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 5

Cindy didn't live too far from school, as soon as Snow arrived in front of her house, she gave Snow a quick hug and jumped out of the convertible, barely bothered to open the door.

"Thank you so much for the pie and the ride!"

"Don't mention it," Snow smiled sweetly, "And don't forget, nine o'clock skype chat tonight!"

"I'll try not to miss it," Cindy said. She didn't exactly promised Snow since she wasn't so sure she could skype tonight, not with what was coming.

"CINDY?!" Drizella barged out of the house, "WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU?!"

Cindy cringed and Snow gave her an apologetic wave and drove away before she could get swept into Cindy's mess.

Cindy was about to open her mouth to apologise and explain but Drizella cut her short, "We waited sooooo long for you! We were supposed to go shopping but mom made us stay behind to watch Lucifer until you came back! But noooooooo, you were too busy hanging out with your stupid little friends, you selfish bitch?!" she spat.

Look who's talking, Cindy thought but she was smart to keep that remark to herself.

"Oh. My. God." And that was Anastasia. Great, now she's here too. "MOOOOM! CINDY'S BACK WE CAN FINALLY GO SHOPPING. LIKE FINALLY?! OH MY GOD?!" She trotted down the front porch to the lawn to greet Cindy in a hideous pink outfit.

"My manicure is in fifteen minutes, and if they cancel my appointment for being late, I will… I will… You will… uurgh?! MOOOOOM?!"

Not a moment too soon, Lady Tremaine also came down the porch petting Lucifer in her arms. That hideous up-do she had made her look like the devil. Why she called herself "Lady", Cindy'll never know. But if you ask her, it sounded like the stage name of a drag queen in Vegas.

Drizella and Anastasia sneered at Cindy's demise, "Oh you're going to get it now," Anastasia pulled an ugly face as if to gloat. The girls hopped over to their mother, "Mooooooom, Cindy is soooo going to make us late for my, I mean our appointment!" Anastasia tugged at her mother's arms.

"Yeah?! And what about our shopping? We need to shop! I need to shop! I have like, nothing to wear?! Like my wardrobe has too much green and this season's colour is orange, I seriously like need orange clothes, mom?!" Drizella whined.

"Girls, girls… Please. Since Cindy is the cause of your troubles we must certainly punish her, shouldn't we, girls?" Lady Tremaine abased.

"Make her wash the car, like she hasn't washed our cars in so long! Wash the cars, Cindy! Since you like cars so much, hopping out of fancy convertibles with your bitchy little rich friend, you can wash our cars!" Drizella sneered.

Cindy had her head down the entire time, just hoping they would be done verbally abusing her so she could just get straight to the awful chores she knew they were going to dish out. But to that comment, she looked up, "Snow White is not bitchy!" Just by saying the word "bitchy" made Cindy wince.

"Be quiet!" Lady Tremaine snapped at her. "Now… you will give Lucifer his bath…"

The little devil hissed in her arms at the mention of a bath. Cindy definitely wasn't looking forward to that.

"…the mopping, the laundry, the dishes, wash the curtains…" Lady Tremaine listed things, some off the top of her head just to torture the poor girl. Drizella and Anastasia added their own little favours to get some of their own things cleaned, like polishing boots that Drizella never wore or rearranging Anastasia's nail polish collection and colour-code them (seriously, what was the point of going for a manicure when the girl has enough equipment here to start her own nail salon?).

When they were finally done with their list of domestic exploitation, Lady Tremaine left with a final threat that if Cindy didn't finish the all the housework by the time they returned, she would deprive Cindy of food for a whole week. And with that, they left for the mall in the BMW.

Cindy heaved a giant sigh. That was a lot of work and she only had a few hours until nine. Well, there's nothing like multitasking. Lucifer gave an unimpressed yawn. Cindy picked him up and went into the house.

Today's been one of those many so-so days for Phoebus, like the type of day that he'll probably forget later on. Nothing really interesting happened. Yet.

Phoebus and Naveen went to shoot some hoops after school, because it wasn't like they had anything else better to do. They were playing against some seniors and a few other juniors, typical guy bonding stuff. It was four-on-four and Phoebus and Naveen were on the losing team. They were doing okay at first but towards the end, every time Phoebus or someone else passed the ball to Naveen, he always missed the hoop.

In the end, they lost badly.

"Whatever, I'm done. Let's go," Naveen dragged Phoebus away from the court. Phoebus just shrugged; his friend was always a bit of sore-loser anyway.

On seeing them leave, one of the seniors on their team yelled, "Dude, you suck!" and shot a few more curse words at Naveen, but they already walked into the guys' changing rooms.

