Chapter 4:

I catch up to Shrek, Donkey and Puss, who had abandoned me, at the assembly hall doors. "We're here for the mascot contest." Shrek says nervously. The guy guarding the door has an air of skepticism and proceeds to pull at his mouth, or at least I think he does by the sound of it. "This is a costume?" I know where this is headed, and to spare Shrek the pain, and time, I say, "Yes, it's a costume. Now, can you please stop man handling my friend and let us in?"

The air around the poor guy becomes tense. "Yeah, go on in."

"Thank you." I tell him as I brush past him. A teacher is in the middle of a sentence,"And the winner of the mascot contest is the...ogre?" Two kids walk off in a huff, one throwing something to the ground. "That's right, I'm your new mascot so let's beat the other guys at what ever they are doing?" He says unsure. But it turns out to be a success.

The entire student population goes into an uproar, cheering loudly. Shrek grabs what I think is a megaphone and speaks into it. "Does anybody know where I can find Arthur Pendragon." You can hear everyone pointing to something. The sounds of a boy pleading and a large stretchy sound resound around the gym. Laughing soon occurs. I hear Lancelot say, "Classic." to his buddies.

"You should be ashamed of yourself." Donkey chastised him. "I didn't do it. They did." He explains, probably gesturing to the nerds. Shrek pulls Arthur down, and Arthur probably depressed enough by today's events, says,"Please don't eat me."

The entire school responds to this by chanting "Eat him, eat him, eat him." I hear even the teacher say it. "I'm not here to eat him!" Shrek shouts out at the student population, receiving a depressed 'awe' from them. I can hear him pull Artie down from the hoop. "Well kid, it's time to pack up your jammies and your toothbrush-"

"Cause you're the new king of Far Far Away." I say, finishing for him. You can practically hear his jaw drop and hit the floor. "Artie, a king? More like the Mayor of Loserville." Lancelot says, making the rest of the student body laugh, even a trombone plays in a laughing matter. I think I shoot him a glare because then he shuts up.

"Are...are you serious? Am I really the heir to the throne?"

"Yeah...the only one." Shrek barely manages to lie through his teeth. I roll my eyes. "Okay kid, time to go." I tell him. "No, I...I want to do something first." 'Oh no, I completely forgot about this.' While I knew that Arthur was going to be a great public speaker, which was necessary to be a king, he tended to overdo it sometimes.

"All I want to say before I go, is that next time you're about to dunk a kid's head into a chamberpot, you should stop and think. 'Maybe I should cut this kid some slack. Maybe this guy has feelings. Cause maybe, just maybe, this kid could turn out to be, oh, I don't know, a king! And maybe his first decree will be to banish everyone who ever picked on him!' That's right! I'm looking at you jousting team." The air in the gym gets nervous. 'Probably because the entire school picked on him.'

"And Guin, oh Guin, I've always loved you."

"Ew." One of the girls from earlier states in a monotone voice. I suddenly get this weird feeling, like my blood has been set on fire. 'Odd.' "Well, I hope you all enjoy your prison, cause I'm ruling the free world baby!" His footsteps draw nearer. "Okay, let's not overdo it." Shrek tells him. "I'm building my city, on rock and roll!"

"You overdid it." Shrek tells him, and I think he picks him up. 'Boy don't I wish that I had my sight right now.' The students cheer, either because they are happy he's gone, or happy that they won't be banished. Probably the first one. 'Time to set another part in motion.'

...

"Hey, Puss."

"Yes seƱorita Celeste?"

"You should tell Arthur all the perks of being a king."

"Like what?"

"Like the royal food testers, the joy of being the one everyone looks to for advice, the royal bodyguard."

"Wouldn't that put him off of being king? Why would you want me to do that?"

"Do you really want to question me and my motives?" The cat falls silent. "I thought so." I say with a triumphant smirk. Another part set in motion.

...

We board the ship and I hear Arthur and Shrek talking. "So...how does it feel to be king?"

"It feels...amazing! I always knew I was related to royalty, but I never knew I was next in line!"

"Yeah! And you should be careful when you're hitting a ship with a bottle."

"Boat with a bottle, how hard is it to hit a boat with a bottle?"

"Hehe, well I've heard it's pretty hard."

"I can't believe it! Princesses, parties...princesses!" I scoff. "Princesses aren't all they're cracked up to be." I tell him. "How would you know?"

"Because I helped set their stories in motion."

"What?"

"Excuse us your majesty, for we did not introduce you." Puss explains to him. "This here is the most important person that you will ever meet. Artie, meet Celeste."

"Um...hi, Celeste." The air around him is clearly confused. "Aren't you going to shake my hand?"

"Oh, sorry. Let me find it."

"Find it?"

"Celeste is blind." Shrek explains. "Oh. But, why is she the most important person I'll ever meet?"

"Because I'm the Storymaker."