The Princess Sisters (The Princess Sisters Series) (4 page)

Chapter
Five

Monday,
July 12th

“What’s
high school like, do you think?”

“What
do you mean?”

“Just
thinking out loud.  My cousins are all really nervous to start, especially Snow
White.”  Belle tried to act casual as she spoke.

“Well,
why not ask the expert?”  Belle stopped walking and looked up into David’s
hypnotic eyes.  He smiled at her puzzled expression and then continued.

“Where
we lived, in Logan, ninth grade is in high school too.”

“So
you’ve got loads of experience then,” she said catching up to him.

“Why
are you so concerned about high school?”

“I
dunno, maybe Snow is rubbing off on me.  It’s just that everyone makes high
school to be such a big deal.  There’s tons of movies about it, my mom says
they were some of her best years, and you don’t see people going to junior high
school reunions.  It’s also when…well…you start to really date.”

“Now
don’t tell me Miss Belle is afraid of getting a date!”

“Well…”

“Trust
me,” David said, touching her lightly on the arm and stopping her in her
tracks.  “You have nothing to worry about.”  David winked at her and then ran
ahead to push the button so they could cross the street.  Belle stood still for
a minute, her arm still tingling from the gentle touch of his warm hand.

“You
comin’ or what?”  Belle looked up to see the white “Walk” figure turn to a
blinking red hand.  Belle ran to the corner and David grabbed her hand, almost
dragging her into the street.  They were about halfway across the street when
the red hand stopped and several cars in front honked.  David reached the
corner and released Belle’s hand, laughing.

“What’d
you do that for?” she said, shoving him hard in the shoulder.  “We could have
waited for the next light!”

“Oh
come on, Princess, toughen up!  You’ll never make it in high school with that
attitude!”

“Oh
yeah?” she said.

“Yeah!”
he responded, grinning.  Belle accepted his challenging eyes and ran after
him.  David’s grin widened and he took off running into the McDonalds parking
lot that sat on the corner.  “Whatcha gonna do when you catch me?” he taunted,
keeping just out of reach.

“Wouldn’t
you like to know!” Belle laughed.  David circled around the redbox and stopped,
right in front of her.  She had never been this close to him before; her heart
was thumping, but she knew it wasn’t from the running.  Belle could feel his
warm breath getting closer until their noses were almost touching.

“Yeah,
I would,” he responded, inches from her face.  Then, before Belle could think
of a smart comeback, David tilted his head and kissed her.  Goosebumps surged
up her neck and arms.  He pulled back slowly and, from that close, Belle could
see a little bit of stubble above his top lip.  He leaned in to kiss her again
but Belle’s phone went off in her pocket, making them both jump.  She wasn’t
quite sure what had just happened, but she wasn’t going to say she hadn’t liked
it either.  Belle pursed her lips and answered.

“Where
are you guys?”  It was Cinderella’s voice that met her.

“We
just got to the redbox,” Belle responded.  “We’ll be done in just a sec.”

“Hurry
back, Ari already started the popcorn.”

“I’m
gonna eat it all!”  Belle could hear Ariel’s voice through the phone.

“K,
see ya soon.”

“Bye.”

“Bye.”

David
Prince or Dave, as he preferred, had spent almost every night with the Princess
sisters since the day he moved in, a few weeks before.  At first it was weird
for the cousins to have anyone else around, but Dave’s laid back personality
quickly broke through the barriers surrounding the tight-knit group.  The girls
discovered how fun it could be to have someone new to talk to, especially
someone with such a great smile and who always smelled so good.  They enjoyed
showing him around their town and introducing him to new things.  The Princess sisters,
for one thing, were avid movie watchers.  They introduced Dave to an assortment
of movies, both old and new.  Every night they would meet at one of their
houses and a couple of them would run down to the corner and pick out the movie
for the evening.  While they were gone, the others would raid the cupboards and
fridge gathering snacks.

It
just so happened that on this night, Dave offered to pick out the movie and
Belle quickly volunteered to join him.  So the two joked and talked, like they
had many times before, as they walked the half mile to the corner McDonalds. 
Only tonight had been different. 

Now
Belle stood leaning against the redbox and staring at her silent phone.

“Are
you making phone calls telepathically now?”