"Dude, you sucked balls out there! What kind of lousy basketball player are you?" Phoebus scoffed at Naveen, whilst doing their guy business.

"Me?! You're the one who can't pass!" Naveen shot back defensively.

"Can't pass? Bitch, you caught my ball and you could barely get it in," Phoebus snorted.

"Just, whatever!" Naveen dismissed his friend.

Phoebus shook his head but let the subject drop.

Naveen and Phoebus walked to the sink to wash their hands. There was a moment of silence, then Naveen looked in the mirror and ruffled his curly hair, "Dude, if looks could kill, I'd be a weapon of mass destruction," he suddenly thought out loud.

Phoebus looked at his friend through the mirror, "Did you just use a pick-up line on yourself?"

"Hey, it's one of my best ones," Naveen shot back.

"And aren't you going to wash your hands before you touch your hair?" Phoebus asked Naveen.

"Pff, yeah I am." Naveen pumped the soap dispenser multiple times, "Yeah… that would so be my super power," he continued. "And you can be my faithful sidekick," Naveen smirked.

"And why should I be the sidekick? Besides, the last time I remember, super heroes are supposed to use their powers for good, not as a 'weapon of mass destruction'. And what am I supposed to do? Just stand there and look pretty?"

"No. I'll stand there and look pretty. You can just… stand there," Naveen gave Phoebus a smug look. The both of made their way out of the changing rooms to the school entrance.

Phoebus gave Naveen an "Oh really?" look. "For your information, I don't need my looks to get chicks. And I can probably get more than you, Narcissus."

"With what? Your charming personality? That's cute."

"Well, yes," Phoebus said matter-of-factly.

"Oh, is that a challenge?" Naveen arched his perfectly thick brow, a devilish look in his eye.

"Yes, but I'm afraid you'd lose." Phoebus mockingly patted Naveen's cheeks.

Naveen swat Phoebus away. "We'll see about that."

The boys made their way to the mall. There were lots of teenagers hanging around, none of them willing to go home. Perfect.

They decided to battle it out in the salad bar because that was the most girl-concentrated place besides the girly clothing stores and both of them agreed that that was definitely out of their hunting territory. The salad bar was a frequent hangout for a lot of girls because well, who doesn't love to eat? And everyone knows that salad is "healthy". "Healthy" as in design your own fatty, processed salad dressing, cheese, potatoes (uh, carbs?), topped with bacon bits. Yep, it was definitely a brilliant ploy to reel in unsuspecting victims towards their healthy demise.

"Alright, whoever gets the most phone numbers, win," Naveen named the challenge.

"Bring it," Phoebus said. "Wait, whoever gets the most phone numbers by six wins, 'cuz I gotta be home for dinner," he added.

"Fine."

The moment they two of them walked into the salad bar, several heads turned, all of them girls.

"Daddy's home," Naveen said to Phoebus.

"And I need to get a yogurt," was Phoebus' reply.

"Dude, you're snacking now? Fine, a head start for me." Naveen walked over to an empty table right in the middle of the shop, perfect to scout out all the ladies.

Phoebus walked over to the fro-yo counter next to the salad bar. It was another brilliant ploy for the salad bar to include a fro-yo counter next to the salad bar because it has become one of the hippest food amongst young people. Phoebus doesn't really get the fro-yo trending and all the Instagramming about it. It's not even as healthy as they claim it to be anyway. But he's gotta respect the way it hooks the ladies, they go gaga for this crap. Oh well, it's just like ice cream but more sour.

The server was a girl, probably a college student. The moment their eyes met the girl perked up immediately at probably the most interesting customer she's had all day. Phoebus put on his winning smile, "I'll have the chocolate flavoured one please, with some sprinkles and Hershey chocolate sauce on top. Oh, and throw in a little something special uh…" He scanned the girl's name tag, "… Hazel." He winked at her. She giggled and Phoebus handed her ten bucks, "This should cover it?"

The girl came back with an expertly made chocolate fro-yo with chocolate sauce perfectly squirted and sprinkles sprinkled on top evenly. "This one's on the house. Chocolate's like my favourite flavor," she said it as if Phoebus would find their mutual interest in chocolate attractive. The girl smiled and touched this hand lightly.

"Why thank you, Hazel." Phoebus took the fro-yo and caught her phone number scribbled on the napkin.

"You're soooo welcome. Like you can come back any time." A stupid grin plastered on her face.

"I will, babe." Phoebus spooned some fro-yo into his mouth, "Mmm, this is divine. Is that hazelnut I taste?"

