Ch 11 A "Great 1st Impression
As we all stepped out of the shop, I couldn't help but notice how picture-perfect the village and Ever After High looked in the distance. From the neatly arranged flowers along the pearly-white sidewalks to the streak-free shop windows we passed by, I had no trouble believing this place was a bit too perfect. Too quiet and peacefully for a city girl like myself. Oh how I missed those sweet city sounds like cars honking in entertaining road rage or street vendors shouting their wares across the road? I closed my eyes to try and pictured my city as we walked.
Nope. Nothing.
Nothing but little bird tweets and an autumn breeze just strong enough to lift each girl's hair off her shoulders. The girls' giggling and light chatter echoed off the empty lane like the ending scene to a movie. The air seemed so peaceful to me as the golden leaves crumbled underneath my boots. So quiet….I had to be honest though; it was a very nice change. But at the same time, I felt a bit out of place. Everything about this place was all so beautiful and proper-like. Even the girls were so glamorous and beautiful next to plain, colorless me….
"Stop it." I thought bitterly to myself, "Enough sad thoughts, Fable. Focus, you." I had to remember the true reason why I was here which included not enjoying myself with 3 nice, friendly…stop it… weird girls straight out of a fairy tale book. I shouldn't let my goal wander from my mind and that was to prevent a civil war and find my family. "Maybe it was best to have the silence around for now" I thought with melancholy. "It's so peaceful out here….But if what Tora and Grimm suspected to be true, who knows when the quiet would come again?" Oh god I had to get my mind off that grim thought. So I turned to looked at the picture-perfect castle that was to be my home-away-from home. Even in the setting sun, I could already tell that the school looked like a castle out of my childhood fairy tale books than a high/boarding school.
"Aunt Baba said I was in the Regina Mills Tower hall." I explained to the girls as we walked closer to the school, "Where would that be?"
Raven pointed to one of the towers towards the back of the castle's main entrance, "That would put you in that tower over there. Seeing that the only vacant dorm room I know of is at the top of the tower, I'm going to assume that's your room."
"Talk about a stroke of luck!" Poppy said excitingly, "The top room is usually always reserved for high-ranking Royals like Apple White or Briar Beauty but since that are none in that tower, you get the best and biggest room."
I know I should have been flattered but instead a small whipper escaped from my lips at the height of the tower and complained, "And I'm going to assume that there are no elevators." Then I mumbled under my breath, "I'm going to have to remember not to fall off the balcony and crush myself into teeny tiny Fable pieces."
"What was that?" Poppy asked but I nervously giggled,
"Nevermind."
"To answer your question; no, there are no elevators, Fable." Raven explained good-naturedly.
"Well that's a nice way to get my cardio." I added sarcastically.
"Silly-billy, don't you know you can use a teleportation spell?" Maddie giggled. But Raven responded before I could,
"I got this." She said with pure confidence and clapped her hands together. There was a loud thunder-like sound and a flash of bright purple lighting. But my body felt twisted like a fresh pretzel popped out of the oven while my head felt like light and was spinning like a child's top. I began to feel sick and resisted the urge to hurl that apple pie. "Relax now, Fable." I thought to myself as the spell came to an end and we ended up in a long hallway. I tried desperately to steady myself but I felt so dizzy it was hard to focus.
"Are you okay, Fable?" Poppy asked in concern but I didn't answer.
"Not used to teleoperation spells, are you?" Raven concluded and I nodded my head slowly. I needed to refocus my senses. I reached for my bag but Poppy and Maddie reached for my arms to hold me up.
"Let's get her inside before she faints." Poppy suggested and Raven nodded and opened the dorm room's door. They slowly lead me in and got me a nearby chair. I started to take deep and slow breaths to get some oxygen back into my spinning head.
