~Chapter 1~

The late August sun beats down mercilessly, despite the clock reading only a quarter after 10 as Mother parks the station wagon against the curb. From the passenger window, Rapunzel can see a mountain of suitcases and cardboard boxes amid parents hugging their children goodbye. Move-In volunteers in fluorescent T-shirts scurry around like worker ants, carting luggage into the building as the pile continues to grow, spreading along the sidewalk like an advanced-stage tumor.

One of the volunteers notices the car and approaches with a clipboard. "Your name?" he asks through the glass.

Mother raises her eyebrows, and Rapunzel immediately rolls down her window, gasping at the muggy air that hits her throat. "Rapunzel Gothel," she manages to choke out. "G-O-T-H-E-L. Room 613 B?"

"Gotcha. You can go ahead and pop open your trunk so we can unload your stuff. All of your luggage is labeled with your name and room number, right?"

"Yes."

"Okay. Rapunzel, you come out and join the other freshmen over there. One of us will take you guys in groups to get your keys and orientation packet in a bit. Ma'am? The trunk?"

Mother pulls the trunk release lever and calls after Rapunzel, "I'll see you later! Keep your phone on!" as she climbs out.

A small group of freshman has gathered on the steps outside the dorm, next to a hand-painted sign that reads "Welcome, Tower Valley Residents!" Actually, "group" isn't really the right word. Everyone is just standing there awkwardly and not looking at each other. A few of them glance up curiously as Rapunzel approaches, but they look back down at their phones when they realize it's just another awkward freshie come to join them. So she picks a spot in the shade where she's not too close to them that she'll have to say hi and apologize for invading their personal space, but not too far away that whoever's coming to collect them will ignore her.

She can see the volunteers unloading her belongings from the back of Mother's station wagon. Mother's there, too, yelling at them to be careful with this one, to hold that one upright because can't they see it's marked FRAGILE? She catches Rapunzel's eye and mouths something, pointing at the other kids. Probably telling her to stand closer to the group so she doesn't get left behind. Rapunzel shuffles a little to her right and looks back at Mother for confirmation.

Mother shakes her head, but before she can make her message clear, a volunteer with auburn braids approaches the group, introducing herself as Jessie, and hands out nametags and markers. Once they're done sticking them on, she motions for them to follow her, and the group starts to make its way down the sidewalk.

Mother intercepts Rapunzel as they pass the unloading dock. "Go up to the front and follow that guide closely," she whispers. "Ask lots of questions and be sure to make a good impression."

"Mother." They've been over this before. Back when Rapunzel was applying to colleges, Mother had driven them over to the Corona University campus to take the official school tour. Rapunzel was content to just walk around with the tour group and take pictures, maybe offer one or two questions if the tour guide asked, but Mother insisted that she had to be at the front of the tour group, right next to the guide, and ask questions at every turn. Something about how making a "good impression" would boost her chances of admission. Even though the tour guide had introduced herself as a student and didn't ask for any of their names and wasn't even on the admissions committee.

"Rapunzel." The grip on her arm tightens, and Rapunzel tries to shake off the image of claw-like fingernails breaking her skin.

"Yes, Mother," she murmurs immediately. Mother can be…pretty set in her belief. The sooner she gives Mother what she wants, the sooner she can get away.

"Good." The kiss on her forehead aptly feels like a peck from an angry hen. "We'll talk later."

Puffing up the last few steps, Rapunzel taps her brand new student ID card against the scanner. The stairwell door unlocks with a beep and a click, and she pushes her way into the hallway.

The door to suite 613 is already open, with the names "Rapunzel," "Ariel," and "Mulan" printed in curly script on name tags shaped like princess-y crowns.

Ha, she gets the joke! Their dorm is the Valley Tower, so they're like princesses in a tower! Cute…although, it does raise the question, what kind of name tags would the guys' rooms get? (She leans over and peeks at the next door over. The guys have princess crown-shaped name tags, too.)

She steps into the tiny suite kitchenette, noting that there are three doors beyond: two bedrooms and a small bathroom. The nearer bedroom door swings open, and a slim girl with striking red hair emerges, stopping short when she notices her.

"Hi!" she exclaims. "You must be Rapunzel!"

Rapunzel extends her hand to shake but finds herself engulfed in a hug. The email that the housing office sent her earlier this month said she would be sharing a double with a Mulan Hua, and her suitemate in the single would be an Ariel Triton. This bubbly girl must be Ariel.

"Nice to meet you, Ariel," she says, praying she won't say something stupid and have to avoid this girl for the rest of the year.

Ariel doesn't seem to notice Rapunzel's incompetence. Instead, she grins easily and points to the other bedroom door. "That's your room. Your mom's already here."

"Thanks." Rapunzel finds herself approaching the doorway apprehensively, but she relaxes as she hears more voices from inside, speaking what must be Chinese because she can't understand a word. Mulan's family must be inside, too. She knocks on the doorframe before walking in, just in case she's intruding on a private family moment. (She did that once, back when she volunteered at the Corona Woods Nursing Home. Walked right in on a family saying goodbye to the grandma they were losing to cancer. It didn't end well.)

