Cynthia’s friends all cackled with laughter. Her assault on the Princess sisters was drawing quite a crowd now, and several students tried to edge in closer to hear what was going on.
“That’s really sad,” Belle cut in, pulling Cynthia’s attention back. “You really have nothing better to do than to come over here and try desperately to regain some credibility on all that stuff you said about us?”
Cynthia tossed her hair over one shoulder and smiled at Belle. “Why, I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she said, bringing her hand to her chest and pretending to be offended. She made sure to shake her wrist as she brought it up, causing the silver bracelet to jingle. There was a tiny C engraved on a little heart at the end of the bracelet.
“That’s mine!” Cinderella yelled, getting to her feet and pointing at Cynthia’s wrist.
“I’m sure you must be mistaken,” Cynthia said, in her sweet voice again. She was talking down to Cinderella like a mother explaining something to a two-year-old. “My boyfriend gave this to me,” she added, admiring the bracelet as she delicately touched it with her fingers.
Ariel reached up and put a hand on Cinderella’s shoulder to prevent her from lunging across the table at Cynthia.
“So are you girls going to the dance?” she asked, pointing with her chin to the Homecoming sign on the wall behind their table.
The Princess sisters all remained silent.
“You mean boys aren’t interested in princess wannabes?” she asked in mock surprise. “Shocking.”
“No, I guess they’re more interested in fake boobs,” Belle said.
Cynthia flinched, and the corners of her mouth drew down. But at that moment the bell rang, signaling the end of the lunch period.
“Well, we better go,” Cynthia said, keeping her cool. The students who had gathered around them started to disperse. “We just wanted to come over here and tell you how cute we think it is that you’re all trying to fit in now.” She said the word ‘cute’ as though it were a swear word. And with that final remark, Cynthia and her band walked away.
Cinderella still stood, her fists clenched tight as she watched Cynthia walk away with her bracelet.
“At least we know your plan is working,” Ariel said to her.
Cinderella finally broke her gaze and looked down at Ariel.
“We obviously are getting to her,” Belle filled in. “Otherwise she wouldn’t have bothered coming over here.”
“She was just trying to rattle us,” Aurora added. “You okay?” she asked Snow White, who hadn’t moved since Cynthia’s encounter.
Snow White nodded, but made no eye contact with any of them.
“I can’t believe you said that to her!” Aurora said, nudging Belle.
“I just hate that!” Belle said. Then she clarified after all their puzzled looks, “Miss Silicone is accusing us of being fake?”
Ariel laughed and patted a steaming Belle on the back. They all gathered their things together and walked from the cafeteria. Cinderella placed her arm around Snow White as they left.
“It’ll be okay,” she said, glancing back at the Homecoming sign. “I’ve got another idea.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
That afternoon Belle stood backstage with the four other students who were running for Sophomore Class President, along with the two running for Vice President and the six running for Secretary. She knew she should probably feel nervous, but she only felt exhilarated! With the exception of reading, Belle loved being the center of attention. She got a huge boost from having large crowds listen to her, applaud her, and laugh at her jokes. And since she had been rehearsing her speech all week, Belle didn’t feel nervous at all about presenting it. Especially because she wouldn’t actually have to read anything.
The administrator finished talking and turned with his hand directed at the curtain. Belle smiled and stepped casually into the spotlight as he called the candidates’ names. She waved to the audience like a beauty queen riding on a float. Many of them laughed, which only encouraged Belle to be even more of a ham. She started to blow kisses too, as she made her way to the chairs at the edge of the stage. The other candidates walked somewhat stiffly, their eyes darting nervously at the audience. This made Belle smile all the more. She was winning so far, and they hadn’t even gotten to the speeches yet!
