Once upon a time, there was a beautiful princess. Her parents' castle was made of brick, and it was the biggest in their city.
The queen was regal and cold. She suffered from migraines, shopped often, and usually talked to her daughter on the way out, or when she gave her gowns.
The king saw her even less. He enjoyed golf, scotch, and other women. The princess never quite understood what he did to earn all their money, but she knew it took almost all day.
Cordelia, the princess of the castle, spent more time with her servants than her parents. Out of boredom and a desire to have someone to talk to beside her teddy bears, she learned Spanish.
When the princess turned thirteen, she was given magic cards. They were slick, plastic, silver, gold, and bronze. They could get her anything she wanted: all she had to do was slide them through a slot.
On the first dance of her Freshman year, Cordelia was elected Homecoming Princess. She thought this rather redundant, as she already knew she was a princess, but it was nice that other people knew, officially.
The crown was kind of awesome, too.
Each year, at almost every dance and float, she was declared Princess. The queen would help her get fitted and take pictures of her daughter when she was on her throne or platform.
The queen may have done it because it reminded her of her former days as princess, but Cordelia didn't care why she did it. She just cared that she was there.
A litany of suitors passed. Each was handsome, most were skilled at sports. None of them seemed particularly interested in her though…just her body (it was spectacular, as it should be- anyone that said cheerleaders weren't athletes felt her wrath).
Once, she deviated from the norm and spent time with a boy she absolutely loathed: he didn't seem to care that she was a princess at all, in fact, he made fun of her for it!
They hated each other, but discovered they liked kissing each other, too.
As time passed, they began to hate each other less and less. She began to find his friends (one smart and shy, one aggressive and annoyingly pretty) more tolerable, and hers less so.
But then it turned out he loved his smart, shy friend, a girl with ginger hair and doe eyes, just as gentle as her name- Willow- seemed to suggest.
And then she despised him more than she ever had before.
It turned out she hated herself for being stupid enough to trust him more than she hated him.
He would never know.
After she stopped courting with Xander and spending time with his friends, she tried to reconnect with her court.
Unfortunately, here ladies-in-waiting and knights showed no deference to her. They hadn't liked being ignored.
Now she was princess in title and wealth alone.
The world seemed cold and wrong to her.
Maybe she had never really had a place in it at all.
It turned out that even the king and queen had to pay taxes. They hadn't, for years.
The princess watched as everything she owned was taken away, bit by bit.
Now she was nobody's princess.
She was nothing.
Cordelia absolutely couldn't stand living in a cooped-up apartment with her mother, her mother's cousin, and their family, but she really didn't have any other choice.
The king had booked it once he realized what was happening.
She figured the bastard was probably in the Caribbean by now.
Going to the mall was a strange experience for Cordy. She felt like a refugee going back to the homeland it had been kicked out of, wondering why nothing had changed in her absence.
She stopped at a window display of formal wear.
The Prom was coming up soon. She had no date (which was a travesty, really, considering how gorgeous she was) and no plans. She didn't even have enough money for a ticket.
The dresses sparkled, just like she used to.
Bending down, the former princess was able to make out a "Help Wanted" sign.
She knew what she had to do.
Cordy marched in to the back of the store, where a large woman with a bad perm was folding scarves with meaty hands.
She suppressed a shudder before she asked, "Are you the manager?"
She hadn't needed to ask, really. Cordelia and her mother had come into this store many times. They had usually been rude to this woman, and always left with a bill that contained at least three zeroes.
Karma's a bitch, huh?
Evidently the manager recognized her, as she raised an eyebrow and said, "Depends on who wants to know."
So this was how it was going to be.
Cordelia stood up a bit straighter, raised her chin (she had kept a proud posture her entire life, and, well, old habits die hard), and said, "I am. I'm interested in a position here."
"Any work experience?" the woman asked, crossing her arms over her chest.
The way she asked it was a challenge, not a question. Cordy would know.
"I've never worked a day in my life. But I'm desperate for money, I learn quickly- I'm a straight-A student, actually, 5th rank in my class- (her heart sank when she thought of all the college acceptances she would never be able to use) and I've inhaled fashion mags like they're oxygen since I was five. I know what looks good on people, and I'm pretty and stylish enough that they'll trust me and buy what I suggest. I'm very persuasive when I need to be. Oh," she said, taking a breath, "and I'll work minimum wage."
She couldn't help but grimace at the last part, but she had to add it, since she knew some money was better than none.
The manager squinted at her.
"I don't like you," she said warily.
"I know," Cordelia said simply, "if I were you, I wouldn't like me either."
Needless to say, she got the job.
When she could get away with it, Cordy would do class assignments under the cash register (it was pretty hard to do them where she lived, what with the crying baby and all). There wasn't much, given that Senior year was wrapping up, but she'd be damned if she let one more thing slip away from her.
The boy she still hated found her working at the store. She admitted her situation, but she didn't care for his sympathy.
Like almost everything else in her eighteen years, it was too little, too late.
After she found out Xander paid for the gown she wanted, she locked herself in her closet of a guest bedroom, cradled the gown in her lap, and cried.
She would be able to do one, last, normal thing before life as she knew it ended for good.
Of course, she should've known that nothing at Sunnydale was ever "normal", including her graduation.
Creatures from Hell being summoned and a near-Apocalypse can kinda put a damper on things.
Cordelia graduated third in her class, though.
Taking note from many fallen princesses before her, Cordelia packed her bags and headed to the City of Angels.
She would later find out that she preferred being a Champion to a princess, anyway.
Did she live happily ever after?
No, not really.
She died young, and she died a hero.
But amgon a city of Angles, she found one true one. She loved and saved many in her time, and there was happiness. There was also, of course, darkness, pain, and sadness.
We take what we can, Champ, and we do our best with it.
In life (and let's face it- real life? It's no fairytale), that's really all you can ask for.