Return to Notre Dame: chapter 5

The circus came and of course, Zephyr was excited. He kept talking about it right from breakfast. Quasimodo was running a little late so the family decided to wait for him. Cherry held onto Zephyr's collar to keep him from running off too soon due to Phoebus being a very overprotective father to him and her.

Quasimodo finally came and looked a little dressed up. He wore a red bard like outfit with darker red tights, a purple cape, fancy red shoes and a red hat with a feather. He smiled at everyone and tried to look sharp. "Well, how do I look?" Quasimodo smiled.

"Like a Montague," Cherry joked.

"Wow!" Zephyr smiled. "Great hat, Quasi."

"It's a new you," Phoebus sounded nervous.

"Quasi don't worry," Esmeralda put one of her generous smiles. "You look dashing."

"Welcome, welcome!" a voice called which made Zephyr grab Cherry's hand and drag her off to the main square ground. "Welcome to Cirque de Sarousch! Magic! Magic!"

"Wow!" Zephyr marveled as his parents slowly followed behind him.

"Zephyr, stay close." Phoebus advised. "I don't wanna lose you or Cherry. I don't trust these people."

"What does that mean?" Esmeralda narrowed her eyes at her husband.

"Well, just look at them." Phoebus observed the circus performers. "I mean they travel from town to town, like-like-like-like..."

"Gypsies?" Cherry asked, turning her head to him.

"Yes!" Phoebus smiled, then felt like an idiot. "No! I mean... I mean... Uh... Uh, so Quasi, where's this Madallaine of yours?"

"I don't know," Quasimodo replied, holding Zephyr over his shoulders. "I-I'm sure she'll be out soon."

Phoebus noticed Cherry looking off into the distance. He followed her gaze and noticed she was staring at Pierre. "Cherry!" Phoebus snapped, making Cherry jump up as if she didn't notice him standing right behind her.

"Oh umm... Papa..." Cherry greeted nervously. "I-I didn't see you there, I just..." Cherry went back to her attention to Pierre.

"I don't trust that boy, Cherry." Phoebus snarled. "You're too young to be dating anyway."

"I'm not dating him, he's just my friend!" Cherry insisted. "Papa, you got to stop being so overprotective!"

"What will your mother say? She'll probably get worried!"

"Ugh!" Cherry groaned. "You NEVER let me have any fun!"

"May I present my assistant... The lovely Madallaine!" Sarousch announced.

"We'll talk about this later." Phoebus narrowed his eyes at the teenager and back at the stage with the other children.

"Behold, La Petit!" Sarousch introduced a couple of men bringing in an elephant that looked an awful lot like Mrs. Jumbo. "Do not look away from the beast, for I shall make it vanish before your very eyes. Keep a sharp watch. See the creature disappear into thin air!"

Sarousch said some Spanish magic words and made the elephant disappear as he said he would. Everyone in the audience cheered, mainly Zephyr who made a bigger fuss out of it than anyone else. "Wow! Wow, wow, wow!" Zephyr gushed as he took out rubber balls from his pockets and juggled. "Hey, maybe I could join a circus. Yeah! I could be a juggler. What do you think, Quasi? I'd juggle and I'd... Quasi?" The boy noticed Quasimodo was staring at the blonde girl, Madallaine. "Hello...?" Zephyr waved his arms around and Quasimodo grabbed him.

"What are you doing?" Quasimodo asked.

"Nothing," Zephyr huffed. "You were making goo-goo eyes at your girlfriend."

"Oh, she...she's not my...Who said she was my..." Quasimodo stammered as his tongue got tied.

"Boys are weird," Cherry rolled her eyes.

"I thought you forgot about me," Zephyr looked up sadly at Quasimodo.

"That will never happen," Quasimodo smiled and took his hand. "I'll always be here for you."

"Always?" Zephyr asked.

"Always." Quasimodo reassured him.

Cherry noticed the two leave and saw Pierre in the corner of her eye. He was looking at her back, motioning her over to him. She decided to go follow him.

"Hey," Cherry smiled nervously as a pink tint came to her face. "Did you like the show?"

"Yeah," Pierre smiled. "Did you?"

"Yeah, but out of me and my brother, I'd say he liked it better." Cherry chuckled. She then noticed Madallaine had gone with Quasimodo and Cherry decided to go out with Pierre for the evening. "Th-That festival of D'Amour is tomorrow. Would you like to go with me?"

Pierre chuckled and smiled. "It's a date." Pierre nuzzled her nose into his. "Paris is a very lovely city, isn't it?"

"Oh yes, very much so." Cherry looked up at the twinkling night sky.

Pierre smiled at her as they walked all around the city. He then spotted a nice flower in a shop, bought it, brushed some hair behind Cherry's ear and put the flower in her hair. "You look as beautiful as a fresh daisy." Pierre complimented.

"Me? Oh no." Cherry chuckled as her face flushed bright pink.

"You really are, I bet you've had hundreds of boyfriends."

"No," Cherry looked down. "Most guys here are complete jerks or idiots. Not like you though. I haven't even had my first kiss."

"Until now."

"Until now?" Cherry looked up at him, then Pierre took her face and kissed her hard on her lips. Cherry's eyes widened then she blushed even more than before.

Cherry giggled and stumbling went home as hearts were in her eyes and hearts popped out of her like a cartoon. Cherry didn't even notice about how late it was. She then snapped to attention as Phoebus came into town on his horse, Achilles.

"There you are!" Phoebus growled.

"Oh my gosh!" Cherry stared up at the sky. "I didn't notice it was so late!"

"I was doing a night check on these circus people and gypsies, come on! Let's get you home!" Phoebus grabbed Cherry's hand and got her on top of the horse. Cherry looked back at Pierre as he left for home and Phoebus and Cherry rode off together back home with Esmeralda and Zephyr.