-The Human Girl-

Chapter seven - Rainy days.

Lady Isabella's PoV:
(Age fourteen)

The next few days passed in a blur. With no sign of the Page boy, Michael, I tried my best to forget about him; instead throwing myself properly into Court life. Good food, grand buildings and needlework kept me distracted, leaving me with hardly anytime to actually think. I spent all day helping the Queen and the other Maids-in-waiting, learning how to behave well and become a 'desirable bride', even if I wasn't so sure that was what I wanted. In all that time though, an entire week of it in fact, I was never once left alone with either of the Princesses.

That changed on the first Saturday after I arrived. The weather was miserable; a hundred raindrops splattered against the windowsill every minute and we were sat in the Queen's drawing room, utterly bored with the drop in activity. The Queen herself was writing a letter, her brow furrowed in concentration over what must be quite a tricky subject.

Suddenly she swivelled her face to the door, where a timid little knock then sounded. "Come in," she called, looking up expectantly. "Your majesty," said the spotty, nervous human boy. "I've been sent by the Duchess to request Lady Isabella's presence in her chambers." The Queen smiled happily and glanced at me, testing my approval. "I suppose I can spare her for an hour." She said after a slight pause. "Isabella, would you please go with the squire." I nodded and followed the boy out, wondering which of the Duchesses had asked for me.

As it turns out, both of them wanted me (though it was in the Princess Alice's room). The page boy knocked on the door and disappeared as soon as I was called in, leaving me to go in and sort out the awkwardness by myself. "Bella!" cried Princess Alice, running up to me and flinging her arms round my shoulders. "I've missed you!"

I eyed her speculatively, not entirely sure where this sudden burst of friendliness had come from. "Um... Good morning your majesties." I said, instead of the hundred million different questions I wanted to ask them. The Princess let go of me; giving me the chance I needed to stoop down into a deep curtesy, to pay the proper respect.

"Please Bella, that's entirely unnecessary," she scolded, taking my hand and pulling me up from the floor. "My name is Alice, and my sister name is Rose, not 'your majesty'." I blushed a deep red, my eyes stuck to the floor as she led me to the bed where they had been sitting. "Anyway, Rose and I wanted to see you. I was so glad when I saw this storm coming, I was scared we wouldn't get to see you properly for ages."

I glanced over to the Duchess, who was smiling warmly at me while still managing to give Alice a look of high bemusement. She was obviously used to the utter craziness that was her sister. She raised her perfect blonde eyebrow in a high arch, sharing the silent banter with me in a single look. I copied her expression, a wide grin on my face as I bit my lip hard to stop myself from laughing out loud.

"Well Bella, what do you want to do then?" I was taken aback by the Princess's sudden question, not really used to such option. "W-why did you ask for me if you didn't know what you wanted to do?" I stammered, my voice shaking under pressure. She rolled her eyes up to the ceiling. "Because we did know what we wanted, we wanted to spend time with you silly!" of course her words sounded like bells, serving as yet another reminder of the fact that she was actually a vampire. "How about we just talk?" she asked.

I nodded hesitantly, not sure what her suggestion entailed. Of course, she knew exactly what that meant, since she could actually see the future. "Okay Bella, we could start with some questions — where do you come from?" I sighed slightly in relief, the questions were easy at least.

"Well, uh, my Father is the Squire of a small estate, the town of Forks, and he's worked very hard since my mother died to enable me to make a good marriage, despite him being but a mere Squire." I began, making a little effort to make it personal. The Duchess sat up straight from her seat next to me, her attention riveted to my words.  "Forks is very wet, the rainiest place in Washington, or so I'm told. There's a few beaches and plenty of forest, it's actually really beautiful." My voice got quieter toward the end, trailing off into uncertain melancholy.

The Duchess and the Princess were both watching me intently, making me wonder exactly how much the Princess could see with her visions — surely she already knew my answer? But apparently not, since she continued to ask me questions. "You miss it a lot, don't you?" She concluded, and I couldn't help but confirm it with a nod. "Yes I do, everything is so much more complicated here, and I'm afraid I don't know half of the things I'm meant to."

The Duchess smiled softly, her grin somehow managing to make her even more beautiful than before. "Well, I'm sure we'll be able to teach you everything you need to know — after all, we've been here long enough to know our way round."  she suggested, her eyes dancing with the joke. I giggled quietly, closing my eyes for just a second before I felt the whoosh of air beside me.

I looked up to see the Duchess standing in front of me with her hand held out; I snatched a glance at the Princess (who was now also standing in front of me), before I took her hand and pulled myself up, wondering what they were planning. "Let's start right away. Now if you were to enter the hall during a ball, then a Page-boy may come up to you like this," the Duchess mimed how a boy would have to boy and hold himself, "and if you were to accept his invitation to dance then he would hold you by the waist and..." she put her hand on my side, making me jump backwards in a fit of giggles.

Now, I knew that I was very ticklish, but of course they didn't know that.
Well, I thought, I suppose the cat's out of the bag now.
"Are you ticklish?" The Princess asked gleefully, a mischievous glint in her eye. Oh dear. I thought, stepping back against the bed as the Princess playfully advanced. Both of them leapt towards me, making me collapse into a hysterical fit of laughter as they tickled me relentlessly.

I thrashed about on the bed in a helpless pile of giggles; trying my best to sit up and gain control. My eyes watered as I shrieked with laughter, loving and hating the tickling at the same time. I felt my heart beat jumping around wildly, my breath coming out in short shaky gasps. "...please...stop..." I whispered, still giggling like a maniac.

They stopped immediately, thumping themselves back down on the bed. I sat up, completely out of breath and wearing a grin as wide as a Cheshire cat's. "And here I thought you were both a pair of polite, cultured, respectable Ladies." I teased, feeling a sudden urge of confidence after the previous shrieking. "That too," said Rose, her smile matching both mine and Alice's "but mostly we just like messing around." Alice nodded with an-ever-so-slightly-smug look on her face, while I wondered when I'd started to call them both by their first names instead of their titles.

I glanced at the clock above the fire place. "How long until the I have to go?" I asked them. "You can stay the rest of the day if you want," answered Rose. "I'm sure my Lady mother won't mind."