Unlikely Friends

Bella

"Are you there?" Bella's mom asked as Bella opened the door.

"Ya, it's me," Bella said dropping her bag at the door.

"Okay. I gotta go to work again. Don't destroy the house while I'm gone," Bella's mother said, rushing out the door.

"Again. There isn't one day she is in the house," Bella muttered under her breath.

Bella grabbed some chips and headed to her bedroom to work on her homework. After she has finished it, she texted some girls from school to see if they wanted to go to the mall. But before she could get a reply, something very, very strange happened.

A woman appeared before her. Like, materialized out of thin air. She did what any sane human would do. She screamed at the top of her lungs.

"No no no Dearie! Please, stop that noise! I'm just going to give you this!" The lady exclaimed, covering her ears. Bella stopped screaming and raised an eyebrow suspiciously, looking over the woman before her. She looked human... except for her beak like nose and white dress made from feathers.

"Who are you?" Bella demanded. "And what were you gonna give me?" She added curiously. The woman relaxed and handed her a letter and a pure white feather. Bella looked at them in confusion.

"I am Mother Goose. The letter will explain everything. I hope to see you there!" Bella looked up to ask what she meant, but she was gone. Just like she came. Into thin air.

Bella heard her phone buzz and found that some friends would be meeting her at the mall in time to see a Friday night band performing there. She looked at the things from 'Mother Goose' and shook her head. This is insane. Maybe she was hallucinating. When she came back, she would see.

She stuffed the strange things into her sock drawer, which contained everything except socks, and got ready for the mall. "Please be my imagination," she silently wished as she dashed out the door.

~~~

"See ya!" Bella called to her friends as she walked into her house with a couple of shopping bags. She closed and locked the door and cleaned up the house a bit. She didn't care about it, but her mom did.

Carrying her things back to her room, Bella remembered 'Mother Goose'.

"Please oh please, be a hallucination," she muttered to herself as she set down her things and went for the sock drawer. She was pretty sure that her being insane would make far more sense than a fairytale being real. I mean, come on!

Opening the drawer and rummaging through it, Bella was horrified to find the letter and feather. They were indeed real. Sitting down on her bed, she opened the letter and began to read it.

(Letter)
My Dear Bella,

Though you may or may not know it yet, you are a very special girl with a very special purpose.
Whether this excites you or not, you are about to experience a seizable change in your life.
You are to use this magical feather to transport to The Protector's Castle on Tuesday at 8:00am. Do not be late.
Wet the feather and then whisper the location you are going to. Spin the feather, and you will teleport.
Here you will join with other young girls your age who are also very special. You will be trained by The Protector for your purposes.

Dearest Wishes,
Mother Goose

Bella say, jaw open, staring at the letter. "What?!" She thought in astonishment. Then, much to her surprise, she stopped freaking out and thought, "Do I want to go? I mean, Mom might never be around, but she's sure to miss me. And I might hate school, but... What a minute! Why am I even considering this?!"

She stood up and decided. If a feather is magic, then she should go. If it's a fake, no issues. She smiled at her decision, and began to think about what she could take. She had the entire weekend. This would be planned out perfectly. By Tuesday, her plan would be a masterpiece. Whatever her plan would be. She hadn't gotten that far yet.

~~~

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

Bella groaned and knocked her alarm clock off of the table. She shot straight out of bed at the sound of the resulting crash. She grimaced as she realized that she had broken it. Then, she saw the feather and remembered why she had her alarm set for six in the morning. She was so not a morning person.

After grabbing her carefully stuffed backpack and stuffing herself with as much breakfast as possible, she began to clean the house. Like, dusting, scrubbing, window washing and straightening. If she really was gone for a while, her mom at least deserved to have a clean house.

She then deployed a note, explaining that she had met a friend who had offered her a spot at a very prestigious school. The school required that she be there by Wednesday morning, so she'd need to leave right away. She also added that she, 'could be out of contact for a while'. Smirking at her work, she snuck back to her things.

She had packed as much stuff and eaten as much food as she could, because she didn't know what circumstances she'd be in at this castle.

Seeing that it was 7:50am, Bella wet the feather, whispered, 'The Protector's Palace', and twirled it. She jumped back in surprise when a blue portal really did appear. After dismissing her panic at what she was doing, she stepped through.

The first thing she saw was a girl slowly walking in the shadows. Curios, she called to her.

"Hey! Over here! Do you know where we are?" The girl turned and saw her. She looked surprised, but walked over. She shook her head, and nodded down the hallway. Bella heard laughter.

"Others!" Bella exclaimed. The girl nodded. Bella saw that she too had a stuffed backpack.

"C'mon! Let's go meet them!" Bella called, running down the hall. She noticed the girl slowly following her, and wondered why she hadn't spoken. She shook it off as coincidence when she saw the two girls laughing on a bench.

"Hi! I'm Bella!" She greeted them cheerfully. They turned toward her and smiled.

"I'm Tigerlilly," the one with white hair stated, extending her hand for a shake. "I'm Fawn," the blond added, copying Tigerlilly's motion. Bella shook both of their hands and looked behind her, at the other girl, now exiting the shadows to greet them.

The three greeted her in the same manner, and she gave a small smile. She didn't show her teeth, but it seemed genuine.

"I'm Lili," she said quietly. She shook the other's hands, and walked over to another bench across from the one Tigerlilly and Fawn were on. Bella joined her.

"You don't talk much, do you," Bella commented. Not cruelly or anything. Lili just shook her head and looked around. Bella began to converse with the other two about how and why they were there, and smiled to herself.

She had made the right decision in coming here.