"Yeah," Hazel giggled. Other customers were already lining up, waiting to be served but she completely ignored them.

"Thanks again, babe." Phoebus winked again and head over to Naveen's table.

He slapped the napkin onto the table, "And that's how we do it."

Naveen just chuckled, "While you were making goo-goo eyes with Miss Fro-yo over there, I already have two numbers." He showed Phoebus the back of his hand where two numbers were roughly scribbled.

"Hmph, well at least I have free fro-yo," Phoebus consoled himself and scooped another spoonful into his mouth.

"Mmmmm…" he moaned to try to make Naveen jealous. "Want some? I can feed you," Phoebus pretended to spoon-feed Naveen like a baby.

Naveen shot Phoebus a look.

"Fine, suit yourself. More for me." With that Phoebus shoved more fro-yo into his mouth.

A girl walked up to the table next to theirs. Alone. Girls who were alone were usually the easiest targets. "Let the master show you how it's done," Naveen said then approached the girl.

"Excuse me, sorry to bother you…"

The girl looked up and immediately blushed at the sight of him. "Nonononono, pleasebotherme, I mean, you'rebotheringme, I mean… yeah?" she fumbled over her words.

He grinned at her, "I seem to have lost my phone number… Can I have yours?" And bam, he's done it again. The girl's face burned red as she mumbled something incoherent that sounded like "youcanhavemybabies" and nodded vigorously. She wrote down her number on a soggy napkin and gave it to Naveen.

She mumbled a "call me" but Naveen already went back to his table and was too busy gloating to Phoebus.

It was five minutes to six and the score was pretty close. Naveen had nine numbers and Phoebus was in the lead with ten after scoring two girls in one go. He used the "Is it getting really hot in here, or is it just you?" line. It worked like a charm.

"Give up, yet?" Phoebus taunted Naveen.

"There's five more minutes, I can do a lot of damage in five minutes," Naveen said, refusing to believe he's lost, especially at something he's actually good at.

"Sure…" Phoebus said, unconvinced.

Then something caught the corner of his eye.

Good God.

He almost choked on his own saliva as he spotted a really… well to put it nicely, "horizontally challenged", like really big goth girl heading towards them.

Holy cow.

She had a tight black tube dress with netty fabric for sleeves, where you can clearly see her flesh oozing out of the holes like playdoh, and her waist was like a three-tiered blackforest cake. Not that Phoebus had anything against fat people, but this girl had the potential for heart attack/ diabetes/ stroke/ obesity. She could definitely lose a few pounds for her own sake.

She was wearing thick makeup with purple eye shadow that made her look like she took a few punches. Phoebus didn't want to know what she looked like without it. Hell, he definitely didn't want to know her with it. The girl headed straight for what Phoebus hoped was Naveen, with determined, seductive eyes (at least that's what Phoebus thinks she's trying to do), with her layers swinging in full motion. Phoebus had to fight the urge to chortle. A chain of fat jokes suddenly came into his head, there were so many insulting things he could say to her, but he was wise to hold his tongue.

He nudged Naveen, "Dude, She-Planet, four o'clock, coming straight at you."

Naveen turned and he almost gagged.

"Hey, big boys," Mctubby said with a lot of fattitude. She had a raspy voice, probably from all the smoking she'd done (you can smell it in her breath). "Big boys"… Oh the irony, Phoebus thought.

She singled out Naveen and cozied up to him, completely ignoring Phoebus. "So do you come here often, hotstuff?"

"I uh…"

"Oh, speechless I see. It's okay, handsome, I know I have that effect on people." Big Mac Momma cracked a hideous smile as her sausage lips stretched from one ear to the other. She stabbed at her salad which was swimming in salad dressing and bacon, and took a bite. The sauce went all over her mouth and she just licked it off in the most repulsive manner. "The name's Ursula, by the way." And the She-Ark moved ever so closer to Naveen.

He inched away from her horrendous breath and gave Phoebus a "Help me" look.

Phoebus just shrugged apologetically, but he wasn't sorry at all. If anything, he felt zero pity for Naveen. Guess that's what you get for being a chick magnet; even the ugly, fat ones love you too.

Suddenly a vision of heaven struck Phoebus.

Hark! The herald angels sing…

Sweet mercy!

Hallelujah!

Somebody better tell God that he's missing an angel!

For Phoebus, it was like the clouds have parted after an eternity of darkness as Esmeralda of all people, walked into the salad bar.

Judging from her look she probably just finished dance classes. She was wearing a purple tank top with a white crop top over it, matched with tight, black leggings. Damn this girl knew how to work those curves!

Phoebus winked at Naveen and ditched him for Esmeralda.

