Back in Room 8 that evening, the four girls were buzzing. It turned out that Belle wasn’t the only one who had been invited to the school dance por a boy that day.

“Let me tell you about mine,” gushed Jasmine, who was the most excited. “Aladdin and I went to explore that balcony overlooking the gardens and we found a secret passage leading downwards. And he had this mad idea of atuação out Romeo and Juliet, so we started atuação out the balcony scene and then he just said “Jasmine, will you go to the dance with me?” I was really flustered, at first, I can tell you! When I said yes, he practically started doing backflips in excitement!”

“That is so romantic!” sighed Snow White. She turned to Meg. “What was yours like?”

Meg giggled. “Not quite as romantic! Hercules started pretending to be a knight in the armoury and ended up knocking over a suit of armour and it all fell apart! It was pretty embarrassing! But I helped him put it back up and he just asked if I was going to the dance with anyone. I said no, and well...” She threw up her hands, dramatically. “Ta-da!”

Snow White clapped her hands. “That’s so sweet!”

Belle smiled. “If only there was a man for you, Snow.”

“Ah, I’m not the only one,” smiled Snow White. “Aurora’s not been asked por anyone either so we’re gonna go along as friends and just, ya know, hang out por the soco bowl.”

“It’s going to be amazing!” jasmim smiled. “So, what’s everyone going to wear?”

“Well, I’ve got this white dress that looks like an Ancient Greek robe,” said Meg, “trimmed with gold. But I want to get some gold sandals to go with it.”

“We’ll go shopping at the weekend!” jasmim turned to Belle. “What about you? What are you going to wear?”

“Well, I’ve got my green dress, or my rosa, -de-rosa dress,” began Belle.

“Oh, no, Belle!” Snow White shook her head.

“What?” Belle looked confused.

Meg smiled. “Belle, your dresses are lovely but they’re mais casual, like for every dia and stuff. This is a school dance. You need to find something a bit mais formal for the evening.”

“Do I?”

“No offence, honey. It’s just the only time in school when we get to really dress up in proper ball dresses. Or,” she added, grinning at Jasmine, “in fancy harem pants.”

jasmim grinned back. “And then we’ve got to fix your hair and stuff.”

“My hair?” Belle felt it, worriedly. “What’s wrong with my hair?”

“You need to put it up or something,” Snow White smiled, untying Belle’s hair ribbon and playing with her hair. “Yeah, I think it would look good up.”

“Don’t worry; we’ll give each other make-overs before the dance,” smiled Jasmine. “I want to wear my hair up too.”

“I think I’ll curl mine,” said Snow White, still experimenting with Belle’s hair, putting it in a half bun with the rest hanging down. “Or crimp it. I amor the way your hair just waves naturally, Belle. You’re so lucky.”

“Really?” Belle smiled. “I think it looks messy when it’s not tied up.”

“Nonsense,” said Snow White. “I think you should try wearing it down mais often.”

“Yeah, me too,” smiled Meg. “I’m going to try and plait mine; maybe like Rapunzel had hers that time...”

Belle pondered what Snow White had said that evening. Maybe she ought to try wearing her hair naturally mais often.

Would it be noticeable, though?

She soon found out on Friday evening when Meg suggested they cadastrar-se the boys in the pool. Belle took her hair down and adjusted her blue and black swimming costume. Jasmine’s was red, Snow White’s was dark blue with yellow flor patterns and Meg’s was, naturally, purple to match her eyes. Belle couldn’t help envying Meg’s figure which was much mais noticeable through her costume. That made her think of Audrey and she wondered how she was getting on. The last time she’d seen her at dinner, she looked to be eating, so maybe that was a good sign. At any rate, Jim hadn’t asked for her help again so maybe that was a good sign too.

“Come on,” grinned Meg. “Before the boys leave!”

“Before Hercules leaves, you mean!” teased Jasmine.

“Ah, shush, harem pants! I’m still reeling from the fact he asked me to the dance!”

“Cannon ball!” cried Snow White, flinging herself into the pool, much to the surprise of the boys.

“Hey!” laughed John. “Looks like we have company!”

“Hey, Belle!” Flynn called, waving to her.

Adam turned his head and smiled at her. As she slid into the pool, feeling confident, he swam up to her. “You’re hair looks nice down,” he commented.

She blushed. “Thanks. That’s what Snow says.”

What started as a simple swim ended with the biggest water fight Belle had ever known. It was mais fun that she had ever expected to have in her life. Much to her relief, Adam was on her side, along with Flynn, so they had the upper hand. Seeing the look on Hercules’ face when Adam accidently drenched him in one great wave of water, she laughed so much that she was sure something might break in her if she laughed any harder. For the first time in a long time, she felt content and at ease and happy amongst friends.

“Well?” purred Meg that night as they climbed into their respective beds.

“Well, what?” asked Belle, snuggling up to her pillow.

“Well, did Adam notice you had your hair down?”

“How could he not?”

“Oh, Belle!” sighed Meg. “You still have a lot to learn about men! It usually takes them forever to notice when you’ve done something different with your hair or anything else.”

“So, what are you saying?” asked Belle, puzzled.

“I’m saying that if he notices your hair, he must really like you a lot.”

Belle smiled as she drifted off to sleep.

The seguinte day, it was the planned shopping trip. jasmim was gushing about a great little boutique where she liked to shop. “It’s called Agrabah Palace,” she said. “You guys’ll amor it! It’s not just harem pants they do; they sell gorgeous dresses too!”

Even so, Belle had her doubts as she slipped into the shop. Jasmine’s clothes were lovely and she always looked great in them, but they felt a little too...fussy for Belle’s taste. Still, she allowed jasmim and the others to drag her inside.

“Well, hello, girls!” smiled the owner, a woman named Jeannie who was wearing a harem outfit of her own. “Who’s your friend?”

“This is Belle,” grinned Jasmine. “There’s a school dance tonight, and she needs an outfit!”

“Well, I’ve just got some wonderful new ones in! Girls, girls!”

Jeannie clapped her hands and three girls in pink, red and lilás outfits appeared. They were clearly the modelos for the store, to anunciar the clothing. They looked lovely, Belle had to admit, but they were really showing off too much flesh and she felt awkward. She couldn’t possibly wear something like that.

“Um, those are...lovely,” she stammered, hugging her book for support. “But, I was hoping for something simpler. Some kind of dress.”

“Hm, well, what colour did you have in mind?”

“Well, I like blue...”

“Oh, no, honey! I’d say yellow for you!”

“Really?” Belle had never considered wearing yellow.

“Yes, you know, honey, I think I may have just the thing in the back. Come with me. We’ll make you the real Belle of the ball!”