"Wait up." Before we even think about walking out of the alleyway shortcut I reach up and slip the crown off of my head. Somehow it's heavier than I remember it being this morning. How do I wear something like this on my head all day? Why do I have to?
Daisy's waiting with her shoulder resting on the corner of the Banana Bagels building. The wind keeps pushing her wild brown hair up into her face. "Aw come on, are you doing this again? No one's going to steal it," she says shaking her head side to side mockingly.
Really, Daisy? Because I kind of wish they would.
My book-bag slides off of one shoulder and rolls around my back, the other strap still caught on my arm. It seems I forgot to zip it or someone unzipped it while I was standing in the halls as a joke. No matter, most of my books are in my locker. There's not a teacher at New Donk Prep cruel enough to assign homework this weekend.
The crown fits inside of the largest pouch easy enough and I sling the bag onto my back. Really the whole thing is too tight and the straps are almost pulling it up into the base my neck. Dad warns me that I could ruin my back letting my book bag hang low the way the other kids do. I'd probably need brace or something. The last thing I want is another part of my body in a braces.
"Okay." I follow Daisy around the corner, past Banana Bagels and the barber shop to Kazan's. We call it that even though the owner has been dead since, like, before Daisy and I were Year Nines. It's just Kazan's. Everyone knows Kazan's.
The doors are heavy so it almost takes two of us to push them open. I think it's to keep teenagers out. The owner, Claude, only allows two students in the store at a time and this time it looks like we're it. I pause near the front counter to look at a picture of my dad on the front of a tabloid. Who are they going to accuse him of having an affair with now? But this one is different and, honestly, a little scary. Large black print with red underline reads: MUSHROOM KING SECRETLY ILL? SEE WHAT OUR ROYAL SOURCES SAY.
I concentrate on the New Donk City Times next to it with their coverage of the Postbellum Day celebrations. There'll be a parade next week and a lot of things will close earlier tonight. There's only about an eighth of a page dedicated to the continuing civil war in the Koopa Kingdom. It's weird to celebrate peace when so many people are dying somewhere.
"This ain't a library, Princess, you want to read it you have to buy it." The man behind the counter says.
"Sorry, sir," I say as I search for Daisy bushel of brown hair barely peeking up above the shelves that make up the aisles. Of course she's down there with the candy bars.
When I approach the end of the aisle he head whips around to look at me. "Oh, Peaches. You scared me. I thought you were keeping a lookout." Daisy is stuffing candy down the front of her uniform, packing it along the edges of her bra. She raises up to look over the top of the shelf toward the counter and then continues.
"Look out? I didn't know you were doing this!" I'm too excited to whisper, but I keep my voice down. No one pays two young princesses any attention. Especially not two as drab as us. "Come on, I'll pay for it, Daisy."
"No. This is what that ass bag gets for looking at my butt when I come in here and for trying to see down my shirt when I pay."
"This is wrong."
"Well, maybe you'll get lucky and I'll get caught." She packs one more candy way down inside of her shirt. "He's going to have to look in there pretty hard to see them, though."
I grab a chocolate bar and get a pop from the cooler before heading back to the front to pay. My money is all held in the front of my book-bag in this little zip-up purple leather wallet. It's all worn soft at the corners; I found it in the storeroom back home. I never really asked Dad, but I think it belonged to Mom. She was all about the color purple.
"Don't you want me to bill it to your kingdom?" Asked the clerk.
My fingers fumble through the coins, counting them out. Metro Kingdom currency looks similar enough to ours, but coins are different values. Our largest coin isn't the most valuable and their smallest coin isn't the least. I shake my head. "I'd rather pay." I say shaking my head.
The clerk lets out a sigh. Daisy and I have never bothered to learn his name and he never wears a badge, but of course he knows who we are.
