Chapter 1: The Beginning Part 1

Seven year old Tiana and her best friend, Charlotte or "Lottie", were waiting outside of their elementary school for Tiana's mom to pick them up. It was in the middle of September and the girls were just getting used to school- waking up early, worksheets, new people but they had each other which made things a lot easier. Their moms were really good friends so the girls have been friends since birth but Tiana was older by 2 months. Even though some of their interest are rather different, they did almost everything together and promised each other to always be friends forever.

Tiana's mom, Eudora, finally pulled up to the curb and Tiana and Charlotte climbed into the back seat.

"How was your day girls?" She asked smiling at them.

"Good!" They both said in unison.

"Anything exciting happen today?" Eudora asked she drove off.

"Oh! Today on the playground Tia, Isabelle, and me found a frog at the little pond!" Charlotte said excitedly.

"Yeah! And we told the teacher and she said that we could keep it as a class pet too." Tiana said.

"Wow that does sound exciting. Speaking of frogs, I have a little story to share with you guys when we get to our house."

"Really?! What is it?" Charlotte asked.

"It's a surprise!" Eudora, Tiana, and Charlotte finally pulled into Tiana's driveway. When they walked in they saw Tiana's dad, James, cooking something in a large pot.

"Daddy!" Tiana ran to give him a hug.

"Hey baby!" He bent down to return the hug. He saw Charlotte was with also "Hello Charlotte." He smiled.

"Hello Mr. Brown!"

"How are you?" He replied.

"Good!"

"C'mon girls lets go see that surprise I told you about." Eudora said leading them into their basement where Eudora has her own area where she made and altered clothes. Sometimes Tiana and Charlotte would play there while Eudora would work.

"Oh I can't wait to find out what it is!" Charlotte excitedly said.

"I'm making gumbo for dinner, it'll be ready by the time you ladies are done." James informed.

"Alright, we'll see you in a bit. Lets go." Eudora led the girls downstairs. Tiana and Charlotte sat in their usual spots on little bean bags while Eudora went to a dresser draw to grab her sewing materials and the surprise. "You guys ready?"

"Yes!" They exclaimed in unison. Eudora pulled out the surprise and held it out to them.

"Ta da!" It was a book.

Tiana and Charlotte sat there with confused looks on their faces. They were a bit disappointed to find out their surprise was a book. Charlotte finally spoke.

"A book?", she asked, uninterested.

Eudora shook her head. "Not just any book, it's 'The Frog Prince'. My mom, Nana, used to read it to me when I was your age. I found it when I was at her house yesterday."

"What is it about?" Tiana curiously asked.

"Why don't read it and you'll find out." Eudora open the book began to read the fairy tale. "One fine evening a young princess-"

"A princess?! Ooh this should be good!" Charlotte interrupted suddenly interested, knowing that there was a princess included in the story."

Eudora chuckled and continued. As she kept reading they girls became more and more intrigued with the story.

"Just at that moment, the ugly little frog looked up with his sad round eyes and pleaded 'Oh please dear princess only a kiss from you can break this terrible spell that was inflicted on me by a wicked witch.' And the beautiful princess was so moved by his desperate plea that picked up the slippery creature, leaned forward, raised him to her lips...and kissed that little frog!"

"Ewww!" Tiana and Charlotte screeched in disgust.

Eudora continued as she put the finishing touches on the dress she was working on. "Then the frog was transformed into a handsome prince! They were married and lived happily ever after. The End. So what did you think?" She cut off the string of thread.

"I loved it!" Charlotte beamed. "Someday maybe I'll find a magic frog and kiss him so he'll turn into a handsome prince too!"

"You mean you would kiss a frog?" Tiana asked her friend with a disgusted look on her face.

"It would be gross but it would be worth it to find my prince charming." She dreamily answered.

Eudora watched the girls in humor reminding her of her and Charlotte's mother when they were their age. Although Charlotte's mom was less girly than Charlotte was her age.

"Do you want to see if your daddy is done cooking the gumbo?"

"Yeah!" they both screamed.

All three of them made it back to the kitchen to enjoy the food Tiana's dad made.

"I just love your gumbo, Mr. James. You make it the best in the whole wide world!" Charlotte said to James.

"Why thank you Ms. Charlotte, that's very sweet of you to say." He smiled.

"Oohh, Tiana remember what Mrs. Bush told us today about the new kid coming to our class?" She excitedly said, changing the subject.

"Oh yeah!" She faced her parents. "There's a new kid joining our classroom starting tomorrow! I think said that it was going to be a boy coming."

"Wow that sounds exciting! You need to tell me about him tomorrow." Eudora said.

"I can't wait to see who he is." Charlotte said. Eudora checked the clock and saw the it was 4:10 and remembered Charlotte's dad wanted her home by 5:30.

"Alright, after you finish your food do you want to work on homework and then play for a bit?" Eudora suggested.

"Okay." They agreed. After playing, working, and talking, Charlotte's dad finally came to pick her up. Eudora finished getting Tiana ready for bed before tucking her in.

"Mommy, if the princess kissed the frog how did it turn him back into a prince?"

"Magic." She simply said and grinned while pulling the covers over Tiana.

"Really?..."

"Mhm."

Tiana yawned, lied down, and closed her eyes. "Do you think I will grow up to marry a prince?"

"Maybe, sweetheart..." Eudora walked to turn off her light and looked at her daughter one more time before exiting. Tiana was sound asleep."maybe..."