Chapter 2

"Alison, honey, I need you to run an errand for me" Her mother called to Alison as she was just swinging round the stair post, just about to sprint upstairs to escape her family..

"Run an errand?" Alison laughed "Since when did you use that phrase?"

She was still mad at her parents but after talking to Emily a few nights ago, she had decided to try and hide it. She decided to be as perfect as she could be so her parents had barely anything to complain about.
"Don't be so rude to your mother, dear. I need you to pick me up a few things from the market" The Queen hovered over her throne and lazily sat down on it. Alison skipped over and lent against the back of it.

"Like what?" She sighed.

"Bread, Cheese, Tarter Sauce, Apples, Pears..."

'Eye of Newt and Toe of Frog" Alison finished in her head "Double, Double, Toil and Truble"

She let out a slight giggle, but tried to stop herself by slapping her hands over her mouth.
"What did I just say, Alison?" Her mother snapped, clicking a finger over Alison's wandering eyes.

"I-I just-Bread Cheese Tarter Sauce Apples and Pears. I got it"
"Yes,hmm, okay then. Run along child"
Alison rolled her eyes and stomped out of the castle.

'Run along child' She mimicked, skipping down the country road "Yes yes, do not disobey my commands or I shall lock you in the dungeon with the skeletons and rats'

She flipped a coin in her hand and messily picked it up when she dropped it on the floor. She couldn't stop thinking about one thing though, and that was that girl Emily who she had had a brief encounter with the other day in the middle of the night at the back of her castle. She had the saddest eyes Alison had ever seen. She was very muscular and strong, unlike Alison herself. But she was a peasant, so her parents would never allow her to look at, let alone talk to somebody like that.

Alison reached the market.

"Woah" she gasped "This place is busy"
She hadn't been into the village for ages, and it had certainly changed. There were a lot more people around and it had gotten a lot smaller. The last time she had been here, she had been with her mother.

"These are not people, dear. They are snot rags" Her mother had told her, as she pulled her headscarf tighter over her head and dragged Alison through the streets. A few odd citizens chased after them occasionally, shouting 'The Queen, The Queen! All Hail The Queen!"

"Why, mommy?" 7 year old Alison had asked

"Because they are poor, dear" The queen had answered, kicking a dying peasant man. A group of young children came excitedly running over to Alison and the Queen. The tallest one bowed down in front of them, and urged the other to do the same.

"All Hail Queen Jessica of Rosewood!" The youngest child had smiled, happily

"And to Princess Alison of Rosewood!" A small boy said. Alison smiled and clapped.

"Hello!" She greeted, holding out her hand for the children to shake it "I'm Alison"

The oldest child reached out her hand to shake it when suddenly, the Queen slapped Alison's hand.

"You are not to touch this people" She snapped "Come on, child. Hurry away"
She dragged Alison away from the children, who were waving back at her.

"Move it, lady!" A man shoulder, shoving Alison out the way and running past. As he ran, Alison realized she probably should have stopped him. He was storing food under his grubby shirt which he quite obviously had not payed for. There were children, running around and singing skipping rhymes. One child gasped when they saw her. He tapped his friend on the shoulder and whispered to his friend.

'Look. That's the pretty girl that lives in the big house'

Alison was surprised the boy recognized her. She had put on her cheapest dress and a headscarf on to cover up her wealth. For once, she just wanted to fit in with the people around her.

There were market stalls everywhere selling all sorts of goodies. One selling vegetables fresh from the farm, one selling old fruit, one selling sweet things like honey comb, cakes and buns.

"What did she want again" Alison muttered to herself. "Ooh that's right"

After 2 hours of shopping in the market, she had gotten nearly everything she needed. She also had bought herself a couple of buns as a treat. But there was one last thing on her mother's list.
She hurried over to the fruit stall to pick up the fruit. Behind the counter was a chubby man with a miserable smile.

"What d' ya want" He grumbled.

"Apples and Pears" Alison remembered

"How many, sweet cheeks"
"A dozen of each"
The man grabbed the fruit carelessly by the stem. He dropped them into Alison's basket.

"30" He said, pulling his hand out and beckoning Alison to give him money. Alison's throat ran dry.

"I only have 20" She admitted. The man tutted "May I just come back and give you the rest later?"
"Sorry sweetheart" He sighed "No money, no food"
He reached for Alison's basket, pulled out the apples and pears and dropped them back into the box.

"Now go away, child. Your ruining my business"
Alison fumed. The man waddled over to his next customer.

