A New Princess Chapter Two: Meeting the Students
In the second chapter of A New Princess, the new arrival meets her fellow students. Read on after the cut if you want to find out what happens next.
Meeting the Students
“This is the students wing,” Cinderella told Red as she trotted along behind her. “We have a pool for your use if you enjoy swimming, we encourage the use of the music room. Most of our girls sing, although Merida has expressed interest in playing the drums, although I think that’s because they make a loud noise. She’s managed to convince Anna that she needs to learn how to play electric guitar. Do you play an instrument, Red?”
“Uhhh…no, ma’am, but I do like singing.”
“Oh you’ll fit in just fine then. Kida didn’t sing, poor girl,” she said sadly, the brightened. “Happy and Snow give whistling lessons if you’re all interested.”
“Snow White?” Red said, a hint of reverence creeping into her voice.
“Yes,” Cinderella answered with a smile. The effect just the mention of the young and first Princesses name had on the incoming students did amuse her.
“So, she really is here?”
“Oh yes, she’s here. You’ll see her sometimes. She quite often sits in quietly on classes and she has a tendency to pop up when you least expect her in the most surprising of places. Try not to scream, though, she has a rather nervous disposition.”
Red nodded, filing the information away.
“Now this is the student quarters,” Cinderella said.
Red stopped and stared. The room was cavernous. A roaring fire blazed in the enormous fireplace that took up most of one wall. She craned her head upwards and looked at the gaily coloured mural that stretched across some of the ceiling, it was still in progress by the incomplete look of it.
“That’s Rapunzel’s work,” Cinderella informed her. “She works on it when she gets the chance. Painting is one of her passions, although we do sometimes lose Pascal in the paintings, he blends in.”
Red frowned at that comment, she didn’t know who or what Pascal was, and although the name Rapunzel was also unfamiliar, she used the context to work out that she must be another student.
“Do we get our own room, ma’am?” Red asked.
“We prefer the girls to share,” Cinderella said. “That’s not a problem, is it? We find it promotes bonding.”
“Oh no, ma’am,” Red answered. She didn’t have any siblings, but there were entire families in Dark Wood who slept in the one room and her own room in their cottage had been quite poky, so it wasn’t a problem for her.
“In fact it’s rather fortuitous that you’ve arrived now, dear. Elsa recently left to go back to her kingdom of Arendelle so that left Anna without a roommate, you’ll do nicely. You’ll like Anna, she’s a lovely spirited girl, very generous. Ah here come the terrible trio now.”
Red looked to see three girls approaching from a corridor off one side of the giant common room. One was Merida, her you could easily spot from a distance, that distinctive mane of red hair simply could not be missed. With her was a slightly shorter girl dressed in a green and purple dirndl, with a sprinkling of freckles across her face and reddish brown hair tied back in a casual pony tail. Between the two was a girl wearing a lavender dress with puffy striped upper sleeves and a white border at the bottom. Red could see a smudge of paint on one cheek and what was the small green thing riding on her shoulder? A frog? Her hair was a neat brown curly pixie cut.
“Girls!” Cinderella called out, her voice trilling.
“Yes, Headmistress Cinderella,” they answered in a polite chorus.
“I’d like you all to meet our newest student Little Red Riding Hood,” and she pushed Red out in front of her gently.
“Hi,” Red said as bravely as she could, forcing a smile onto her face.
“Awrite!” Merida said, her green eyes boring into Red’s and just daring her to say that they had already met, she took the other girl’s hand and pumped it vigorously, mashing it at the same time.
“She’ll be rooming with you, Anna,” Cinderella told the girl in the dirndl, while Red tried to massage feeling back into her fingers after Merida’s overly enthusiastic hand shake.
“Oh, we’re going to be such good friends,” Anna said brightly, giving Red a hug.
“And this is Ra…” that was as far as Cinderella got before the brunette’s hair exploded upwards, to be replaced by masses of thick lustrous blonde hair. It snaked out, grabbed Red by the arms and dragged her towards the girl in the lavender dress and hugged her tightly.
“Rapunzel!” Cinderella said severely.
The now blonde girl blushed crimson and seemed to be concentrating on something. The thick strands of hair that were crushing Red, unwrapped and let her go, gasping. “I can’t help it, ma’am. It doesn’t matter what we do, it just does what it wants.”
