to Rapunzel.

"I seriously doubt you'd be interested," Rapunzel said.

"I wouldn't have asked if I wasn't interested," Flynn said, giving Rapunzel a genuine look, complete with wide eyes of curiosity and attention.

"It's just that my mom's… sick. That's all," Rapunzel said. "Okay?"

"Oh, I thought maybe you were sad because you didn't have a date," Flynn said. "Which… was a problem I could have solved. Unfortunately I… can't solve that one for you."

"No one can," Rapunzel said. "Except… doctors, maybe, I guess."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Flynn asked.

"Yes," Rapunzel admitted, then took a long look at Flynn. "But not to 'Flynn Rider.'"

She drew air quotes around the name.

"Who to, then?" Flynn asked.

"You, maybe," Rapunzel said. "But not this you. The real you. Whoever that is. I want to know who you really are."

Flynn looked at his hands very seriously, "I don't know what you mean."

"Maybe you should figure that out before you do anything else, then," Rapunzel said, and left him there at the bleachers with his thoughts.

"Hey, Tia… can I talk to you for a minute?" Naveen asked as he approached Tia, Ariel, and Belle.

"Sure, Naveen, but if it's about doing your culinary homework, you can just forget it," Tia said.

"It's… not about that," Naveen said. "Can we go somewhere a bit more… quiet?"

"Alright," Tia said.

She followed Naveen to the side of the gym furthest from the DJ. There was a door that led outside that one of the chaperones had propped open with a fold-out chair to let some air into the stuffy gymnasium. Naveen and Tia stepped outside into the cool air.

"Where's Lottie?" Tia asked.

"She went to the bathroom to reapply her makeup," Naveen said. "I'm sure you know how long that takes. Um… about culinary…"

"You really pulled me outside just to talk about class?" Tia asked. "I thought you had something serious going on. Here I was, thinking… I don't know what, but I figured—"

Naveen stopped her, leaning in and kissing her suddenly and passionately. Tia pulled away, looking at Naveen with eyes wide and mouth open in disbelief.

"Naveen!" she shouted. "Wha—what are you—"

"I'm only dating Lottie because… I thought it would let me get to know you better," Naveen said.

"Naveen, that's… that's horrible," Tia said angrily. "Lottie is my best friend in the world, and if you… You could seriously hurt her, Naveen."

"But Tia," Naveen insisted. "You wouldn't even give me the time of day—I thought that if… if I found some other way to get to know you, you might give me a chance…"

"You thought that if you started dating my best friend, I might start to see you as some romantic ideal?" Tia asked, putting her hands on her hips and staring Naveen down.

"You're right—it was stupid," Naveen said.

"Not only stupid, but completely insensitive," Tia said.

"Yes," Naveen agreed.

"Whatever you do Naveen—do not break that girl's heart. Understand me?" Tia asked sternly, and Naveen nodded meekly. "Do. Not."

She stormed off back into the gymnasium and found Ariel.

"Whoa, what happened?" Ariel asked when she saw Tia's angered stance and expression.

"Nothing," Tia said, forcing herself to calm down. "He just… wanted me to do his culinary homework. Where's Belle?"

Gaston pinned Belle against the wall. The noise from the gym was deafening, and Gaston had dragged his intended victim far enough from the activity that no one could hear her shouting and struggling. He had grabbed her when she was headed towards the bathroom—he'd come out of nowhere as far as she could tell. He was no amateur. He had done this before. That much was clear to Belle. But the hopelessness of her situation didn't keep her from kicking and screaming, fighting with all the strength she had in her body.

"Oh, hush, there's no point in any of that, Belle," Gaston said, grinning and looking even more beast-like than usual.

"I am not going to make this easy for you," Belle said through gritted teeth. "You are a sick human being."

She spat in his face and he was taken aback for a moment. As he was wiping the spit from his face onto his sleeve, Belle managed to pull away and dart back towards the gym.

"Oh, no you don't," Gaston said, quickly catching up to Belle and tightly gripping her arm.

She let out a little yelp when he grabbed her, and quickly resumed her kicking and writhing as he dragged her back away from the gym.

"Why are you even doing this?" Belle asked, fighting back the urge to cry. "There are plenty of girls in that gym who would be glad to have you, as vile as you may be. Why not just go home with one of them?"

"I don't want any of them," Gaston said. "I want you—and I always get what I want."

