AN: Hey guys, thanks again for reading. You know what would be super awesome? If you'd review. But hey, it's just a thought. (WINK WINK, NUDGE NUDGE).

Disclaimer: I wonder how much Beauty and The Beast is worth. Probably not in my budget, considering I have two twenties and lint in my wallet…maybe a guitar pick or two. Oh well. I don't own Beauty and The Beast and I probably never will.

Camille stood in one of the ancient hallways of the palace, viewing the old family portraits of the precious kings and queens of France. She sighed to herself as yet another misbehaving curl fell onto her face. Throwing it back, she slipped one hair elastic from her wrist and put her dark hair into a messy bun.

"Milly?" Came a quiet voice from behind her.

Camille turned around to find herself face to face with her father. His eyes met hers as he took a step closer to her.

"Look, this is not the way I'd like to welcome you back," Adam said, "Believe me, the last thing on my mind is wedding off my little girl."

Camille blushed.

'But," He continued, "Lumier has put a lot of work into this event. Don't think of it as speed dating, think of it as a chance for you to meet new people."

Camille frowned but understood what her father was trying to say.

"Besides," Adam added, "You won't be the only girl there."

"I won't?" Camille asked curiously.

Her father smiled and tousled her hair with his large hand, "I told you, It's more of a meet and greet. A chance for you to meet all the other fine, young royalty living nearby."

To Camille, that sounded like the most boring thing in the world.

Fine, Young Royalty? Was there even such thing?

She'd met two other princesses at St. Petra's and they had Spoiled written all over them. That, and super-annoying-people-she-didn't-want-to-spend-one-minute-alone-with.

"Milly," Her father said, placing one of his fingers under her chin and lifting it slightly, "We want what's best for you, you must know that. Wouldn't it be nice to meet some new friends here?"

No. No it would not, Camille thought. The only friends she needed were already here in this very castle. Books included.

Though to please her father, she gave a simple shrug.

He sighed, "You've grown up, I barely recognized you. You're looking quite a lot like your mother these days."

And with that, he fled the scene, leaving Camille alone with the old family portraits. The old families in the pictures seemed to be glaring at her.

"What are you looking at?" She frowned at the portraits before leaving as well.

"Oh mademoiselle! That dress looks marvellous on you!" Gushed the scrawny maid.

Camille looked herself up and down in the mirror that stood in front of her. The white dress she wore was beautiful. The entire corset was laced, and the bottom layer of the actual gown was as well. It was simple, yet elegant. Camille wasn't really one to go over the top.

Her lips were coloured a darker red, making her teeth look whiter than they seemed, and her smooth curls were in a neat up do, with a couple of strands hanging loose.

She looked…Well, like a princess.

"The boys will be all over you!" Mrs. Potts squealed.

Camille hoped not.

Personally, she didn't even want to be near this shin dig.

"Camille!" She heard a knock at her bedroom door. Mrs. Potts, the maid and her turned around abruptly as Belle eeled inside of the room, a humble smile on her face.

"There you are. You look beautiful," She said examining her daughter all dressed up.

Belle herself wore her traditional gold ball gown, her hair was pulled into an up do.

"Are you ready to make your entrance?" Belle asked giving her daughter a playful wink.

Instinctively, Camille would have whined, 'do I have to?' but seeing that smile on her mother's face? That was priceless. Not even books by Madame Beaumont put that kind of smile on Belle's face.

"I am," Camille confirmed, giving a slight confident nod.

She followed her mother out of her bedroom and paused once they reached the grand staircase. There, voices were heard from downstairs and the clanging sound of silverware.

Camille took in a deep breath. Though she hated to admit it, she was nervous.

"You look beautiful," Belle whispered to her daughter again, "Keep you chin up and stay calm. You can do this."

Pfft. Of course she could do this, Camille thought.

She lightly placed her hand on the rail and raised her chin.

"Presenting, Princess Camille of France," She heard Cogsworth cue her from downstairs.

Camille put on a forced smile, and slowly made her way down the carpeted stairs. Her eyelids fluttered quickly as she took this time to see who all awaited her.

She noticed that most of the young people there stood in different cliques. It was hard to notice much more, in fear of catching someone's eye.

Her father stood at the bottom of the stairwell waiting for her, a large grin plastered to his face.

Typical, thought Camille.

"I'm so proud of you," He whispered in her ear as they linked arms.

Camille didn't answer, she simply widened her cheesy smile, making it look more sarcastic than ever.

"You hate it, don't you?" Her father smirked.

"So very much…" She said through gritted teeth, keeping the smile.

He chuckled, but continued leading her through the crowd, until he was tapped on the shoulder impatiently.

"Excuse me sir, may I steal Princess Camille for a song or two?"

Camille and Adam turned around to find themselves facing a tall handsome boy with dark hair and dark eyes. His chin was raised in a proper manner and his beady eyes looked from the king to the princess.

Camille knew what she wanted her father to say: "What? No. No, you may not steal her for a song or two."

But in reality, Adam gave the boy a gentle smile and unlinked his arm from his daughters, "She's all yours."

