Heavy is the Head

Ariel - 1

Chapter 10

"It's due to snow next week, anyway. This will probably have to be your only meet-up for a while." Ariel took a video of herself posing in her new baby blue dress that had her roommate stomping around the room angrily in the background and giggled, sending it to Jasmine.

Aurora had not smiled or laughed in 3 hours. Instead, she had finally found the time to unpack everything, and restored the room to a somewhat orderly state. Not that Ariel particularly cared. She had 6 older sisters and was used to mess.

"You need to hurry up and get this over with so that we can come back and sort out the Easter egg hunt thing before it gets dark!" Jasmine shouted on the other side of the door.

"It'll be fine. It's just a couple of pictures and anyway, you should be happy for me... I'll finally be able to meet The Princes!" Ariel grinned, giggling when Aurora smacked her hand away without a trace of a smile.

Jasmine, Ariel and Aurora arrived at the boy's school 15 minutes earlier than they were supposed to, so they loitered by the front gate with Aurora's grumbling getting louder and louder. Jasmine had dyed Ariel's hair a deep red slightly different to how it had been before, and had not stopped receiving compliments about it since. Each time, Jasmine would stand behind her looking like a proud mum, smiling modestly when Ariel put it all down to Jasmine and her brilliant hairdressing skills.

When Philip eventually came out of the school and sauntered over to them with Eric and Adam following close behind, Aurora made a sound that resembled a volcano erupting while Ariel was so starstruck that she almost fainted. Especially when Eric was the first to compliment her hair. Jasmine looked between them with wide eyes, contemplating the pros and cons of ditching them both and going back to school. She fanned Ariel with a long-suffering sigh and introduced them both, watching amusedly as Ariel became a stammering strawberry mess.

"Hello, sweetheart." Philip smirked, slinging an arm around Aurora's shoulder. "Naveen didn't want to come with us by the way."

"What? Why?" Aurora shook off his arm, punched Eric's arm in greeting and hugged Adam.

"He's too busy hanging out with his new friends in the Earth dorms. Because apparently, they're more mature than us." Adam sulked. Adam was the tallest in the band at 6'6, and was often thought to be the most intimidating which is why he was given the 'bad boy persona' and the stage name 'Beast'. In reality, he could not be further from frightening and had the personality of a golden retriever... Except when he was around Philip. They brought out the worst in each other. Or the best. It would depend on how you looked at it.

"Oh yeah. Naveen ditched us." Eric crossed his arms, "Which means I'm in charge now."

Adam opened his mouth to argue, and then decided against it, "Whatever. Aurora, there's a nice park that you and Philip can take pictures in if you want. I want to go to the cafe across the road from there because they make great smoothies."

He ambled down the road humming to himself quietly, with Eric tottering after him, hands deep in his jacket pockets.

"Alright, then." Aurora sighed, pulling out her phone and handing it to Jasmine. "Let's get this over and done with."

Philip bent down to Aurora's height and rested an arm on top of her head, throwing up a peace sign. Aurora forced a smile that looked scarily real, and leaned into Philip making sure to not actually touch him. As soon as Jasmine signaled that she had finished, Aurora threw Philip's arm away, and they both made a dash for the phone.

"Lemme see!" Philip chortled happily, swiping it from Jasmine's grasp, amid indignant murmurs. He lifted it up out of Aurora's reach and started typing.