The 3 rules of popular

Dining with Royalty

I pushed my mashed potatoes around my plate as my older sister, Carolyn, jabbered on and on about her more than perfect day. 

My older sister is much more social than I am. Back home in California, she was the Queen Bee of her class, and I'm pretty sure that she has that place secured again. Let me put being Queen Bee this way: if there were rules to being popular, Carolyn would be the one making them. Having a popular older sister was helpful when it came to making friends. All of the kids in our old high school knew me as Carolyn's little sister (The one with red hair). Of course, that was at our old school. Here, nobody knows who I am.

My other sister, Amber, who is 13, is an artist. Her paintings were sold in stores all over California. I'm 95% sure that she is aiming for all the stores in Rhode Island now too. So, between my famous sister and my royal sister, I'm surprised that my parents even remember me.

I love dancing and singing, and well, pretty much all types of performing. I used to be very not-performer-like though. I didn't even know that there was a school play, until last year, my friend, Leah dragged me into an audition. The play was Tangled, and I ended up doing so good that the director cast me as Rapunzel, and recommended that I get involved in other productions.

It was nice being known as someone other than Carolyn's little sister (the one with red hair of course). People knew me by my name. It was really cool. Of course, my parents didn't notice that I was a star. I don't think that they even knew that I was in my school's play until Carolyn bought tickets and dragged them in, with the help of Amber. Carolyn and Amber can both be really annoying, but they do stuff like that, so I have to love them.

Since Carolyn is too busy being popular to worry about grades and Amber is homeschooled so she can have more time to work on art, I took it upon myself to get good grades. I'm also naturally gifted at school, so getting good grades wasn't too much of a hassle. I spoon beef stew into my mouth just as my mom talks to me for, like, the first time ever.

"How was your day, Ashlynn?" I swallow my stew and take a sip of water. I wipe my mouth on a napkin as I think about how I should respond. In my mind, I sorted through the different ways that I could play this; bitter, shy, quietly pleased. There are so many ways that I could portray my first day at a new school!  I decide to go with quietly excited about starting at a new school.

" Oh, it was great!" I say cheerfully, tucking my auburn hair behind my ear. But my response is far from true. My day was only great if you count spilling water all over myself during the third period, and being made fun of by Victoria and her gang of popular goons for having a wet shirt as great. Oh, and I got lost. Twice. But yeah, I definitely had a great day. "They have a really good drama program."

"Did you make any new friends?" my mom asks.

"Uhhh...Yeah! There was this really nice girl named Kylee who I ate lunch with!" I say a little too enthusiastically. "She is going to show me how to get to the drama club meeting tomorrow!"

"Oh, that's great, honey!" My mom says, her attention already shifting towards Amber, who is making the Mona Lisa out of mashed potatoes. "Amber! Your food is for eating, not art!" She snatches Amber's plate scrapes the Mona Lisa onto her own. "If you aren't going to eat it, then I will!"

"Mom!" She whines. "That took me forever to make!"

"Yeah, Mom!" Carolyn mocks. "That took her forever to make!" Amber turns toward Carolyn and glares at her. Carolyn bats her eyes and smiles innocently. With a smile like that, it's no surprise that she is a former queen bee. My mom sighs, and I know what is coming next. When my mom's two princesses are fighting, it only seems fair to send the maid to her quarters. After all, what happens in the throne room shouldn't be revealed to the small unimportant servants.

"Ashlynn, can you go start on your shower while these two sort things out?" My mom asks as I sigh.

"Of course," I say. I get up and walk over to the garbage. I scrape my stew into the trash and walk towards the stairs.

"Thanks, Ash!" my Dad says. I smile and start my trek up the stairs.