Young Writers Society

**Claire's dress

Claire

Claire shivered in her wet gown, carefully avoiding the stares of he other kids. Out of the corner of her eyes, Claire could see many raised eyebrows. Claire fought to keep herself from blushing. It wasn't Claire's style to return to where she had just stormed away from.

"What's going on?" came Crokk's voice from the direction of the tree house that had sprung up in the clearing overnight. Claire turned her gaze on him, coolly.

"This is Avie," Claire said crisply, gesturing to the new girl. "She's one of us. I thought it would be best for her to come here to get dry clothes and food. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm changing out of this dress."

Claire gathered herself up as regally as she could and climbed up into the tree house. She glanced around and, upon finding the bedroom, flung open a large wardrobe. There was a small blue dress hanging limply inside. Claire rolled her eyes and snatched it. She locked the bedroom door carefully and changed out of her wet dress quickly. The new dress was much simpler, and Claire was overjoyed to find her old glasses tucked into the front lacing. Claire didn't allow herself much time to think on how her glasses had gotten there.

Claire moved to open the door. She pulled the door aside, and jumped when she saw Calcifer standing outside of the bedroom door, leaning against the door frame. Claire gathered up her dignity quickly.

"I see you came back," drawled Calcifer. Claire glared at him.

"Yes, I did," Claire replied shortly. "To help Avie."

"And you were cold, wet, and hungry," retorted Calicifer. Claire pursed her lips, but didn't say anything.

"Still think we aren't trapped in a storybook?"

Claire scowled. "I'm not giving up. I will find a way home." Calcifer rolled his eyes.

"You are impossible," he scoffed irritably. Claire put her hands on her hips.

"I am improbable," she said coolly. "From what I understand, character in these stories often act like mindless sheep. I am not a sheep. I will do what I need to in order to get home quickly."

"Which would be the portal, from the sounds of it."

"Possibly. Which is why I'll be staying with you people. But don't expect me to believe any of this hogwash. I'm almost certain I'm dreaming. Obviously my mind won't let me wake until I've completed some task."

Calcifer smirked at her. Claire looked up at him irritably. The look on Calcifer's face clearly suggested that he did not believe what Claire was saying.

Avie-

Some guy walked out of the giant tree house Claire had brought me to. "I'm Avie. Um, I guess this is a dream or something, but I've been told that this is all a book that I got sucked into. Cinderella. I hit my head when I fell in. Apparently. I just woke up a while ago. And I'm cold, tired, and hungry, and feeling extremely conspicuous. Where did you guys get all these old-fashioned clothes and stuff?" I wondered. I looked around at all the people who had come outside. "Who are you all, anyway?"

Sabine

"Hello there, Avie!" I beamed at the short haired girl and enthusiastically shook her hand. She gave me a weird look, but said nothing. "I'm Sabine, and this is Ryan," I said cheerily, pointing over to where he was sitting, his blond hair tousled, eying the wardrobe. He groaned at the mention of his name and muttered something about wanting changing his tunic and him looking like an idiot. I giggled, and blushed when he looked my way and stuck his tongue out at me. I couldn't help but think that he looked adorable in that tunic with his gorgeous emerald eyes... Sabine! This is wrong! I mentally scolded myself. Stop daydreaming about him! He's just a boy.

Natalie looked over from the wooden table in the center and waved her hand. "I'm Natalie, and this is Kelsey," she said while plopping into one of the chairs. Kelsey stumbled out of the bedroom on cue, her messy orange hair covering her eyes. "Good morning," she yawned, dragging her teddy bear behind her to the table. Crokk merely nodded at her and said his name. Jessie smiled shyly at Avie and said, "I'm Jessie." Calcifer smirked and sprawled himself on the sofa. "I'm Calcifer," he drawled, tilted his head towards the bedroom door, "I see you have had the honour of meeting our resident scientist!" Claire blushed and sat down beside Natalie. "What are we going to eat?" she asked, ignoring my stare.

Crokk ignored her in return, and said, "I think Avie should change her clothes first, or she'll get a cold." It was true, so I took her to the wardrobe. There was another peasant dress inside, and I left her to her devices after showing her where the bathroom was.

I returned to the living room where everyone else were moaning about their empty stomach. Natalie kept staring at the note we found on the wooden table the day before, and crinkled her eyebrows together. She suddenly looked up from the note and caught my eye. I went over and asked her was she was doing. "Remember to be polite to the furniture!" she read and pointed at the sentence. "Do you think it means that the table can give us whatever we want like Jean-Louis as well?"

Claire asked, "Who's Jean-Louis?" "You'll know soon enough." Natalie replied evasively. I thought for a moment, and said, "It's possible." I bent down and stroked the table. It seemed to have a life of its own and for a second, I thought it purred. I hesitated, and whispered, "Henri, can you please give us some brunch? We're very hungry." I could hear Claire and Natalie gasp and the others' slight intakes of breath. I stood up and I was amazed by the glorious sight: nine plates had magically appeared on the table. There was a yellow plate, a red one, a brown one, a pink one, an orange one, a black one, a blue one...

