So, it probably had not been in my best interest to make fun of that weird chick. Okay. It really had not been in my best interest to make fun of that weird chick. But hey! She was weird. On the down side, my awesomeness was downsized. Like, see here: I was strolling along on my awesome walk, minding my own business of whatever, when all of a sudden - BAM! A foreign beauty was sitting at a tree trying to cut her bread, probably for a sandwich for lunch and stuff. So, I, the one and awesome, set to help her. But she rejected my awesomeness. Like, seriously, who does that? Anyway, I tried to help again and the babe said, "Try that again, and I'll turn you into a bird," and I was like, "WTF," and she looked at me weird and then tried to cut her bread again. But failed. Again.

Now, my pride had been hurt when she had denied my awesomeness, so, I said to her, "You're a weirdo, aren't you? You look mighty fine, but on the inside it's nothing but odd green goop, am I right?" Okay. I probably should not have said that, especially when she had threatened she would "turn me into a bird," but hey! This chick was weird! And yeah. I'm like this now. I'm a cute, little mockingbird. Yep. She actually turned me into a bird.

"Of course," she said, "There's a way to turn back into your former, more uglier self, but you'll probably never accomplish it!" I was starting to loathe the word "probably." But whatever. "You, boy, will have to get another human being to kiss you. On the li- oops, I meant beak. But you only have a year to do it." She proceeded to laugh at me. The unawesome bitch. If only she were really a dog... However, flying was awesome. About as awesome as me! (Did I really just say that?)

But only a year! Like seriously? Unawesome!

I regret to say, it's already been five months and I continue to remain as a mockingbird. It was seriously hard to get another human being to kiss your beak, especially when you are a talking bird and all they want to do is roast me on a pyre for being in league with the Devil. Yeah. I know. Unawesome, ungrateful, haters. I'm an awesome person-slash-bird-thing!

And I was truly a great person, as I told. I was the Crown Prince of Prussia, twenty-three years of age. I had money, jewels, power. I could repay anyone for just kissing my beak; I could pay them more than necessary. But no one even wanted to chat with me, the Awesome.

Five months later, I had resigned myself to the unawesome life of being a bird.

I had flown into a grand garden that was alive with other birds. It was the garden of a castle (I think I'm in Canada?) and I figured hey, if I am to be a bird for the rest of my life, might as well live it in style. So, there I was in the large garden. Or at least flying into it. Everything would have been perfect, too, if not for that pesky water fountain. I hit the stone, felt a terrible pain in my right wing and realized it was broken, and promptly fell into the water with a splash. Seeing as I was struck with pain, I was going to drown. Oh what a way to die. Until, that is, I felt myself being lifted. But I was far too gone to do anything except pass out unawesomely.

When I awoke, I was on a purple pillow. My broken wing was splinted, easing the pain a bit. Then, I realized I was hearing something very close by. A voice. Male. Probably made of pure gold. Singing. Such lovely singing. The angels must have blessed this man. I moved my head to the side where the song was coming from strongest and there he was. Just a foot away. The most beautiful man I had ever seen (and that was saying something because when I was human I was very egotistical).

He looked to be about eighteen, nineteen, twenty, or twenty-one. Hard to guess, but definitely late teens early twenties. He had a baby face, displaying a vibe of innocence and vulnerability to the world. His lips that formed those wonderful lyrics and encased that wonderful voice were pink, but thin. His nose was not big, quite the contrary. It was adorable. His eyes were closed so I could not see the color, but his blonde eyelashes were long and curled and his eyebrows were shaped and dainty. His hair was an interesting two-tone. The top layer was a dirty blonde, but the bottom was kind of orange. It went down to the base of his neck and was probably longer than it looked because it was wavy. Also, there was an odd curl coming off the top of his head, right underneath his... crown? It was a prince's crown, specifically a Crown Prince. I was being serenaded to by a Crown Prince?

Suddenly, his eyelids popped open and I saw his irises. They were a deep blue, almost indigo. But maybe they could have been violet? Or were they blue? I couldn't tell, but they were prettier than any jewel I had ever seen. Then his singing cut off, much to my disappointment. However, he began talking. "Oh! You're awake!" He smiled at me ever so prettily. "Glad to know you aren't dead. How's that wing feeling?" I tried to move it, but it hurt like a butt. "I'm sorry." And he meant it. I could tell as he pet my gray feathers. "Well, little guy, looks like you're under my care for the time being. My name is Matthew, Crown Prince of Canada. But you can call me Matt for short." His smile grew wider. "Now, I can't call you just 'bird' or 'little guy,' can I? How about the name... Gilbird? There's this prince of Prussia who has been missing and his name is Gilbert and he liked birds so if he was here, I'm sure he wouldn't mind." I blinked. Even Canada knew about my disappearance? Wow. Cool. "So, Gilbird, welcome to the Canadian Castle."

Living with Matt (nineteen years of age) was kind of really awesome. He took care of me real well. He would talk to me near constantly and I learned it was because, even if he was a Crown Prince, he was still ignored for more important matters; also, he was sheltered so he did not have many friends. He would also sing to me everyday and I really enjoyed that. Sometimes, I would tweet back, but I sucked at it since I wasn't a natural tweeter. He just smiled at me when I did that, though. Within the first month of being friends with Matt, my wing was healed. But he didn't make me leave. In fact, hardly anything changed. Before I knew it, I had spent seven months as a bird.

