The not-a-princess

The tower has succumbed to depression

An hour or so later, she stumbled into the room, her lipstick smudged and a bruise near her lips. She was humming the Pokémon theme song before grabbing a hairbrush and left. Only later did I realise that she'd been doing indecencies like 'making out' (so scandalous honestly). 

The next time I saw her was a bit after that, when I was doing my good for nothing homework. The door had slammed open and Ria had rushed in, "The school master's tower! Its," she then proceeded to wave her arms about like she was trying to imitate Michael Jackson. I panicked at her panicking, "It's... dancing!" 

She nearly toppled over at my absurd thought, "NO! its..." She then waved about even more incoherently. 

"Its jumping!" 

"Swimming?" 

"It's turned into a waterfall..?" 

"...Karate?" 

"IT'S A TOWER RIA IT CAN'T MOVE!" 

"It collapsed!" She finally breathed out, "Finally the word I was looking for." 

"It... what?" I had lost all formalities of speaking, it was so unexpected that... 

"No! Its more like it was blown up." 

"Well, lets head to the scene then!" We both rushed down the spiralling staircases, ran through the gingerbread house (not that I noticed Ria stealing a doorknob) and pushed our way there. I grabbed a nearby polka dot umbrella –with a polite sorry – and slammed open the doors onto the open courtyard. Almost instantly, the sun blinded me. Then the rain pelted me. Then the banshee like screaming deafened me. The whole courtyard was swarmed with students, teachers, wolves and fairies. 

The Nevers' black clothes and the Evers' pastel frocks clashed together like a kid mixing play-doh colours. But the main attraction stood – proud, tall and definitely crumbled to rubble was not a sight to disappoint. It looked as dramatic as it sounds. I pushed my way to the front to get a better view, Ria doing the same, I grabbed her and held the umbrella on top of our heads. Ria gave me a crude look, snatched the umbrella out of my hands and used it as a make-shift weapon to poke others out the way. Out of the blue I bumped into someone. Kieren (and Harley?) had popped out of nowhere in particular, he had goggles in his hair and a wrench tucked behind his ear (along with the oil staining his clothes, it looked like he had lost a wrestling match with a car). 

Speaking of clothes, oh my goodness, what was he wearing?! I literally froze in the middle of the crowd; he wore a sparkly yellow flannel that seemed to glow, over neon green jeans as well as his naturally eye-catching pink hair. Great job, Kieren, while our plan has now been quite literally destroyed, you are the now the most brightest, glitteriest and vivid looking person to ever walk earth. I hope you're happy (even if you are, by the way, I am not) because no wall our efforts are in vain. Forget them. I finally made myself to the tower, if I can inspect the rubble, I might find remnants of the explosives or hints of powder or grenade ash; this'll help identify the cause. 

I might also find fingerprints on the rubble. I started inspecting, nothing... I walked up and down, nobody stopped me. there were no fingerprints expect mine and James. None of Kieren's and Ria's traps (that worked perfectly well on me and him) had worked, they didn't even seem destroyed. They were de-activated. A cold chill wrapped its fingers around the back of my neck – I'm stupid. Stupid. How did I not realise? After I had stormed off, that left the three idiots... my line of thought was trailing off in all sorts of direction. After us... who else was snooping around here? How could they plant bombs? 

Why was I not here to make sure it was super safe?! Then I bumped into the most disturbing thing ever.Standing on top of all the rubble. They stood there, hands on hips, their eyes glassy and face scrunched with arrogance and ego. Faye, and guessing from the gasps down below, the crowd had noticed too. 

"Not her again!" 

"Why would she do this?" 

"Of course its her!" 

"Does anyone want a toffee filled yum-yum? It was only squashed a tiny bit." 

"Ria! Shut up!" 

I recognised the last voice – James! He's the only one who knew explosives like I did, he should be able to recognise the bombs used. The teachers ran out, screaming and yelling, almost as confused as the students. They ran forward and grasp Faye by the arms, turning all their attention to her. She didn't react and just rolled her eyes at him. A slight cruel smile at her lips. Everyone swarmed even tighter around her, asking all the sorts of questions. I had plenty of my own. But this time I was afraid to approach her – I needed some back-up. 

I needed someone for support... I needed James. But before I could take any action, Ria and Harley ran up to me and Harley shook my shoulders,"Maeve! Maeve! Did you see that?" she was wearing her usual red bandanna which she used to keep her curls in place. 

I blinked, "What is the reason for your vigorous shaking of my shoulders? And for your question, no, my eyes had not seen anything of my attention." 

Ria froze, her mouth still open for three seconds, my words processing through her half a walnut of a brain. She shook her head, "something fishy is goin' on with Faye! Did you not see her face?" This time I froze. My work has been so sloppy recently – I'm so stupid! I was so invested at the rubble, I forgot to analyse the culprit. I wanted to strangle myself. 

Harley sighed, "alright, that's fine, I didn't notice it earlier either– come on! Me and this stupid is going to question her, I know where they're taking her." Harley grasped Ria by the ribbon in her hair, pulled a turkey and cheese sandwich out of the smaller's pocket – how it fit in there I had no idea– and ran, dragging a poor, slight puzzled Ria behind her. I had no choice but to follow.