He cut the line and stood right in front of her. Esmeralda still hasn't noticed, so he clears his throat. "Ehm. Helloooo. Have we met?" Phoebus said in mock bravado, blocking Esmeralda off before she could pick her salad.

She sighed. Not now, she thought. God these boys were persistent. She didn't have time for this, all she wanted was a salad and now she has an extra serving of Barney Stinson here hitting on her.

Upon seeing Phoebus hit the mother lode, Naveen could not pass up the opportunity of escape/ talking to Esmeralda. He cut into whatever Thunder Thighs was rambling about, "Yeah, cool story. 'Scuse me." and walked over to Phoebus and Esmeralda.

"Excuse me?" the Deep Fried Twinkie scoffed.

"Heeeeeey… What a surprise seeing you here, my dear," Naveen grinned.

"Surprise surprise," Esmeralda said, her words dripping with sarcasm. "You're here too. Greeeaat."

Phoebus and Naveen acted as a barricade between Esmeralda and the salad bar. Suddenly, Ursula pushed herself in between the both of them and saw the stunning Esmeralda. She scanned her head to toe with contempt, "You know this toothpick, caramel latte?" She looked at Naveen for answers, so everyone could safely assume that he was "caramel latte". Esmeralda raised her eyebrows in amusement at Naveen's acquaintance with this poor, delusional Tub-o-lard. Whatever lie he told her, clearly she was thinking much, much more of it. Phoebus had to try really, really hard to keep a straight face, luckily he managed. Something told Naveen that he was never going to hear the end of this.

"Something funny, toothpick?" Chubby-Bunny snapped at Esmeralda, a little too loudly. They were beginning to attract some attention in the salad bar.

She couldn't help but let out a small chuckle, "Oh no, no… Nothing… I just wanted some salad." Esmeralda tried to maneuver her way through the three of them to the salad bar.

"Yeah, you better eat something, toothpick," PB&J Chunky spat at her.

Esmeralda wanted to reply "Well, you should stop eating.", but she kept that to herself. She picked out her salad and went over to the cashier to pay. Phoebus caught up to her, "One sec," he said to the cashier and turned to Esmeralda, "Come on, at least let me pay for the salad?"

"Go away, Phoebus." Esmeralda gave him an irritated look. She could pay for her salad just fine. She didn't need some womanizing asshole's help.

Phoebus actually looked a little hurt. He just wanted to buy her salad. Ok, and then maybe take her out to a movie or something. Then if he was lucky, they might get a little kinky in the dark and make out. If the night goes well, you never know... They might even go steady eventually and then he'll ask her to marry him, and she'd say yes and... Whoa. Whoa. Hold your fucking horses, Phoebus.

Naveen also caught up to them and he stood next to Esmeralda. Now she was awkwardly sandwiched between the boys.

"Esmeralda, you gotta help me. I don't even know that crazy fat chick, she was flirting with me! Can you believe that?! I mean, usually it's the other way around, but this time, she came onto me first! You gotta believe me! I'd never go for ugly, fat girls like her!" He muttered to her under his breath so the Incredible Bulk wont' over hear him. "What do you say we get out of here, huh? Forget the salad, I'll buy you dinner!"

"Dude!" Phoebus finally snapped out of it and gave Naveen a what-the-hell look. He had dibs on Esmeralda, he was there first! Naveen can't just swoop in and take her?!

Esmeralda stared at Naveen incredulously. "Do I look like some cheap airhead that you can just dupe to go on a date with? No! I will not be brought down to your level! So solve your own damn problems!"

Now the entire shop had their eyes on them. Unfortunately, so has Chubasoraus.

"Toothpick! Are you stealing my man?!" She trot over to Esmeralda and grabbed her arm forcefully.

"Ow! Let go, you crazy bitch?!" Esmeralda yelped in pain, Jabba the Hutt was seriously strong.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Ok, you need to chill," Phoebus cut in as the voice of reason. This was getting way more dramatic than it needed to be.

"Shut up, blondie!"

"Uh… your salad, miss? Are you going to pay for this or…?" the cashier was still waiting there awkwardly.

"Zip it!" Teletubby snapped. "What game are you playing here, huh toothpick?! Don't expect to flirt with my man and get away with it!"

Esmeralda couldn't believe how ridiculous this girl was behaving and let out a small laugh. "Look, he's all yours, for all I care."

This pissed the hippopotamus even more, "Are you mocking me?!"

"Uh… I'm calling the manager…" the cashier mumbled. A few moments later, the manager of the salad bar stormed out.

