This entire fanfic is dedicated to Nina-D-lux and those of you who still has a little princess deep inside and never actually got over your Princess-phase :P

Chapter 4

Ariel looked out the giant window of her bedroom; well it was more like her and her sisters' room. Ariel use to share the humongous room with her six older sisters, but now they were all either off to college or sent to boarding school.

Ever since her mother died almost ten years ago, nothing had ever been the same in their family. Daddy was the most devastated out of everyone, turning more and more to his work, distancing himself from the family because they reminded him too much of his wife and brought back too many painful memories.

Ariel's father started a non-government organization to preserve marine life years ago before his daughters were born, and met his wife on a trip to the Atlantic. They fell deeply in love, married young, and had seven beautiful daughters. But one faithful day, when the couple was doing some rescue work on sharks off the coasts of the Caribbean, pirates attacked and took the sharks to sell, killing Triton's wife in the process. From that day onwards, he just wasn't the same man anymore. There was no more laughter in the house; the daughters were brought up strictly solely for their own good and protection. Triton dedicated himself to his work and neglected his children. They tried terribly hard to grab his attention, but Triton simply didn't have the time or energy for them. He was always off on trips, campaigns, press conferences… He was only home once or twice a month.

It was painfully boring being locked within home grounds 24/7, but Triton wouldn't hear of his daughters going to school since they were prone to be exposed to all manner of wicked, teenage danger. So they were home-schooled by their governor, Sebastian. Not that that'd stop the girls from the occasional sneak-outs. Eventually, Ariel's older sisters had to further their education and leave for college. That left Arista, Alana and Ariel in the nest. But Arista was cunning enough to cook up a plan to ditch house-arrest. She purposely started a scandal to elope with a boy, so her father would catch her and send her away, even if it was to a strict, all-girls boarding school in England. Alana too was smart enough to follow suit, so Ariel was the only one left now in the giant mansion. Ariel didn't have the heart to disobey her father, but that didn't mean she liked being imprisoned at home.

Ariel gazed out her giant bedroom window with a view that faced the beach. She loved the beach; it was her favourite place in the world for as long as she could remember. She left the windows ajar so she could feel the sea breeze. It was a good day to take a walk outside, but ever since daddy fenced the house off, the beach was banned. Which was a real pity because it was right outside her house just meters away, out of her reach, practically part of home-grounds.

Ariel slumped back onto her king-sized bed and began rolling around randomly, doing front rolls, back rolls, pencil rolls... She moaned and proceeded to bounce on her bed like a trampoline. She jumped higher and higher, extending her hands, trying to reach the high ceiling.

"Ariel?" a voice echoed through the hallway outside her room. A moment later, Sebastian appeared with a tray of snacks in his hands. "Ariel, what are ye' doin'?"

"Jumping?" Ariel puffed in mid-air. "Is… That… Food?" Ariel said in between jumps.

"Yes, it is! Now get down from dare, child! You haven't finished yer sums yet! And I expect dem to be done by de end of de day," Sebastian said a little indignantly. He put the tray down by the table in front of her plasma TV in the room.

Ariel pouted, feeling a little disheartened. "I don't wanna!" she whined like a five year-old. Ariel bounced on her bum on the bed then off the bed to the food. "I hate math!" she added in another whine.

"Yer already behind on yer studies!" Sebastian wagged a finger at her. Sebastian was a governor, nanny, butler and best friend all wrapped in one. In many ways, he was also like a second father to her. He was very accomplished in many aspects; he was highly educated back in the days in mathematics, English, geography, history, sciences, the arts, and particularly talented in music. He was also an excellent cook.

Ugh. What was this, a 19th century novel or something? Sure, Ariel loved Sebastian but she hated her confining lifestyle. Ariel, don't do this… Ariel, don't do that… Ariel, do this… Ariel, do that… Why can't it ever be 'Ariel, what do you want to do?'? 'Ariel, practice the piano!', 'Ariel, take a shower!', 'Ariel, don't jump on the sofa!', 'Ariel, don't touch that!', 'Ariel, get off the table!'. Ugh.

