“Belle! I didn’t realise...I...well...”
Belle roused herself. “Just thinking about something, Lottie, that’s all.”
“Ooh, nothing bad, I hope.” Lottie gave her an encouraging smile. “It’d spoil a perfect day!”
Belle managed to return her smile. “No, I think I’m just a bit worn out, that’s all.”
“Is it any wonder?” Meg looked over the back of her seat at Belle. “After chasing around the beach looking for you-know-who all day?”
She looked pointedly at Ariel, who blushed. “I don’t know what the big deal is.”
“Hello? You wander off and-!”
“Sh!” Adam chided her. “Keep your voice down!”
“Yeah, otherwise you’ll wake the Prof!” Merrida added, nodding over to Professor Porter who was snoring quietly in the front seat.
“Oh, fine,” sighed Meg, flopping back into her seat.
“You really need to chill more,” Aladdin told her, and then received a well-aimed flip flop around the back of the head for his remark. The conversation quickly turned then into a debate about whether or not Meg ought to give up smoking and take up some other addiction instead, and Belle was glad that the focus was no longer on her. She tried to remember all the books she had read about mermaids. In a lot of them, mermaids had tails in the water and feet on dry land. If Ariel was a mermaid, then that could explain a few things. For one, the reason she was never seen in the pool. For another, her excitement when they had got to the beach and her reluctance to go in the sea when everyone else was around. Plus, now Belle thought about it, Ariel loved to eat fish, and whenever the school had a Chinese night, the seaweed wraps were always nabbed by her. And so many aspects of human everyday life still fascinated her; like music and dancing.
There was only one way to find out for sure. Without appearing to do so, Belle kept her eye on Ariel for the rest of the evening. Something, instinct perhaps, told her that she was eager to get back into the water, but not when everyone else was around. So, to see if her theory was correct, Belle waited until her roommates were fast asleep before sneaking out of her room and making her way quietly to the pool.
She found the place to be deserted, and was just about to make her way back to her room, disappointed, when she heard the door creak open behind her. Instinctively, Belle ducked behind one of the large ornamental plant pots and watched as Ariel stepped into the room. She wore a little purple bikini, the top half of which looked to be made from seashells, and carried a towel. Dropping this onto one of the loungers, she took a great running leap and flopped into the pool, disappearing beneath the surface. Belle held her breath and then saw what she had seen at the beach; a flash of a green tail.
Ariel surfaced, looking immensely pleased at being back in her natural element once again. Without even thinking about what she was doing, Belle got slowly to her feet and stepped cautiously around the plant pot. Ariel was too busy flopping around in the water to notice her, until in mid-flip, when she gave a sudden gasp and hit the water, sending up a great wave. Belle took a step backwards to avoid getting wet.
“I knew it!” she whispered in triumph. “I knew I wasn’t imagining things!”
Ariel surfaced and swam to the side of the pool. “Belle! I didn’t realise...I...well...”
“You’re a mermaid!”
Ariel looked embarrassed. “Um, yes, yes I am.”
“That’s amazing,” Belle said, crouching down by the side of the pool. “I thought they only existed in stories.”
“Oh, no, Belle, mermaids are very real.” Ariel flapped up her tail, gleefully. “Like fairies, and genies and, well, anything magical.”
“How come you never told anyone?” Belle asked.
Ariel blushed. “I was embarrassed. I mean, I didn’t want them to think of me as some kind of freak. I mean, I have a tail, for crying out loud!”
“I’m sure the others would understand,” Belle said. Ariel shrugged in disbelief. “So, how did you get admitted to Disney High, then?”
“Oh, my Dad had to pull a lot of strings,” Ariel replied. “My sisters all go to Atlantis High, but well, I never wanted that. And when I met John, well, I really, really wanted to go to the same school as him.”
Now it made sense. Belle smiled. “And you don’t want him to know you’re a mermaid?”
“Please don’t tell him, Belle. Don’t tell anyone.”
“I won’t, but I think you should. Now Gaston’s not here anymore, no one’s likely to be that judgemental about you.”
“I don’t know.” Ariel shrugged. “I think I’d rather keep things as they are for now.”
Belle offered her a smile of understanding. “Well, your secret’s safe with me, Ariel.”
“Thanks, Belle.”
That, Belle reminded herself, was the second secret she was keeping for a friend, added to Snow and Aurora’s secret about their love for one another. It seemed to her that people found her an easy confidante, but she honestly couldn’t believe that her friends would judge one another on their sexuality or their race. Alright, so her friends had been a bit judgemental of Lottie when they had first met her, but surely the couldn’t so easily change their opinions of people they had known for years?
That question kept her awake for most of the night and she almost fell asleep at breakfast. In English class, Adam had to nudge her when Mr Nathaniel asked her a question and she didn’t respond.
