Eliot Strange and the Prince of the Resistance

51) Rule Three

My mom doesn't even know rule three of me and Steven's rules - Save the prince - but she is with me. My mom and I have the same goal for the first time since things went to hell. My mom is on my side. I relax a little.

I decide to take that bath. Oh, glorious hot water and bubbles and shampoo and some kind of fancy soap. I am in Heaven for a good hour before the water gets too cold to enjoy anymore. I am too embarrassed to ask the person/guard outside to get me more. I am not used to ordering people about. It makes me uncomfortable. All this is kind of like staying in a very fancy hotel where you feel funny when someone carries your bags to the room. Nice, but still.

After I dry my hair with a freaking God-Bless-America real hair dryer and then straighten it with a Kumbaya-My-Lord flat iron, I get out of my fluffy bathrobe and into my new clothes. The outfit that has been given to me by the person/guard outside is perfect. My mom must have picked it out because it is a too big, soft sweatshirt in teal blue, my favorite color, and a pair of leggings that are also as soft as a baby's butt. My mom definitely picked out the outfit because it comes with a sports bra, my size, and a pair of what we both call, granny panties. No thongs for this girl. Completing the outfit is a pair of fuzzy bunny slippers.

I notice my mom has sent two dresses too and a pair of shoes with a slight heel for dinner tonight. She also has sent several changes of clothes, including some jeans and t shirts and tennis shoes. It looks like someone thinks I am staying for a while.

I am comfortable and clean for the first time in a very long time. I am still worried about Torin, but since it looks like I won't be seeing him until dinner, I decide to take my mind off worrying for a minute. I look over the choices of movies and see my mother's influence again. All my favorites and all comedies. It looks like we are keeping things light. No tear jerkers here. After looking through Bill Murray and Will Ferrell choices, I decide to go with an outlier - Malibu's Most Wanted.

I rap like B-rad as I cut the TV and DVD player on, "Traffic, traffic, looking for my chapstick, kinda feel car sick, there's a Ford Maverick."

"King Kong.. ain't got nothing on me," I say as I press play.

I watch the movie in my bean bag chair and munch on my favorite snacks. Anything chocolate. And popcorn, glorious, freshly popped popcorn. M&M's in my popcorn. Where do these people get all these things we love but forgot all about? Fresh popped popcorn with butter. I lick my fingers.

I sip on a Coke, Torin's favorite. When I look through my box of snacks, I spot a bag of Doritos, Torin's favorite.

I hope he is having snacks somewhere. The professor called him "prisoner" before he changed it to "guest". There's a big difference between guest and prisoner. I fall asleep debating in my brain whether or not Torin is safe. I am so tired, I don't dream.

I awake to the sound of someone screaming and machine gun fire.