Once Upon A Nightmare

- FIVE -

- Azel -

Oh, no! OH, NO!

I'm late, I am so late.

Oh my gosh, I'm so going to get a detention. And it's only the second day of school.

Mom is so not going to be happy. She's gonna know that I'm late to school. Oh, chameleon. I'm a horrible daughter. I'm a horrible student!

I rushed to get dressed and shoved a waffle in my mouth. Okay, breath, breath. Do I have everything? Backpack? Check. Sweater? Check. Journal? Check. Art kit? Check. Clothes? Check. Okay, I'm good to go.

I closed the door behind me and tried to walk. Tried. My hair tangled up and got stuck in the door just as I had closed it. Oh, come on! I searched for my keys. Where were they? Fudge, they were still inside my room! Ugh!

I tried to tug my hair from the door but that didn't work. Key, under the rock. There is a key under a fake rock. I searched the planters by the door and finally found it. I clicked the door open, put the key back and raced upstairs. Once there, I searched for my keys and ran out. Wait! I zoomed back into my room and grabbed a hair tie from my nightstand. All good. Now get to school! I sprinted down the stairs, almost tripping down them, and raced out the door.

"Hi, Eugene! Bye Eugene!"

"Hey, wait, you need a ride, princess?" he yelled after me.

"That would be wonderful. Thanks." I plopped down in his car and he leisurely drove off.

He knew this was a regular thing with me, I was always late to school. Getting my hair stuck was something new, and it must have been funny to anyone but me. If only I could cut it so I never had this problem.

I remember the time I got caught cutting my hair, Mom was furious. She went around and hid all the sharp objects so I couldn't cut my hair again. And she still does that. When I cut my hair, the cut strands suddenly turned brown and what was still attached to my head never grew out. I was so scared to cut my hair again because it still to this day was the same length as it was when I was five. It was weird.

"You're doing that thing again." I looked at Eugene. "That weird thing you do when you're deep in your head. You twirl your hair between your fingers and make a face."

"What face?"

He smiled. "That face."

I looked in his mirror. My face was a bit pouty while also looking confused. Oh. That face. I looked back at him.

"Would you still like me if my face always looked like this?"

His eyes twinkled with laughter. "Not a chance, princess."

"I bet my friend can change that."

He stopped at a light and looked at me. "And who would your friend be?"

"Her name is Panala. She's a nice, non-stick, cast iron pan."

He nodded his head. "On second thought, I would still love you if your face looked like a horse's butt."

I shrugged my shoulders. I know he would. He loves me. What can I say, I'm irresistible. He picked a spot to park his car and we both drifted off into our friend groups.

Matoka and Yasmine waited for me at my locker. They discussed boys and their classes and different ways to secretly see their crushes in the halls. I never really had much to say in the discussions of boys. My crush was practically my best friend. He was always there for me, especially in the mornings.

As I got closer I caught a bit of the conversation. "Ali is so handsome, rugged, and dreamy. Have you seen his social media pictures? It's like he goes everywhere, I want that."

"Understandable. You want a life of adventure and Ali can give you that. Life is unstoppable."

"Well, said, Matoka. I couldn't agree more," I piped up. "Your entire life has been nothing but a big cushion. Your parents never really let you explore anything so naturally, you want to."

Yasmine smiled at me. "Says the girl who's mom pretty much locks her in the house and keeps sharp objects away from her at all time."

I shrugged in response. "It's funny. Mom always taught me to see the worst in people, mainly men, and here we are. I'm in a high school, with my friends, and I have a really nice relationship with a guy who also happens to be my friend."

"Ouch, princess, that really hurt. I thought we were more than friends." I turned around and lo and behold, Eugene was being his dramatic self.

I gave him a small kiss on the cheek. "Really? You want to be more than my friend?" He nodded. "Fine, then you can be my best friend."

"Do you smell that?" Yasmine inhaled. "Smells like Eugene has fallen back into the friend zone." She smiled at her own joke.

"Demoted from boyfriend, hurts more than it looks." He waited a beat then kissed my head. "See you at lunch."

The girls and I all went our separate ways and headed to class. On my way there, I ran into a girl. She had light blonde hair that fell from her ponytail, blue eyes, and had nice pink lips. She kinda reminded me of flannel girl. Her face looked familiar but I couldn't place where.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going. I didn't mean to bump into you, are you okay?" I asked.

She smiled weakly. "Believe me if I say yes?"

"What's wrong?"

Two annoying voices emerged. "Hey, sissy, who's your new friend?"

"She doesn't have any friends, remember? She's too boring to." They laughed and walked away.

It was flannel girl! "You're Sidney Tremaine?" I looked at her in disbelief.

"Cindy, and you're Azel. We have myth, wanna walk with me?" We walked as she told me what was wrong with her day. It wasn't even nine and so much has happened in her morning.

Her stepmother was a cruel and mean woman. She never cared for her two daughter's actions unless it was in school and treated Cindy like she was her own personal servant. Ms. Tremaine ran the school so well that it must take a good amount of energy and whatever is left, she uses it on Cindy.

"Do you want to stay over at my house sometime? My room is really big, it's just my mom and me."

She declined but I wasn't going to refuse. We had many classes together and one of them wanted us to get to know our classmates better. We paired up and she finally agreed on sleeping over. This is going to be so much fun! I made a new friend and we were going to have a slumber party! Eek!

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► What happens at a princess sleep over? Do you think they bed surf and stuff like that? ◄