by Joan Holub
Stopping by her trunker, she stuck her key into the lock and turned it. Nothing happened. She’d forgotten to say the code. She withdrew the key and started over. It seemed to take forever before it finally opened. Then she pulled out the vellum book and inkwell she’d stashed there before lunch.
Bending, she looked for the little pumpkin she thought she’d seen earlier. It was gone! Now there was only a little bit of sparkly orange dust left on the shelf. Had she seen the dust earlier and mistakenly thought it was an actual pumpkin? Maybe she’d only imagined its existence.
She shut the trunker door, said the locking code, and turned the key. Who cared about a pumpkin, anyway? She had more important things to worry about. Like getting to Grimm History class. Pronto!
About halfway down the hall, Cinda found a classroom door with a sign on it that read: THE GRIMM HISTORY OF BARBARIANS AND DASTARDLIES. This was the place!
She opened the door a few inches and peeked in at the rows of desks. The other students were already seated two to each desk. To her surprise, half the class was boys. She’d thought guys would only have classes over in Gray Castle on the boys’ side of the Academy.
Something big and oval-shaped was walking around the room, lecturing. “Grimmlandia includes the Academy, the outlying villages …”
When the speaker turned slightly, Cinda was surprised to see that it was an enormous egg! It was about a foot taller than she was, with arms and legs that ended in feet wearing long, pointy shoes. It wore an orange tunic and held a snazzy walking stick it tapped on the floor now and then. Was this the teacher?
At the moment, the egg’s back was to the door. Maybe she could sneak in without it noticing her. She pushed the door wider and tiptoed inside. Clink. Clink. Clink.
Oh, hobnobbers! Those dumb bells on her hem again.
The egg turned toward her. Its shell was cracked in a few places!
“And eggsactly who might you be?” it demanded.
“Cinderella. Sorry I’m late. I’m new.” She curtsied, stumbling a little as she did so. Just then she noticed that the teacher’s name was written on the board — Mr. Hump-Dumpty.
The egg-teacher gazed at her in concern. He pointed the tip of his walking stick toward an empty space at a desk next to a boy.
“Better sit down before you fall down,” he said. “Curtsies in long dresses can be very dangerous.”
“Yes, sir,” said Cinda. She totally agreed with him about curtsies! She slid onto the seat he’d indicated, without even glancing at the boy beside her.
“Now, as I was saying,” Mr. Hump-Dumpty went on to the class. “Grimmlandia includes the Academy, Once Upon River, and the outlying villages. And Neverwood Forest. Which is so called because?”
He turned suddenly and pointed the tip of his walking stick at the boy next to Cinda. Shooting a glance at the boy, Cinda gasped. It was Prince Awesome himself! He wasn’t wearing his crown now, though. She wondered if he’d stashed it in his trunker.
She stared at him as he replied, “So called because you ‘never would’ venture into that forest. Not if you had half a brain.”
Some of the students giggled at the last part of his response, but the teacher must’ve agreed with the prince because he didn’t scold him. Quite the opposite.
“Eggsellent!” Mr. Hump-Dumpty praised. He continued circling the room. “And beyond the walls of Grimmlandia, there is —” He swiveled suddenly to point his walking stick at a girl with turquoise hair, who was seated up front.
“The Dark Nothingterror,” the girl supplied in a perky, bubbly voice.
“Correggt!” said the teacher.
His walking stick whipped around, and he pointed to another girl seated at the back of the room, two rows over. It was Rapunzel! Cinda hadn’t noticed her in the class until just now.
Rapunzel arched an eyebrow, her expression almost daring the teacher to ask her a question. She’d seemed nice enough at lunch, but in Cinda’s opinion, she dressed strangely and seemed a bit exotic and standoffish. Of course, those traits also made her very interesting, if a bit intimidating.
Cinda craned her neck a little, trying to look at Rapunzel’s hair without being too obvious about it. Had it grown even longer since she’d seen it at lunch? Now it draped the floor by about three inches!