"Hi!" Mulan greets Rapunzel from her perch on her desk. She's about Ariel's height, with shoulder-length black hair. "Rapunzel, right?"

Rapunzel shakes her hand, as well as those of Mulan's family, whom she introduces as her mother, father, and grandmother. Her own mother is sitting at her desk chair, looking a bit out of place among these warm and cheerful people, but she comes over to gather Rapunzel into a hug once the introductions are over. The Hua family politely backs out the room, mumbling something about exploring the campus, to give them space.

"You sure took your time," Mother remarks dryly, abruptly releasing her as soon as they're gone. "How'd it go?"

Rapunzel shrugs. "We got our keys and ID cards. Oh, and I grabbed an extra copy of the orientation program schedule for you." She figures Mother will probably want to drag her out to see all those open houses and panels about study abroad and How to Suck up to Your Professors.

To her surprise, Mother waves it away. "No, I don't need it. I need to get home before six so I can get enough rest to work tomorrow. Getting up at four in the morning and then driving twelve hours in one day is exhausting, you know."

Of course. Of course it's always Rapunzel's fault. Just like it's her fault that she's about to start college far away from home, even though Mother's the one who's always preaching about how important it is to learn how to be independent and cultivate life skills and how will you ever learn to do anything if I'm always having to hold your hand, Rapunzel? Like it's her fault that Mother insisted on driving her to Epcot City, even though Rapunzel could have just mailed her things to school and then gotten on a train this morning. Like it's her fault that Mother insists on doing everything for her because she's apparently too incompetent to—

"Whelp, a college education is a college education, and we parents have to do what parents have to do. Is there anything else you need, Rapunzel?"

Besides tell Mother how she really feels? She can't think of anything off the top of her head. Practically everything she owns is here in the boxes she brought to college.

"No, I think that's everything," Rapunzel replies, trying not to clench her teeth.

"Are you sure?" Mother suddenly looks fretful. "You've never been away from home for more than a few hours. Will you be all right? You know to separate the light colors from the darks, right? And don't be out after dark unless you're in a really well-lit place where there are lots of people. Epcot isn't safe like Corona, you know. You'll have to stay inside this dorm whenever you're not in class."

"Mother. I know. I'll be careful. I'm going to be okay."

"Are you sure you don't want me to get an apartment nearby? You won't get too lonely?"

"No, Mother. You don't need to uproot yourself. I'm going to be fine. You can trust me to make the right decisions you raised me to make."

Rapunzel tries to smile up at Mother reassuringly, but she has a point. She has never been away from home this long before. Come to think of it, since she'd been homeschooled all her life, she's never even been away from home overnight before. Every time they needed anything, Mother was the one who drove into town to get it. This must be hard for her, being a single mom and losing her only child to adulthood…

Pseudo-adulthood, anyway, since Rapunzel won't be turning eighteen for over a month.

Mother still doesn't look convinced that she's going to last a week on her own, but Rapunzel is not about to allow her one chance at independence and freedom to be snatched away now. Even if she's going to be studying something she doesn't want to study, and she's going to wind up in a career she doesn't want. Especially not after Mother was the one who wanted her to—

No, she tells herself firmly. Don't start a fight now. Mother was nice enough to let her bring art supplies along. And pay for them with her own money. And pay for the new laptop and smartphone. And all her new textbooks. And that tuition…

Mother looks like she's about to argue, but all she finally says is, "Well, if you're sure, then." She hugs Rapunzel tightly. When she speaks again, her voice sounds thin, like she's holding back a torrent. "But I want you to call me every day and Skype every weekend. And if I don't get a response to an email within twenty-four hours, campus security will be notified!"

As her mother walks out the door, Rapunzel fights the sudden urge to cling and beg her to stay, to get an apartment here in Epcot City, to move into her closet, to not leave her alone in this strange place where she knows nobody, to let her take a gap year and start college later…

But you wanted this, her rational side insists. You wanted a chance to live on your own and be your own person. You chose Walt Disney University because it's farther from home than Corona U. Besides, she'll just nag and pressure you all the time, like she's done for the past eighteen years. You don't need that anymore.

But as Rapunzel presses her nose to the window and watches Mother's familiar station wagon drive out of sight, she knows she can't believe her own reassurances any more than she can shake the guilt at her ingratitude.

"Hey, Rapunzel?" Ariel sticks her head in the doorway. "My dad's driving me to Target to get some last-minute supplies. Is there anything you need?"

Rapunzel shakes her head. "No thanks. I think I'm good."

"All right, then. See you later!"

She flounces off, and Rapunzel takes a look around her new room.

It's actually pretty roomy, with the way they tried to conserve floor space by lofting the bed and shoving the wardrobe and desk under it, along with a stack of drawers in the corner. On the other end of the room, Mulan's furniture is in a similar setup. Her roommate's green-and-white bedspread that her family has laid out for her contrasts sharply with the crinkly white plastic mattress cover on Rapunzel's otherwise bare bed. It doesn't look particularly comfortable, either. She finds herself missing their cozy little cottage in the hills of Corona Woods and the comfy canopy bed she's had her whole life more than ever.

