Hi everybody! TGIF! And I will probably be updating again this weekend. I will tirelessly try to finish this story. I have been getting quite a few sequel requests both by review as well as PM, as well as possible ideas I can use. I've been trying to get some loose ends wrapped up for this story, and then have to start thinking about new fanfiction, or possibly finishing any old fanfiction I lost interest in and stopped updating.
Keep trying to answer my question: YES OR NO TO A SEQUEL? REVIEW IT REVIEW IT REVIEW IT! OR PM IT, IF YOU HAVE A FANFICTION ACCOUNT!
Oh, yeah, and please review! I love reading them!
Thanks to:
PREDDIEGURLNASHA100
Flying By Wire
Avril Lambert
and TheLonelyMonstersCompanion
For reviewing for my story!
Keep reviewing, fans! Love you all dearly from the bottom of my Disney-obsessed heart.
-Crystal
What I wanted: True love
What I have: True love and a happily ever after.
Big question: Will it last?
-Cindy
Five o'clock, and Cindy's alarm rang. She pulled herself out of her beautiful room and went downstairs and made coffee.
"Miss!" one of the maids hurried over. "Miss, what are you doing? Miss, that's what we're here for."
Cindy ignored them, as if in a trance, made three cups of coffee, set them on trays, and then grabbed a broom and dustpan from the Storage room.
The maids looked aghast, but Cindy saw spots all over the floors. It was positively filthy, and there was a tea stain on the corner of the red carpet on the stairs.
Cindy knelt down, tears prickling the corner of her eyes, and began to sing as she worked, scrubbing the tea stain. The maids watched, looking absolutely baffled.
Suddenly, someone touched Cindy's shoulder. She jerked upright, horrified, spilling the dustpan and its gross contents on the floor.
It was Char.
Cindy swallowed. "Char."
He helped her up. "What are you doing?"
Cindy swallowed again. "Cleaning."
Char shook his head gently. "The maids do that, Cindy. It's not your job, you're job is to relax and be a guest, okay?"
Cindy was on the verge of tears, but she nodded. "It's just—I have—this problem—"
"A bit of OCD," Char diagnosed with a nod. "It's common for someone who's been in your...situation for so long."
My situation. Cindy bit her lip.
Char walked her over into the den, and pointed at the couch. "Sit."
Cindy sat delicately, and then Char flopped onto the couch next to her, leaning all the way back with a grunt.
"Sir," one of the maids pointed to the mess.
"Haley," said Char, wrinkling his forehead. "I apologize. Could you please do me a favor and clean that up?"
Haley stalked off, and Char looked at Cindy. "How about you just chill? Let's talk for a bit, okay?"
Cindy tilted her head and nodded.
Char tapped his chin. "What do you like to do?"
Cindy had to think. What did she have the opportunity to do? Then she brightened. "I like animals," she replied. "I know how to ride horses. And I like gardening. Something about the flowers..." She trailed off when Char smiled his eversweet smile.
"I can get you a plot of land for you to plant flowers," Char told her. "And we actually have a horse in back named Bunny...she's so sweet and she'd love you."
Cindy beamed. "Really?"
"If you want her."
Cindy nodded. "If you're sure."
Char touched her wrist. "She's yours." He glanced at her. "Anything else you like to do?"
"Music." It slipped right out from between her lips. "I like to sing. And listen to music."
Char raised his eyebrows. "What's your favorite song?"
Cindy thought about it. "It would have to be...oh! Yes, I think it would have to be 'Sing Sweet Nightingale.' I love it sung by Ilene Woods. I could listen to songs on the radio all day. But I never got the chance."
Char grinned at her. "What songs do you like to sing?"
Cindy shrugged. "I actually don't know a lot of songs besides the old-fashioned ones Stepmothers made Drisella and Anastasia sing. But I sing the songs I wrote."
Char looked impressed. "Oh, you write songs, do you?"
Cindy blushed. "Some. They started as poetry that I wrote when I had time, but when I cleaned, I set a new tune to it everyday, and some of the tunes ended up sticking and they became songs."
Char grinned. "That's so cool! Sing one now, Cindy."
