Once upon a time,

there was a girl named Ariel. She was sixteen and not like other girls. She was not very pretty or popular. She had long, red, stringy hair and wore braces and glasses. She wasn’t the smartest girl or the dumbest. But she had a beautiful voice. She sang very well and was in the chorus. And like all the other girls in the high school, she had a crush on Eric. Eric was the most popular person in school. He was a straight-A student, played quarterback on the football team and was extremely cute. No girl could resist him.

On this particular day, Ariel was at her locker shooting quick glances at Eric, who was a couple of lockers down. Then Vanessa came into view. Vanessa was Eric’s ex and the meanest person in the school. Everyone pretended that she was popular but she wasn’t. Ariel especially hated her because her birthdays had been ruined because of her. Ariel’s mom made her invite Vanessa every year. And all she did was is ruin it.

Then Vanessa slammed her locker door shut and said, “Whoops…Sorry Ariel…Or should I say, The Little Mermaid??!!” she laughed as her posse joined in.

“Stop it, Vanessa,” Ariel murmured.

Then Vanessa shoved the books out of her hands. Ariel stared at her books scattered all over the floor. She had gone too far. Then, just as Ariel was going to pounce on that perfect head of blonde hair, someone suddenly said, “Hey, Vanessa, back off.”

The crowd that had gathered all turned their heads to see Eric. Vanessa walked off with a flip of her hair and her posse followed. The crowd eventually left and Ariel got down on the floor picking up the books and avoided eye contact with him. He got down on his knees too and smiled that bight and welcoming smile while Ariel just did her signature goofy grin. When all the books were picked up, the bells rang and Eric said goodbye and walked off to practice. Ariel just stood there for a second and did a slight wave. Then she realized that she was going to be late for chorus.

When Ariel walked into the empty music room, she dropped her bag and went straight to the piano. She sat down and sighed. This was her place. She took out her music and started playing. When she had gotten the tune down, she started to sing. But she did not notice Eric was walking by. When Eric heard the voice, he stopped in his tracks. He went back to the door and reached for the doorknob. Then his coach burst in and started yelling at him. He would have to find out the mystery singer tomorrow.



The weekend was over and Ariel was very excited to get to school. She had convinced her mom to get her a makeover. Her hair was now in a straight bob down to her shoulders. She replaced her glasses for contacts and went shopping for new clothes. Although she could not lose her braces, she got cool colors; red and green for Christmas. She had a big singing competition that weekend, too. She had sung so much for it, that she lost her voice. Her voice was not in the best condition, but she thought it would come back.

As soon as Ariel walked through the door, the students stared at her like she was a totally different person. Random people would say hi or save her a seat at lunch. She sat with some popular kids and she shared in their conversation. Then she saw Eric coming over to her table. She stared at him and then looked back at her new friends. She took a quick sip of her Diet Coke and started to choke. Everyone looked concerned and Ariel tried to say, ‘I’m fine’ but she couldn’t seem to talk. She coughed but her voice was gone. Her friends looked really concerned; they are flying questions at her that she couldn’t answer. She took a pen and paper and wrote, ‘Will someone please take me to the nurse?’

“I’ll go with her.” said a voice behind her.

Ariel turned her head to see Eric. She mouthed ‘thank you’ and he grabbed her backpack and walked her down the hall. When they got to the nurse’s office, Eric explained what happened. The nurse checked Ariel out and confirmed that she had laryngitis. She was very disappointed. The talent show was coming up and she had already entered. It was in two weeks. Eric promised that he would go with her to every class to read what she wanted to say. Ariel found this wonderful. They would be hanging out so much.


That’s what it was like for the next two weeks. The talent show was tomorrow. Ariel was nervous. She hoped that her voice would come back to her. But she had not tried to sing, for it could jeopardize her voice. She sat backstage while Vanessa went on stage. What? Vanessa didn’t audition! What was she going to do? Read aloud people’s secrets? But then she started to sing. She sang really well. Ariel peeked behind the curtain and saw Eric staring at Vanessa. ‘Oh No!’ Ariel thought. When Vanessa was done, Eric was the one applauding the most.

Then it was Ariel’s turn. Ariel walked onto the stage and sat down at the piano. At least if her voice failed, then the piano would still be good. She started playing and just let it all flow out of her. Then her big part came. She started to sing. And her voice was even better than before! She sang to her heart’s content. Once she was done she glanced down at Eric and saw him smiling that big, welcoming smile. And for once, Ariel did too.


And They Lived Happily Ever After.