The Princess Sisters (The Princess Sisters Series) (16 page)

Chapter
Twenty-Four

After
her encounter with Dave’s mom, Aurora began walking.  She wasn’t willing to go
home and see her sister again, so she kept moving forward.  She didn’t know
where she was headed, just that she needed to get away for awhile.  After
following her feet for a good twenty minutes, Aurora looked up and noticed she
was heading toward a little shopping center.  She skimmed the sign; there was a
grocery store, a nail salon, a Blockbuster, a gym, a Chinese restaurant, a
chiropractor, then Aurora paused on the last one.  That gave her an idea!  She
picked up the pace and walked straight for the small shop.  Aurora pushed open
the glass door, as a bell tinkled overhead.

“I’ll
be with you in just one second,” the lady told her.

Aurora
nodded and took a seat.  She began flipping through a magazine, looking over
pictures of celebrities, but not really reading any of the articles.  The bell
tinkled again and a mother with two small children walked in and found seats
beside Aurora.  Then an older man came in and sat on the opposite side of the
door.

“Who
was next?” A second worker asked, stepping out from the back room.

Aurora
jumped up from her seat and followed the worker further into the shop.  She
climbed into the black spinning chair, and held her hair up so the stylist
could clip a cape around her neck.  Then the stylist spun Aurora around, so she
was looking straight at her own reflection in the mirror.  All she could see
was Ariel looking back at her.

“What
are we doing for you today?” she asked, playing with Aurora’s long, blonde
hair.

“Chop
it,” Aurora said.  “I want to look completely different.”

***

Ariel
sat on her bed reading.  It was a popular book in a series and she had read it
multiple times before.  The books had gone on to the big screen, Aurora even
had two of the movie posters hanging above her bed.  Even though the two
posters took up most of Aurora’s half of the wall, it seemed empty in
comparison.  Behind Ariel’s bed was a massive collage of pictures ripped from
magazines and printed offline from her favorite movies and albums.  Just as
Ariel turned her focus back to her book, the door downstairs opened and shut. 
Ariel sighed; she was enjoying the quiet of being home alone.  But with Aurora returning, she knew it was about to get loud again.  She could hear Aurora making her way up the steps, rather slowly.  When Aurora finally walked into the
room, Ariel’s jaw hit the bed.  Aurora grinned, but said nothing.  Instead, she
walked over to their shared desk, pulled out her own book, and began reading.

“What...?”
was all Ariel managed to get out.

“I’m
sorry, did you say something?” Aurora asked, turning to look at Ariel.

“What
did you do?” she finally said.

“Do
you like it?” Aurora asked.  She moved her head side to side, allowing the
short A-line to bounce off her cheeks.  Her once blonde hair, now highlighted
with red streaks.

“Why?”
Ariel asked, getting up from the bed and moving toward Aurora for a closer
look.

“I
thought it was time I had a more mature look,” she said.  “Besides, I didn’t
want to look like
you
for the rest of my life.”  Aurora spewed the word
‘you’ at her sister, as though it were poison.

“Well
it looks stupid!” Ariel retorted.  She scooped her book off the bed and stormed
out of the room.

Aurora
smiled.  She had gotten exactly the reaction she was looking for.

***

Monday,
August 9th

Cinderella
sat in her room, looking out the window.  She seemed to look out the window a
lot these days.  Snow White was mad at her.  She never actually heard what
happened with Belle, but she assumed Belle was mad at her too.  Dana had come
into her room one night and said, “If you ever pierce something without telling
me, I’ll kill you.”  So she assumed Belle had been punished because of her
phone call.  Cinderella hadn’t spoken to anyone other than her mom in five
days, and she was starting to go crazy!  She needed some kind of outside
contact!  She found herself looking forward to the mailman coming that day,
just so she could have someone to say hi to.

Cinderella
glanced down at the parking lot and had to do a double take.  Then she pushed
open her door and rushed outside.  “Aurora?” she asked.  Aurora looked up. 
Sure enough, that was her!

“Hey
Cindy!  How’s imprisonment?” she asked.

