Ever After High Diaries

Dexter Charming's diary

Glasses Half Full

Every guy in my family has the same destiny - to rescue a damsel in distress. It's the same for all Prince Charmings, even the ones we're not related to. What can I say? We do go to a school where almost every single princess has a Happily Ever After. That's a lot of destinies needing a Prince Charming.

That's why I go to Ever After High. Same for my older brother, Daring. We have to live up to our family traditions. That's no problem for Daring and his blindingly charming smile. Everyone knows he's going to be Apple White's Prince Charming unless of course he's hit with a family curse. But what about me? Hex, I don't even know who I'm destined to rescue. I believe the heart can't follow a prewritten script, but I can't disappoint my family. As the second son of King Charming, there are a lot of hexpectations.

Lately, I've been wondering if it even matters and I couldn't be happier. Ever since Legacy Day, destiny has been called into question. It's kind of hexcellent, 'cause I have a, um, crush on this certain girl at school. If only I could be brave enough to let her know.

Chapter 1

When I heard dad was the guest lecturer in Hero Training for the day, you think I'd be nervous, but I wasn't. I looked forward to showing him that I can step it up.

The assignment was simple - rescue our lab damsel from the tower. My partner was Cupid, who recently flew in from another school. Daring says she likes me. Well, duh! She's my friend. Don't friends always like each other?

I put my fists on my hips in Classic Hero Pose #11. Invisible trumpets blared and we raced to the towers. Daring's fast, but I managed to keep up with him. When we swung over a moat of giant crocodiles, I actually gained the lead. But as I climbed the tower, my glasses fell down to the ground.

Everything went blurry. A pink Cupid-sized blur cried out, "Oh, Dexter...," and fainted with a loud thud! When I finally rescued her, dad shouted, "Dexter, you just set a new record for slowest rescue in the history of Ever After High."

Daring slapped me on the back, "It's okay, little brother. If your glasses didn't fall, you might have come in second place."

Dad towered over me, "Dexter, I know it's hard being Daring's brother, but you are a Charming. I expect more from you in Advanced Wooing."

I loudly gulped. Dad was guest lecturer for Advanced Wooing too? Now I was nervous.

Chapter 2

I may wear glasses, but I'm not blind... I'm not Daring. Ever since we were kids, it's been the same story. Sure he's older than me (by barely a year) and heir to the family throne, but why did Daring always have to be better at everything?

Dad always saw a lot of himself in Daring. I guess that's why they spent all their time together. Whenever I pulled on dad's cuff to get his attention, his response was always, "Go watch your sister." While I love my sister, Darling, all I could think was, "Why can't I be Daring?" I wanted to learn to be the best. Instead my job was to be my brother's practice partner. If Daring made a mistake (which he rarely did), dad calmly corrected him with words of encouragement. If I made a mistake (which seemed to happen all the time), dad would yell, "Dexter, stop messing up your brother!" Whenever I did something right, he glowed about how much Daring made me look good.

So while Daring learned to be a hero, and went to parties to socialize with princesses, I stayed home to babysit Darling. It wasn't all bad. She at least let me win sometimes at 'Charmings & Dragons'. I decided I would learn by reading. I memorized every book in the castle. When I got to Ever After High, however, I found out that learning something from a book and practicing something are two royally different things. Take, for example... Advanced Wooing.