𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙺𝚎𝚢𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚖𝚢 𝙷𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚝 (𝙰 𝚂𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚂𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚢)

𝙴𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚎

"Hurry! Prince Liam invited you to dinner and you have to look perfect. If Lady Claire hadn't given you that nasty scratch you could've worn a sweetheart dress but we have to settle on a long billowy sleeve dress. Good thing for us, we have one just for that." Estelle gets right down to business. 

"Its what, three?" I ask. "No, its four. Dinner is at six. We have less then two hours to get you ready! You are the only girl he's asked to dinner." Ariel blurts. 

"So? We're just friends. I'm not interested. He knows that already." I cross my arms and glare at the three of them. 

They all stare at me and I state, "And I'd like to wear my new pants please." And point to them across the room. 

They stare at me in shock and Estelle blinks and claps her hands. "Whatever you say." She says smoothly, grabbing my new pants. "Hmm. There weren't any long sleeve shirts. Allie, would you mind looking for a long sleeve, billowy shirt? Maybe with an open back and with a floral pattern." 

Allie nods and leaves the room and Estelle studies me and asks, "Do you have your period?" I gasp a bit and say, "Since when was my period your business." 

"Starting now. You can wear your white jeans, and Allie loves shopping and will find a bunch of shirts for you. But you can't wear your white jeans if you have started your period. The blood could leak through." Estelle says bluntly.

"I know what can happen and no, FYI, I am not on my period last time I checked." 

"Ok good." Estelle says and walks into the bathroom and starts running warm water. Ariel strips me and Estelle unwraps my scarred arm and takes a look at it. "Its not as bad as I thought it would be." She tells Ariel. 

Ariel nods and with clean linen they re-wrap my arm and I step into the hot water and sigh blissfully. 

By now I'm just a tad bit used to people seeing my naked and they clean me with lemon shampoo and body wash. 

They leave me to soak in the bath and walk in 30 minutes later. I get out and they dry me off and leave me alone to nap. 

Ariel shakes me awake and I blink awake. "What?" I ask groggily. "Up, up! You have a date with Prince Liam." Ariel savors his name, and I look into her face in confusion. 

An image flashes through my mind of Liam leaning over me and smiling. 

I blink it away and my eyes refocus on Ariel. I get out of my super comfy bed and Allie is back with several shirts matching Estelle's description. 

I put in a tampon just in case I bleed out and pull on my new white jeans and try on my new long sleeve shirts. 

My favorite is the only shirt with short, billowy sleeves. It's a stunningly beautiful lilac purple shade that I love. 

When Estelle's back is turned, I slip on the purple shirt and smile at myself in the mirror. "Do you like it?" I ask, smiling at her. "But, the whole point-I just. Why?" She asks, confused. 

I shrug and say, "I like it." "Fine." Estelle says, blinking furiously. "I think that I can take this from here. You guys can go." I wave my hand at the three of them and Allie slips out. Ariel hesitates and waits for Estelle, who stands staring at me. 

"Why do you do this?" She asks finally and walks out. I don't answer and sit down in front of my vanity and brush my hair and pin it to the side with a pin and then apply a faint shade of lip gloss. 

I check the clock, which reads 5:37. I sigh and wait for the clock to turn to 6. 

I walk over to my balcony and open the doors and look out over the city. Charlotte is down, sitting on a swing, reading a book. "Charlotte!" I call happily. She looks up in confusion and then spots me and waves. I wave back at her and blow her a kiss, which she returns. 

I walk back in and grab Mom's book and open it to the page I left off and start reading. I'm so engrossed in my book that I don't hear the knock at my door.