"Welcome home, Fable!" A cheerful but rather honeyed down voice echoed from across the room. I resisted the urge not to gag because of my nausea to avoid sound insulting. I focused my eyes onto the girl who spoke. The light hit her perfectly like a halo over an angel's head while her hair was in perfect loose champagne curls and her eyes were clearest and shiniest pair of cornflower blue I had ever seen. Her skin was as flawless and youthful as Miss Knightfall's but only much, much much paler. But what I wouldn't give to have those blue eyes instead of my plain and dull black eyes.
But my stomach, of course, was quick to remind me of my nausea again and I tried my best to not to hurl on the fresh-looking waxed wooded floor. I had no intention of showing my new classmates my lunch and fought another gag reflex. I reached for my bag once again, "Give me a sec…" I groaned in pain and searched for a familiar white bottle. Since my…um…past episodes I learned to carry specific meds with me such as over-the-counter pain killers, antacids and smelling salts. "Leave it to me to pack so much shit that I couldn't get to my pills when I needed them." I thought miserably as I dug deep into my bag. Finally I found it, shoved the ones I needed into my mouth and chugged a half bottle of water I also always kept with me. "Okay." I choked while the world came back into focus and stopped spinning. "I'm back. And who the hel-…ugh…fairy godmother are you?"
"Apple…" Raven answered for the girl in a stern voice, "Fable, this is Apple White, daughter of Snow White."
I cleared my throat as I got better look at her. "So this is the leader of the Royals?" I thought unimpressed at the little princess, "She's not much but that doesn't mean I should lower my guard around her either. There's no telling what kind of trickery she might have up her sleeve." Apple gave me a movie star-like smile and reached for my hand to shake it. I gave her my own innocent and timid smile in return and took her hand.
"And future queen of Ever After!" She squeaked and gave my hand a good shake with a surprising strong grip. "It's such a pleasure to meet you, Fable Le Fay."
"Nice to meet you too." I mumbled when she finally released my hand. "Wait… how did you know my name?"
"And what are you doing in her room?" Raven added in suspension. "This place is supposed to be vacant."
"Oh I know that but Headmaster Grimm gave me permission to decorate Fable's dorm room since it was so empty." Apple answered innocently.
"But how did you know I was here? I barely got here this morning." I quickly lied. But like Raven, Apple never missed a beat as she spoke,
"As Royal class president, it is my job nay my pleasure to welcome all new Ever After High students."
"Then why aren't you welcoming the others by redecorating their rooms?" Raven asked harshly. I looked at Raven more closely and saw she was quickly becoming very hostile towards Apple. Like I hadn't expect that coming from the two of them. The daughter of Snow White and the daughter of the Evil Queen seemed to be as different as the day and night just by looking at them. I should try and keep the peace while I found out more information about Apple.
"I'm sure Apple meant well, Raven." I said gently to her as I got a better look at my new room.
It was certainly large; much larger than even the Knightfall's living room. There was a queen-sized Victorian canopy bed next to a floor-to-ceiling window with matching purple valet curtains and silk sheets. From where Apple made her greeting was a beautiful white stone balcony already overgrowing with blue roses, lavender, and even yellow orchids. But sadly the bed and balcony were the only things left untouched by Apple. She had decorated rest of the room like what you expected to find in a fairy tales' witch's room; like Mother Gothel from Rapunzel or Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty. The room's walls were black stone like coal and the floor was cold to the touch. There was a chandelier above us created with black glass and lit with crude candles and a bird cut from blue stone hung in the middle of it. It looked like a raven when I studied it more.
On the south and north walls, there were bookshelves stuffed with leather-bound books which would have normally made me grin ear to ear but instead made my stomach churn once I read the titles. They were something like "Queen Grimhilde's Potions & Curses for the Young Witch", "Fairest of All: A Tale of the Wicked Queen", "Poor Unfortunate Soul: A Tale of the Sea Witch", and finally, "Spellbound: Arthurian Magic and the Women Behind the Throne". I turned away from the books to find Apple had even had a small hole placed in the floor with an already started fire and a black cauldron hanging above the fire with golden writing painted on that I couldn't even make out. Even the tile around hole was very carefully decorated to something similar to that of a zodiac chart. And she didn't even stop there! I quickly spotted a crystal ball and a few bowls used for mixing and crushing herbs on a black wooden desk by the window.