"There, exact amount." I hold out my hand to give it to him, but he doesn't move. He stares at me. People are scared to even touch me sometimes. I look toward Daisy, where she motioning for me to follow before sitting the coins in a neat pile on the counter. He'll count them out, including the taxes to find that I'm exactly right. Math is about the only thing I understand. "Thank you," I shout, pushing the bow on the back of my dress into the press-bar of the door before chasing Daisy to the shortcut.
My dress is red because there was this magazine about it being a power color. I didn't think the rest of this choice through. The skirt is suppose to hug the hips, I don't really have any and it stops slightly above the knee revealing my skinny, chicken legs. Usually I wouldn't bother with the dress or trying to go to the dance. I didn't before this year.
But Haru will be there. Princess Lissette is distant cousins with him so we would see him at her parties, but we've never gone to school with him before this year. He's really hot, so I have to be too.
The cake balls I baked to give Haru fit nicely into a little brown paper lunch sack; Daisy says I can't bring a whole cake into the Postbellum Dance. And I don't want to stand out more than I already do. I'll just decorate the bag; I mad him a cute card with glitter and my wicked ability to use scissors too. Okay, so Math isn't the only thing I'm good at. I wonder if he remembers me?
Daisy isn't going to change her formula up. She's in a yellow dress with a large white bow atop her head. I mean, she knows it, but she's beautiful. She has this tan skin and the messy brown hair that looks just enough like she doesn't care, but not like she's given up. My hair can't decide if it wants to be blonde or red or some godawful mix in between. And I'll never have hips like Daisy. I'll never be able to hide anything in a bra without it falling right through.
Gran's maidservant, Ginny, drives us to the school and drops us off outside of the gym. Daisy and I live Gran in New Donk during the semester. She makes sure we have anything we need and insists on taking tea with us every Sunday afternoon, but mostly keeps to herself. But Ginny is cool. She takes us to see a movie on the weekend if things aren't hectic.
"Thanks, Gin," Daisy says waving.
"Yeah, thank you." Between the cake balls and my brooch and the card I'm carrying too many things. The brooch has to get put back on, I almost forgot it because I was messing with my hair and didn't want it to get in the way. It's been in my family for…like a thousand years or something.
Daisy takes the cake balls to help me get everything in order. "You should have brought a bag or something." She reaches inside of the bag and eats one.
"Those are for Haru."
"Is he meeting us out here?" She asks.
"No. He's probably inside." My eyes automatically Daisy's attempts to find them as I re-lace the ribbons for my twin-tails.
"You didn't ask him, did you?"
"I just—couldn't find the right time."
"What if he's not even coming to this, Peach?"
"He'll be here. Everyone is here."
Daisy starts for the door. "But you were supposed to ask him."
"Who did you ask to come? I'll just do what everyone else does and talk to him in there."
There's balloons lining the entry hall to the school and a table where a few of the chaperons are taking tickets. Daisy has ours and hands them over, but she says nothing to them or me. Pretty sure she's mad now.
"Your highness and your highness…you two have fun," says Mister Parlo. He teaches a few years ahead of me and doesn't really know anything about me other than my status. I didn't wear the crown, so can I get through one interaction without it coming up?
As we near the room where the dance is being held there are more people lingering in the hallways. Snacks and drinks are setup along the wall in front of the lockers and doors to the classrooms. Most of the booths are manned by teachers or committee members or student government. Some of the adults don't look familiar. Parents, I guess.
The bass of the music is the first thing I can clearly hear from inside of the gym. It's thundering through the floors of the hall and I feel it with each step. I clutch the cake balls and card to my chest hoping that one of the guys passing us in the hall is him. I'd rather do this without the whole gym looking at me.
Daisy opens the door to the gym and ushers me in. The decorations can't quite cover up the pushed in bleachers or the smell of rubber and sweat. At the far end of the room is a DJ on small stage that they've brought into the room. People are actually dancing too. Under the bright light of those weird spinning balls that throw different colors and shapes like stars and moons onto the floor it seems like most of the school is shuffling around awkwardly holding one another.
