Belle paced back and forth in her bedroom, nervously nibbling on her nail. Adam had just texted her, letting her know he was parked around the corner and waiting for her.
Saturday night came quickly and Belle still hadn't made up her mind about sneaking out to go to Pleasure Island. So much could go wrong. Her father wasn't home right now and there was a possibility that he wouldn't get home until late- long after she'd get back from Pleasure Island. But, if he got home at a reasonable time, he'd come up to her room to check on her and she'd be busted.
Belle's phone started ringing. Of course, it was Adam. She answered it, "Hey, baby."
"Where are you?"
"Still in my room."
"You're not allowed to change your mind."
"I don't want to get caught, Adam."
There was a moment of silence on the other end, then Adam replied, "Belle, what's the absolute worst that can happen? You get grounded for a couple weeks. When you look back at your senior year are you gonna say, 'I'm glad I didn't get grounded' or are you gonna say, 'I'm glad I made the most of my senior year and hung out with my friends and my super hot boyfriend'?"
Belle laughed. "Fine! I'll be down in a minute."
Belle hung up the phone before she could change her mind. She wedged a folded sheet of paper under her window to keep it from closing, then snuck out the back door, locking it behind her. When she rounded the corner, Adam flashed his headlights at her and she climbed into the front seat.
When they arrived at Pleasure Island, it was packed. By the time they were able to push their way to the stage near the Ferris wheel, the opening band was just finishing up their last song. Some of the people clapped for them and the band thanked them. When they announced Meg's band, Purple Teardrops, was coming on in a few minutes, everyone cheered.
"Belle! What are you doing here?" Jane waved as she and Tarzan wiggled their way through the people to get to Belle. "I thought you were grounded."
"I am. I snuck out," Belle confessed.
Jane's eyes grew wide. "No way!" She turned to Adam. "You're a bad influence on her." She giggled. "But, I'm glad you're here, Belle."
Belle tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "If my dad catches me, I'm screwed."
Jane link her arm through Belle's. "Don't spend all night worrying about that; you won't have any fun. Deal with that if you get caught."
Belle took a deep breath to calm down and released it. "You're right."
Jane started to lead them away from the crowd. "Come on, Peter Pan is running the Ferris wheel right now and I know if we bribe him, he'll stop the Ferris wheel while we're on top so we can watch the first song above everyone else."
The four of them made their way to the Ferris wheel. There was a little bit of a line; clearly they weren't the only ones with the idea of watching the show from above the crowd. When it was their turn, Tarzan slipped some money to Peter and asked him to stop them at the top for the duration of the first song. Peter agreed.
Jane and Tarzan got in the car ahead of Belle's and Adam's. Adam took her hand and kissed her knuckles. Butterflies filled her stomach and she smiled at him.
"See?" he said. "This is way better than sitting at home."
XXX
"All right, everyone, don't fuck this up!" Vanessa announced as the band got ready to go on the stage.
Flynn slipped his bass strap over his shoulder and took Rapunzel's hand. "Ready?"
Rapunzel nodded excitedly. "Definitely!"
Rapunzel was pumped. Before this summer, she had no idea how fun it was to perform in front of people. It gave her a high unlike anything else. And, even though most peoples' attention were on Vanessa since she was the singer, Rapunzel still felt pretty awesome and important when she was up there.
Vanessa nodded at Jim and he walked out on stage. As soon as everyone saw him, they cheered. He sat down at the drum set and banged out a solo. Part way through it, Rapunzel walked out and started playing the keyboard, eliciting more cheers. Flynn came out next and joined them with the bass. Meg was next with a kick ass guitar solo that had everyone practically screaming in excitement. Vanessa finally came out and jumped right into I Love Rock N Roll.
Everyone started singing along. Rapunzel's eyes scanned over the crowd and were instantly drawn to Thomas. At first, Rapunzel was excited to see him, but then she realized he wasn't watching her, he was watching Meg. Rapunzel cast her eyes sideways towards Meg. Meg didn't seem to notice Thomas; she was caught up in playing and singing back up for Vanessa.
When Rapunzel looked back at Thomas, however, he was now looking at her. Thomas gave her a small wave and she smiled at him.
When they finished the song, Rapunzel noticed a bigger crowd had gathered.
"Thank you for coming out to see us!" Vanessa exclaimed into her microphone. This was met with more cheers. "If you like what you hear, leave your money in the tip jar." She motioned at the jar on the corner of the stage near Flynn. "If you don't leave a tip, we'll mug you when you leave here tonight."
Rapunzel saw a few women give them appalled looks and leave, dragging their kids behind them.
Vanessa either didn't seem to notice the families leaving, or she didn't care. She launched right into Bad Blood. Halfway through the song, Rapunzel noticed Meg was glowering at someone in the audience. Rapunzel followed her gaze and saw Hercules making his way to the front of the crowd. When he looked up, he gave Meg a shy smile. To Rapunzel's surprise, Meg's face softened and she nodded back at him.
Rapunzel couldn't help feeling a little relieved. Maybe there was hope for Meg and Hercules to get back together and no hope for Thomas and Meg rekindling their relationship. To be sure, though, Rapunzel had been playing with the idea of trying to set Thomas up on a date with someone else. Surely, Flynn had to know a single girl that would be good for Thomas; girls were always shamelessly flirting with Flynn, chances are one of them would be interested in Thomas. She'd have to ask Flynn. Maybe by homecoming, things could back to the way they were before Meg came along.