Family and Protection

Chapter 8: Emotional Education

Third period was now starting. The day was going by faster than they had expected. Jacey was heading to her third-period class, which was Physical Education. She was pretty excited about this class; she loved all things sports and athletics. She was one of the most athletic kids at the orphanage.

After asking someone for directions to the gym, Jacey finally arrived to her class. There were a whole bunch of other freshmen girls in her class. "Hey," Jacey said getting a girl's attention, "who's our teacher for this class?"

"You don't know?" the girl asked. The girl seemed to have a Scottish accent and had red-curly hair. Jacey shook her head. The girl seemed to get it now. "Are you one of those orphan girls I heard King Ben invited here?" Jacey nodded. "Well, that makes sense. Anyway, our teacher is Lonnie. You know, the daughter of Mulan."

"Daughter of Mulan? Really?" Jacey asked in excitement. "Mulan's only one of the coolest people ever! She single-handedly saved all of China. She also beat the odds that not all soldiers needed to be men! I can't believe her daughter is my PE teacher!"

"She's also married to Jay, which is the son of Jafar. Don't be fooled by the fact he's the son of a villain. He's actually quite nice. He's the PE coach for the boys." Jacey nodded with the information she was just given. "Oh silly me," the girls said. "Where are my manners? What's your name?"

"Oh, my name is Jacey."

"Hey, Jacey! My name is Mallory. If you couldn't tell by my looks and my accent, my grandmother is Merida."

"Wow really?" Jacey asked. Mallory nodded with pride. "That's so cool."

"Hello class," Lonnie said walking into the room with a clipboard. "As you must know, I am your PE coach. I am Lonnie, and I can't wait to spend this year with you girls. Just know one thing: just because you are a girl doesn't mean you can't do any of these sports. With that being said, tourney tryouts are right around the corner. Either one of you could be the rare chance of a girl being on the team."

"I so want to join," Mallory said with excitement. "You should try out too! I mean, if that's something that you would like to do."

"Are you kidding?" Jacey said. "I've always wanted to be on a tourney team!"

"Okay," Lonnie said. "I'm going to take attendance now." Lonnie went down the list of girls in the class. At a certain point, she stopped. The class seemed to notice Lonnie's pause.

"Um, Mrs. Lonnie," a girl asked getting Lonnie's attention. "Are you going to continue?"

Lonnie regained her attention. "Right," she said a little nervously. "J-Jacey?"

"Here," Jacey said raising her hand and smiling confidently.

"That smile," Lonnie thought to herself as she laid eyes on Jacey. She had remembered that little smile.

Lonnie cleared her throat as she brought herself back to reality. "So, because it is the first day of school, we won't be doing anything 'physical'. Let's just introduce ourselves and relax for today."

Most of the girls were relieved by that comment. "This school really is filled to the brim with petty princesses," Jacey thought to herself. She looked at Mallory. She was a princess, but she was definitely a tomboy. First Allen, and now Mallory? Was Jacey really making new friends quickly? She wondered if the other three were making new friends as well. Of course, her new friends could never replace her old friends though.

The class sat in a circle with each girl introducing herself. They had to say their name, who their parents were, what their favorite color was, and what they wanted to achieve in life. Most of the girls said stuff like that they wanted to become a perfect princess. Every few girls had genuine answers for what they wanted to do in life.