"What the hell is going on?!" the man yelled. "I don't need you brats and fatso here harassing my customers!"

Porky had to be restrained from taking a swing at the manager.

All of them were kicked out for causing trouble in the salad bar, except Esmeralda. "And if I ever catch you in here again, I will call security!" And with that, the three of them were pretty much banned from the salad bar for life.

"Well… that was fun…" Phoebus shrugged to himself, "Never was a fan of salad anyway."

Blimp-ette ranted a string of curse words before turning to Naveen. "Call me, McSteamy." She winked and handed him a piece of paper before she strut away into the distance. It took her a while but eventually she did get smaller and smaller and faded away into the "horizon".

Both boys left the mall in silence until Phoebus finally spoke up, "Yeah… about that bet… You win. Because that fat chick counts as three girls, so good job man!" He laughed and gave a sarcastic slap to Naveen's back.

Naveen just punched Phoebus in the arm.

Ariel was so glad that Meri made it out in time. She was having a bit of trouble stalling daddy since he was the no-nonsense type and all she'd done since his return was rant about useless, unimportant things. But even if she did go on about something she cared about, like him, her sisters, or her freedom, daddy would probably just dismiss her.

The moment he returned, Triton was exhausted from work and Ariel was really the last person he wanted to see. He announced that his "surprise" visit was really just to drop off some stuff and pick up some clothes, equipment etc. and get some economic affairs for his organization sorted out. So no, Ariel wasn't on his list of priorities.

There was an awkward silence at the dinner table. Ariel couldn't even start a conversation with her own father. She kept eyeing him from time to time to see if he would even look up to meet her eye, but she had no such luck.

Then daddy called Sebastian over to ask for Ariel's progress in her studies. Uh-oh.

Sebastian dreaded this and so did Ariel. He shuffled over to Triton; simply being in his presence just makes Sebastian very, very nervous. "Oh… oh Ariel… She uh… her progress is… fulfilling the standards of education which an adolescent her age is required to acquire such knowledge of…" he fumbled.

"Just answer the question, Sebastian. Is Ariel keeping up with her studies, yes or no?" Triton prodded.

Oh god, Ariel knew Sebastien was a terrible liar and she knew daddy could sniff the fear in him from a mile away. "N-no…" As soon as he said it, Sebastian regretted it. Ariel was already shrinking into her seat.

Triton put down his fork and knife forcibly and pinched the bridge of his nose in disappointment. "Ariel… I've been working so hard to provide for this family and all I ask is for you to simply do your best with your studies. Is that too much to ask?"

"N-no…" Ariel mumbled.

"Then why can't you do such a simple thing, huh? You should be thankful that you have a proper education! I give you all this because I care, Ariel!" Triton waves his arm around gesturing to the house. His tone was full of frustration and he was clearly annoyed at having to deal with such petty things, like his daughter's apathy towards her studies.

"Well… What's the point of being educated if I can't put my knowledge to use?" Ariel argued back. She rarely had the nerve to talk back to her father but now it was her turn to get frustrated. Really, what was the point? "I'm stuck here all the time, why can't you just send me to a regular school. Even some strict, fancy prestigious one, I don't mind that! I'd receive a proper education just the same!" She raised her voice a bit to match his deep, loud one.

Triton pinched the bridge of his nose again. "Ariel, I'm tired. We've been through this, you can leave when you're eighteen and moving onto college like the rest of your sisters!"

"But I don't want to wait two more years, I'm sick of this house. I've been here practically all my life?!" Ariel whined.

"YOU are staying here until you're eighteen that's final!" Triton bellowed angrily. He got up from the table, wiped his mouth with the napkin and excused himself from the dining room.

Sebastian stood at the side awkwardly after just witnessing their little exchange. He met Ariel's eyes and she had her head on her hand. Ariel's big blue eyes began to water up. She wiped away her flowing tears and soon ran to the sanctuary of her room too.

"It's so unfair… it's just so unfair…" she murmured to herself as she fled the room.

It was already eight fifty-five when Cindy finally finished all the cleaning and cooking. Lucky for her, Anastasia didn't miss her manicure so Cindy's room was safe from trashing… for now.

She crashed onto her bed in the attic. Yeah, the attic had become her "bedroom", nothing fancy, just a small room with a low ceiling. She was kind of kicked out of her own room by her stepsisters, so they could turn it into a walk-in closet. Now she was kind of stuck in the dimly lit attic that doubles as her bedroom. It's actually better in a way because she won't have to be next to Anastasia and Drizella's annoying prattling, and she has this entire space to herself where nobody, not even her stepmother, bothers to dictate what she does with her room.

