Lunch was filled with conversation as Felicia, her brothers, Maris, and T sat together. Felicia couldn't believe she had made not one, but two friends within her first week here, something she knew her dad would be proud of.

"So, are you, like, part mermaid?" Fergus asked Maris.

"Yeah, I am, actually!" Maris untucked a golden necklace from her shirt. Hanging from it was a small, spiraled seashell embellished with gold. "This was my mom's. When I get in a body of water, I can turn into a mermaid. If I take it off, I'll stay human."

The table gawked at the shell.

"What's it like? Y'know, to be a mermaid?" asked T.

"It's pretty freeing. The ocean is so vast and beautiful. And the mer-kingdom is incredible! I have a lot of family down there. I have 6 aunts and uncles, and a ton of cousins! Though family reunions are a bit difficult, with Dad being human and all." The table laughed as Maris mimicked Hook trying to hold his breath.

"What happens if you wash your hands or someone spills water on you? Do you just poof out a tail and flop around like a fish?" Fergus asked with a laugh.

"No! Of course not!" Maris laughed back. "I'm not really sure why, because technically I should. Guess the necklace knows the difference between an ocean and well water."

"So, Vanity," Farkle asked once the laughter died down, "where dost thou reign?"

"Nowhere important. I'm not royal or anything special."

"Hey, being royal doesn't make you special. We're half royal and no one seems to care."

"Easy for you to say. What about where you went to school? Your meals? Have you ever had to patch your own clothes, so they'd fit for years and years?"

The table broke eye contact in shame.

Felicia broke the silence. "I guess not, but we know how rough it was for our dad."

"And our mom, in a way," Farkle added.

Felicia nodded. "Dad just got lucky, and he knows it. I'm sure if he knew your family needed help, he would help!"

"Likewise," said Maris. "We live way off on the coast, but if there's anything my family can do, we will. It wasn't easy for a pirate to fall in love with a mermaid."

"Exactly! We may not have the same experiences, but we can empathize with you for sure."

T smiled softly at her friends' concern.

"What region are you from?" Farkle asked again. "I can send a letter to my parents. We can send you money or clothes, whatever you need!"

"Yeah!" Fergus added. "We can talk to Uncle Arthur to meet with your region's leader and come up with a solution."

"Uncle Arthur?" Farkle said, shaking his head, ashamed of his brother's informality in front of T, completely missing the point.

"Oh! Sorry! I meant King Arthur. He's our uncle, so—" Farkle elbowed his brother in the side.

"Well, what I mean is, it's normal and not that big of a deal to talk to him." Another elbow followed. "I'll stop talking now."

T giggled. "Oh, that's so kind of you all, but I can't impose like that. We all have our burdens to bear, I suppose." She fake-laughed and took a rather long drink of her tea, avoiding eye contact.

"It's no trouble. And it's our responsibility as royals to help those in need, right?" Felicia looked around the table for reassurance. Her brothers and Maris all nodded and voiced their agreement.

T remained silent. All eyes were on her, awaiting an answer.

She finally set down her teacup and sighed. "I—I'm from—"

She was cut off by the sound of the school bells. Once they rang out, T hastily grabbed her belongings and headed out the door.

Felicia looked at Maris and her brothers with concern and confusion. Fergus just shrugged, and Farkle gave Felicia a sympathetic smile. They gathered their things and headed to their next class.

"Y'know what," Maris said, "I bet we could find out where she's from if we dig through her files."

"Dig through her files?" Felicia said in shock, leaning closer. "Isn't that illegal? And how would we even do that?"

"It's only illegal if you get caught," Maris whispered. "What are you doing on your free period?"

The rest of the day passed in a blur. Felicia could hardly pay attention to what the instructors were saying. She was much more concerned that her new friend wouldn't even look at her. Felicia hadn't meant to pry or be offensive. Maybe she had pushed too far. All she wanted to do was help.

Felicia made a plan with Maris to meet in front of Admissions during free period—the last "class" of the day. They convinced Fergus to cause a distraction in front of the office, not that he needed much convincing. Farkle, unaware of what was happening, decided to go practice chess in the park at that time.

