A/N: Hey guys, guess what! I don't actually have my privileges back yet! *Dissappointment* So these past few months I've been testing my luck and trying to figure out how to properly get back into writing. I have found that if I type something up on my crotchety old 2001 computer - which doesn't connect to the internet anymore, sadly - I can put it on a USB and publish it in the middle of the night, when everyone's asleep, on my step-dad's fancy gaming computer. And I've also found that I can access a site called shribDOTcom on my 3DS without trouble, so I can write abroad and discreetly and it'll be stored on the internet for up to 3 months after each save. Yay!

And so after reading over all my stories I've published to date - I do shamelessly recommend On the Sideline or Fragility if you're a fan of the TV show Defiance - and looking over the review, the sweet and encouraging reviews from you guys months ago, I belted down and started working again. I had been doing organizing in my spare time during school so I had a base, but I've managed to figure out which characters have what classes with whom and when, so now I can properly write classroom scenes! Even though this chapter has none, but that's alright.

But enough of my rambling, enjoy the chapter I know I've kept you waiting for, and look out for updates whenever I can put them out!

Disclaimer: I own no copyrights affiliated with any Disney film, characters, or items thereof and therefore do not have any monetary gain in writing and publishing this story. I do, however, own the rights to my own OC's to be mentioned in this story: Leanne Hawkins, Arthur Robinson, Renak, and Mitzi, as well as any others I may create as the story continues. I do not own the rights to any OC's submitted and used in the story, I only have expressed permission by their creators to exploit them.

Enjoy!

Matthieu Chandelier

I stood at the edge of the stage waiting for William to finish his "quick chat" with Miss Rilanna, watching as the rest of the class left for their dorms or the cafeteria. Some walked slowly, a bit antsy about whether they'd like what they saw, but a brave few just strutted along calmly and confidently. It was time to see if that Dorm Quiz had really turned up the best possible roommates. As much as I wanted to know immediately, I was absolutely certain that William would come up with some excuse to skip introductions and see about food. And lo and behold the deranged fool did exactly that.

"Why waste time picking beds and muddling over rules when there is tea and treats to be had?"

And so we found ourselves moving not to the dorms but to the cafeteria. There were two sections apparently, a large indoor eating area with countless identical tables protruding from the tiled floor and an equally large outdoor multi-level terrace decorated quite like an honest café. It took no time to decide where we should eat, and William being who he was demanded that I stand guard while he fix us two meals. I made sure he promised not to overdo it.

Not a minute had passed when I saw a familiar brown mop of hair bob by over the edge of the crowd. I called out her name and immediately Leanne sought me out, waving as she came over with several other new faces.

"Hey Matt!" She took it upon herself to plop down into the seat next to me and propped her feet up in my lap. If we had been alone I may have let her silliness continue unmentioned, but I didn't have quite the appetite for being considered a push-over when it came to first impressions and so I shoved her feet down.

"Care to introduce your friends?" I asked as calmly as I could, smiling at them. There were six in all, and the group was entirely female except for one young lad who stood at the back. Leanne began to speak when one of the girls, quick to the get-go, held out a hand for me to shake.

"My name is Elle." When we finished the handshake she brushed back a stray piece of blonde hair and started suddenly, as though someone had snapped at her. "No, sorry, Raquel! M-My name's Raquel. But people call me Elle. All the time. Yeah." Raquel chuckled hastily and pushed the closest person in front of her, who in turn paled immensely.

"H-Hello." Was all she stuttered before biting her lip as though to seal it.

I sent a quick glance towards Leanne in question and she sighed, though not without a grin. "That's Xiu. You've met Rocky there. The others are Sahar, Emmaline, Sienna, and David's in back. Xiu and Emma are my roommates along with another girl named Renée, but she left to go meet a friend of hers. Said she'd catch up sometime later." Leanne waved off the closing statement with a wave.

"What's all this now!?"

Every ear within range perked at the outburst and every head turned to watch a white-haired Hatter's son fume at the crowd gathered around our table. For all it was worth I felt bad for the ones who didn't know William, for he wasn't truly upset. The entire world would know if he were honestly enraged.