Then she scolds herself to stop being ridiculous. Mother's on her way home now, and if Rapunzel doesn't stop pining to go home, she's going to flunk out of college and waste all the hard work they put into getting her into university. Not to mention the ridiculously high tuition and her scholarship. Besides, she's brought all her bedding and decorations with her. With a little work, she can make this bed and this room—well, her half of it—look just like her room back home. Might as well start unpacking.

She's transferring her dresses to the wardrobe and trying to figure out how to organize the rest of her clothes into the drawers when there's a knock on the suite door outside. She opens it to reveal a tall blonde guy who looks several years older than all the freshmen Rapunzel has seen so far.

"Hi, there. I'm Max. I'm going to be your RA this year."

"Er…hi. I'm Rapunzel." Blushing, she shifts the pile of underwear in her arms so she can shake his hand. Awkward…

"Everything going well so far? Have Ariel and Mulan arrived?"

"Yep."

"Good." He hands her some papers. "This is the checklist for the condition of the things in your room. We need you guys to take a look at your furniture and the walls—you know, make sure nothing's broken so you don't get charged at the end of the year for a gaping hole in the wall that you're not liable for. Check the bathroom, too. If a window is missing an insect screen, or if the furnace or anything in the bathroom is broken, we need you to let us know so we can file a maintenance report."

"Sure."

"When you're done, you can give it to me in room 604. Or you can hand it in to Tiana. She's the RA for the east half of our floor, in room 621. Oh, and don't forget we have a floor meeting tonight at eight. We'll be meeting in the common area with the couches just outside the elevators."

"Okay."

Once Max is gone, Rapunzel skims the sheet. Name, room number, student ID number, email, phone, and a list of each item of furniture the school provides in the dorms. Should be simple enough.

She leaves a copy of the sheet on each of Ariel's and Mulan's desks. Then she sets about filling out hers, but she only gets as far as the basic information before the checklist of furniture conditions makes her frown.

Next to each piece of furniture's name, there are boxes for "excellent," "good," "fair," "poor," and "needs replacing." With the exception of "needs replacing," every other option is just so…subjective. For someone who's lived in the same house, looking at the same furniture for as long as she can remember, Rapunzel has never found a reason to think the kitchen table they've used for eighteen years is in any condition but "It works. It's fine."

She supposes that's why she has never really liked any class subject other than math and science. There's always one and only one right answer, none of that "come up with examples of your own to support your argument" stuff. She remembers studying for the SATs and how the reading section was her biggest foe. Theoretically, only one answer was the right one, but when she stared at them long enough, she could reason out a supporting argument for each of the answer choices, and then she would be forced to choose the "best" answer out of all of them. But then again, "best" is subjective, so she was back to square one.

Rapunzel sighs, blowing her bangs out of her face. Her old enemy the SAT reading section is over and done with. This checklist can't be that bad. Mother's not here to check her answers and berate her if she answers wrong. With any luck, the university housing office will have too many dorm rooms to go through at the end of the year after they all move out to bother with tracking her down if her personal definition of "good condition" doesn't mesh with theirs.

After filling out the checkboxes as best she can and hoping she hasn't missed something as egregious as a giant dent in the wall or a paint-chipping scratch down the side of the wardrobe, Rapunzel grabs her new keys (wouldn't do to get locked out on her first day of college) and sets out to explore the floor and find Max.

The floor is really just a bunch of rooms on either side of a hallway that runs from one end of the building to the other and then extends around a corner on each side, giving the building a horseshoe-like shape. The elevators are in the middle of the hall, where the corridor widens to provide enough room for three sofas, two armchairs, and a large flat-screen TV. This must be the "common area" Max was referring to. The window here provides a really nice view of the street outside and the rooftops of the surrounding buildings.

From her perch on the windowsill, Rapunzel can see that the street below is a one-way that runs south to north, past their dorm and then past the main gate of the university. She's pretty sure the map the school provided calls it "Roy Street," presumably in honor of the older brother of the university's first president, Walt. From way up here, the cars look like beetles—shiny, brightly-colored beetles that move in three single-file lines down the three lanes of Roy Street. On the sidewalks below her, she can see teeny tiny people hurrying in and out of the buildings, brushing past each other like the others don't exist, as they scurry off to wherever they have to be. These must be the "yuppies" Mother warned her about. Too caught up in their professional lives and social ladders and material possessions to actually live anymore.

Further north, some of the people are gathering in a throng at the edge of the sidewalk. Rapunzel is wondering what could be so interesting that these people would pause in their rat race to take a look, when she notices that the cars in the street have stopped. At once, the crowd of pedestrians pours onto the street and crosses to the other side, only to disperse as they continue with their daily routines. Then she notices the red, yellow, and green traffic lights hanging above the street where the people just crossed.

Oh. They were only waiting for the light to change so they could cross the street. Well, she supposes that makes sense, since there are more people in a city than in the countryside, so traffic lights in a city are designed to let pedestrians cross without getting hurt.

A few seconds later, the light changes to green, and the cars continue to file down the street, as more pedestrians gather at the crosswalk and wait for the light.

