From the moment I stepped through the castle doors, I could tell that something big was going to happen. Whether it be meeting my true love, starting my fairy tale, becoming class captain, well I didn't' know. It was quite different from the castle I was used to living in back in Camelot. The decorations were more plain, the only two colors were baby pink and royal blue and it might have even been smaller. Boys voices and whispers were surrounding me and I gripped the handle of my sword to make sure it was still there.
"Hey!" I heard a boy from behind me come up, "I couldn't help but notice that sword...well...looks a lot like…"
"Excalibur?"
"Uh yeah. Of course they must make replicas-"
"No, this isn't a replica. King Arthur was my father." I replied with no hesitation. I wasn't very proud to be his son, but one day I would inherit his kingdom and restore it to what it used to be. Before my mother left both me and my father when I was only 9. Of course, both of our lives went downhill after that, but my father couldn't even keep himself together. Turning to drinking as his only way out, he eventually died within the year. His sword was passed down to me. Whenever I had it with me it reminded me of how he had told me to do better than him and find the girl who is truly Good.
The boy just marvelled back at me.
"I'm Tedros of Camelot," holding out my hand to break the silence.
"Chaddick", he said as he took it.
"Looks like we'll be getting to know each other soon enough." I said as I stared at the royal blue door to our dorm in front of us. WELCOME TEDROS, CHADDICK, and NICHOLAS.
Ten minutes later we were staring eachother down in a swordfight. Right off the bat, an elderly man, Professor Espada had brought us into the swordplay room to test our skills. "The best way to get a princess' attention is to have a good first impression. Since as we speak, they are probably giggling out in the hallways near their dorms, the first time they'll see you is at our Welcoming. And a good entrance is all they need to fall head over heels for you."
I sighed. I knew that in order to love someone you should be attracted to them, but what about deep down? That's what true love was. Loving someone for who they really are. What about your hopes and dreams and fears? Surely we couldn't showcase those in a swordfight. But even so, I showed Espada the best I could do. He'd paired us up randomly into matches. So far I had won every match within a few seconds and now the final one was against Chaddick. As our swords clashed against each other, I could tell I was going to win. He was talented but I'd been practicing all my life. As a young boy, my father's "loyal" friend Lancelot taught me all the best plays. Until he ran off with my mother like a thief in the night.
I saw the fear in Chaddick's eyes and finally he gave up his sword and surrendered. I wiped the single drop of sweat from my forehead and saw the entire group goggling at me, including Espada. Suddenly I felt a little pity for the rest of my class. I could tell before we had started some of them had seemed quite proud of their skills, even a little cocky. But now that they'd seen me I could see the hope in their faces vanish. Espada finally turned around and faced everyone.
"Once everyone is settled in their seats, we'll open the doors and pair up in swordfight as we make our way into the Theater. Be sure to show them your best skills, that's what will attract the girls. Once you reach the climax of your match, lift a rose out of your pocket and throw it to whoever catches your eye. And Tedros...come with me."
He led me outside into the hallway, away from everyone else.
"Now, you have a talent." I shrugged in response. "Don't deny it. This is something to be proud of and we mustn't take it for granted. Now after all the boys finish their rose throwing…" He continued on telling me about my own private entrance. I couldn't help but think it seemed a little extreme, but chances were, my future princess would be in the crowd watching and I did have to make a good first impression.
After Espada perfected my skills a little, the welcoming was announced. He handed out the roses to us and we waited upstairs. Suddenly there was a sound of voices, giggling, and all 60 of the girls came rushing past us, too excited to think about looking up at us. We all tried to get a glimpse of them, but Espada held us back. He led us down to the Theater of Tales and we waited outside the doors. There was a lot of chit chat from both happy Ever girls and raspy, intimidating Nevers, but it all ceased when they heard the west doors fly open and the boys entered in the midst of their swordfight. The doors shut behind them so I couldn't see what was going on inside but it was pretty easy to assume. Once I heard them shout, "Milady!" and throw their roses, I knew it was my cue.
I quickly glimpsed my blonde hair, and blue eyes in the shiny hilt of my sword, made sure there were no blemishes on my face, not that there ever really were, and flung the doors open again. I looked around at the boys, who all looked a little worn out from their previous fights and I couldn't help but smile. This made it even easier. All at once, about 40 boys came rushing at me, but I maintained my posture, whipped out my sword and disarmed each and every one of them within seconds. Lancelot had taught me well. As I made my way down the aisle, I tried to get a glimpse of the girls, but the remaining boys kept trying to catch me off guard so I focused on disarming them. Suddenly, I looked out at everyone and realized none of the boys were holding swords anymore. I had to admit, I was a little surprised I'd done that, but I shrugged my shoulders to give the impression it was no big deal.
