Apple's Prince Charming

Chapter 7

*Apples pov*

     Things at Ever After High weren't so hot. Since the arrival of Crystal Winters the school had been cursed into an internal winter. Right now Daring, Rosabella, Crystal, Blondie, Ashlynn, Briar, and Faybelle were on a mission to find the four roses and to save us.

     Right now me and some other students were passing around extra blankets to each of the dorms. The next dorm I was approaching was Darling and Rosabella's. I noticed the door already cracked open and felt a cold draft coming from the room. I rushed in to see Darling struggling to close the window. A freezing gust of wind hit me as I hurried to the window to help her close it. With both of us putting in all our strength we were finally able to shut it. Darling let out a sigh of relief, turning around to face me.

     "Thank you so much Apple, the window must have frozen open." she said.

     "Of course, I'm just happy I got here in time. Oh god Darling you're freezing." I said,"Go sit by the fire."

     Darling lowered herself down onto the carpet near the fireplace. I brought her a cup of hot chocolate and wrapped a blanket snuggly around her tiny shoulders. I lowered myself down next to her. We sat like that for a couple minutes, watching the fire change from yellow to orange to blue.

     "You know your brother licked me the other day?" I laughed breaking the silence. Daring had been turned into a beast before he left. I think he had been trying to give us one more shot but when he asked me to try to break his curse with a kiss it didn't turn out the way I expected.

      Darling whipped her head towards me, "No way." She mused.

     "Yup fur and all." I said and Darling lost it, erupting into fits of laughter. I looked down at her hands and noticed that they were still a little purple from the cold. I took her hands between mine and started rubbing them trying to warm her up. She looked up at me shyly and closed her eyes.

"You know we barely know each other" Darling said still not meeting my eyes.

She was right. We both knew that we were each others destinies but I couldn't even name her favorite animal."You're right," I gently cupped her cheek until she finally met my gaze, " I want you to know me Darling."

"I want you to know me too." She murmured.

"I want to show you my favorite place in the whole world." I said a little too enthusiastically, flying up from my previous position and onto my feet. "I mean if you'd like to see it..." I trailed off biting my lip.

"I'd love to see it Apple." She beamed up at me.

I extended a hand to her, which she gingerly took as I pulled her up.

"Okay grab a jacket." I said.

I pretended to be busy looking at my mirrorphone, while Darling got ready. Darling dug through her closet and pulled out a thick, pale blue snow jacket. She slipped into it and zipped it up to her neck.

"Alright, all ready. Lets get going." She said eagerly. I smiled meeting her at the door and leading her down the hall.

     "So where are we going?" she asked.

     You'll see when we get there." I winked.

     Darling rolled her eyes and poked her tongue out at me. She looked so cute, I wanted to reach out and-

     "Helloo earth to Apple." She said waving her hand in front of my face.  My cheeks heated up when I realized that I had been staring at her. 

     "Sorry Darling, I was just... distracted." I explained as we continued our way out of the girls dorms.

     "What were you thinking about?" She asked curiously.

I gulped, "oh um nothing really."

Darling shot me a confused look but thankfully didn't push it any farther.

"We're almost there," I said changing the subject. We continued walking down the hallway until we reached the exit. I pulled open the door, holding it open for Darling. She walked outside curiously and I followed into the frigid courtyard. I grabbed Darlings arm and placed my lips near her ear.

"We need to be quiet Darl, just until we get to my spot. We're not really supposed to be here." I whispered to her.

"Didn't know that you could be such a rebel Apple." She said teasingly.

I rolled my eyes back at her. "Stop making fun of me. I'm not that innocent." I bluffed.

"Oh really?" She mused. I hadn't realized how close we had gotten. My hand was still placed on her arm.

Suddenly, Darling pulled me behind a tree. She was pressing against me tightly from behind.

"Darling what-" I tried to ask until a tiny hand covered my mouth.

"Shh! There's a guard coming." She whispered, releasing her hand from my mouth. I heard the sound of footprints coming closer until they finally passed and went back into the school. When the door closed Darling quickly moved away from me, murmuring an awkward apology.

"Thanks Darling, if it wasn't for you we would've been caught for sure. That would have totally ruined my perfect record." I said.

"And you wonder why I made fun of you before." She laughed.

"Hey!" I said defensively and playfully pushed her, "come on lets go now. Stop being annoying."

We carefully made our way through the courtyard trying to be as quiet as possible. After a couple minutes we finally made it to the little fence.

"Now we climb." I said looking over at Darling. She gracefully scaled the fence in a matter of seconds. Me on the other hand fell off the fence and landed on the snow. Darling doubled over in fits of laughter.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to laugh its just." She choked out in-between laughs. I tried to give her an annoyed look, but soon I was shaking with laughter as well.

We started to calm down and Darling helped pull me up.

"I forget how strong you are sometimes" I said.

"I think Ive been pretending not to be for so long that I started to forget too." Darling said somberly.

I reached out and laced our hands together. "You don't have to pretend to be anyone you're not. Not to me, Okay?"

"Okay," She replied looking down at our conjoined hands, "Now show me what we came here for"

I led her through the snow, not letting go of her hands. Darling's eyes widened in awe.

"It's so beautiful Apple." Exclaimed Darling, squeezing my hand as she took in the view.

"It is beautiful." I agreed, "I started planting all these Apple trees when I first started going to school here. I found it one day when I was out exploring. It's not owned by anyone so we're not trespassing or anything. It was nice to know that I had one place for myself. I come here to think a lot, I think about you a lot here."

"About me?" She looked up at my shyly through her lashes.

"I really really like you Darling I'm just-"

I was cut off by her lips crashing into mine.