Beauty Before Beast

I've never liked how they portrayed Belle in Beauty and the Beast. Yeah, she's smart, and yes she managed to win the Beast's heart by being a complete beauty, not for her personality. And have you ever noticed how he never mentions why he likes her. So, I decided to change it a tiny bit. Read it. Review.

Chapter 1: Strangely Late

Daddy was two days late. Most men are like this, but never my Dad. They say that they'll come back in a week which then becomes 2 weeks, etc. Maybe they like staying away from you or maybe it's just that they forget how to get home. You see, Gridel, I still remember you.

I can't believe that checking on packages would take a whole month. I'm so glad that I am not married, one of the many precious things that my Dad has done for me upon my request. I remember the day that he heard about his last remaining ship that happened to survive the storm that killed off the rest of our ships. My ditzy sisters were all giggly and excited over this, and asked for all these useless material gifts; aka hairbrush, oil (?), kohl (??), dresses, blah blah blah. I had been scrubbing pots, when my Dad yelled out something at me. I tried to ignore him by yelling, "I'm busy!" I wasn't able to catch what my Dad had said except that I thought that I heard something about roast, so I called back, "What roast?" I seriously thought he said roast. I was thinking that he probably brought home a roast donated by one of our nice neighbors who noticed our sad state of affairs. Yeah, we lived in a huge house, but I thought that the neighbors were certainly not blind. I thought that they were bound to notice how we hadn't worn new gowns in months and how the whole family seemed to slim down in the waistlines a tiny bit.

Imagine my surprise when he wrote back a letter to all of us, delivered through Gridel's hands which happened to be attached to his body which happened to be at our house because he's obsessed with my oldest ditz of a sister, and he dared to say that he was only delivering the letter out of the "goodness in his heart." Can you believe he dared to leer at me right after saying that? What could I do but give him a good kick in his knee, and I hauled him out of our house. I wonder what the neighbors thought, seeing a petite girl grabbing an 18 year old guy and tossing him out of the house. But hey, they would have done it too. I guess all those things that Father had taught me about self- defense must have come in handy. Sadly enough, I think it was really because I had been the one who had been doing all of the freaking chores in the house for the last, what, 5 months or so? All that scrubbing had to amount to something.

Imagine my surprise when I opened the letter first, hello I had dibs on it, and I saw individual letters to each of us. Being the trustworthy soul I am, I looked at all the letters, and then mine. Can you imagine that he thought I said that I wanted a rose? How do you get "I want a rose!" from "What roast?"

I seriously think the world is plotting against me. First Gridel, the dumper, then the chores, and now this. I knew it was too good to be true when the old grandma (known throughout our village as a witch) did not curse me when I knocked over her sweet roll stand. I don't know why she got as upset as she did, it's not like she had anything damaged. Well, except for the fact that a few rolls were a bit dusty, but that's it. For cripes sakes, I had received more bodily harm than that damned cart. And, she hadn't received one single injury!

I think the scar that I got on my knee from that fateful day has faded by now. I haven't checked lately.

If my Dad is not home in 5 more days, I am going to go look for him myself. Let's see, I need (Starts going over mental list)

(5 minutes later)

Ok, never mind. Just when I am prepping, my Dad comes home. And guess what he says?

This is basically how our conversation went. B=Me (Belle, otherwise known as Bellavaania by my Father, but nobody calls me Bellavaania (Bell-ea-von-i- ah) except for my Dad. Point proven by extreme butt-kickings.) D=Dad

B: Hi Dad! Glad to see that you made it home alive! (Opens arms for a big hug.)

D: Hi honey. Bellavaania, I missed you lots. Now can you move? (Nobody calls me honey! It's hun or better yet just Belle. Sadly enough, my Dad does not recognize that fact...)

B: (Miffed) That is no way to treat your daughter.

D: Bellavaania, stop being so inconsiderate and rude.

B: (Thinking dark thoughts, "Guess who started the rudeness.") Smiles sweetly and says, "But Daddy, I really missed you."

D: (Shoves a rose into her hand.) I got into a lot of trouble trying to get this one rose for you, Bellavaania.

B: Why thank you. I guess all those color choices do make choosing roses sort of hard. (I'm so proud of my wonderful insight)

D: Honey, Bellavaania, dearest... I have to send you off to live with a beast.

B: (Mouth gaping open) Why? (Getting upset) Makes me feel so special.

D: Because I love you honey, and I promised. (Promised? Why does this one promise count when so many of his other promises didn't?) Bellavaania, please don't be mad!

B: (Thinking how sexist it is for men to lord over the women like that.) turns around and runs into the house Thanks for nothing Father!

First of all, you should realize that nobody ever calls me Bellevaania. It's Belle. I don't care how old you are or how respected you are, if you call me Bellevaania, you get an extreme butt-kicking. So, I was already upset because my Dad kept on repeating my name!

Why is my Dad such a dumb ass? I let him go on one trip, and not only does he get me the supposed gift that I never wanted because of his bad hearing but now I have to get married. Nobody should have to suffer like this.

I ran outside and straight into the arms of, 3 guesses who, Gridel. This is turning out to be just the best day isn't it?

I ran straight into him and my face had banged into his chest. Now, I'm not sure about anybody else, but is it natural for a guy to have a chest the hardness of iron? I don't think so. So you can see why my nose was in pain which put my pain and anger level up a few more inches.

"You freaking whore!" was the first thing out of his mouth.

Yup, we're one big happy village. It's nice to see that I'm so appreciated. Maybe it was a good thing that I was being sent away. Wait, no! I gave myself a mental slap for ever thinking that marriage was a good thing before looking up at Gridel and saying, "Yeah, I'm sure that's me. Guess who's the idiot who messed up my nose permanently?"

"Oh, it's only you, I thought you were someone else."

Thanks. So now I'm an "only you"? I really need to work on my reputation. I gave him a good hard kick in the shin to make sure that he remembered that nobody ever messes with my nose and gets away with it.

I immediately regretted kicking Gridel. My foot was in pain after kicking a shin that felt more like a bar of iron.

I turned and sort of hobbled back down the path to my only friend, Areida, who happened to live in a mansion. She had been married for about a year now. I couldn't remember the exact date, which was strange because I could usually be counted on to have an excellent memory about these things. After all, people who tend to lie to their sisters (i.e. me) needed an excellent memory to remember the things that I have lied about.

I went back to pondering about Areida's husband.

The only thing that I knew about her husband was the fact that he was ugly and old and undeniably rich. You should probably know by now that it was an arranged marriage because no self-respecting soul would marry a person like that, excepting Areida.

Meanwhile, I caught my foot on about a hundred tree-roots that were sticking out of the path. I don't know how many times the main family of our village had sworn to fix that path, but I sure didn't notice the path changing for the better.

After a hundred stubbed toes and fifty falls into the dirt, I made it to her house. I was dusty, my nose was sore, and my clothes were dust- covered, so I can sort of see why her maid screamed.

But still. Is that really a good way to treat guests?

"Move out of my way. It's me, Belle."

"Oh. Morning miss."

Yup, and a lovely good morning to you.

A/N: Okay, now review! See that purple button? Now stop admiring its pretty purple color and click it. Much thanks...please review?