The Secretary candidates spoke first, followed by the Vice Presidents. Then it came time for the Presidents to speak. Belle was the third one to give her speech. She would have preferred to go last, and stick in everyone’s minds, but she did the best she could with the timeslot she was given. Her speech went smoothly with no mistakes, with the exception of the few she threw in on purpose to go along with her campaign. After all 13 candidates had spoken, the administrator got back up to thank everyone and explain that the polls would be open until 4:00 p.m. The winners would be announced Monday morning. Belle knew it was going to be a very long weekend!
After school, Belle joined Snow White at Cinderella’s house. Ariel and Aurora had dance practice.
“Come on, you can do it!” Snow White was encouraging as Belle entered Cinderella’s room.
“I just haven’t even talked to him since that night,” Cinderella said, her cell phone in hand.
“Oh yeah, that night,” Belle said, teasing her cousin.
“You weren’t there,” Cinderella said, rolling her eyes. “Snow knew what night I meant.” Cinderella looked up his number and pushed send. As soon as the phone started ringing, she hung up and threw herself down on the bed, burying her face in the pillows. “Why would he say yes?” she mumbled into the pillow. “He made it perfectly clear we couldn’t ever date.”
“Why would he say no?” Snow White asked. “He seemed to really like you, and this is totally different. It’s more like a service project!”
“Oh great! Cause that’s exactly how I want him to see me! A charity case!”
Just then, Cinderella’s phone started ringing in her hand. She glanced down at the number, and her face went white. “It’s him.”
“You have to answer it,” Belle said.
Cinderella shook her head and tried to hand the phone off to one of her cousins.
“Come on Cindy, you’re our only chance,” Belle pleaded. She took the phone from Cinderella, opened it, and then handed the answered phone back to her.
“Wow, has it been three years already?” Scott answered without saying hello. He was hoping humor would help make the situation less awkward.
“Yeah, do you want to go out with me now?” Cinderella asked, trying to joke back with him. The plan didn’t work. It felt uncomfortable.
“So how have you been?” he asked.
“I’ve been...good.”
“Very convincing,” he said sarcastically. “What’s going on?” Scott sounded concerned.
“Well, I need to ask you a huge favor. I mean really big.”
“I’m intrigued. Shoot,” he said.
Cinderella started to explain everything to him. She planned on just telling him the basic gist of it, but she found that once she got started; the whole story came pouring out of her. She went into detail about Cynthia, and the bracelets, and Dave.
“My brother sucks!” Scott said. Cinderella was afraid Scott would take his brother’s side, under family obligation, but she was glad to hear genuine anger in his voice over the way Dave had treated her and her cousins. This gave her the encouragement to go on.
“So after all this, no one asked any of us to Homecoming,” she said, getting closer to the purpose of her call. “Not that we were expecting it after all the crap Cynthia posted about us.”
“So you want me to come down there and take you to the dance so you can show off what an amazing dancer you are and prove this Cynthia chick wrong?” Scott said, finishing her thought. “You know what? I would love to! When is it?” he asked.
Cinderella was smiling so big, her cheeks started to hurt. “Yes!” she was finally able to say. “But I was also
sorta hoping that you could bring four friends for my cousins too.”
There was a pause on the other end.
“But if you can’t, that’s okay; I mean I know it’s a lot to ask…” Cinderella started to say.
Scott laughed. “Hold on there Princess! Of course I would love to help! I can’t leave you thinking all the Prince men are jerks!”
“What about our...talk?” she asked. Cinderella didn’t want to bring it up, but she felt she had to. Scott was quiet for a second, and the awkwardness from the beginning of their conversation started to seep back in.
“As long as it’s cool with your mom, I think it will be okay,” he responded, releasing a deep breath. “These are special circumstances, and I think every girl deserves to go to her first Homecoming. Besides, you’ll probably end up finding a cute high school boy, and you’ll forget all about me by the end of the night.”
Not likely, Cinderella thought.
“So when’s this dance?”
“A week from Saturday,” she said, feeling the nerves slowly creep into her stomach again. She wasn’t giving him much notice.