Finally, I turned and looked out at the girls. They were beautiful, but none caught my eye above any of the others. I pulled out the rose from inside my shirt, and immediately all the ever girls jumped up pushing each other, reminding me of geese at a feeding. I flashed my white teeth with a smile and threw my rose high up into the air, hoping I would be attracted to whoever caught it. Then, from the opposite side of the theater a beautiful blonde girl in black jumped into the aisle, causing a girl in pink to chase after her. The blonde one tried to catch my rose, but a wolf caught her instead. Her big emerald eyes locked with mine, and I couldn't understand why a pretty girl like her was wearing a Never uniform.
I whipped my head back to see who'd caught my rose. It lay open in the hand of the girl who'd chased after her. She had greasy black hair, huge bug-like eyes and pasty white skin. A witch had just caught my rose! I didn't understand why she and the pretty blonde Ever had switched clothes, but then the fairies pushed the witch onto the Good side and the princess was dropped into the Evil pews. I barely had time to make sense of it before I felt a hand drag me into a seat.
"Hi. I'm Beatrix," said a girl with long blonde hair, and sparkling topaz eyes. If I hadn't seen the blonde girl on the Never side, I'm sure I would have thought she was pretty. Clearly all the other boys did, for she showed me about 23 roses. But I couldn't get that other girl off my mind.
"Tedros," I replied vaguely. "From Camelot."
" You don't know how much I've always wanted to visit Camelot. Maybe you could take me-"
"Welcome to the School for Good and Evil," I turned thankful that Beatrix had been interrupted, and saw a giant two-headed dog. One was soft and cuddly, the other looked like a beast.
They both continued on, but I was hardly listening. I turned around and saw Chaddick behind me.
"Does this school ever make terrible mistakes?"
"What do you mean?" asked Chaddick.
I nodded at the strange witch who'd caught my rose sitting amongst the other Ever girls in the back. He gave me a perplexed look that mirrored my thoughts exactly.
Pollux continued on saying, "Every child in the Endless Woods dreams of being picked to attend our school. But the school master chose you, for he looked into your hearts and saw something very rare. Pure Good and Pure Evil."
"If we're so pure, then what's that?!"
I turned in my seat to see an impish blonde Never pointing at the beautiful girl on the Evil side.
Then from behind me, Chaddick stood up at pointed at the witch who'd caught my rose. "We have one too!"
"Ours smells like flowers!"
"Ours ate a fairy!"
"Ours smiles too much!"
"Ours farted in our face!"
"Every class we bring two Readers from the Woods Beyond…." Oh, I thought. That made sense. I'd heard of Readers before, and knew they were different, but still. To look like complete opposites who just needed a simple costume change seemed odd for even Readers like them. I turned back to stare at the beautiful Reader. Her hair was so blonde and fell in perfect waves. Her eyes so enchanting. Her peach skin, as smooth as silk. She looked over, and we locked eyes again. I turned away and pretended to pay attention to the dog heads.
A while later, I heard subtle sniffs near my head. I turned and Beatrix immediately turned back to face forward.
"Were you...sniffing me?"
"What!? No! I thought I lost-my rose."
"On my head?"
I sighed. Out of all the girls to have sat down by, it had to be her. Well, at least it hadn't been the witch Reader.
"Beatrix? Who's that girl over there? Was she in this castle when you guys arrived?"
"Agatha I think her name was? Umm yeah. She arrived just as we did. But not on the Flowerground, maybe because she's a Reader. It has to be a mist-"
All of a sudden, the other Reader started jumping up and shrieking. She looked up, curtsied and sat back down.
"She has to be an Ever."
Beatrix looked at me as if she'd just heard her dog died. "Well, she's not that pretty. There's probably a reason she's over there. Maybe she's an Evil prince stealing witch..."
I ignored Beatrix's jealous rant and listen to Pollux drone on and on until finally he said we could go back to our dorms. I got up and found Chaddick, eager to get away from Beatrix. The chatter started up again as girls giggled about whose roses they'd caught, but once again was interrupted.
"How do we see the School Master?"
It was the witch Reader, Agatha. Castor and Pollux charged for her with equally beastly expressions. Until they stopped right in front of her and said, "You don't."
