This chapter stinks. It really does. I had writer's block so it's sort of weird. Next chapter will be hopefully more interesting. And- remember- it's rated T for a reason. This chapter is dedicated to babybee1 on Deviantart for being awesome. :)
"Dancing, singing, acting, the theater is a wonderful place!" The drama teacher, Ms. Tara, told the array of students sitting in her classroom. "That is why, class, that I've decided to hold auditions for a school play." The classroom dissolved into conversations, most bored and some excited.
"This will be so much fun!" Rapunzel said eagerly to the girls sitting around her. "I'm going to audition for a role, most definitely."
"Umm, Miss Tara?" M.K. raised her hand. "What is this play?"
"The tragic tale of Romeo and Juliet," Ms. Tara beamed. "Isn't that so exciting?"
"Ugh, could this get any worse?" Merida laid her head on her hand, and Hiccup let out a groan as well.
"Oh, that sounds fun!" Mavis smiled widely, showing off her pointy canines again. "Rapunzel, we have to audition." The two girls exchanged smiles.
"All of you can raise your grades in drama if you participate in this," Ms. Tara said. "You can help with set building and props, costumes, music, lighting, and acting."
"Can we do more than one thing?" Rapunzel waved her hand in the air.
"But of course Rapunzel!" Ms. Tara smiled. Rapunzel immediately turned to talk to a few friends about it.
"Are you going to sign up for anything?" Hiccup asked Merida as the sign-up sheet was being passed around for the students to sign.
"Nope," Merida shook her head. "I hate drama."
"So do I, but I need to raise my grade," Hiccup sighed, "I'm gonna sign up for sets."
"Alright, I'll do it if ye will," Merida said grudgingly. The clipboard was handed to Hiccup, and he signed his name with a flourish for the sets, as he'd said. He then handed it to Merida, who scanned over the names.
"Sets," Merida muttered, signing her name. As she did, a name caught her eye. Jack's signature was under the audition for Romeo. Merida glanced over at Hiccup, who wasn't noticing, and signed herself under the audition for Juliet as well. Then she passed it on to the next row.
"Look at all these desperate girls," Calhoun, in the next row, said to Lucille, the French exchange student, with a snicker. "All trying to sign up for Juliet 'cause Jack signed up for Romeo." Merida's cheeks burned in embarrassment, praying Calhoun wouldn't see her name and call her out.
"I want to audition for her too," Lucille wrote her name down. "I'd love to play Juliet!" Calhoun rolled her eyes.
"Whatever. I'm not signing up for anything," she said, leaning back in her chair. Lucille passed on the clipboard, and Merida gave a sigh of relief that they didn't say anything.
"What?" Hiccup turned to Merida.
"What? I didn' say anythin'," Merida said quickly.
"I thought-" Hiccup shook his head. "Never mind."
Rapunzel received the sign up sheet from Mavis, who had put herself down for auditions, music and costumes.
"This will be so fun!" Rapunzel said again, writing herself down in the the same categories as Mavis.
"Yup," Mavis agreed, taking the clipboard from Rapunzel and handing it to M.K. M.K. decided to take a neutral region and wrote herself down for costumes. Then she passed it to Jack.
Jack looked at the list, furrowing a brow. He'd never signed himself up for Romeo... He heard laughter behind him, and turned to look at Guy and Nod. One look at their faces, and he knew who had signed him up.
"Bastards," Jack flipped them off and passed the list to Astrid, who was sitting next to him. He figured he could just audition anyway. It wouldn't hurt to try.
The list continued around the room before it finally circled back to Ms. Tara, who saw the names and smiled broadly.
"This is wonderful!" she said. "Exactly the participation I anticipated!" The kids all either exchanged dreadful looks, or excited looks.
"Rapunzel!" Merida bounded over to her blond friend as soon as drama was over. "Do me a favor?"
"You mean that Drowning Pool thing? I still haven't had time to hear them yet, sorry," Rapunzel said apologetically, hugging her books to her chest.
"Not that. Will yeh come to Once-ler's birthday party?" Merida handed Rapunzel an invite. Rapunzel freed one of her hands and accepted the paper.
"Sure!" she said happily, scanning the piece of paper. "Who's going?"
"Just a few people," Merida said. "I need to find Violet and Mavis too, 'cause they're invited, so tell me if you see them, alright?"