Cindy was tired from doing all those chores but she was glad that her stepmother or stepsisters had no other requests and she was free to do her own thing. She even took a quick shower before they came home so they can't scold her for "hogging" the bathroom. But now she smelled of burnt food because she cooked after her shower. Cindy overheated the oven when she was baking her vegetarian rolls so she had a hard time scraping the burnt bits off the food because her "dearest relations" would undoubtedly complain of she didn't. Yeah, Cindy isn't the most brilliant of cooks. I mean you won't get food poisoning but she was definitely no Martha Stewart.

She almost dozed off but then sat straight up all of a sudden. "The skype chat!"

It was already five minutes past nine. Snow wasn't going to like Cindy for being late. She boot up her second-hand HP laptop that Snow handed down to her a few years ago. It still ran on Windows XP, but other than that it wasn't too shabby.

When her skype call finally connected, Snow got straight into lecturing Cindy.

"Why are you so calling so late? You know Aurora here sleeps super early! I told you nine sharp!" Snow pouted.

"Sorry! You know I had a ton of chores to do, and I said I'd try, I didn't promise so you have nothing on me."

"Ok, fine. Anyways first on the agenda… there's this math question that I don't for the life of me get. Like seriously, what's with all these squiggly thingies and letters?" Snow shoved her math workbook right up into the camera. "Like I asked Aurora but she doesn't speak English, with all the "theta" and "beta", I mean what are those anyways? Cindy you gotta help me, I suck at math! And please speak English!"

"That's because it isn't English, it's Greek." Aurora rolled her eyes, a mannerism that you'd never catch her doing in public. It was only a side of her for her best friends to see.

"Wait, we have math homework?!" Cindy suddenly panicked. "I swear I'd have remembered the teacher mention it…" She let out a small moan. "I'll do it now with you…" Cindy disappeared from view for moment, noise of shuffling came in the background and she reappeared a few moments later with her math textbook, workbook, stationary and calculator in hand.

"Ok… what questions do we need to do?"

"Everything on page one forty-seven," Aurora informed her.

"Wait…" Cindy flipped her miserably thick textbook to the page and stared blankly at it. "There are a lot of questions on here. Snow, where are you up to?"

"The third one…?" Snow smiled sheepishly. "What?!" she cried defensively on the other line, "You know I suck at maths! Like I can do addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, that's it! I'm hopeless with anything beyond that!"

"Relax, no one accused you of anything..." Aurora put up her hands.

"Ok…" Cindy put down her pen, "I just finished the third question. What don't you get?" she asked Snow. It turned out the first few questions were actually really easy.

Snow got asking and Cindy patiently explained to her how the formula worked as simply as she could. Eventually, they did get the homework done with an interjected argument halfway about which guy was cuter in One Direction.

Cindy argued logically that the most physically attractive one was Zayn but Snow insisted that it was Harry because they were arguing who was cuter not who was hotter. Aurora just went along with it.

"Oh, before I forget!" Snow hopped off her chair and grabbed a really nice, sexy red bustier. "Look! I got this for sale the other day at Forever 21 and it's like the cutest thing ever! I completely forgot to show you guys just now. I mean, you know normally when I shop, I like haul tons of clothes home but I didn't have as much money on me the other day. Anyways, this is seriously worth it! Do you think I should wear this tomorrow?!"

Snow backed away from the camera to show her friends what the top looked like on her and stripped off her night shirt revealing her laced bra.

"Snow!" Aurora shunned her improper behavior.

"We did not need to see that!" Cindy shielded her eyes from the busty view.

"Jeez you guys, it's not like you don't have any! We're all best friends, no shame in seeing each other's undies! And this is a really nice bra that I got from Victoria's Secret, it's got flowers and all!" Snow struggled to zip up the back of the bustier, "Omigosh, did I just get fat over the weekend, why can't I zip this thing?!" She did an awkward dance where she circled the same spot, trying to reach the zipper at the back. Her boobs were smushed and kind of spilled off the top.

"I don't think it fits you," Aurora observed.

"No duh!" Cindy deadpanned.

"What size is it?" Aurora asked.

"Um…" Snow struggled to look at the tag, "It's uh… it's XS."

"Well, no wonder it doesn't fit!"

"So I am fat!" Snow whined.

"No you're not! You just bought a size too small," Cindy half-scolded Snow.

She took the top off and breathed a sigh of relief and put her night shirt back on. "Darn, and it was on sale too!" Snow pouted.

"At least, it was on sale." Cindy looked from the optimistic angle.

"You guys want it? I don't wanna waste the top."