There's another building straight across the street from the dorm. It's about the same height as Valley Tower, but judging from its fancy marble façade, and the fountain with the bronze statues out front, and the pink cobblestone driveway, and the sleek limousines, it doesn't look like another residence hall for broke college students. Rapunzel can make out a sign engraved on the fountain: Palace Suites Hotel. Must be a hotel for rich folks.

Why is there a huge fancy-looking hotel, complete with limos and fountains, this close to the university and its dilapidated dormitories overrun with vines and rusty fire escapes? In fact, the hotel looks kind of out of place juxtaposed with just about every other building on this street—drycleaners, Subway, Kinko's, a bakery, a bar and grill… And why are there so many yuppies running around in this part of the city instead of downtown where all the office buildings are? And where are the muggers and the police cruisers careening down alleyways, sirens blaring, red lights ablaze?

Or maybe Rapunzel is just a sheltered country girl—forest girl—who's basing her expectations of a city on stereotypes. To be fair, she has no recollection of life outside the 18 years she spent in Corona Woods. As far as she can remember, she's never actually been to Corona City before. (Technically, she has because she was born there, but that's a story for another day.) Who is she to say what a city's supposed to be like?

A movement from across the street catches her eye. Someone is watching her from one of the windows in the hotel. It's a bit far away, and the glass is slightly tinted, but Rapunzel can see it's a girl with long black hair. The other girl jumps down from the sill when she realizes that she's been spotted. She moves to draw the curtain across the window, but then she hesitates and gives a small awkward wave. She's gone a moment later, and Rapunzel's left staring at the velvet curtain.

She has never seen so much luxury in one place before. Briefly, she wonders what her life would be like if she and Mother had that kind of money, so much that she could afford to stay in a marble palace of a hotel, with a private fountain and gilded statues and velvet drapery, for an entire year of college. Somehow, she doubts she could enjoy it. In fact, the city is starting to make her uncomfortable, with all the buildings that jut out with their unnatural-looking corners and the never-ending alternation of movement between cars and pedestrians.

Her thoughts turn to her sketchbook. It's been a while since she's added anything to it. Mostly because she's been so busy applying to colleges and taking tests, but also because she was starting to get tired of drawing the same old subject matter—trees, deer, and little cottages. Now that she has a complete change of scenery, it might just be time to crack the sketchbook out again.

But there will be plenty of time to think about art later. Right now, she's on a mission to deliver her checklist to the RA, so she resumes her exploration of the floor.

The bedspread doesn't look straight. It's all lumpy and weird because she failed to pull it tight enough. The sheets don't look at that great, either. The end closer to her is too long, which means that she's going to have to pull it all out and start over again. For the fifth time.

With a groan, Rapunzel climbs back up the ladder and hauls the comforter off. She tries to drop it onto her desk chair, but it slides off the pillows she's stacked there and flops onto the floor. She really hopes whoever lived in this room last year vacuumed before leaving…

Now where was she?

Oh, right. The sheets.

Making her bed has proven to be Rapunzel's first major test since arriving on campus. The bed is lofted, with a protective fence on one side and the wall on the other. It's nice because even though she doesn't have acrophobia, she's not exactly thrilled to be sleeping about six feet in the air for the next nine months, so it's comforting to have safeguards in place. And she's not complaining about the extra floor space that comes with a lofted bed, either.

The problem, however, comes when she's trying to make the bed. The fence may keep her from rolling off in her sleep and breaking her neck, but it also blocks her from trying to tug the sheets around from the safety of the floor. Plus, Rapunzel is…ah…vertically challenged, so she can't even reach the sheets to pull them around unless she's on the ladder or on the bed itself. And with the fence positioned where it is, she can't move the ladder to a more convenient place, so she has to do everything while kneeling on the bed itself. Which means she's stuck tugging on a stubborn sheet that won't move because she has nowhere to sit except on the sheet itself.

And now her braid has come loose, and it's sticking to her neck because of all the sweat, and why is it so hot in here?

Giving the comforter one last tug, she runs a hand over it in a futile attempt to smooth out the wrinkles and bulges. Then she climbs down the ladder and starts rummaging through her suitcase for the shower caddy. She didn't get a chance to shower or wash her hair this morning, what with getting up at 4 a.m. to load up Mother's station wagon before coming here to Epcot, and after lugging her bedding around in this sweltering room, to say that she feels gross is an understatement. And she can't shower at night before going to bed because her hair will take hours (like, at least all night) to dry. She's not about to cheat and use a hairdryer because it'll make her hair brittle, and her hair's actually one of the few things she likes about her appearance.

(At least, it's the one thing Mother has never criticized about her. Unlike her nose, or her freckles, or her clothes…)

After her shower, Rapunzel discovers that their bathroom is too small and cramped to allow room for her to dress, so she'll have to wrap herself in a bath towel and then to do it in her bedroom.

But as Mother would say, c'est la vie. At least Rapunzel's lucky enough to be sharing a bathroom with only two other girls, unlike the freshmen living in some of the other dorms. According to the university's on-campus housing and dining website, a "traditional" dorm setup means that the entire floor shares a common bathroom. The extra hundred krouns she has to pay every semester for suite-style housing is worth if it means she doesn't have to wear a swimsuit in the shower, or constantly be on guard because random dudes might wander in, or worry about accidentally walking in on guys in their boxers. No thanks!