Ariel munched on a cupcake. Lord these were good she thought and finished the entire batch within minutes. Ok, so she couldn't stay mad at Sebastian for long, but that didn't mean she was going to do those stupid sums! She switched on the TV and flipped through the channels. There was Nat Geo Wild, the local news, CNN, Animal Planet, the History channel and TLC, harmless, educational stuff. Those were the only channels her father would allow. There was nothing interesting on the news channels and the others were doing re-runs of the weekend shows. If she had a choice, she would totally stream a movie from her laptop right now, but she couldn't because daddy had the home wi-fi on strict filter. You'd think there might be loop-holes to bypass the wi-fi but nope, daddy was too thorough. The best she could do on her laptop was play with paint.

"Sebastian, can you play hide and seek with me?" Ariel suddenly asked. "Pleeeaasee? There's nothing to do, I'm so bored!"

"No!" he immediately dismissed her, "You have to do yer sums! I have to report to yer father at de end of de month on de progress of your studies, and yer far behind!" Sebastian reprimanded Ariel.

Ariel only heard the first part of what he said and ignored the rest, "You're no fun."

As far as Ariel cared, she had already done all the "funnest" things she could possibly do alone today, like swim in her indoor pool, paint, read, run on the treadmill, even singing (but Sebastian shut her up when she got to the rapping parts of some trashy, bubble gum pop song). And it was only around four-thirty in the afternoon.

Ariel skipped past Sebastian and went out of her room into the hallway until she reached the top of the stairs that lead to the main foyer of the house. On passing a giant window that overlooked the main driveway of the house, she saw a familiar redheaded figure heading to the main entrance, fast! Ariel giggled in excitement. Finally, some proper company! She slid down the rail of the marble staircase, a skill she had perfected out of pure boredom and ran out the house to meet her friend.

"Ariel! Come back!" Sebastian cried somewhere in the hallway but she ignored him.

As soon as Meri parted with her friends at the intersection that led to the different sections of suburbia, she unhitched her skateboard from her backpack and rode off to the direction of her home. It was nice to finally spend some time alone and just skating along the path as the cool breeze whipped her wild ginger hair away from her face. It was a quiet ride home; there weren't many people around her neighbourhood since this was a kind of awkward hour of the day. Even if there were a few kids who also just got out of school, the peace wasn't disturbed.

Whilst no one was looking, Meri practiced a few moves skidding on and off the pavement. Her thoughts suddenly drifted to the Spanish test she failed today. Ugh, her mom was so going to kill her if she found out, she had failed way too many tests already (mostly because she's just not bothered to study). Meri doesn't really see the point in passing those little tests, and she definitely doesn't get why her mom would flip over such little things. I mean, it's just a test, it's not like passing them would determine her fate or anything. And the annoying thing was the teacher still insisted on students taking home their tests for their parents to sign. Maybe she could just have her dad quickly scribble his signature since he was the more forgiving of the two. But if push came to shove, she'll just have to fake the signature.

Meri skated on. The ride home was around twenty minutes from school. When she finally arrived to the end of her street, she walked up to the gates on the right side and punched in the standard, four-digit security code. There was a small click as the gates unlocked and she opened a little gap just enough for herself to squeeze through before it clicked shut again. She picked up her skateboard and began walking up the little slope of a driveway surrounded by trees.

Meri lived in a château at the edge of their town, right against a very big hill (not big enough to be a mountain but you get what I mean). On the other side of that very big hill was already the sea. Her house or rather a fort of a house was right up the slope, at the foot of the hill, surrounded by lots and lots of green.

"I'm home!" Meri yelled out to no one in particular when she reached the main foyer of the house. When no one replied, she just put her skateboard down and was about to skate across the wooden floor to the kitchen when her mother suddenly appeared on the balcony of the second floor.

"Merida! How many times have I told you, no skating in the house! A lady should not be skating!" her mother called down to her, just as Meri was about to turn the corner.