Belle tried to knee him in the crotch, but he saw it coming and pushed her leg back against the wall. She began shouting for help again, but no one seemed to be coming. They were too far away, and the music was too loud. It was hopeless.

"Nakoma."

"Pocahontas!" Nakoma jumped. "You scared me. I didn't know you were coming, too."

The two stood in the women's bathroom, where Pocahontas had followed Nakoma. Nakoma was standing in front of the mirror and Pocahontas had just walked in the door.

"Nakoma…" Pocahontas repeated, her voice cracking.

"Pocahontas… Is something wrong?" Nakoma looked concerned, put down her makeup and turned to her best friend.

"I… need to tell you something," Pocahontas said, leaning down and peeking under the stall doors to make sure there was no one else in the room. "It's a secret I've been keeping."

"Okay," Nakoma said steadily. "What is it?"

"It's…" Pocahontas took a deep breath, exhaled sharply. "I…"

Completely overwhelmed, Pocahontas began to sob uncontrollably. Nakoma's mouth fell open in surprise for a moment, and then she hurried to her friend and wrapped her arms around her comfortingly.

"Pocahontas… You know you can tell me anything," Nakoma said. "What's wrong?"

"It's… it's you, Nakoma," was all Pocahontas could manage between sobs.

"Wha—what did I do?" Nakoma asked, taking a step back.

"No—it's—it's nothing you did," Pocahontas said. "It's you. It's always been you. I… I think love you."

"I love you too, Pocahontas," Nakoma said. "You know I love you."

"You know that's not what I meant," Pocahontas said, still crying but becoming more in control of her tears.

Nakoma sighed, clearly conflicted, "So are you… a lesbian? Is that what you're trying to tell me."

"Yes," Pocahontas said. "And I have feelings for you. That's why I didn't want to tell you… who I liked when you asked the other night."

"The kiss… oh my god," Nakoma murmured to herself.

"I wrote you a letter that weekend… I was going to tell you everything," Pocahontas said. "And then you told me you were seeing Kocoum, so I ripped it up."

"Pocahontas," Nakoma said gently. "You know this doesn't change our friendship… How I see you."

"But…" Pocahontas added for her.

"But nothing," Nakoma said. "I… I've actually known for a while that I'm bisexual, but I've never told anyone—you're the first person. But… I do have feelings for Kocoum and… I'm just… I'm confused, Pocahontas. You're confusing me."

"I'm… confusing you?" Pocahontas asked, not even sure what that was supposed to mean.

"This doesn't change our friendship, Pocahontas," Nakoma said, reaching out to give her friend a comforting hug.

Pocahontas put up a hand to keep Nakoma away, "Just go."

Nakoma hesitated for a moment, and then walked out of the bathroom, throwing her hands down in surrender. Pocahontas took a paper towel from the dispenser, quickly dried the tears on her face, then walked back out into the lobby. She glanced at the chaperones by the gymnasium, who gave her strange looks, then walked out the door into the night.

"You? And… and her? Really?"

Aladdin turned to find Jasmine. She looked… good, relatively, at least. Her hair and makeup were nice, and the red dress she had on was pretty, although a bit more revealing than he felt comfortable with. It was obvious within seconds, however, that she was drunk. Aladdin's immediate instinct was to step in front of Alice and somehow protect her from the image of Jasmine pointing at her as she staggered forward.

"She's like, eleven years old," Jasmine said, close enough to Aladdin now that he could smell the alcohol on her breath.

"She's fourteen, Jasmine," Aladdin said calmly. "And I don't see how the age of my friends is any concern to you."

"That's just—that's just wrong, how could you date a fourteen-year-old?" Jasmine asked, slurring her words.

"Okay, um, first of all, Alice and I are not dating," Aladdin said, loud enough so that anyone nearby could hear. "She's like a sister to me—I don't see her that way at all. And you, Jasmine, of all people, are in no place to be making moral judgments anyway."

"We were in love, Aladdin," Jasmine said, leaning against him with her head against his chest. "Doesn't that mean anything to you?"

Aladdin was visibly uncomfortable with what Jasmine was doing, holding both his arms up but unsure of whether he should even try to pry her off of him. Finally he grabbed her firmly by the arms and peeled her off of him, then looked her in the eye as he spoke sternly to her.

"That's right, Jasmine, we were in love," Aladdin said. "Or at least I thought we were. I was in love with who I thought you were—and who I think you used to be, at least. I don't know what's happened to change you—I wish I knew. But the person you are now… She's not all that likeable. You cheated on me—do you understand that? You slept with someone else when you were supposed to be with me. Are you listening?"

