By the time Kendal, Mrs. Ingle, and company arrived at Doctor Ferguson's small brown house, located in the center of the town's market place, it was late afternoon and the market place was buzzing with people. Kendal was patiently sitting in the Doctor's parlor while he examined Mrs. Ingle. While waiting, Kendal looked out the window in the parlor to see that everyone who had helped Mrs. Ingle was outside in the busy market street amusing themselves.
Kendal saw that Adriana and the dark-headed man that helped Kendal lug around her mother were both visiting Andy at his family fruit stand. She saw that they were enjoying a lively conversation and each of them had a bright cheery smile on his or her face. Kendal scanned the overflowing market crowd to see that Lady Marin, Eliza, and Prince Edward were all looking at fascinating jewels at a jeweler's stand. Eliza's icy eyes were shining with greed as she examined the most exquisite necklace one could find. Kendal turned her head in disgust and looked to make sure Lady Marin's coachman and carriage were where they had been left.
Sure enough, the orange, pumpkin-like carriage was sitting there drawing much attention to itself from the locals. Kendal could not believe that Lady Marin would own such atrocious thing. 'Who would want to ride in a pumpkin other than Cinderella?' she asked herself.
Kendal wished she was outside in the crisp clean air with the others, but someone had to wait for the diagnoses of Mrs. Ingle. Everyone else had his or her own agenda, so of course Kendal was stuck sitting in the hot stuffy parlor. Forty long minutes had gone by since Mrs. Ingle was brought to the Doctor, and Kendal was on the verge of insanity. She was hot, bored, and could feel perspiration accumulating on her forehead. 'Gross,' Kendal thought wiping away some of the sweat.
Finally Kendal heard footsteps clicking down the hall, and the doorknob to the room jingled; Doctor Ferguson entered.
"Miss K. Ingle," the Doctor started off formally, "You will be pleased to hear that your mother's life is not in danger. However, I would like to keep Mrs. Ingle here tonight to exam her condition."
"If that is what you feel is best for my mother," Kendal answered, still very worried about her mother.
"Don't worry Miss K. Ingle, she will be just fine. You may show yourself out," Doctor Ferguson responded, and then quickly left the room. 'He is an odd fellow,' Kendal thought. 'Miss K. Ingle, what kind of name is that?' Kendal rose and found her way out of the stuffy Doctor's parlor to the bright main street of the town.
Kendal hoped that whatever was wrong with her mother could be fixed so everyone one could go back to their lives. Pulling her concentration off of her thoughts, Kendal looked around to see if everyone was still where she had last seen them.
They were; Lady Marin, Eliza, and the Prince were still at the jewelry booth and Aide and the gentleman were still at Andy's fruit stand. Kendal decided it would be safest to trek across the dusty dirt road in order to visit Andy's fruit stand instead of going to see Eliza at the jewelry stand. 'Besides I need to thank that guy,' Kendal pointed out to herself in justification.
"Kenny," Andy called, smiling lightly as he saw her coming. Kendal gave Andy a seething glare for using her nickname, but decided to not say anything. It was useless to fight with Aide and Andy about a nickname. Adriana and the gentleman turned to see if in fact Kendal was coming up to the fruit stand or if Andy was having a psychotic moment.
"Kendal, where is Mother?" Aide asked quickly, a worried expression on her face.
"She's fine, but the Doctor wants to keep her for the night."
"That means we are left to survive on are own?" Aide asked dubiously.
"It's about time you girls learned survival skills," Andy remarked.
"I'll show you survival skills," Aide retorted threateningly. This drew a short chuckle out of handsome man that Kendal had yet to be introduced to. Kendal stared at Aide questioningly to get her point across that she still didn't know who this stranger was.
Aide took the hint and introduced them. "Kendal, I would like you to meet Sir Leonardo Saldi, one of Prince Edward's accompanying advisors. Sir Leonardo, this is Miss Kendal Ingle, my charming younger sister."
"Nice to make your acquaintance," Sir Leonardo said charmingly, his brown eyes shining.
"A pleasure to meet you Sir Leonardo," Kendal replied with as much formality as she could muster. Then the two of them shook hand lightly and Kendal could soon feel that his hands were chapped. 'He must work outside,' Kendal thought happily.
"You can call me Leo, Miss Ingle," Leonardo said warmly.
"If you wish, you may call me Kendal," Kendal said smiling up into Leo's face. 'The sun makes him look even better,' Kendal noted as she stared up at Leo's brown hair that it seemed even lighter in the sun. 'Even his face looks warmer in the sunlight!'
"Actually, Kendal prefers the name Kenny," Andy said breaking the moment. Kendal's expression told Andy he was dead once they were a dark alley. Adriana started to giggle, while Leo stood there, smiling politely.
"Leo, don't listen to Andy; he is a goofball," Aide said in between chortles.
"Actually, insanity runs in his family," Kendal remarked with a straight face.
"Speaking of family, Kenny I have a cousin that you should meet," Andy said with a wink, motioning to someone in the busy street.