“And what is the Dark Nothingterror?” the egg demanded of Rapunzel. Apparently, arched eyebrows didn’t faze him.
“A place no one has ever visited and lived to tell about it,” Rapunzel replied coolly. “For terrible beasts and dastardlies are said to roam there.”
“Perfeggtly true!” declared Mr. Hump-Dumpty. He turned and fixed the entire class with his big, worried egg eyeballs. “One must absolutely never, ever dare to sit upon the wall that divides Grimmlandia from the Dark Nothingterror,” he warned. “For if someone were to have a great fall from it and land outside of Grimmlandia, all the king’s horses and all the king’s men could not put that someone together again!”
Cinda shivered. This teacher really knew how to put the grim in Grimmlandia History!
“Now, class, turn to chapter one — Eggsploring Beasts and Dastardlies — in your vellum book,” Mr. Hump-Dumpty instructed.
Cinda knew all the pages in her book were blank, but she set it on the desktop and opened it like everyone else was doing. From the corner of her eye, she watched Prince Awesome open his book, too. Its cover looked just like hers. As did the covers on the vellum books of the other students nearby. However, the pages inside his book and everyone else’s were full of printed words.
As the egg-teacher glanced around the room, Cinda slumped low in her seat. She tried to crunch herself smaller and hide behind the boy at the desk in front of her. Unfortunately, the walking stick of doom found her and pointed right at her.
“Please read aloud,” the egg requested.
“Oh, botchfibble!” Cinda murmured under her breath. Could this day get any worse? Why did he have to pick on her?
She straightened in her seat. “I’m sorry, Mr. Hump-Dumpty. I don’t think I eggsactly —” (Oops! The teacher’s way of speaking was catching!) “I mean, I don’t think I exactly have the right vellum book. Mine’s empty.” She tilted it up so he could see its blank pages.
His eyes widened, causing the hairline cracks in his forehead to wrinkle. “Did you instruct it properly before class?”
“Um, no?” she said, confused.
“You have to push the button,” Prince Awesome told her in a low voice. Cinda watched as he shut his book and pressed a fingertip over the oval in the very center of its cover where the scrolly, entwined GA letters were. “At the same time, say the name of this class,” he told her.
Cinda did as he instructed. When she opened her book again, it was full of printed words about the history of Grimmlandia!
“Awesome!” she said.
“Yes?” the prince answered.
“Oh,” she said, remembering that was his name. “I, uh, meant thanks!”
The prince smiled and nodded. Up close, his eyes were a super dazzling dark brown.
Cinda looked down at her vellum book and began to read aloud about the history of Grimmlandia. After she’d read for a bit, there was a discussion. Class flew by after that, and suddenly the Hickory Dickory Dock clock was announcing the rhyme time. Its deep voice was somehow being channeled through the school so that it came out of a grate high on the wall behind the teacher’s desk.
“Hickory Dickory Dock,
The mouse ran up the clock.
The clock strikes one.
This class is done.
Hickory Dickory Dock.”
“Please finish reading chapter one for tomorrow,” Mr. Hump-Dumpty called out. “Class dismissed!”
Grabbing her vellum book, Cinda rose from her seat. She glanced over at the desk where Rapunzel had been sitting. She was already gone. How disappointing! She’d hoped to say a quick hi to the mysterious girl before heading to her next class. Her reaction might have helped Cin
da gauge how she now stood with the three Grimm girls after Odette’s pinch performance.
Feeling eyes on her, she turned her head. Prince Awesome had stood, too, and was staring at her.
“Well, last one out of class is a rotten egg!” she said with a little laugh. Toad’s teeth! Why had she said the first dorky thing that popped into her head?
For some reason, this boy was making her feel a little flustered. Which didn’t make sense. She’d hung out with lots of boys back in the village — partly because not many girls her age lived there. Of course, none of the boys in the village had been princes. But she didn’t care about crowns or royalty any more than she did about fashion! So that wasn’t it.
“Where are you headed next?” Prince Awesome asked as they both turned to leave.
