"Follow in the footsteps of the Lord, class!"
“It’s where Mr Frollo hammers into us about how God is good and the Devil is bad, blah, blah, blah,” Meg replied drily.
“He does go a bit overboard with it all,” Jasmine agreed.
“Overboard?” Snow White shook her head. “He’s plain scary!”
“You’ll see,” Jasmine told Belle as a tall, old man wearing black robes strode into the room.
“Quiet!” the man demanded, even though they were barely making any noise at all. Immediately, the room feel silent. The man, Mr Frollo, placed a heavy Bible on his desk. His eyes scanned the room and fell on Belle. “Well, well, Miss French, isn’t it?”
“Yes, sir,” Belle stammered.
He smiled. “Well, welcome, Miss French. Now,” he added, turning to write on the chalkboard. “the Seven Deadly Sins; what are they?”
“Greed, Sloth, Gluttony,” the class chanted, “Pride, Envy, Wrath and Lust.”
“Correct!” He sneered. “Now, there is a reason these sins are deadly. Committing any one of them will earn you a one way ticket to Hell. But they can be countered with what?”
No one spoke for a few minutes. Then, Snow White raised her hand. “The Seven Heavenly Virtues, sir?”
“Correct, Miss Forest. What are they?”
“Um, well, I know that one is Charity,” she stammered, blushing.
“Good, good. What else? Anyone?”
“Temperance,” Jasmine said. “I always remember that one.”
“Good, Miss Dove, very good. What else?”
“Patience,” said Aurora, “and kindness.”
“Diligence and humility,” said Meg.
“Correct, Miss Waters. And the last is..?”
“Chastity,” Belle said, softly.
“Well done, Miss French; perhaps the most important of all.” Mr Frollo wrote each of them down on the board and wrote their respective sin beside each of them. “Loving others with passion gives us the seven virtues. Loving ourselves with excessive passion gives us the seven sins. Remember that, class.”
“Yes, Mr Frollo,” the class chorused.
“Remember how Eve was tempted by the snake and the fruit and how she then tempted Adam-”
“I didn’t know you knew someone called Eve, Adam!” grinned Aladdin, folding his arms. A few people tittered. Adam kept his head down and said nothing.
“That will do, Mr Street,” snapped Mr Frollo. “Eve was tempted by greed and gluttony and lust; and Adam was tempted by her. Do not follow their example, class.”
“No, Mr Frollo,” the class chorused.
“Remember that David gave way to lust when he chased Uriah’s wife and envy when he had Uriah killed. Do not let lust and envy be your own downfall.”
“No, Mr Frollo.”
“Now, let us examine Matthew 4: 1-11; Jesus is tempted by Satan, but he does not give way to temptation! Follow in the footsteps of the Lord, class!”
“Yes, Mr Frollo!”
Belle felt that they weren’t so much in a classroom as some kind of church in which the sermon was agreed to by all in attendance. She felt quite uncomfortable and she couldn’t help wondering how Mr Frollo could preach to them about sin and lust and temptation when he couldn’t seem to keep his eyes off all the pretty girls in the classroom. Still, she bore it until he finally gave them leave to go and everyone hurried from the classroom.
“Eech!” Meg shuddered. “If he mentions the word “sin” one more time, I’m going to die of shame!”
“Well, you’re gonna burn in Hell for sure,” replied Jasmine, cheerfully linking her arm through Meg’s. “After all, I’m pretty sure that smoking and drooling over hot boys must be sins in Mr Frollo’s book.”
“Oh, shut up, Miss-Flirty-Any-Time-Any-Place-Day-Or-Night,” Meg replied, rolling her eyes. “Let’s go to the Common Room.”
Belle followed them into a large room filled with sofas and vending machines. Flynn and Aladdin were at the pool table. Adam was sitting a little away from them, pouring over his homework. Belle looked over at him, curiously. Feeling his eyes on her, he glanced up at her, sharply. Their eyes met and then Adam pointedly turned away from her. Belle wondered why he had decided to dislike her so much. Surely it couldn’t be just to do with that class debate in English?
“Well, R.E homework shouldn’t be too difficult,” Meg grinned, stretching out on a sofa. “Don’t sin!”
“That’s all the homework we ever get in that class,” Snow White laughed.
Belle sat down on the floor beside Meg’s chair. It was carpeted and comfortable. Meg glanced at her. “Bell, you don’t need to sit on the floor. Sit up here with us.”
“I’m alright here,” Belle replied. “Why does Mr Frollo hit on about sinning so hard?”
“God only knows!” Meg rolled her eyes. “Whoops! I wonder if he heard that!”
Jasmine laughed. “He’s just devoted to it. Personally, I think he likes the idea of playing God in human form.”
A whistle from the other side of the room caused them all to look up. “Hey, Meg!” called Flynn. “Fancy a game?”
“Against you? No, thanks! I’d like to hang onto all my fingers!”
“Oh, come on! That was an accident!”
Meg laughed. “Because you’re a jinx, Flynn, admit it!”
“Anyone else, then?” Flynn called. “Jasmine? Snow? Miss French?”
Belle blushed. “Sure, why not?”
“Look out he doesn’t start hitting on you,” Meg muttered.
“Why? Is he a womaniser like Gaston?”
“No, he’s bloody annoying!”
“Don’t let him do the smoulder,” Snow White groaned, closing her eyes.
“What’s the smoulder?”
“You’ll see.”
“It’s ok,” Jasmine smiled. “Aladdin and Adam are over there too. He wouldn’t dare try his charms with them there; they’d never let him live it down.”
“True,” Meg mused. “Yeah, you should be alright.”
Belle got to her feet and walked over to them. “Hey,” Aladdin grinned. “We’ve not met properly yet. I’m Aladdin; you can call me Al.”
“Hi, I’m Belle.”
“You played before?” asked Flynn.
“A couple of times.”
“Which colour do you want to be?” asked Aladdin, sorting through the balls. “Red or yellow?”
“Oh, I’ll be yellow,” Belle said, “if that’s ok.”
“Red’s my lucky colour,” grinned Flynn. “Set ‘em up, Al.”
Aladdin did so. Flynn shot first; breaking the triangle of coloured balls. Belle took up her position. She hesitated, trying to remember how to position her fingers.
“Here.” Suddenly Adam was beside her, moving her hand into position. “Keep your back straight for a better shot.”
His voice was flat. Belle looked up at him; she was surprised that he was even touching her. Adam looked at her, seeming just as surprised. Before Belle could thank him, however, Flynn grinned “Leave her alone, Adam, she knows what she’s doing.”
Adam moved his hand. “Sorry.”
“It’s ok,” Belle said, quickly, and she looked at him. “Thanks.”
He said nothing, merely shrugged and went back to his work. Belle took a deep breath, aimed and potted the first yellow ball.
“Hey, she’s good!” crowed Aladdin.
“Is she kicking your ass, Flynn?” laughed Meg, coming over to watch.
“Did you see that, Adam?” asked Aladdin.
“I did,” he said, drily, not looking up from his work.
Belle looked over at him. Just what kind of boy was he, this Adam Castle?
"Look out he doesn’t start hitting on you!"