Cindy shook her head. "No, no. Maybe tonight? I don't exactly feel comfortable singing it right now."
Char nodded. "Absolutely. Whenever you're ready."
Someone cleared their throat. Cindy turned and saw Jacob Wilson standing in the doorway of the den. Cindy jumped up, smoothing down her skirt. "Hi, Jacob!"
"Cindy the First," he greeted her. "Did I hear you say you liked poetry?"
"Cindy actually writes poetry. And she composes, Father." Char placed a hand on Cindy's shoulder. "Isn't that wonderful?"
Jacob raised his bushy white eyebrows. "That is. My wife, Mabel, used to write poetry. Stacks and stacks. And then she used to play piano like a pro and set tunes to each."
"Yeah," Char replied. "She actually had notebooks of poetry about all sorts of stuff."
Jacob held up a finger. "Excuse me for one second." He shuffled up the stairs.
"Oh, dear," said Cindy.
"What else do you like?" Char asked.
"Stars." This time, Cindy's answer was quick and abrupt. "I loved watching them outside my windows. I dreamed they were each wishes that a soul had made on Earth, and the lucky stars would take the wishes back to the people who made them." She had this wistful smile on her face as she spoke.
"Creative," Char said in his usual sweet gentlemanly way. "I have to go shopping, since we're kinda low on stuff here. But I hope you'll walk around the gardens and the house and get to know this place." He looked quizzically at Cindy, who nodded eagerly. "I'd love to."
"Cindy the First!" Jacob hurried over to her.
Char had gone out shopping, and Cindy had entertained herself by lying on the couch and listening to the radio.
She got up. "Hi."
"For you." Jacob handed her a green spiral notebook with random Sharpie drawings all over the cover. Cindy blinked. "What is it?"
Jacob grinned. "Open and see."
Cindy opened it and smiled as she lip read the first few lines. "They're Mabel's poems."
Jacob stared back at her, not blinking, waiting for a reaction.
"Thank you." Cindy meant it, truly, straight from her heart. Poetry meant a lot to her, and she took the notebook and held it to her chest. "I'll read from it every day. I'll love it forever. Thank you, Jacob." She leaned over and kissed the small man on the top of his shiny bald head, and his face turned bright red as he hurried away, a smile playing on his lips.
After a delicious dinner of buttery fried fish, oyster stew, perfectly fluffy biscuits, a lovely salad and cranberry wine, Char mysteriously told Cindy to meet him at the top of the stairs.
Cindy climbed up slowly, in her lacy white nightgown that apparently belonged to Char's cousin Clarice. Char took her hands and held them up to her face. "Cover your eyes. No peeking."
Cindy did as she was told as Char gripped her waist and directed her carefully to a door. "Come on in," he told her. "Watch your step though."
Cindy stepped inside, and Char closed the door.
"One second," Char said, and there was some rustling. Then he laughed his mystical laugh and spoke: "Welcome to your new palace, Princess Cindy."
Suddenly, the soft music of "Sing Sweet Nightingale" sung by Ilene Woods drifted through the room. Cindy found herself gasping.
Char flipped on the lights and commanded Cindy to open her eyes. Cindy tore open her blue eyes.
"OHMYGOD!" she screamed. Char had placed flowers everywhere. On her windowsills, on her tables. All sorts of colorful flowers that added brightness to the picturesque white room. He had given her a radio of her own with beautiful classical CDs stacked up next to it on the table.
"Char—" Cindy began.
Char held up a hand. "I'm not done." He turned off the lights and gently tilted her face up towards the ceiling, and once again, Cindy gasped in absolute shock.
Glow in the dark stars covered the ceiling, making it look like she was lying on a bed staring up at the unfolded heavens, the beautiful soft glow of the Milky Way.
Cindy whirled around to Char. "You must have spent so much on this!"
"No!" Char shook his head. "It's all for you, so it was well spent money."
Cindy choked on tears. "You've given me too much. Char, I can't accept this."
"It's all yours, my princess," Char said, walking over to the bed. He systematically loosened his shirt and finally pulled it off so Cindy was staring at his very chiseled and muscly chest.
She blinked rapidly.
