From Little Girls in the Big City to Big Girls in the Little City

Mulan was pissed. But, like Josh would point out, anger is simply a reaction to the experience of other emotions. Really, Mulan was sad, hurt and confused. Her supposed Prince Charming had decided that they couldn't "last through the summer". He didn't want to break up just yet, though, so he set the relationship expiration date at the end of June. Mulan was fully in support of pragmatism, but this was a bit much. It was one thing to carry on a relationship while acknowledging an uncertain future in the distance, but it was quite another to mechanically "date" while marching toward the ETBU. She almost felt like a disposable booty call...only a PG-rated one. 

Aurora was also miffed. (An emotion she experienced on a regular basis.) Although she had been rather impressed with herself and her entourage of options recently, she had just about used all of those options up. Or rather, had realized upon closer examinations that some of those options were not options at all. And so with no immediate entertainment to distract her she fell back into the habit of thinking of Kyle, her second love. Luckily for her-or unluckily, depending on your viewpoint-he hadn't forgotten her either. However, the barriers between them were insurmountable for now. He might miss her and adore her and be the one of the few people able to talk her down when she's upset (an impressive feat), but any future together would be far too distant to do anything but daydream about...and Aurora did not dwell on dreams of any kind. 

Belle seemed to have absorbed all the happiness and good fortune that Aurora and Mulan were unable to. For the second time, things had worked out for her against all odds, causing Ella to shake her head in wonder. Belle was satisfied. For now. But also worried. Because worrying was just what she did. There was a certain skill that she felt she lacked. This skill was supposed to be instinctual, but she was under the impression that it eluded her, and whether or not that was true, the idea that it eluded her would act as a self-fulfilling prophecy. She also didn't want to jinx anything, which she was excessively skilled at. She liked head games, but she didn't like it when her own head started playing games with itself which was an often and disconcerting occurrence. So, she decided to turn her attention away from herself (for once) and towards Ella...and Ella's love life, of course. 

Ella was in a romantic sort of limbo. She had just had one of those cataclysmic moments with a crush that forces you to put them and that embarrassing moment out of your head once and for all. And that left her...bored. Yet, there was someone right in front of her. He just happened to be a friend so oppressively close that she refused to think of him as anything but just that. He gave her what she wanted for sure. And he appeared to have the same interests and tendencies. The two of them were probably even closer than she realized. However, Ella was nothing if not stubborn, and more than anything she hated being told what to do. Too many people had suggested too many times that she give this boy a chance (including the boy himself), and that simply hardened her resolve to not be drawn into any inevitably incestuous relations with him. However, if you took away the incest, forgave some of his forwardness and injected some competition into the mix there may exist a very very small chance that Ella would finally consider the boy as something more than a dependable brother...or not. 

Ariel was much harder to read than all the other princesses. She had an edginess that they could only pretend to attain on late nights aided by volumes of eye liner. In her (non-)contest with Ella she had completely withdrawn from the race in an act so selfless and sisterly that she had to have been born and bred on the West Coast. Ariel's action was even more impressive considering that she had much more of a chance than Ella did with regard to this particular guy. But, no matter. This boy was destined to be forgotten by the both of them. And while the picture was pretty empty for the most part, there was one boy. A silly, naughty boy who needed to be made to follow rules like a child. But a fun, dependable boy nevertheless. It was possible that she would give him a chance...after all, she was nothing if not generous.