Heaven's Borrowed Things

"Catch me, Luce!" Annabelle shouted while she ran around the large oak, the ribbons in her ebony locks flying. She jumped over the roots and twigs as Luce gave chase. Annabelle stopped and stuck her head out from behind the tree, attempting to run the opposite way, but Luce caught sight of her. In an instant, Luce reached her hand out and firmly grasped Annabelle's arm.

"Aha, got you!" she yelled. Annabelle stopped and her face contorted slightly, as if she was about to challenge Luce's assessment. But, instead, she relaxed and let out a loud laugh. Luce followed suit, and soon enough, the two girls were rolling in the grass, not caring that they were staining their dresses.

After some time, the two girls had settled down enough to sit up against the oak tree and find shapes in the clouds. In only a few minutes, the two had found a dragon, two mice, a cake, and an entire castle in the white puffs floating in the sky. Annabelle weaved dandelions through Luce's hair, yellow splashes mixed in with mahogany curls. Once she finished, Annabelle gave a slight tug on one of Luce's ringlets.

"How does it look?", Luce asked, "You didn't put any weeds in, did you?"

Annabelle chuckled a little and smiled.

"Luce, dandelions are weeds."

"They are? They're quite pretty. I suppose I like weeds now," Luce responded slowly. The two girls smiled at each other for a moment before a large shadow blocked out the sun. They looked up to see Cecilia Morova, the daughter of the landlord who owned Annabelle's house. She was joined by Vivienne Hart and Abigail Walsh, two girls who could always be found in Cecilia's shadow. The three girls were notorious snobs who always chose to pick on Annabelle whenever the situation arose.

Annabelle's parents earned considerably less than any other courtier. Her father was the head groundskeeper of the land that Cecilia's parents owned, while her mother worked as a seamstress, much of her work going directly to the Morovas themselves. Annabelle's parents weren't even really proper courtiers, but the Morovas paid slightly more than anyone else. It was because of this that they earned just barely enough to be welcomed into higher middle class society, though the welcome was generally a cold one.

"Hello Luce, hello Belly," Cecilia sneered. Out of the corner of her eye, Luce could see Annabelle's rising blush. Weight was always a source of shame for her.

"Go away, Cecilia. We came out here so we wouldn't have to deal with you, In fact, you should be embarrassed that people are trying to escape you at your own birthday party," Luce responded.

"Oh please," she replied, rolling her eyes at the quip, "It's my eleventh birthday party, and I'm a Morova! I can do as I please whenever I want and know without a doubt that I'll have friends waiting for me when I'm finished, unlike you and your little piggy."

Luce felt the heat rise in her cheeks, and she didn't have to see Annabelle to know that she was on the verge of tears.

"The only reason that you're so popular is because of your parents' wealth. It has nothing to do with you or your horrid lackeys," Luce said, looking pointedly towards Vivienne and Abigail. The comment didn't seem to phase Cecilia, but the same could not be said for her two shadows.

"You do know that the more time you spend with Belly detracts from your courtier potential, right?", Vivienne snapped. Luce faltered for a moment; she had always dreamed of being a proper lady of the court, like her late mother had been. Ever since her death only a year ago, Luce had made a silent vow to uphold her mother's honor by becoming the most respected lady of the royal court. She had never considered it a risk to be friends with Annabelle, but what if she was wrong? Would people really look down on her because she had simply befriended someone of lower status? No, no, of course not. After all, Annabelle's parents were considered courtiers, even if it wasn't exactly true.. Yet, Luce couldn't completely convince herself that her friendship with Annabelle wasn't a problem. Even so, she had to pretend it wasn't, especially right now.