"Really? Not even a 'Hey, you're home!'? Just 'Merida, don't skate!'?" Meri gave her mom an annoying look.

"Well, rules are rules and you know you shouldn't be skating inside the house."

"Whatever." Meri groaned and stalked into kitchen begrudgingly. "And I'm a girl! Not a lady!"

"Good afternoon to you too, darling!" Elinor called to Meri but she already turned the corner. Stubborn child, she thought.

Meri's stomach grumbled. It must be because of how hungry she was that's why she was feeling particularly moody. She ditched the skateboard and her backpack on the black stone floor and headed straight for the fridge.

"Let's see…" Meri said as the cold air hit her face. There were a lot of vegetables, probably for tonight's dinner Maudie was preparing. Yeah, definitely not what she had in mind for a snack. She scanned the fridge and spotted a box of sushi. It was not proper meat as she would've liked but it'll have to do. She took it over to the big wooden table at the center of the kitchen and plopped into a stool.

Then she heard muffled giggles coming from under the table. Meri peeked and found her three brothers hiding.

"Boys, what are you doing down here?"

They simply put their fingers to their lips telling her to keep quiet. Suddenly, a scream came from upstairs. Maudie.

"You crafty rascals, what did you do now?"

The boys just laughed and crawled out from under the table to flee. Meri handed each of them a sushi and shooed them. "Go! Before Maudie finds you here!" she whispered.

The boys popped the sushi into their mouths and made a run for it. Meri just shook her head whilst smiling. A moment later, a flustered Maudie burst into the kitchen.

"Where are they?!" she screamed in outrage.

"Dunno," Meri just shrugged, lying casually.

Maudie was about to run out of the kitchen again when she suddenly stopped in her tracks. "Is that sushi?"

Meri gave a her a toothy grin with a piece of sushi still in her mouth, "Yeth…?"

Maudie put her fleshy hands on her hips, "You know darn well missy that the family diet today is strictly vegetarian!"

"Ugh, pleeease Maudie? It's only a bit of fish! I'm starving!" Meri groaned.

"Didn't you eat your lunch?" she raised her eyebrow.

"Well, I…" But a loud clang of metal came from down the stoney hallway, distracting the both of them.

"Oh those naughty, naughty boys!" And with that, Maudie stumbled out of the kitchen. Thank God, Meri thought.

She popped the last few pieces of sushi into her mouth and picked up a bucket of carrots on the kitchen floor and headed out to backyard. Well, backyard was putting it mildly. It was more like a giant grassy plain that stretched out to the bottom of the big hill, with a small forest of trees dotted around the side and up the hill. Meri loved big spaces, not that she was claustrophobic or anything, but she much preferred fields of grass over say, a classroom.

She followed the little stone path that led to stables on the other end of the house. There was her father's horse, her mother's, three little ponies for her brothers and her horse, Angus. Once he spotted her, Angus nuzzled Meri's face.

"Okay, okay…" Meri fed him some carrots and stroked his waxy mane. She fed each of the magnificent beasts some carrots, finishing the bucket within minutes.

Okay, what should I do now, Meri thought. For once, she didn't want to take Angus for a ride, since she wasn't so much in the mood for riding. She definitely didn't want to stay in her room for the rest of the day, and if she stayed in the vicinity of the house her mom will just make her do her homework. She pondered for a moment until an idea struck her, she could just pay her neighbour, Ariel, a visit! Yeah, that poor girl could really use some company and it was the perfect opportunity to get out of the house. Ariel lived right across the street, with the nice beach view and all that. Meri could just pop over for a visit and be home in time for dinner.

Meri bolted up to her room to pick up something for Ariel. She gave a quick shout to her mom, "I'm heading to Ariel's! I'll be back for dinner!" then ran swiftly out of the house before Elinor could stop her.