“There’s a witch in th’ woods near Dunbroch that can…” Merida began.
“Merida,” Cinderella cut her off. “The last time you used that witches services your mother was turned into a bear. Do you want Rapunzel to be turned into a bear?”
“Well, no,” Merida answered, “but I’m sure she can do other things. Th’ bear thing was just a wee mistake, an’…”
“I’m pleased to meet you Little Red Rid…” Rapunzel started shyly.
Red sighed. “Its just Red. I always think I’m in trouble when someone uses my full name.”
“I never had any other name than Rapunzel,” the blonde said wistfully.
“I’ve always been Anna,” the freckle faced brunette agreed.
“My name is only Merida,” the redhead said, “but it’s th’ way they say it that tells ye ye’re in trouble. Now if they say Merida sweetly, then it’s all…”
“Merida!” Cinderella said sharply.
“See that’s what I mean!” the redhead exclaimed pointing at the Headmistress.
Cinderella frowned at the spirited redhead, but did not say anything else about her behaviour. “I’d like you girls to take Red to her room and help her get settled in. You have free time for the next hour or so until we introduce Red to the Princesses.”
“I bet she’s already met Tiana,” Merida muttered under her breath.
Everyone else ignored her and Rapunzel and Anna crowded up to the new girl and began talking excitedly as they led her to the room that she would share with Anna.
“Why do you have a frog on your shoulder?” Red asked Rapunzel.
“Frog?” the blonde girl said in confusion.
“I think she means Pascal, ‘Punzel,” Anna giggled.
“Oh Pascal’s not a frog!” the blonde laughed. “He’s a chameleon. He does tricks, watch.”
She took the small green lizard from her shoulder and placed him on Red’s cloak. “Now look closely,” she instructed.
Red frowned down at the emerald lizard using his small claws to cling onto the front of her bright cloak and then her eyes widened as the little creature began to change colour from green to crimson so that he blended in with the garment.
“That’s amazing,” Red breathed as Rapunzel removed the now red Pascal from the cloak and set him back on her shoulder.
“Means the little beggar almost always wins at hide and seek, though,” Merida offered.
“Is he your sidekick?” Red asked.
Rapunzel nodded happily.
“Do you have a sidekick?” Anna asked curiously.
“There’s Lilbee,” Red answered and then stopped as Anna pushed open a door and revealed a giant room.
“This is ours,” she said. She ran towards a massive four poster canopied bed and dived on it. “It’s not much, but it’s home,” she sighed.
“Not much?” Red repeated in awed tones. “This is bigger than my family’s entire cottage in Dark Wood.”
“Ye live in a dark wood?” Merida asked, flopping in an unladylike sprawl onto a chair.
Red blushed. “We call it Dark Wood. The village is on the outskirts. My granny lives in the forest, though.”
“Any will o’ the wisps around?” the red head inquired, examining a strand of her curly fiery red hair critically. “How do ye do it, ‘Punzel? I just can’t get it to stay straight.”
Rapunzel shrugged. “Mother Gothel used to brush mine a lot. Of course at the time I didn’t know she was just leeching it’s magic to keep her young. I’ll try and brush yours again tonight.”
“I borrowed this new sort of brush from Princess Ariel,” Merida said. “She calls it a dingleproop. Looks kinda like a fork to me, though.”
“What’s in your basket?” Anna asked, as Red sat down on the room’s other canopied bed and bounced up and down gently.
“Oh that’s my goody basket,” Red answered. “All sorts of things. Mostly treats for Lilbee, but there’s goodies as well. I used to take them to my granny in the woods.”
Anna’s eyes went wide and sparkled. “Oohhh midnight feast.”
“After lights out tonight,” Rapunzel agreed.
“Pillow fights too,” Merida suggested.
“Elsa doesn’t like it when I do stuff like that,” Anna said with a frown.
“Well big sis isn’t here, so she won’t ken, will she?” Merida said.
“True,” Anna agreed, although her voice was still doubtful.
“What about the mirror?” Rapunzel whispered.
“For the last time ‘Punzel,” Merida said in an exasperated voice. “Th’ mirrors here do no talk!”
“Yes, they do Merida, I’ve heard them whispering to each other in rhyme,” Rapunzel insisted.
“If they do why won’t they learn any of my limericks?” Merida asked.
“Because they’re all naughty,” Anna answered.
