Chapter 1
"Alison, dear, do pass me the tartar sauce"
Alison rolled her light blue eyes. She took the bowl of tarter sauce and handed it across the table to her mother. She hated tarter sauce, but her mother seemed to love it. She always wondered why her and her mother had never seemed to agree with anything whether it was the hair style that they wanted their servants to have from the kind of plant they should keep in Alison's bedroom.
"And then, I jumped on the horse and he took off like an arrow" Jason continued, gesturing his hands in the motion of his stallion.
"Well, that's quite a story, my boy" King Kenneth grinned, taking a large bite of his chicken leg.
"Hmm, quite a story" Alison smiled, sweetly "Almost like it was made up"
"Not all of us have to try so hard, Alison" Jason spat
"On a more positive note, guess who got a new dress made to today!" Charlotte put in, trying to change the subject and draw the attention away from her now bickering siblings.
"Oh darling, that's wonderful!" Queen Jessica clapped, afterwards running her frail fingers down the rim of Charlotte's dress "I knew there was something different about you today. Such a gorgeous shade of green! Now Alison, why don't you have a new dress made?"
Alison rolled her eyes. She hated that she was never good enough for her parents. They were always telling her to act more like Charlotte or achieve more like Jason. Their expectations were high and for some reason, Alison didn't quite seem to reach them.
"I don't need a new dress, mother" Alison hissed, folding her arms.
"Why ever not, darling. You have outgrown those clothes already!"
"Mother, these clothes were 7 sizes too big when I got them, so they are still perfectly alright thank you very much"
An awkward silence formed over the Dilaurentis' dinner.
"I met a girl" Jason finally said.
"Oh darling, Jason, that's so wonderful!" The Queen said "Who is she? A princess? A baron's daughter? Please don't tell me she's a citizen"
"No mother, she's not" Jason sighed "She's a beautiful young independent lady"
"What position is she?" Kenneth asked in between mouthfuls.
Alison sighed. She also hated that her parents would only accept people of high class, and would turn their noses up at citizens.
"She's the Duchess's daughter"
"Oh goody!" The Queen squealed "And what Duchess is it, may I ask?"
"I-I'm not too sure" Jason admitted, taking a sip of his wine "Oh but mother, she is such an intelligent young lady. I think I'm falling in love with her"
"Oh that's wonderful! Alison, you should really find yourself a handsome young prince to escort you down the aisle"
"I can't wait" Alison huffed, folding her arms and slouching in her chair
"Don't slouch honey, it's rude" The King snapped. Alison immediately sat bolt upright on her chair.
"What about that Kahn boy?"
"There are two" Alison grumbled
"The youngest one, dear. He's the son of the Duke and Duchess of Sandringham."
"He sounds great, mom, but I'd really rather fall in love than be pushed head first" Alison sighed.
"Alison Dilaurentis, that is no way to talk to your mother. Apologize right now"
"Sorry, Mother" Alison spat sarcastically.
"I invited them over the castle in a few days"
Alison spat out her peas across the table
"What?"
"Not what, darling, pardon. And clear up those peas, you disgusting child!"
Defeated, Alison scooped the peas off of the table and dropped them into a waste bucket.
"And I invited the Duke and Duchess of Sandringham and their sons over for a game of golf"
"Golf? What's that?"
"It's that game that Jason showed us how to play the other day"
"Of course it is"
How could she forget. She had just achieved 100% on a math test her tutor had given her and was excited to show her parents. When she had reached the King and Queen, sunbathing on their lime green glass, Jason had been whacking around a hard white ball with a wooden stick.
'Jason's teaching us to play' The Queen had told her 'It's called Golf'
'Such a wonderful game! The King smiled "Jason, where on earth did you learn to play this?'
'A friend of mine made it up. Spectacular, isn't it?'
'That's nice Jason. Mother, Father, I have something to show you!'
'Oh dear, can't it wait until later? Do let Jason finish teaching us how to play'
The Queen looked away at her. Alison had turned around, crumpled up her paper, threw it down into a waste bucket and stormed up to her room.
-
"Don't be so spiteful, honey. And I will be expecting you to have a new dress made by tomorrow to impress the Kahn's"
"I will do me best" Alison lied. She hated dinner parties like this-Jason boasting about his hunting and her mother and father constantly telling her to pull herself together.
"Those Kahn boys are ever so handsome, don't you think so dear?"
"Mm hmm" Alison muttered, fiddling with her chicken leg.
"The youngest one would be good for you, wouldn't he?"
"Mm hmm"
"And the older one, oh he would be perfect for our Charlotte!"
"Mm hmm"
"Alison dear, stop playing with your food. It's rude"
Alison slowly dropped the leg of chicken onto her plate.
