Walt E. Disney High

Chapter 18

MOANA

The next morning, Rapunzel and I had to get up early to hop a bus to San Diego. I had barely thought about the dance competition the whole night -- we'd been a little preoccupied.

Too soon for comfort, Rapunzel's alarm went off at five am. "Turn it off," Anna groaned, turning in her bed. Ariel remained fast asleep, exhausted from last night's ordeal. Rapunzel hurriedly stopped the noise and hopped out of bed. I did too, nerves already churning in my stomach.

I quickly changed into my bus outfit: black leggings, Uggs, a rust turtleneck, and a cream drape thing to put over my shoulders. I grabbed my suitcase and my garment bag that held my costumes, and then went to brush my teeth and wash my face. In record time, Rapunzel and I were out the door, quietly heading down to the lobby.

On the way through the hall, we saw Iridessa trying desperately to be silent as she struggled to close the door over all her suitcases. "Hey, Des!" we called, startling her.

"Oh, hey guys," she said, finally closing the door and locking it.

"You know, we're only going for a night," Rapunzel said lightly, giggling at the amount of packing the girl did.

"Yeah... I just get really anxious if I don't have everything I think I need," she said, chuckling. I smiled. Iridessa was a very anxious person, it was going to be interesting to see how she dealt with dancing on stage.

We arrived in the lobby with Vanessa, Esme, Tiger, Nala, Adella, Marian, Kida, Charlotte, Eilwony, Anastasia, and Ms. T waiting. Milo our team coordinator was there too, with a clipboard and checking people's names off. "All right, that's everybody!" he said happily as the three of us approached.

"Fab! Is everyone ready? Got your costumes?" Ms. T asked, and we all nodded. "Let's go!"

We filed out, getting our luggage put in the storage part of the bus. We walked on. It was pretty fancy; the seats looked comfortable, there were TVs on the back of each one, and there was cool lighting down the aisle. Punz and I immediately got seats together, and I settled in, placing a pillow on the window to rest against.

When I woke up, everyone was standing and moving to get off the bus. "Are we here already?" I asked tiredly, rubbing my eyes.

Rapunzel laughed. "Yep. You slept the whole time. Welcome to San Diego!"

As we walked off the bus, Rapunzel leaned in to whisper to me. "You missed it — Vanessa has been hitting on Milo this entire time."

"What?" I softly shrieked in surprise. "Is she serious? She made it very clear last night that she 'belonged' to Eric."

"I know, right? It's really gross." We gathered our stuff and walked across the parking lot to the entrance of the hotel.

"All right, girls — and Milo," Ms. T announced as we gathered around her. "I'm sorry to say this, but we have room assignments. Adella, Tiger, Kida are together. Eilwony, Charlotte, Marian room together. Anastasia, Iridessa, Nala are in another. And finally Vanessa, Punzie, Moana. That leaves Esmeralda and Milo together. All right everyone? Now go to your rooms and get ready to leave for the stage."

Rapunzel and I gasped loudly. We were with Vanessa! "This cannot be happening," I groaned, rubbing my temples. "Ms. T! There is no way that we are rooming with Vanessa. We have some, um, really bad situations with her from recently. Can we please switch with someone?"

She made a face of regret as she passed out room cards. "Sorry girls. Unless you can find someone who wants to trade, which will be extremely hard, you're stuck."