As time passed by a lot quicker than they expected, there was a moment where Melody realized that she was completely alone in one of her last classes of the day. Hercules and Ariel were there, though. She wasn't sure if that was a positive or a negative to the situation at hand, but for once, she had never felt so relieved to see her sister. t

Melody sat next to Ariel, sighing as she was finally relaxing for a brief moment. But of course, Ariel had to ruin it with her pesky, older sister charm.

"Hey, I wanted you to meet my baby sister. You know, the one I've been telling you all about!" As Ariel wrapped her arm over her sister's shoulder, Melody could have sworn that her eyes had popped out of her skull.

Finally, as soon as she regained her breath, Melody noticed some older kids (consisting mostly of girls) she had recognized from her sister's slumber parties. The boys, however, were unrecognizable to Melody. since their father refused to let any boys over without tedious and overbearing supervision and surveillance.

Mulan, a dark haired asian girl who had become a bit of a better influence on Ariel and Melody than the other girls, patted and ruffled her thick head of black hair, knowing fully well Melody admired her for being a skilled fighter, one of the highest in her sword fighting class. She even taught her some moves or so.

"It's nice to see you again, my little zhànshì." Mulan smiled at her, teasing the short girl. "Still as small as a cricket." Melody huffed, fixing her hair as soon as Mulan removed her hand from the top of her head.

"Very funny Mulan." She rolled her eyes, before feeling her cheeks being squeezed by another one of Ariel's friends, whose golden hair trailed down her back and nearly to the floor. Rapunzel, if she remembered correctly.

"She's so cute, Ariel! I remembered when I met her, back when she was so itty bitty and-" Rapunzel trailed off into unintelligible baby talk, as Melody frantically tried to pull her face away from the somehow iron grip of a sophomore.

"You're gonna leave red marks, Rapunzel." Belle, blessed be that sweet girl, pulled Rapunzel's delicate hands away from Melody's pink cheeks from being squished. Melody rubbed her cheeks to cool them down and alleviate the redness.

"Thank you Belle, I owe you one." Melody groans as Belle laughs in return, shaking her head in disbelief.

"Being a friend is enough. We're all very glad to have you here." she patted the younger girls back.

"So, this is the last one, right? No more siblings popping in out of nowhere?" Aladdin joked with her, not entirely sure if he could remember anymore of her sister's names. Eric nudged his shoulder, watching the arabic boy jump.

"Pretty sure she is. She was the one who went to that fancy boarding school, right Ariel?" Eric poked his head up from his book as he looked to Ariel, smiling. Ariel was happy that Eric had always listened to her talk. She was constantly afraid that she was too annoying, her crush on him showing plainly on her ruby cheeks. She nodded enthusiastically, her hair getting in her face.

"Yeah! Melody is the youngest, and the last, of my sisters. Or at least that's the hope." she joked, knowing all too well how hard it was to keep up with how many sisters she had accrued over the years. She could hear Aladdin muttering something akin to 'thank god' though she just rolled her eyes.

"Well then, nice to meet you tiniest sister." Aladdin shook hands with Melody. There was a slight devious amusement in his tone that she wanted to prod at.

"Yes nice to meet you, thief." Melody had recognized him from the many stories she had heard from Ariel's slumber parties. Aladdin rescinded his hand, feeling a tad offended. Ariel snickered a bit, knowing just how defensive he'd become over this.

"Excuse me little miss. You're completely mistaken, I am no thief. I am simply an opportunist." he said with an almost theatrical flair to his tone. Flamboyant and rather comedic, Melody realized. Eric clapped his hands together, smirking as he had remained rather taciturn throughout their interactions.

"Didn't someone watch you yesterday stealing candy from the 7-11 across from school, mister opportunist?" Aladdin blinked and looked at Ariel, a bit dazed by the sudden confrontation.

"Did you snitch on me?" Aladdin pointed to the ginger, but she simply shook her head.

