"I can not do anything she can do."
Astrid felt dizzy. Rapunzel was walking down the line, at least ten books balanced on her head. She wanted to throw up. How was that even possible? There had to be some string attached to the back of her head or something. Or she was a witch. That wasn't possible.
As anyone could see, Astrid wasn't feeling like a princess anymore.
Gothel was standing at the end of the line with a proud smile on her face, bordering on a smirk. When Rapunzel finished, she clapped. "Thank you, darling. That was brilliant." Then she turned to the other girls. "Now let's see what you all can do. Start with one book."
"Okay, okay, you can do this," she mumbled to herself, biting on her lip, "You balance coffee cups every day." As the book slipped off her head and she caught it in the nick of time, she refined her statement, "Of course. I've never done it on my head."
All of the girls began walking in a line, none of them as gracefully as Rapunzel, however. Everyone walked past Dame Gothel, who would not stop giving her input as to how everyone sucked.
"Vanellope, you are a princess, not a race car driver."
"Elsa, walk, don't ice skate."
"Merida, do you even want to be a princess?"
"Like a lady, Heather, not a dragon."
"Anna?"
Anna turned around with her hands holding the book above her head and a questioning glance. "Never mind."
For a few seconds, Astrid felt triumphant. A successful five seconds where she balanced the book perfectly and walked at the same. Unfortunately, those five seconds did not last.
"Did you get those shoes in a garage sale?"
She did not mean to look down, did not mean to let the book drop. She forgot that Rapunzel quite disliked her, had forgotten there was a book on her head, and the fact that she was wearing the exact same shoes as the other girl; it was uniform. Rapunzel had done it on purpose to mess her up.
Astrid tumbled down, hitting the girl in front of her, and they all fell like a row of dominoes, in front of Anna, who asked why no one told her it was naptime.
"You!"
And for the first time ever, Gothel was talking to her. "Did you cause this?"
No point denying it. "Yes. It was an accident, Dame Gothel."
"Stand up."
Astrid did as she commanded, feeling her face become hot as the girls stared at her. She felt a deep dislike for Gothel bloom inside her chest.
"You're the lottery girl, aren't you?" Astrid could hear the disdain in her voice. She nodded.
"Yes, Dame Gothel."
"Oh, that's what I feared." Gothel shook her head in a pitiful manner. "Turn around and face me. A true lady royal does not duck her head."
She was right. It didn't even matter that she was a lady royal. Astrid was not one to look away. She messed up, so she would own up to it. She was responsible for her own mistakes. She turned to face the teacher.
Gothel gasped.
Time seemed to freeze as she stared at Astrid. In turn, every student was staring at her, wondering what could have spooked her like this.
Astrid herself leaned back, creeped out by the woman's intense stare. Rapunzel interrupted, although she too was looking at her mother with curiosity. "Um, mother? You were going to say something to Astrid?"
For a second she was ignored, but then Gothel shook her head, and continued her lecture even more viciously. "Yes. You - get out of this class. In fact, you should even think about leaving this school, somewhere that you so clearly don't belong!"
Astrid had taken a few steps back, her mind reeling at this injustice. She had half a mind to yell back, to scream about the unfairness of it all, but she knew that Dame Gothel was not rapunzel. She could have her banished, or worse.
So she simply said, "I understand," and ran out of the room.
I know this is a really short chapter, especially after a two day break, but hey, at least after two chapters, I believe, you'll get some Hiccup!