Ironically, no sooner do these thoughts cross her mind than she looks up…and finds a guy standing in her doorway.

Seriously. Here she is, minding her own business in her own room—where she should have every right to expect some privacy, right?—and getting dressed after a shower, when this guy walks in on her when she's just pulled a tank top over her head, and she hasn't even put on her pants yet! (Luckily, she still has the towel wrapped around her waist.) How long has this pervert been standing there and watching her dress?

No, forget she asked. She doesn't want to know.

Rapunzel shrieks. Grabbing the nearest impromptu weapon she can find—her hand closes on the handle of a saucepan she brought from home, still stuffed in a box of odds and ends she has yet to unpack—she frantically uses her other hand to tug at her tank top in the hopes of covering her bra and then grabs onto the towel around her waist to keep it from falling off. Then, still holding onto the towel, she rounds on this intruder, the blows from her saucepan landing on his forearms as he tries to protect his cranium.

"Pervert!" she screams. "You disgusting, perverted creep!"

He's trying to maneuver through the kitchen, heading for the suite door, all the while trying to dodge her blows. Oh, no he doesn't! She's not letting this…this depraved creeper get away with this! He could have taken a picture of her while she was half-naked and not paying attention, for all anyone knows! He could be planning to put it up on social media to ruin her college life before it even begins!

So she does the one thing she can think of. Dropping the saucepan onto the kitchen counter, she grabs a handful of her hair and slaps it across his face with a thwack! While he's momentarily stunned (and who wouldn't be, after being hit in the face with five pounds of wet hair?), she grabs his wrists and loops her hair around them, swiftly binding them together.

(Then she catches her bath towel between her thighs as it threatens to fall off again.)

"Struggling—" she realizes her voice is shaking and pauses to control it "—struggling is pointless!"

Her prisoner manages to sputter, "I'm sorry! I swear I didn't—" before falling silent as she reaches for the saucepan again. He doesn't even squirm against her impromptu handcuffs.

"Good," she says in a voice much calmer than she feels. "Now step away from the door."

"But I thought you wanted me to get out…" His voice trails off uncertainly as she fixes him with what she likes to call Mother's Evil Eye. It's a lot less intimidating than Mother's, but she thinks he gets the message.

"Now. Who are you, and how did you get in?"

"…I—I'm Flynn, and your roommate said I could come here and borrow—"

"Lies!" Rapunzel shouts. "You're a perverted—a perverted…sick person! You were watching me get dressed! You were planning to—to violate me! Did you have a camera with you, too? Or a phone? So you could take pictures of me to hold over my head?"

He stares. "Are you out of your mind, Blondie?"

She ignores him and rages on, "You were going to take pictures of me and put them online and ruin my reputation! Were you watching me from that rich-people hotel across the street? Is that how you got rich—by selling creeper photos of girls? Did you know that you can face charges for child pornography because I am legally under the age of majority?"

"Listen, Blondie, I just wanted to borrow—"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! What is going on in here?"

The guy—this "Flynn"—and Rapunzel both whirl around as a new voice joins the conversation. Mulan is standing in the doorway to the suite and looking more than a little alarmed.

"What's going on in here?" she repeats. "I heard screaming. Is everything okay? Flynn, did you find it—oh! Why are your hands tied—is that your hair?"

She blinks for a couple seconds. To be fair, they probably are a bizarre sight—a half-naked blonde girl in a towel brandishing a saucepan at a man twice her size who has his wrists tangled in her hair.

Flynn chooses this moment to slip his wrists free and bolt out. Before Rapunzel can recover and chase him down, Mulan slams the suite door shut and rounds on her.

"What was that all about?" she hisses. "Why was he tied up in your hair?"

Is she serious? She just let a child pornographer get away, and she's not even a little upset about it?

"I took a shower, and I was just getting dressed," Rapunzel defends. "And when I looked up, he was standing in the doorway and watching me! He would have taken pictures of me if I hadn't tied him up! He probably already got pictures of me before I noticed he was there!"

Her roommate fixes her with the same disbelieving stare that Flynn gave earlier. "You sure about that?"

"Men are only after one kind of thing!" Rapunzel insists. "Give them and inch, and they'll take a mile!"

"Are you sure about that? Because he lives next door and asked to borrow my iPhone charger, so I sent him into the room to get it."

"That's what he says," Rapunzel argues, even though she's starting to falter. Mother can't be wrong…right? "How do you know that wasn't just an alibi?"

"Rapunzel, I don't know what kind of dudes you've been dealing with. But I can assure you, the vast majority of college-aged boys—at least the ones I know—are not psychopathic serial killers waiting for a chance to rape and murder you and then make a bathrobe out of your skin. They've got more important things to do."

Something about the way she said that—it may have been the tone of exaggerated patience, the one Mother uses when Rapunzel is being too slow—tells her that she's committing one of those social faux pas that she's always mortifying Mother for. And she may have just caused her roommate to hate her for the rest of the year.

Fantastic.