“You didn’t sleep last night, then?” he guessed, later, as they made their way to Maths.
“Not really.” Belle took a deep breath and sighed.
“Is something wrong?” Adam looked at her, carefully. “Because, you know if there is, you can tell me anything, right?”
Belle smiled. “I know. But there’s nothing wrong, really.”
She felt bad for lying to him, but then she couldn’t bring herself to betray a friend’s secret either.
Mr Jafar was in something of a cheerful mood that morning. When Aladdin pointed this out, he told the reason, plain and simple.
“I’m sure you’ll all hear this later from Mr Ratcliffe, but he’s finally employed a School Therapist.”
“A therapist? How come?” Lottie asked.
“About time too!” Flynn snorted, folding his arms. “That shi...stuff with Mr Frollo happened months ago!”
“Huh?” Lottie looked around at them, blankly.
Mr Jafar smiled. “An incident that happened at the school before you came here, Miss La Bouffe.”
“Yeah, where our perverted R.E teacher tried to touch up some of the girls,” Aladdin added, crossly.
“It’s all over now,” Mr Jafar added, as Lottie’s jaw dropped. “But Mr Ratcliffe did say he’d employ a therapist and now he’s finally found a good one. Her name’s Miss Tremaine.”
“Is that why you’re in a good mood?” Jim grinned.
Mr Jafar swatted at him with a Maths book. “Should you, any of you, find yourselves in need of someone to talk to, you’re to seek her out. She’s going to hold a little meet and greet session tonight in the gym at seven o’clock.”
So, at seven o’clock sharp, the students filed into the gym to meet Miss Tremaine, a very pretty woman with long dark curls and a friendly smile.
“Hello, everyone,” she beamed at them, sunnily. “It’s so nice to meet you all. My name is Nancy Tremaine, but you must call me Nancy, none of this Miss Tremaine nonsense. Now, so that I can learn your names, I thought we could all do a little trust exercise.”
“Trust exercise?” Jasmine repeated.
“It’s very simple.” Nancy led them over to a large gymnastics vault, used for doing cartwheels on. “Does anyone know what a trust fall is?”
Belle raised her hand. Nancy nodded at her, encouragingly. “Isn’t it an exercise where you have to trust someone to catch you?”
“That’s exactly it. Well, we’re going to do that, on a bigger scale. One by one, you’ll each come up here, say your name and something about yourself. Then, you allow yourself to fall, whereupon your classmates will put up their hands to catch you. It’s perfectly safe; I’ve even laid down safety mats in case of any accidents.”
“So, we all put up our hands and catch the person?” Aladdin said.
“Exactly.” Nancy clambered onto the vault. “For example, my name is Nancy and I am your student therapist. Everyone ready?”
Everyone threw up their arms as Nancy allowed herself to fall. She beamed as they lowered her to the ground. “Couldn’t be simpler. So, who’s next?”
“Ooh, ooh, can I go next?” Lottie chirped, hugging Belle. “This is going to be fun!”
“Go right ahead,” Nancy smiled.
Lottie jumped up onto the vault. “My name’s Lottie and I love this school!” Then she fell back, dramatically, into everyone’s arms. “Whoo, that was fun! Just like a carnival ride!”
Meg went next. “My name’s Meg and I love the colour purple. I mean the actual colour, that is, not the book.”
Flynn went next. “My name’s Flynn and I finally have a girlfriend!”
It went on.
“My name’s Audrey and I like to fix things.”
“My name’s Hercules and I was born in Greece.”
“My name’s Rapunzel and my hair is so long it can wrap all around the school!”
“Show-off!” Merrida laughed. “My name’s Merrida and I think archery rules!”
“My name’s Belle and I love reading!”
“We all knew that,” Flynn grinned as they caught her.
“My name’s Linguini and I’m trying to be a chef. Maybe not succeeding, but I’m trying.”
“My name’s Jasmine and I’ve always dreamed of travelling once I leave school.”
“My name’s John and my dad used to be a sailor.”
“My name’s Jim and I love surfing.”
“My name’s Snow White, and most people just call me Snow.”
"My name's Esmeralda and I love to dance!"
“My name’s Aladdin and when I was a kid, I once stole an apple from a grocer. But I did give it back once I got caught.”
“Charming!” Jasmine laughed.
“My name’s Adam and I recently had stitches; so please be gentle.”
"My name's Phoebus and I'm supposed to be in military school right now but don't tell anyone!"
“My name’s Aurora and I love animals.”
Finally it was Ariel’s turn. For a second she caught Belle’s eye and Belle wondered if she was about to confess her secret.
“My name’s Ariel and I am...so psyched to be here!”
Nancy beamed at them all. “Very well done! I do look forward to working with you all in future!”
“This is going to be fun!”
