Half Truths

Apple woke up a couple minutes after Rotbart had left with a splitting headache and Raven hovering over her.

"Wha…what happened?" She asked groggily. "Where's Rotbart?"

"You crashed into the window pane." Raven explained. "And he left two minutes ago."

Apple sat up slowly. "So…did he tell you…?"

"Yeah, he told me everything. And don't worry, I won't tell anyone about him. OR Daring."

Apple gave a small sigh of relief. "Thanks Raven." She said sincerely. For once, Apple was a hundred percent glad that her roommate was not evil.

A police siren suddenly wailed outside of the school. Apple's eyes widened. "Oh no! The police!" She exclaimed.

Raven immediately leaped into action. "Quick!" She said as she pulled Apple to her feet and towards her wardrobe. "Get dressed! The sooner you're out there, the better!"

"But what will I tell them?!" Apple frantically asked as she started pulling clothes from her closet and tearing off her rags to put them on. She hadn't thought that far ahead yet.

"Tell them you got lost in the woods and a mysterious hero came to your rescue." Raven said. "He saved you from hypothermia and brought you back. Simple."

"And when they ask who this hero is?"

"Like I said, he's a mystery. Say he doesn't want any credit…and that you couldn't see his face." Raven added.

"How could I not see his face?"

Raven shrugged. "I don't know, a mask or something?"

"But why did I need to be rescued in the first place?"

Raven huffed in frustration. "I don't know! Rotty said you need to come up with that!" Raven honestly couldn't think of someone would run off into the woods on a frigid December night, either. Aside from a life-threatening calamity or a cheating fiancé. Rotbart was right; running into the woods really was a dumbass, stereotypical, princess move.

Apple frowned. "But he's good at lying, I'm not!"

"But it's not a total lie." Raven pointed out. "It's more of a half-truth."

"Half-truth?"

"Yeah, you were saved by someone who wishes to keep his identity a secret. That's totally true. You just to fib that you don't know who it is. And why you ran off."

"What, should I say that I ran off from some monster?" Apple scoffed as she pulled on her boots.

"That would work." Raven said.

Apple stopped pulling on her other boot to stare at her. "You're kidding. A monster? Who'd believe that?!"

"It escaped from the dungeons? Came out of the woods? It's not THAT far-fetched, this is fairy-tale world; people get attacked by monsters all the time!"

"Well…" Apple said slowly. Raven had another good point, but Apple was still concerned about one thing: "What do I say when people ask what it looked like?"

Raven opened her mouth to tell Apple to be very vague, but then she got another idea. "Describe what it was like when you saw Lizzie sucking Daring's dick." She said.

Apple's face contorted into a deeply disgusted expression. "It was awful, the look on their faces, they looked so hungry…and it was obscene, totally gross, and the heaving, and the sounds they made…..eaaaahch!" Apple made a surprisingly unprincessly gagging noise.

"There you go." Raven said. "Another half-truth. Just stick with that and you've got something monstrous right there."

"You think so?"

"Absolutely. That's totally believable." Raven assured her. "Just be sure to say that your hero destroyed it so no one will go looking for it." She added.

"Right. Thanks Raven." Apple said as she quickly brushed her hair. "Lying isn't easy."

"Good thing you're not Cedar," Raven joked. "Or you'd really be in trouble. Ready to face the world?"

Apple took a deep breath, lifted her head, and tried to look as calm and as regal as possible. "I'm ready."

"Hexcellent." Raven said as she threw the remains of Apple's ball gown into the trash. "Let's go."

And so the future queen of the United Fairytale Kingdoms left her dorm room to tell her half-true story to the rest of the school.