"A good snitch never tells the snitched." she patted her rascally friend, calming him down from the immediate roast, assuring him that neither the teachers or the shopkeep were alerted. Aladdin got down to Melody's level and playfully invoked a challenge between them.

"You're not gonna say anything, right shortstack?" he asked her, though Melody just dumbly grinned.

"If you get me the goods, then my lips are sealed." she had her hand out and Aladdin was hastened aback, not entirely keen on an agreement just yet.

"Not so fast. What kind of goodies do you like?" he questioned. She thought for a moment, before finally responding.

"Cookies. And not that little kid stuff, good ones. The kinds that are soft and easy to chew." 

"That's a tall order, but I can do it. Anything else you want?" he crossed his arms, still whispering close to her face.

"Calling me by my name would be nice." she coyly suggested, smiling up at the towering man. They shook on it and nodded, their mutual underground operation confirmed.

"Deal. You gotta promise you won't tell anybody." he assured her, making it clear this wasn't any funny business.

"Don't tell anyone about what?" she responded, still a bit theatrical, but convincing enough to him. He smiled and pointed to the dark haired sophomore, looking at Ariel.

"I like this one the most."

"You could've given me something out of this deal too, ya' know. You wouldn't know he existed if I wasn't here," Ariel scolded her younger sibling playfully. Melody smiled in response.

"You didn't say anything." Ariel groaned, and playfully pushed her sibling, causing a slew of laughter between the both of them. The dark haired boy sitting beside her sister finally introduced himself.

"I'm Eric, by the way. It's nice to finally meet you. Ariel has told me a lot of embarrassing stuff about you." he shook her hand, and as soon as their eyes officially met, Melody's eyes transfixed. So this is the Eric that her sister would not shut up about. He looked pretty plain to Melody, but she also didn't really find much appeal in boys quite yet.

"Did she? Ariel likes to tell me embarrassing things about you too-!" Ariel clasped her hand over her younger sister's mouth firmly to stop any further information from leaking. Eric, though shocked, still cracked a smile.

"Anyways! Hercules come over here! I want you to meet someone!" Ariel quickly changed gears, pulling Hercules over by his bicep. As soon as Melody's eyes met his, she could tell he wasn't sure of how to speak to her. They've met before this, long before this. Yet neither of them had told anyone.

"We've actually already met before, Ariel." he sang jovially vaguely, trying not to arouse any suspicion.

"We did, now can you stop flashing me around? I'm not a new pet." Melody yanked her head away from Ariel's friends, staring off into the empty abyss of the classroom's cream walls.

"I can't help it. I'm so excited to spend this year with you!" Ariel cooed, starting to rub her baby sister's cheeks with the palms of her soft hands.

"Don't make me tell everyone about your secret journal and the love letters-" Though before she could continue, Melody had her mouth covered once again.

"This year will be interesting, huh?" Aladdin asked Hercules, nudging his side. He looked at him, watching that blissful stare he had, directed at the young jet black sophomore.

"Yeah, it sure will be." he agreed with him, an airy mysticism is left in traces of his voice. He could tell Melody hadn't changed a whole lot since they last saw each other, except for the fact she was a little sassier than before. As he watched the sisters squabble, he chuckled, hoping he would be able to get to know who she had evolved into since their last interaction.

"How can she carry this thing?It's full of bricks!" Aladdin lifted up Melody's backpack, realizing she had somehow forgotten it before leaving for her other class. But none of the boys were too sure where she would be.

"Maybe we could see if any of her sisters know?" Eric suggested, shrugging a shoulder.

"It's her first day, do you think they really know her schedule yet?" Aladdin rolled his eyes at the thought. Hercules was settled and ready to leave for his next scheduled class, although he caught eyes with Jim, who was going the same direction he was. He turned himself around and opened his empty hand, asking for Melody's backpack.

"I know someone who can bring her stuff back." He smiled, and Aladdin gladly released the overfull knapsack. Hercules strode off, easily carrying both of their things. Both of his friends stared at him as he sauntered away, puzzled by his willingness to help. He was always friendly, but this was too friendly, even for him.

