"Don't. You won't win."
“Yeah, she was pretty cool,” agreed Aladdin, hitching his rucksack onto his shoulder.
“Compared to Mr Frollo, anyone’s cool!” Hercules pointed out.
Belle a dit nothing; she just pressed closer to Adam as he gave her a squeeze and looked over at Flynn over the haut, retour au début of his head. “What’s next; English?”
“Yep!” Flynn sighed. “Romeo and Juliet! Great!”
“Oh, yes!” Belle sighed. “I l’amour Shakespeare!”
“But it doesn’t make sense!” Flynn insisted.
Belle made an indignant noise. “Shakespearean dialect is the easiest language in the world; all he’s doing is making simple dialogue sound beautiful and poetic!”
“Don’t,” Adam a dit as Flynn opened his mouth to argue. “You won’t win.” He kissed the haut, retour au début of Belle’s head. “Trust me.”
“Seriously,” a dit Flynn, looking startled at the mischievous, knowing grin on Belle’s face, “good luck with her, Adam!”
“Hey!” Belle exclaimed, pretending to swat him.
“Oh, ignore him, Belle!” laughed Merrida. “We all know that Flynn Rider’s all mouth and no trousers!”
“Besides we can always drown him for toi if he really gets on your nerves,” added Hercules, grabbing Flynn in a friendly headlock as they started to wrestle in the corridor.
“Men!” sighed Rapunzel, rolling her eyes. And then, to Adam, “No offence.”
“None taken,” he replied, brushing Belle’s hair back from her face.
“Come on, guys, stop mucking around and let’s get to class!” a dit John.
Once plus Belle opted to sit beside Adam. It was nice that the girls were so understanding about her feeling torn between the two. She resolved to try and sit beside them in class the suivant day.
“Sorry, sorry, sorry I’m late,” a dit Mr Nathaniel, hurrying into the room with about two dozen sheets of paper. “Now, Romeo and Juliet; Shakespeare’s most famous pair of tragic lovers. We shall begin with the blunt question – who is to blame for the tragedy par the end of the story? The amoureux themselves? Friar Lawrence? The parents?”
Adam put his hand up. “I’d say Friar Lawrence is the most to blame, Mr Nathaniel. If he hadn’t convinced Romeo and Juliet to sneak around so much behind their parents back...if he had just been the neutral party who had told the parents that their children were in love, maybe things would have turned out differently.”
“Interesting view, Adam,” a dit Mr Nathaniel.
Belle put up her hand. “I’m afraid I disagree, Adam,” she said, turning to him. “If the whole feud hadn’t started in the first place, things might have turned out differently. Romeo and Juliet might have lived.”
“But,” Adam countered, “without the feud, Romeo and his Friends wouldn’t have felt the need to gatecrash the Capulets’ mascarade party in the first place. Romeo and Juliet might never have met.”
“Perhaps,” she agreed, “but then if the parents hadn’t made their children so afraid to tell them about their feelings, well, I still maintain the view that they’re to blame. And Tybalt didn’t exactly help matters par making the feud worse.”
“True.” Adam smiled. He actually enjoyed arguing with her; even though this was plus of a débats than an argument. “Perhaps we should agree to disagree about this.”
“Perhaps,” she agreed, teasingly, looking at Mr Nathaniel. “I think it’s a question with many possible answers, Mr Nathaniel.”
“Well, yes, you’ve both mad very passionate points about the play,” a dit Mr Nathaniel, turning to the blackboard and beginning to write on it. “Of course, had Romeo and Juliet found the courage to run away together when they had the chance, again, things might have worked out differently.”
“But then,” added Rapunzel, putting her hand up, “would the feud have been resolved between the families?”
Mr Nathaniel nodded. “That is the question,” he agreed, tapping the quotation he had written on the blackboard. “Which, but their children’s end, nought could remove,” he said, “meaning that, in Shakespeare’s view, the story couldn’t have ended any other way because only Romeo and Juliet’s deaths could end the feud.”
“I still blame the parents,” Belle murmured to Adam in a sing-song tone.
“I still blame Friar Lawrence,” he countered, s’embrasser her cheek.
She giggled. “As toi said, we shall agree to disagree here.”