Meri skated along Ariel's driveway. It was much longer than hers with perfectly trimmed tree-bushes (whatever those tall, fancy fir-like tree thingies were called) lined along the sides. When she finally saw the giant mansion looming ahead, she gave a low, impressed whistle. Fancy, she thought. Meri rode up to the big fountain in front of the house with statues of mermaids, and went around it just to see Ariel scrambling out of the house barefoot.

"Meri!" Ariel screamed in delight. She practically lunged for Meri and tackled her to the ground.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa... I'm glad to see you too!" Meri laughed.

"I was practically dying in there! But now that you're here it's going to be so fun now!" Ariel jumped up and down getting very hyper all of a sudden.

"Chill, chill," Meri put both hands on her friend's shoulder. "You know, the password you gave me before was wrong. That or your dad changed it, but it's ok, I hacked it and now I know the new one," Meri said to Ariel proudly. Ariel's father set up security systems that if anyone tried to get into the house unauthorized, as in without punching in the gates' password, the alarm will go off. But luckily, hacking is one of Meri's many skills.

The first of many things the girls did were to ride Meri's skateboard. Then they went on into the main house to Ariel's room to hangout, but when Meri decided that there was nothing fun enough to do there, she made a suggestion, "Heeeey… Why don't we watch a movie?"

"You know I don't have any movies here," Ariel pouted.

"Well, we can stream one online," Meri suggested.

"Filtered wi-fi, remember?" Ariel gave her a look.

"Yeah, but there your father's computer isn't," Meri gave Ariel a wink.

"Oh… but that's means… But…" Ariel felt a little hesitant, "It's locked, he has a password," Ariel frowned. She never thought of doing that. What if they get caught?

"Easy, I'll just hack into it and voilà!"

"Ok…" Ariel still wasn't so sure.

"Look, I promise I'll wipe the history once we're done. He'll never know we were there! Come on!" Meri added.

"Alright!" Ariel smiled.

"Oh yeah! Before I forget!" Meri snapped her fingers and rummaged through her backpack. She took out a bunch of clothes and few magazines. "Here. These are some clothes my mom got me that I'll never ever be caught dead wearing. She just thinks I stash these at the bottom of my closet." Meri handed Ariel some lacy tops, frilly spaghetti strings, and skirts. Ugh. Does the whole badass look not strike her mother that Meri does not do lace and frills?

"And these magazines are um… my friend, Meg's… Yeah, she left them at my place and forgot all about it, so now they're yours." Meri tossed those over to Ariel too. She definitely would find them more appealing than Meri. There was some Teen Vogue, Seventeen Magazine and a Cosmopolitan. Whoa,whoa,whoa. Meri stopped at Cosmo and chucked the magazine back in her bag. That had an entire seven-page spread about kama sūtra. Yeah, someone as naïve as Ariel didn't need to know about that. Meri'll just dump this in the bin later.

"Wow, thanks!" Ariel grinned and gave Meri another tight hug. "These are really pretty! Are you sure you don't want them?"

"Yeah, definitely."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Ariel beamed. "Now I can add these to my collection!" She took her magazines and put them in a beautifully adorned trunk at the foot of her bed along with lots of other junk Ariel kept in there.

"These tops are so cute!" Ariel picked up the clothes Meri gave her. She really didn't mind the hand-me-downs because her dad would never shop for her anyways. Except of course when her clothes didn't fit, but that wasn't a problem since the Ariel hadn't grown out of her clothes since she was 12, and she really had no reason to dress up. And when he did shop for her, he still saw her as the little girl that played with Barbie dolls (which she still does by the way, out of boredom) and so a majority of her clothes either pink or were patterned with rainbows and kittens, or just something along those lines.

"I'm sure they'd look good on you. I hope they fit."

"Ya' think?" Ariel beamed. She immediately went behind the bedroom divider screen to change (yeah, Ariel's family is rich and fancy enough to get one of those classy divider things) and came back out in her new clothes.

"How do I look?" Ariel did a little spin on the spot and then went to look at her self at the mirror on her wardrobe door.