'Great. I'm going to meet a relative of Andy's. That's just dandy,' Kendal silently told herself as she tried to plaster a fake smile to her face.
"Andy! You never told me you had family in town," Aide exclaimed while peering into the street to find Andy's relative.
"You never asked if any of my relatives were in town, Aide," Andy responded. Adriana started to grumble something about men under her breath, irritated with Andy's response.
"So does Andrew have a large family?" Leo politely inquired.
"Andrew? Oh yes, that is Andy's full name, isn't it? To answer your question, Drewy has a very large family. I'm surprised they haven't fed him to the wolves yet in order to save some money," Aide cheerfully told Leo.
"Drewy?" Andy asked, appalled by what Aide had just referred to him as.
"I think Drewy has nice ring to it," Kendal added, clearly enjoying Andy's new nickname.
"It kind of reminds me of my toddler days," Leo noted offhand.
"You forget that Andy is still making his way through his toddler days," Kendal said looking Leo square in the eye.
"Hey, hey, hey! This childish mocking is above a mature specimen as myself," Andy said while trying to puff out his chest in some manly, testosterone-inspired way. A quick jab in the stomach from Aide made Andy's puffin look deflate.
"Do you three always interact like this?" Leo inquired clearly very interested in the three friend's behavior.
"Yes," Kendal, Adriana, and Andy all replied at the same time. The three of them turned and glared at each other instantly. Soon the fake glaring turned into laughing. Leo silently watched the three, Kendal, Andy, and Aide, obviously perplexed, by the oddity of the group dynamic.
"Andy! There you are!" exclaimed a female voice from behind Kendal.
"Cherie! Cousin where were you?" Andy cried happily as he went to go meet his cousin. Cherie reminded Kendal of a female form of Andy; her fiery red hair, the classic pasty white Andy skin, and freckles that sprinkled all over her face matched Andy's perfectly.
"Well isn't this a large group of people you're with Andy. Aren't ya gonna introduce me to them?" Cherie asked, her emerald eyes flashing with excitement.
"Oh those people," Andy said lazily.
"Yes, those people!" Cherie exclaimed with some overexcited hand gestures.
'She's too flamboyant,' Kendal noted while watching the excited redhead.
"Well let me see...The black haired one is Adriana Ingle-"
"Oh you're Aide! I've heard so much about you!" Cherie interjected and then started to shake Adriana's hand enthusiastically.
"Well isn't that nice," Aide responded shooting a questioning glance at Andy.
"And the girl with the brown curls is Kendal Ingle," Andy said while motioning in the direction of Kendal.
'Well aren't you a...plain girl," Cherie remarked while shaking Kendal's hand without any enthusiasm.
'She did not just call me plain,' Kendal mentally seethed. 'I am not plain! I can't be. Can I?' She attempted to keep a semblance of a friendly smile pasted firmly to her mouth. "Aren't you a flamboyant girl," Kendal responded to Cherie. Cherie smiled happily and acted as if what Kendal had just said was the best compliment of her life. Andy, on the other hand, gave Kendal a look that said 'play nice'.
"And the gentlemen is Sir Leonardo Saldi," Andy said directing the attention away from Kendal.
"Why hello Sir Leonardo," Cherie tried to say it with a sultry tone.
"Nice to meet you. I prefer to be called Leo."
"Well I think I prefer to call you Leonardo," Cherie replied with a full smile. Leo gave Cherie a small, strained smile in return, while Kendal stood on the side appalled by Cherie. "You know what would be wonderful Leonardo?"
"No?"
"Well, I'm new in town," Cherie paused and continued, "and I would love it if someone would show me the ropes. Leonardo would you like to show me around?" Cherie then proceeded to bat her eyelashes flirtatiously.
'This girl has no shame!' Kendal thought angrily.
"I'm new as well, so I'm sure I wouldn't be much help in your endeavors to become acquainted with this town," Leo replied with a charming smile.
"Oh, that's ok. We'll just have to find our way around together." Cherie then smiled and intertwined her arm with Leo's, leaving Leo no choice but to follow Cherie into the market place.
"Well, she's a piece of work," Aide commented while watching Cherie disappeared in the distance with Leo in tow.
"I don't like her," Kendal said shooting a glare in the general direction of where Cherie once was.
"Awwww...Kenny are you jealous of my wonderful cousin?" Andy asked with fake sympathy.
"There are so many thing wrong with your sentence I don't know where to start!" Kendal crossly exclaimed. "First of all your cousin is way too forward for my tastes! Plus, she has no shame and she is related to you! There is absolutely nothing to be jealous of!"
"She has a point," Aide commented, thoughtfully nodding.
"Oh please Kendal! I'm not blind! I have two eyes-"
"Really?" Aide asked teasingly.
"Aide hush for a minute. Kendal you are blind. You have a little thing for Sir Leonardo, Leo, the Prince's Advisor, or whatever you want to call him and you don't want to admit it! You are jealous that my cousin got to him first, and you know it," Andy informed her quite seriously.