Char laid down on the bed. "I was thinking of a little stargazing. What about it?"
It was so corny and stupid and sweet that Cindy couldn't help but say yes. His romantic actions sent her falling head over heels in love.
As they lay there in bed together, Cindy neatly slipped out of her dress and shoes and under the covers in merely her bra and underwear, and Char obligingly pulled off his pants and shoes as well. Their bodies pressed together underneath the covers, desire and body lotion and faint sweat merging together underneath the safe cover of the blankets.
Softly, Cindy began to sing along with the radio song:
Oh, sing sweet nightingale
Sing sweet nightingale, high
Oh sing sweet nightingale
Sing sweet nightingale...
Triton Girls are supposed to stick together.
-Ariel
Ariel remembered her mother.
Maybe that's why Daddy can't stand to look at me, Ariel thought. My mom and I have the same hair and wild rebellious streaks. That's why Attina is his favorite, because she would never do anything stupid like Mom. She always listens to Daddy and she reminds him of him.
Ariel was getting angrier and angrier inside her mind.
"That gardener has no right to show up here wanting to see Ariel. This is strictly for family only."
Ariel tensed inside. Gardener? Adrian? Was he okay? Was he mad? A thousand questions coursed through Ariel's head. She was hearing these strange voices outside her head, in another bubble. Her sisters were talking, but not to her. To each other? Were they fighting? Ariel answered that question without any persuasion: Was there a moment when the Triton Girls weren't arguing with each other?
"He loves her and is willing to take care of her!"
Who was that? It sounded like Arista. Ariel balled her fists near her curvy hips.
"He has no money, no education! What the hell is Ariel supposed to do with him? End up digging up some rich-ass CEO's garden and raising little dirt children that end up orphans in Tijuana at the age of eight?" Attina.
"Stop it!" Ariel yelled. "Stop it, all of you! Stop discussing my future! Can you all just stop fighting for three seconds!"
"She's whispering something!" The energetic voice sounded like Aquata's. Ariel was still pissed. She was not whispering. She was yelling at the top of her lungs. She was using every ounce of energy she had.
"She's in an odd state of mind." This was a new unfamiliar voice that Ariel had never heard before. It was a motherly voice, a soft one that was bold and smart. An I-know-what-I'm-talking-about voice. "She's thinking about all sorts of strange stuff. It's the side effects. I'm sure she's okay, since we've helped her. But I think she might wake soon. Girls, it might be good if you don't fight in front of her. She's probably already going through trauma in her mind."
"You heard the doctor!" This was Attina. "Don't stress her out."
"Ariel?" The voices were getting clearer now. They were no longer like random bubbles floating past her brain. Her brain felt like wet noodles glued together with Elmer's Glue. Her head was pounding like woodpecker's were attacking her brain.
Ariel opened her sea blue eyes.
Her father was sitting at the side of the bed, and he grabbed her hand, pressing it to his lips. "Ariel," he whispered.
"Ari!" Arista smiled down at her. "How are you?"
Ariel looked at Arista's swollen stomach and blinked several times. "God, Arista," she mumbled.
Arista leaned forward. "I'm sorry, I c—"
Andrina elbowed through, running her fingers through her honey blonde Pink-style hairstyle. "You okay?"
Ariel didn't move her head. It would probably fall right off her neck. Instead she whispered, "Yeah."
"Adrian was here to see you." Arista was at the back of the group of Triton Girls, but they all turned to glare at her.
Ariel pushed herself up a bit.
"Lie back," Triton ordered. "Don't strain yourself, please, Ariel."
Ariel didn't care, she just stared intently at Arista. "What did he say?" she asked. But she could barely hear her voice at all.
Arista kept talking, despite the girls' glares and desperate shushes. "He came to see you, but Andrina got all pissed at him and yelled at him how you didn't like him and he left. He seemed pretty upset."
Ariel's dark thin eyebrows shot up to her hairline and she twisted to stare at Andrina. Her eyes echoed hatred.
Andrina turned to Arista with the angriest look on her face.