"Stupid old fart" She growled "30 for 24 pieces of fruit? He must be joking"

Then it occurred to her. The fruit was just right there and the man was over the other side of the stall. Alison looked around and scanned to see if anyone was watching, and was relieved to find that nobody was. Quickly, she grabbed her fruit and put it back in her basket.

"Ah-hem"

Alison was startled to hear someone's voice. She smoothed a cloth over her basket and jumped around. Standing before her, folding their arms and smirking was the girl, Emily, that Alison had met a few days before.

"Emily?" She nervously laughed "W-what are you doing here?"
"Shopping" Emily answered "This is my village, princess. What are you doing here? I didn't think a rich girl like you needed to enter the village under any circumstances"
"My mother asked me to pick a few things up from the market" Alison answered, turning the basket of fruit around so that you couldn't see that anything was inside of it.

"My my my" Emily sighed "How would the Queen react if she knew her perfect little girl was stealing?" She folded her arms and raised one eyebrow.
Alison blushed. She pulled the cloth further down over the basket.

"You didn't see anything" She hissed at Emily "Understand?"
"Whatever" Emily held her hands up in surrender "But, just so you know, you might wanna turn around"
Alison turned her head to find the fruit man looking very cross. He was quickly walking towards her with a bat of wood in his hand yelling

"Hey, thief! Come back here!"
"Run!" Emily shouted, pushing Alison to run.

"I can't run in this dress and these shoes!" Alison whined in panic. The fruit man was getting closer. Emily placed a finger to her chin and started thinking, having an idea not long after.

"Get on my back" She demanded. Alison raised an eyebrow.

"I'm sorry, what?" She squealed

"Just do it!"

Alison gave up. She jumped onto Emily's back and Emily wrapped her arms around her legs. Before she could say anything, Emily was running through the market as fast a rocket. The basket of fruit in Alison's hand bounced up and down as Emily ran faster and faster.

"Your strong" She laughed, wrapping her arms around Emily's neck and looking behind her to the man who was still chasing them

"I'm fast too" Emily said and although Alison didn't realize it, she was winking.

"Well, could you be a little faster! He's gaining on us!" Emily sighed and picked up her pace. She ran through everyone she could, Alison still sitting on her back.

"I think we're losing him" Emily panted, her back killing her with the weight of a princess on it. Alison smiled and buried her face into Emily's hair. It smelled like country air-a smell that Alison greatly appreciated, seeing as she didn't get a lot of it. She couldn't help but notice at how strong Emily's shoulders and arms were-much stronger than any boy she had ever seen. Snapping out of her trance, Alison realized that her and Emily were standing behind a bush and they had stopped.

"Jump down, milady" Emily said. Alison slipped off Emily's back and collapsed onto the grass next to her.

"That was quite a run" She said, shifting closer towards Emily.

"Yeah well, it was worth it"

Alison laughed. She liked this girl Emily, and she was not sure why.

"So, can I have some of that O So Prized fruit of yours?" She asked, catching her breathe and tilting her head up to look at Alison.

"But...it's for my mom" She insisted. Emily helped herself to the basket.

"Oh come on, as if she's gonna miss 1 stupid little apple. What's she gonna do with them anyway, dip them in poison?"
Alison laughed. She allowed Emily to take a bite of her apple, but she immediately spat it out again on the grass.

"I've changed my mind" She laughed "Those apples were totally not worth it. Gosh, by the way these taste, maybe your mother doesn't need to poison them"

Alison giggled, took the apple out of Emily's hand and threw it across the other side of the field.

"Try the pears" Alison told her "See if they're any better"

"Good idea" Emily smiled. She pulled a pear out of Alison's tidy little basket and took a big bite. She dreamily shut her eyes and took a deep breathe.

"Delicious" She said "Want a bit?"

"Ew. As if I would eat from the same piece of fruit as a peasant"

Emily raised an eyebrow and offered the fruit closer towards her. Alison sighed in defeat She grabbed the pear out of Emily's hand and took a bite. The two girls slowly laid back onto the grass and stared up at the sky.

"You know, your not like I thought you would be" Emily suddenly admitted.

"Oh really?" Alison asked, confused "How so?"

"I don't know" Emily sighed "I thought I'd hate you"
"And you don't?"
"Nope. Your kinda funny"

Alison smiled. That was the first time in a long time that she had generally been complimented and it meant a lot coming from a peasant girl.