"Andy, you know me. You know I would never get into fight with someone over a man!" Kendal shot back at Andy.
"Yeah. Kendal's right Andy, she's not that type of girl to hate someone for that petty of a thing-" Aide jumped in.
"Plus, we all know that I'm not the type of person that is easily taken with nobility. I mean the nobles who fit into the uppers levels of the 'hierarchy' of the nobility are always snobby, selfish, gossipy, and plenty more of those evil adjectives. I really don't think I could like a guy from that type of class. I like my men simple," Kendal told Andy softly.
"You girls are right," Andy responded while running a hand through his red hair. "You know I'm just protective of my family, and that includes Cherie, no matter what her faults are. She is my family. Kendal would you just please be nice to Cherie? After all, she is in a new town without friends. I also think you and Cherie would really hit it off if you two just tried."
"If it really is that important to you I'll try to like Cherie," Kendal said a little begrudgingly.
"Thanks Kendal, you're a real sweetheart," Andy replied happily while shooting a pearly white smile in Kendal's direction.
"Is she your new sweetheart?" Aide asked faking a pout.
"No! No one could take the place of my number one," Andy said looking into Aide's eyes. 'Here we go again...' Kendal told herself.
"And who's your number one?" Aide playful asked.
"Well you are-"
"Ok I'm going to walk around," Kendal interjected before Andy and Aide got all lovey dovey.
"All right sis and remember to be careful," Aide called as Kendal started to walk away.
Kendal started her market place journey by walking along the dusty and busy main road. Soon Kendal found herself back in her daydream world. While zoning out in her own world, Kendal could have sworn she heard a sound from the alley on her right.
Psssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssh. There it was again! The weird whisper sound. Kendal stopped in her tracks and looked to her right and her left. There was nothing and no one around her that would make that odd sound. 'I'm going insane! I could have sworn I heard something,' Kendal thought, still peering around looking for the culprit of the weird noise. Deciding that she was losing her last bit of sanity, Kendal started to walk again rather than stay and figure out what the sound was.
Pssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssh. 'I know I heard it this time,' Kendal told herself. She then walked back to the dark alley on her right. "Somehow I know I'm going to regret this,' Kendal found herself thinking as she arrived to the entrance of the alley. 'Ok where is the sound maker?' Kendal suspiciously peered around looking for a hint.
Suddenly, hands out of nowhere grabbed Kendal violently and dragged her farther into the dark alleyway. Kendal, too shocked to do anything, allowed the person to drag her down the alley. Finally, fear took over Kendal's mind and soon she was scratching her attacker trying to find a way out of their grip. Kendal got a firm grasp on the warm flesh of her assailant and she turned around to find herself staring into the icy blue eyes of her youngest sister.
"Eliza! What the heck are you doing, scaring me like that in a dark alley?!"
"Jeez, Kendal you didn't have to scratch me! You little-"
"You were the one that dragged me into a dark alley!"
"Well, I needed to ask you something, but I didn't want anyone to see us!"
"So you made weird sounds and dragged me into a dark alley?! Have you lost all your marbles?"
"Do you want to hear why I dragged you here or not?" Eliza impatiently asked her sister.
"This had better be good Eliza." Kendal could see in the dim lighting of the alley that Eliza was fumbling with something behind her back. Once Eliza stopped fumbling, she brought out a paper bag into Kendal's vision line. "What is that?"
"You won't believe this, but I bought a book."
"Oh that's rich Eliza! Tell me another one! Let me guess: you are Queen of the World," Kendal giggled uncontrollably. Eliza had never once cracked open a book, and Kendal was not quite sure if Eliza could actually read.
"I'm not joking!" Eliza exclaimed while guiding Kendal towards a patch of light so Kendal could see the book. "Kendal, I need you to look at this book and tell me if it will be useful or if I should return it."
"I'm all for looking at your book so I can tell you to return it and get our family's money back!"
"Sister! I honestly need your help and you read a lot and stuff..."
"So I was your first choice, because I'm a book worm?" Kendal asked cynically.
"Exactly. I'm glad we understand one another," Eliza said while flipping some of her golden blonde hair over her shoulder.
"So are you going to show me the book?"
"Oh right!" Eliza fumbled with her brown paper bag, took out a wide, flat book, and handed it to Kendal.
Kendal examined the red book and searched for a title. Finally, after looking for the title She found it written in a shiny gold script, A Guide on How to be a Fairytale Princess. 'You have got to be kidding me,' Kendal mentally thought. Kendal skimmed through a few pages in the book to see simple stories about Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, and any other fairy tale princess imaginable.
"Eliza, why in the world would you waste money on this thing?!" Kendal exclaimed shaking the red book.
"Stop shaking it!" Eliza screamed.
"Ok, ok."
"The reason I bought this book is because Eddie-"
"Eddie?" Kendal asked interrupting her younger sister.