"Is it just me, or is he acting weirder than usual today?" Aladdin asked the dark haired boy beside him. He nodded in agreement, as they began walking to their next class.

"He has been since this morning. Remember when we were in gym? I caught him staring at some other students who were sat in the bleachers." Eric recalled as best as he could. "I had to snap him out of it before the teacher scolded him."

"Do you know who was there, though?"

"No I couldn't get a good look, but I'm assuming it was her maybe." He shrugged at Aladdin, not remembering the specifics, despite it only having been hours earlier.

"What do you mean, her?" Milo, an old friend who just butted into their conversation, asked as the other boys sat down.

"Some people at the-" he stopped himself. "I'll explain everything later." he hesitated to even utter a word to anyone, since everyone knew Hercules well.

"Okay...?" Milo pushed his face back into his book.

"Hey Jim?" The brunet looked up to see the tall silhouette of Hercules with Melody's backpack slung over his shoulder.

"Her first day here, and she already forgot her backpack. How adorable." Jim thought to himself.

"Yeah?" he raised his eyebrow to the tall ginger haired boy.

"Melody was in my class, and she forgot some of her stuff. I thought since you're friends with her you might be able to return it to her?" Hercules handed the backpack over to the smaller boy Jim snatched away Melody's bag, trying not to come off as aggressive.

"I'll be sure to give it back to her." His voice had traces of venom.

"Great." Hercules wandered off, sitting with his typical group of friends. Jim just observed him, like a predator watching prey

'I could be wrong about him, but then why was Melody being weird about the subject?' He thought to himself as the class started whirring into motion, and voices started dying down. Little did he know, there was a small note hidden in the main pocket of her backpack

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"He did what?" Jane nearly choked on her food as Sam opened her fizzy drink. They were in the gymnasium's bleachers for lunch again.

"He tried to challenge me, but as soon as he realized I was stronger than him, he bailed." She shrugged, taking a long sip of the artificial orange drink. Jane let loose a long sigh, groaning in detestment.

Melody read the letter she had received from the shield of her backpack. None of her friends could read from her not-so-impenetrable shield. She finally perked her head up as she heard her name. She looked over and from the comfort of the bleachers, she managed to spot Aladdin.

"Did you get me what I asked for?" She teased him, and he handed her the 12 pack of cookies.

"There ya' go, you street rat." He threw his hands into his pockets and started down the metallic steps.

"Why thank you sir." she mocked opening the plastic box and munching down on one of the sweet, soft cookies.

"How'd ya' know they'd be there?" Aladdin asked Hercules as they exited the gym.

"We've talked to them before, remember?" Hercules tried to jog his friend's memory. "Last year the blonde girl -Sam I think- we had to keep her from clawing Gaston's eyes out."

"Oh yeah! Now I remember! She's the one who kinda looks like a dude with long hair." Aladdin started laughing. Hercules nodded his head. "Hopefully there won't be anything like that this year.".

"Who knows," Hercules shrugged. With this school, you could never be certain.

Melody crept into the bathroom, if nothing more than to just isolate herself a bit more. Closing one of the open stalls, she pulled the letter out from within the contents of her backpack. She knew it was from Hercules, which made her all the more hesitant to take down his phone number. All he said was that he wanted to start talking to her again, but she was nervous. What was there even for either of them to talk about? It had been years since they had seen or heard from one another. Did they still have the same interests as they had all those years ago? He was still courteous enough to remember how much she hated speaking in person, which is why he gave her his number in the first place, so she was at least thankful for that.

She wasn't trying to avoid him at all, it was just difficult for her to communicate with others. She had missed him, she was sure of that, but she wasn't quite sure she could forgive his actions quite yet.

'It would be nice if he finally apologized... Then again, I don't even know who was at fault.' Melody chewed the skin of her thumb, pacing back and forth in the small stall of the bathroom. Giving in, she punched his digits into her phone. It couldn't hurt to have it in there, right? As she left towards the bleachers, she began shuffling to force the letter back into her pack, hoping no one would notice. In a flash, she felt someone familiar . Melody squeals jovially, trying to wiggle away from him as he kissed her cheek.