"Can I bring a guest?" Rapunzel looked up with shining eyes. Merida bit her lip. She didn't want to tell Rapunzel no, but Jack and Nod had told her not too invite many people- because they wanted to embarrass Once-ler.
"Why not," Merida gave in. Rapunzel's smiled. "Who do yeh plan to bring?"
"Flynn," Rapunzel said, tucking the invite inside her book. "You won't mind?"
"No, I won't mind-" Merida said, then lowered her voice. "But Once-ler might..."
"Great!" Rapunzel said. "Once-ler's turning seventeen, lucky guy! Does he know about the party?"
"No, it's a surprise party," Merida said. "Just- err- tell yer boyfriend not to bring his special drinks, okay? We're having a childish party."
"Flynn doesn't drink, what are you talking about?" Rapunzel had a confused look on her face. Merida sighed. Naive little Rapunzel, still foreign to Flynn's bad habits.
"Nothing. Just tell him to keep it kid- friendly, got it?" Merida said. Rapunzel nodded.
"I guess I'll see you then!" Rapunzel said. "What does Once-ler like anyway?"
"Stuff that I don't know," Merida said. "Like the Beatles or something boring."
"Okay!" Rapunzel said. "Thanks for inviting me Merida!"
"Well, yeh are my friend," Merida shrugged, and Rapunzel shifted her books to one arm and threw the free one around Merida's shoulders.
"Thank you!" Rapunzel squealed. Merida groaned, as she hated hugs. Plus Rapunzel's books where pressing into her shoulder blade.
"Yeah, yeh can let go now," Merida pushed Rapunzel away uncomfortably. Rapunzel balanced her books back in her thin arms and gave Merida a sheepish smile.
"Sorry, forgot about your no hugs rule," she said. "Why don't you like hugs anyway?"
"Egh.. they're constrictin'," Merida muttered, a bit ashamed for not liking something like hugs. "And annoyin'. "
"Okay," Rapunzel giggled at Merida's response. "Want to come with me to my next class?"
"Can't, I'm not goin' yer way," Merida said apologetically, pulling her backpack up higher onto her shoulder blades. "See yeh Rapunzel." Rapunzel waved off her friend with a smile.
"Did you invite anyone else for Once-ler's birthday?" Guy asked Hiccup, both of them standing in the hallway of Rick's house. Hiccup had only come because his friends said they would, he wasn't one for parties.
"No," Hiccup said. "I don't really have any other friends besides you guys."
"That's good then, that you're socially awkward," Guy said. "Less embarrassment for Once-ler."
"Isn't Mavis going?" Hiccup raised an eyebrow, deciding to let that "socially awkward" part slide.
"Yup," Guy replied.
"Then- he'll be embarrassed anyway," Hiccup pointed out. "Very embarrassed."
"Whatever, you know he'll enjoy hitting an animal-shaped cardboard thing with a stick," Guy waved a hand around. "And all that music choice we have for him- he'll love it."
"I thought you had Hannah Montana on your playlist..." Hiccup trailed.
"Exactly," Guy grinned. Jack joined them, a plastic cup in his hand and his skateboard in the other.
"Hey," Jack jutted out his chin in greeting. "Want to ditch the party? It's lame."
"We can't leave without Nod or Merida, and they're lost someplace in here," Guy said. "Have you seen them?"
"Saw Merida a few minutes ago with Violet, but no Nod," Jack said, setting his skateboard next to his feet. "Can't we just leave him?"
"No. Knowing Nod, he'll try and drink and drive, that reckless buffoon," Guy scoffed. "We leave when he leaves. Anyone want to be the designated driver?"
"I'll do it," Jack offered, just as Hiccup was about to volunteer. "I'm not drinking tonight."
"Then what's that?" Hiccup pointed at the plastic cup in Jack's hand.
"Water."
"Fine by me," Guy said. "Hiccup, want to go get a drink?" Hiccup shook his head uncomfortably.
"No thanks," he said. Alcohol and Hiccup never mixed. Hiccup couldn't handle liquor, that was for sure.
"Just me then," Guy said, leaving Jack and Hiccup there by the living room, just waiting for their friends to finish their fun.
"You're right," Hiccup told Jack, leaning against the wall. "This party is lame."
"Yeah," Jack agreed, when something caught his eye. Beyonce was blaring over the speakers, and several girls were dancing, but when he noticed Rapunzel dancing- it made him do a double take.
