“It’s okay! It’s okay!” Aurora soothed, stroking her arm as Ariel fought to get away.
“How did Dave keep you calm in the water?” Cinderella asked, moving forward and placing her hands on Ariel’s shoulders. Ariel was forced to look directly into her face, and she felt her heart rate slowly return to normal.
“He distracted me by kissing me,” Ariel said.
“Oh yeah…..Snow?” Belle said, gesturing toward Ariel with an outstretched palm.
“Gross!” Snow White said, backing up.
“Are you sure? I’m wearing cherry chapstick!” Ariel added, unable to resist.
That seemed to do the trick. The Princess sisters all started laughing hysterically and Ariel was soon able to relax. She even sat on a tube and allowed Aurora to pull her deeper into the water. She got a little nervous when the siren went off and the waves began rocking her tube, but another kissing reference toward Snow White, and the girls relapsed into a fit of giggles.
Ariel lasted about an hour playing in the water, and then she was ready to go. To all her cousins’ amazement, she even jumped off the tube and walked back through the water towards the exit without anyone’s help. Ariel sat on the steps leading to the shallow end of the pool with her feet in the water. She bent in half so her chest was resting against her knees and swished the water around with her hand. She created a cup with her hand and filled it with water. Then, raising her hand-cup to eye level, she tipped it to the side and watched as the water slowly poured from her palm. Ariel had never noticed before how pretty water could be. As she scooped a second cupful and then let the water cascade over her fingertips, it caught the light overhead, creating a tiny rainbow. She continued to play in the shallow water while her cousins dove headfirst into the waves and screamed and splashed in the deep end.
When they were all worn out, with hands and feet like prunes, the other girls joined Ariel and prepared to leave.
“You made a lot of progress today!” Aurora said to her sister.
“I know!” Ariel said. “And you know what? Maybe water isn’t so scary after all”
“Really?!” Belle exclaimed.
“Well,” Ariel said. “It will still probably take awhile for me to be completely comfortable playing like you all were, but I’ll get there.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Thursday, September 9th
Thursday morning, Aurora sat in her math class, head resting on her folded arms. Her blonde and red hair kept falling across her face, threatening to tickle her nose. She closed her eyes and pretended to fall asleep. She thought back to when Dave had helped her in the car. She concentrated on her breathing and made her body relax, pretending someone was massaging her temples again. But she remained focused intently on what her teacher was saying, so her fake sleeping wouldn’t become a reality. She spent the last two days pretending to fall asleep in different classes. Aurora was very careful to only play this little trick in one class each day, otherwise it would be obvious what she was doing and the other students would catch on.
Aurora could feel the eyes of several students burning into her back, but she remained breathing, slow and steady, so it would look like she was asleep. Even though her eyes were shut tight, she could feel the movement around her. Aurora could almost picture the guys sitting behind her, nudging each other and pointing, just waiting for her to verify the rumors. But Aurora remained strong. After ten minutes, she decided it had been long enough. She sat up slowly and rubbed the fake sleep from her eyes. Then she stretched her arms over the front of the desk and stretched her legs after sitting up. Aurora casually glanced around her before rubbing a hand over the cheek that had been resting on her arms. She could tell by the whispers around her that some of the kids were disappointed. She had fallen asleep and she didn’t even jerk awake, like many had been anticipating. Those hoping for a show got nothing.
Mission accomplished, Aurora thought, smiling to herself.
After class, she hurried to meet up with her cousins to tell them of her success. She turned a corner, and looked up. Dave was standing right in front of her. He gave her a weak smile and opened his mouth to say something, but Aurora gave him a dirty look in return and walked right passed without uttering a word.
***
Belle sat leaning back against her plastic chair, feet stretched out under the desk in front of her, and crossed at the ankles. Her English teacher, Mrs. Trelease, was going on about their reading assignment from the week before; Romeo and Juliet. Belle hated Shakespeare! His stories were fun and all, but she preferred them in movie form. Nothing was harder to read than Shakespeare, especially in front of the class! They were going to be watching the movie in class on Friday and Belle couldn’t wait! She liked the classes when she could just sit back and not have to do anything. But first she had to take the permission slip home saying her mom didn’t mind if she watched a movie that showed a little nudity.
Belle began studying Mrs. Trelease as she continued to babble on about the film. She was actually a fairly young teacher, in her early thirties. She had short hair that bobbed around her head in tight, brown curls. Her brown eyes matched her hair almost exactly. Belle had never really noticed how tiny she was before, but as Mrs. Trelease continued pacing back and forth in front of the whiteboard, she looked at her skinny frame with new eyes. Her wrists weren’t much thicker than Belle’s cell phone, and her ankles, poking out today under her zebra-striped skirt, were just as thin. She liked to walk between the desks with a yard stick in her hand, craning her long, slender neck over the sea of shaggy hair in search of snoozers. If she ever caught one, she’d slam the ruler down on their desk right next to the perpetrator’s head, jolting them awake. Then she and the rest of the students would pause and laugh before continuing on with the lesson. Mrs. Trelease was a fun teacher to have for English, or any subject for that matter. She had the energy of a four-year-old, always talking loudly and bouncing excitedly around the classroom. Maybe that’s why Belle had never really paid attention to her stature; Mrs. Trelease never held still long enough for her to notice!