A half hour later, Rapunzel is walking through the main gates of Walt Disney University for the first time, with her roommate and her suitemate by her side. She and Mulan had finished unpacking in silence. Mulan avoided conversation by having her headphones in the whole time, listening to something she called her "motivation playlist," but Rapunzel figured she was probably just counting down the hours until the housing office opened tomorrow morning so she could file a complaint and request a saner roommate.

Ariel had returned then and interrupted Rapunzel's self-flagellation with an invitation to join her for lunch—and to check out the freshman dining hall. So now here they are.

The campus is gorgeous, much more so than the pictures have led her to believe.

Despite the social incompetence she demonstrated with Flynn and Mulan earlier, Rapunzel did not, in fact, grow up in a cave. Mother does have a computer at home, thank you very much. Before coming to Epcot City, Rapunzel had never left Corona in her life, but she did take virtual tours of the various schools she'd applied to outside of Corona. And WDU's Epcot campus is unlike any other place in the world.

As soon as they walk through the gates, they're greeted with a bronze statue of Walt Disney, the university's first president, holding hands with the school mascot, the Mickey Mouse. It's situated on the edge of a huge lawn (the splash of green comes as a relief to Rapunzel, after all the gray from the streets and the buildings of the city), across from which sits the Robin S. Benson Library. Many of the buildings on campus are shaped like castles straight out of a fairytale, and the school library is no exception. While passersby pause to admire the scenery, a clock strikes 1 p.m. somewhere. Rapunzel is fairly certain it's coming from another, much bigger, castle-shaped building looming on the hill further past the library. That must be the Woods clock tower, the university's icon, the biggest and one of the oldest buildings on campus. According to the online virtual tour on the university's admissions website, it was named for Ella Woods, a poor country girl who ran away from an abusive stepfamily to pursue an education and eventually became the first female dean of WDU's school of arts and sciences. She was a real-life rags-to-riches story, and so her clock tower became affectionately known as "Cinderella's Castle" to the local community.

Consistent with the map the school provided in the orientation packets, the freshmen dining hall is in the northeastern corner of campus, a little further north from the library. Up ahead, there's a large crowd heading the opposite way they are across the lawn. Clearly, a lot of the parents are still hanging around, probably returning from the dining hall after a farewell lunch with their kids.

She wonders where Mother is now. Assuming she set off as soon as she left, which was around 11 a.m., she should be about four hours away from home. What will Mother do once she gets back? (Besides work, of course.) Now that Rapunzel is gone, Mother won't have to dedicate so much of her time to schooling her. She'll probably focus more on her job. College tuition is ridiculous these days. Again, Rapunzel feels a stab of guilt for drying up Mother's money and leaving her alone in Corona, especially since tuition at Corona U is only half that at WDU. Who cares if Disney offers a better education than Corona, if it means she's going to graduate under a mountain of debt?

I'll make it up to you once I get that degree, Mother.

"So…" Ariel's voice snaps her back into the present. "Rapunzel, Mulan. What are you guys studying?"

"I'm premed," Rapunzel replies quickly. "Probably just biology or chemistry. I haven't declared my major yet."

"You like biology, then?"

She knows that Ariel is just making small talk, not meaning to pry. But Rapunzel simply shrugs, pushing back against that uncomfortable sensation she gets whenever she discusses her career and educational goals. "It's all right. I think I'm more of a chemistry person, though."

"What about you, Mulan?"

Mulan shrugs, too. "I'm undecided, probably premed, too. Although to be honest, right now, I'm just glad to be away from my parents. They're always nagging me to get a boyfriend and get married. Though, I guess this means that I'm kind of obligated to succeed, now that they're letting me have what I want," she laughs.

That's…odd. Judging by Mulan's last name, Rapunzel is pretty sure her roommate is Chinese. Don't Asian parents typically push their kids toward medicine or force them into that field? Or is she falling back on stereotypes again? Should she ask? Or would that be rude?

Mulan seems to have read her mind because she grins sheepishly and adds, "My parents are pretty old-fashioned. They were okay with me coming to college, but I can tell they're hoping I'll find someone and drop out and get married."

Oh. Rapunzel's own mother is pretty much the stereotypical "tiger mom," and she's pretty sure Mother wants her to avoid relationships in college. So she has no idea what to say in response. At least Mulan has plans of her own.

Rapunzel has heard some psychologists come out and say that college isn't for everybody, but there are also people who say college is where some kids finally figure things out. (When she brought it up, Mother quickly dismissed them as hippies advocating for lazy people with low intelligence and no skills.) But she and Mulan do have one thing in common: They're both here in college to get away from parents (or a parent, in Rapunzel's case) who want them to pursue a life they're not exactly thrilled to be pursuing. But then again, by coming to college, Rapunzel is doing exactly what Mother wants. So…yeah, she has no idea what to say in response to Mulan.

Thankfully, Ariel salvages the conversation. "My dad wanted me to study music back home because all six of my sisters went to the Atlantica College of Music. But I think I'm going to go into anthropology or maybe archaeology," she offers. "So what do you do in your free time?"