“Oh
my gosh, your hair!” Cinderella responded, without answering her question.

“Do
you like it?”

“I
love it!  It just surprised me!”

“Thanks.”
 Aurora smiled up at her.  Neither of them knew what to say.  They weren’t sure
how much the other knew through Belle.  Aurora shifted uneasily from one foot
to the other.  “Well, I gotta go,” she said.

“See
ya.”  Cinderella waved.

This
is stupid!
she thought, plopping down on her bed again. 
I
hate that Dave did this to us!

***

Saturday,
August 14th

Snow
White sat across the table from Ariel and Aurora.  The three of them were
playing Phase 10, but they kept having to remind each other when their turn
came.

“It’s
your turn!” Ariel shouted at Aurora.

“I
just went stupid!” she yelled back.

“No,
you didn’t!  It went around the circle, and now it’s back to you again!”

“Fine,
I’ll go again, but you can’t get mad when I win,” Aurora remarked.

“Like
that would ever happen,” Ariel said quietly, but still loud enough for her
sister to hear.

“What
is your problem?!” Aurora shouted.

“Well,
I better be going,” Snow White said, jumping to her feet.

“Tell
Ariel she’s being really immature,” Aurora said to Snow White.

“Tell
Aurora she sucks!” Ariel said, looking straight at Aurora.

“See
ya guys,” Snow White said.  She hurried out the door before they could suck her
into their fight even more.

As
soon as Snow White got outside, she sighed loudly.  Things had not been good
between the cousins since their Lagoon fiasco.  Ariel and Aurora were
constantly fighting, she and Cinderella were still not speaking, and Belle had
been grounded indefinitely since Mary found out about the piercing.  With both
Cinderella and Belle grounded, her only option was hanging out with the twins
and it always ended the same way.  They would fight and force her to choose
sides and Snow White always ended up going home with one or both of them mad at
her.  She found herself actually looking forward to school starting!

She
walked down the street, back to her own house, staring down at her shoes with
her hands in her pockets.  Snow White looked up just in time to see Dave
getting out of his car across the street.  He waved, but Snow White quickly
turned her head away and ran inside.  Almost immediately there was a knock on
the door.  Snow White froze.  She peered through the peephole and saw Dave’s
tall frame standing on her porch.  She slowly pulled the door open.

“What’s
going on?” Dave asked.  “I know you saw me.”

Snow
White blushed; she wasn’t sure what to say to him.

“I’m
not mad or anything,” he said more softly.  “I’m seriously just wondering
what’s going on.  Everyone has been acting so weird lately!  I can’t get a hold
of Belle, the twins are always screaming at each other, and then tonight you
blew me off.”

“Well…you,”
Snow White replied, amazed with herself for being so blunt.

“Me?”
Dave asked.  He tried to sound confused, but she could tell he seemed a little
pleased with himself.

“Oh
come on!” Snow White said.  “You know my cousins all like you and now they seem
to be fighting over which of us you like best.”

“And
what do you think?” he asked.

Snow
White knew exactly what she wanted to say to him, but the words wouldn’t form. 
Be brave,
she tried to coach herself. 
Think Belle.  If I were Belle
I’d tell him exactly what was on my mind.

“I
think you’re a jerk!” she finally blurted.

Dave
took a step back, stunned.  “I...I don’t know what to say,” he stammered.

“I’m
sorry,” Snow White whispered.  She thought telling him off would feel good, but
she just felt guilty instead.  “Things have been...not good lately,” she said.

“I
know,” Dave responded.  “And I really am sorry for anything I did to mess
things up with you guys.”

Snow
White looked hard at him.  She wasn’t sure what to think, but he actually
seemed sincere.

“I’ll
go and leave you alone now,” he said, turning to leave.  Then he whipped back
around.  “You know, I think this is the most you and I have talked all summer. 
You were always so quiet.”

Snow
White could feel her cheeks turning a little pink.  “I have an easier time
talking to people when I’m one on one with them,” she said.  “It’s hard to talk
when I’ve got Belle, Aurora, Cinderella, and Ariel to compete with.”