“No…I…”

“I
made you uncomfortable.”

“Please. 
Do you really think you’re the first one to ever do that?”  Belle asked, trying
to regain her confidence, which seemed to have melted away with her lips. 
Belle reached up and softly touched her own lips to make sure they were still
there.  The truth was Dave was the first guy Belle had ever kissed.  She
quickly tried to recover from her shock and delight over what had just
happened, but it was hard to do when her hands were still shaking.

“Why
yes, I believe I am,” he said, noticing her hands.  He covered them with his
own and the pressure made her hands stop moving.

“You’re
a little cocky, don’t you think, Mr. Prince?” Belle emphasized the ‘Mr.’ as she
spoke in mock politeness.

“Not
at all, Ms. Princess,” he retorted in similar tones.  “I am merely confidant in
my ability to make a young girl weak in the knees.”  Belle jumped to her feet
and whacked Dave on the shoulder again.

“You
jerk!” she said with a slight smile.  Dave reached for her and Belle turned to
run.  Dave grabbed her around the waist in one swift motion and had her over
his shoulder in the next.  Belle started screaming and kicking, but David
battled this with tickling and her yells quickly turned to laughter.  He
finally set Belle on her feet again and she gave his shoulder yet another slap.

“You’ve
really gotta stop doing that,” he said, moving his fingers in a tickling motion
and inching toward her.

“Or
what?” Belle asked, grinning.

“Or
I might just have to kiss you again.”

“Well
Dave,” she said, tossing her long, golden hair over her shoulder.  “That’s a
risk I’m willing to take.”  Dave smiled and grabbed her hand, turning her
around to face him.  “But,” she said, holding her hand in front of his chest,
“We do need to pick out a movie or my cousins are going to wonder what happened
to us.”  Belle tossed her hair again and winked at Dave over her shoulder
before returning to the redbox and looking through the movies.  Dave joined her
side but was far too distracted by the way her hair smelled to pay any
attention to the selection in front of them.

“My
Sister’s Peeker?!” Belle read and laughed out loud.

“What?”
Dave asked, finally focusing on the movie titles.

She
looked at the words more closely.  “Oh!  It’s
My Sister’s Keeper
.”  She
smiled at Dave, then quickly tapped the ‘next’ button and casually scrolled
through the choices.

“What,
are you dyslexic or something?” he teased.

Belle
went very quiet and tried to look away from Dave’s joking face.

“Oh
Belle…I’m so sorry!  I was just kidding!” he said, wishing he could kick
himself.

Belle
looked as though she might cry, but she turned toward Dave and smiled.  “It’s
no big deal,” she said, trying to brush it off.

“No,
seriously!  I am so sorry!” he continued.

“Really,
let’s just drop it, k?”

Dave
stood quietly, staring at the redbox.  Belle looked over at Dave and gave him a
little shove, knocking him back into focus.  “Geeze David, lighten up!” she
said.  He smiled back at her and they resumed their flirtatious behavior as
they finally made their DVD choice.  Then they began walking home again.

“So,”
Dave spoke in almost a whisper.  “We picked out the movie.”  His voice seemed
to waiver just a little and Belle had to turn her head so he wouldn’t see her
smiling.  He seemed nervous now and she liked that.

“So?”
Belle asked.

“So,
I thought you wanted me to kiss you again,” he said, nudging her playfully.

“Maybe
some other time,” she said casually.  Belle could tell she had shocked him at
first and then she made the mistake of looking into his eyes.  Belle smiled and
Dave could tell she was just playing with him.  She gently smacked him on the
shoulder.

“Oops!”
she said, covering her mouth.  Dave laughed and kissed her again.

“That’ll
teach you,” he said.  The two walked hand in hand toward their street.  As they
approached the corner Dave hastily dropped her hand.  Belle turned to look at
him.

“Don’t
tell your cousins what happened,” he said, then adding, “Please.”  Belle looked
at him, puzzled.  She had been excited to share with her cousins the news of
her first kiss!  “I just…don’t want them to know…yet.  It would make things
weird I think,” he finished.

“Okay,”
Belle reluctantly promised.  Then she pushed open the door announcing, “We’re
here!  It’s Dave’s fault we took so long!”  She glanced over her shoulder and
grinned at him.  Dave rolled his eyes in response, and then followed Belle into
the house.

