The Village Princess

Chapter Nine

The girls awoke two days later in gloomy moods. They dressed as always and walked together down the hallway to their classroom where Teacher Jabari sat with Avery and Lucas by her. Avery had dark rings under her eyes from lack of sleep. Jayla didn't know why she wasn't sleeping. Did she know that the sickness was in the castle as well? Lucas obviously didn't. He was as cheerful as always, and was getting on his mother's nerves.

"Lucas if you don't stop squeaking that chair, I swear I will send you outside for the rest of the week." Teacher Jabari growled, rubbing her temples. Lucas stopped immediately and tried to stay quiet.

"I can't believe that you girls will be going home soon." He sighed. "It went by too quickly."

"Not quickly enough," Teacher Jabari said under her breath. "The first test this week will be sewing and dressmaking. For the first half of the test, you will be given a dress with a large tear. You will have to mend it properly, and quickly. For the second half, you will have to make a decent dress, without a pattern. Maids won't always have patterns nearby."

Once they were handed their materials, they set off to work. Jayla received a long blue dress with a large tear in the seam under the arm. She picked out the correct thread and right size needle and began sewing the hole. She carefully went over the stitches that were right before the tear, moving across and stitching both sides of the tear, bringing the sides together, then going over the already stitched areas on the other side just to keep the tear from ripping again. Then she had to carefully tie a small knot inside the dress to keep the thread from coming undone. All this took her about 15 minutes, then she grabbed her fabric and began on her dress. She would make it for herself.

She took the fabric and measured it on herself, and then cut it big enough to sew the hem. Making the dress took many hours, and when she had completed, Teacher Jabari called for a break. Only a few girls still had to complete their dresses, so they stretched their legs and relaxed their fingers.

They stayed inside for the whole day, and Teacher Jabari received word from the king that the girls needed to complete their test very soon.

Kingston had brought the letter, and when he walked into the classroom, Jayla, Milee, Folla and Karter all exchanged glances.

"A letter to Jabari from the king." He said when he walked into the classroom when Lucas opened the door. This time his hair was combed, but his uniform was still wrinkled.

"Thanks, Lucas," He said, nodding his head to Lucas. Teacher Jabari took the letter and thanked Kingston.

When Kingston's eyes caught Jayla's curious eyes, he winked and rushed off.

"Well...we'll try to take every test today." Teacher Jabari announced. She went around and graded everyone's work as Avery and Lucas took the girls to the servants quarters where they would set the tables for every occasion. They went into the room where the maids have their meals. There were at least ten tables, and all of them were a good size to work on.

They were given different occasions and had to set the tables correctly, and arrange the flowers at the center just right. When they finished this test, which only took about half an hour, Lucas got his mother and she graded this test. Then the girls got a short break and had a few snacks that Elena had prepared for them.

"Kingston seemed too casual and happy this time delivering a letter." Milee said to Jayla, Folla and Karter.

"Yeah. Maybe he just doesn't like delivering to the prince because they're best friends and he doesn't like seeing the prince acting like he is a higher authority. Which he is, so it angers him." Karter said with a shrug of her shoulders. They nibbled their snack, and then they had to go and take the test on doing hair, finding the right dress for every occasion, and being organized.