"Um... well..." Meri wasn't really sure how to put it nicely, since complimenting girls' outfits weren't exactly her thing. In short, Ariel's combination just looked... bad. It was... pretty bad. She had a lacey white top on but then matched it with a tight, deep green, mini, sequenced skirt.

"Err... um, it's..."

Ariel posed around in her outfit, "Heh, it's bad, isn't it?"

Meri just nodded.

"Oh well. They're really nice though. Dunno when I'll get the chance to wear it, but still... Thanks again!" Ariel smiled and went behind the divider to change.

"Don't mention it."

Ariel took the clothes and stashed it in the bottom of her treasure trunk and locked it.

Now that it was settled, Meri headed straight for Triton's room on the third floor of the mansion with Ariel trailing behind her. They bumped into Sebastian on the way and he stopped the girls.

"Oh so it was you." He looked at Meri accusingly as if her very existence was an offence.

"Hey, Sebastian. Nice to see you too," Meri said sarcastically.

"Sebastian… Can you please whip us some snacks?" Ariel asked sweetly.

"But you jost ate. And you still haven't finished yer sums."

"Forget the sums! I'm still hungry, and Meri hasn't eaten yet, so... pretty please?"

"How'll you be able to eat dinner, then?"

"I will, I swear! Just... please?" Ariel sugar-coated her question.

"Alright, alright." Sebastian waved the girls off and they scrambled out of his sight.

Once they reached the third floor, the first door on the right was Triton's room since it took up half of the entire floor. They arrived at the set of big, white doors with fancy, golden doorknobs. Ariel tried to open them, but they were locked.

"Darn!"

"No worries!" Meri reached into her red mass of hair and pulled out a tiny bobby-pin. Within seconds, there was a swift click and the girls let themselves in.

Triton's room was even bigger than Ariel's. Although the ceiling wasn't as high, there was much more room. There was a king-sized post bed, a giant plasma TV built into the wall across the bed, a walk-in closet built into the edge of the room and a long wooden desk by the floor-to-ceiling window. It used to be Athena and Triton's room, but he put most of her things in the attic, including her piano because the memory of his wife was too painful for him.

Meri got to work and went straight for Triton's Apple desktop. She turned the thing on and went tapping away. Within a minute she was logged in.

Ariel let out little giggle of excitement. This was one of the most badass things she's done in a while. "You have to teach me how to do that!"

"Sorry, it's a secret." Meri winked. "Ok, what do you wanna watch?" Not that Ariel knew a lot of movies, since she only watched some.

But before Ariel could say it, Meri stopped her, "No, 'Aquamarine'! Something we can both enjoy."

"Aww… Um, how about 'Spirited Away'?"

That was ok, Meri thought and she streamed it right away. She went to the TV and pulled some extensions and connected some wires from the computer to the TV so they can enjoy the movie on the big screen. When the movie was ready, the girls got comfortable on Triton's plush, sea of a bed.

Not long after the movie started, Sebastian came in with a tray of snacks, right at the scene where Chihiro's parents were munching away at their own animated delicacies. "So dis is where you girls are. How did you get in? I locked de door! And you know yer not supposed to be in here, Ariel! Yer definitely not supposed to be watching a movie! Yer father will be furious if he finds out!" he began ranting.

Ariel ran over to Sebastian and took the tray from him. "If he finds out. And you're not going to tell him, are you? Pleeeeaaase?" Ariel pulled the puppy eyes on him. Even after pulling it on him so many times, it still gets him.

"Alright, alright."

"Thank you!" Ariel pecked him on the cheek then bounced over the bed. Sebastian left the room mumbling something about being paid to be pushed around.

Meri resumed the movie. "What's got him feeling extra crabby today? It's only a cartoon."

Ariel shrugged and they feasted upon Sebastian's amazing cooking.

"Christ, this is good!" Meri moaned at her first bite of proper food all day.

"I know right!" Ariel mumbled with her mouth full.

Everything was going great and they were already to the part where Chihiro was at the twin witch's house with No-face, about to fly away with Haku when Meri suddenly paused the movie.