"Mother, may I be excused from the table?" Alison finally decided to ask her parents. She didn't expect them to say yes. They would maybe tell her to be polite and waiting until everyone else had finished, or to finish eating her greens, or to just hear the end of Jason's amazing story. She was very surprised to hear her mother say,
"You may dear"
Alison angrily shot up from the table. She folded her napkin, put her cutlery together on her plate and stormed up to her room.
"Stupid family" Alison muttered, stomping up the stone stairs and throwing herself down onto her large princess bed. She placed her hands on her stomach and stared at the ceiling.
"Jason's so perfect" she mimicked "And Charlotte is so well organized. Why can't you be more like them? Jason this, Jason that. Charlotte this..."
"Charlotte that?"
Alison sat up on her bed to find her sister, Charlotte, crawling into her room.
"Oh, I'm ever so sorry Charlotte" she stuttered
"It's okay" Charlotte smiled "I'm getting a bit sick of it myself. I mean, why do they think you have to be so much like us? Your perfect" Alison wiped a tear from her eye as her sister sat down next to her.
"Thank you Charlotte" she whispered "But may I ask you one thing?"
"Anything, Alison
"How do you do it?"
"Do what?"
"Make mother and father so happy" Alison burst into tears and Charlotte wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Alison finally saw that her sister was no different from her, only she just happened to be the things that Alison could never be.
"I just tell them everything they want to hear" she explained "Can I tell you a secret?"
"S-sure"
Charlotte cupped a hand over Alison's ear and moved her mouth behind it.
"I didn't really get this dress remade. I've had it for two years. They are just too up in their heads to notice it"
Alison placed her fingers over her lips and giggled.
"Yes, well, mother and father wouldn't notice if I shaved my hair off"
"That's not true" Charlotte tutted "They care about you, they really do"
"I just wish I could impress them, you know?" Alison sobbed into her napkin.
"You do" Charlotte assured "You don't realize it, but you do"
"Well not as much as I would like to"
Alison sighed and jumped up off of her bed. She wrapped her fur coat around her slender arms and headed to the door.
"Where are you going?" Charlotte asked
"I-I need to go out" Alison told her "I can't be here any longer. Around these people and these-these walls" Charlotte's face fell.
"I understand" she said "I won't tell mother and father that you left"
"Thank you, Charlotte"
Alison swung around the door and left. She tip-toed halfway down the steps and peeped through the iron banister. Her long pink dress flew behind her and occasionally, she would accidentally trip over a piece of fabric.
"So then, I pulled the arrow back and fired it high into the sky" Jason was explaining to the King and Queen. Ugh, dinner was over and he was still showing off about his day to his parents. "It plunged right into the heart of the rabbit. I pulled it out, grabbed the rabbit by it's ears, hauled it onto the back of my horse and wiped the arrow clean"
"You are just such a delight Jason" The Queen smiled "I wish Alison could be more like you"
"Oh come on now, mother, that is a little too harsh on the poor girl. She is still just a child" Jason argued, taking a large gulp of his red wine.
"But she is just so behind" The King interrupted "She still behaves like a little girl. She's been wearing the same clothes for 6 whole months and she hasn't found a Prince yet"
"Give her time, father. She is still finding her way to love..."
"Yes but dear, I wish she'd hurry up. I could do with another young man around this castle"
Every word that her parents said, the tears in Alison's eyes grew larger and larger.
"Father, you must not be so harsh on her. She is a very attractive young girl. Eventually, she will find her Prince"
"I doubt it. If she keeps acting the way then no man more than a peasant will want her"
The King and Queen laughed and Jason also managed to shift a giggle. Alison couldn't take it any longer. She ran down the stairs as loud as she could and burst into tears, making as much of a scene as she could.
"Oh, Alison dear..." Her mother sighed to her "What ever is the matter now?"
Alison shook her head and ran out the door. She ignored the calls of her family behind her. The weather was timid-warm in an uncomfortable way. It was dark and scary and definitely no place for a young girl to be wandering. Alison ran as fast as she could, tears forever streaming down her face. She didn't pass anyone as she was running, as everyone was probably in their houses sleeping. As she ran, all Alison could think about was what her parents thought of her.
'She is so behind. She still behaves like a little girl'
'If she keeps acting this way, then no man more than a peasant will want her'
'I wish she'd hurry up'
Alison ran to behind the castle. She dodged a bird and nearly tripped over a rock and was heading for the gates when all of a sudden, she span round a corner too fast. The figure of a girl was coming round that same corner and the pair crashed into each other quickly. The girl fell backwards onto her hands
"Oi watch it!" She shouted. She jumped onto her feet and stared at Alison. Her face fell when she saw who she was looking at. She turned completely white and looked as though she was going to be sick. "O-oh I'm so sorry ma'am..." The girl bowed her head down.
"It's Alison" the princess sighed, folding her arms.