"Uh-huh," Jasmine said meekly.

"Now, I don't know what's made you so different, but I do know one thing for sure—no one likes you when you're drunk," he said. "No one—they only come to your parties because there's always lots of alcohol and you have a big house. No one will tell you that because they don't want to be uninvited, but I can tell you that as a fact. If you want to get your life together, you need to clean up your act. You're being ridiculous, and this… this behavior is just… the Jasmine I started dating would never have done this. You used to have class, Jas. I don't know what's gotten into you. But this… is not prom queen material."

Jasmine stared at Aladdin with eyes wide, mouth gaping open. The many who witnessed the debacle's expressions were similar in their surprise. Aladdin turned and found that Alice was still standing behind him, now looking up at him admiringly.

"Let's go home," he said.

"You planning to walk home?"

Pocahontas looked up to find John's car pulling up next to her as she walked along the side of the road barefoot, carrying her high heels.

"I was, yeah," she said.

"It's much too far—especially barefoot," John said. "Come on, get in."

"Okay."

Pocahontas climbed into the passenger side. They sat there for a moment, pulled over, before either said anything. John was debating whether to ask or to just drive her home, when she made the decision for him.

"I told Nakoma I'm in love with her," Pocahontas said.

"What?" John sputtered, looking over to see a single tear stream down Pocahontas's streak. "You—what?"

"I'm a lesbian, John," Pocahontas said matter-of-factly. "I always have been, I guess. It's just taken some time to admit… But it was my feelings for Nakoma that made me fully realize it."

"I… I'm sorry, I'm just… really surprised," John said. "But… Pocahontas, if this is how you feel… Then I fully support you."

"Really?" Pocahontas asked, looking over at John and smiling for probably the first time that night.

"Of course," John said, and leaned over the console to give her a hug. "What did she say when you told her?"

"I'd… rather not discuss that," Pocahontas said.

"That bad, huh?" John asked sympathetically.

"Sorry… I guess I sort of did that to you," Pocahontas said.

"It's okay," John said. "You can't help the way you feel. And I wouldn't want you to."

"Thank you," Pocahontas said. "That means a lot. Really."

"Let's get you home."

"Snow, are you okay?" Prince asked.

She was clearly distracted by something, scanning the crowds of people. Looking for someone—someone in particular. She suddenly stopped, looked back over at a group standing to the side.

"No," she murmured, pulling away from Prince—he let her go, but followed not too far behind.

"Girls—where is Belle?" Snow asked Belle's friends, Ariel and Tiana.

Ariel and Tia exchanged a look.

"We're not sure," Ariel admitted.

"Oh my god," Snow said.

Snow kicked off her silver heels and ran out of the gymnasium. Prince followed closely behind and, after a moment's pause, Ariel and Tia headed after them. Snow ran as fast as her feet would take here down the hall and around a corner, down another corridor to a familiar corner of the school. A place she knew very well—too well. She reached the hallway where she knew she would find Belle and stopped in her tracks, frozen for a moment at the sight that she saw far too often in her nightmares.

"Gaston," Snow yelled.

Gaston looked up. He had only just unbuckled his belt. She wasn't too late. Gaston didn't look at all concerned until Prince rounded the corner—and then Ariel and Tia. Strength in numbers. He stepped back from Belle, who slid to the ground once Gaston had let go of his grip on her.

"Do any of you have a phone?"

"I'm dialing 911," Tia said, punching the numbers into her cell.

"Good—Ariel, go get help," Snow instructed.

Ariel didn't have to be told twice. She sprinted back towards the gymnasium. Gaston looked around, apparently looking for an escape route.

"Don't even think about it," Snow said. "You know you can't get away with this—not this time, Gaston. There were witnesses. And if you run… if you don't cooperate… it will only make your case look worse. Now. Step… back."

Gaston slowly, sheepishly backed himself against the wall opposite Belle and Snow rushed forward and knelt at the crumpled girl's side. Snow helped her sit up and pulled her into a hug. Belle was sobbing, and Snow let her cry into her shoulder. She rocked the girl back and forth as she tried to soothe her. All the while, Snow didn't take her piercing glare off of Gaston.

"It's okay… It's okay, Belle," Snow whispered, her voice soft but her gaze sharp. "I've got you—you're safe now."