Playing Princess

Playing Princess 1.12

“All right, Princess Astrid! We will be travelling to the local mall of Erris and it is one of the best malls in the world. Celebrities and foreigners everywhere travel to Erris just to shop here!”

Allegra grinned, wiggling her eyebrows up and down eagerly. It was nice to see her happy and relaxed, out of that old-fashioned maid’s uniform and in some shorts and a hoodie.

“Now there’s the Cosmetics, Music, Hardware, Clothing Departments and so much more. I’m serious, you’ll have a blast. Even Izzy can’t get tired of it!”

I grinned. “I like the sound of it! Seems so much bigger and better than the mall back at home.” Home. It didn’t quite seem like a true home anymore, when I thought about it. It may have only been a few days, possibly even a week but already Aldern had been more of a home to me than my last one ever was, oddly enough.

“Okay so where do you plan to start?” she asked eagerly as we slipped into the limo.

The brilliant flashes of light behind the gates of the manor made me nervous all of a sudden but I shook it off, following Allegra inside the car. Andrew was already seated, eyes closed and his ear buds blasting away into his ears. “Music Department.”

A look of surprise shaped her pretty face. “Wow, really? What instrument do you play?”

“Guitar,” I replied fondly, my heart squeezing at the longing for feeling those familiar steel strings beneath my fingers.

“Cool. How long have you been playing for?”

“Eight years?” I said unsurely. “Give or take a few.”

She laughed, the limo starting to move around the fountain and towards the gates where the pepperoni awaited. I swallowed nervously. “Don’t worry, Astrid. They can’t see you inside the limo.”

“Right,” I mumbled, glancing out the black tinted windows as the flashes blinded me momentarily, dimmed by the dark shading of the glass. It was a relief to know that they couldn’t get a glimpse of me in the car. It somehow made me feel safer, given the privacy.

By the time we’d reached the main road, the car had received many unwanted attention and slowly, I started to shrink back into the slippery black seats.

“Calm down, Princess. They’re not going to get to you anytime soon,” Allegra reassured me with a chirpy smile on her face. “Ooh I can’t wait! Did you bring your black card?”

“My what?”

Andrew answered for me, pulling out a fluorescent pink wallet and flashed the ebony black credit card with golden lettering from a plastic slot inside. “It’s Isabel’s.”

“Oh. What’s the password? I don’t suppose you –”

“There’s a note inside,” Andrew replied, handing me the wallet. “Put it in the bag.” Silently, I did as he was told, noticing his brooding mood.

“Wipe that frown off your face,” Allegra chastised. “Do you know how depressing it is?”

Andrew shot her a dark look before plugging his buds back into his ears. Loud screaming erupted from outside the moment we made down a busy city street and stopped at an intersection. I jumped at the sight of young girls, even some old women, racing down screaming Andrew’s name at the top of their lungs.

“What the –”

“Princesses don’t curse. They’re also modest and polite, just saying.” Allegra winked at me, blue eyes flickering over to my ignorant brother. “They’re his fan girls.”