Warnings and Things to Know Before You Begin

I do not accept requests or suggestions for this story when it comes to characters, pairings or plot lines (if you have suggestions related to my writing style, then I am certainly all ears). The entire thing is planned out and the only changes to the plan that will be made will be for minor changes such as adding in previously unplanned cameos for characters who enter the picture later (for example, I may include Frozen or Big Hero 6 characters in cameo roles even though they were not yet released when the story began and are thus not included in my plan for the overarching plotlines). All the characters, including the most minor ones, will be from feature length films put out by Walt Disney Animation Studios (so no Pixar, live action, Disney Toon Studios sequels, WDAS shorts, or other movies outside of the WDAS canon such as A Goofy Movie), so that means no OCs. The majority of the pairings will be what is considered "canon," however that will not apply for every single one. Flames about pairings will be ignored and you will simply make yourself look ridiculous. Also it should be noted that not all of the pairings that will appear will be endgame. Therefore, if you don't like a pairing, keep in mind that the pair may not make it to the end of the story anyway. Or maybe they will make it to the end. Don't assume either outcome will be the case for any given pairing.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, there are some things in this story that may be considered "triggers" by some. I find listing triggers at the beginning of a story to be somewhat of a dilemma. For the few people it will protect, it will also massively spoil plot elements of the story for those who don't have an issue with these things. If you have any triggers that you are concerned about, please don't hesitate to PM me and I can give you warnings about which chapters you might want to be careful with, and then you may choose whether you wish to read the story or not. I am very happy to help with these issues.

That being said... Please enjoy! Your feedback is always greatly appreciated. x Ms. S

I. Ariel, September 6

Ariel checked her long, red hair one last time in the rearview mirror as the car pulled up to the front doors of the high school. The building was rather ominous, much more like a medieval castle than a typical high school—it was completely different from Ariel's last school. Her family had just moved to a new town and this was the public high school. It looked more like a boarding school than anything. Apparently the building was once a private school that took in only the best students from this town and those surrounding it, but eventually there were simply too many students in the town for the old high school building to accommodate them all, and the town struck a deal with the private school. Now, many years later, there were two public schools in the town, and this was the one Ariel would be going to—Walt Disney High School. She wondered if she would have preferred the other school. This one certainly didn't look too welcoming.

"Work hard today," Ariel's father Triton said, pulling her out of her distracted state. "But have fun, too. Try to meet some nice people."

"I will, Daddy," Ariel said, leaning over and giving her father a kiss on the cheek.

She grabbed her backpack off the floor and stepped out of the car onto the sidewalk. Taking a deep breath, she reached forward and pulled open one of the enormous double doors. Inside was a welcome familiar sight. The lobby of this school was not so different from that of her last. In contrast to the building's cold exterior, the lobby was bustling with activity. Despite the early hour, all the students were excited to be back in school again and were greeting each other with friendly hugs and loud chatter. Ariel approached the closest group to the door timidly. There were three girls talking excitedly. The first was a slender girl with gorgeous, wavy light blonde hair and light skin. The second was also a slender, light-skinned blonde but wore her hair in a bun. Her hair was slightly darker and redder than the first, but she was still undoubtedly blonde. The third girl had jet black hair, and her skin was the fairest of the three. She was not as slight as the other two girls, but in Ariel's opinion she was the most beautiful. Her black hair was short and pushed back with a red headband, which matched her lips—although she didn't appear to be wearing any lipstick.

"Um, hello," Ariel said nervously, not wanting to interrupt the girls.

The first girl looked up at her and Ariel found herself staring into purple irises. She had never seen eyes that color before. The third girl was the first to speak.

"Hello there," she said. Her voice was high and angelic like a child's, but there was some slight maturity to it, and there was a certain wisdom in her brown eyes. "I've never seen you before. Are you a freshman?"

Ariel shook her head, "I'm a sophomore. I just moved here."