Dave
laughed.  “It’s true,” he said.  “Your cousins can be quite…”

“Loud?”
Snow White filled in the blank.

Dave
laughed again.  “I would have chosen a nicer word but yeah, loud works.”

“Good
night, Dave,” Snow White said, closing the door.

“Night.”

 Snow
White leaned against the back of the door and smiled.  Then, after realizing
what she was doing, she shook her head. 
“No!”
Snow White had to remind
herself. 
“He’s a jerk who is just using us.  You can’t like him!”

Chapter
Twenty-Five

Sunday,
August 22nd

Belle
stood in the center of her small room as she looked around.  Her new tan capris
were draped across the back of her desk chair, along with her new light pink
T-shirt.  She picked out this outfit specifically because the light colors
contrasted nicely against her dark tan skin, showing off her greatest summer
achievement.  Her sandals with the little white and pink flowers rested under
the desk chair.  Belle silently checked off ‘outfit’ from her mental list.  She
then walked over to the dresser, where her new and old school supplies lay
spread out over the surface.  She again mentally checked each item off as she
placed them in her school bag: three pens, a pencil for the anal teachers,
notebooks for each period, calculator, magazine, I-pod, pictures for her new
locker.  Belle glanced in her bag one last time and then threw in a pack of gum
and an extra rubberband for her hair ‘just in case’.  Belle closed the clasp on
her shoulder bag and set it next to her shoes.  She then crossed the room and
plopped down on her bed.  Reaching across her pillow, she grabbed a bottle of
hot pink nail polish from her nightstand.  Then, with one foot stretched out
straight along the bed and her other knee pulled up to her chest, she began
painting her toes with smooth, even strokes.

Once
Belle had all ten of her little piggies brightly decorated, she stretched her
legs out with her toes pointing toward the ceiling so they could dry.  Someone
knocked on the front door downstairs and Belle let out an exasperated sigh. 
She glanced down at her still wet toes, but her mom was gone for the evening so
she knew she didn’t have a choice.   Belle then swung her legs over the edge of
the bed and made her way to the door.  She walked on her heels alone, to
prevent her perfect polishing job from being ruined by stray carpet fibers. 
Her descent down the stairs was slow, but she finally made it to the front
door.  Dave stood on her porch, looking good as ever with his new haircut.

“Hey,
what are you doing here?” Belle asked.

“Just
thought I’d stop by and see if you wanted to hang out.”

“Sure!”
she said, opening the door further so Dave could step inside.  “My mom finally
lifted the grounding today, so you have perfect timing!”

“Awesome!”
Dave said.  “So...you aren’t mad at me?”

“You? 
Why would I be mad at you?”

Dave
shuffled his feet.

“Because
of Cinderella?” Belle asked.  “No, I blame her for that one.  I mean, she
basically seduced you, right?”

Dave
looked at her surprised, but then slowly nodded.

“I
was just getting my stuff together for school tomorrow.  You want to come
upstairs for a minute?”

“Sure,”
Dave said, quietly.

“What’s
going on?” Belle asked when they’d reached her room.

“What
do you mean?” he asked.

“You
just seem so quiet,” she said.

“Yeah,
sorry.  We had a killer practice tonight so I’m a little tired.”

Dave
glanced around Belle’s room as she finished getting a few things together.

“What
are you looking for?” Belle asked.

“What?
Nothing,” Dave answered quickly.  “So you ready for school to start?” he asked,
trying to change the subject.

Belle
looked at him quizzically, and then brushed off his strange behavior.  “As
ready as I’ll ever be,” she said.  “There, I’m all done,” she added, tossing
one last thing in her bag.  “We can go downstairs now, if you like.”

“Okay,”
Dave said.

They
turned on a movie, but ended up talking about school during the whole thing. 
Once they left Belle’s room, Dave seemed to be much more like his normal self
again.  Mary came downstairs around 10:00 p.m. to remind them it was a school
night.

“That’s
her subtle way of saying it’s time for you to leave,” Belle said, once her mom
had left the room.