"If you like it then you shoulda put a ring on it-" the adrenaline-pumping beats enveloped Rapunzel as she spun around, making the knee-length purple skirt she was wearing show off a little more skin. Jack's eyes lingered on Rapunzel's hair, which spun outward like a helicopter's rotor blade. Okay, that was a really bad analogy and Jack winced when he thought of it. She was more graceful than a helicopter.
"Earth to Jack!" Hiccup waved his arms in front of Jack's face. Jack blinked, taking a slight step backward. "Were you ignoring me?"
"No, I totally heard everything you just said," Jack smiled fakely.
"Great, then go," Hiccup pushed him into the crowd of dancing girls.
"Wait, what the heck did you say?" Jack called after his friend, but it was too late; he had gotten caught in between Lucille and Ella, who were dancing next to one another. And they bumped him right to the side. "Oof!" Jack said, bumping into Roxanne. "Sorry!" He tried to step away from the crowd, and stepped on Astrid's foot instead.
"Watch it Jack!" Astrid snapped at him.
"Uh, sorry," Jack said, as Astrid swatted him away with her hands. "Hiccup, the idiot-!" The last part he muttered to himself, and fought to get out of the dancing mob. Calhoun came out of seemingly nowhere and gave Jack a hard shove into the middle of a circle.
"Wha..?" Jack questioned, stumbling into an open space surrounded by plenty of his classmates, all clapping and cheering. Then he realized that they were all cheering on Rapunzel, who was twirling like a ballerina in the middle of the circle.
"Dance with her!" he heard someone call out. Jack looked around for the culprit, and saw Hiccup standing next to Mavis in the outer circle.
"When I get my hands on you..." Jack began, but was pushed roughly next to Rapunzel by Nod, who grinned at his pale-haired friend. Rapunzel grabbed Jack's hands, rotating him along with her. Hiccup gave Jack a thumbs up as Jack caught a glimpse of him through the whirling landscape around him.
"Hi!" Rapunzel beamed at Jack, still whirling him around like a carousel. Jack moved along with her, still a bit stunned.
"Hey," he managed.
"Don't be mad once you see that he want it, If you liked it, then you shoulda put a ring on it.. Oh, oh, oh," the song ended, and Jack found himself face to face with Rapunzel, who was smiling widely. Jack looked down and realized Rapunzel was still gripping his fingers, so he gently pulled them out of her small hands.
"Umm.." he started, looking into Rapunzel's green eyes but when Daft Punk came on, they were surrounded and broken apart by plenty of dancing people. Rapunzel gave him an apologetic look before disappearing into the crowd again. Jack sought out Hiccup and Nod, vowing to get revenge on them, but Nod was nowhere to be found. Then he found Hiccup.
"Saw you dancing with Rapunzel," Hiccup grinned. Jack was ready to kill him, but decided not to at that particular moment.
"Look, let's just get out of here and I won't beat your ass tonight," Jack said. "Seen Nod?"
"I saw him push you, but then he wandered off," Hiccup shrugged, disregarding Jack's warning. "Want to look for him?"
"No," Jack replied, leaning against the wall. "I say we blow off Guy, Nod and Merida while we still can."
"You know we can't, not while you're being the designated driver," Hiccup reminded Jack annoyingly.
"Fuck. Yeah, I forgot about that," Jack ran a hand through his pale hair. "Alright. I guess now we have to wait for them."
"So, why did you agree with me when I said you liked Rapunzel?" Hiccup asked. "Was it true?"
"I never did," Jack frowned.
"Yeah. When you were watching her dance, and I told you to go dance with her," Hiccup said.
"Oh..." Jack trailed. "That's why you pushed me?"
"Yeah," Hiccup said. "You never denied it."
"Well I don't like her," Jack insisted. Hiccup laughed at his friend.
"Sure. But she's dating Flynn anyway so I doubt you've got a chance," he said. Jack rolled his eyes at Hiccup's denseness.
"Remember, I don't like her," he reiterated. Hiccup, however, continued to talk. So Jack tuned him out and turned away from Hiccup, shaking his head in a there's-nothing-left-to-do-with-you kind of way. That's when he saw him.