Chapter
Six

Wednesday,
July 14th

Two
mornings later, Cinderella and Belle sat on tall barstools in Cinderella’s
kitchen.  Dana placed a pancake on each of their plates and watched the girls
for a moment.  Neither one noticed the pancake in front of them.  Cinderella
sat with her legs crossed and seemed to be staring at a particularly
mesmerizing leaf outside.  Belle sat with her arms folded, resting on the
counter, her eyes looking hard into the wood below her chin.  Both girls sighed
a long, painful gust of air before Dana finally spoke.

“You
two hungry or what?”  Belle and Cinderella both jumped and then looked at Dana
before looking down at their own plates.

“Oh,
thanks Dana,” Belle said softly, reaching for her fork.

“Uh-huh”
Cinderella mimicked before taking her first bite.

“What’s
on your minds?”

“I
miss Dave,” Cinderella finally spoke.  Belle nodded in agreement, but made sure
to keep her head down.  She could feel her cheeks begin to warm at the sound of
his name.  Dana’s brow crinkled as she flipped the next batch of pancakes
over.  The white batter bubbled as it met the steamy, black griddle.

“You
two have been fine without anyone’s company other than each other for fifteen
years.  Now you’ve spent a few weeks with this boy and you can’t think of
anything to do without him?”  Cinderella shoved a large piece of pancake into
her mouth and stared at her empty plate.  She should have known better than
telling her mom, the man-hater. 
I must be spending too much time with Belle.
 
I usually think before speaking my mind.

Belle
looked over at Cinderella.  She recognized that look on Cinderella’s face.  The
same look of misery was there the last time she brought up the subject of boys
with her mom. 

“I
think it’s just that we’re used to having so many others around,” Belle said,
trying to take the focus off her cousin.  “With Ariel and Aurora at practice
and Snow White being sick, David’s going to football practice seems like a
bigger loss.” 

Dana
nodded in agreement.  “That makes sense,” she said, nodding again.  “Just give
it a few days; with all you girls back together, you won’t even remember that
boy at all.”  Cinderella stole a glance at Belle.

“Thank
you,” she mouthed.

Belle
had saved her from what could have been a huge argument.  Then Dana did
something neither girl expected.  She flipped the last two pancakes onto the
girls’ syrupy plates, clicked the griddle off and said, “Now I realize you
girls will probably start dating soon.”  Cinderella sucked in a breath of
surprise at the same time as trying to swallow the large bite she had just
taken.  The result was a coughing fit that lasted a good five minutes while
Belle and Dana alternately thumped her on the back.  When she finally was able
to breathe right again, Cinderella gave her mom a sideways glance.

“Okay?”
she responded.

“I
know, you never thought you’d hear me giving you dating advice, but I realize
it’s bound to happen.  You are going to date whether I like it or not, so I’d
rather you know a thing or two before the boys start lining up.”  Belle and
Cinderella glanced at each other, eyebrows raised, before turning their focus
back to Dana.

“First,
there are three types of boys.  With experience, you learn to tell them apart,
but a rookie sees them as all being the same.”  The girls giggled at the
seriousness in which Dana was leading this discussion.

“Go
ahead and laugh, but I promise this information will come in handy.”

“Okay,”
Belle said, pulling her most serious face.

“We’re
ready now,” Cinderella added.

“The
first type of boy, ‘The Prince’, is every girl’s dream boy.  I’ve heard many
women claim they don’t exist, but I’ve seen them.”  Cinderella stopped
snickering behind her hand and stared hard at her mom.  Was this woman in front
of her really her mother?  Or had some imposter taken over her body?  She never
thought in a million years that her mom would actually admit to decent men
existing on this planet!

Now
that Dana had secured her audiences’ attention, she continued.

“Princes
are not perfect, no one is perfect, but a prince does know how to treat a lady
perfectly well.  He will show respect to all women, from his mother to the high
school girls in his class.  He’s the kind of guy who says “ladies first” and
opens doors for women of all ages and-”

“Wait
a minute!” Belle cut in.  “What if I don’t want a guy to open my door?  I am
perfectly capable of doing that myself!”