"Why'd you stop the movie?" Ariel asked.

It was past six-thirty and it was already getting dark outside. "Ssshh. Do you hear that?" Meri tuned her ears to the noise outside. It sounded like a car was in the driveway. The girls snuck over to the window to peek. A white Rolls Royce was driving towards the mansion.

Ariel's eyes widened, "It's daddy!"

"Shit!" Meri panicked.

"What do we do?!" The girls backed away from the window. Luckily, the lights were turned off for the movie, so their presence wasn't detected. Yet.

"Um… um… I'll go distract daddy, and you can leave through the back door!"

"But I still need to wipe the computer's history, and my stuff is still in your room!' Meri exclaimed.

"Uh… uh… just be quick then!" With that, Ariel scrambled out of the room.

Meri was left standing awkwardly by the window. Right, no stalling! Ok, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, let's do this! Meri closed the movie window, unplugged the TV and computer. She deleted the movie history and cookies and wiped out some coded files (just technical stuff that won't be described in detail) just to make sure Ariel's dad won't ever find out that they've used his computer. There were voices in the house, one of them Meri didn't recognize, probably Ariel's dad. Crap!

Meri was about to run out of the room but swiveled back to the bed to smoothen the covers, brush the crumbs off the bed and take the tray out with her.

She closed the white doors quietly, whilst balancing the metal tray and the china on it. From where she was standing, she could see Ariel's dad was by the main foyer being distracted by Ariel's unusually high-pitched, nervous chatter. They both made quick eye contact, then Meri tip-toed swiftly down the third-floor hallway to the second set of stairs at the back of the house. When she reached the second floor, she ran down to the end of the hallway where Ariel's room was. She almost busted open the door and having all the china slide of the tray, but then she tilted it back just in time.

There was no way she could take the back door now since that would mean going down and that'd be tricky. She dumped the tray gently on Ariel's table, grabbed her skateboard and backpack and went over to Ariel's window. Meri looked over the window ledge; the drop was a few meters high, no biggie. She threw her things down into the bushes and swung herself over, landing with a soft thud on the grass.

That was close, too close, Meri thought. She ran into the cover of the trees to the direction of the gates.

Snow White lived in a nice estate in the richer part of town. As soon as she parked her red convertible in the garage, Cindy and Aurora thanked her for the ride and hopped off the car, heading straight for the house's back door. For Cindy, this was like a second home to her since she's been over so many times. The garage was connected to the back room of the kitchen, and Snow's mom was sitting by the kitchen's island, buried in her own cookbooks.

"Hello, Mrs. White!" Cindy greeted Snow's mom, politely.

"Good afternoon, Mrs. White," Aurora also addressed her courteously.

"Hello girls." Mrs. White just waved casually without looking up from her cookbooks. Snow's mother was a local celebrity because she had her own cooking show and she published her own cookbooks, hence the large fortune. Snow White happens to have inherited her mother's cooking talents.

She led her friends to her bedroom which was tidied up very nicely. Aurora went straight to Snow's desk and laid out her homework.

"Just won't take a break, would you?" Cindy said as she flopped onto Snow's bed.

"Well I don't want my homework to pile up," Aurora replied.

"Ok, you girls make yourself comfy and I'll get straight to that apple pie as promised!" Snow said cheerily then headed straight for the kitchen.

Aurora submerged herself into her work and after a while of hard-concentration she didn't hear Snow sneak up behind her and grab her face with ice-cold hands. Aurora screamed and pushed her friend away. Snow White tried to reach for Aurora's face again but Aurora tackled her onto the bed.

"NOT THE SHEETS!" Snow screamed as Aurora pinned her on the bed, trying to make her best friend wipe her flour-covered hands on her white, pristine bed sheets for revenge.

Snow was pushing Aurora's face with her hands and they rolled around the bed giggling and laughing hysterically. They pushed a napping Cindy off the bed.

"Ow! You guys!" She saw them fighting and decided to join the struggle by jumping back on the bed.