“Bespellings and Enchantments. Upstairs on three,” she told him as he followed her through the door. Out in the hall, she said, “See you.”
In two long strides, he caught up to her. “Wait, I’m going up to three, too. I’ll walk with you.”
She sent him a questioning look. “Until History, I’d thought guys only had classes in Gray Castle. Guess I was wrong.”
He nodded, causing a lock of dark hair to fall over his forehead. With a flick of his head, he shook it back in place. “There are boy-girl classes in both towers. I’ve got Battle Science on the guys’ side next. I can cross over on the third floor hall, past the gym.”
“So how do you know so much about the Academy, anyway?” Cinda asked. “That we aren’t supposed to say the principal’s name? And how to open the vellum books? I mean, today’s your first day, too.”
One side of Awesome’s mouth lifted in a half smile, and he shot her a teasing look. “Like I said before, I studied the handbook.”
“What handbook?” she asked as they headed for the stairwell. “Wait! I bet I know.”
Holding her book in the crook of her left arm, Cinda pushed the oval on the front of it with her right index finger. “Handbook,” she tried.
Before she could check the inside of the book, Prince Awesome corrected her. “Say ‘Grimm Academy handbook.’”
She tried it. After she spoke the proper title, she opened the book to find that the first page was now printed with the words:
THIS
GRIMM ACADEMY
HANDBOOK
BELONGS TO
CINDERELLA
When they reached the stairwell door, she paused to study her book for a second. At the back of it she found a list of rules. She scanned a fingertip down to Rule 37. “Never speak the principal’s name,” she read aloud.
Snap! She shut the book and looked at the prince.
“Thanks,” she said, smiling up at him. “I wish someone had explained all this before this morning.”
For some reason, he was just standing there staring at her again. Cinda’s cheeks flushed in embarrassment and she lifted a hand to comb her fingers through her hair. She must look a sight with her wild, tangled hair and her faded, worn gown. He was so easy to talk to that she’d forgotten all about that until now.
The prince opened the door, and Cinda turned to go upstairs. “I don’t know how you girls walk up these steps in such long gowns without tripping. Want me to carry your book for you?” he asked.
She shook her head, grinning. “It’s an acquired knack. Back home I used to walk through fields and up steps to fetch water and carry wood for the hearth, all while wearing a long dress.”
Bunching her skirts, she draped enough of the fabric over her right arm so that she wouldn’t trip on her hem. Then she tucked her book into the crook of the same arm. With her free hand she grasped the stair rail. As they started up the spiraling staircase, he walked beside her.
“I had three tutors back home in the Kingdom of Awesome,” the prince told her. “They helped me study the handbook and prepped me for attending the Academy. You know — the basics, like Jousting, Sieges, History, Dancing …”
“Oh! Dancing. That reminds me,” she interrupted, remembering the Steps’ demands. “Are you planning to do a lot of dancing at your ball on Friday?”
“Are you?”
“Asked you first,” she said as they passed the exit door to the second floor.
“Of course I’ll dance,” the prince said. “That’s pretty much what balls are for, so it would be rude if I didn’t. And I’ll ask a different girl for each dance. As my tutors schooled me was polite.”
This guy sure lived by a lot of rules, Cinda decided. Still, she thought it was nice that he cared about doing the right thing. She tried to think of a way to bring up her stepsisters. Finally, she glanced over at him and said brightly, “You’re probably really good at dancing after all those lessons. And you know who else is great at dancing?”
He cocked his head at her curiously.
“My two stepsisters, Malorette and Odette,” she told him.
Prince Awesome looked blank.
Pausing on the stair, she held up her free hand and curved her fingers near her head. “Poofy black hair and perfect complexions? They had on matching blue gowns at lunch?”
Prince Awesome just looked blanker.
“Anyway,” she said as she started to climb again. “You should make sure to dance with them at the ball. They’re good dancers and they’re both dying to do the waltz and reel and … whatever.”