The song playing is something light and jazzy—Earth music. I've heard the song before, but I don't know the name of it or the person who sings it. Daisy is the musical one.
Gretchen stumbles up to us awkwardly, her feet trying to adjust to the stilted motion of walking on heels. She smiles broadly, her face turning red across the cheeks and nose where most of her freckles are. "Hey," she says with an awkward little wave. She's a year younger than us and the princess of Rodarch. She stands out anywhere she goes because besides having a huge mop of curly, bright red hair Gretchen also has hooked ram-like horns. One on either side of her head coming out of her hair.
"Hey you," I lean in to hug her awkwardly, trying to avoid crushing the card or cake balls. She's a lot taller than all of us. Not sure why she wore heels.
"What's up," says Daisy. "I didn't think you'd be here."
"Yeah," Gretchen snorts. "Daunte came and he invited me. It's weird that I'm, like, the youngest person here."
"Well, I'm glad you could make it. I can't wait until next year when you and Lissette are back with us," I tell her with my hands still on her shoulders.
She laughs. "Yeah."
"Hey, have you seen Haru around? Lissette's cousin?" I ask.
Gretchen rolls her eyes. "Yeah, you know him. He's over on the side of the bleachers with his pals."
"Thanks."
Daisy pushes up onto her tiptoes to look me in the face. "Are you going to do it?" Daisy asks.
I nod. "I'll be right back."
"Hopefully not. Hopefully he keeps you busy for the rest of the night," Daisy shouts. The music isn't as loud as you would think and I am sure someone heard her other than Gretchen and I.
The march down the front of the bleachers has never been longer. I find Haru sitting on an overturned overturned bucket on the floor, the kind we use to store balls in during tennis practice. The balls are discarded alongside the bleachers.
"Hey guys," I force a smile as I come to a stop near them.
"You lost?" One of them asks.
"N-no, I just wanted to give you something." I point to Haru before shuffling forward to hand him the card and the cake balls.
A chorus of laughter erupts from his friends. "What's this?" He asks.
"Can I talk to you alone for a while?" I ask.
He nods and with a look dismisses his little gang. They pass me and glare over at me in turn. My hands are empty now and there's nothing to distract me, I press my fingers together just to be doing something. Haru is reading the card when I glance up. "I'm Peach—Lissette's friend."
He chuckles. "Yeah," he says running his fingers back through his light blue hair. "Everyone knows who you are."
"Yeah. Look, I thought you were really awesome and you were really nice to me when you taught me how to play that weird card game. I just really liked spending time with you and I was wondering if you would want me to be your…girlfriend?"
Haru makes a face I can't read. "Come here." I walk over to him and he stands up from the box and hugs me. He feels so warm and he smells like—I don't know what, but I want to smell it every moment of every day for the rest of life. When he breaks the hug he catches me by the bare shoulders. His hands on my skin is distracting me, but I hear him trying to talk so I tune back in to reality. "Listen, I'm like three years older than you. You're a cute kid and my cousin seems to like you. I just can't date anyone that young."
"Oh." My stomach hurts. It's like there's a weight pulling down on my insides, dragging me down.
"It's sweet you put in the effort to make all of this though." He eats a cake ball, licking his fingers after. "These are good."
"Thanks. You can keep them. I don't really wan to look at any of it anymore." I moved around him to sit on the bucket.
Haru looked off over his shoulder. "You want to dance or something?"
I shook my head. "I'm just going to sit here. I'll put the tennis balls up. We'll need them Tuesday at practice." He's still looking at me. I feel him there. Just leave, please. When I feel him drift away to join his friends I turn around so I'm looking at the corner of the gym and I can't hold it anymore. The tears are just coming out at full force.
The music covers it up and most of the students won't bother me anyway. I don't know how long I'm over there alone. It's hard to count the songs or pay attention to anything around me. Please no one find me like this. If there were a way to make it back to my bed that'd be perfect.