Then I realised that the plates were all coloured in our hair colours, so I sat on the chair in front of the pink plate. On it had all of my favourite food --- some waffles, some scrambled eggs, fried potatoes, a few slices of ham and some baked beans --- and judging from the faces of the others, they were pretty pleased with their breakfast too. "Thank you, Henri!" I said and patted the wooden table. Claire said in a condescending tone, "You named the table Henri?" I grinned at her and nodded. Before Claire could say anything else, everyone had sat in front of their respective plates and had started thanking Henri. Claire sniffed and rolled her eyes. "Guys, this is just a dumb tab---"

Henri suddenly had Claire's fork fly to her throat. She started screaming and I scolded the table, 'Don't do that to her, Henri! She doesn't really mean it." The fork drifted in front of me, as if Henri was asking, "Really?" "Of course she doesn't mean it --- right, Claire?" Everyone turned their heads to look at her. She spluttered something that I couldn't hear, and squeaked, "Yes."

The fork landed beside Claire's plate. Without uttering a single word, we all started to eat in silence, gobbling up our decilious breakfast until Avie asked, "So what are we going to do next?"

Jessie
"So what are we going to do next?" Avie asked. We all looked around at each other and nodded. I thought it would be rude to break the silence after Avie's questions, so I just carried on munching down on the delicious food like everyone else. Claire obviously wasn't as patient as us so she just blurted out,

"What are we going to do! Eating breakfast is all good and well, and stupid Henri," she stoppe. All of the food on her plate had vanished. Frowning, she got up and put her hands on her hips.

"What do I do now?" She asked, everyone shrugged, not caring one bit. I thought that I'd speak up, though it could have horrible consequences.

"Umm... You could... uh, You could say sorry to the table," I said. She eyed at me, then her expression changed to a smile. She sat back down with the knife and fork in hand.

"Um, sorry I was so rude, can I have my food back?" She very reluctantly asked. The rest of her food reappered on the plate. She ate quietly for the rest of the meal.

"I guess after this we should see where the Prince is at with finding who the shoe belongs to," Ryan suggested. We all nodded, even Avvie, someone had to explain to her what was going on. I couldn't do it though, shyness has got the better of me!

((Guys, I'm gonna be gone until Friday. Just letting everyone know. Just assume that Natalie and Kelsey are staying with the group.))

**Okay, Crokk. Also, I'm speeding this up a bit.**

Ryan

Everyone nodded in agreement at what I said and, after changing, we all set out to find the prince. When we all walked outside, though, we saw a carriage with two white horses pulling up to Cinderella's house. I turned to the group and ruffled my hair.
"That must be the prince," I half whispered. Sabine nodded.
"Yes, I remember that carriage from the book. So, what do we do now?"
"We'll need to wait outside until he fits the shoe on Cinderella's foot. Afterwards, we'll just walk in and the portal should be opened." Crokk walked forward, tugging on his suit in discomfort.
"Yes, but how do we know when to walk in," he said before coughing a bit. I watched as Natalie quickly looked towards him before settling.
"We can just peek in through the door," Calcifer offered. I nodded and looked over my shoulder. The prince was now getting out of the carriage, glass slipper in hand.
"Well," I started, "let's go." I smiled before slowly walking towards the front doors.

Crokk

We started towards Cinderella's house. Looking over, I noticed traces of blush still on Sabine's cheeks. It's weird, she does that every time Ryan does something like smile. I shrugged and tugged again on the collar of my "suit". Can't I just have my normal clothes from home? We made it to the doors just in time to catch them before they shut completely.
"Now it's just a matter of time," Jessie sighed. I nodded in response and put my head in my hands. Glancing over, I watched as Natalie tried to calm Kelsey, who was bouncing all over the place. I smiled and watched her red hair flowing in the wind. I wonder if it's as soft as it looks... I opened my eyes wide and quickly shook the thought away. What's wrong with me? Maybe I was getting sick again. Yeah, that's a good enough excuse for those thoughts.

Avie-

This was the weirdest dream ever. Well,at least it had good food. And now, we were off. I smoothed out my new dress. The prince, or that's who they said he was, went into the house bearing a glass slipper. This was near the end of the story, if I remembered correctly. But... what happened when it ended? We peeked through the door. Naturally, I was near the back. Just my luck. I couldn't see a thing. What would happen, I wondered, if I were to walk in? Would the story change? This was a dream,though. So it wouldn't matter, would it? Pushing through, I opened the door all the way and stepped in. A collective gasp went up behind me. The prince looked up. He was holding a slipper, about to place it on a pretty but poor-looking girl's foot. I got the feeling I was messing something up. Big time. "Um... sorry. Um... didn't mean to disturb anyone. Do continue, please." I said. The prince shrugged, and placed the slipper on the girl's foot. It fit perfectly. He looked up, and realization dawned on his face. He helped her up and smiled. Suddenly, a hole formed in midair, like a tear in a piece of paper. Everything faded except for that.
The door behind me opened. "What the heck has that, Avie? Are you out of your mind?" Crokk asked. I grinned. "This is the best bloody dream ever!" I yelled, and jumped into the portal.