“Hmmmm,” he paused for a minute, and Cinderella could hear him talking to some other people. “Yeah, we can do that.”
“Seriously?” Cinderella asked, hardly able to believe her ears.
“Yes, seriously!” Scott said. “I will have five princes, including myself, on your doorstep next Saturday.”
“Oh my gosh, I love you!” Cinderella blurted out. Her face immediately flushed deep crimson and she felt very glad they weren’t having this conversation in person.
But Scott only laughed. “Well goodness Princess, it seems a bit sudden but…okay. I’ll tell your mother we’re thinking a spring wedding.”
Cinderella laughed. “Oh, she’d love that!” Cinderella liked that Scott was joking with her again. It felt like things were back to normal.
“What’s that?” Scott asked whoever else he was talking to. “There’s just one condition though,” he said into the phone.
“What’s that?”
“You have to ask us to the dance.”
“Isn’t that what I just did?” Cinderella asked, confused.
“No, I mean the high school way. We can’t officially take you to the dance unless you officially ask us. I told you I wasn’t going to let you miss out on any high school experiences.”
Cinderella had to think for a second, and then she remembered those girls from the mall and Dave explaining their conversation to her and her cousins. That felt like such a long time ago!
“Deal,” Cinderella stated.
“Cool! Well, I’ve got to get to work now, but I will talk to some of my friends and we can hash out the details later this week, alright?”
“Sounds great!” Cinderella said.
“But that means you can’t call me and then hang up again.”
Cinderella’s face flushed. She had almost forgotten about that. “I didn’t mean to hang up on you!” she tried to explain. But she paused when she heard Scott laughing and realized he was only teasing her.
“So serious, Princess,” he said.
Cinderella shut her phone and looked at Snow White and Belle. “Now that is a prince,” she said. Then in response to their questioning eyes she grinned and added, “He’s in!”
Chapter Thirty-Five
Snow White and Cinderella stood on Grandma Johnson’s porch later that evening. Belle had gone with Rachel to pick up the twins from dance practice. She just couldn’t wait to tell them the good news! Then the three of them were supposed to meet Cinderella and Snow White at Grandma Johnson’s house when they got home.
“Try one more time,” Cinderella said. “Sometimes she doesn’t hear the bell.”
Snow White knocked hard on the door, her knuckles hitting against the wood in the center of a large, bright, flowery wreath. The deadbolt clicked as it snapped up and the door slowly opened.
“Well this is a pleasant surprise!” Grandma Johnson said when she saw her visitors. “Come in! Come in!” she added, stepping back so they could enter her home.
Snow White and Cinderella walked past the old, upright piano where Grandma Johnson had taught them all to play “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” when they were younger. Atop the piano was an array of pictures in a variety of colored frames. Proudly displayed in the center of the arrangement was a photograph of the Princess sisters that was taken back in third grade. The old picture, taken in Grandma Johnson’s backyard, sat side by side with those of her four grand-daughters and three grand-sons. It showed five grinning little girls, mouths dyed bright red and purple from the half eaten popsicles in their hands. Cinderella made her way to the couch and plopped down, while Snow White hovered by the piano.
“I can’t believe you still have that,” she said, pointing to the photograph.
“Of course I do!” Grandma Johnson said, taking a seat across from Cinderella. “It reminds me of the good old days when my adoptive grand-daughters used to visit me.”
Snow White sat down next to Cinderella and guiltily looked into Grandma Johnson’s face. But Grandma Johnson just grinned back, a teasing twinkle in her eye.
“I know we don’t visit as much as we used to,” Snow White said.
Grandma Johnson put up a hand to stop her. “It’s fine, honey; I completely understand!”
“You do?” Snow White asked.
“Of course! You girls have gotten so busy, I consider myself lucky to catch an occasional glimpse of you at all!”
Snow White and Cinderella both smiled.