"Sorry" Emily sighed "I'm just a peasant. You don't have to talk to me"

She picked up her boots and was just starting to walk away, when Alison grabbed her leg.
"No no, it's okay. Your not bad either, for a peasant"
Emily laughed. She sat back down next to Alison and laid onto her back. The girls shut their eyes and let the sun soak into their skin. They were suddenly rudely interrupted by the sounds of giggles.

"What's that?" Alison whispered, rolling onto her stomach.

"The ghost of your happiness" Emily answered sarcastically. Alison slapped Emily hard on the shoulder and they immediately started laughing. When the laughter had died down...they heard something. More laughter. The laughter came again, this time louder. Intrigued, they crawled forwards and parted the bushes to find a girl and a boy running around the field. They picked daisies and blew dandelions and occasionally stole kisses from each other. Alison glanced over at Emily who seemed to look really distressed.

"You ok?" She asked her. Emily didn't take her eyes off the couple "I-is that her?"
Emily nodded her head and a tear fell down her face.

"Let's just go..." She grabbed Emily's arm and tried to pull her away, but Emily fought back.

"No" She shouted "I'm going to talk to her"

She angrily jumped onto her feet and kicked a plant down, storming over the the couple.

"Emily, I'm not sure that's such a good idea" Alison protested, trying to grab Emily's shirt. The couple turned around, startled. They backed away slightly as Emily came storming towards them.

"Well, it's nice to see you Paige" Emily smiled "I almost didn't recognize you without his dick in your mouth..."

"Hello, Emily" Paige interrupted "You've met Sean, haven't you?" She wrapped her arms around Sean the Baker Boy's shoulders and pulled him closer.

"Ah yes, Sean! The Muffin Man's son! How are you these days? I see you two have grown very close!"

Alison awkwardly lurked behind Emily's back, waiting for the right moment to say something.

"He's great" Paige smirked "How are you, Emily? Is this your new girlfriend?"
"I'm Alison" Alison smiled, holding out her hand in gesture. Paige pushed Alison's hand down and tilted her head. "And no, I'm Emily's friend"
"Nice to meet you, darling" Paige lied "So what are you doing here, Em? Spying on me? Wouldn't be the first time..."
"I wasn't spying, Paige. I was just looking at the clouds. And for the record, I wasn't spying on you the first time either"

"Could have fooled me"
"I was worried sick about you. I went looking for you when I saw you with...him"

She pointed at Sean.

"Well I've moved on now, honey, and you should too" Paige told her, turning around and beckoning Sean to come with her. Emily's eyes filled up with tears as she watched the couple walk away. She sniffed and wiped her tears with her jacket.

"A-are you okay?" Alison asked her, realizing that she felt quite sorry for Emily. Emily shook her tears off and smiled.

"I-I'm fine" She lied "Never really cared that much for her anyway"
"You didn't?"
"Nope. She was just, there, you know? Someone willing to love me...but I didn't like her that much. Now, are you gonna give me one of those buns or what?"
"Get your own" Alison spat, suddenly regretting it.

"C'mon princess, you owe me. I just ran a mile get you away from your own mistakes. I deserve a damn bun"
"Fine" Alison pulled a bun out of her basket and threw it to Emily, who caught it with one hand.

"Shouldn't you be getting back to your castle" She asked, in between mouthfuls "Back to your perfect life?"
"No such thing" Alison sighed. She picked up another bun and pushed it into her mouth, taking large bites.

"Tell me about it" Emily agreed, finishing her bun "But seriously, your mother will be worrying about you"
"No she wont" Alison snapped "I bet she hardly remembers I left. And if I did return, she wouldn't even notice me"
"That's not true" Emily laughed "How could anyone miss a pretty girl in a pretty dress, strutting around looking pretty"
"Trust me, they do" Alison insisted, smoothing down the cloth on her basket "They're too busy admiring Charlotte or praising Jason" Emily sympathetically smiled at her and met her eyes for a brief moment.

"So, you should be getting home?"

"Not that I want to" Alison sighed "But, yes"

She picked her dress up and packet her bags bag up.

"I-I can walk you home, if you want" Emily offered, reaching out her hand as if to stop Alison from leaving.

"Ew" Alison spat "As if I'd wanna be walked home by a peasant like you"

Emily laughed and raised an eyebrow, knowing that Alison was just trying to keep up her reputation

"Guess I'll see you around then" Emily smiled, holding out her hand, expecting Alison to shake it.

"Yeah, whatever" Alison said, shaking Emily's hand and wiping it on her dress after. She ran off and looked back at Emily, who Alison realized, was oddly cute.