“They’re th’ only kind my Da knows,” the redhead retorted.
“It’s okay anyway,” Anna asserted. “They all report back to the mirror in Snow White’s rooms, and she has catrophobia.”
The other three girls gave the Arendellish Princess a blank look.
“It’s the fear of mirrors,” Anna proclaimed proudly. “Princess Belle told me. Snow covers her mirror over all the time so she doesn’t have to look at it.”
“Ye’re a weird girl Anna,” Merida said.
“Is that because I got engaged to Prince Hans even though I’d only just met him?” Anna asked.
“No, but that is weird. It’s because you know th’ right name for the fear of mirrors.”
Red lay back on the bed and marveled at how wonderful it felt. “This bed is just right. It was like it was made for me.”
“That’s the bears,” Rapunzel said.
“Bears?” Red asked.
Rapunzel nodded, long strands of blonde hair flying everywhere. “There’s a family of bears somewhere. They have the contract for the beds at The Academy. They specialize in making beds that are just right. They have a money back guarantee.”
“Ye know if my Ma had known about that racket she may have stayed a bear,” Merida said thoughtfully.
“Do you want a nap, Red?” Anna asked. “We don’t very often get free hours like this, but you’ve come a long way and if you want to sleep…”
“She doesnae want to sleep!” Merida insisted, grabbing hold of Red’s arm and pulling her to her feet.
“What do you want to do, Merida?” Rapunzel asked.
“Not sleep!” the girl shouted.
“You said you had a sidekick,” Anna remembered.
Red nodded.
“Where is he?”
Hearing the question reminded her that she had not seen Lilbee since the bald dwarf had taken him away at registration. “Grumpy said something about a garden,” she said.
“Of course!” Rapunzel said. “That’s where Headmistress Cinderella insists that all the new Princesses sidekicks be taken at first.”
“She says they disrupt the interview,” Anna added.
“Doesnae stop her from havin’ those wee mice in her office,” Merida muttered.
“I like Gus and Jacques,” Rapunzel gave her opinion.
“They prob’ly don’t laugh at you while she’s tellin’ you off!”
“I don’t get told off,” Rapunzel shot back.
“Olaf can be pretty disruptive,” Anna mused. “Come on Red! Let’s go to the garden, you can see your sidekick and meet the others.”
Meeting the Students
“This is the students wing,” Cinderella told Red as she trotted along behind her. “We have a pool for your use if you enjoy swimming, we encourage the use of the music room. Most of our girls sing, although Merida has expressed interest in playing the drums, although I think that’s because they make a loud noise. She’s managed to convince Anna that she needs to learn how to play electric guitar. Do you play an instrument, Red?”
“Uhhh…no, ma’am, but I do like singing.”
“Oh you’ll fit in just fine then. Kida didn’t sing, poor girl,” she said sadly, the brightened. “Happy and Snow give whistling lessons if you’re all interested.”
“Snow White?” Red said, a hint of reverence creeping into her voice.
“Yes,” Cinderella answered with a smile. The effect just the mention of the young and first Princesses name had on the incoming students did amuse her.
“So, she really is here?”
“Oh yes, she’s here. You’ll see her sometimes. She quite often sits in quietly on classes and she has a tendency to pop up when you least expect her in the most surprising of places. Try not to scream, though, she has a rather nervous disposition.”
Red nodded, filing the information away.
“Now this is the student quarters,” Cinderella said.
Red stopped and stared. The room was cavernous. A roaring fire blazed in the enormous fireplace that took up most of one wall. She craned her head upwards and looked at the gaily coloured mural that stretched across some of the ceiling, it was still in progress by the incomplete look of it.
“That’s Rapunzel’s work,” Cinderella informed her. “She works on it when she gets the chance. Painting is one of her passions, although we do sometimes lose Pascal in the paintings, he blends in.”
Red frowned at that comment, she didn’t know who or what Pascal was, and although the name Rapunzel was also unfamiliar, she used the context to work out that she must be another student.
“Do we get our own room, ma’am?” Red asked.
“We prefer the girls to share,” Cinderella said. “That’s not a problem, is it? We find it promotes bonding.”
“Oh no, ma’am,” Red answered. She didn’t have any siblings, but there were entire families in Dark Wood who slept in the one room and her own room in their cottage had been quite poky, so it wasn’t a problem for her.
