A/N: Hadam here, so I'm writing this chapter. So yeah… thank you to our special characters of our book and don't forget to review! (That's for everyone – not just our characters). ENJOY!
Chapter 3: The Nickname Doesn't suit
"Just through here, my lovelies,"
Susan said, stepping aside to reveal the doors to the guest quarters.
"Lovelies?"
Gail asked incredulously as she winced at the new nickname. Susan beamed at her, muttering to Lucy,
"They're so cute,"
"Cute?!"
Gail nearly shouted, yet again wincing at the title. The two older girls kept grinning at them as they went into their rooms.
Later that night, Susan and Lucy came to get the girls to come down to dinner. When they got to the dining room, Chantelle and Eleanor went and sat beside Susan and Lucy while Reena and Gail made a point of sitting as far away from Susan as possible – beside Edmund and Peter.
"So, darling,"
Edmund asked, addressing Gail,
"How did you get here?"
Gail glared at him.
CRACK!
Edmund brought his hand to his face as Gail punched him, breaking his nose.
"Do not call me darling again,"
Gail snarled, storming back up to her room. Peter and Caspian just sat there, their mouths hanging open.
After dinner, the girls headed back up to their rooms, bidding each other goodnight.
"Well, at least we can't say our lives are boring anymore,"
Eleanor said to Chantelle. Chantelle nodded in agreement before she opened the intricately carved door to her room and lay on her bed, thinking about what had happened that day. She sat up and went over to the dresser in the corner of the room, ruffling through various drawers.
"Surely there must be some sort of-"
She cut her mumbling short; holding up a white nightgown that looked like it would fit her. Chantelle smiled as she went into the ensuite and slipped the nightgown on, twirling. Yep, she was going to love the clothes they wore here. She went over and collapsed onto the bed, chuckling to herself as she wondered what Gail and Reena were thinking of the wardrobe choices. Well, they were certainly going to have fun. With those thoughts in swirling in her mind, Chantelle slipped into a deep sleep.
When Gail opened her eyes the next morning, her first thought was 'why am I wearing a dress?' And then she remembered the previous day's proceedings.
"Gail? Breakfast's ready if you want to come,"
Gail looked up and saw Chantelle hanging through the door.
"Ugh. I don't think I can stand another day being called cute and Susan's lovely whilst wearing a dress,"
Gail mumbled, half to herself and half to Chantelle. Chantelle giggled.
"Come on. They're waiting for us,"
Chantelle went over to the bed to help Gail out (Gail was a bit slow to wake up) and they went into the hall together. There, they saw a very sleepy-looking Reena and a very excited Eleanor. Chantelle ran over to Eleanor and gave her a huge hug. They both felt the same way. This was going to be great.
After breakfast, Gail and Reena had a private conversation held in low whispers.
"And what do you think you're doing?"
Eleanor and Chantelle ended their conversation abruptly,
"Edmund's waiting for us so he can give us a tour,"
Reena and Gail followed Eleanor to where Edmund was standing. Gail looked at his nose. It was still pretty swollen. Edmund smiled wanly at Gail before gesturing for the girls to follow him.
The tour took all day. For most of the time, Gail had been being held back by Eleanor and Chantelle who were trying to stop her from punching Edmund again through his use of the nicknames, 'dears', 'cuties' and 'princesses'.
"Let me at him,"
Gail grunted as she struggled against the combined weight of her friends after Edmund had just called them cuties for the fifth time in a row.
"Gail,"
Reena told the struggling girl,
"As much as you hate this, you need to calm down,"
Gail nodded in agreement, completely ignoring what Reena just told her and continued to struggle.
Chantelle and Eleanor rolled their eyes and gripped Gail's upper-arms tightly. Edmund ended the tour and voiced opinion that they should get changed into something a little more formal for dinner that evening. The girls nodded and went up to their rooms. Chantelle found a pale pink dress with silver threading and embroidery, Reena found a simple lilac dress, similar to Gail's except Gail's was dark green and Eleanor found a dress similar to Chantelle's except it was pale yellow with gold threading and embroidery. The girls headed down to the table and found that this time, there were place cards of where everyone was to sit. Chantelle and Eleanor smirked when they saw that Gail had been strategically placed between Caspian and Peter.
"Looks like they're playing it safely,"
Chantelle muttered to Eleanor as Chantelle sat next to Susan and Eleanor sat next to Lucy. They looked over to Reena, who had been placed beside Edmund.
"We are hosting this dinner in honour of our guests,"
Caspian stood up, smiling warmly down at the four girls as if they were about 5 years old. Gail tensed but didn't move to punch him as she looked at the warning looks that both Chantelle and Eleanor were giving her. Over the course of the dinner, the girls started making friendly conversation towards the royals. Gail started getting surprisingly well with Peter, and they planned on going horse riding together the next day. Edmund and Reena were going to go and look around the woods surrounding the castle, Eleanor and Lucy were going to make daisy chains and now they were trying to convince Chantelle and Susan to come with them, as they weren't really keen on it, instead they were hoping on staying and looking through the library. Before going to bed, the girls said goodnight to their new-found friends, Eleanor and Chantelle giving Susan and Lucy big hugs before running off to their rooms and collapsing onto the beds. As they sank into the soft mattresses in their white nightgowns, Eleanor and Chantelle thought about how nice it was here and how much fun they were having. They went to sleep slowly, eagerly awaiting the next day.
