“You’re so lucky,” Ivy said. She tucked a lock of straight, chin-length blond hair behind her ear. “I can’t wait to turn eight!” Ivy was the opposite of Clara—she was quieter and listened more. That meant Ivy always had the best gossip!
Bella nodded. “I wonder if I’ll feel any different tomorrow.”
“I bet you’ll wake up at exactly midnight,” Clara said. “Or maybe you won’t be able to sleep at all! You’re going to be Paired tomorrow!”
Paired.
The thought alone made Bella’s stomach do backflips and rumble nervously at the same time.
“Do you think Troy will bring a toad to class again today?” Bella asked, quickly changing the subject.
Clara wrinkled her nose. “He better not, or I’ll toss him in the moat!”
Laughing, Bella felt relieved. Her attempt to stop all Bella’s Birthday Talk had worked.
Ivy rifled through the pages of her red notebook. “I wanted to show you guys a sketch that I made of the royal unicorns,” she said. “But it’s invisible now. Ms. Barnes must have activated the invisible ink spell until after our spelling quiz.”
Ivy held up her notebook, its pages blank. Ms. Barnes often used invisible ink spells on test or quiz days so no one could cheat by looking at his or her notes. But she made sure that the spell only lasted until the exams were turned in. After, everyone’s notes returned to normal.
“Definitely show it to us after,” Bella said.
The school bell sounded from inside the classroom. Time to go!
The girls hurried inside the classroom and took their usual seats in the front row.
“Good morning, everyone,” Ms. Barnes said. “As you may have noticed, all of your notebooks are blank and will be until we’ve finished our spelling quiz. I hope you studied last night.”
A small groan came from the back of the room. Bella didn’t have to turn around to know it was her friend Evan. He never studied and was always being asked to stay after class.
“Take out a fresh sheet of paper and a pencil,” Ms. Barnes said from the front of the classroom. “We’ll begin.”
Ivy, Bella, and Clara didn’t have a free second to talk the rest of the morning. Bella counted down the seconds until lunch period.
* * *
“Ah! I thought we would never get to talk ever again!” Clara said.
The three friends had grabbed their favorite table on one of the castle’s back decks. A cheery orange umbrella stuck up from the middle of the table and shielded the girls from the sun.
Along with their turkey sandwiches and different side dishes, each girl had extra helpings of Crystal’s famous “sunray pie.” Bella didn’t know exactly how the pie was made, but she did know that it contained sunray berries. Sunray berries grew on vines that stretched into the clouds and out of sight. The people of Crystal said the vines were connected to the sun.
When farmers picked the berries, they had to wear extra-dark sunglasses because the berries were so bright! They glowed sunny yellow, and inside the piecrust were circles shaped like the sun that made Bella feel happy the second she took a bite. The pie tasted sweet—from the sunray berries—and refreshing, like lemonade, at the same time.
“I was trying not watch the clock, but I kept looking at it!” Ivy added.
Bella knew her friends wanted to talk about tomorrow—her birthday—but it was the last thing she wanted to bring up. This was the first time Bella noticed how very different her life was from her friends’.
Bella didn’t feel lonely with kids her own age at the castle. But now she realized she would be on her own at her Pairing Ceremony—the biggest event in her life so far!
“Guess what? My dad said he’s taking me to River Falls one day,” Bella continued. She wasn’t exactly lying to her friends—her dad had said that. But it was weeks ago, and she’d forgotten about it until now. “Dad wants to show me where he was born. I heard there are Fall Frogs that are as big as cats!”
“Whoa!” Ivy said. “That will be a fun trip! But I just learned about something way creepier than frogs. My sister’s friend told us that these spiders called Anasi live deep the Crystal woods. They’re prankster spiders—they appear to shift into whatever the person who’s nearby is imagining.”
“They can turn into people?” Bella asked, shuddering. “A spider-person! Ewww!”
Ivy and Clara made yeah-totally-gross faces too.
“But the spiders just create a vision—they don’t really become something else,” Ivy continued. “When the person gets close enough, the spider stops the trick and scares the person by showing itself as a spider.”