"Well, it's very nice to meet you," the black-haired girl said pleasantly. "My name is Snow White, and these are my friends, Aurora Eglantine and Cinderella Miroir."

"You can call me Ella," the girl with the bun said. "Most everyone does. Aurora and I are juniors and Snow is a senior."

"I'm Ariel," she said. "Can one of you tell me where I can find the principal's office?"

"Sure, I'll take you there," Snow said, waving goodbye to her two friends. "So how long ago did you move here?"

"Just about a month ago," Ariel said a bit nervously. "What's the principal like?"

"Oh, he's quite awful," Snow said honestly, then put a comforting hand on Ariel's shoulder when the young girl looked at her anxiously. "Oh, but don't worry, you'll do fine. I don't think you have anything to worry about. I'm sure it will just be a quick little meeting, get your schedule and all that—here we are."

The two stopped in front of a door with a plaque on it that read:

Jafar Minpejrabah

Principal

"Don't worry too much. Just stay on his good side and you should be safe."

Ariel couldn't help but gulp, "Safe?"

"Well you've got to watch out," Snow said, looking at Ariel very seriously. "The education here is pretty top-notch, but some of the teachers are just evil."

"Is Mr… Min…"

"Min-pez-rah-bah," Snow said slowly as if it were the easiest thing. "Some kids just call him Mr. M or Mr. Jafar, but he doesn't like that, so don't. Say it with me: Minpejrabah."

"Minpejrabah," Ariel repeated, looking to Snow for approval.

"Good," she said, smiling.

"So is… Mr. Minpejrabah evil?"

"Most definitely," Snow said, nodding gravely. "Also watch out for Mr. Frollo, Mr. Ratcliffe—but not Mr. Radcliffe, he's actually quite nice, but he lets students call him by first name anyway. Oh, where was I? Yes. Mr. Frollo, Mr. Ratcliffe, Mr. Hook, Mr. Facilier, Mr. Shan, Mrs. Tremaine, Mrs. Grimhilde, Mrs. Hearts, Ms. de Vil, and Ms. Gothel. Oh, and Mr. Smee likes to think he's evil—he really looks up to Mr. Hook—but he's harmless, honestly."

"Are there any teachers here who aren't evil?" Ariel asked with some concern. "Besides Mr… Radcliffe?"

"Yes, Radcliffe, with a D. Everyone calls him Roger, though," Snow said. "And as for non-evil teachers go… There's Roger, of course—he teaches music. Then there's Roger's wife, Mrs. Radcliffe, who teaches art, and Mr. Porter. Mr. Porter's the biology teacher—he might put you to sleep, but he's harmless otherwise. There are a few others, too—you'll figure it all out eventually."

Ariel nodded, trying to take a mental note of all these names.

"Well, I suppose you should be going in to see Mr. Minpejrabah now," Snow said, giving Ariel a reassuring smile. "Good luck! And don't be a stranger if you see me in the hallway."

"I won't," Ariel assured her as she walked back in the direction of the lobby.

She took a deep breath, then knocked on the door to the office. She heard what sounded like an exasperated sigh and braced herself.

"Come in," an annoyed voice said.

She walked in, ready to apologize, but the man sitting behind the desk in the darkened room spoke first.

"Do you have an appointment?" he asked in a hissing voice, twirling his thin, black beard around his index finger.

"Um, no, I—"

"You must be the new girl," he said, squinting at Ariel in a bored way—she found herself wondering why he kept the lights so low. All she could come up with was dramatic effect.

"Yes," she said, nodding. "My name is Ariel Fis—"

"I know your name, silly girl, sit down," he said, flicking through some pages in a folder as Ariel took a seat uncomfortably across from him. "So, Ariel Fisker. Your father is Triton Fisker… six sisters, oh my. And your mother?"

"She died," Ariel said, trying to swallow her nerves.