Andrina had always been the one with the temper, Ariel thought. She was the prick in the family. She teased her sisters to tears. Even as a little girl. She had always been a self-accomplished bully. Though she was pretty, she always had a knack for acting and also singing in a honeyed, low-key, admirable voice. She pushed her bangs up off her forehead. "You better shut up, sweetie," she threatened Arista.
Ariel reached out and grabbed Andrina's wrist tightly. "Stop it!"
Andrina ignored her. "Tattle-tale. Always have been. And now you're trying to set up our sister with dirt."
"Stop!" Ariel wailed, flailing her arms and smacking Andrina in the back. Attina covered her mouth with her hand as Arista and Andrina had a stare down.
Triton stood. "Andrina, Arista, that will be enough. You are aggravating your sister. Andrina, I'm going to ask you to please leave."
Andrina didn't move. She continued to glare at Arista, and then glanced back. She sucked in air at last. "I'm eighteen years old," she replied finally. "I'm of legal age. I think I'm old enough to leave this dustbowl and go across country alone, huh?"
"Andrina, that's overdramatic, dear." Adella nervously took Andrina's hands in her own. "Everything's okay," Attina soothed her. "We always have disagreements—"
"This isn't a damn disagreement!" Andrina pulled away. "Me and Arista are going to end up stabbing each other with kitchen knives if we live in the same house. I can't do it. I can't see her pregnant with some geek, and I can't see Ariel with Adrian our disgusting gardener."
"So he's poor," Ariel whispered. "What's wrong with him?"
Alana buried her face in her hands. "Ohhhh, God."
Attina had begun crying. "Andrina, STOP!"
She couldn't just be nice, for once? Ariel was demanding in her head. Just while I'm lying in a hospital bed after getting hit by a freaking truck? She has to make a big scene, make everything about her? It wasn't even that big of a deal!
"What are you doing, Andrina?" Triton stood. "Andrina?"
Andrina pulled a credit card out of her pink Coach bag. "I'm going to Los Angeles!" she shrieked. "I'm taking a plane first thing in the morning out of this disgusting graveyard and flying to Cali. I'm gonna find the guy of my dreams, try out for a movie, record a hit song, and live my life the way I want to." She glared. "None of you bitches will be ordering me around anymore." She glowered at Arista. "And you. Enjoy your life with your nerd boyfriend." She glanced at Ariel. "Enjoy squatting in manure the rest of your life."
She opened the door and stormed out.
"Andrina!" Aquata looked horrified. "Ohmygod, what just happened?"
"Los Angeles?" Attina looked fit to stab someone. "That girl has got no sense! She's just fresh out of high school! She has a life, she was going to go to college! Two days into California and she'll get raped or murdered or mugged or hit by a plane or—"
Ariel struggled to sit up, but her heart rate soared through the roof, and she had to flop back down.
"I'll fix this." Triton hurried out the door, calling Andrina's name over and over again as he rushed down the hallway towards the exit doors.
"Ariel." Adella rushed to her. "We're so sorry this had to happen in front of you. Are you okay?"
Right now, what Ariel wanted the most was a giant glass of water to calm her hell of a migraine and a few sleeping tablets to knock her out. And she wanted Adrian. She looked meaningfully at Arista. "I want Adrian," she said softly.
"Adrian," Adella translated, leaning away from Ariel's face. "She really likes him."
Attina was glaring so hard at the ceiling Ariel thought it might melt from the steely blaze in her eyes.
Aquata and Alana was staring at the floor, and Adella and Arista were exchanging knowing glances among themselves.
Arista turned. "I'll call him, okay, Ariel? Would you like that?"
Ariel didn't say anything, just turned her face to the side.
Was Andrina really going to Los Angeles? Ariel was pretty damn pissed at her, but she still loved Andrina. No matter what, they were the Triton Girls.
And the Triton Girls stuck together.
Well, they were supposed to.
Ariel shrank into her pillow and closed her eyes again.
Hi guys! Now that you've read down and completed the chapter, please just leave me a review! It can be anything, just a simple "Great job," "Love _ so much!" or "Hate _ so much!" or "_ to a sequel!" and if you want, possible ideas for a sequel! I will acknowledge your ideas if I choose to write a sequel!
Keep reading and reviewing, and don't forget to be awesome!
-Crystal