The prince was smiling at her now, his teeth a flash of perfect white. “Well, the Whatever is my very favorite dance, so I’ll be sure to ask them,” he said.
“Huh?” Was he joking? This was serious. She had to keep those Steps happy so they didn’t get her kicked out of school! “Okay, um, can I count on that?” she asked him.
“Depends.” He opened the door to the third floor and waited for her to go through it before him. None of the boys she knew back home would have done that. They treated her like one of the guys.
“On what?”
“On what your favorite dance is,” he went on.
“Any dance I don’t have to do,” she said sincerely.
He laughed. “I hope I can count on at least one dance with you at my ball. We’re the new students. It’s expected.”
Cinda sent him a horrified look as she stepped into the third-floor hall. “No way! I don’t dance. It’s just not my thing.”
He’d startled her so much that she’d spoken much louder than she’d intended to. Her words echoed up and down the hall. Students walking nearby glanced at her with varying expressions of shock, dismay, or surprise. Apparently, not dancing was unheard of around here. She wasn’t getting off to a good start at all!
But the prince only threw back his head and laughed with even more delight. “I’ve never met a Grimm girl who doesn’t dance.”
“Shh! It’s actually not something I’m proud of,” Cinda said in a low voice. “It’s just that I’m more into sports. Ball games instead of ball dancing. I’m good at one and horrid at the other. So really, I’ll be doing you and every guy at the ball a favor by not dancing.”
Walking backward away from her now, the prince said, “Ball games, huh? So are you any good at masketball?”
She cocked her head to one side. “Maybe. Why?”
“I heard there’s a pickup game after school in the Grimm Gym. Come if you want to.” There was a smile in his voice as he teased, “If you think you can handle it …”
“I’ll be there,” she said quickly. A game of masketball was exactly what she’d need after this long and trying day!
Chuckling, he turned and headed off down a long hall she knew must go past the gym and over the river to Gray Castle. Cinda stared after him, her lips curving upward in a smile that matched his. She had to admit, that guy knew how to make someone feel pretty special. It wasn’t a feeling she was accustomed to — not since her stepmom and stepsisters had come into the picture, anyway.
As she headed off to class, Cinda’s smile faded a little as she remembered something. She’d forgotten she already had plans with Red an
d her friends! She wouldn’t be able to play masketball after all. She hoped Awesome wouldn’t think she was backing out because she was chicken.
Wait a minute! What was she thinking? His tutors had probably taught him to be super charming and polite and, well, awesome, to everyone. He wouldn’t care if she didn’t show up. He wasn’t singling her out any more than he would any other friend. Still, it had been cool of him to tell her about the pickup game after school. And nice that he’d invited her — a girl — to play with the guys. She hoped she’d get a second chance.
Her heart a little lighter, Cinda entered Bespellings and Enchantments. As she took a seat near the middle of the room, she noticed that this class was all girls.
The teacher was named Ms. Blue Fairygodmother. There was a bubble of pale blue light surrounding her. And instead of walking, she floated around the room inside the bubble, hovering a few inches above the ground. Freaky. But in a grimmarkable sort of way!
“Today’s lesson is on potions and percentages of invisibility,” she told the class.
Turned out that meant learning about potions you could use to make something turn a little invisible, like, say, five percent. By the end of the year, though, the teacher assured them that they’d have learned how to make things one hundred percent invisible! However, she cautioned that they must also learn some rules regarding when magical invisibility was permitted.
The class went by in a flash, and then it was sixth period. Cinda reluctantly went to the Great Hall, where Balls class was to be held. She peeked in, expecting to see people getting ready to dance. But instead, everyone was just milling around.
“The teachers aren’t here,” one of the other students told her.
“Teachers, as in more than one?” Cinda asked.
“There are twelve of them. The twelve Dancing Princesses. They take turns teaching, sometimes two at a time. Each one specializes in a particular kind of dance.”
“They’re pretty famous and give performances all over Grimmlandia. They had to leave school early today to perform at a feast in a nearby castle,” another student chimed in.
