This Enchanting New World

Chapter 20

The first thing I noticed about this new class was that my brother looked exactly the way he did in the single weathered picture my mother kept on our mantel of rotting wood. Not a hair was out of place in his tousled chocolate curls, he had a sword in his belt that gleamed at the tip in the afternoon sunlight, his eyes were polished sapphires, and he wore a velvet maroon doublet trimmed with solid gold on the extravagant sleeves. Right at his low collar was a brilliant golden brooch trimmed with cut, round topaz.

He looked perfect. Pristine. As if for every second of his insignificant, charmed little life, he hadn't had a single care in this enchanting world.

As I reluctantly took a seat at the desk front and center, I mulled over how badly I wanted to take it all away. How the man standing in front of me, who expected me to take orders from him, like a sovereign, was the one thing, the only thing, standing in the way of me becoming queen. 

At lunch I had told Goth I wasn't killing Edward in order to become queen. Now I honestly wanted to take it all back.

That gold he wore on his sleeves like a meaningless decoration could have changed the life of half the population of the Isle.

But I steeled myself and gave my best smile, for the sake of Goth's plan.

Edward, unsurprisingly, smiled back.

Sweet.

Sickening.

But at least it gave me cause to believe Goth's plot could actually work.

"Class, today we have 2 new students!," Edward (I refused to think of him as a king) announced theatrically, with a grand flourish of his creamy, outstretched arms. "Let us all welcome and look upon them with love!"

There was a ripple of applause. My dark eyes darted around the room, confused. Who was the other new student? 

"I say we all introduce ourselves for their sake," he said, phrasing it like a suggestion but meaning it like a command.

I wanted to light him on fire and assert that I will not take orders from him, but instead I did what Goth would have done: I acted, batting my long, smoky eyelashes and giving a fake, toothy beam. Yes, your Majesty. Anything for you, your Majesty.

Edward looked around the room, surveying each student. Please don't pick me, I prayed silently.

"How about...," he pointed his sword at a girl sitting in the back corner of the classroom, "You."

I exhaled, still keeping up a "smize."

The girl climbed out of her desk and went around the others to the front of the classroom, standing behind Edward's regal-looking cherry-wood podium.

The first thing I noticed about her was that she reminded me of Giselle, with her tanned complexion, chestnut locks, pale teal cardigan, and blush-pink minidress printed with gilded gold roses.

"I'm Audrey. Princess Audrey, actually," she added, though it didn't look at all like she'd forgotten. "I'm captain of the cheer squad, and my parents are Sleeping Beauty and Prince Phillip." 

She gave a perfect, surprisingly adorable curtsy, and glided back to her seat.

Everyone clapped once more, but Ben and another, blond and curly-haired boy seemed a little reluctant, and the blond even moaned a little. (I raised my eyebrows and tilted my head. Did this boy have personal experiences with Audrey?)

I zoned out through the rest of the introductions, my mind drifting back to what I had to do. Honestly, I wasn't even sure it was something I could do.

But what would Goth do?

What would Mal do?

I found out that the blond boy, whose easy swagger and pompous grin reminded me all too much of Edward, was named Chad and was the only son of Cinderella and Prince Charming. The other two- Ben and Evie- I completely ignored, given I already knew who they were from watching Auradon News Network in Goth's hideout back when I lived on the Isle. (We would always be eager to get tastes of Auradon life and what it's like to be in power in the only way that we could.)

Edward looked straight at me, and I shot him a withering glare. Embers blazed as I balled up my fists.

"How about you?," Edward asked, the same as he did for every other student. As if I don't even matter, or stand out, or mean something to him. It made my blood boil. I'm his sister, for crying out loud!

"Yes," I said cooly, using a deep, guttural tone and a catlike smile.

The plan, I reminded myself, and I quickly made it as bright as a diamond, twirling an unkempt lock of my midnight-blue hair innocently. "I believe that would be most enlightening," I purred in a silky tone like poisoned honey.

I walked to the cherry-wood podium as gracefully and smoothly as possible, as if I was walking on air, something I had perfected from 15 years of watching my mother. This time I didn't trip.

Thank you, Narissa, I silently whispered.

"I am Princess Clarissa of Andalasia, only daughter, younger child, and sole biological child of Queen Narissa," I stated first in a refined manner, so as to immediately establish myself as royalty and someone of status. 

"But you can all call me Clarissa," I cooed, giving a soft giggle. "I enjoy designing clothing- I just love-," I stretched out and rolled the last word-"to look elegant. I like extravagant things and being with my friends, but I guess I'm still looking for that special guy."

I drawed out the last two words teasingly, with an angelic sense to my voice.

Technically, everything I said was true.

Chad raised his hand, waving it overenthusiastically like an idiot.

"Wait!," he blurted out. (I did notice that he didn't wait for me to give him permission to speak. I wasn't queen, but that didn't mean I wanted to be treated like I wasn't even there.)

"So if your mother is Queen Narissa, than you and Professor Edward are siblings!," he gasped, as if it was the most mind-blowing news of the century. 

I gave him a wry look, raising a single eyebrow. 

"Yes," I said, rolling my eyes. "You're not exactly a straight-A student, are you?"

The class exploded with laughter.

A boy gazed up at me with a million-dollar smolder, with dark eyes just like mine and long golden hair that flopped over his face like a waterfall of sunlight.

"I can definitely see the similarities between you and the rest of your family," he said with a wink. "Sassy. Charming. Beautiful."

He walked to the podium.

"I'm Ryder."

It answered my question about the other new student.