Here is the next chapter, ENJOY!
DISCLAIMER: IDONOTOWNANYTHINGTODOWITHALITTLEPRINCESS! Thank you.
Amelia had been attending the school for some years now and was with her sister. They were currently sharing a room. Maria had take to bossing Amelia around and Amelia always did what her sister said.
Amelia had been told to keep an eye on the Headmistresses office. Any news of any importance was always mentioned first in the office. So when Amelia heard that Carter Crewe would be visiting again soon she had run off to tell her sister.
"Coming to visit?" Maria asked skeptically. He hasn't called for so many months. I thought he had gone for good.
Amelia nodded. "I heard the Headmistress mention his name and then said to herself that he would be visitng sometime this week."
"When?"
"I think she said Tuesday." Maria told her sister.
"Well, thank goodness that is two nights away. You need to help me select something to where that day. I need to look like a beautiful Princess when he comes."
They set about finding a dress and selected the most expensive one.
When Tuesday rolled around Maria had dressed and her and her sister went down to breakfast. Classes began and sometime after lunch the Headmistress came and asked for Julia.
The teacher looked up. "Why do you need Julia? She was about to present her speech to the class."
"There is someone asking for her." The headmistress's tone said she did not want to discuss it further, especially in front of the pupil's.
Julia got up from her desk and walked out.
Maria glanced at her sister and even though she knew she would get in trouble for passing notes if she was caught, she wrote one to my sister and passed it to her.
The note read:
Are you sure Carter Crewe was calling on me?!
Amelia read it and wrote something down, then passed it back.
Her reply was:
Who else would he be calling on? I didn't stay to listen to the rest of her ranting.
Maria was appalled. What if he was calling on Julia Clarke? It was her worst nightmare come true.
Maria crumpled the note and stuck it in her desk.
Later when classes got out and her homework was done she wandered downstairs. Dinner was about to be served. She snuck quietly down the hall towards the front door.
I knew I had heard voices when classes got over.
Carter was standing on the landing waiting for the headmistress to come back with his coat. Julia was standing in the doorway saying goodbye to Carter.
"I am so glad I could meet you." She told him.
"The pleasure is all mine, miss. I saw you last time I was here, you were so beautiful I had to come back and make sure you were real. That I had not just conjured you out of my imagination."
Julia blushed and Carter took her hand and kissed it lightly.
It seemed he enjoyed making her blush, because her blush deepend a little.
Just then Maria heard footsteps behind her. She was glad she had thought to hide behind a plant while she eavesdropped on the two young people. The leaves were large and neither the headmistress nor Julia or Carter could possibly see her.
Julia could be hurrying back into the sitting room to sit down.
The headmistress gave Carter his coat and bid him farewell.
The dinner bell rang suddenly and many of the girls came thundering unlady like down the stairs. Maria stood and began to blend in with the other girls.
--End of Flashback--
Well at least I was true to my word. I did become the Headmistress of a girls boarding school. I didn't get married and I became the Headmistress of the school I hated. Thought Miss Minchin as she got into her bed and lit her bedside oil lamp. She brought out a brush to comb her hair and then set the brush down. She reached for the book she was currently reading and opened it. It was not nearly as enjoyable to read as it used to be. When she was younger all she read was fairytales.
--Flashback--
That had all ended when Julia had taken everything. Including Carter Crewe. That night Maria had eaten dinner quietly and hurriedly. She had sat through the group reading of some of the classic romance novels. Then she and her sister had gone up the stairs into their room. Maria got into her nightgown without speaking to her sister.
Amelia seemed to know what was coming because she said to Maria, "I'm going to use the bathroom. I'll be back soon."
As soon as Amelia was out of the room and the door was shut, Maria opened the trunk that was at the end of her bed and she pulled out her precious fairytale books. Up until tonight she had still believed in "happily ever after." Happy endings seemed common enough in the books, why not in the real world.
Maria stood up holding her books and turned towards the fire place that was lit and was crackling cheerfully.
She walked slowly and ceremoniously over to the fire and threw in the books one by one. Then she got into her bed and watched the books burn.
Happy endings do not exist!
Amelia had come back and peeked in at her sister. She followed her sister's gaze to the fire and gasped quietly. Her sister loved those books more than she loved their mother. What could possibly have possessed her so greatly that it made her burn her most precious possessions?
Amelia came all the way in and quietly slid into her bed.
"Amelia."
"Yes?" Amelia kept her back to her sister so that she didn't have to look her in the eye.
"Tomorrow I want you to go into the library here and get me some tragic books. Only Tradegies mind you." Then Maria turned over and after getting out of bed to shut the curtains she fell asleep in her bed.
Amelia nodded her head, mostly to herself, and mourned over the loss of her sister. In her mind this was the night her sister had died and this was the night her sister's heart had closed for good.
--End of Flashback--
While I was typing the part about the books burning my hands started to shake. I hate cruelty to books but it seemed significant to the story. I just hated having to do it! If any of you ever burn books you should be deeply ashamed. Also if you ever have the displeasure in your life time to see or attend a book burning make you sure you rescue as many books as possible. Literature is precious it should survive for other generations to read.
Now that I'm done with my rant about cruelty to books please R&R!
Thankies!
OSK
