The Princess Theory

"We're not in Kansas Anymore"

The first morning of school. I didn't think I would be this nervous. Ariel's giving me a ride to school since I don't have a car (my Dad said that everywhere we could possibly need to go in France was in walking distance) I don't know what people wear to school, I've never had to know, before I could study in my PJs if I wanted but I don't think that going to class in a tee and bed shorts is acceptable here.

When Ariel gets here she's wearing a baggy purple tee and turquoise shorts with navy converse. Her crazy hair hangs in beach waves. I decide to wear blue denim dungarees with a white blouse underneath. I throw on black converse and roll up the legs of my dungarees to expose my ankles. I brush my hair in my trademark ponytail and grab my rucksack and throw it over my shoulder.

"Do I look okay?" I look at my self in the mirror, I'm not wearing any make up, my hazel eyes look plain without my eyeliner.

"You look great! Are you ready to go?" Ariel picks up her own rucksack front he bed and pulls onto both of her shoulders.

***********

As we pulled into the school car park Ariel waves at a group of girls. I guess you could say Ariel and her friends were "hippies". They were very into saving the environment, not that there's anything wrong with that I mean they seemed nice enough.

"Hey guys this is my cousin Belle, she just moved here. Belle this is Pocahontas" She points towards a native American looking girl with long, straight, black hair. She wears an off-white, boho looking dress and tan sandals.

"Hello" she shakes my hand, this seems a little formal but I'm in no position to refuse.

"This is Elsa" She points towards a girl with white hair in a complicated braid. She has on purple eye shadow that frame her eyes perfectly, her shirt is Tiffany blue, tucked into a grey skirt. And she holds a white sweater.

"I love your hair" She gestures towards my pony and I just smile in thanks.

"And this is Merida and Rapunzel" There's a girl with short brown hair and big green eyes standing next to a girl with fuzzy red hair that stands out a good couple of inches from her head, but it looks good.

"Hi! I'm Rapunzel" The petite girl with the green eyes waves to me with a sweet smile crossing her lips and revealing her perfectly white teeth.

"Belle means beauty in France don't it?" Merida speaks with a Scottish accent which sounds harsh when she says this.

"Urrmm...yeah it does actually" She simply nods at the reply in a strangely cryptic way. They all smile at me like I'm a new puppy and even Ariel can't contain the beam spreading across her face. How am I gonna get through the rest of the day?

***********

I look around the corridors for room 19G. I'm not in the same home room as Ariel or any of her friends so I'll have to make my own way there. when I finally find the correct door I take a deep breath and open it.

The entire class looks at me like a bunch of bunnies in headlights. The teacher looks old and WAY over weight! She has cropped grey hair and wears a black dress that's way too...umm...sexy for a women of her size. She has red lips and the rest of her skin looks grey and dreary.

"Your name is...?" She looks at me with one eyebrow raised like she's questioning my very existence on this planet.

"Umm...Belle...ma'am." I don't know how it's possible to forget your own name but somehow I do.

"You can sit there next to..."She gestures towards a boy with black hair and light blue eyes. I think the teacher is worse with names than I am as she just waves her hand in dismissal and sighs "...him."

I take my seat next the boy and he smiles in a friendly yet charming way. He's handsome but he's not my type.

"I'm Eric by the way, forget about her that's Ursula but we all just call her the witch" I stifle a laugh and he giggles too. "So Belle...why does that name sound so familiar?"

"You might know my cousin, Ariel?" His eyes widen and his jaw droops a little. "I'll...take that as a...yes"

"Sorry but, forget it it doesn't matter" she turns his eyes away from mine and looks down at his hands

"No tell me go on, I promise I won't say anything!"

"I've just had the biggest crush on her for like forever but I've never had an excuse to talk to her" he doesn't take his eyes from his hands which are palm down on the desk.

"Well now that you sit next to her cousin in home room I guess you do right?" I smile and push my shoulder into his playfully which makes him smile too. I see what a beautiful smile he has and know that Ariel wouldn't want to miss out on an opportunity like Eric, hell I know I wouldn't!

The bell rings and I head to my first class, English Literature. I knew this would most likely be the best part of my day since that was my favourite subject.

This time the door was painted a different colour to all the others, the name Mrs White was printed on a piece of paper stapled to the door. Students were still making their way to class and I walked in with a girl who had ginger hair tied in two simple braids that hung down the front of the shoulders.

"Hi! I'm Anna, you must be Belle" She was chirpy and smiley, she said that I "must be Belle" as though she already knew the answer.

"Ummm...yeah I am, hi Anna" She's already shaking my hand with the same huge grin on her face. I pull my right hand out of both of hers and smile back.

"You're Ariel's cousin right?"

"Yeah that's me" I'm starting to think that people will only know me because of who I'm related too.

"You must of met my sister, Elsa, and my cousin rapunzel" I thought the girl looked familiar, They have the same big blue eyes and blushed cheeks, they share some of these genes with Rapunzel but I never realized it until now. Anna leads me to sit down near the back of the room. On the table behind us there is a thin boy with red hair tucked under a beanie. "This is Peter. Peter this is Belle"sed

"So you're from France right?" Peter says chewing on a piece of apple, the rest still in his hand.

"Yeah?"

"So there are you called Beauty or Belle?"

"I'm...it's...it's just Belle...everywhere."

"Interesting, very interesting?" The boy takes a final bite out of the apple and launches the core at a tall boy sat at the other side of the classroom. The core narrowly misses his head, bounces off the wall and hits a tall, stocky boy with floppy blonde hair a couple of tables to the right of us square in the jaw.

"Oh my god! Sorry Kristoff, sorry Hans!" She turns to Peter and thumps him hard in the arm. "I can't believe you did that!"Anna yells at Peter even though she's smiling and he bursts into hysterical laughter. I think that I could be friends with these people, people like Anna and Peter and Eric.