Goodbye Royalty, Hello Romance

From Princess to Peasant

I walked into Erin's room to see things filling up every inch of her makeup table; there were wigs, foundation, jewelry, clothing, makeup, shoes. Everything I might need to become a peasant was there.

"Now, first thing's first."  said Erin. We have to take off all of the makeup you're wearing now. With some people, you don't even recognize them if they're not wearing their makeup."

I strided over to the sink, and turned the water on. Then, I pumped soap into my hand and began scrubbing my face. I watched as my makeup slid down the drain.

Looking up at the mirror, I winced. With blemishes, creases on my forehead, dry skin, and heavy bags under both of my eyes, I was not a pretty sight.

Erin nodded, obviously contented. "Wow. You look like a whole different person." She caught herself quickly. "Of course, we still have to do the makeover to be sure." I smiled at her as she began applying foundation to my face that was just a couple of shades darker than my natural skin tone. She rubbed in extra under my eyes.

Then she took something that looked like a very thin lipstick and began dotting my face with it. She dotted my nose, cheeks, and a small amount of times on my forehead. It was very dark pink, almost red. "This," she said, "is supposed to give the illusion of acne. Very rarely are you going to see a peasant with skin as perfect as yours is."

Erin motioned to the wigs next. "So Anna, I figured since you have very dark hair, we would want to contrast it as much as possible. In other words, I have a selection of four different hair colors in wigs. There are blond, dirty blonde, amber, and auburn. Take your pick."

I considered for a moment. "Well, its going to have to be a no on the blonde wigs." Erin looked at me wearing a look that said "Excuse me?". Then she said out loud "Do you have something against blondes?"

I shook my head. "Of course not. I just figured blonde would be most predictable. And if this plan is going to work without my dad catching me, the last thing I want to be is predictable. Sorry."

"Don't worry about it." Erin replied. "So, that leaves you with amber and auburn. Your choice?" "Auburn." I answered.

She took my hair and placed it in a net which made my head itch like crazy. I tried to ignore the urge to scratch for fear of messing up the net.

Erin lifted up the wig from its resting place and set it on my head. "Erin?" I asked "Um, wont it look kind of weird being the only peasant with pin straight hair in the entire village? I have a feeling they don't use straighteners there."

Erin smirked. "I have everything covered. Don't worry." She took out some anti-frizz spray from her purse and began to spray my hair.

"This is the cheap stuff. All it does is make your hair more frizzy. Especially if you straighten or curl it." Erin picked up a curling iron that had been heating up and began to curl random spots of my hair. 

"In about an hour, your hair will be a frizzy mess. Which is exactly what we want." I stared at her, confused.

"Anna, lets get something straight. You don't have good looking hair in the village. You dont even have decent looking hair in the village. A quarter of the guys there dont even have hair. Unlike the castle, life is not a fashion show there. The people there work. Hard. They work to eat every day, and live in their homes."

"This next year or so is not going to be a walk on the beach. Its going to be difficult. Of course, its not all about work and surviving for you. No, you need to find a man. And that means looking good, inside and out. You need to go to that village prepared, and each day be ready for anything that might come your way. Do you understand?"