Camille groaned, but agreed anyways.

"What remarkable perfume you must use. You smell like spring rain." The young man whispered in her ear as they danced close to each other.

Spring rain? What the heck did that smell like?

Camille rolled her eyes.

After the song had finished Camille was quick to turn around and leave. Personally, she did not want to spend one more waking minute with spring-rain boy.

"Wait!" He cried, grabbing her arm and pulling her back towards him, "We didn't even get a chance to introduce ourselves."

Camille shook his hand off her wrist and crossed her arms.

The young man smiled, "My name is Thomas, my father is a wealthy land owner in South Britain. I'm pretty close to royalty considering the fact that my great aunt's husband is the queen's cousin…"

Blah blah blah.

Camille drowned out the sound of his speech. God. This guy was so annoying.

She looked around the room past him, all around, she saw girls her won age with rich beautiful gowns and tidy hair. Men surrounded the women, in clean suits and attire, their hair neatly combed.

"Hello?" Thomas snapped his fingers in front of Camille's face, "Are you even listening to me?"

"Not really," She admitted gently.

Thomas frowned, his mouth slightly open, as if he was going to say something.

"It was nice meeting you," Camille said politely, gently touching his elbow before walking away from him.

"Oh you must be Camille!" Good god. Camille paused, sighed and turned around, expecting yet another horrible meeting.

A light haired girl stood by her, wearing a light pink puffy dress. Her fair hair was wrapped into a bun. The freckles on the bridge of her nose stood out under the strong light of the large chandelier above them.

"I'm Adeline," She said sweetly, "I hope that we can get to know each other better, our kingdoms are right beside each other! How convenient that I have someone my own age living nearby!"

Camille couldn't help but chuckle at the girl's enthusiasm.

"Oh my goodness! What a beautiful dress! Who's your designer? You just have to give me her whereabouts! Oh! And I noticed you talking to Thomas. He's pretty cute, huh?"

Camille shrugged, "Not my type."

Adeline cocked her head to one side, "Well now I'm interested. Who's the boy?"

Camille blinked, "The what?"

The blonde rolled her eyes, "The boy you're with. There has to be another boy if you didn't fall for Thomas."

Camille smiled, "There really isn't."

Without warning, another girl and two boys joined them.

"Keeping her all to yourself, Addy?" One of the boys teased. He had fair hair and the same freckles as Adeline, Camille could only guess that they were related.

The new girl elbowed him, "Alain! Behave!"

Alain smiled boyishly, running a hand through his hair and tousling it.

The girl rolled her eyes, and threw back her dark hair. She wore a rich, red frock, with little gold beads and details.

The second boy stood quietly with his arms crossed. He was tall and handsome with brown hair and green eyes. He looked a little distracted, to say the least.

"So this is the famous Camille, huh?" Alain asked, looking Camille up and down, taking his time looking over her chest.

Camille narrowed her eyes at the boy and crossed her arms over her bosom.

The girl in the red elbowed him again, only this time harder.

"Ow!" The boy yelped, "What is wrong with you woman?"

The loud noise interrupted the second boy's thoughts. He shook his head and turned to the rest of the group, his green eyes dazzling.

Adeline turned back to Camille, "Ignore them. That's my brother Alain…" She pointed to the girl, "His girlfriend, Valerie, and our close friend, Luc."

Alain winked at Camille. She rolled her eyes.

The orchestra stopped playing for a sudden moment, causing a short awkward silence. When they picked up again, Valerie turned to Alain, tugging him to the dance floor.

"Come on Alain!"

"But I-"

"I don't care. I like this song!" She continued pulling him away.

Camille, Luc, and Adeline snickered.

Luc turned to Camille, "Hey, would you mind if I took Adeline away for this song."

She smiled, "Not at all."

Camille watched the couple walk towards the dance floor. When she was positive that she was out of their sight, she made a mad dash for the exit of the grand foyer.

"Excuse moi!" She shrieked as she made her way through the large crowds of adolescence.

Camille took in a deep breath as she stepped out into the main hallway, kicked off her slippers, and began strolling silently towards the library.

She opened the library door cautiously, not wanting to make a sound at all, and alert her parents of her where-abouts, and closed it gently behind herself. She inhaled deeply, taking in the smell of dusty books which she'd grown to love more than anything in the entire world, and began walking through one of the aisles, trailing her dainty fingers along the spines of the ancient novels.

'Hieroglyphics', read the title of the book she furrowed her brows at in curiosity.

She pulled the book out slowly and carefully, not wanting to damage it.

When she did, she found herself looking staring at a man in the aisle beside her own. The gap where the Hieroglyphics book was set was where she caught a perfect glimpse of his light blue eye.

She screamed.

He screamed.

She had finally managed to calm down, and so had he. Camille threw her body back to the bookshelf behind her, breathing heavily, her heart racing.

The man's footsteps were heard walking around the bookshelf that stood between them.

Once he had caught perfect sight of her he stopped walking and raised both of his light eyebrows.

"Camille?"

Camille gave him a cautious glance, "Have we met?"

The man chuckled, his smile wide, "It's me! Chip!"