“Ah! 
Well, a woman who doesn’t act like a princess will never get a prince.  I don’t
mean act haughty and spoiled and tell people what to do.  I mean act like a real
princess.  It’s not a question of whether or not you are capable of opening the
door, it’s whether or not you respect yourself enough to allow the prince to do
it for you.  A boy will never respect a girl who doesn’t first respect
herself.”  Belle sank back down and seemed to think about this for a minute.

“A
prince,” Dana continued as if there had been no interruption, “Will open your
door getting into and out of a car.  He’ll pull out your seat when it’s time to
sit down and he’ll ask questions about you, not just talk about himself all
night.  A prince will be genuinely interested in how you feel, the things you
like, don’t like, etc.  He’ll always make sure to have you home on time and
he’ll never ever kiss a girl on the first date.”  Belle could feel her cheeks
turning red again and she pretended to have a coughing fit so she could turn
away.

“A
prince won’t make rude jokes or make his date feel uncomfortable in any way. 
He is the kind of guy who is nice to everyone.  There are a lot of boys you’ll
meet who aren’t quite princes yet, but they are trying to be.  These boys are
called ‘The Frogs’.  Frogs are boys with great potential of becoming princes. 
The biggest difference between a prince and a frog is the frog doesn’t have a
lot of courage or self-esteem yet.  Princes are not cocky or boastful, but they
do take pride in themselves and the things they do.  Frogs tend to be nice
guys, but maybe a little awkward.  They can be known to say the wrong thing, or
maybe forget to get their date’s door, but frogs often have good intentions. 
The best way for a frog to become a prince, is by finding his princess and
getting kissed.  I don’t mean a kiss in the literal sense, but a few simple
words of encouragement passed through a princess’s lips and that shy boy in the
corner will transform into a prince faster than you thought possible.”

“So
all I have to do is tell a nerdy guy he’s cute, and he’ll suddenly become the
guy of my dreams?” Belle asked, looking doubtful.

“It
doesn’t always happen that way, no,” Dana said.  “First of all, the frog has to
want to change.  And second, the frog you help transform might not even be your
prince.”  Belle and Cinderella exchanged confused looks.

“Huh?”

“Sometimes
you might help a frog become a prince for another princess.  Otherwise,
everyone would always marry the first person they date!”  Cinderella nodded in
understanding, but Belle still looked skeptical.  Dana folded her arms on the
bar and leaned forward a little, bringing her closer to Belle’s face.

“The
whole point of dating is to find out what type of person you are compatible
with, right?”

“Okay,”
Belle nodded.

“Have
you ever thought that while dating these other guys, you are really helping
them get ready to find the girl who is most compatible for them?”  Belle sat
back against the wall behind her.

“Huh. 
I never thought of that before.”

“So
what’s the third type of guy?” Cinderella broke in.  Dana was pleased she had
kept their attention so long.

“The
third type I like to call ‘The Toads’.”

“The
toads!?”  Cinderella and Belle both giggled.

“What’s
the difference between a frog and a toad?” Dana asked calmly.

“Toads
are fatter.”

“And
uglier!  And they have warts.”

“But
in many ways they look similar, right?” Dana asked.

“Yeah,
I guess.”

“Sure.”

“This
is where it gets tricky.  You see, toads are imposters.  They try and make you
think they are a frog so you will kiss them.  When really, if you kiss them
you’ll end up with warts instead of a prince.”

“What
kind of guys are toads then?” Cinderella asked.

“The
kind of guy who will act really charming and do anything to win your heart,
then once he has you, he’ll stop treating you nice.  Toads are the boys who say
sweet things to you and compliment you and then turn around and act completely
different around their friends.  I’ve even seen a few toads who tell girls they
want to keep their dating a secret, so it will be more exciting or so it won’t
be awkward at school.  These types of toads usually use excuses like that so
they can cover up that they are dating more than one girl.”  Belle shifted
uneasily on her stool.

“Can
a toad ever become a prince?” she asked quietly.

“I’m
sure it can happen,” Dana answered, “But he has to really want to change, and I
haven’t met too many toads who want to modify their behavior.  A toad is
usually perfectly happy being a toad and no amount of kissing, even from the
most beautiful princess, can change a stubborn toad into a prince.”