****lalala okay thanks to all who reviewed. GOLD STAR ON YOUR FOREHEAD! if you have any questions, email me, not review. cuz you wont get them answered for a while if you review. :D well anywho. read. yah.******

It was the day after I got the dress, and the ball was in four days. Gracie was driving me insane with her twittering-on about the prince. One saturday morning, she even woke me up with a question about him. I had been reading the book about the girl that fell in love with the prince at the ball, and it had kept me up late the previous night. She woke me up before the sun had peeked out above the mountains, only to know the prince's favorite color.

"I don't know," I said bitterly at her. "I don't even know the prince."

"Yes you do," Gracie said in a sing-song voice, dancing around on my bed. She was ducking as to avoid hitting her head on the low ceiling, and she was looking straight at me with an awful smirk on her face. "My friend Milly said she saw you walking with him the other day at the market!" She then stuck out her tongue and fled from the room.

I rolled my eyes. Whether or not her friend had seen me with the prince didn't make a difference. Unless Gracie told Mildred. I groaned. Gracie, with her immature blabber-mouth, would ruin me. I would get a beating so severe I would ache for weeks.

Despite the niceness Mildred shows most of the time when we're in public, she is evil deep down inside. I know this because plenty a time I have come across her journal when I was cleaning and inside where horrible thoughts I don't ever want to repeat. She beats me a lot, too. I have disgusting scars on my back where she used a whip on me a few years ago. She doesn't use whips anymore, though.

I went downstairs to find Betsy and Mary running around the kitchen, squealing madly. The words they were screaming were impossible to understand, as they always were.

One of them stopped, and the other followed suite. The one that had stopped said to me, "Momma is mad." (which I worked out from 14 years of experience with their odd language)

"Why?" I demanded.

The other one (I think it was Betsy) said, "She's in back."

"Talking to an angry man!" said Mary.

"Who?" I said.

The twins shrugged their identical shoulders and began running around the room, squealing uncontrollably again.

I crossed the kitchen and looked out the den window. Indeed, Mildred was talking to a tall, rough-looking man, looking defensive. As I watched, she shook her finger in his face and glared at him. In return he pushed her and she fell.

"Ha ha!" I whispered triumphantly. "Take that, you wench!"

The man then approached the house and entered through the back door with Mildred close at his heels.

"What is your name?" he directed his question at me.

"Zoi, sir," I said, curtsying.

"Zoi, is this your aunt?" he asked loudly, drawing the attention of the whole household (composed simply of Mary, Betsy, and Gracie).

"Yes, sir."

"Did your mother die of childbirth to you?" he asked.

"Yes, sir," I replied, wondering what all these questions meant.

"How do you know this, Zoi?" he asked.

"Well," I said quietly, "Mildred told me."

"When?"

"I can't remember. I just remember growing up knowing that my mother was dead and my father was executed."

"What was your father's name?" asked the man.

I looked at Mildred. "I-I don't know, Sir." I had never thought to ask, for some strange reason.

"His name was Jacque," said Mildred, trembling for the first time.

"I will take this information to the king, Madam," said the man. He looked at me again. "Were you or were you not with Prince Sampson last week?" he asked.

Oh, no. The very question I feared. If I said yes, he would leave me alone, but Mildred would give me more painful scars for being with royalty. If I said no, he would most likely continue pestering me and Mildred would give me more painful scars for not shooing him away. I felt this man was a royal guard, and I should tell him the truth.

"I was," said I, "for not very long. I met him in the square."

"Ah," said the man. He seemed to be taking mental notes. "I see. I take my leave." And without further ado, the man exited out the back door.

"He was very rude," I heard Gracie say from behind me.

Mildred was livid. Shaking horribly, but still livid. "You were with the prince?" she said slowly. "You were with royalty and you did not tell me!"

"He knocked me over and sent all the food rolling! I had no choice but to meet him."

"You did not tell me!" Mildred screamed. "That makes you a liar!"

"NO!" I said. "NO, i just forgot!"

"LIAR!" Mildred screeched, and I backed up. She advanced and grasped my ear. "Did you tell him your name?!" she demanded. I didn't answer. "TELL ME!" she screamed in my ear. "DID YOU?"

"Yes," I gasped.

"FOOL!" she exclaimed, striking me harder than she had ever across my face. "NOW HE KNOWS WHO YOU ARE AND WHERE YOU LIVE!" She slapped me again. "THEY WILL COME FOR ME!" she began to sob. "They will come for me and take me away!" She sank to the floor, still weeping. "I will go away. They will come for me and take me away!" She continued to repeat this sentence over and over again, sobbing and rocking back and forth on the floor.

Silently, her three daughters and I left the room.

*******

ahhh!!! shes insane!! RUN AWAY!!! hehe anyway. yeah it may seem like my story is getting a little... extreme here. but thats why its rated pg! (well at lease i think it is!) erg... uhm well i think that might be the worst you read. even though that wasnt bad. itll explain itself in time. MEANWHILE--have a great day!

review, please. thanks so much.