Heavy is the Head

Half Term - Wishing Upon a Star

Cinderella was the only one on her floor who stayed behind in Arendelle for the half term. Henry had just arrived in Arendelle that same morning and had checked into a hotel so the both of them had made plans to stay there until it was time for Cinderella to move into her dormitory at North Mount. She was outside the Academy waiting for Henry to arrive when a woman with a large white puffer jacket approached her, looking left and right before taking off her hood. 

"Hello, Trouble!" Mavis yelled, bouncing towards her former student with outstretched arms.

"Mavis! What are you doing here?"

"Oh, I was just passing through. You know how it is..." Mavis paused when Tinkerbell passed by on her way to her small, mint green car and chuckled to herself.

"What's so funny?"

"Oh nothing," Mavis wiped the smile off her face and then turned back to Cinderella, "So. How's life been treating you?"

Cinderella crossed her arms, "Why didn't you tell me that you used to come here? Particularly the part where you got expelled and banned from setting foot on the premises ever again!"

Mavis sighed, "Who told you that?"

"One of your old classmates works there now - Megara."

"Oh, I remember her. She was lovely, she was. Very nice girl."

"You're changing the subject." Cinderella frowned, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because you were all excited about going and I didn't want to influence you in any way that it was a bad place to go. It's not. I regret getting kicked out and I'll admit I was very immature and ungrateful. I didn't want to rub it in your face that I got in and wasted the opportunity."

"But what did you do that got you expelled in the first place?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Mavis sniffed, "Anyway, have you met my niece yet?"

"Yeah I have. It was a bit of a shock considering I didn't know you even had a niece in the first place. Every day I'm learning just how little I know about you."

Mavis shrugged, "Well if it makes you feel better, I've been far more open with you than I've been with most of the other people in my life, including my family."

Cinderella stared, "That just makes me feel sorry for your family - particularly your niece."

"Ok, stop pouting. There is something I probably should let you know about." Mavis rolled her eyes and led Cinderella over to the bench a fair distance away from the school gates. "You're such a child."

"Says you. You're almost 40 and you still act like a teenager."

"First of all I'm 33. Second of all, shut up, I'm thinking about how to articulate this." Mavis crossed her arms, "This isn't even what I came here to say."

Cinderella glanced at her watch, "You'd better hurry up, Henry is going to be here soon."

"Your little boyfriend can wait if he gets here and I'm still talking..." Mavis paused, her eyes darting around nervously as more teachers trickled out of the building. She put her hood back up. "Alright. When I got expelled, I needed a tutor and my sister hired your mum for it. She was an amazing person, Cindy. You remind me a lot of her. Anyway, she had to stop tutoring me when she went on maternity leave but she promised that I could be your godmother and that I could babysit and everything. You obviously won't remember this, but I was your babysitter for almost 4 years but then your family had to leave town. I only found you again because one of my exes went to the same school as your step sister and I recognised the surname."