“In fact it’s rather fortuitous that you’ve arrived now, dear. Elsa recently left to go back to her kingdom of Arendelle so that left Anna without a roommate, you’ll do nicely. You’ll like Anna, she’s a lovely spirited girl, very generous. Ah here come the terrible trio now.”
Red looked to see three girls approaching from a corridor off one side of the giant common room. One was Merida, her you could easily spot from a distance, that distinctive mane of red hair simply could not be missed. With her was a slightly shorter girl dressed in a green and purple dirndl, with a sprinkling of freckles across her face and reddish brown hair tied back in a casual pony tail. Between the two was a girl wearing a lavender dress with puffy striped upper sleeves and a white border at the bottom. Red could see a smudge of paint on one cheek and what was the small green thing riding on her shoulder? A frog? Her hair was a neat brown curly pixie cut.
“Girls!” Cinderella called out, her voice trilling.
“Yes, Headmistress Cinderella,” they answered in a polite chorus.
“I’d like you all to meet our newest student Little Red Riding Hood,” and she pushed Red out in front of her gently.
“Hi,” Red said as bravely as she could, forcing a smile onto her face.
“Awrite!” Merida said, her green eyes boring into Red’s and just daring her to say that they had already met, she took the other girl’s hand and pumped it vigorously, mashing it at the same time.
“She’ll be rooming with you, Anna,” Cinderella told the girl in the dirndl, while Red tried to massage feeling back into her fingers after Merida’s overly enthusiastic hand shake.
“Oh, we’re going to be such good friends,” Anna said brightly, giving Red a hug.
“And this is Ra…” that was as far as Cinderella got before the brunette’s hair exploded upwards, to be replaced by masses of thick lustrous blonde hair. It snaked out, grabbed Red by the arms and dragged her towards the girl in the lavender dress and hugged her tightly.
“Rapunzel!” Cinderella said severely.
The now blonde girl blushed crimson and seemed to be concentrating on something. The thick strands of hair that were crushing Red, unwrapped and let her go, gasping. “I can’t help it, ma’am. It doesn’t matter what we do, it just does what it wants.”
“There’s a witch in th’ woods near Dunbroch that can…” Merida began.
“Merida,” Cinderella cut her off. “The last time you used that witches services your mother was turned into a bear. Do you want Rapunzel to be turned into a bear?”
“Well, no,” Merida answered, “but I’m sure she can do other things. Th’ bear thing was just a wee mistake, an’…”
“I’m pleased to meet you Little Red Rid…” Rapunzel started shyly.
Red sighed. “Its just Red. I always think I’m in trouble when someone uses my full name.”
“I never had any other name than Rapunzel,” the blonde said wistfully.
“I’ve always been Anna,” the freckle faced brunette agreed.
“My name is only Merida,” the redhead said, “but it’s th’ way they say it that tells ye ye’re in trouble. Now if they say Merida sweetly, then it’s all…”
“Merida!” Cinderella said sharply.
“See that’s what I mean!” the redhead exclaimed pointing at the Headmistress.
Cinderella frowned at the spirited redhead, but did not say anything else about her behaviour. “I’d like you girls to take Red to her room and help her get settled in. You have free time for the next hour or so until we introduce Red to the Princesses.”
“I bet she’s already met Tiana,” Merida muttered under her breath.
Everyone else ignored her and Rapunzel and Anna crowded up to the new girl and began talking excitedly as they led her to the room that she would share with Anna.
“Why do you have a frog on your shoulder?” Red asked Rapunzel.
“Frog?” the blonde girl said in confusion.
“I think she means Pascal, ‘Punzel,” Anna giggled.
“Oh Pascal’s not a frog!” the blonde laughed. “He’s a chameleon. He does tricks, watch.”
She took the small green lizard from her shoulder and placed him on Red’s cloak. “Now look closely,” she instructed.
Red frowned down at the emerald lizard using his small claws to cling onto the front of her bright cloak and then her eyes widened as the little creature began to change colour from green to crimson so that he blended in with the garment.
“That’s amazing,” Red breathed as Rapunzel removed the now red Pascal from the cloak and set him back on her shoulder.
“Means the little beggar almost always wins at hide and seek, though,” Merida offered.
“Is he your sidekick?” Red asked.
Rapunzel nodded happily.
“Do you have a sidekick?” Anna asked curiously.