"STOP!" Snow screamed. "PIEEEE!" She pushed her two friends off her and ran to the kitchen to check on her pie.

"Oh no you don't! You can't escape!" Aurora smiled cheekily and leapt off the bed, landing on her feet easily since she was so tall and sprinted off after Snow.

"You guys!" Cindy called after them. She awkwardly rolled off the bed and scrambled after them.

The hallways were filled with the girls' screams and giggles as Snow was pursued by Aurora, followed closely by Cindy. Once she entered the kitchen, she headed for the oven and grabbed her oven mittens.

"Can you girls please take this somewhere else?" Mrs. White said tiredly, "I'm trying to work."

"Sorry mom!" The pie was done and Snow took it carefully out of the oven. Aurora and Cindy screeched to a halt just as they arrived into the kitchen.

"Hello, Mrs. White!" the girls called in unison.

"Out, girls. I'm working." Mrs. White shooed them away.

"Sorry…" they mumbled and followed Snow and the pie out of the kitchen.

"Mmmmm…" Aurora moaned at the first bite of apple pie, "Ok, I forgive you for attacking me."

"Forgive me? You spoiled my clean sheets!" Snow huffed.

"This is so good! I wish I could cook like you," Cindy sighed.

"Thanks," Snow smiled bashfully, "The flour's organic. I got them from Florian, so they're extra good." Snow's heart skipped a beat at the mention of Florian's name.

"Oooh, Florian…" Cindy teased. Florian was only Snow's biggest crush. He happens to work at a bakery, where Snow is a regular customer.

"Have you actually ever talked to him before?" Aurora asked.

"Well… no?!" Snow cried defensively, "Only as much as you'll ever go out on a real date with Philip!" Snow tossed the ball back to her friend.

Aurora ignored that and ate her pie. "Plus, I'm more like the stare-at-a-distance-and-hope-he'll-make-the-first- move type. He'd never notice me… Like, I'm too fat! He'll never go for girls like me…" Snow sighed, wallowing in self-pity.

"You're not fat," Cindy reassured her.

"You just love cooking, it's not your fault," Aurora stated.

"Yes I am! I mean, I'm not like obese but look at all this chubbiness hanging off me!" Snow slapped her thighs to prove her point.

"You're fine!" Aurora assured Snow.

"Says Ms. Skin and Bones! You're pretty and tall and skinny… I'm short and chubby, like way chubbier than the both of you. I'm a ball of chubby fatness. I'm so jelly." Snow pouted.

Aurora just rolled her eyes. "You know, there's always exercising… Or maybe like doing the chores around the house, like I do," Cindy suggested.

"Yeah, I do do them but then I get hungry and bake some more. It's a vicious cycle," Snow sunk into a chair, sulking.

"This is more about Florian not talking to you than you being fat," Aurora cut in bluntly.

"It's because I'm fat, that's why he won't talk to me!"

"You're being silly, just talk to him!" Cindy said, trying to help.

"But what if he already has a girlfriend and this is all just a silly crush? I'd make a fool out of myself!" Snow's doe eyes looked like they were going to water-up.

"There, there…" Aurora and Cindy got Snow into a group hug. Cindy mentally shook her head. Snow's parents were on the verge of divorce; her mother was ignoring her, her father was cheating on her mother with Doris; Doris practically lives here and she hates Snow and right now all Snow could worry about was Florian. Poor, wonderful girl. If only Cindy had the innocence of her best friend then she'd have a load off her mind and be a little more stress-free.

Her phone suddenly rang, the reality-check she was dreading. It was Drizella, her stepsister.

"Sorry…" Cindy apologized to her friends and wriggled out of the group hug, "Hello?"

"CINDY?! WHERE ARE YOU?! YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE HERE AT HOME BY FOUR TO WATCH LUCIFER WHILE MOTHER GOES SHOPPING WITH US?!" Drizella's shrill voice pierced through from the other side. Cindy had to edge away from the phone so she won't go deaf.

