Flunked (fairy Tale Reform School, #1)

The novel is set in Enchantasia, a fairy-tale kingdom where four princesses are central figures: Ella (Cinderella), Snow White, Rose (Sleeping Beauty), and Rapunzel. Five years before the story begins, Ella's formerly wicked stepmother, Flora, founded Fairy Tale Reform School (FTRS) to rehabilitate villains and criminally mischievous youth. The faculty includes reformed villains such as Professor Wolfington (the Big Bad Wolf), Madame Cleo (the Sea Witch), and Professor Harlow (the Evil Queen from Snow White's story).

Twelve-year-old Gillian "Gilly" Cobbler, the novel's first-person narrator, is the eldest daughter of a shoemaker. She lives in an overcrowded boot with her parents and five younger siblings, and the family struggles with poverty after Ella's fairy godmother began magically producing glass slippers, undercutting her father Hal's craft. To help feed her family, Gilly has become a skilled pickpocket. One afternoon, she trails a group of young royals through the village, stealing a valuable dragon's tooth hair clip and lifting dinner rolls from a bakery.

At home, Gilly distributes the rolls among her hungry siblings and gives the clip to her 10-year-old sister Anna as a birthday gift, claiming she found it. Pete, the chief of the Dwarf Police Squad, arrives after a shop owner identifies Gilly as the thief. Anna sadly returns the clip, and Pete arrests Gilly for her third offense of petty theft, serving her parents an official enrollment order for FTRS. Gilly protests that she steals only to feed her family, but her mother admits that Gilly's growing resentment of the royals worries her. Gilly is handcuffed and taken away as her younger siblings cry.

Gilly arrives at FTRS expecting a dungeon but finds a luxurious castle. Flora explains that Gilly's release date is indefinite, contingent on demonstrated behavioral reform; her parents have signed a proclamation granting Flora the authority to hold her as long as necessary. When Flora steps out, Gilly meets Kayla, a fairy her own age who has been at FTRS for three years after being caught using magic for personal gain. Following Kayla's advice, Gilly feigns cooperation and requests Kayla as her roommate. Flora reluctantly agrees despite noting that Kayla's last roommate went missing under mysterious circumstances.

Gilly also encounters Jax, a fellow student with violet eyes perched on a chandelier attempting to escape. Professor Wolfington catches him, and Flora threatens solitary confinement, but Gilly improvises a cover story and saves Jax from punishment. The castle's hallways shift constantly, making escape routes impossible to plan. Gilly's first class is group therapy with Professor Harlow, whose younger sister Jocelyn, also a student, immediately antagonizes Gilly. When Jocelyn bullies Maxine, a troll girl sharing about her trauma from the Troll War, Gilly defends Maxine and earns Harlow's disapproval.

During a Pegasus flight with Jax, Gilly spots Flora slipping alone into the Hollow Woods, the dangerous forest bordering school grounds, and resolves to investigate. That night, Kayla confides her backstory: Her family vanished while she was out, and a peddler told her he saw Rumpelstiltskin make them disappear. Kayla survived alone by selling illegal goods before being sent to FTRS.

During an evacuation drill, Gilly follows Flora instead of reporting to her station. Jax joins her, leading her through secret passages to a vent below Flora's office, where gargoyle statues come alive and attack them. Jax stuns the creatures with a vintage pocket watch capable of firing energy bolts, and Flora arrives to seal the passage and save them. She orders the gargoyles removed, commands secrecy, and gives both two weeks of detention.

During detention with Madame Cleo, Jocelyn casts a spell that fills the room with intense noise. Cleo, who cannot tolerate loud sounds, momentarily reverts to her terrifying former sea-siren form. Gilly tackles Jocelyn to stop the chanting. After the chaos subsides, Cleo delivers a prophecy in a flat voice: Evil is coming, it cannot be stopped, and FTRS will burn. She then returns to normal with no memory of what she said.

Royal Day arrives, and the princesses visit FTRS. Suspicious incidents plague the day: an exploding tank, venomous ants released in the botany lab, and poisoned fruit in the cafeteria. During a fencing demonstration, gargoyles burst through the ceiling and trap the princesses, students, and the dwarf squad in glowing bubbles. Harlow begins throwing swords at Princess Snow's bubble. Kayla, trembling and muttering, provides radishes that put the gargoyles to sleep. Gilly tackles Harlow and breaks the enchantment but is knocked unconscious by falling swords.

Days later, Gilly wakes in the infirmary. Harlow offers her early release, claiming her bravery proves she is reformed. Gilly signs papers that include a clause barring her from returning to school or contacting students. At dinner, Jax questions the offer, then pulls Gilly aside and reveals his true identity: He is Rapunzel's brother, placed undercover at FTRS by his father to investigate a traitor feeding information to villains. His escape attempts were staged. Jax asks Gilly to stay, pointing to Kayla as the key to understanding the attacks.

They find Kayla hiding in the observatory's air ducts. She confesses she has been working as a mole for Gottie, Rapunzel's notorious kidnapper. After Rumpelstiltskin erased her family's memories, Gottie found Kayla and offered to break the curse in exchange for spying. Kayla reveals that Gottie has recruited Harlow and plans to cast a spell at the anniversary ball that wipes everyone's memories so villains appear to rule the kingdom, then burn the school with the princesses inside. Maxine and a fellow student named Ollie, who have been secretly following them, overhear and volunteer to help.

On Friday, Gilly's parents and Anna arrive to take her home, but Gilly says she cannot leave. Anna accuses Gilly of abandoning the family. Her father surprises everyone by tearing up the release scroll and supporting Gilly's decision, expressing pride in her for the first time.

That evening, Jocelyn ambushes the group using Harlow's small purple mirror as a weapon and forces them to the dungeon, where Harlow waits. A figure emerges from the shadows whom Kayla recognizes as Gottie, but the villain transforms, revealing herself to be Alva, the fairy who cursed Sleeping Beauty and who has been presumed dead for years. Alva reveals that Gottie died long ago and that Alva has been posing as her to avoid detection. She confirms she manipulated Rumpelstiltskin and turned Kayla's family into hollow trees. Producing a mirror identical to Harlow's from her pocket, Alva declares that together the two enchanted mirrors hold sufficient power to complete the memory-wiping spell. Alva locks everyone, including Jocelyn, in dungeon cells.

While Alva checks on the captive royals upstairs, Jocelyn conjures a fake mirror identical to Harlow's, and Gilly hides it in her sleeve. Professor Wolfington arrives and drinks a potion to transform into his wolf form, smashing through the enchanted bars. When Alva returns and subdues him, Gilly grabs Harlow's real mirror and executes a sleight-of-hand swap, concealing the real mirror while holding up the fake. On Jocelyn's signal, Gilly aims the real mirror at Alva's. The collision of energy causes an explosion that cracks the ballroom floor and brings the dwarf squad running. Alva warns Gilly the conflict is far from over before vanishing.

In the aftermath, Harlow is imprisoned in the FTRS dungeons for collaborating with Alva. Wolfington disappears, struggling with guilt over unleashing his wolf side, and Cleo leaves for a retreat. Gilly and her friends confront Flora, who confirms the teachers had been meeting with Alva in the Hollow Woods to learn her plans, but Harlow genuinely defected. Flora tells the group that Alva now knows their identities, making FTRS the safest place for them. She delivers a letter from Princess Ella commissioning all glass slipper orders for the royal palace from Gilly's father's shop, resolving the family's financial crisis. Gilly accepts that she still has work to do, acknowledging she no longer minds being at FTRS, and the friends head outside for a peaceful afternoon, aware that Alva remains at large.