Aurora pulled a "nah" face and shook her head. It was a little too showy for her taste. She was perfectly content with her shirts, skirts and chiffon tops.

"Yeah… if my stepmother or stepsisters caught me in a top like that, it'll just give them an excuse to pile me more housework… So no for me. You can give it to charity, maybe?" Cindy suggested.

Snow gave a thought about it.

Aurora suddenly turned away from her computer, "Ok!" she shouted then turned back to her friends, "That was my mom… I need to go to bed now… Sorry…" She scrunched up her face apologetically.

"But it's only nine thirty!" Snow whined.

"So I need to sleep now…" Aurora trailed off.

"Yeah, I need to go to bed too. 'Cuz I need to wake up at like five tomorrow." Cindy yawned whilst stretching.

"Seriously, who sleeps at nine thirty?! It's like super early!" Snow then yawned too.

"See? You're getting sleepy too!" Aurora pointed out.

"Am not! It's just that your yawns are contagious, I caught it over skype!" Snow whined in defense.

"Well, 'night you guys. Byyyeee…"

"Goodnight!" Cindy waved to the camera.

"Fine, 'night you guys." Snow pouted in disappointment.

And with that, the skype call ended.

Meri got home just in time for dinner. Her father was in his usual, loud self. He was retelling his tale on how he closed his corporate deal of a life time, being one of his proudest achievements. Fergus was a great storyteller because he'd do the voices too. She laughed on the way into the dining room and the moment she arrived at the table she flopped into her seat.

"Daddy! Mom! Whaaat's for dinner?" Meri asked.

Elinor put down her knife and fork, "How many times have I told you, no skateboards on the table, Merida! The table is for food, not your crude, four-wheeled devices!"

Aaand her mother just killed her good mood. "Ugh, ok, ok." Meri casually swept her skateboard off the table and it dropped onto the wooden floors with a clank. "Happy?"

Her mother didn't grace the sarcasm with an answer and changed the subject immediately. "We have vegetarian stew for dinner, there were supposed to be carrots but Maudie couldn't find them. Apparently, they just disappeared all of a sudden."

Oops… Meri thought. She pulled a face of disgust at the mention of the word "vegetarian". There wasn't anything close to decent laid out on the table. There were lots of potatoes, potato in the stew, mashed potatoes, jacket potatoes, potato salad… Jeez, and they weren't even Irish.

"Yeah… I'm real stuffed… I'm going to head to my room and do my homework…" Meri trailed off and got up, about to leave the room.

"Wait, a minute young lady! You can't just skip dinner, at least have some potatoes!" Elinor insisted.

"I'm reaaaally stuffed, mom. I had like a huge snack at Ariel's, I couldn't possibly fit another morsel!" Meri lied through her teeth.

Elinor narrowed her eyes, suspicious of Meri, but then let it go. "Alright."

"'Kay then. 'Night!" She grabbed her skateboard, backpack, waved back to her family then ran up to her room.

As soon as Meri got out of the shower, she went straight on facebook. There may have been some homework she's supposed to complete, but whatever, there's nothing like procrastination!

She scrolled aimlessly through her homepage and liked a bunch of useless, funny memes from useless, funny pages that she liked. They made her snort randomly at the screen. There were a few notifications from the corner of her window that she hasn't checked because she was barely bothered. If Meg were here, she'd be flipping about it because she hated it when people don't make that stupid little red icon to go away. Buuuut she wasn't, so meh.

Then Meri came across a camwhore photo with a quote that had absolutely nothing to do with the picture from some blonde junior. Ugh, she hated it when girls do shit like this; it just made her want to punch them. Why did she even friend this girl anyway? Oh well, Meri wasn't bothered to unfriend her either.

She checked the clock and it was already past nine. Time to put her plan in action.

Meri grabbed her Spanish test out of her backpack and a pen and tip-toed over to her parents' bedroom. She opened a teenie crack from the door and peered in.

"Merida, I know you're there," her father said.

Meri sighed and walked into the room. Fergus sat in his bed with a laptop propped in front of him, no doubt writing some new software. Meri could hear her mother in the shower. Good.

"Daddy…?" Meri asked all nice and sweetly.

"Yes, love?" Fergus took off his glasses, "What is it? Come on, spit it out."

"Coooould you… maybe um… sign this test for me…?" Meri handed the test and pen to her dad sheepishly.

Fergus took the pen and paper and put on his glasses again. He took a good look at her test. "Looks like it says here that you've failed your Spanish test."

"Please, please, pleeeease don't tell mom?" Meri kneeled by her father's side and shook his big arms vigorously. "Otherwise I'll never hear the end of it!"