"A-Alison!" The girl stammered "T-the princess? I'm so sorry. Here, let me fix your dress..." She pushed one hand down Alison's dress, attempting to flatten it down and brush some of the dirt off.
"It's fine" Alison butted in, taking a step back from the strange girl "And who the heck are you?"
"Emily" The girl introduced, holding out her grubby hand. She was a pretty young girl with slightly tanned skin and dark brown (almost black) hair down below her shoulders. She was wearing a white long sleeved shirt with a messy brown jacket. Her jagged trousers fell just above her ankles and her scruffy black boots reached just under them.
"Ew I'm not touching that" Alison jumped, holding out her hands in surrender.
"Whatever princess" Emily huffed "So, what is a pretty little girl like you doing out here all alone late a night. You know, there are creeps out there who would really take advantage of this situation"
"I'm just trying to escape my dis functional family" Alison said, brushing off her dress
"Been there, done that" Emily sighed, taking a large swig of her rum "What happened?"
"As if I would spill my guts to a peasant"
"Hey. I prefer the term 'unfortunate', if you don't mind"
"So...what exactly are you doing here, peasant?"
"I work here at night. The Queen hired me to wash the walls once everyone's asleep. I live in the village just over there" She pointed over the wall
"Your wearing boy clothes" Alison pointed out "Why don't you wear those lace dresses that the other girls in the village wear?"
"Ah, they're uncomfortable" Emily told her "Plus, dresses aren't really my thing. I prefer this look"
"Don't your parents tell you off?"
"They don't care. They tell me to be myself" Emily answered proudly. Alison sighed. She wished her parents wouldn't care about her life so much and let her be herself.
"I wish my parents were more like that" she sighed.
"You look like you could do with a drink" Emily offered her bottle of rum to Alison. She almost took it, but immediately stopped herself when she realized she was about to accept alcohol from a stranger.
"No thanks" She pushed the rum back towards Emily.
"Suit yourself" Emily shrugged, pulling the bottle back towards her and carelessly swinging it around.
"Are you...sad?" Alison asked, placing her fragile hand onto Emily's shoulder.
"You could say that" Emily laughed. Alison suddenly snapped her hand away from the peasant's shoulder.
"What happened?" She asked, strangely drawing towards this random girl she had just met.
"I just caught my sweetheart kissing the village's baker boy" Emily sighed
"Oh...I'm so sorry?" Alison asked, not quite knowing what to say
"Yup. She told me that I was the one and when I confronted her, she told me I was just a phase and she was really in love with...him" She took another gulp of her rum "I can't believe her I mean I told everything to this girl. I told her all about me and she knew every secret I ever had. But then one day she goes to pick up bread from the market and she doesn't come back. I go looking for her, worried out my mind and there she is. Up in the baker boy's house without her clothes on. She just stares through me, stupid little bitch. I climb up the window and confront her. She tells me she never loved me, and I was just a phase. An 'experiment'. She practically pushes me out the door and the whole time, he is lying down naked on the bed with his sly little grin and his perfect body"
Sadness swarmed into her chocolate brown eyes. Alison stared deep into them-they looked like a dark black hole. She quickly looked away when she realized the peasant girl was looking right back at her.
"I thought she loved me" Emily trembled. Alison could see she was very near breaking point "Turns out she didn't."
"So, you date girls in your village?" Alison asked, trying to stop Emily from having a full on meltdown.
"Everybody dates everybody around here" Emily cut in. Alison stopped, turned around and began walking away.
"You gonna walk away just like that, princess? After I spilled my guts to you?" Emily shouted to Alison. There was a small tone of anger in her voice. Alison stopped walking. She shut her eyes and turned around to face her.
"I'm really really upset right now because my parents hate me. They keep saying I should be more like my stupid perfect siblings and that I am just a stupid little immature child. They think so little of me and I just got really really sick of it so I went upstairs and had a conversation with my suddenly nice older sister but when I came down the stairs I caught my parents talking down about me so I ran out here and I was going to run away until I bumped into you. And talking to you right now has made me realize that some people have bigger problems and I shouldn't be so selfish and I need to go home and figure things out and stop being who everyone else wants me to be and just...be...me"
Alison let out a heavy pant and Emily started giggling.
"Slow down there, princess" She said. Alison suddenly flushed white.
"I-I'm sorry I have no idea why I just told you that. Your a complete and total stranger and further more, your just a peasant"
"Rude" Emily laughed "But I get it. It's okay"
"I really do have to go now..."
"Gonna talk to your family? Good luck, but just be aware. Things don't always go as planned, even for a princess like you" She warned.
"Yeah, okay then" Alison rushed "I'll, uhm, take your advice in and uhm...think about it"
She picked up her dress and started running back to the castle.
"See you later then! I guess..." Emily called after her, her voice fading away. She reached out her arm to Alison, the beautiful girl she had just met.