He called me a kid. He's not wrong. That's what I look like. My head's too big for my body and these stupid braces on my teeth don't help.
Yeah, I just want to stay in my bed forever.
Daisy's arms wrap around my shoulders. She's always too warm, she always smells too much like a stupid flower. "What happened? Are you okay?"
Trying to stop the tears just seems to make them come out harder. I manage to nod my head. "Uh-huh."
"This is because Haru? What did he do?"
"It's not his fault. I'm too young. I still look twelve…" I try to explain, though the sniffling breaks up the words.
Daisy groans. "Stop it Peaches, you don't look twelve. You're just a little scrawny," she snickers. "Makes you bad for hugging, but when we're fat and pregnant later you'll be the skinnier one."
Okay, I admit that was funny. A giggle spills out of me before I can remember how sad I am.
"Stop crying so we can dance," Daisy says offering out her hand to me. "Hey, I have some more of that stolen chocolate on me, you know you want some." She produces a wad of napkins, I guess that she grabbed them before coming over here. "Let's get you cleaned up."
She squats down in front of me and dries my eyes and cheeks. "Haru is an ass. He doesn't know what he's missing out on. What is he? Some third rate duke's son or something? You're a princess. He'll regret it." Daisy babbles some other stuff under her breath enough that the music covers it up, even at this distance. "Come on," she says as she gets to her feet and pulls me by the arm.
"I don't know, Daisy."
"Come on, we have to show him what he's missing." Daisy struts out to the dance floor with me in tow, pulling me through the sea of students who part as we approach. When we get to a place where she's comfortable she spins me around, catching my waist and moving with me in an imitation of the dances we learned at royal court, with her leading.
After a few moments of twirling through the middle of the dance floor together we're laughing and falling against each other. Daisy hooks her fingers through mine, swinging me away from her with my hands grasped in hers only to pull me back close. We swing around wildly like this for several minutes. People are probably looking at us like we're crazy. I'm not sure that it matters to me at this point.
When I do glance to my side Gretchen and Daunte are there, she's leaning against his chest with her hands resting besides her face. She lifts one of her hands to give us a little wave of the fingers before she whirls out of sight with him. I'm not sure how long this all went on. We danced until our legs hurt from the stiff, awkward movements.
"I don't think I can dance anymore," I say through a bout of laughter. We make our way off of the dance floor, holding hands. The gym doubles as our auditorium with the stage off to one side leading straight to the cafeteria. If we were anyone else the chaperones would have stopped us, but we're able to rush right past and into the little stairs that lead onto the stage.
One of those thick, blue gym mats has been up here since we've been going here. We collapse back onto it, our skirts fanning out around our legs. Daisy digs in the pockets on the side of her dress. "This is why I wore this dress," she says as she pulls out a couple of pieces of chocolate wrapped in foil.
She unwraps one and pushes it into my mouth. "Here!"
"Mmhm, thanks." The chocolate turns creamy and melts almost the second that it hits my tongue. "This is good."
"I only steal the best," she says.
I push another piece in on top of the first, chewing them. "I probably shouldn't be eating this with my braces."
"You worry too much," she says.
We roll through most of the chocolate, laying here on the plastic-y mat. I move so my head is resting on Daisy's shoulder and so that it's easier to grab the chocolates she has resting on her stomach. The curtains that hide the hoard of dancing students in the gym only muffle the sound slightly and our eyes adjust to the darkness more the longer we're back here.
"What happened back there?" Daisy asks.
I try to think of a way not to answer, but nothing comes to mind. "He said I'm too young. That was it. I guess he was nice about it, but…"
"He's older than you, that was it? Your dad was older than your mom, wasn't he?"
"Yeah. Even if he's a noble he doesn't want to date someone who's a walking scandal or kiss some brace-face who's never been kissed."
Daisy shrugged as she popped another candy into her mouth. "He's free to have preferences and you could be like me, the girl everyone wants to do all of this stuff with in secret just so they can make fun of you for being fat or slutty.