Then eight. I turned twenty-four that month.

Then nine months of bird-hood.

Then the fifth month I had known Matthew.

Before I knew it, I only had one more month to accomplish being human again. But hey. If staying a bird meant staying with Matthew, I was all for it. Over the sixth months I had spent with him, I found myself falling in love with him. Sure, as a bird, I would never be able to express my love. At least, I got to spend all the time in the world with him. That was enough for me. I didn't want to risk our friendship, even if he thought it a bit one-sided, all for speaking out loud and chancing him thinking I'm a demon. I couldn't.

However, this last month was the month Matthew's family decided that he should marry. Matt, however, was not too excited. And I was with him. Watching him trying to find a suitable bride was painful and only reminded me that I would have had to do this, too. It was painful. All of these girls conformed until all of them were exactly the same and all only wanted the status and money. Not Matt. In fact, they all kept calling him different names. Marcus, Merton, Michael, Mumford, Misha, Mickey, or Moses. One chick even called him Xavier. How the hell did they get Xavier from Matthew?

By the end of dinner, both of our last nerves were balancing fatally over a tall cliff. However, when Matt's dad asked, "So, my boy, anyone you like best?" Honestly, how was he supposed to pick the best when they were all the worst? Matt didn't answer. "Son?" The girls had their attention focused solely on the prince, hoping they were going to chosen. "Anyone you'd especially like to kiss?" A few girls blushed at this comment.

I had underestimated how drastically Matt's last nerve was balancing over the cliff. Because he suddenly snapped at his father, "I'd rather marry Gilbird than kiss any of these girls." Wow. That must be harsh on the girls. And sort of on me. He was only saying that because these girls were awful. He would never kiss me because I'm me.

The king was, needless to say, not pleased with this answer. Greatly so when the girls were heavily upset. "Then go ahead," he shouted, "kiss your bird! We'll draw up a marriage license and he can sign with his talons!"

Matthew scowled and I had never seen him so angry before. "Fine! Do so! I'll kiss him right now!" ...

...

... Wait...

...

... What?

Matthew stood up from the table, grabbed me (roughly enough to show his anger, gently enough to convey he still cared about me) off of his head where I usually sat and brought me down so he was looking in my eyes. "Gilbird," he said, "I haven't told you enough, but I love you." I remember the first time he had told me that. Month two. I had tweeted back in response - BUT now was not the time for that. Because he had leaned forward and kissed my beak.

My heart felt like it had itself turned into a bird and taken flight. Kissing Matthew was the best feeling in the entire world. My entire body felt wonderful, like I was finally growing into my natural skin - WAIT. I raised my wing and puffed the feathers. I didn't feel any. I put the end of my wing against Matt's cheek. My wing should not have been that long. My beak should not have felt so flat. My talons should not have been touching the floor.

And then I remembered. A year to get another human being to kiss you. It was two weeks shy of a year. I was human again.

I pulled away. Because being human again was incredibly awkward. Especially since I had been a bird for nearly an entire year. Getting used to being a bird had been hard, sure, but I think I just transformed in front of a room full of people.

Matthew had opened his eyes again after I had pulled away, He obviously, painfully obviously, had not been expecting that. He was looking at me. Oh my God he was looking at me and I suddenly felt self conscious.

How did I look? I looked down. But instead of how I really looked, I caught sight of my hands. They were hands! Not wings and feathers! Arms, hands, and flesh! "I'm human again," I whispered to myself, still not quite believing it. Then I said it louder. "I'm human again." That brought a smile to my face. "I'M HUMAN AGAIN! KESESESESE!" I tried out my feet to find they were fully functional. "Human!" I spun in a circle, quickly seeing everything to eye level. Without having fly. It was so awesome! I jumped, just to see if I would fly. I didn't! Then I started to run. I ran around the table, blissfully ignoring the stares I was getting.

And then I saw Matthew again and his beautiful face looking at me in befuddlement. But I didn't care about his expression. I cared about him. I ran up to him and picked him up and spun him around, laughing happily, even if he was frozen in shock. I put him down and pulled him away at arms length, took his hands in mine, and looked him in the eye. "Matthew, Crown Prince of Canada, also known as Matt, you are the single most awesomest person on the planet. Awesomer than me, which is saying a lot. You don't nearly get enough attention as you should and you should have the whole world's undivided attention twenty-four-seven because everything you do, say, and every breath you take is simply the single most important thing to ever grace the universe and should be recorded verbatim. No matter what anyone tells you, Matt, your are perfect, so extremely perfect, just the way you are. And I, Gilbert, Crown Prince of Prussia, formerly known as the mockingbird Gilbird, love you, too." I smiled at him, just smiled, trying to show just how much I loved him and cared for him and really, truly meant what I had said. Every word of it, every syllable, every letter.

He was still looking at me in shock, like I wasn't real, which to him I probably wasn't, but I could tell he had been listening to me. He was turning red, a shy smile spreading slowly across his face. After a few minutes of just staring at each other, blushing (for I had started blushing, too, because I couldn't contain how embarrassed I was from making a fool of myself in front of people), until finally Matt stepped forward, took his hands from mine, and wrapped his arms around my neck. I reciprocated the hug and down right felt like the luckiest man alive when he whispered to me, "Now I understand why you were so bad a chirping."