"Prince Edward," Eliza clarified for Kendal. "Anyway, Eddie has a thing for fairy tale princesses. He really wants to have a future wife that is out of a fairy tale, so I decided I was going to read up on the fairytale princesses."
"And then what?"
"Well, I was going to copy what the princesses did in their fairy tale and then Eddie will want to marry me!"
"You must be jesting, Eliza."
"No! The first tale I'm going to copy is a...Ella of Cinders? Or is it Cinders of Ella? Or Mella Ella? Kendal give me the book so I can look up her name again."
"Eliza, I believe you are talking about Cinderella."
"Yeah! That's her name! She has two evil stepsisters; her tale is perfect for my life!"
"Sister I'd hate to inform you, but you don't have any step-sisters."
"Oh that's no problem...I mean you and Aide can still be evil. It's perfect! You and Adriana won't even hafta act! You can just be yourselves," Eliza replied gleefully.
"Gee thanks Eliza. I never new how much we meant to you," Kendal said sarcastically.
"Oh, that's alright, but what do think of the book? Isn't it going to be super helpful?"
"Yeah, if you were in the third grade..." Kendal commented while looking at the gigantic bold letters in the book.
"You said it is helpful! Excellent! Now I'm going to read me some fairy tales!" Eliza exclaimed and then she started to cheerfully skip out of the semi-dark alley.
"Yeah you go do that..." Kendal called to the skipping Eliza. 'How in the world did I get stuck with a sister like her?' Kendal thought unhappily while making her way out of the alley. Kendal returned to the main road and started to walk towards the spices cart to see if there were any good sales. Much to Kendal's disappointment, there were no good sales at the cooking spice rack and she had to leave empty handed. Kendal started to make her way back to the fruit stands in hopes that Adriana and Andy had gotten all there sweet little gestures out of their systems.
"There she is," Kendal heard a voice in the distance. A hand grabbed Kendal's shoulder, and Kendal found herself thinking 'Oh not again!'
"Kendal we have all been waiting for you," Kendal heard Adriana say as she turned around. Sure enough everyone who was going to return to the Ingle's residence was waiting in the street quite impatiently. Kendal saw that Prince Edward and Leo were deep in conversation, while Eliza was examining some piece of jewelry. Meanwhile, Aide was glaring right into Kendal's face.
"Aide what is your problem?" Kendal growled not at all happy to be returning to this 'little happy party'.
"Nothing, but didn't you hear me. Everyone waited for you," Aide said somewhat beaming.
"Great I'm so glad everyone could stand here and waste their precious time," Kendal said dramatically. This received a perplexed look from Aide, and two chilling icy blue glares from Eliza and Prince Edward. 'It's scary to see how much they are a like.' Leo shot an unnerving questioning glance in Kendal's direction. 'I hate that look; its makes me feel so uncomfortable' Kendal thought while walking behind Aide unhappily back to the group.
"Come on Kendal we are walking home," Aide told Kendal as they approached the group.
"Eddie, did you know Cinderella walked?" Eliza asked, smiling up at Prince Edward.
"Oh wow that is interesting," Prince Edward responded and took Eliza's hand. The couple started to walk down the road together toward the Ingle house. Leo, somehow telling that Kendal was not in the mood to talk to him, began to follow Eliza and the Prince down the road.
"What's wrong with you?" Aide asked Kendal while walking besides Kendal.
"I don't know. I suppose I'm just in an odd mood."
"Maybe it's that time of month," Prince Edward commented still in earshot of Kendal and Aide. Kendal resisted sending the Prince a incensed glare, while Leo shot an apologetic look with his brown eyes at Kendal. Kendal gave Leo a small smile, unable to resist Leo's charm. Seeing that Kendal was smiling, Leo turned around so that he could where he was walking.
"So what are we doing for dinner, Aide?"
"Eliza said she would cook."
"Eliza?!"
Author's Note:
I know, I know. Updating this story took a little longer than expected, but the chapter is extra long! See now everything is happy again! I just want to say thanks, again, to all the people who read my story! Reviews are wonderful and I appreciate them all! Thanks for reading! : )
And now a note to my lovely reviewers:
...: thanks for the review and this chapter hopefully gave you more about the mystery man (Leo)!
Miss Piratess: I'm so glad that you're enjoying my story and like my characters! Also I agree with you on the fact that Kendal has the middle child syndrome, but hey what can she do about it! : ) I also agree that a lot of my character have their moments of shallowness, but I suppose that's what makes them interesting. Thank you so much for your wonderful reviews!
DramaQueen007: Of course I appreciate your reviews! beams Thanks again for the fantastic compliments and I hope you also had a fun 4th of July!
Evensong: I have to tell you I love how you explain grammar (I love my lessons!). Seriously, I see what you are talking about with the commas and what you said makes so much sense! I don't know what I would do with out you! Eliza has been the youngest sister and hopefully this chapter helped to clarify that fact. : ) Have a splendid time on vacation...after all vacations are the best!