Did she really think I would be into this stuff?
"Of course I did!" Apple protested, "What future evil sorceress wouldn't love a room like this?" She spun around like a ballerina as if to emphasis the importance of the job she just did. Raven rolled her eyes in annoyance as she walked up closer to Apple.
"It may have been nice to wait for Fable and ask her how she wanted her room." Raven said sternly, "Did you ever think about that? Or were you just checking to make sure she was another Royal?"
"Raven," Apple started with what I could automatically tell was fake sweetness, "All I wanted to do was make Fable feel welcome at her new home away from home. Is that so wrong?" She pretended to reorganized some of the books in one of the shelves as she went on, "And if she wants to follow in her mom's footsteps, then who are you to try and stop her?"
Raven scoffed in anger and started toward the door, "I didn't even think of it, Apple." She gave me a sympatric smile, "Listen Fable, I'm kinda tired myself. I'll meet you here in morning to take you Baba Yaga's." and left without another word to the rest of the girls. Maddie actually us gave a sad smile and went after Raven while Poppy crossed her arms as if she was ready to scold Apple.
"Apple, that was out of line and you know it." Poppy said gently.
"Poppy, I was-"
"I know what you were trying to do but you had no right to throw that in Raven's face." Poppy interrupted and went on, "I thought you two had settled everything between you."
"Everything?" I innocently asked, "What do you mean by that, Poppy?" But I was quickly ignored.
"Raven has always been so aggressive, Poppy." Apple countered then she turned to me with another winner smile, "You like your room, don't you?"
I gave a painful smile of my own and confessed, "To be honest, no I don't. I mean, I appreciate the obvious hard work you put into it and the medieval vibe is cool. But it's not necessarily me, you know."
Apple's smile slowly disappeared, "I…I-I understand, Fable." Then she too headed toward the door, "I'm sure Raven can help you with redecorating. Have a good night." And she slammed the door behind her.
"Well, "I suppose that's one way to make an impression." I spoke to Poppy in sadness. Then my mouth took control and I let something slip, "Although I bet there's not much good history between those two. I wonder what that is." When I noticed Poppy's confused look, I quickly added innocently, "You can just tell by how cruel they were to each other. If that's not the result of a misunderstanding then I don't know what is."
Poppy shrugged her shoulders, "They have their good days. They are roommates; they have to get along sometimes."
"That must be it." I respounded in the same innocent tone, "They seem such polar opposites I don't blame them for being at each other's throats. They're bond to come into conflict if they have to spend so much time together."
"Well, that's not necessarily true." Poppy stopped me. "Me and my sister are such opposites; even for twins. But we get along fine."
I think it's just different because you're family." I reflected back to her, "You kinda have to get along with her; you have no choice and I'm sure you love her regardless of your differences."
"I see your point." She sighed as she took the nearby couch and I joined her.
I decided to move away from the subject for now and tried to figure out what I was going to do with my room. There was no way I was going to live like this. I wonder if there was a flying moving van or something that could carry away all this junk. But then what I do for furniture until then? I sighed in frustration,
"I know she meant well but did Apple really think I would be into something like this? I mean I know its suppose to tie with my destiny as Morgan Le Fay's daughter but this isn't really my style."
"I figured that. I would be kinda freaked to live in a place like this." Poppy said with symphony, "Not exactly Apple's most fableous ideas."
"Excuse me?" I said with distain and my eyebrow raising.
Poppy giggled, "No pun intended, Fable." Then as if reading my mind, "How about I call back Raven and see if she can't make some magical changes to your room?"
"She can do that?" I asked curious. Then remembering what Apple said, I added, "But I don't want to get her in trouble with Apple.
She nodded her head, "Just one hext away and you let me handle Apple if she gets upset. She and my sister, Holly, are like this." She crossed two of her fingers together and used the other hand to send the text….opps I mean hext