“Belle? Belle?”


Roused from her dreams of being in Adam’s arms, Belle raised her head to see Jasmine, dressed in her blue pyjamas, shaking her. “Hm?” she murmured, half lifting herself up. “What time is it?”


“Bell’s about to go, but that’s not important! Listen up!”


Belle blinked at her. Snow White and Meg weren’t in the room, but their beds had been thrown around as if they’d literally flung themselves out of them. “What’s wrong?”


“Well, you know there’s a slot open for a new student now that Gaston’s gone?”

“Don’t remind me,” Belle groaned, rubbing her eyes. She had no desire to be reminded of how close Adam had been to death that day and how scared she had been.


“Well, she’s here.”


“Who is?”


Jasmine rolled her eyes. “Belle, wake up! The new student’s here!”


“Oh!” Belle rubbed her eyes. “Forgive me for not being fully awake!”


“Belle, come on, we all wanna get a look at her.”


Belle scrabbled to her feet. Her knee-length blue nightie with shirt sleeves was not exactly flattering but it was covered up enough for her to feel comfortable to go downstairs in. At the front doors, Meg, in her skimpy purple pyjamas and Snow White in her princess-style nightie were gathered.


“She’s got a limo!” hissed Snow White.


“Oh my God!” Meg groaned. “I’ll bet she’s an heiress!”


“Aptly named,” muttered Jasmine. “They’re always air-heads!”


Belle glanced at them. “What’s wrong with that?”


“Please, Belle,” scoffed Meg, folding her arms. “Have you ever met an heiress?”


“In my small provincial town?” Belle couldn’t help but smile. “No.”


“Well, then. They’re all the same; blonde, pretty, selfish, spoilt, boyfriend-stealers, money-spenders and they always look down on people like us.”


“All of them?”


“D’uh!” they all chorused.


“Well, all the ones we’ve ever met are; why should this one be any different?” Snow White added.


“You don’t know she won’t be,” Belle argued.


“Well, she’s blonde!” Jasmine pointed as the girl clambered out of the car, carrying two large pink suitcases, a vanity case and a handbag. “So far it looks...not promising!”


“Bye, Daddy!” called the girl, flicking her blonde hair over her shoulder. She had a New Orleans accent. “Y’all take care now! Bye-bye!”


“Oh, yeah!” Meg nodded her head. “Air-head!”


“You don’t know that,” Belle began, but then the doors opened and the new girl danced into the room.


“Hi, my name’s Charlotte LaBouffe but y’all can call me...” She struck a dramatic pose. “Lottie!”


“Yeah, whatever,” muttered Meg, glancing at the others. “Come on, guys, it’s breakfast, and I’m starved.”


“But-” Belle began, but Meg dragged her off before she could finish.


“We were right,” Snow White said, linking arms with Belle. “Air-headed heiress!”


“Were you guys always this shallow?” Belle couldn’t help asking.


“Oh, Belle, you don’t want to be friends with someone like that,” sighed Jasmine. “Always showing off how wealthy she is; buying everything and then rubbing it in your face. She’ll stab you in the back.”


“Reveal your secrets to the world,” agreed Snow White.


“Flirt with Adam,” added Meg.


“Who’s flirting with Adam?”


Belle grinned, unhooked her arm from Snow White’s and turned to face him. “No one, but me, I hope.”


“I hope so too,” he replied, pulling her into a hug.


“We were actually discussing the new girl,” Jasmine informed him. “Heiress.”


“Air-head,” Snow White added.


“Come on, guys, when I said I was starving, I wasn’t joking,” said Meg, going into the canteen.


As Jasmine and Snow White followed her, Adam glanced at Belle. “You ok?”


She shrugged. “I just think that they’re judging Lottie LaBouffe before they know her. They’re just basing their suspicions on her previous experiences with heiresses.”


“Well,” Adam shrugged, “can you blame them? I don’t think I’ve ever met a nice heiress in my life either.”


“But would you judge her in the same way?” Belle asked, hoping he’d say no.


“Well, I like to give people a wide berth.”


Belle slumped her shoulders. “They’re being so prejudice. It’s not fair.”

Adam gave her a hug. “Well, what can you do? You can’t make them change how they feel, can you?”


“No,” Belle sighed. “But I wish I could.”


“Come on.” Adam put an arm around her. “Maybe after you’ve eaten, you’ll feel better.”


It was a nice suggestion, but it didn’t happen. All through breakfast, all sorts of rumours were circulating about the new girl.


“I’ll bet she’s racist!” declared Merrida. “Girls like that always are!”


“I’ll bet that hair’s fake,” Rapunzel replied, tossing her own abnormally long hair over one shoulder. “It’s probably a wig or extensions or something!”


“I bet she’s a gold-digger,” Aladdin said.


“I’ll bet she’s a bitch,” muttered Meg.


“Did we always used to talk about people behind their backs like this?” Belle asked, dully, prodding her breakfast waffle with a fork. She didn’t really feel like eating.


“Not that I can remember,” Adam replied, comfortingly. “I take it you’re done?”


Belle sighed and pushed the plate away from her. “I’m not hungry.”


“Better get dressed then, and we can get to class,” Adam replied, kissing her cheek. “It’ll be ok, you know, it’ll blow over soon.”


“I know.” She squeezed his hand. “Thanks, Adam, I love you.”