Finally, Mrs. Trelease was done talking about the movie and had moved on to discussing the play itself. She thought it would be fun to have some students come up in front of the class and read key parts from each act. Oh joy, Belle thought to herself, a lump rising in her throat. This was the moment she had been practicing for. The reason she was suffering through her tutoring sessions with Dave, as well as practicing every single night alone in her bedroom, ever since that heinous poster had been displayed on the first day of school. Belle sat up straight, nervously tucking her legs under her own chair now. She gulped and then slowly raised her hand in the air.
“Yes, Belle?” Mrs. Trelease asked.
“Oh,” she said, looking around. “I just wanted to volunteer to read.”
There was an audible gasp from several of the other students, which quickly turned to a low thunder-like murmur that carried through the classroom. The teacher hushed her students and after regaining control, she smiled down at Belle.
“Wonderful!” she said. “Why don’t you come up here and be our Juliet.”
Belle quickly got to her feet and moved to the front of the room. She was afraid moving slowly would only make her rethink what she was about to do. Right now she needed the adrenaline and, with any luck, for the fire alarm to go off so she wouldn’t have to continue.
“Now, who would like to be our Romeo?” Mrs. Trelease asked, eyeing her pupils.
Belle may have been pushed to the bottom of the social ladder by Cynthia’s cruel words, but there was no denying she was still beautiful. Every male hand in the classroom went up. Each hormone-driven boy was hoping for a chance to reenact that fateful final scene when Romeo gets to kiss Juliet as she lies on a table, unmoving.
Unfortunately for the Romeo chosen, a shorter boy with sandy blonde hair and chestnut eyes, Mrs. Trelease didn’t have any intentions of hosting a make-out session in her classroom. She simply had t
he readers stand in a line at the front of the room and recite lines straight from the text.
“Everyone please turn to the beginning of act two, scene two,” Mrs. Trelease said, walking in between two rows of desks and stopping at the back of the room. “I know, I know,” she said in response to the accompanying groans. “This scene is over-done and you’ve all heard it a million times. But there’s a reason these are some of the best-known lines in this play. Just hang in there for one measly scene, and then we can move on to whatever you guys want, deal?” Most of the students nodded their agreement, and she continued. “Romeo, go ahead,” she said, waving a fairy-like finger in his direction.
“But soft, what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun,” he began.
Belle was glad they had started with an easy scene. She’d heard these lines quoted in movies and on TV shows often enough before that she was familiar with the lines. Even when the words jumbled together a little, Belle knew what they were supposed to say, and was able to fudge her way through the scene with very few mistakes. Belle read slowly and deliberately, taking her time with each famous word. The few times she did stumble, she recovered quickly and smoothly, without any negative feedback from the class. After finishing the scene, Mrs. Trelease allowed her actors to take their seats and asked for new volunteers to take their places.
Belle sat down and breathed out a long, slow breath. She wondered if she had been holding her breath the entire time she was in front of the class, for the amount of air that escaped through her lips. She smiled to herself as she resumed her relaxed position and found she rather enjoyed hearing the following groups perform. It was a nice feeling knowing she had taken her turn and wouldn’t be called on for the rest of the period.
When the bell rang, Belle got to her feet and began loading her books and notes back into her book bag. She saw someone approach her desk out of the corner of her eye and looked up to find herself standing eye to eye with Mrs. Trelease.
“Can you hang on just a minute?” she asked.
Belle shrugged and watched as her classmates filed out of the room.
“You did an excellent job today!” Mrs. Trelease said as soon as the last pair of sneakers passed through the open doorway.
“Thanks,” Belle said, smiling.
“I mean it. I know it’s hard for you to get in front of the class like that, but I’m proud of you for trying.”
“Trying?” Belle asked aloud without thinking.
“And succeeding,” her teacher added, noticing her choice of words had seemed to deflate Belle’s enthusiasm.
Belle nodded. “I’ve been practicing,” she said. “And it really helped to do a scene I was already familiar with,” she added, swinging her bag over her shoulder and turning to exit.
“I was hoping that would help,” Mrs. Trelease said.
Belle looked back at her teacher. Mrs. Trelease winked at her and turned to get the whiteboard ready for her next class.
***
“What a nosy prick!” Belle vehemently added to the end of her story, after telling her cousins all about reading in class. “I mean who does she think she is?” Belle went on. “I’ve been practicing and doing just fine without her help! Then suddenly she comes in and gives me an easier reading so she can look like the hero!” Belle shook her head and then looked to her cousins for confirmation, fire burning in her eyes.
“Don’t worry about it,” Aurora said, brushing the incident off with her hand.
“Yeah, you would have killed it no matter what part of the play she had you read,” Ariel agreed, nodding.
“Really?” Belle started to calm down, slightly.
“Most definitely!” Cinderella said. “You have been working so hard! Don’t even worry about what anyone else says or does.”