Rapunzel racks her brains. What did she do in her free time back home? "Well, I was homeschooled, but I spent a lot of time reading." That was an understatement, but Ariel doesn't need to know that. No one does. "And I like art…I painted a lot as a kid, and I just got into pottery. And I play guitar."

She pauses, realizing that thus far, Ariel has been the only one asking questions. Mother had told her on the drive to Epcot that it's rude to answer people's questions and not ask some in return because it shows a lack of interest in getting to know them. "So…what do you like to do, Ariel?"

"I sing," she replies. "My whole family's really musical. And my sisters were all on the swim team in high school, so my dad made me do that, too. Do you guys do any sports?"

"I did kung-fu," Mulan answers. "It took up most of my weekends, so I didn't really have time for much else."

"I did a little ballet and rock climbing," Rapunzel adds. "Though, that was when I was really little. I don't think I'll have much time for either."

By now, they've reached the freshmen dining hall. The meal plan period doesn't start until tomorrow morning's breakfast, so they have to shell out their own money for lunch and dinner today. The food looks good enough. It's all laid out, buffet-style: soups, seafood, pasta, pizza, grill, sandwiches, desserts, even a vegetarian station. They load their plates and then set about looking for a place to sit.

Most of the tables are empty (probably because normal people eat lunch at noon and it's already past 1 p.m.) Rapunzel notices two girls, one with wavy blonde hair and the other with short black curls, sitting at a table nearby. The blonde is watching the three of them with mild interest, so she decides to go over and introduce herself.

She's heard that most college students, like herself, are desperate to make friends and find a place where they can fit in. Growing up, Rapunzel has never really had any friends, partially because she was homeschooled and did not have easy access to the social circles of people her age. Some of the suburban kids worked at the nursing home she used to volunteer at, but they only stayed for a summer, and then they were gone. In fact, Rapunzel has always felt more comfortable around older people, especially folks in nursing homes because they don't have much to do and like to tell her stories from when they were young. And kids her age would think she was weird if she asked them to tell her stories.

When she voiced to Mother her misgivings about being able to make friends in college, Mother had told her to just walk up to some random kids and introduce herself at the dining hall or in her dorm or something. But Mother had also cautioned her to make friends early in the year because asking to join a table of complete strangers will be weird and awkward after the two-week friendship-making window is over. The advice is worth a try at least.

So Rapunzel takes a deep breath, putting on her friendliest smile, and approaches the two girls with Mulan and Ariel in tow. "Hi! I'm Rapunzel, and these are my roommates, Mulan and Ariel. Is it all right if we sit with you?"

The black-haired girl nods and replies, "Sure! It's nice to meet you. I'm Snow."

The blonde adds, "And I'm her roommate Rose."

"So…" Snow begins as we settle into our lunch. "Where are you guys from?"

"Corona—well, rural Corona."

"Flushing."

"Atlantica."

"Cool. Hey—isn't Atlantica known for its music schools? Do you sing? Or do you play an instrument?"

Ariel shrugs modestly. "I sing, I guess. My older sisters go to the Atlantica College of Music, but I prefer to sing for a hobby. Though, I might join one of the acapella groups on campus."

"Really? We were thinking about that, too. Maybe one of the operetta ones…I think they're called the Slumbering Sopranos?"

"The Somnolent Sopranos, I think. I was actually considering joining the Chord Busters. But I can give the Sopranos a try. Isn't there a welcome concert for freshmen tomorrow night? We should all go to that together!"

"What about you, Rapunzel and Mulan?" Rose turns to them while Snow and Ariel continue to discuss their singing. "What dorm are you guys in?"

"Valley Tower. You?"

"Silva Hall. I think we're right next door to your building. You should come over to visit us some time."

And just like that, Rapunzel has made four new friends.

The common area is very, very crowded. In fact, it is a terrible place for a floor meeting.

It's 8 p.m., and Rapunzel is squished together with her roommates on one of the armchairs in the lounge. Around them, their floormates have commandeered the other armchair and the three sofas. Someone brought a beanbag to college, and there are at least four kids sharing it. And these are just the lucky ones who showed up for the floor meeting early. The less fortunate are sitting on the floor or leaning against the wall as more and more people emerge from their rooms and stare at the jam-packed lounge in dismay.

Yeah…with about 60 people living in each wing of the floor, this isn't going to work. And this is just the people living in the west wing. Rapunzel doesn't want to imagine how congested the common area would be if the entire floor were here.

The RAs, Max and a dark-skinned girl whom Rapunzel hasn't met yet, are practically pressed against the elevators. Max looks pretty frustrated. She's near him enough that she can hear him shouting over the buzz of conversation, "Please, everyone settle down! We need to get some important information out to you, and we're already five minutes behind schedule! We need to clear out of here in time so the east wing can have their meeting too… Can anyone hear me?"

Apparently not, with the exception of Ariel, Mulan, Rapunzel, and a brunette girl who's reading a book and ignoring everybody. This is going to be a rather social dorm. How do these people keep up the conversation anyway? Rapunzel had tagged along with Ariel and spent the rest of the afternoon going from door to door, meeting their neighbors, and she found out that there's only so much she can take of all those "Where are you from?" or "What's your major?" questions before she gets sick of repeating herself and wonders if the people who ask them even care to hear the answers. And all these people are acting as if they've known each other all their lives, instead of for just one afternoon.