Feeling a bit guilty I decided to defend the newcomers, standing to take William gently by the arm and lead him to the seat opposite mine. "Be calm, William. Miss Leanne is the friend you met earlier, and these are her friends."

If anyone had blinked they would have missed the total transformation in William's face. He grinned as wide as humanly possible and clapped his hands together. "Well then, merry be the friends of friends! Such good luck that I've acquired more food than poor Matthieu here could hardly stomach. Now we truly have a good party going! Anyone care to sing?"

Thankfully the group finally arrived at the conclusion that William was being jovial and grabbed seats to sit with us. At my right still sat Leanne and around the table it went myself, David, Sienna, Sahar, William, Xiu, Emmaline, and Raquel. Proper greetings ensued and both modest and boastful declarations made of who our parents were and why we were attending the school. Dear young Xiu finally opened up slightly and offered comments now and then, but she still shied away from most attempts to include her in the conversation. Raquel apologized for her awkwardness, which was honestly nothing new to me. It was hard to surprise someone who was best friends with a Mad Hatterling.

I was still furious at William, just to note. He had a tendency to take things too far, and I had made him swear after all not to go overboard, as it is said, on the meal. But any time I managed to settle a deadly glare on him he just smiled. And smiled. And then I would give up, because he was ever oblivious to me. He'd bend over backwards if perhaps Leanne would do to scold him, and I asked her to as well, but she was cut from almost the same cloth and just noted that we acted like an old married couple.

And I had to admit that at times we did. Which only made us more friends because I can always count on him, no matter how unorthodox his methods.

About halfway through lunch, well after everyone had eaten their fill and had settled with chatting or commenting on other students passing by, the strangest occurence took place. Leanne sprang to her feet out of the blue with a gleam in her eye and raced towards a young man walking past the table. To put the tragedy in short, he was knocked to the ground with no air to fill his lungs. Leanne dragged him towards our group with a huge smile and helped him to stand, showing him off like a prize. "Here's another friend of mine. We met during first period. His name is Jin Wen and he's from China just like Xiu! Isn't that so cool?"

I managed to get a good look at him, he with a sour expression to match such an odd attire. Without warning he locked eyes on something and stiffened. He looked back and forth between two points and I turned to see that he was looking between Miss Xiu and Miss Sahar. The latter of the two glared back at him, which was my signal that something was going to happen. A terrible something. I got to my feet just as Sahar did, but my target wasn't getting ready to run. Just in time I snatched Leanne aside as Sahar grabbed Jin Wen's wrist and pulled him close to whisper something in his ear, and by his expression I didn't need to be psychic to understand that it was a threat.

"So if I understand correctly," Jin Wen started furiously, pointing back at the table. "I can't be near you or any of your company but you are openly willing to allow my sister to?" And with that he wrenched back his arm to free it from her grip.

Sahar blinked in shock, glancing swiftly at Xiu before quite literally butting heads with the older sibling. "Look here, I told you I never want to see you again. I let you off easy. But if you come near me again, you and your little sister are dead to me. Got it?"

Jin Wen huffed once, his nose flaring unattractively. He brushed Sahar aside and approached his little sister, ignoring the furious girl behind him. With no sound he made her rise from her seat and walked away. Xiu glanced back at the crowd, unwilling and unable to leave her brother's firm grip.

Sahar snorted as he left, dropping back into her seat and facing away from the table. She muttered a bit under her breath, and I could only catch one piece. "Steal my horse and my friend..."

It was Emmaline who broke the tense silence, looking Sahar over with a worried glance. "What's the matter between you two, may I ask?" It was the question on all our minds, and the poor girl had so much attention from the entire group that she stood again, flustered and seething, and left before we could convince her not to. No one spoke after a while. Leanne shifted between staring after Jin Wen and Sahar. Raquel and Emmaline exchanged looks of surprise. Sienna stared down at the table, picking idly at the edge, while David tried acting like nothing happened.

Only dear William could sum up a weak smile. "Well, that certainly was exciting!"

Thyme

I don't really remember what I expected from Disney Academy. Maybe I had imagined some amazing school where I could learn alongside the others, humans I mean, and be considered an equal. Yeah, what was I thinking?