Sabine

We all followed Avie and rushed through the portal --- and landed on some grass. I looked around and Claire said in dismay, "Not the woods again!" We were surrounded by oaks and pine trees. I took out Jean-Louis and opened him. The others all gathered around and peered in the little red box. There was another note inside. Crokk took it out and read, "Hooray! Congratulations, my dearest friends / On leaving Cindy's happily-ever-after / But this adventure has not yet come to an end / Remember to follow the sound of laughter."

He looked up and we all strained to hear laughing noises, but to no avail.

Crokk

The landing knocked the breath out of me, it actually took a few moments before I could see straight again.
"Ouch," I murmured. After rubbing my side, I stood up and stretched. "Where are we now," I asked the rest. They all shrugged and recovered from the fall.
"Well, it looks like were in a forest," replied Jessie. I turned to glare at him.
"Oh really," drawled Ryan, "thanks for the update." I rolled my eyes at them as they started bickering and walked around the edge of the clearing we were in. Just below the sounds of the two fussing, I could hear a faint noise.
"Wait, guys, shh!" The noises cut off and I listened closer. It sounded like-
"Singing," chimed in Kelsey. I turned and smiled at her.
"Yes it is," I said while nodding,
"We should follow the noise," Calcifer started, "it might be the next fairytale character." Natalie nodded and Claire rolled her eyes.
"I agree," said Selene while smiling. With that, we all started off.

Jessie

I felt that we were getting through this adventure quite quickly. As we delved deeper into the woods we heard singing, I thought that it seemed very familiar. From a movie I watched recently...

"Heigh ho, heigh ho!" The singing got louder and louder, I knew what story it was going to be next. Seven dwarves were a sitting on logs.
There was Bashful, who had a very long beard. He wore a brown top, had a green hat and extremely long eyelashed.
Doc sat next to him, who had a red tunic, a brown hat and glasses. Hiis berd was shorter than Bashful's by far.
Then came Dopey, looking around aimlessly. He wore a green tunic, a purple hat and had the biggest ears I'd ever seen. Next to him sat Grumpy, with his arms folded and a frown on his face, his beard was like Bashful's. He wore a red tunic and a brown hat.
Then came Happy, he was clapping his hands and bouncing about. Yes, you've guessed it, he had a smile on his face. He wore a brown top and an orange headpiece.
Next was Sleepy, he had a green top, a blue hat and very,very heavy eyelids.
The last was sneezy, who had a short beard and wore a brown jacket, orange headpiece, red nose.

Natalie and Kelsey Greene

Kelsey let out a high-pitched squeal, and Natalie hurriedly pressed a hand over the girl's mouth. "Shh," she said quietly.

Then Kelsey licked her hand.

Natalie yelped and drew her hand away, scowling as she wiped her hand on her dress. "Kelsey, that was immature and uncalled for!"

"You started it," she said smugly, tossing her teddy bear in the air and catching it again.

Natalie scowled at her, then glanced up at the dwarves, who seemed to be noticing them.

Sabine

Doc peered at us, his spectacles shining in the afternoon sun. "Who are you people?" "You're not here for Snow, all you?" Grumpy snarled and frowned. "Yes and no," Crokk said smoothly, "We're here to accompany her to her happily ever after." All of the seven dwarves looked at us appraising, waiting for us to say more. "Can you take us to meet her?" Kelsey asked meekly, and all of the dwarves nodded, even Grumpy, who was still scrutinising us. "Follow me, fair maidens and knights!" Happy giggled and bounced forwards. Dopey pranced after him and we all follow suit.

We passed through the woods and into a small clearing where there was a little cottage. A sweet voice drifted through the slightly dusty windows, and Sneezy called out, "We're back!" A young girl about my age with midnight black hair in a yellow summer dress stepped out and smiled. "Hello!" she said cheerily. "I'm Snow White, and these are my friends!" Bashful blushed and muttered something incomprehensible. Calcifer snorted at Bashful's actions, while Ryan guffawed. Again, I blushed but this time I noticed Crokk looking my way. Oh my, I gasped inwardly, what if he knows of my stupid obsession with Ryan?

Doc and Snow White beckoned us and told us to come inside. All of us crowded inside the little cottage. There was honestly very little room for us to stand, much less to sit down and talk, so I invited them to come up to our treehouse. "You have a treehouse?" Dopey asked excitedly. Jessie nodded. "Come on," I laughed and led them out of the cottage. Natalie asked Jean-Louis for the treehouse, and we all climbed up to our home for tea.