“I can’t think about creepy spiders anymore!” Bella said. Her skin felt crawly. “I’m so glad I’ve never seen one.”
“I heard something too,” Clara said. She clearly didn’t want to be the only one who didn’t have something to add about a new creature.
“One night I couldn’t sleep, so I started to go downstairs for milk,” Clara said. “My parents were talking and I stopped and listened.”
“Eavesdropper!” Bella said, teasing.
“I couldn’t help it!” Clara said. “It was too interesting. I heard my parents talking about an old lady who lives on the edge of town. She only comes out during big royal celebrations. They said she’s so jealous that red smoke poofs around her. She travels with this band of, like, bad unicorns.”
“Bad unicorns?” Ivy asked.
“Unicorns that probably bite your fingers off,” Clara said.
With that, the girls all burst into giggles over their silly, scary stories of creatures and old ladies.
Lunch period was minutes from ending, and Bella sighed quietly with relief. She had managed to avoid talking about her birthday. She picked up her empty tray—even the tiniest crumb of sunray pie gone—and started to stand.
“Oh, Bells!” Ivy said. “What time should Clara and I come over tomorrow? I’m so excited!”
Bella stood slowly. “Six,” she said, her tone a little uncertain.
Clara and Ivy nodded.
“Wow, your birthday starts early!” Clara said. “But I’ll be up on time and at the castle by six a.m.”
Oh no, Bella thought. Now she had to tell Ivy and Clara something awful.
“I actually meant six in the evening,” Bella said. She paused, looking at her tray for a second. “I have the royal parade and press stuff to do before I get home for my party.”
“Ha, ha,” Ivy said, grinning. “You’re joking, Bella. What time do you really want us to come over?”
Bella wanted to cry. Sometimes being a princess was no fun at all!
“I’m so, so sorry,” Bella said. “I’ve been begging my mom to make an exception this year so you can both be in the parade with me. But she won’t budge. She keeps saying it’s ‘royal tradition’ and we have to follow the rules.”
Ivy and Clara sat unmoving. They both had huge frowns on their faces.
“That’s such an old tradition!” Clara said. “We’re your best friends! Your mom won’t let us be in the parade at all?”
“We’re not royal, Clara,” Ivy snapped. “Don’t forget that Bella is a princess. There are things that you and I—just regular people—can’t do. I guess being with our best friend on her birthday is one of them.”
Tears pricked Bella’s eyes. The sunray pie swirled in her stomach.
“You guys have no idea how hard I’ve been fighting to change the rules,” Bella pleaded with Ivy and Clara. “I agree—it’s a silly tradition! I’ve been begging my mom every single day. I want you two there for every minute of my birthday. Especially this one.”
Clara stood, not looking at Bella, and picked up her tray. “Don’t waste your time, Princess. In fact, forget about coming to my eighth birthday party.”
Ivy nodded, standing next to Clara. “Mine too. I don’t want any royals at my party.”
Ivy and Clara, trays in hand, hurried away from the table, leaving Bella in tears.
Princess Confessions
Later that afternoon, Bella flopped onto her stomach on her bed. She actually wished her teacher had assigned homework—she needed something, anything, to keep her mind from racing ahead to tomorrow. And to stop me from thinking about how mad Ivy and Clara are at me, Bella thought.
She changed into comfy after-school clothes—bright yellow leggings and a plain white T-shirt—then left her room to wander the castle’s hallways. When Queen Katherine had taken the throne, she had completely redecorated. Bella’s mom had told her daughter that she wanted the castle to feel “welcoming.”
New rugs, all a warm, cherry-red color, covered much of the hallway floors. Beautiful wrought-iron candelabras lit by long ivory taper candles hung along the walls every few feet, illuminating the lovely artwork decorating the castle’s royal walls. Even the dusty, old, heavy drapes that had hung over the large palace windows had been replaced by the queen with light, airy curtains.
Bella hurried up two flights of stairs to the main tower. She skidded to a stop in front of her parents’ open bedroom door. Queen Katherine tilted her head toward the door where her daughter stood. She put the pile of mail in her hand down on her bedside table and smiled at her daughter. Queen Katherine waved Bella into the bedroom.
