YAY! I got reviews! Thank you to winter ( you're right about the hazel-eyed guy!) and Lulai. Thank you so much for reviewing.
Shadows fell across the room as the sun rose and Callista opened her eyes to see rays dancing across the walls. I am sixteen today Callista thought as she got up and dressed. She was greeted in the kitchen by most of the servants, receiving many warm greetings and "happy birthday's".Maia insisted that Callista sit down and eat a specially prepared breakfast before waking Mary."You'll need all the strength you can get t'day, 'specially as Mistress Mary's meetin' that prince of ours"she said. As it turned out, Maia was quite right. It took the better part of an hour to wake Mary, and another quarter to get her out of bed. It wasn't out of the ordinary for Mary to take q while to get out of bed, but this particular morning, Callista just felt like ripping her hair out and screaming. Usually, Mary was very picky with her appearance. She was also quite fickle minded. One minute, she would be perfectly happy with a dress, then she would blink and decide the dress was hideous. Today, Mary went through her entire wardrobe, trying to find the 'perfect' dress to wear while touring witht the royals. Callista was literally running in circles as she collected the jewellery and hair pins and ribbons that matched each dress from around the room. Finally, Mary decided on a dress that was pale blue. Callista was very annoyed, as the blue dress was the one Mary had originally chosen. Mary sat down in front of her mirror and flipped her hair over her shoulder. She started chattering about the royal family. Mary was ranting on about how handsome the prince was with his hazel coloured eyes and his wavy dark brown hair. Callista rolled her eyes at the blonde girl, who did not notice and proceeded to describe the queen's wardrobe of which of the dresses she thought were 'exquisite' and wanted copied. As if she doesn't have enough gowns already! Callista thought sourly as she began braiding the girl's hair. Mary's hair was a light blonde colour, so light that it was almost white. With her cold blue eyes and pale blue dress, she reminded Callista of an icicle. Cold and uncaring, only trying to further herself in her ambitions to be queen. Callista was so startled as she noticed light brown eyes scrutinizing the reflection in the mirror, that she pulled Mary's hair a little too tighly. "OW!" Mary exclaimed, giving Callista a cold look. Adrianna was also glaring at Callista coldly. Callista could see the resemblance between Adrianna and Mary very clearly in that moment. "Well?" Adrianna said "Aren't you going to apologise?"
Callista stared at her shoes. "I didn't even pull that hard. I should've tugged harder." she muttered.
"What did you just say?" Adrianna demanded.
"I said, Sorry milady" Callista said through gritted teeth.
"That's better, now leave me" Mary ordered, flapping her hand in the direction of the kitchens. Exactly like her mother Callista thought as she stomped down the stairs.
Anna was sitting in the kitchen eating a scone when Callista enetered. Callista grabbed the closest chair and slumped into it. "Watch out for that-" Anna began, too late as Callista's arm went crashing into a pot of jam. She caught the jar but the jam spilled into a sticky mess down Callista's shirt and skirt. "Blast!" Calllista exclaimed as she tried in vain to clean the jam off her skirt. "Now I'll have to change-"she began to stand, "but I don't have another set of good clothes" she flopped back down into the chair. "Don't worry" Anna said, finishing the rest of her scone.
"Don't worry? Mary and Adrianna will throttle me if I wear my usual dirty clothes. I'm doomed!" she said, lowering her face into her arms.
"You can borrow sone of mine then" Anna offered, an mischievous twinkle in her eyes. "I'm sure we can find something in my wardrobe that will suit you." The two girls stood and left. When they reached Anna's room, Callista pulled the door closed behind them. "If she sees me in here with you and not Mary, you'll get into trouble" Callista replied to Anna's questioning look. Anna shrugged and walked over to her wardrobe. "Why do they hate me so much anyway?" Callista asked. "I've never done anything to them, have I?"
"They're jealous of you" Anna answered, her voice muffled slightly by the gowns she was searching behind. Callista sat frozen, astonished by this piece of information. "Jealous?" Callista repeated.
"Yes"
"But...why?"
"Because you're beautiful of course."Anna said, emerging from the wardrobe with a cream coloured shirt and light brown skirt in hand. "And the servants still respect you, and you're kind-hearted and you don't care what they think." she continued calmly. "Now try these on" Callista accepted the skirt from Anna and walked behind the screen to change, still baffled. She pulled her stained skirt off and slipped into Anna's. It was a lovely material with orange, gold and red leaves emboridered around the hem. Callista then changed from her sticky shirt into the soft cotton shirt Anna had given her. She stepped out from behind the screen. Anna looked thoughtfully at the outfit. "Oh! " she said brightly "you can't wear those shoes with that skirt. Wait right there" She disappeared into the wardrobe again and Callista thought about what Anna had said. Mary and Adrianna, jealous of me? Callista thought It's so unbelievable. She decided it was too deep a thought to consider and pushed it to the back of her mind. Anna appeared in front of her, holding a pair of redish-brown boots. "Here." Anna said, helping Callista put the boots on. Strangely, they fit Callista perfectly, even though her feet were much smaller than Anna's. Elf feet, her Maia called them, because they were so small and she could never find shoes to fit her. Callista shook her head to clear it of the jumble of thoughts. "Perfect!" Anna declared, looking pleased with herself. Callista smiled down at the clothes. "They're lovely Anna," she said "thank you for lending me these"
"Who said anything about borrowing?" Anna said cheekily "They're yours, for your birthday" Callista's eyes widened. No wonder the clothes fit perfectly! "Mine?" she said.
"Of course" Anna replied, as if it was the most obvious thing. "Now come on, we can't be late for their majesties" and marched Callista out the door.
Callista was walking towards the servant's door when a small boy came running up to her. He bowed. " 'Scuse me milady, Lady Adrianna says that you'll havta wait on Lady Mary while you're at the market t'day. She says you're to go to the fron' hall now an' wait for the carriage to cum round." He bowed again, and ran off. Callista sighed. "Just great." she muttered "I get to spend the whole of my birthday trailing after snobby Mary and the royals." She curtseyed as she reached the entrance hall and stood meekly behind Mary. Anna gave her a sympathetic smile. They heard a carriage pull up and walked out the large mahogany doors of the manor. The footman jumped down to help the ladies into the carriage. As Callista was handed in, she looked up and saw Caleb smile at her from his position at the reigns. "I get ta drive t'day an' I dun haveta see them smilin no more" he said with a wink. Callista laughed and closed the carriage door behind her.
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