Borial: Thanks for the review! Here is an interesting tidbit on the Jane Austen comment.... I was actually watching The BBC production of Pride & Prejudice right before I wrote the first chapter of this story and really liked the sister relationships so that might have rubbed off a little. Who knows...I don't : ) All I know is I love Jane Austen (she is wonderful!).
Kendal saw that Adriana and the dark-headed man that helped Kendal lug around her mother were both visiting Andy at his family fruit stand. She saw that they were enjoying a lively conversation and each of them had a bright cheery smile on his or her face. Kendal scanned the overflowing market crowd to see that Lady Marin, Eliza, and Prince Edward were all looking at fascinating jewels at a jeweler's stand. Eliza's icy eyes were shining with greed as she examined the most exquisite necklace one could find. Kendal turned her head in disgust and looked to make sure Lady Marin's coachman and carriage were where they had been left.
Sure enough, the orange, pumpkin-like carriage was sitting there drawing much attention to itself from the locals. Kendal could not believe that Lady Marin would own such atrocious thing. 'Who would want to ride in a pumpkin other than Cinderella?' she asked herself.
Kendal wished she was outside in the crisp clean air with the others, but someone had to wait for the diagnoses of Mrs. Ingle. Everyone else had his or her own agenda, so of course Kendal was stuck sitting in the hot stuffy parlor. Forty long minutes had gone by since Mrs. Ingle was brought to the Doctor, and Kendal was on the verge of insanity. She was hot, bored, and could feel perspiration accumulating on her forehead. 'Gross,' Kendal thought wiping away some of the sweat.
Finally Kendal heard footsteps clicking down the hall, and the doorknob to the room jingled; Doctor Ferguson entered.
"Miss K. Ingle," the Doctor started off formally, "You will be pleased to hear that your mother's life is not in danger. However, I would like to keep Mrs. Ingle here tonight to exam her condition."
"If that is what you feel is best for my mother," Kendal answered, still very worried about her mother.
"Don't worry Miss K. Ingle, she will be just fine. You may show yourself out," Doctor Ferguson responded, and then quickly left the room. 'He is an odd fellow,' Kendal thought. 'Miss K. Ingle, what kind of name is that?' Kendal rose and found her way out of the stuffy Doctor's parlor to the bright main street of the town.
Kendal hoped that whatever was wrong with her mother could be fixed so everyone one could go back to their lives. Pulling her concentration off of her thoughts, Kendal looked around to see if everyone was still where she had last seen them.
They were; Lady Marin, Eliza, and the Prince were still at the jewelry booth and Aide and the gentleman were still at Andy's fruit stand. Kendal decided it would be safest to trek across the dusty dirt road in order to visit Andy's fruit stand instead of going to see Eliza at the jewelry stand. 'Besides I need to thank that guy,' Kendal pointed out to herself in justification.
"Kenny," Andy called, smiling lightly as he saw her coming. Kendal gave Andy a seething glare for using her nickname, but decided to not say anything. It was useless to fight with Aide and Andy about a nickname. Adriana and the gentleman turned to see if in fact Kendal was coming up to the fruit stand or if Andy was having a psychotic moment.
"Kendal, where is Mother?" Aide asked quickly, a worried expression on her face.
"She's fine, but the Doctor wants to keep her for the night."
"That means we are left to survive on are own?" Aide asked dubiously.
"It's about time you girls learned survival skills," Andy remarked.
"I'll show you survival skills," Aide retorted threateningly. This drew a short chuckle out of handsome man that Kendal had yet to be introduced to. Kendal stared at Aide questioningly to get her point across that she still didn't know who this stranger was.
Aide took the hint and introduced them. "Kendal, I would like you to meet Sir Leonardo Saldi, one of Prince Edward's accompanying advisors. Sir Leonardo, this is Miss Kendal Ingle, my charming younger sister."
"Nice to make your acquaintance," Sir Leonardo said charmingly, his brown eyes shining.
"A pleasure to meet you Sir Leonardo," Kendal replied with as much formality as she could muster. Then the two of them shook hand lightly and Kendal could soon feel that his hands were chapped. 'He must work outside,' Kendal thought happily.
"You can call me Leo, Miss Ingle," Leonardo said warmly.
"If you wish, you may call me Kendal," Kendal said smiling up into Leo's face. 'The sun makes him look even better,' Kendal noted as she stared up at Leo's brown hair that it seemed even lighter in the sun. 'Even his face looks warmer in the sunlight!'
"Actually, Kendal prefers the name Kenny," Andy said breaking the moment. Kendal's expression told Andy he was dead once they were a dark alley. Adriana started to giggle, while Leo stood there, smiling politely.
"Leo, don't listen to Andy; he is a goofball," Aide said in between chortles.
"Actually, insanity runs in his family," Kendal remarked with a straight face.
"Speaking of family, Kenny I have a cousin that you should meet," Andy said with a wink, motioning to someone in the busy street.
'Great. I'm going to meet a relative of Andy's. That's just dandy,' Kendal silently told herself as she tried to plaster a fake smile to her face.