“I’ve never seen anyone move so slowly,” her mom joked. Then she saw the look on Bella’s face. “What’s wrong, Bells?”
Bella crossed the room and sank into the cushy white-and-blue comforter. It felt like she was sitting on pillows. She traced an index finger over one of the swirly designs.
She shrugged, not looking up. “Nothing. Okay, something. But it’s silly.”
“I love hearing about silly things,” Queen Katherine replied. “Especially from you.”
Bella looked up into her mom’s hazel eyes and took a giant breath. “I’m scared about tomorrow,” she began.
Queen Katherine put a hand on her daughter’s knee but stayed silent.
“I’m nervous about the parade,” Bella continued. “What if no one comes? I’ll be so embarrassed—plus, it’ll be upsetting to you and Daddy.”
“Is that all?” the queen asked. “Are you sure there’s nothing else bothering you?”
Bella frowned. Her mom knew her way too well. I won’t get away with keeping anything from Mom, she thought.
“I’m scared that I won’t be Paired with a unicorn. What if one just doesn’t exist for me?” Bella asked.
Queen Katherine tilted her head, smiling at Bella. “Sweetie, I have no doubt that a very special unicorn is waiting for you. He or she is probably in the royal stables right now, thinking, ‘When am I going to meet Princess Bella?’ ”
Bella giggled. “You really think so?”
“I know so,” Queen Katherine answered. “I want you to tell me these things, Bells. Whatever you’re worried about—big or small—so that tomorrow will be as amazing for you as possible.”
Bella chewed on the inside of her cheek. “There is one more thing. I feel bad having all of this attention on me, tomorrow, when Ivy and Clara will never have a birthday like mine,” she said. “We got in a fight today because I had to tell them they couldn’t be in the parade with me. What if they get so jealous that they decide to stop being my friends? There is so much about this birthday that they’ll never have. I mean, getting a unicorn is such a big deal!”
Queen Katherine took her hand from Bella’s knee and ran it over Bella’s hair. The familiar gesture soothed Bella a little.
“Tomorrow is a huge day for you, Bells,” Queen Katherine said. “But Ivy and Clara have never been jealous that you’re a princess. They became your best friends knowing exactly who you are.”
“I know, but they don’t get to participate in anything tomorrow,” Bella said. “They have to watch me in the parade, and they can’t even come to the Pairing Ceremony because it’s only for royals. They’re really upset.”
“They’ll still be at your party after the parade,” Bella’s mom pointed out.
“But they’re so mad,” Bella said. “I don’t even think they’re coming to my party.”
She buried her face into a pillow on her mom’s bed. The queen wasn’t going to budge, Clara and Ivy were going to stay mad at her, and tomorrow wasn’t going to be half as special without her friends.
4
Happy Birthday!
Princess Bella was wide awake even before her rainbow-shaped alarm clock went off. Sometimes she liked to set her alarm instead of her mom waking her up.
Shortly after, there was a knock at her door, and Queen Katherine and King Phillip stepped inside Bella’s bedroom.
“Happy birthday, Bella!” Queen Katherine, clad in a plush white robe, exclaimed. She hurried to Bella’s bedside and kissed her forehead.
“Happy eighth birthday, sweetheart,” said King Phillip. He ruffled Bella’s hair after kissing her cheek.
“I can’t believe it!” Bella said excitedly. “I’m eight! I thought I’d be up all night and counting down until midnight, but I fell asleep.”
Her parents laughed.
“Throw on a robe and come to the breakfast table,” Queen Katherine said. “Your favorite breakfast is ready.”
Once her parents left Bella’s room, she flopped back onto her pillow. I’m eight! I’m eight! she chanted over and over in her head. She had been dreaming about this day for as long as she could remember. It was time to get her birthday started! Then Bella remembered. Ivy and Clara. She had called them last night, but neither of her friends had answered.
You have to at least smile and pretend to be happy for Mom and Dad, Bella thought.