"Is that Cindy?! Gimme the phone!" Cindy heard Anastasia shout in the background, "CINDY?! SO HELP ME GOD IF YOU MAKE ME LATE FOR MY MANICURE, I WILL PERSONALLY TRASH YOUR ROOM?!"

"Is that…?" Snow mouthed. Cindy shook her head solemnly.

Cindy endured a minute more of shouting until they finally hung up. She sighed heavily. "Guess, that's my cue to leave… Sorry guys…"

"But your pie…" Snow gestured.

"Why don't you stand up to them and tell them you refuse to be pushed around?" Aurora put a hand on her friend's shoulder. "You can't let them do that to you, it's cruel! My father's a lawyer, I could maybe ask him to get you out of their custody…"

"No, it's ok." Cindy smiled a little sadly. "It's only until I'm eighteen, that's just a two years away. Then with enough money, I'll go off to college and leave them forever. I can also finally inherit my father's money, well what's left of it since I'm sure my stepmother has spent most of it, no doubt. But yeah, things'll get better, you'll see." Cindy tried to put on a strong smile for her friends but they still didn't look convinced.

"Hey, don't forget, the three of us will be living together. Remember our promise?" Snow broke the silence. It was the girls' promise to each other since 7th grade that they'd live together after school finished because they would always be best of friends.

"Best friends forever?" Cindy sniffed.

Snow and Aurora got her into a group hug. "Always," they said in unison.

"I'll put the rest of the pie for you in a box so you can take it home, and I'll drive you," Snow offered kindly.

"Thanks…" Cindy was truly thankful for her best friends.

"I'll just walk home. I shouldn't stay too long since I don't want to intrude on your mom any longer…" Aurora said.

"Aww, but you're always welcome here! Fine, I'll skype you guys tonight at ten," Snow frowned at both her friends ditching her.

"Ten's too late…" Aurora said.

"Right, I forgot, sleeping beauty; you sleep at nine-thirty! Fine, I'll skype you guys at nine." Snow shot Aurora a look. "Who sleeps so early anyway?!"

"What?!" Aurora cried defensively.

The girls grabbed their stuff and headed to the garage.

"Mom, I'm going to take Cindy home!"

"Bye, Mrs. White," Cindy and Aurora said simultaneously.

"Goodbye." Mrs. White didn't even look up from her cookbooks, She was very glad that all the girls were getting out of the house.

The girls said their goodbyes to each other and Snow drove Cindy off. Aurora began finding her way home since it was only one street away.

A/N:

Ok, so this chapter was meant to be much, much longer. But since it was too long, I decided I'll split it into two chapters. Sorry, I feel like this chapter is boring as hell /: I'm still setting up the story and the characters :3 Yeah, 4 chapters already and it's still Monday in the Disney High universe, time must drag by painfully slow :3 Well, I promise after the next chapter, thing will move at a faster pace ^^

- Anything you guys want to particularly see from the characters? I'm open to suggestions and I might include them (no guarantees though).

- Yeah, I confess that I wasn't going to add Ariel in the story originally since I've never seen The Little Mermaid :3 But someone said that they wanted to see Ariel and so I finally got around to watching the classic film and thought Ariel was a good character to write so I added her in.

- I made Ariel's background story sound a bit like the Sound of Music :3 And haha, see what I did there with the Pirates of the Caribbean? xD

- Uh, Florian is supposed to be the Prince from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. I know that Florian isn't the most modern name but this is just according to the Disney wikia. I know there are people calling him Frederick or Ferdinand, so... yeah.

- I reached 500 views to my story :DD Thank you so much guys, I know it's not much but I will do the story justice and you guys proud!

- By the way, I edited the previous chapter so Philip's not the captain of the cheerleaders anymore since it wouldn't make sense for a sophomore to be captain. He's just one of the cheerleaders now.

Comments are always appreciated. Please tell me what you guys think because I'm just sitting in the dark here hoping against hope that you guys like my take on these classic Disney characters :3