Fergus thought about it.

"Pleeeease?" Meri gave her father the puppy eyes.

"Oh, alright." Fergus couldn't say no to his beloved daughter and those eyes. He quickly scribbled his signature and handed Meri her test back.

"Yes!"

Just then, the sound of running water stopped.

Meri's eyes widened in alarm and she immediately bailed before her mother found out she'd been here.

She returned to the safety of her room. Spanish test, check.

She went back to facebook and saw Mulan online. Meri immediately messaged her.

"'Sup"

Mulan replied within seconds, "Go away D:"

"No :("

"I'm soooooooo bored"

Mulan replied again, "Stop distracting me! I'm trying to write my essay!"

"Yeah, but ur on fb?"

"Hey, at least I'm multitasking, what have YOU been up to? Procrastinating, no doubt :P"

"Well, yeah"

"Seriously, I can't chat right now, I'll talk to you tmr :3"

"Fine then :(" Mulan then signed off.

Upstairs, Elinor came out of the bathroom in her nightgown and climbed into bed with Fergus. "What was that I heard about not telling me something?" She gave her husband a quizzical look.

"Oh, no, no. It was nothing. Really, it was nothing," Fergus hastily brushed the subject aside.

"Oh really?" Elinor could obviously tell when her husband was lying.

"Yeah… sweetie, it was just…" Elinor raised an eyebrow. "Oh alright, alright… Your daughter failed her Spanish test. There."

Elinor heaved a sigh and shook her head. "That's exactly why she didn't want to tell you because she knew you'd act like that!"

"Well I have every right to be anxious! She failed her Spanish test!"

"It's just a Spanish test."

"Fergus!"

"Well what does she need Spanish for anyway? She could speak English just fine." Fergus shrugged.

"It doesn't matter! She failed a test! Ugh!" Elinor slumped into the covers and switched off the bedside lamp. "I just can't… get through to her, Fergus… I can't, I don't why," she said a little sadly, disappointed at herself.

Fergus gave a kiss to his wife's temple.

"Oh come to bed, you big oaf! I can't sleep with that annoying light on from your silly laptop!" Elinor complained.

Fergus moaned and put his laptop away. He was grown man yet he was always bossed around by the women in his life. Sigh.

"'Night sweetheart," he mumbled.

Elinor didn't reply but a few moments later she said, "She gets it from you."

"What, Merida? No she does not!"

"Yes, she does."

"Does not!"

"Does too!"

"Does not!"

"Whatever." Elinor yawned then fell asleep.

A/N:

God, it took me so long to write this chapter e.e I got stuck in some bits with Ariel :3 But here goes the second part of after school fun. Yay.

So I really enjoyed writing the salad bar bit with Phoebus and Naveen, haha. Ursula made a cameo :P There isn't any guarantee that she'll appear in later chapters though… And I just want you guys to know, that I have absolutely nothing against fat people. Really. I was just thinking in terms of Ursula and I mean come on, you've seen her. If you saw someone like that in real life, they could really use a few pounds less. Oh and that comment I made about the "guy bonding", yeah… I'm not a guy so I have no idea if they really "bond" over basketball. *shrug*

- Um, I know Ariel's dad is supposed to be cooler but I'm kind of writing him in the state of the prequel (the prequel to The Little Mermaid?). I haven't actually seen the movie but this is kind of what I imagine him to be like.

- I don't know why I keep mentioning vegetarian meals because I'm not vegetarian. But I can imagine these characters being very conscious of what they eat. Yeah apparently all the characters like to eat healthy *shrug*

- I incorporated a bit of the sleazy asshole- Phoebus from the original Hunchback of Notre-Dame novel by Victor Hugo. But don't worry, he's still the chivalrous gentleman underneath all the macho bravado. We just need to wait until Esmeralda starts to see him for what he really is. I can't wait to write them because I've got some goooood stuff planned :D

- Do you think there was too much pointless conversation between Cindy, Aurora and Snow in that skype chat? Cuz I felt like there may have been too much talking /: I'm more of an action person when it comes to stories, I don't know about you guys :3

- Um… I am certain that I won't be including Rapunzel and Jane Porter. Sorry /: I just don't feel like they're easy to fit into the plot I've already drawn out. Some others I MAY include, but no promises… But feel free to suggest any ideas you have for the plot or requests and I'll put them into consideration ^^

- Oh and I reached 900 views :'D It still isn't much but boy has it made me ever so happy :DDD Thanks so much to some of you who have persevered with this still developing story! You have really made an amateur writer like me truly happy :')

As always, thanks for reading and remember to leave comments on what you think ^^