“Love you too,” he murmured, kissing her again.


Belle got quickly to her feet and hurried to get dressed. Then, picking up her copy of Emma, she hurried back to the canteen to meet Adam and together they walked to English. Upon examining his schedule for the year, Mr Nathaniel had realised that he had begun their Shakespeare classes a week earlier than planned, so now the class had had to read Emma this week to catch up. They would be back to Shakespeare the following week.


“Settle down, everyone,” smiled Mr Nathaniel. “Now, I’m sure you’ve all finished reading Emma by now; can someone please tell me what it’s all about?”


Belle felt her hand shoot into the air like a firework. “Should have guessed,” Mr Nathaniel, grinned. “Very well, Miss French, the floor is yours.”


Belle got to her feet, cleared her throat, picked up her book and began. “Emma is a love story about a young, beautiful, wealthy woman who, on first glance seems like a clueless, spoilt rich girl, but is actually proved by the end of the book to be witty, kind and caring towards her friends and in setting them up with the wrong guys, it just shows that she really has their best interests at heart.” She looked around meaningfully at her friends. “Well, I’m sure that we all know someone like that. By the end of the story, though, everyone ends up with everyone else and Emma learns that the best way to a happy ending is just to follow your heart.”


She sat down, feeling she had made a good point. “Well done,” Adam whispered, kissing her cheek.


“Very well done, Miss French,” said Mr Nathaniel. “Jane Austen herself is recorded to have said “I am going to take a heroine whom no one but myself will much like,” which is pretty much what we see at the start of the novel, with Emma, and yet by the end of it, she appears to reform and become a more sympathetic, misunderstood character. So, let’s turn to the symbolism in the novel...”


Belle smiled to herself, hoping that she had made her point to her friends. However, even when the class was over, they seemed unaffected by her stand.


“Where’s the new girl gonna sleep, anyway?” asked Audrey.


“In our room,” replied Ariel, glumly. “It’s the only one with a spare bed.”


“Oh, great!” sighed Rapunzel.


Adam gave Belle a gentle squeeze. “You tried,” he said, comfortingly.


“They just need to get to know her,” Belle sighed. “She didn’t seem air-headed or selfish, she seemed...bubbly.”


“Maybe you need to get to know her before they do,” Adam suggested.

“That’s brilliant!” Belle exclaimed, seizing him by the front of his shirt. “You’re brilliant!” She kissed him. Adam blinked at her. “Well, if that’s your reaction,” he said, recovering, with a grin, “I’ll try and come up with some more brilliant ideas in future.”


Belle giggled. “Come on, or we’ll be late for Maths.”


Once more, Mr Jafar proved to be a tough master when it came to Maths, and they all left the class with a mountain of homework. Belle, however, wasn’t worried about that. She just kept wondering about when she’d get a chance to talk to Lottie LaBouffe, who hadn’t turned up to any classes just yet, clearly busy settling in.


Her opportunity eventually came when classes were finally done for the day and after dinner. Belle decided to go to the library. She invited Adam, but he told her, with all due respect, that he’d better buckle down to the Maths homework sooner rather than later, since it wasn’t his strongest subject. “Just don’t go falling off any more ladders,” he told her, playfully.


“I’ll try not to,” she replied, “but even if I do, you’ll always catch me, right?”


“Of course,” Adam replied, kissing her.


So, alone, Belle made her way to the library and it was there that she had her first proper encounter with Lottie LaBouffe.


“Hey,” she said.


“Well, hi, there!” grinned Lottie with a friendly smile. “I saw you this morning, didn’t I, but then your friend said you had to get to breakfast!”


Belle smiled. So, she already remembered her face; that was surely a sign of someone who wasn’t selfish? “Well, sorry about that, Meg gets hungry really easily.”


“Ah, that’s ok.”


“I’m Belle.”


“Lottie, nice to meet you.” Lottie grinned, mischievously. “I wish I could have joined in classes today, but Mr Ratcliffe said I ought to get settled first, so I unpacked all my stuff and then I went for an explore.”


“Well, I see you found the library,” Belle smiled.


“Yeah, I was looking for Gone With The Wind, but I forgot who wrote it,” Lottie replied, sheepishly.


“Well, I can help you,” Belle said. “I know my way around the library.”


“Oh, that’d be great,” Lottie replied, with a grin.


“It’s this way,” Belle said, leading her down the bookshelves.


“Cool. So, how long you been going to this school?”


Belle thought back to her first day. “A good few months now.”


“I heard it’s a great place to study.”


“It is. It’s great. The lessons are fun and the other students are...well, they’re great.” Sometimes, she added, privately, in her mind. “We all stick together, look out for each other; like a family.”


“Aw! That sounds so sweet!” Lottie gushed.


“So, what about you?” Belle asked. “What about your background?”


“Oh, not much to tell there, really,” Lottie replied, modestly. “My Daddy owns a sugar plantation; my Mama died when I was a baby, so I never really knew her, but my Daddy did a great job raising me by himself.”


Belle smiled. “My Papa raised me alone too.”


“No way!”


“Seriously! Sorry, go on.”


“Well, like I said, not much to tell. I had a private tutor but I really, really wanted to go to school here and be with other people, you know, mix a little, make friends. So, when a slot opened up here, I took it.”


Belle smiled. “You know something, Lottie, I think you’re going to get by here just fine.”