“There’s Lilbee,” Red answered and then stopped as Anna pushed open a door and revealed a giant room.
“This is ours,” she said. She ran towards a massive four poster canopied bed and dived on it. “It’s not much, but it’s home,” she sighed.
“Not much?” Red repeated in awed tones. “This is bigger than my family’s entire cottage in Dark Wood.”
“Ye live in a dark wood?” Merida asked, flopping in an unladylike sprawl onto a chair.
Red blushed. “We call it Dark Wood. The village is on the outskirts. My granny lives in the forest, though.”
“Any will o’ the wisps around?” the red head inquired, examining a strand of her curly fiery red hair critically. “How do ye do it, ‘Punzel? I just can’t get it to stay straight.”
Rapunzel shrugged. “Mother Gothel used to brush mine a lot. Of course at the time I didn’t know she was just leeching it’s magic to keep her young. I’ll try and brush yours again tonight.”
“I borrowed this new sort of brush from Princess Ariel,” Merida said. “She calls it a dingleproop. Looks kinda like a fork to me, though.”
“What’s in your basket?” Anna asked, as Red sat down on the room’s other canopied bed and bounced up and down gently.
“Oh that’s my goody basket,” Red answered. “All sorts of things. Mostly treats for Lilbee, but there’s goodies as well. I used to take them to my granny in the woods.”
Anna’s eyes went wide and sparkled. “Oohhh midnight feast.”
“After lights out tonight,” Rapunzel agreed.
“Pillow fights too,” Merida suggested.
“Elsa doesn’t like it when I do stuff like that,” Anna said with a frown.
“Well big sis isn’t here, so she won’t ken, will she?” Merida said.
“True,” Anna agreed, although her voice was still doubtful.
“What about the mirror?” Rapunzel whispered.
“For the last time ‘Punzel,” Merida said in an exasperated voice. “Th’ mirrors here do no talk!”
“Yes, they do Merida, I’ve heard them whispering to each other in rhyme,” Rapunzel insisted.
“If they do why won’t they learn any of my limericks?” Merida asked.
“Because they’re all naughty,” Anna answered.
“They’re th’ only kind my Da knows,” the redhead retorted.
“It’s okay anyway,” Anna asserted. “They all report back to the mirror in Snow White’s rooms, and she has catrophobia.”
The other three girls gave the Arendellish Princess a blank look.
“It’s the fear of mirrors,” Anna proclaimed proudly. “Princess Belle told me. Snow covers her mirror over all the time so she doesn’t have to look at it.”
“Ye’re a weird girl Anna,” Merida said.
“Is that because I got engaged to Prince Hans even though I’d only just met him?” Anna asked.
“No, but that is weird. It’s because you know th’ right name for the fear of mirrors.”
Red lay back on the bed and marveled at how wonderful it felt. “This bed is just right. It was like it was made for me.”
“That’s the bears,” Rapunzel said.
“Bears?” Red asked.
Rapunzel nodded, long strands of blonde hair flying everywhere. “There’s a family of bears somewhere. They have the contract for the beds at The Academy. They specialize in making beds that are just right. They have a money back guarantee.”
“Ye know if my Ma had known about that racket she may have stayed a bear,” Merida said thoughtfully.
“Do you want a nap, Red?” Anna asked. “We don’t very often get free hours like this, but you’ve come a long way and if you want to sleep…”
“She doesnae want to sleep!” Merida insisted, grabbing hold of Red’s arm and pulling her to her feet.
“What do you want to do, Merida?” Rapunzel asked.
“Not sleep!” the girl shouted.
“You said you had a sidekick,” Anna remembered.
Red nodded.
“Where is he?”
Hearing the question reminded her that she had not seen Lilbee since the bald dwarf had taken him away at registration. “Grumpy said something about a garden,” she said.
“Of course!” Rapunzel said. “That’s where Headmistress Cinderella insists that all the new Princesses sidekicks be taken at first.”
“She says they disrupt the interview,” Anna added.
“Doesnae stop her from havin’ those wee mice in her office,” Merida muttered.
“I like Gus and Jacques,” Rapunzel gave her opinion.
“They prob’ly don’t laugh at you while she’s tellin’ you off!”
“I don’t get told off,” Rapunzel shot back.
“Olaf can be pretty disruptive,” Anna mused. “Come on Red! Let’s go to the garden, you can see your sidekick and meet the others.”