Snow White placed her hand on Belle’s back. “You did awesome! And it was all you!”
“Thanks guys,” Belle grinned a little. Then she got up from her seat to get in line for food.
“That was really nice of Mrs. Trelease,” Cinderella whispered to her other cousins, as soon as Belle was out of earshot.
“I know!” Snow White said.
“But we aren’t going to tell that to Belle, right?” Aurora asked.
“Oh, gosh no!” Ariel exclaimed. “Not unless one of you has a death wish!” They all vigorously nodded their agreement.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Friday, September 10th
Friday morning, Ariel stood outside the locker room door before swim period. She spread her fingers wide and shook her hands, expelling all the nerves right down her arms and out her fingertips. She stretched her neck to the far right and then the left, feeling a ‘pop’ as she did so. Ariel slowly rolled her shoulders forwards and backwards, then bent in half and touched her toes, stretching the muscles in her back. As she had been walking to the pool, she felt all her muscles tighten, so she now stood outside the locker room door, stretching each muscle group to prevent the strange looks she would have gotten had she walked into the room stiff.
Ariel could hear footsteps approaching the door from behind, so she scooped up her bag and hurried inside. Once there, she took her time getting changed into a swimsuit. Not because of nerves, which she had plenty of, but in order to make her entrance seen by as many kids as possible. She stood in the bathroom stall, fully dressed for class, waiting for the right moment. Ariel glanced at her watch and saw that class was about to start. She couldn’t hear any more voices in the room, and one peek under the stall reaffirmed that they had all entered the pool area already.
She quickly stepped from the stall, entered through the rotating door, and walked for what seemed like forever towards the deep end of the pool. By the time she got there, all eyes were on her. Including Ms. Greggers, the gym instructor, who had already begun class but fell silent at the sight of Ariel.
It’s now or never, Ariel thought and she jumped high into the air, hitting the water cannonball style with a huge splash. Ariel kept her eyes squeezed shut as she pushed her legs against the bottom cement and rocketed back up. Her lungs burned and she could feel the panic closing in on her from every direction. The water was crushing her! She was going to drown! But then the image of Snow White flashed across her mind and Ariel smiled as her head broke through the powerful waves. She swam towards the shallow end where the rest of the class stood, mouths gaping open like a choir of fish. Ariel stopped when she reached the point where her feet could touch and walked the rest of the short distance. She brought her hands up on either side of her head and pushed the water out of her golden hair. With her hair weighed down by water, it looked more golden than blonde.
“Well, if Ms. Princess is done showing off, we can begin our class,” Ms. Greggers said.
“Sorry,” Ariel responded quietly. But she wasn’t really sorry at all!
Even though her teacher’s words were biting, Ariel could see the tiniest hint of pride in her eyes when she looked in Ariel’s direction.
***
Ariel beamed with pride as she told her cousins during lunchtime all about her dramatic pool entrance.
“It was fantastic!” she said.
“How on earth…?” Aurora started to ask, but found herself to be speechless.
“Uh-oh.” Cinderella suddenly stiffened.
“What’s up?” Belle and Snow White both asked. They were sitting on the opposite side of the table from Cinderella and turned around to follow her gaze.
Cynthia was walking right towards them. She was tall and slender, with long dark brown hair that cascaded over her shoulders. Her pointed nose matched perfectly with her bony body. She wore tight, form-fitting jeans with an even tighter top, to accentuate her large breasts. She wore a large belt around her hips to make her waist seem even smaller. Cynthia was accompanied by three equally plastic-looking cronies, walking just behind her.
“Look at them all in their matching, expensive clothes,” Belle sneered. “It’s like they’r
e a bunch of drones.”
“They completely lack originality! They might as well be one person.” Aurora whispered.
“I bet it takes the brain power from all of them to match the equivalent of one person,” Ariel added.
The cousins all had to hide their snickering as Cynthia approached the table, the sour look on her face transforming into a sickly-sweet smile. Her eyes narrowed in on Belle, who stood so they were now face-to-face.
“So you’re running for office?” she asked Belle, looking over her shoulders to make sure her friends had caught up.
“That’s right,” Belle said.
“And you really think people are going to vote for someone who is handicapped?” Cynthia asked with a smirk.
“Well, I figure I can get a lot of pity votes,” Belle responded, without missing a beat.
“What exactly are you girls trying to pull?” she asked, glancing for the first time at the rest of the group. “I heard about the apples and the swimming pool today.” Then she closed in on Snow White until their faces were almost touching. “Do you really think eating a couple pieces of fruit is going to make up for the years of obvious abuse you’ve put that body through?”
Snow White didn’t move or speak. She just looked down at her lap and tried to fight back the tears.
“Why do you care so much?” Cinderella asked, trying to turn the attention off Snow White.
Cynthia ignored the question. “I heard about you too,” she said, laughing. “Finally decided to get some normal shoes I see. Well now that I’ve seen how they look, I would have stuck with the boots. I didn’t realize they were an act of self-preservation. I wouldn’t want people to see my feet either, if they looked like that.”
The Princess Sisters (The Princess Sisters Series) Page 18