"Jim! People will get suspicious!" She wiggled a big, only making him hug her harder.

"They think that I'm in the library finding a book on astrology again. We have plenty of time together." He kissed her again. They had been 'secretly dating' for a while. Unofficially together for the past three and a half months, though they were certain some people could already tell they were cuddlier than they used to be. The only reason they hadn't said anything yet was because they weren't entirely sure how to bring it up to their family and friends. But soon, they would finally say something, even if everyone already knew.

"I guess having a moment alone with you wouldn't be so bad. Considering you're my secret girlfriend and all." she finally stopped her wriggling at the mention of , cuddling her head into his chest, and an unusual bliss overcoming her. It was nice knowing they'd have more time alone like this. Jim rested his chin atop her head, his nose pressed into the soft mass of black hair. Now that she wasn't in that cramped boarding school, their time together was exponentially higher.

"Mel, you know I want to say something."

"I know, I heard you the first hundred times. You just wanted to wait 'til you can find the right time and words. Those were your words, right?" She teased him. She was still well under the impression this was just like being friends but with the added bonus of kissing and cuddling. Though from the romantic films playing at the cinemas, she felt a little underprepared. Was she doing this right? Were they supposed to be doing more than just this? Jim planted a kiss on her delicate hands, caressing his own warm fingers against her cheek.

"Well, yeah. But I don't mind saying something if you want something said." He admitted, shrugging his shoulders. He wanted her comfort, first and foremost. This was her decision and no one else's. She nodded her head slowly, cuddling more into his warm chest.

While standing together, neither had noticed the nosy blonde in their loving embrace. She had caught them mid passing, shrugging it off as another highschool fling. Though she pondered for a brief second as to why it would be in such a private place. Possible answers breached her thoughts, though she rather quickly shook them off, heading to her class in a hurry to be early.

"You're acting weird today, dude. What's eating at you?" Eric finally broke the silence, midway through his sandwich. Hercules perked up, having just toyed around with the grapes from his lunch bag, and a bit shaken from the sudden confrontation of his friend. He smiled and shrugged, attempting to diffuse suspicion as quickly as possible.

"It's a long first day, you now? New school year, new classmates, new activities. Just a case of first day jitters, probably." Maybe if he lied about it, he'd eventually believe it too.

"You've got a point, I guess." Jack, another friend of the boys, said, taking another crunching bite of his apple. As soon as he swallowed, wiping the sticky residue from his face, he spoke up again. "Why don't we go to the new burger place by my house? I think it's called, like 'Lamb Hotel' or something. Could be fun, especially for our first day of school."

"How much is it?" Aladdin asked, folding his arms.

"I've heard it's a steal. Plus, there might be cute girls there."

"Doesn't that mean there are more crowds? You know how I feel about being surrounded by people," Eric groaned resting his chin on the cafeteria table.

"Come on. Let's get this little fish out of water for a bit.." Jack rested his hands behind his head, leaning back in his chair. "Besides, I heard Ariel might come."

Aladdin groaned loudly, certain he knows the progression that's about to come..

"Go on." Eric sat up straight from his seat, ushering him to continue with his hand, still a bit hesitant. Jack smirked and started up again.

"I heard her friends will be there. Sisters too. Gotta have the whole gang there, don't they?"

"All of her friends?" Aladdin leaned forward now, his own eyebrow quirked.

"If you're asking about Jasmine, then yes, she was mentioned." Both boys looked to one another, agreeing to go, nodding in solidarity. They looked over to Hercules who was once again distracted by the fascinating set of red grapes in his backpack.

"Are you coming with, Hercules?" Aladdin nudged the large boy back into the situation at hand. He smiled, agreeing in part to their rather abrupt invitation.

"I don't see why not! I'll meet you mutts there."