She notices that Flynn, the guy she tied up and hit with a saucepan earlier today, is picking his way through their floormates, searching for a place to sit. He's looking in their general direction, so she ducks down, pretending to busy herself on her phone. He had mercifully been out somewhere else when she and Ariel stopped by his room earlier, but she supposes that given they are next-door neighbors and he seems to be on good terms with Mulan, sooner or later they're going to have to be run into each other again.

Eventually, though, the conversation in the lounge lulls to the point where enough people can finally hear Max and shut up. The RAs breathe a sigh of relief.

The girl introduces herself first. "Hi, everyone. I'm Tiana, the RA for the east wing of our floor. So, uh, a little about me. I'm from New Orleans, and I'm a senior majoring in business. And I love to bake. There's actually a club on campus for bakers that I'm a member of, in case any of you are interested. The kitchens here are kind of…well, you can't do much more than boil water, but if I have time, I'll bake some goodies in the common kitchen on the first floor. So feel free to stop by in my room to say hi and have some cookies." She nods at Max.

"And I'm Max. Some of you may have seen me going from door to door earlier today. Uh…so I'm a junior, majoring in bioengineering and premed. I'm from Corona, and I'm a member of a research and design team. If any of you premed gunners out there are looking for research opportunities already, I'm the person you want to be asking. I'm also a member of the Disney Student Emergency Response Team. The loose acronym is DESERT—it's a terrible acronym, I know. But if there's an emergency in one of the dorms, we're the first people to rush to the rescue—but I'll talk more about that later, when we're doing campus safety and security."

Tiana continues, "We're happy to see that you guys are getting along so well—" (Max rolls his eyes) "—and settling in. I actually lived in Valley Tower my freshman year at Disney. You'll find that it's a really close-knit community, and I'm sure we're all going to have a great year together."

The RAs then go into a lengthy and detailed list on what NOT to do with the fire escapes (don't climb them, don't let your friends climb them, don't open the window to access them unless it's an emergency, etc.), so Rapunzel tunes them out and lets her gaze wander around the common area. Bookworm Brunette is still reading and ignoring everybody. Behind her, a group of kids are passing each other's phones around, probably exchanging numbers. Flynn is nodding at something the guy next to him (his roommate?) is whispering in his ear.

Rapunzel suddenly finds herself accidentally making eye contact with Flynn. Crap. He recognizes her—she knows he does. You don't just forget about a crazy person who tries to crush your skull in with cookware.

Cheeks burning, she tears her gaze away and stares back down at her phone. Not that it matters. Her blush is really obvious, and her face turns scarlet as a tomato and only gets worse the more she thinks about how embarrassed she is—a fact that Mother teases her about to no end. She's just humiliated herself in front of the same person twice in a day—a new record. Guess this means she'll have to spend the rest of freshman year avoiding Flynn, or she'll die from mortification.

Thankfully, Tiana chooses this moment to hand her a packet of papers—Rapunzel glimpses the title, "Roommate Talking Points". They're passing them out to each suite, instructing them to sign it and hand it back to the RAs by tomorrow evening. Without waiting for Ariel or Mulan, she makes a beeline for their room, where she can be weird and socially awkward in privacy.

Back in her room, back in (relative) privacy. Mulan's in the shower, and Ariel's in her own room, but Rapunzel has discovered from the sound of voices next door that the walls in Valley Tower are rather thin.

Mother answers before the first ring is complete. She must have been waiting for her to call all evening, Rapunzel realizes guiltily.

"Flower, darling! I was beginning to think you'd never call!"

"Sorry, Mother. I was busy unpacking, and then I went with my roommate and suitemate to lunch, and then we went around meeting people on our floor, and then we went to dinner, and then we had a floor meeting with the RAs…"

"Ah, yes, of course. You don't need me around every second of your existence. You're in college now. Such a clever, grown-up miss."

Is she being sarcastic? Rapunzel really can't tell. So all she says is "Don't forget to drink your chrysanthemum tea today, Mother."

"Oh, yes! Thank you for reminding me, darling. Mother's getting old and tired. What will I do without you?"

"So…uh, how was your day, Mother? After the drive home, I mean. Did you get enough rest?"

"Rapunzel, dear, you know I never get enough rest. It's raising you that gives me my energy, and now that you're not around… Just…make me proud, Rapunzel. You'll do great. I know you will. And then you'll get into the best medical school and be a great doctor—"

"Er…thanks, Mother." She was planning to ask her to evaluate the outfit she's picked out for tomorrow, but Mother's generous moods are hard to come by. Better to let it go and trust that she made the right choices. "Good night."

They exchange their traditional dialogue of I love you's, and then Rapunzel climbs into bed.

Tomorrow, orientation starts for real, and the choices she makes regarding which presentations and panels to attend will affect what information she receives, which in turn will impact her educational journey for the next four years.

No pressure, of course. None at all.

End note: So this story is back from a 4-year hiatus, and a lot has changed since I first started it. I've decided to overhaul this project and rewrite it, so hopefully someone will still find it worth reading.