"Are you listening to me?" Hiccup asked, but Jack gritted his teeth at the scene before him. Flynn Rider, Rapunzel's boyfriend, was hitting on M.K. The nerve of that guy really riled Jack, when Rapunzel didn't deserve that.
"Yeah, I hear you," Jack said, angrily. "I'm just going to get a drink."
"Are you mad? Because I was just teasing," Hiccup said quickly, seeing Jack's angry face.
"No, not at you," Jack glared towards Flynn, but stalked away from Hiccup.
"Seriously, did I say something?" Hiccup asked.
"M.K., right?" Flynn cockily leaned on the sofa over M.K., who was just sitting there and wishing she hadn't promised Rick she'd come. The party was a real bore to her. Too much loud music and stupid kids.
"Yeah, we have the same English class," M.K. said meeting his eyes and praying this guy was still sober. A lot of the kids there weren't, and it was disgusting. They were minors, after all!
"Then you remember me," Flynn grinned. "What is a lovely girl like you doing here all by yourself?" M.K. frowned as he leaned closer to her face. Yup, definitely not sober. He reeked of alcohol, and M.K. pushed his jaw back with her hands.
"Look, please just leave me alone," she said. "I know all about your girlfriend."
"What girlfriend?" Flynn demanded. "You're the only one I see... "
"Gross!" M.K. said, shifting further down the couch to avoid him. "I know her name is Rapunzel, and that you've been dating her for two years already!"
"Please, I don't even know who that is," Flynn sat down by M.K. "Come on, she's not here right now. Dance with me?" He held out a hand to her.
"No," M.K. said firmly. "You're a dirty liar. Leave me alone!"
"Aww, come on. One song?" Flynn asked, as the hypnotic beats of Daft Punk came on with their latest hit. "This song's pretty hot."
"You're intoxicated," M.K. said bluntly. "You don't know what you're saying, so please just go now before you do something you regret."
"Come on M.K., it's just dancing," Flynn said. "One time. That's all I'm asking."
"And I said no," M.K. said, standing up to leave, but Flynn held onto her arm.
"Don't be a party pooper girl, have a bit of fun!" he crowed.
"I think she told you no," a voice interrupted them. Both of them turned and followed the voice to behind the couch. Nod stood with his arms crossed over his chest, glaring at Flynn.
"Nod, what's it to you?" Flynn asked, still not letting go of M.K.'s arm. M.K. was already about to knee Flynn and run off, but was shocked into a stupor at seeing Nod standing up for her.
"That's my girlfriend, buddy, back off her," Nod said.
"What?" Flynn laughed. "She's new. How the hell are you two dating?"
"He's right," M.K. piped up, playing along with Nod. "He's my- boyfriend." Flynn let go of M.K., and she stood by Nod.
"Put your arms around me," he whispered.
"I don't even know you-!" M.K. hissed back in a whisper. Nod still wrapped his arms around M.K., really playing his part.
"So if that's all you need Flynn, go find your girlfriend or something," Nod said. Flynn shot him an angry glare but turned and disappeared into the crowd. As soon as he was gone, M.K. shoved Nod off of her quickly.
"Thanks for that," she said. "You're name is Nod, right? I've been trying to learn people's names."
"Yeah. And hey, no problem. I'm tired of what Rider does," Nod shrugged. "It's so stupid of him."
"I know," M.K. agreed. Both of them stood in an awkward silence, so M.K. brought the conversation back to Flynn. "Are you going to tell his girlfriend?" she asked. Nod shook his head.
"Rapunzel doesn't deserve that," he said. "The poor girl'd be crushed."
"Why is it that no one wants to tell her her boyfriend is a slimeball?" M.K. said, raising her voice like she was getting angry. "Why does no one want to hurt her feelings? Is it something mental about her?"
"Nothing's mental about Rapunzel, she's just far too nice," Nod said, trying to calm M.K. down. "Everyone loves her, no one wants to crush her like this!"
"Please," M.K. stormed away from Nod in a fury. Who was this Rapunzel girl anyway? If no one would tell her, she would.
I hated this chapter. :( But, you should all check out babybee1 on Deviantart because she drew fanart of the characters in this fanfictions. They're awesome! Check her out!
And I included some more characters in this, so I'm going to tell you their names here.
Tara from Epic
Calhoun from Wreck-It Ralph
Lucille from A Monster in Paris (a lesser known CGI animation film, but it rocks)
Astrid from How to Train your Dragon