[✔︎] 𝐑𝐀𝐘 𝐎𝐅 𝐒𝐔𝐍𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐄 ✫ POST-DESCENDANTS ONE ³

FIVE

Gigi sat in her next class of the day. Art. She liked how she started her day with something she liked before going on to more difficult classes.

She picked up the bottles of paint, placing a dot of each color on her palette. She made her way back to her seat, her brush hovering over the paper. She didn't know what to paint.

Her mind kept going back to her talk with Ben where he'd said he'd find her mother. It seemed like a pretty far fetched idea. If her mother didn't want her to be found than she wouldn't be.

"Hey Gigi." CJ said. "Can I borrow some of your red paint?"

The assignment had been to paint a family portrait, which in CJ's included lots of red.

"Sure." Gigi said as CJ dipped her brush into the red paint.

"Would you like to tell whose who?" CJ asked as Gigi nodded. "Well this is me." She pointed to the person in the middle. "This is my brother." She pointed to the person to her left. "And that's my sister." She pointed to the person on her right.

"What about your dad?" Gigi asked.

"I ran out of room." CJ said. "Besides he hasn't done anything for me."

"Hey Gigi." Ally said. "Can I borrow the yellow and the blue?"

"Yeah." Gigi said as Ally took some blue and yellow paint and put it on her palette.

"Well if CJ told you hers. I'll tell you mine. This is me." Ally pointed to herself in the middle. "That's my mom." She pointed to the person holding her left shoulder. "That's Maddie's dad." She pointed to the man holding her left shoulder. "And that's Maddie." She pointed to the person sitting next to her. "I ran out of room for the rest of my family."

"It's fine." CJ said. "I think Rapunzel will be fine with it."

Rapunzel walked around the classroom, complimenting the kids on their paintings and giving them feedback on things they could change. She had her chameleon, Pascal on her shoulder and he too seemed to be trying to help. Her hair hadn't grown back, staying short, the magic in it long gone, but it hasn't been forgotten. It still lingered when she cried, the magic being able to heal wounds as she had been born with it and it was not just in her hair.

Rapunzel walked over to their table, looking at their works.

"Oh Ally I love your painting." Rapunzel said.

"Thank you." Ally said.

"I like how you included the rabbit hole in your background. How creative." Rapunzel said as Pascal scurried to her right shoulder to see Ally's work better.

"Thank you." Ally said with a smile.

"And CJ." Rapunzel said, surveying her artwork. "I love how you included your siblings but this is about family. What about your father?"

"Oh Harriet, my sister, she raised me and my brother. My dad really wasn't in the picture he was just there to be there." CJ said as Rapunzel nodded her head.

"I understand." Rapunzel said. "I like how you all wear red. It fits into your theme. But you have a painting in the background may I ask who that is?"

Gigi squinted to see that there was in fact a painting in her background. Of a blonde girl. Gigi instantly recognized her.

"That's Sam." CJ said. "She's my best friend and she was there for me when nobody else was. We actually do have a painting of her on Harriet's ship."

"Who is she?" Rapunzel said. "To you I mean."

"She's the daughter of my dad's first mate." CJ said. "So we grew up together and she's the only one that wasn't mad at me for leaving."

"Why wasn't she mad?" Rapunzel asked as Gigi saw her write an A on her clipboard for Ally and CJ.

"She said I deserved to leave. And not be surrounded by people who'd hold me back." CJ said. "Which I kind of realize she did to herself."

"She didn't want you to turn out like her:" Ally said, nodding head. "That seems nice of her for supporting you."

"Yeah." CJ said. "I was always going off on adventures of my own that it kind of got annoying to everyone else. But Sam didn't really care. She said I could do anything and nobody else could stop me."

"I see." Rapunzel said. "A plus for both of you."

Rapunzel looked at Gigi's blank canvas.

"Gigi would you please come out with me into the hall?" Rapunzel asked kindly.

"Oh okay." Gigi said, leaving her stool and following Rapunzel out the door.

"You do know why I asked for you to come outside right?" Rapunzel asked,!the kindness in her voice not wavering.

"Yeah." Gigi said, looking down at her shoes.

"I understand that you were just given the news that Mother Gothel wasn't your mother. I remember when I learned that." Rapunzel said with a shudder. "I'll let this project pass until you find your family."

"Really?" Gigi asked. "You're going to do that for me?"

"I understand what you're going through, Gigi. And I'm willing to help you the best I can." Rapunzel said. "You'll find her Gigi. I'm sure you will. You just have to wait."

"Thank you." Gigi said.

"No problem." Rapunzel said. "I'll do anything to help my students succeed."

"Thank you." Gigi said as Rapunzel held open the door for her, and she walked in.

Gigi sat at her stool, as both Ally and CJ looked at her in concern.

"What did she talk to you about?" CJ asked in a whisper.

"Did she fail you for not painting anything?" Ally asked, her voice hushed as well.

"No." Gigi whispered. "It's fine. Everything's fine. She said my project is due when I find my family."

"How nice of her." Ally said with a smile, taking their palettes to the sink to rinse them off.

"You'll find her Gigi." CJ said. "Just wait."

But Gigi didn't feel like waiting.