"You're not slutty and you're a cute weight."
"You're just saying that because your laying on my boob," Daisy says. "I don't really care what those people think anyway."
I eat another piece. They're going to reset my braces and make me start all over again or something. "Are you ever scared that—we might not find anyone?"
"We're going to be there for each other no matter what."
"But we have to run kingdoms and do stuff with the world governments—what if that makes it hard? Or what if it means we never find someone?"
Daisy's eating them faster than me, I guess they are kind of hers. She stole them. But I want the last one. I'm having a bad day. "Trust me, you'll find someone. My mom claims you'll find someone way easier than me. She thinks of you as all pure and wholesome."
I don't try to be better than everyone else or think that the way I am is somehow the only way. It's just how I feel and how I was raised. The last piece of candy seems to slide out of its wrapper easier than the others. I spin it around, looking at it in the sliver of light that comes between the curtains.
"I was going to eat that," Daisy says.
"It's mine now," I shake my head and sit up, putting my arms up in a defensive position.
Daisy swats at me, but I slap her hands away. "Give it back!"
"No. I unwrapped it. It's mine."
Tackling me to the mat, Daisy pins my arms to my sides as best she can. My lanky limbs come in handy for one thing. I'm able to slip the piece of chocolate into the safety of my mouth.
"What did you do?" She demands.
"It's in my mouth."
"Spit it out or else…"
"Come and get it." I stick out my tongue, showing the melting chocolate resting on my tongue before quickly pulling it back in.
Without warning Daisy pushes my arms, back, pinning me flat on the mat. She presses her lips to mine and her tongue moves inside of my mouth. I don't hate it, but other than that I'm not sure what to think. It feels wrong somehow, but harmless. My arms won't move, but feeling me struggle, Daisy lets me up and pulls her mouth away.
"Sorry," Daisy says. She sits up next to me on the mat, resting her chin on her shoulder and looking any direction that isn't at me.
"It's okay."
"I thought you were—I thought you might want to—you know." Her voice is smaller than I've ever heard it, almost drowned out by the thundering base in the next room.
"It was interesting. I might have confused you, but we don't have to stop."
She looks at me. "You're sure?"
"You just surprised me is all." I scoot closer to her.
"Oh, because we don't have to do any other stuff. Like, we can just kiss."
I nod. "It'll be good practice."
"Yeah," she smiles before recapturing my lips. We're both more involved this time and it is somehow weirder. Maybe the shock dulled my senses before, but I'm struck by just how wet our mouths are and by how much the chocolate taste lingers on Daisy's lips and tongue.
My skin is getting hot. I'm having a hard time figuring out just where I can put my hands. Her waist? Is that too much? What does all of this even mean?
Everything changes when she bites my bottom lip. It's soft, but piercing, like a kittens claw accidentally digging into your arm. It's not malicious. It's not meant to hurt. She doesn't have ill intent.
And for some reason a sound that I didn't intent comes out of me, something between a sigh and a moan.
"Is that okay?" Daisy asks.
I open my eyes; I hadn't realized they were closed. Nothing I want to say will come out correctly now, so I just nod. "Can we do this…at home?"
"Sure."
"Okay, we might want to get back to the dance before someone comes looking for us." I climb to my feet, squeezing her hand in mine. "Let's go."
Daisy rushes in, hugging me tight and trying to ride on my back. "Okay, but we have to go back out there like this!"
I'm struggling to even get her high off the ground. My frame is too small and she's a little too heavy. "I can't hold all this weight."
"Oh, see you just called me fat!"
"You called me scrawny earlier!"
"That was a joke. Now you've got to carry me to make it up to me. Now giddy up!"
Daisy's feet drag the hard the hardwood floor of the stage as I slouch along with her in toe. She's giggling on my back, moving around way too much and making this whole thing harder.
"Okay, here we go!"