"Andy! You never told me you had family in town," Aide exclaimed while peering into the street to find Andy's relative.
"You never asked if any of my relatives were in town, Aide," Andy responded. Adriana started to grumble something about men under her breath, irritated with Andy's response.
"So does Andrew have a large family?" Leo politely inquired.
"Andrew? Oh yes, that is Andy's full name, isn't it? To answer your question, Drewy has a very large family. I'm surprised they haven't fed him to the wolves yet in order to save some money," Aide cheerfully told Leo.
"Drewy?" Andy asked, appalled by what Aide had just referred to him as.
"I think Drewy has nice ring to it," Kendal added, clearly enjoying Andy's new nickname.
"It kind of reminds me of my toddler days," Leo noted offhand.
"You forget that Andy is still making his way through his toddler days," Kendal said looking Leo square in the eye.
"Hey, hey, hey! This childish mocking is above a mature specimen as myself," Andy said while trying to puff out his chest in some manly, testosterone-inspired way. A quick jab in the stomach from Aide made Andy's puffin look deflate.
"Do you three always interact like this?" Leo inquired clearly very interested in the three friend's behavior.
"Yes," Kendal, Adriana, and Andy all replied at the same time. The three of them turned and glared at each other instantly. Soon the fake glaring turned into laughing. Leo silently watched the three, Kendal, Andy, and Aide, obviously perplexed, by the oddity of the group dynamic.
"Andy! There you are!" exclaimed a female voice from behind Kendal.
"Cherie! Cousin where were you?" Andy cried happily as he went to go meet his cousin. Cherie reminded Kendal of a female form of Andy; her fiery red hair, the classic pasty white Andy skin, and freckles that sprinkled all over her face matched Andy's perfectly.
"Well isn't this a large group of people you're with Andy. Aren't ya gonna introduce me to them?" Cherie asked, her emerald eyes flashing with excitement.
"Oh those people," Andy said lazily.
"Yes, those people!" Cherie exclaimed with some overexcited hand gestures.
'She's too flamboyant,' Kendal noted while watching the excited redhead.
"Well let me see...The black haired one is Adriana Ingle-"
"Oh you're Aide! I've heard so much about you!" Cherie interjected and then started to shake Adriana's hand enthusiastically.
"Well isn't that nice," Aide responded shooting a questioning glance at Andy.
"And the girl with the brown curls is Kendal Ingle," Andy said while motioning in the direction of Kendal.
'Well aren't you a...plain girl," Cherie remarked while shaking Kendal's hand without any enthusiasm.
'She did not just call me plain,' Kendal mentally seethed. 'I am not plain! I can't be. Can I?' She attempted to keep a semblance of a friendly smile pasted firmly to her mouth. "Aren't you a flamboyant girl," Kendal responded to Cherie. Cherie smiled happily and acted as if what Kendal had just said was the best compliment of her life. Andy, on the other hand, gave Kendal a look that said 'play nice'.
"And the gentlemen is Sir Leonardo Saldi," Andy said directing the attention away from Kendal.
"Why hello Sir Leonardo," Cherie tried to say it with a sultry tone.
"Nice to meet you. I prefer to be called Leo."
"Well I think I prefer to call you Leonardo," Cherie replied with a full smile. Leo gave Cherie a small, strained smile in return, while Kendal stood on the side appalled by Cherie. "You know what would be wonderful Leonardo?"
"No?"
"Well, I'm new in town," Cherie paused and continued, "and I would love it if someone would show me the ropes. Leonardo would you like to show me around?" Cherie then proceeded to bat her eyelashes flirtatiously.
'This girl has no shame!' Kendal thought angrily.
"I'm new as well, so I'm sure I wouldn't be much help in your endeavors to become acquainted with this town," Leo replied with a charming smile.
"Oh, that's ok. We'll just have to find our way around together." Cherie then smiled and intertwined her arm with Leo's, leaving Leo no choice but to follow Cherie into the market place.
"Well, she's a piece of work," Aide commented while watching Cherie disappeared in the distance with Leo in tow.
"I don't like her," Kendal said shooting a glare in the general direction of where Cherie once was.
"Awwww...Kenny are you jealous of my wonderful cousin?" Andy asked with fake sympathy.
"There are so many thing wrong with your sentence I don't know where to start!" Kendal crossly exclaimed. "First of all your cousin is way too forward for my tastes! Plus, she has no shame and she is related to you! There is absolutely nothing to be jealous of!"
"She has a point," Aide commented, thoughtfully nodding.
"Oh please Kendal! I'm not blind! I have two eyes-"
"Really?" Aide asked teasingly.
"Aide hush for a minute. Kendal you are blind. You have a little thing for Sir Leonardo, Leo, the Prince's Advisor, or whatever you want to call him and you don't want to admit it! You are jealous that my cousin got to him first, and you know it," Andy informed her quite seriously.
"Andy, you know me. You know I would never get into fight with someone over a man!" Kendal shot back at Andy.
"Yeah. Kendal's right Andy, she's not that type of girl to hate someone for that petty of a thing-" Aide jumped in.
