Hello readers! This chapter took me a lot longer than my usual time, a couple of hours, probably. Please enjoy, and don't forget to leave a review~
Gwen stared at the girls in beautiful tea-length dresses made of satin, silk, and tulle, and immediately felt out of place. They looked like flowers, their dresses all poofed out and embroidered with gold and silver thread. Long manes of hair, golden, ashy, copper, black, or even with colorful highlights, all curled, straightened or up in elaborate dos, Gwen knew she could never look the same. She had also spotted an alluring albino princess, with a lacy white umbrella and silvery dress that made her look like a stellar goddess. She was immediately flocked by an entourage of fans who complimented her endlessly.
Gwen cautiously approached a gaggle of girls, hoping to blend in. Luckily for her, she hadn't fallen into a pool of muck, but her dress wasn't very nice, to begin with. Just an ugly, bulky gray dress made of itchy cotton, Gwen stood out like a sore thumb anyways. There was no way she would be able to sneak into the castle and beg to be sent home if she couldn't even find a dress! Then she spotted the lifesaving trunk. Pink, adorned with sparkles and a giant cursive gold name, it had to belong to Ella. Right she was! Opening the chest, she realized that the topmost gowns had been soiled with water and grime, but digging deeper; she pulled out a simple blue dress that looked just like the other girls', just a bit more wrinkled and without the fancy embroidery. Perfect. Stuffed in the bottom, it was clearly not Ella's favorite, but it would do for Gwen. She dumped the rest of the dresses in the lake to untangle the blue one and quickly changed behind a tower wall. It was heavy and uncomfortable, but now she looked more like a princess. Unwilling to get rid of her only connection to home, Gwen quickly braided her hair and used the gray cotton dress to tie her hair in a neat bow. There. Now she looked like, well… not royalty but… nevermind.
She flicked her braid over one shoulder and practiced walking the way the princesses did. Now that her legs were exposed, she had to be careful of where she stepped. Luckily, she had kept on her high, lace-up boots that protected her legs a bit more, and covered them up in case someone wanted to check out how much leg hair she had. (The answer: a lot.) She tried walking confidently to the door, and it wasn't hard, seeing as the girls around her practically exuded confidence. She wondered where Justin had run off to. She didn't know, but good riddance. She had just barely made it up the castle steps without tripping when she saw the great hall and staircases. It took her breath away. The floor was made of pristine white marble, and the ceiling, raised at least a hundred feet above her head, was enchanted to show pictures of heroic dashing princes and stunning princesses and queens. The teachers, standing regally upon staircases of almost invisible glass, waved down at students and shepherded them to the auditorium, which was just as grand.
The Royals' side of the room had glittering crystal statues of dragons who snorted steam, princes whose swords were actually sharp, and princesses whose hair was really millions of impossibly thin strands of gemstones. One queen had a real tiara of gold and rubies, and another prince's vest was made of the most exquisite velvet in the world, or so he claimed. Gwen had a hard time taking in all of the beautiful things around her. She felt like a real princess, for the first time in her life. A girl tapped her on the shoulder. Gwen was startled at first, then looked around.
"I'm down here!" The little voice exclaimed. High and adorable, a girl in a yellow dress covered in hundreds of tiny fruit embroiders looked up at her. Her brilliant glassy eyes looked like sapphires, and they were much too big for her small, rosy face.
"My name is Peaches. Peaches of Mesomaples. Do you like my dress? I embroidered it myself! I couldn't help but notice how lonely you looked, standing there all by yourself." Peaches smiled a blindingly white smile that displayed all her perfectly straight teeth.
"Wow, uh, I'm Gwyneth. Of… Gavaldon. Call me Gwen." Gwen smiled back down at Peaches, about to pat her head, and then realized she had no hair. Instead of pointing this out though, she took her hand and Peaches led her to a seat in the fourth row. Gwen supposed that Peaches' exuberance and cheerfulness had stopped her from seeing the fact that Peaches was bald. Gwen didn't mind. It was nice to have a friend that was unique… like her.
"This is the best spot in the whole auditorium. Agatha sat here! Agatha and Kiko, her friend! You know, Agatha of Woods Beyond… now Queen Agatha? She was from Gavaldon too!" Peaches said all this incredibly fast, and Gwen just laughed and nodded her head.
"So, if you're from Gavaldon, your name must be Gwen of Woods Beyond. Oooh, how pretty!" Peaches beamed, and Gwen patted her head.
"Gwyneth, how come you haven't asked me about my hair yet? None of the other girls are bald, so you must've noticed."
"Oh," Gwen hesitated. "Well, I guess it's because I have a difference too. I'm allergic to lots of things, and that makes my face swell up. I guess I don't like people to treat me differently because of it, so I didn't think you'd like me to make a big deal of it either." Peaches smiled.
"Actually, I don't mind if you ask me. My best friend back at home, Magenta, has cancer, and her parents can't treat it. She's a farmer, so I wanted to help her treat her cancer since we have more money. She's finished the treatment and is a lot better now, but during the process, I shaved my head and donated my hair to her. I used to have really nice hair, you see. Down to here," Peaches pointed to a spot a little beyond her bottom. "And it was almost pinkish and wavy. Magenta loved it, and we always joked how I should dye it magenta. So I cut my hair, dyed it, and gave it to Magenta as a wig. She has beautiful purple hair now."
Gwen smiled. It was nice to know there were people out in the world like that. "Oh shush now, the Nevers are coming in. I want to see them!"
"The Nevers?" Gwen asked.
Then she saw Ella.
Ooh, suspenseful. I hope you enjoyed Chapter 4! It was super fun to write, and please don't forget to leave me a review! I want to improve my writing so it's better for you to read!