"I see," Mr. Minpejrabah said, jotting something down. "Alright then. This packet has everything you'll be needing. Your class schedule is on top, and it also includes a map of the school and a temporary ID card. You'll need to go to the room number I've circled on the map after school is finished today in order to get your picture taken for the permanent ID. That is all. Now please leave my office."

Ariel took the folder, nodded, said thank you, and rushed out of the office. In the hallway, she checked the first class on the schedule then tried to interpret the map. She looked around the hall, trying to orient herself on the map, but didn't see room numbers by any of the doors. A bell rang and people began bustling quickly through the hall. Ariel looked about nervously. Being late for her first class ever would be embarrassing. That was not a good first impression to make.

"You look lost."

Ariel nearly jumped up, startled, but quickly composed herself. The girl who had spoken was standing next to her. She had beautiful dark skin and had her black hair pulled back into a messy bun. A few strands of curly hair fell around her face. She gave Ariel a warm smile.

"Are you new?" she asked.

"Yeah," Ariel said a bit sheepishly, pushing an unruly strand of hair behind her ear. "And definitely very lost."

"Let me see your schedule," the girl said, and Ariel handed it over. "I'm Tiana by the way—you can call me Tia."

"Nice to meet you, Tia," Ariel said, feeling better. "I'm Ariel."

"Ah, this is perfect!" Tiana said. "Biology with Mr. Porter—I've got that now too. It's in room… 302. Come on."

Ariel followed Tiana, feeling relieved. This girl seemed like someone she could definitely become friends with. Ariel followed her up two flights of stairs and down several hallways until they finally reached a rather large classroom with several two-person desks arranged in a rectangle so that everyone would be sat facing each other. Around the perimeter of the room were a variety of intriguing objects including fish tanks, animal skulls, a replica of a human skeleton, and some potted plants. Ariel looked around with interest as they entered the room. Tiana found an empty desk and invited Ariel to share it with her, which she did gladly.

"So what's Mr. Porter like?" Ariel asked quietly, in case the teacher suddenly walked in. "He's one of the nice ones, right?"

"The nice ones?" Tiana laughed. "Oh, so you've already heard about our epidemic of evil teachers?"

"Yeah," Ariel said, wondering if it had just been an exaggeration—although based solely on the principal, she was starting to doubt that possibility.

"Yeah, Mr. Porter's a nice one," Tia said. "From what I've heard, he's old and a bit out of touch, but he's got the best intentions."

The bell rang again just as a short old man bustled into the room, briefcase in hand. He set the briefcase down on the floor and straightened his bowtie. The man had a white mustache so large and bushy that one could not see his mouth, accompanied by large, bushy gray eyebrows. The top of his head, however, was bald, and he only had some white hair tufting from the back of his head. He fumbled with a piece of chalk and wrote across the blackboard as high as he could (which was arguably not very high):

ARCHIMEDES Q. PORTER

He wrote it in large, capital letters then set the chalk down and turned to address the class, wiping his hands together in a cloud of white dust.

"Hello!" he said. "Welcome to sophomore biology. Well, most of you are sophomores."

He eyed one black-haired student who was sitting directly across from Ariel and Tiana. Ariel's eyes locked on him immediately. She hadn't noticed any guys yet at the school, but this guy… She was sure she had never seen anyone so good-looking in her life. She shook herself out of it.

"Well, Eric," Mr. Porter sighed, shaking his head. "I'm glad to have you back in my class, despite the circumstances. I'm sure you'll do better this time."

"I'll certainly try, Mr. Porter," the boy—Eric—said.

"I suppose I should start by taking attendance!" Mr. Porter said, opening his briefcase on a desk and pulling out a sheet of paper. "Ariel Fisker?"

"Here," Ariel said quietly, waving.

Ariel and Tia chatted through the attendance until Mr. Porter reached Tia's name.

"Tiana Grenouille?" he said, and she raised her hand. "Charlotte La Bouff? Ms. La Bouff?"

There was no response, and Tiana looked around the room.

"I didn't know Lottie was in this class," she said, more to herself than to Ariel. "Where is she?"