“Now how is that trouble at school going? Did you get everything all worked out?” she asked, turning her attention toward Cinderella.
“Actually, that’s why we’re here. We need some help,” Cinderella replied.
“Name it,” Grandma Johnson said.
Cinderella and Snow White took turns describing the recent developments and goings-on at school. They included how they had each taken her advice and tried to demonstrate more confidence in themselves the last several weeks. They described how it seemed to be working, at least a little, until Cynthia bombarded them in the cafeteria. Then Cinderella briefly explained their plan to go to Homecoming.
“The only problem is we need dresses,” she concluded.
“And that’s where I come in?” Grandma Johnson asked.
“Well…yeah…” Snow White said.
“The thing is, we have very specific dresses in mind,” Cinderella cut in. “Otherwise we would just buy them.”
“Alright,” Grandma Johnson nodded. “Where do we start?”
“You’re the best!” Cinderella said. Both girls jumped to their feet and sandwiched Grandma Johnson in a hug.
“So the dance is a week from tomorrow?” she asked, after laughing at the girls’ enthusiasm and once they had all returned to their seats.
“Yeah,” Snow White said. “Is that going to be too hard?”
“No, no,” she said, shaking her head and hand in unison. “But I will probably need some help. I’ll call Gretchen and Ethel,” she said, getting to her feet. In response to the girls’ blank looks she added, “Or Grandma Scousen and Grandma Lice to you.”
Cinderella and Snow White both nodded in acknowledgement and followed Grandma Johnson into her kitchen. The back wall was painted bright blue with a wallpaper border of sunflowers along the top. The curtains that hung neatly from the small kitchen window were also of sunflowers. On the kitchen counter, next to the stove, sat three tall ceramic containers. They were beautifully hand-painted with sunflowers winding their way across a blue background. The Princess sisters had always loved Grandma Johnson’s kitchen! It was so bright and welcoming, especially when the sun shone in through the window, lighting up the bright blue backdrop.
Grandma Johnson directed them to sit on the two stools tucked neatly beneath the bar. Then she reached her hand into a sunflower cookie jar and pulled out several homemade cookies and placed them in front of the girls. The
y sat on their stools and munched on chocolate chip cookies while she made the phone calls. When she was done speaking, she hung the phone back up on the wall and clapped her hands together.
“They are both delighted to help,” she said. Then after pausing for a moment, “But I think with only a week left to go, we should probably call in all the grandmas we can get.”
So Grandma Johnson proceeded to call Grandma Becker and Grandma Hamblin as well. She was in the middle of her third phone conversation when there was a knock on the front door. Grandma Johnson pointed for one of the girls to go ahead and answer it. Snow White jumped up and returned to the kitchen with Belle and the twins behind her. Grandma Johnson pointed to her cookie jar and then turned her back to the girls so she was facing the refrigerator, in order to block out all distractions and focus on her conversation. Snow White slinked past her and carefully removed six more cookies from the jar, giving two each to Belle, Aurora, and Ariel. Then she returned to her stool beside Cinderella. The other three grabbed chairs from around the kitchen table and dragged them behind where Cinderella and Snow White were sitting. Aurora’s chair screeched along the wood floor, causing the other four girls to jump around and face her. Then she picked up her chair to move it the rest of the way. They sat, eating their cookies, and waiting for Grandma Johnson to get off the phone.
“Who is she talking to?” Belle started to whisper.
Snow White put a finger to her lips and shook her head.
“Sorry,” Belle mouthed.
They then sat in silence for the remainder of that conversation, and the next phone call as well. After listening for a little while, Belle was able to pretty much figure out that Grandma Johnson was calling in reinforcements.
When she finally hung up with Grandma Hamblin, Grandma Johnson looked out and grinned at the girls’ hopeful expressions.
“You girls have got yourselves five seamstresses, ready and willing to go!”
The Princess Sisters (The Princess Sisters Series) Page 19
