A/N: Bonjour, all! SUPER-SIZE candy cane kudos bars tooooooooooo: hemlock (twice), Heaven, Chien, Baloo, MountainDew, and Ali! Thank you SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOo much...reviews make my day and rock my world! tee-hee! I hope y'all enjoy this! ~Jenny the chica~




Chapter Nine: In which Gretchen reflects...



I awoke late the next morning, to a throbbing head. I couldn't figure out what had woken me, but then I heard Mother crying, "Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down thy hair," over and over again.

As soon as I realized what was happening, I ran to the balcony and let my hair down, hoping that she wasn't too suspicious. I looked down and realized that I had slept in my dress in my daze after last night, and I made an effort to smooth down the wrinkles. As I did this, Mother finished climbing up and stepped over the balcony.

I hurriedly explained to her how I had not been feeling well, which caused me to oversleep. She believed me, and said that she would leave, to let me continue to get better.

I waved weakly as she climbed back down, and then started laughing, harder than I had ever laughed before, the minute I saw her disappear into the dark cloak of the trees. The fact that she had fallen for my stupid excuse was amazing, but then the thought hit me that she might love me enough to be willing to give up what she always called her "special family time" just so I could get "better."

Nevertheless, I knew that I must now be more careful than ever, as I was hiding two things, not just my fairy godmother's book. If Mother ever found out about Tobin...I shuddered. She had shown be before what she could do in her anger. She had once struck me for something I had done wrong, and she has shown me her magic powers often, and I would hate for her to use them on Tobin or me.

However, I was thankful that the rest of the day was mine as I wished, so I went to write my fairy godmother, telling her about Tobin and last night. I couldn't wait until she wrote back and I could read her response.

After I was done with this, I began to get ready for tonight. I was nervous, as Tobin had promised to come again tonight, and I was very anxious to see him. In fact, I really missed him, for I had only known him for less than a day, yet we were already surprisingly close. It was also nice to have someone other than Mother to talk to.

So, that was why I stood in front of my closet, filled with dresses Mother had made for me, using magic, as well as my old dresses from the convent. As Mother had promised when I first came here, I had been given anything and everything I ever wanted. Thankfully, my fairy godmother had raised me to be kind, gracious, and polite, so I only
asked for anything when it was absolutely necessary. But now, I had run into the basic feminine conflict since who knows when: deciding what to wear.

After staring, trying on one selection, taking it off, staring some more, trying on another dress, then taking it off, staring again... well, after doing this for a while, I finally decided on a silver dress with sleeves decorated with "bubbles," as I called them, much like the dresses I wore at the convent. It was one of my nicer dresses, and this seemed like a special occasion to me, so I deemed it the best choice.

The rest of my evening until five was spent tidying and re-tidying my room, as I wanted it to be perfect when Tobin got here.





A/N: Sorry it's so short...but if you want more, just review, and I'll try to update before January...but it might not be physically possible...if so, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! MWAH!!!! Luv ya all!!!! ~Jenny the chica~

ps~I am SEVEN reviews away from two pages....YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (it's the little things in life)