Dave
nodded. “I can take a hint.”  He put his hands in his pockets as he stood to go
and then froze.  “My cell phone is gone,” he said.

“Did
you have it when you came over here?” Belle asked.

“Yeah,
I must have dropped it somewhere.”

“Check
the couch cushions,” Belle said, getting to her feet.

The
two of them worked their hands along the back side and ends of the cushions
several times with no success.

“Why
don’t you call my phone and I’ll walk around and see if I can hear it?” Dave
suggested.

“Good
idea,” Belle said.  She punched in Dave’s number and hit send.  They waited for
her phone to start ringing before Dave slowly made his way upstairs.  Belle
called his phone three times before Dave came back down to the basement.  He
held up his phone, so Belle snapped her own phone shut.  “Where’d you find it?”
she asked.

“In
your room,” he said.  “I must have dropped it somehow while we were up there.”

“Weird,”
she said.

“I
know.  Well, I’ll see you tomorrow,” Dave said, and he turned around to go back
up the stairs he had just come down.

When
Belle got up to her room, she glanced over her school things one more time to
make sure everything was ready to go.  Something was missing. 
Where’s my
bracelet?

Mary
peeked her head in the door.  “Lights out in five minutes,” she said.

Oh
well,
I guess I’ll have to look tomorrow.

***

Monday,
August 23rd

Cinderella
felt her body shaking, but her eyes remained shut. 
Is it an earthquake?
 
Then somewhere, far away, she heard a voice calling her name.

“Cinderella!”

The
voice got closer and louder.

“CINDERELLA!”

Cinderella
snapped awake and quickly realized her mom had been shaking her and calling her
name.

“You’re
going to be late!  Get up!” Dana said.

Cinderella
rolled out of bed and proceeded to get ready for school with lead feet.  She
groggily gathered her things before heading downstairs to the front door.

“Hold
up,” Dana said.  “I’m driving you girls today.”

“Great,”
Cinderella said in a flat voice, but Dana didn’t seem to notice.  She simply
grabbed her purse and ushered her daughter out the door.  Cinderella had
expected to take the bus to school that morning.  This would have made it
easier to ignore her cousins.  But now she would be trapped in a confined space
with all four of them.  She desperately wanted to make up with them.  The last
couple weeks had royally sucked!  But she wasn’t quite ready to be thrown
together with the lot of them either.

Dana
pulled her car out of the parking stall and stopped in front of their row of
townhouses.  She tapped the horn twice and waited.  Three front doors, all in a
row, opened and the other girls trudged toward the car.  No one looked
especially enthusiastic about the prospect of returning to school.  The drive
was quiet, as none of the girls were speaking to each other.

“Don’t
look so excited,” Dana said, glancing in her rearview mirror.  “What’s going on
with you girls?” she asked when her sarcasm was met with silence.

“Just
tired Mom,” Cinderella answered without looking at the others.

“You
probably should have been preparing for school to start, instead of sleeping in
so late every morning,” she said.  Luckily the Outlander pulled in front of the
school at that moment so they didn’t have to respond.

“Have
a good day!” Dana called as the five cousins quickly got out of the car and
made their way towards the large brick building.

“Hey
Snow, wait up!” Cinderella called after the bouncing red hair that was quickly
moving away.

Snow
White paused just long enough for Cinderella to catch up to her.

“I’m
really sorry about everything!” she started.  “What can I do to make it up to
you?”

“Hey,
you’re a Princess right?  Can I have your autograph?” A boy with slick blonde
hair had approached Cinderella with the question.  Then he and his group of
friends walked away, laughing.

“What
was that about?” asked Snow White.

“No
idea,” Cinderella shrugged.

Just
then Ariel, Aurora, and Belle appeared in front of them.

“Remember
how we were worried about people knowing who we were?” Aurora asked.

“Well,
that’s not going to be a problem anymore,” Belle said.

She
stepped aside, revealing a long row of dark blue lockers.  Attached to each
locker was a yellow piece of paper made to look like a scroll.  It read: