Hey y'all! Look, I have to go back to school in less than a week, so let's get this chapter out there before I do. This one is rated T. Oh, and PS, I use a section of lines from an episode of Suite Life of Zack and Cody (First Day of High School (oh the irony)).

Disclaimer: I don't own Oz because if I did...?...you know, I don't think I would really change much of anything. Go figure

{o}two days until full moon- Princess Miranda's bedroom{o}

"No."

A yellow dress flew out of the closet.

"No."

A brown skirt was thrown out, too.

"No."

A purple peasant blouse followed it.

Knock, knock.

"Ugh! Come in!" Miranda shouted from her massive closet, where she was currently covered in clothes and looking very disgruntled.

Beatrice, one of the palace maids, entered the royal chambers. She was about the same age as Miranda, but very petite and almost fairy-like with curly, dark red hair that went just past her ears, freckles, and blue eyes.

"Um, Princess?" Beatrice called out.

"In here!" Miranda hollered, waving her hand outside the closet to signal Beatrice over.

"Your Highness, the queen wanted me to let you know that the weather today will be warmer than yesterday, so she suggests a shorter skirt and a short-sleeved shirt paired with flats."

"Thank you, Beatrice," the witch-in-training replied. "Would you care to give me a hand in picking some out?"

The servant gasped at the honor. "I would love to, Milady!"

"But," Miranda added, sticking her pointer finger out of the closet, her face very serious. "I have one condition."

Beatrice lowered her head sadly. She knew it was too good to be true. "Yes, Your Highness?"

Miranda abandoned her stern mask and replaced it with a kind, friendly grin. "Call me Miranda."

Beatrice visibly relaxed at the request.

"All those other titles just aren't me...well, they're me, but the're the political PA me. Wait, that came out wrong! Ugh! Never mind! Just help me out in here!"

"Right away, Prin- I mean, Miranda."

"Ooh! Can I help, too?" came the sweet little voice of Dolly, who had just popped in the room. Because she was a china doll, Dolly aged much more slowly than normal people. Even though it had been exactly twenty years since Oz found her (and she had been about nine then), she had only reached fourteen in china years. Four human years was approximately one china year.

"Sure! The more the merrier!"

With the help of Beatrice and Dolly, within fifteen minutes, Miranda stood all ready to go. She was dressed in a flowy, emerald green, knee-length skirt; a loose, but form-fitting, mint blouse; and black ballet flats with a half-inch-heel. Her hair was tied back into a simple braid down her back and, even though it didn't match her outfit perfectly, she still brought along her blue cloak from the day before.

{o}two days until full moon- village square{o}

After saying goodbye to her parents and having Glinda reapply the glamour charm on her eyes, Miranda had left for the village. This time, it seemed much less overwhelming.

Until...

Miranda was admiring a blue and green beaded necklace at a jeweler's display when she heard the cry of a little boy.

"Hey! Give it back!" a young brown-haired boy shrieked as he jumped to grab a box wrapped in brown paper and string from a tall, bulky teenage boy with messy, dirty blonde hair. "That's my Mama's birthday present! It took me months to save that money!"

"Well then it's probably a piece of junk!" the bully jeered. "I'm doin' your Ma a favor! And speakin' of junk..." The teenager then picked up the boy and shoved him into the garbage can. He and his cronies began to laugh and point at the poor victim.

Miranda dropped the necklace back on the stand and stormed over to the alley, pushing aside a few kids who were watching the whole scene go down.

"Hey!" Miranda exclaimded as she shoved the bully's shoulder to get his attention. "What are you doing picking on some little kid?!"

The boy tried to rock himself out of the trash can, but only succeeded in dropping to his knees and crawling around with the container stuck on his rear end, looking like a garbage turtle.

"Looks like somebody's got a little junk in their trunk!" the bully teased.

The boy, who looked like he was on the verge of tears, proceeded to crawl around the center of the gathered circle, shaking his butt in an attempt to get the can to fall off.

The seriously pissed-off witch could feel her magic boiling inside her and sparking from her fingertips. Every part of her body was about to explode from holding it all in. It took everything she had to NOT burn this jerk into a sun-scorched crisp. "Why don't you pick on someone your own size?!" Miranda said as she stepped in closer to the bully, the top of her head just barely reaching his chin.

"Like who?!" the bully challenged as he took an intimidating step toward Miranda.

Miranda, not even slightly scared, pulled off her cloak and tossed it to the side before she answered, "Like me!" She kicked him hard right between the legs.

"Ooowww!" the bully whimpered as he keeled over to hold his you-know-whats.

"See, now we're about the same height," Miranda pointed out in a chipper voice, using her hand to compare where their heads reached.

"Oh, I'm gonna get you!" the bully threatened, but considering his voice was a little squeaky from where he got kicked, it was hard to take him seriously.

"Yeah...I don't think so!" Miranda dismissed, turning on her heel to walk over to the little boy, nobody noticing as her eyes momentarily flashed gold.

"Hey! I'm stuck!" the bully cried out, his deep voice returning.

"You must've stepped on some tar or somethin'," one of his two buddies guessed as they tried to pull him off the ground.

Indeed, with the help of some quick rays from the sun, Miranda had melted the soles of the bully's shoes to the sidewalk.

The princess smirked at her handiwork as she pulled the trash can off of the boy. She kneeled down next to him. "Are you okay?" Miranda asked kindly.

"I-I think so," he murmured.

"What's your name?"

"J-Johnny."

"Well it's nice to meet you, Johnny. My name's Dawn." Miranda felt guilty for lying to Johnny, but she had no choice.

"Nice to meet you, too, but that bully still has Mama's gift."

Miranda whipped her head around, her blue eyes flashing. "Don't worry, sweetie. I'll get it back," she promised as she glanced back at the boy.

Miranda then looked straight forward at you and whispered, "Warning, readers, do not try this at home."

She stood up and directly faced the bully, who had finally managed to free himself from the ground by taking off his shoes, so now he was just standing barefoot.

"Hey ugly!" Miranda hollered. "Hand over Johnny's present, or else!"

"Or else what?! Why would I take orders from a girl?! Besides, it's mine now and I'm gonna keep it! I'm not scared of you!"

Miranda chuckled darkly. "I don't know...you seemed pretty scared of me when I gave you that kick. And speaking of which, I lowered your chances of having kids even more with that."

The teenagers still watching oohed at the girl's courage, and laughed at how red the bully's face got from both humiliation and rage. One kid held out his hand for Miranda to high-five, and soon, everybody was trying to high-five her.

"Bryce, you can't hit a girl!" one of the two members of the bully's entourage insisted.

"I'll make an exception!" Bryce growled as he glared at Miranda.

He stomped over and slapped Miranda right across the face, knocking her down to the ground. The metallic taste of blood filled her mouth and she could feel her cheek start to swell. She tried to get up, but the bully kicked her in the side, leaving her cornered against the wall of the alley.

"I'll show you what happens to those who bruise the family pride and reputation!" Bryce lifted Miranda off the ground by her shirt and raised his fist.

Miranda closed her eyes and braced herself for impact, but none came. She opened one eye to see a familiar redheaded boy holding back Bryce's arm.

"Leave her alone!" Aden ordered the bully, his voice even but his face hard-set with anger. "Besides, you're outnumbered."

Miranda saw that Aden spoke the truth. Standing right behind him were Nick and Violet, both equally ticked. That made the teams four to three.

Bryce shrugged off his restraint.

"And the village guards are on their way. Would you like to join your Daddy in jail?" Violet pressed.

Both of the cronies' eyes widened. The bully let go of Miranda's shirt, allowing her to stabilize herself on her feet, and threw the brown papered box at Johnny. He started to retreat, but then he whipped around, his fist flying straight at Miranda's face. But the witch was somewhat prepared this time. Her eyes flashed silver as she conjured up an invisible shield. Bryce's fist collided directly with the strong-as-steel shield.

He pulled back as he let out a howl of pain, but he freaked when he couldn't see what broke his hand. "This chick's a freak! Let's get outta here!" Bryce and his bully buddies sprinted out of the alley, but he stopped at the end to yell, "Once I marry Princess Miranda, you will all pay!" He ran away in surrender. The crowd applauded and cheered before they too abandoned the alley.

"Thank you, Dawn!" Johnny thanked graciously, picking up his present before he ran out, too.

"Dawn! Dawn, are you okay?!" Aden asked in a rushed tone.

Miranda stumbled around dizzily, one hand on her forehead, her eyes aimlessly looking around in circles. "Did anybody catch the number of the carriage that hit me?" she replied in a dazed voice. The combination of the hits, the comment about marriage, and the amount of magic she used to conjure up a shield strong enough to block a hit that powerful was a pretty taxing to a seventeen year old girl.

"How did he break his fist like that?" Nick inquired. "Did you duck your head to let him punch the wall, or something?"

"Sure, let's go with that," Miranda answered before she quickly changed the subject. "But what was that thing about marrying the Princess? And how would he possibly be able to do that if his father was in jail? And who is his father?"

"Whoa! Slow down there! One question at a time," Violet joked. "Remember that guy Duncan Crinch from yesterday?"

"How could I forget?" Miranda said with a weak laugh.

"Yeah, well, last night after you left, Emerald City guards showed up and arrested Crinch under the charges of reckless driving and lawless behavior. That bully is Bryce Crinch, Duncan Crinch's son," Aden explained

"Well that explains why he was so cranky. Now I see where he gets it from," Miranda commented. "But that still doesn't explain why he would marry me-I mean Miranda." Luckily, nobody caught her slip-up.

"Remember how I said Crinch always acted like he ruled the town?" Violet questioned.

"Yeah?"

"The Crinch family is one of the village nobles, but only by title because they wasted most of their wealth away, so Bryce grew up under the impression that he would marry the Princess because of his nobility and then his family would be rich again and he would have 'the hot princess worshiping me and-'" Violet stopped when she saw the disgusted, horrified, and traumatized look on Miranda's face.

"That image is now burned into my mind for the rest of my mind!" Miranda stated with a shudder.

"Hey, no teenage boy in the village can deny having fantasies involving Princess Miranda," Nick added. "I know I have." He zoned out and grinned in pleasure.

"Moving on," Aden cut off, pulling Nick out of his daydreams and saving Miranda from another haunting mental image. "Dawn, are you ready for another day with us, providing you don't faint again?"

"All set! What do you guys have planned for today?"

Don't worry I have more planned that I was actually going to focus on, but then I got to the bully idea and I decided to run with it. I apologize for the slightly suggestive parts, but she's almost eighteen. I have fifteen-year-old friends who talk about that stuff all the time. Kinda awkward in my opinion, but I know it happens. Coming up next, Miranda learns a little bit more about magic. Review and expect another update in the next four weeks!