"Plus, we all know that I'm not the type of person that is easily taken with nobility. I mean the nobles who fit into the uppers levels of the 'hierarchy' of the nobility are always snobby, selfish, gossipy, and plenty more of those evil adjectives. I really don't think I could like a guy from that type of class. I like my men simple," Kendal told Andy softly.
"You girls are right," Andy responded while running a hand through his red hair. "You know I'm just protective of my family, and that includes Cherie, no matter what her faults are. She is my family. Kendal would you just please be nice to Cherie? After all, she is in a new town without friends. I also think you and Cherie would really hit it off if you two just tried."
"If it really is that important to you I'll try to like Cherie," Kendal said a little begrudgingly.
"Thanks Kendal, you're a real sweetheart," Andy replied happily while shooting a pearly white smile in Kendal's direction.
"Is she your new sweetheart?" Aide asked faking a pout.
"No! No one could take the place of my number one," Andy said looking into Aide's eyes. 'Here we go again...' Kendal told herself.
"And who's your number one?" Aide playful asked.
"Well you are-"
"Ok I'm going to walk around," Kendal interjected before Andy and Aide got all lovey dovey.
"All right sis and remember to be careful," Aide called as Kendal started to walk away.
Kendal started her market place journey by walking along the dusty and busy main road. Soon Kendal found herself back in her daydream world. While zoning out in her own world, Kendal could have sworn she heard a sound from the alley on her right.
Psssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssh. There it was again! The weird whisper sound. Kendal stopped in her tracks and looked to her right and her left. There was nothing and no one around her that would make that odd sound. 'I'm going insane! I could have sworn I heard something,' Kendal thought, still peering around looking for the culprit of the weird noise. Deciding that she was losing her last bit of sanity, Kendal started to walk again rather than stay and figure out what the sound was.
Pssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssh. 'I know I heard it this time,' Kendal told herself. She then walked back to the dark alley on her right. "Somehow I know I'm going to regret this,' Kendal found herself thinking as she arrived to the entrance of the alley. 'Ok where is the sound maker?' Kendal suspiciously peered around looking for a hint.
Suddenly, hands out of nowhere grabbed Kendal violently and dragged her farther into the dark alleyway. Kendal, too shocked to do anything, allowed the person to drag her down the alley. Finally, fear took over Kendal's mind and soon she was scratching her attacker trying to find a way out of their grip. Kendal got a firm grasp on the warm flesh of her assailant and she turned around to find herself staring into the icy blue eyes of her youngest sister.
"Eliza! What the heck are you doing, scaring me like that in a dark alley?!"
"Jeez, Kendal you didn't have to scratch me! You little-"
"You were the one that dragged me into a dark alley!"
"Well, I needed to ask you something, but I didn't want anyone to see us!"
"So you made weird sounds and dragged me into a dark alley?! Have you lost all your marbles?"
"Do you want to hear why I dragged you here or not?" Eliza impatiently asked her sister.
"This had better be good Eliza." Kendal could see in the dim lighting of the alley that Eliza was fumbling with something behind her back. Once Eliza stopped fumbling, she brought out a paper bag into Kendal's vision line. "What is that?"
"You won't believe this, but I bought a book."
"Oh that's rich Eliza! Tell me another one! Let me guess: you are Queen of the World," Kendal giggled uncontrollably. Eliza had never once cracked open a book, and Kendal was not quite sure if Eliza could actually read.
"I'm not joking!" Eliza exclaimed while guiding Kendal towards a patch of light so Kendal could see the book. "Kendal, I need you to look at this book and tell me if it will be useful or if I should return it."
"I'm all for looking at your book so I can tell you to return it and get our family's money back!"
"Sister! I honestly need your help and you read a lot and stuff..."
"So I was your first choice, because I'm a book worm?" Kendal asked cynically.
"Exactly. I'm glad we understand one another," Eliza said while flipping some of her golden blonde hair over her shoulder.
"So are you going to show me the book?"
"Oh right!" Eliza fumbled with her brown paper bag, took out a wide, flat book, and handed it to Kendal.
Kendal examined the red book and searched for a title. Finally, after looking for the title She found it written in a shiny gold script, A Guide on How to be a Fairytale Princess. 'You have got to be kidding me,' Kendal mentally thought. Kendal skimmed through a few pages in the book to see simple stories about Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, and any other fairy tale princess imaginable.
"Eliza, why in the world would you waste money on this thing?!" Kendal exclaimed shaking the red book.
"Stop shaking it!" Eliza screamed.
"Ok, ok."
"The reason I bought this book is because Eddie-"
"Eddie?" Kendal asked interrupting her younger sister.
"Prince Edward," Eliza clarified for Kendal. "Anyway, Eddie has a thing for fairy tale princesses. He really wants to have a future wife that is out of a fairy tale, so I decided I was going to read up on the fairytale princesses."
"And then what?"
"Well, I was going to copy what the princesses did in their fairy tale and then Eddie will want to marry me!"