My first class of the day was weird - InterSpecies Communication or something like that - but some good that did. They had some magic spell cast that literally made it so we couldn't talk to each other. All I hear is gobbling from the other students, and as far as I could tell I just sounded like an ordinary rat to them. I was back to square one. Of course the teachers didn't mind, we could hear them and they could hear us. And all they're really teaching us is glorified sign language. Why did I sign up for this class?

And then I have Musical Studies. Well that's not all bad I guess, we were promised a big musical at the end of the year with the other classes. But could they have singled us out more? The entire class was a literal pack of animals, and I only reach most of their ankles. Sheesh.

"Why did I sign up for this school?" I sighed, pacing along the railing of the Dorm Quarter terrace. I stopped only to look up at Renée, the only one I really knew from anywhere else. She was a good kid, confident and fierce like her mom, and not too bad of a looker. Not that I should comment, I'm a rat. Even if I liked her that way - which I don't - it wouldn't be the most healthy relationship.

She stooped down to look me dead in the eye, her long orange curls bouncing limply beside her face. Renée smiled and reached forward to run the tip of her pointer finger over my head, something akin to messing up another's hair to cheer them up. "You signed up to prove your worth." She reassured, her French accent still very prominent. Of course that had never been too out of the ordinary, she grew up in France and now she's here at an academy where people from all over the world - no sorry, worlds - came to learn. But people still passed the two of us by and snickered because she was talking to a rat.

"Yeah, well guess what: I already can't stand it. They don't even offer Home Economics for the animal students!" I began pacing again, waving my arms to emphasize my exasperation. "Which I don't really need but come on. It's the principle of the thing! So I'm only a pawful of inches tall? I can cook. My dad, for Pete's sake, can cook- It's why I'm here!"

Renée stood up, looking down at me with the same eyes as Colette, though green and almost sharper. "You are here to be the best. We are here to become the best. So we have to work around restrictions, we already have. We both started from the bottom at La Ratatouille, and if we have to do it again we will. Are we in agreement?" She held out a hand, pointing her finger for me to take.

I puffed up my chest and shook her finger immediately, already spurred by her speech. "You're right. We'll make them see what's wrong. Even if it takes the whole year."

Renée gave me a proud smile and placed a hand on her hip. "You know, it's very weird." She began walking back towards the cafeteria, and I followed close behind.

"What is?" I asked. The comment was so random that I felt that I'd be embarassed for not already realizing it.

"Hearing you speak." She admitted simply, pausing to think on the subject before continuing. After all, it was hard to wrap my own mind around the idea that one could just wave a wand in this world and magically make every animal - every foreign kid, for that matter - speak the same common tongue. "People always wonder if animals even do speak with their 'voices', and your voice is just so... surprising."

I smirked at this, cutting her to the quick. "Surprising?"

Renée chuckled quietly, stopping at the end of the sidewalk. I could see the others gathered outside. They were chatting and arguing and laughing. And soon Renée would be joining them. "It's fitting. It suits you so well that I could have never seen it coming." Someone from the crowd called her name and she glanced swiftly in their direction before looking at me. She smiled but I could tell she didn't want me to get upset. "We'll meet after my last class. Every night, an hour before curfew. You will come?"

"Of course." I assured her, waving her off. "We'll find some way to practice cooking. Now go on, go mingle with the masses." Renée took off after a final good-bye and I scurried back towards the Dorm Quarter. Or more specifically what I had come to call Animal Alley. Because even when it came to dorms they refused to put us in the same place as the others.

It was in the northern corner of the area, in between the lake and the courtyard. A long brick path led to what appeared to me to be a group of fancy, glass dog hotels, which for all I knew it was. Turned out that the entire animal student body came out to about half as many humans, but it still looked like a lot when they were all gathered and finding their nests. Many of them were fifteen or so times my size, but that meant I could slip between their paws and hooves and climb my way up to the board which held dorm assignments. I finally found mine after a minute of searching: Building C, Room 3. I had two roommates, Brayden and Viserys. Neither name struck me as familiar, but they certainly were odd.

