Chapter 6, A Friend or Foe?

"Right and wrong? But how will I know?" - Pinocchio

Puppetta knocked on the door to Duchess's room. If this does happen to be a cruel prank maybe she can ask her dad to transfer her to the same school Jenny goes to. She'll never get the chance to meet her roommate; but it was more than likely that it would be for the best.

Duchess answered the door and smiled a little. "I didn't think you would come."

"You asked." Puppetta said.

"I know but...nevermind." Duchess lets her inside. Puppetta saw a black and white papillon resting on Duchess's bed. It was adorable. Puppetta looked around the daughter of the duke's room. It looked quite caming. There were sky blue curtains with royal blue butterflies printed. Her bed was royal blue with sky blue lacing. What stood out was dark purple pillows with light purple lacing. It really brought out the color of her room. Puppetta looked at the purple book case and each row was filled with books. Puppetta guessed that Duchess loved to read. The first book caught her attention. It was a dark grey and the spine had the word Diary in cursive blue letters.

Duchess walked to Puppetta with a comb and a brush.

"What are you doing?" Asked Puppetta taking a step back.

"Oh, you don't want me to do your hair? Well we can do makeup." Duchess said.

"No, it's okay really."

"Then how about nails?" Was Duchess trying to be friends with her? But why? Puppetta pondered at this.

"Nevermind, you can brush my hair." Said Pinocchio's daughter.

Duchess smiled. "Sit on the bed." Puppetta sits down and Duchess starts to brush it. Puppetta felt a little uncomfortable. Why is Duchess doing this? Wasn't she friends with Cindy? What if this was some sort of elaborate plan to humiliate her?

"So what do you like to do?" She asked.

"Make dolls I guess."

"What kind of dolls?"

"Wood dolls." Puppetta hated the fact that she couldn't lie. She preferred keeping her hobby to herself.

"Can I see them sometime?" Asked the Grand duke's daughter.

"Why?" Asked the daughter of Pinocchio.

"Just wanted to see what they look like."

"I guess so…" Puppetta said.

"This really isn't some sort of prank. The counselor said I should make new friends."

"Why me of all people?"

"Because I see you by yourself most of the time. I wanted to talk to you, but I was afraid of Cindy."

"Aren't you friends?" Puppetta asked.

"It's...a complicated friendship." Duchess answered.

Puppetta stayed quiet after that.

"May I do your makeup?" Asked Duchess.

"If you want."

Duchess went to get her makeup. Puppetta looked at the diary while the duke's daughter was getting the makeup out. She wondered if the true nature of Cindy's and Duchess relationship was in there. At the same time she knew it wouldn't be right just to snoop into someone's diary.

"I think this is your color." Duchess brushed some foundation on her face.

"So why Duchess?" Asked Puppetta. Duchess added some blush.

"My mom's name is Prudence. I was about to be called so many names, Charity, Chasity, Dignity, Diligence, Justice, Pride, Prudentia, Serenity, Virtue. You get the idea. But they decided to go with Duchess since people around the castle were going to call me that anyway since my father is the duke. I still think Prudentia would have been better. But I guess they didn't go with it because it sounded like Dementia. But naming me Duchess feels like naming a princess Princess just because she is one."

"Duchess is still nice."

"Thank you. Why Puppetta?"

"It's Italian for little doll."

"Cute." Duchess added some fake eyelashes. "You look nice." She said. Puppetta looked at the mirror in her room. She did look rather cute.

"Want me to paint your nails?"

"You can."

Duchess went to the bathroom to get the nail colors. Still a little hesitant about it; Puppetta got up and took the diary off the bookshelf. She opened the book, but didn't see much because Duchess came back with the colors.

"Oh no. Don't read that." She took the book and placed it back on the shelf.

"Sorry."

"It's fine, I just don't want anyone to know."

"Know about what?" Asked Puppetta.

Duchess messed with her hair a little. "It's dumb."

"Try me."

"There's this guy I like; but it doesn't matter. He probably doesn't feel the same way. I'm not pretty."

"You are pretty."

"Thank you. But a lot of guys don't think so. They all think Cindy is. I mean who can blame them? She has long, dark blonde hair, blue eyes, has a nice body, doesn't need glasses, and plus she's a princess. She even dated King Eugene's and Queen Rapunzel's son Finn for a while. She can literally get any guy she wanted."

"That still doesn't mean that you're not pretty." Puppetta said; she fully understood where Duchess was coming from however. Duchess smiled a little at the compliment.

"Who is it that you have a crush on?" Puppetta asked.

"He's Captain Phoebus's and Esmeralda's son. Zephyr. Not going to happen right? I'm invisible. Always in Cindy's shadow."

"You never know." Puppetta said. Deep down she was glad that it wasn't Ray. But even if it was, why did it matter? There were a lot of other girls who liked Ray. One girl did not make a difference.

"What about you?" Asked Duchess. Again, one of those times where Puppetta wished she could lie.

"It'll never happen. He's a prince." She said.

"I don't see why it wouldn't. You're nice." Duchess said. Puppetta smiled at that.

"So which prince is it? I told you who I liked." Duchess wasn't wrong there.

"It's prince Raymond." Puppetta answered. Duchess smiled.

"I promise I won't tell anyone. If you don't tell who mine is." Puppetta hoped she could keep that promise. But who would go up to her and ask her who Duchess liked?

"I promise." Puppetta said. Duchess was enjoying this she a told a secret to a friend. At least she hoped that they would be friends. She took out a cherry red nail color and started painting Puppetta's nails.

"So you said Cindy and Finn dated for a while?" Asked Puppetta.

"I did." She answered.

"What happened?"

"Well according to Cindy, she said it was because Finn was an idiot. According to Finn, it was because Cindy was mean. To tell you the truth I agree with the latter. Cindy used to be real nice however." Duchess said. Cindy used to be nice? Puppetta could not believe that. Even though her father told her to always try to see good in others. It was hard to. Especially with people like Cindy.

"We were friends when we were little. But she slowly began to ignore me in middle school; and now she acts like I don't exist. Sometimes I think she's embarrassed to be around me. No. I don't think. I know. She told me that I look like a total loser whenever I'm with her."

Puppetta wondered why Duchess would let Cindy treat her in such a way. "Are you sure she wasn't a childhood bully?" She asked.

"Nope. I can assure you we were friends during childhood. We would play together, mess with the staff, we even made each other friendship bracelets. I still have mine. Cindy might have thrown hers away...I hope she didn't." Duchess answered.

"Why do you let her hurt you?" Asked Puppetta.

"Hope I guess. I hope that maybe she'll remember that we were friends. Besides, without me there would be no Glass Slipper. She acts like she doesn't want to be around me but starts talking to me whenever she needs help with that website."

"You made The Glass Slipper?" Puppetta asked.

"I did. I went through all that trouble of learning how to design a website, but she wanted to be in charge of it. I do have to admit it was her idea, but I had to put all that work into building it."

"Why did you make that website?" Asked Puppetta. Duchess looked at her.

"Tell me this, do you think Auradon is perfect?"

"No. Of course not." Puppetta said.

"There's your answer. Cindy wanted a way to show the ugly truths about Auradon. You wouldn't be allowed to write about it on the school paper, the news only reports so much, so we decided to make a website where people can talk about the harsh realities of Auradon."

"So Cindy knows Auradon isn't perfect but still wants to be part of the problem by not being nice?" Puppetta said.

"Like I said before, I still hope that maybe she'll be nice again." Said Duchess. Puppetta looked at her red nails after Duchess was done painting them.