"You must be jesting, Eliza."
"No! The first tale I'm going to copy is a...Ella of Cinders? Or is it Cinders of Ella? Or Mella Ella? Kendal give me the book so I can look up her name again."
"Eliza, I believe you are talking about Cinderella."
"Yeah! That's her name! She has two evil stepsisters; her tale is perfect for my life!"
"Sister I'd hate to inform you, but you don't have any step-sisters."
"Oh that's no problem...I mean you and Aide can still be evil. It's perfect! You and Adriana won't even hafta act! You can just be yourselves," Eliza replied gleefully.
"Gee thanks Eliza. I never new how much we meant to you," Kendal said sarcastically.
"Oh, that's alright, but what do think of the book? Isn't it going to be super helpful?"
"Yeah, if you were in the third grade..." Kendal commented while looking at the gigantic bold letters in the book.
"You said it is helpful! Excellent! Now I'm going to read me some fairy tales!" Eliza exclaimed and then she started to cheerfully skip out of the semi-dark alley.
"Yeah you go do that..." Kendal called to the skipping Eliza. 'How in the world did I get stuck with a sister like her?' Kendal thought unhappily while making her way out of the alley. Kendal returned to the main road and started to walk towards the spices cart to see if there were any good sales. Much to Kendal's disappointment, there were no good sales at the cooking spice rack and she had to leave empty handed. Kendal started to make her way back to the fruit stands in hopes that Adriana and Andy had gotten all there sweet little gestures out of their systems.
"There she is," Kendal heard a voice in the distance. A hand grabbed Kendal's shoulder, and Kendal found herself thinking 'Oh not again!'
"Kendal we have all been waiting for you," Kendal heard Adriana say as she turned around. Sure enough everyone who was going to return to the Ingle's residence was waiting in the street quite impatiently. Kendal saw that Prince Edward and Leo were deep in conversation, while Eliza was examining some piece of jewelry. Meanwhile, Aide was glaring right into Kendal's face.
"Aide what is your problem?" Kendal growled not at all happy to be returning to this 'little happy party'.
"Nothing, but didn't you hear me. Everyone waited for you," Aide said somewhat beaming.
"Great I'm so glad everyone could stand here and waste their precious time," Kendal said dramatically. This received a perplexed look from Aide, and two chilling icy blue glares from Eliza and Prince Edward. 'It's scary to see how much they are a like.' Leo shot an unnerving questioning glance in Kendal's direction. 'I hate that look; its makes me feel so uncomfortable' Kendal thought while walking behind Aide unhappily back to the group.
"Come on Kendal we are walking home," Aide told Kendal as they approached the group.
"Eddie, did you know Cinderella walked?" Eliza asked, smiling up at Prince Edward.
"Oh wow that is interesting," Prince Edward responded and took Eliza's hand. The couple started to walk down the road together toward the Ingle house. Leo, somehow telling that Kendal was not in the mood to talk to him, began to follow Eliza and the Prince down the road.
"What's wrong with you?" Aide asked Kendal while walking besides Kendal.
"I don't know. I suppose I'm just in an odd mood."
"Maybe it's that time of month," Prince Edward commented still in earshot of Kendal and Aide. Kendal resisted sending the Prince a incensed glare, while Leo shot an apologetic look with his brown eyes at Kendal. Kendal gave Leo a small smile, unable to resist Leo's charm. Seeing that Kendal was smiling, Leo turned around so that he could where he was walking.
"So what are we doing for dinner, Aide?"
"Eliza said she would cook."
"Eliza?!"
Author's Note:
I know, I know. Updating this story took a little longer than expected, but the chapter is extra long! See now everything is happy again! I just want to say thanks, again, to all the people who read my story! Reviews are wonderful and I appreciate them all! Thanks for reading! : )
And now a note to my lovely reviewers:
...: thanks for the review and this chapter hopefully gave you more about the mystery man (Leo)!
Miss Piratess: I'm so glad that you're enjoying my story and like my characters! Also I agree with you on the fact that Kendal has the middle child syndrome, but hey what can she do about it! : ) I also agree that a lot of my character have their moments of shallowness, but I suppose that's what makes them interesting. Thank you so much for your wonderful reviews!
DramaQueen007: Of course I appreciate your reviews! beams Thanks again for the fantastic compliments and I hope you also had a fun 4th of July!
Evensong: I have to tell you I love how you explain grammar (I love my lessons!). Seriously, I see what you are talking about with the commas and what you said makes so much sense! I don't know what I would do with out you! Eliza has been the youngest sister and hopefully this chapter helped to clarify that fact. : ) Have a splendid time on vacation...after all vacations are the best!
Borial: Thanks for the review! Here is an interesting tidbit on the Jane Austen comment.... I was actually watching The BBC production of Pride & Prejudice right before I wrote the first chapter of this story and really liked the sister relationships so that might have rubbed off a little. Who knows...I don't : ) All I know is I love Jane Austen (she is wonderful!).