Treachery, Royalty, and Annoying Girls

Chapter 1, Part 3

"Hello, ladies! Everyone is in a car at the moment headed to either the palace, or an airport, depending on the area you are coming from. As soon as you arrive at the palace, you will go straight to the main hall where we will meet and you will get your assigned maids. They will take you to your room. In those rooms you will find everything you need. This goes from the dresses, shoes, and undergarments in the walk-in closet to the luxury soaps in the bathroom. Your first lesson is tomorrow morning and will begin during breakfast promptly at 10:00 a.m.. Princesses are always on time.

You must come downstairs in a casual day dress, not too bright, nor not too dull. We want to know that you aren't too worried about your appearance as well as not too careless about it."

"Careless?" Marilyna scoffed, "Who does she think we are, 5 year olds? We are like 18, or at least I am."

"I'm 17, and Marilyna, respect the queen. She's just trying to make sure that we are successful for at least the first few rou-"

"Kasiandre, do you think you have permission to talk yet? I think that you should wait for your turn to talk." Marilyna interrupted.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Fawson." Kasiandre responded in a mocking tone. Not even five seconds later, I hear a sharp clap and I see Marilyna's handprint on Kasiandre's cheek. I felt my anger heat up inside of me but I set it aside as I leaned forward to the driver's window. I knocked on it and it opened up slowly. "How may I help you, Miss?" the driver asked. "Do you mind stopping the car for a minute? And do you mind if Marilyna sits up in the front with you? She is really getting on mine and Kasiandre's nerves." He pressed the breaks of the car. "Of course, Miss."

"Thank you," I replied and tried my best to show how appreciative I am. He smiled and pressed the button to shut the window. "Why are we stopped?" Marilyna asked, trying to sound concerned. Even in her tone, we could tell she wasn't worried at all.

"Oh, sorry, I just asked the driver to stop and for him to let you come up front because I believe you need some time to yourself." I responded simply.

"Oh, good! That means I won't have to deal with the Violet eyes and nerd." She snickered.

"Yeah, have fun!" I said sarcastically. Marilyna crawled over me to the door I had opened. Once she got onto the pavement, she slammed the door and aggressively opened the passenger side door next to the driver. Her voice was muffled, but I could make it out. "Thank you so much for letting me sit with you, I couldn't stand those rats any longer. Oh, your eyes are a beautiful shade of blue, sir." She giggled like a little girl as she mentioned his eyes.

I rolled mine at the sound of her flirting. He's what 26, 27, maybe 30? We're teenagers for crying out loud!

"Thank you, Callix." Kasiandre whispered. She put her book down and sat in the seat a few spaces away from me. "So," she started. "Why are you doing this competition? Did you originally sign one of the forms?" She started asking me all sorts of questions about where I was from, if I had any siblings, how old I was, she even asked me about my eyes. "What happened to make your eyes purple?" She finally asked.

"Oh," I got a little nervous, "So, I um, my mother got into a wreck a few weeks before she had me and some of the blood went up into my cells and changed my eye color so now I have my,'' I paused and started to do a Marilyna impression, "Violet eyes." We were laughing hysterically as we made jokes and did our best impressions of Marilyna. Kassiandre's was the best. "What a nerd. Reading all the time, don't you have anything else better to do?" We both went down drowning in giggles and laughs. Our conversation was filled with laughter and lasted until we got to the airport and boarded a private plane. Even on the two hour plane ride, it felt cut short as we landed. I didn't even notice that we were in the air or landing when we arrived.

"We're here already?" Kasiandre asked. She sounded disappointed but her face brightened quickly in excitement. The plane door opened quickly and there were steps that descended facing large iron gates.

"Are you really that slow?" Marilyna asked.

"Are you really that impatient?" I deadpanned. Marilyna raised her hand as if to slap my face as she did Kasiandre earlier. I braced myself and looked her right in the eyes when suddenly we heard a new voice, male, and it definitely wasn't the driver. "Hello, ladies. Welcome to the Palace." I opened my eyes to see a tall, well dressed, and handsome guy, about our age. My jaw dropped as soon as I realized who it was. Marilyna's hand was still in the air, she looked at him, gaping. He stepped up to her, grabbed her hand and put it to her side. "Now, now, there isn't any need to get violent, is there?"