"No Charlotte?" Mr. Porter asked. "Going once, going twice—"

The door to the classroom burst open and a girl with large blonde hair dressed all in pink rushed in.

"I'm here, I'm here!" she panted. "Sorry I'm late, I ran into the most darling boy in the hallway—literally ran into him, dropped all my things—he helped me gather them up, of course, perfect gentleman, but that's why I'm late. I'm Charlotte La Bouff, I don't know if you've taken attendance already or—?"

"I'm just taking it now, Ms. La Bouff," Mr. Porter said, checking the name off his list. "I'll ignore your tardiness today since it's the first day, but do try to be on time tomorrow."

"Oh, of course," the girl said, waving a hand through the air. "I am so sorry to burst in like this—I'll sit down now."

Ariel got the feeling this girl liked being the center of attention, no matter what kind of attention it was. The girl looked around the room quickly until her eyes settled on Tiana, who was looking up at her. She walked over and took the empty seat on Tia's other side.

"Hi Tia," she whispered rather loudly. "It is so good to see you—I had no idea you were in this class."

"I didn't know you were either," Tia said. "Ariel, this is my friend Lottie. Lottie, this is Ariel—she's new."

"Ariel, it is so nice to meet you," Lottie said, putting a hand across Tia to shake Ariel's hand. "My, your hair is just gorgeous."

"Thank you," Ariel said, blushing.

"Where did you move from?" Lottie asked, batting her long, dark eyelashes and feigning an interested expression—Ariel assumed the interest was feigned or at least exaggerated, as it seemed this girl made a show of everything.

"Okay," Mr. Porter said loudly, trying to get the class's attention since he'd finished the attendance. "I'm sure many of you are familiar with Vanessa Bedrageri."

Ariel noticed for the first time a girl with long, dark brown hair standing in the corner. The girl stepped forward as Mr. Porter waved her to the front of the room.

"Ms. Bedrageri is a senior this year and intends to major in marine biology in college," Mr. Porter explained. "As such, I have decided to take her on as an assistant for this class as a sort of independent study-internship-thing. So Ms. Bedrageri will be assisting me in teaching this class. She will mostly be helping to grade papers and assisting you all with your labs and such. If you have questions before or after class, I'm sure Ms. Bedrageri will be able to assist you quite sufficiently. Now, if you could hand out the syllabi on my desk…?"

Ariel watched as Vanessa picked up the pile of syllabuses and began handing them out. She handed one to Eric then brushed a hand across his shoulder as she passed behind him to the next student. It was subtle and fairly quick, but Ariel caught it, and she certainly didn't like it. She narrowed her eyes at Vanessa. When she had returned to the front of the room, Tia leaned over to Ariel.

"Something about her rubs me the wrong way," she whispered.

"Oh, thank god," Ariel whispered back. "I thought it was just me."

"She's just kind of… creepy," Tiana said.

Ariel nodded. It wasn't the main reason why she immediately disliked her, but she wasn't going to tell Tiana that the subtle touch had irked her so much. And Vanessa was a bit creepy. Something about the way she leered at the room made Ariel's spine tingle. Vanessa's presence almost made Ariel glad when the class was over… Almost. But she was glad she'd have the opportunity to ogle Eric and chat with Tia again the next day. And the day after that.

"Where are you off to now?" Tiana asked, as they walked out into the hallway.

"Umm," Ariel said, fumbling to unfold her schedule, which she had folded into a triangle while gazing absently at Eric. "English with… Ms. Gothel. Room 315?"

"Ouch," Tia said. "Good luck with that one. I've got culinary with Ms. Odie. 315 is down that way—you can't miss it."

"Right. Thanks so much," Ariel said.

"No problem!" Tiana said. "And wait—let me give you my number in case you need anything."

She scribbled it down quickly in the corner of Ariel's schedule.

"Great," Ariel said with a smile. "See you tomorrow!"

She turned and skipped off towards English, glad to have made a friend.