Building C turned out to be fairly clean, although from the outside it looked the same as the others. As I walked down the hall, toting the camoflauge Ken doll backpack with all my necessities, I noticed that at least the school had made sure each door was big enough - or small enough - to fit its occupants. I came to my door and saw that it was outfitted like an old cartoon, with a small door fitted inside the larger one. And no doorknobs for those with lack of opposable thumbs, although the door and the bolt lock could be turned with a button on the ground.

The first thing I noticed when I entered the room was that the ceiling was painted to be a night sky, though the constellations were lost to me. And I knew my constellations.

"Hey there, room-mate." I had failed to notice that the room was occupied. Sitting on the bottom bunk of the only real bed in the room was a chicken. Or I suppose he was a chicken, he had all the parts: the beak, the feathers, the three-toed feet. But he was the size and shape of a ten year old kid, even dressed like one. He said the word roommate as if he wasn't quite certain I was his new best friend. "I-I hope you don't mind, I was told the cave was for the bigger guy and usually bottom just goes to whoever gets there first. I can go up top, if you really want."

"No. No, that's alright. I think it'll be fine." I spotted the cave he was talking about - an actual cave made of rocks and pebbles. That made me a bit antsy, so I scurried up to the top bunk via a perfectly sized ladder and laid my bag down. I kind of wanted to continue to ignore the chicken guy, but I figured he really would become my closest friend here aside from Renée. I climbed halfway down the ladder, leaning sideways against it casually. "So, uh... My name's Thyme. My dad is Remy. We're... Well, we're chefs, if you can believe it."

"Really? Like professional chefs?" He hopped up and down to turn in his seat, looking at me with amazement. "That's pretty amazing. I hear it takes years to master cooking. I'm Brayden, by the way. Brayden R. Little. My pop is Chicken Little."

I tried acting like that was some big deal, nodding along as he spoke. But if I had to be honest with myself I had no clue who or what he was talking about. "Really, now?"

"Oh yeah." Brayden went on enthusiastically, smiling wide. "But don't let his popularity change how you see me. I'm just another cool chicken looking for a good education."

I couldn't help but smile at his naivety, I mean he was actually adorable. And bearable, which meant that even if we didn't hit it off I could deal with him being there in the background. "You've got it, my friend. Just another Average Joe amongst Average Joes."

It didn't take long for me to unpack what I couldn't keep in my bag and lay it out on the bed. A few cookbooks that I hadn't yet memorized and little mementos from home. Uncle Emil wouldn't let me leave without his most precious possession, a petrified mosquito encased in solid amber he "found" in some dusty old museum. As gross and creepy as it was, I felt obligated to bring it with me. Even Linguini had given me a small wallet card with the picture Renée and I took our first day of working together. These I laid on the headboard of the bed, and I stepped back to let it sink in. This was my new home for the year.

The door creaked open once more, the full-sized one then, and in walked the largest lion I had ever seen. But unlike the lions you saw in photos his fur was darker, which made him seem all the more terrifying. I mean, I'm brave to boot, but I knew my limits. And this guy was sending off some seriously negative feelings. It's hard not to when the first thing you say is "Oh great, pipsqueaks."

But I do give credit where credit's due, Brayden must have either been moronic or desperate for friends, because he just waltzed right up to the lion and saluted. Which confused both the lion and myself. "Hi there, you must be Viserys. I'm Brayden Little, and our other roomy is Thyme up on the top bunk." He pointed up to where I stood and I swear I wanted to go down there and smack the stupid out of that boy.

"Right." Was all Viserys said for awhile. He stood there staring around the room, sniffing once or twice. "So, here's the deal: I was expecting someone a bit more..." He trailed off, looking down at Brayden. "Well, more. So you guys stick to your beds, I'll stick to mine. Everybody's happy. Good? Good." And without even waiting for a response he padded over to investigate his new cave bed. Which I hoped was filled with pointy stones that would keep him up all night. The arrogance of this guy! Even I tried to at least be nice to people I just met.

Brayden stood in the same spot, a bit shocked by Viserys' behavior. I climbed down and onto his shoulder, shrugging my own. "Don't worry too much, he'll come around."

"Yeah." Brayden muttered, although his voice was a bit hollow. "Let's hope so."