The rest of the lesson was spent with the class lire out the first act of Romeo and Juliet and then discussing what was meant par various phrases and terms in the script. par the time class was over, everyone was chattering excitedly and even Flynn seemed to have changed his opinions about the Bard’s work. “Seems toi were right,” he a dit to Belle. “It is pretty easy once toi get the hang of it.”
“Shakespeare wasn’t made to be read,” she told him, “it was made to be seen. Makes plus sense when toi see a play.”
“I l’amour the balcony scene!” sighed Rapunzel, twirling and then stumbling over her hair.
“I’ve had that,” jasmin replied, glanced at Aladdin, who blushed.
“Aw, that’s so romantic!” Rapunzel gushed, and then she tripped over her hair and landed flat on her face.
“Very ladylike,” laughed Flynn, bending down to pick her up. “Seriously, toi need to get this cut, Punzy!”
“Are toi alright?” Belle asked her.
“Oh, fine, it happens all the time,” she said, airily.
“Well,” Meg stretched. “I say we skip dîner here and go down the tavern for a meal! I’m bushed! I think we’ve earned it!”
“Word,” agreed Hercules.
“Yeah, I’m for that,” Aladin said.
“Great!” Meg grinned. “So we’ll all get our glad rags on and meet in say half an hour?”
“Make it one hour,” a dit Rapunzel, gathering up her hair. “I want to plait this.”
“I’ll give toi a hand,” a dit Merrida.
Everyone went their separate ways, apart from Adam and Belle. Belle hesitated. “I was kind of hoping we could do something together tonight. toi know, without the guys; not that I don’t l’amour them, but, well...”
“I know,” Adam smiled. “And I was going to ask if toi wanted to come to dîner with me tonight; just the two of us. I know this great restaurant; quite and cosy.”
Belle smiled. “That sounds wonderful. I’d l’amour to go there with you, Adam.”
“Great.” He kissed her. “I’ll meet toi in half an hour?”
“Half an hour; par the front doors?”
“I’ll be there.”
Belle leaned up and kissed him softly again. “I can’t wait,” she breathed.
“Aw, that’s so sweet!” cooed Snow White when Belle told her Friends about her change of plans. She gave Belle a hug. “I’m so happy for you!”
“Thanks, Snow!” Belle replied.
“What are toi wearing?” asked Meg. “Not your yellow dress again; that’d be way too much for a first date.”
“No, I’m going to wear my rose one,” Belle replied, plucking it from the wardrobe.
“Nice,” grinned Jasmine. “Good luck.”
Half an heure later, Belle skipped merrily down the stairs to meet Adam. He was dressed in a similar outfit than he had worn to the school dance, but somehow it looked plus casual. He smiled at her. “You look lovely, Belle.”
“Thanks, and toi look very...distinguished,” she replied, taking his arm. “So, what is this place called?”
“Well, it’s called Mudka's Meat Hut, but trust me, it isn’t as rough as the name makes it sound, honestly.”
“I trust you.”
She was right to. The restaurant was right at the haut, retour au début of a colline but it looked warm and inviting. Belle leaned against Adam. “It does look cosy,” she agreed.
He slipped his arm around her. “And the food’s really good too.”
The chef, a somewhat daft but kind man named Kronk, served up some wonderful nourriture for them; baked camembert for starters, épinard, épinards puffs with potatoes and beurre for the main and finally chocolat and fraise sundaes for dessert; all alongside some very interesting goyave jus, jus de to drink. It was lovely. It also gave Belle and Adam plus opportunity to talk together than they got in school; and they could touch on subjects that were nothing to do with school whatsoever.
“I think,” a dit Belle as they finally left, “that this has been the most romantic night of my whole life. Thank toi so much, Adam.”
“You’re welcome, Belle.”
There was no one around and so beneath the starlight they kissed, passionately and romantically. Or, at least, they thought that no one was around. From the shadow of a large shady tree, Gaston glared at them. He was still lusting after Belle and now that she was with Adam, he hated the man plus than he already had done. As the amoureux walked back to the school, he watched them with a sneer. “Enjoy it while toi can, Adam,” he muttered, “it’s not going to last much longer for you.”
“It does look cosy.”