Arithmetic and human literature went by quickly enough, each, unfortunately, assigning some kind of homework. Felicia caught herself glancing at the clock over and over again during her final class, anxious to leave before T could notice.

Once the bell had rung for their free period, the Maris and Felicia bolted towards the admin building and waited outside of the office.

Felicia glanced at the clock on the wall and griped, "It's already five minutes past. Where is he?"

Suddenly, shocked screams and crashing noises echoed down the hallway from the front entrance. In came Fergus, fully armored, carrying all his jousting gear, and leading a horse down the hall.

Felicia's jaw dropped at the absurdity, while Maris doubled over laughing. Fergus noticed and gave her a wink, continuing down the hall while issuing fake apologies as he and the horse bobbed and weaved, knocking over everything in sight.

The front desk attendant, whom they'd met on arrival day, stood up and leaned over his desk to peer into the hallway. Maris ran in.

"Sir! Some guy brought his jousting horse into the building! They're wrecking everything!"

"A horse? What on earth?!" The attendant ran into the hall, hands on his head in shock, and chased after Fergus, shouting for him to stop immediately.

Felicia peered into the office.

"Coast is clear!" Maris whispered, waving her in.

They got to work immediately, opening every filing cabinet they could find.

At first, there was nothing but budget records, extra uniforms, a bottle of mead, and confiscated items. Maris found a small red pouch of fairy dust and tucked it into her pocket.

"Maris!" Felicia scolded in a harsh whisper.

"What? He won't even notice it's gone."

Felicia rolled her eyes and moved to the next cabinet. It magically extended far beyond what should have been possible. Inside were folders and folders of students' names.

"I found it!"

Maris rushed over. The only problem was everything was alphabetized by last name and they didn't know T's.

They thumbed through file after file, one starting at Z, the other at A, searching for Vanity's name.

"Maris, is this the right drawer?" Felicia asked.

"It is the non-royal drawer. If it were royal, we would see our own names, and mine's not here."

Before they could switch, footsteps approached. They slammed the drawer shut and quickly sat in a pair of empty chairs.

The attendant returned, shirt partially untucked, hair disheveled, glasses crooked. He grumbled as he straightened himself, then noticed the girls.

"What are you doing in here?"

"Well, since I was the one who told you what was happening, I just wanted a follow-up," Maris said. He glared at her.

"A—and I'm obviously his sister," Felicia added, "so I just need to know how much trouble he's in."

The attendant sighed. "He claimed to be 'lost' on his way to jousting practice and decided to take a 'shortcut.' He's agreed to pay for the damages, but otherwise, he's off the hook." He paused. "For now."

"Great, thank you so much," Maris said, heading for the door.

"Uh—yeah. S-sorry. Thank you?" Felicia added, sounding more like a question.

Outside, Maris burst into laughter. Felicia just stared, stunned. "Well, that was a waste."

"A waste? Did you not see your brother bring a horse into a building?! That was amazing!"

Felicia rolled her eyes, trying to stifle a smile. "You should've seen what he did to Merlin's beard once. But Maris, we still don't know anything about T. Not her kingdom, not even her last name."

"Yeah, I guess that part was a failure. Maybe we give her some time. I'm sure she'll come around. We just met her today after all."

"I suppose you're right," Felicia sighed. "Maybe we lay off, and if her kingdom really needs help, she'll open up sooner or later."

Maris nodded.

"Speaking of T," Felicia continued, "I promised I'd meet her after school to practice for cheer auditions."

"Oh! Trying out for the cheer team, are we? I have no doubt you'll make an excellent addition!"

Felicia eyed her skeptically. "I can't tell if you're being sarcastic."

"Depends on if you make the squad or not. Then I'll know if I support or hate them." Maris smirked and continued toward the quad.

At the center, they spotted T under a tree, studying a notebook filled with what Felicia assumed was a cheer routine.

"Well, this is where I leave you," Maris said. "I think I'll go find Fergus and congratulate him on making me laugh more than I have in years."

"You do that. Maybe we can all do homework together later?"

"Sounds like a plan!"

As Maris walked away, Felicia called after her, "By the way!"

Maris turned.

"Fergus is single."

Maris froze, her face turning bright red. "S-so? I don't—that doesn't—I—I have to go!" she stammered, speed-walking away.