She put her feet into fuzzy pink slippers and pulled her terry-cloth robe over her matching shorts and T-shirt pj’s. She dashed to the breakfast table. All of the castle staff—the chefs, gardener, stable workers, Lyssa, maids—had gathered around the table. They smiled and chanted, “Happy birthday, Princess Bella!”
Bella blushed as pink as her slippers. “Thank you,” she said to everyone.
Color-changing streamers that twirled in the air hung from the ceiling and formed a canopy around the breakfast table. Glittery balloons flashed on and off as they floated from the floor to the ceiling and back down again.
Plates, ready to be filled, hovered at the start of a luxurious breakfast buffet. Fruit, waffles, eggs, bacon, and sausage filled silver trays. A glass filled itself with orange juice for Bella, and two mugs soon were brimming with coffee for her parents. Bella’s plate, waiting in front of her, moved toward the buffet—ready to fill itself with whatever food Bella wanted.
“Ooh, this is so beautiful!” Bella said happily, clapping her hands. “Can we start eating now?”
Everyone laughed. King Phillip pulled out a chair for Bella and she took her seat, ready to dive into her birthday breakfast. Bella gulped her entire glass of juice first.
Lyssa poured Bella another glass of OJ, and the pitcher refilled itself. Bella glanced at the waffles and her plate wafted through the air, stopping in front of the waffles.
“Two, please,” Bella said.
Two steaming waffles lifted from the silver tray and slid onto Bella’s plate. Immediately, new waffles replaced the ones that had floated to her plate.
She grinned and looked at the fruit. Her plate was going to get a workout today!
* * *
After a delicious start to her birthday, Bella trotted up the stairs to her room with Lyssa.
“I can’t believe I’m finally going to see my birthday dress!” Bella said.
Lyssa smiled. “You’re going to love it!”
Bella eyed Lyssa. “I can’t believe I haven’t been able to convince you to tell me anything about it. Mom hasn’t spilled one detail.”
“Close your eyes,” Lyssa said, taking Bella’s hand.
She felt as though soda bubbles were bursting in her stomach.
She shut her eyes tight and let Lyssa lead the way to her dress.
�
��Okay! Open!” Lyssa squeezed Bella’s hand.
Bella’s mouth dropped open.
“Oh my gosh, Lyssa! It’s gorgeous!” she squealed.
The blush-colored dress was satin, covered with a delicate layer of lace. Holding her breath, Bella slowly walked up to the dress and touched the cap sleeves. A satin sash cinched the dress’s waist. Gray ballet flats covered in iridescent sequins were on the floor under the dress. A delicate silver chain with a letter B hung on the hanger.
Bella spun in a circle to look at Lyssa. “This was so worth keeping a secret! It’s the best dress ever!”
Lyssa grinned. “Seems like you kind of like it.”
“Only a little bit,” Bella joked. “Will you help me get dressed?”
As Lyssa started to help Bella, the princess felt a pang of sadness. Normally, Bella would be snapping photos of her dress and sending them to Ivy and Clara. She couldn’t even stand the thought that her two best friends might never see her dress.
Lyssa helped Bella change from her pajamas into her dress. Bella slid her feet into the ballet slippers while Lyssa clasped the necklace around her neck.
Unable to wait another second, Bella turned toward her full-length mirror.
“It’s the prettiest dress ever!” Bella sighed happily.
She twirled in front of the mirror, loving how the layers of her dress spun out in front of her. Her mom and the seamstress had captured everything Bella could want in a dress. The shade of pink was Bella’s favorite, and the fabric swished around her knees. I really feel like a princess today! Bella thought.
“Bella?” Queen Katherine called, knocking on Bella’s door.
“Mom, come in!” Bella faced the door, grinning. Lyssa stood back and clasped her hands.
“Oh, Bella!” Queen Katherine put a hand over her mouth. The other hand held an old wooden box. It was a deep polished mahogany with gold corners and a gold lock. “You look beautiful.”
Bella hurried over and wrapped her arms around her mom. “Thanks, Mom. I love my dress so much.”
Bella's Birthday Unicorn Page 2
