The Beginning of Happily Ever After

High school was everything I'd dreamed and more. I was the only freshmen on the cheer team and was already better than some juniors. I'd aced all my classes and already been asked to the spring formal by no less then eight boys. No princes, sadly, but I was hopeful.

The only thing that wasn't perfect was my relationship status. I was still single. Plenty of other girls my age had already went on dates and broken up with boyfriends just to get back together with them the next week. I told myself this was okay, that I wasn't like the other girls. There was only one boy for me, and we wouldn't go through the silly breaking up and getting back together. But it still made me feel a teeny bit left out.

After winter break, I was sitting at the princess table during lunch, listening to the older girls talk about the upcoming yearly cotillion. I suggested dress styles for them, and they even recommended I try something other then pink. Which I would agree with expect pink's sort of my thing.

After lunch I felt a hand tap on my shoulder. Ben stood next to me, looking rather bashful. He hadn't hit his growth spurt yet, so we were still the same height. It worried me; how would our pictures look?

"Hey Audrey."

"Ben. Hi, how was your break? I heard you made the R.O.A.R team, congratulations."

"Thanks." His cheeks were an adorable shade of pink. "So, uh, I was wondering. Are you busy tonight?"

I swear, my heart skipped a beat. "Not at all."

"Would you like to go on a, um, a date? Tonight? I can pick you up at your room at seven, I planned this whole surprise…," he drifted off, looking so scared.

Which I suppose is good. Grammie always said boys enjoyed the chase.

"I would love to."

"Great." Ben's smile was small, but I chalked up to nerves. "I'll see you tonight."

As I walked to my next class, I had to refrain from jumping up and down like an idiot. I had a date! I had a date!

I fixed my makeup eight times. I tried on 14 outfits. I hadn't eaten any lunch, my stomach was tied up into too many knots. The carpet in my room felt thinner after all my pacing.

This was it. The moment I'd worked my whole life for. The start of my happily ever after.

Why was I sweating so much?!

The clock said I still had another thirty minutes, so I called Grammie. She had said this was the year I needed to learn how to be independent, but I was starting to shake. I needed her.

"Hello, Audrey darling?" Grammie said as she picked up.

"Grammie!" I gasped in relief. "I did it. Ben asked me on a date, he's picking me up in thirty minutes and I'm so nervous and he said it's a surprise and-"

"Audrey!" Grammie snapped and my babble halted. "A princess savors her words, she does not ramble. Everyone wants to know what you have to say which is why you must make sure it can be understood."

"Yes, Grammie. Sorry."

"Now why are you so nervous? You and Ben were planned from the moment of your conception. This was preordained."

"I just…I don't want to screw it all up. What if I make a mistake?"

"You're a perfect princess, Audrey. You won't."

My hands stopped shaking. "You're sure?"

"Of course. Just do what I taught you."

"Thanks Grammie."

"I love you, my darling."

"I love you too."

I hung up and stared at the phone in my lap. Grammie was right. This was preordained. And nothing was going to mess it up.

Ben and I walked through the wintery night. Well, I say wintery but Auradon is always warm and sunny. The only thing that really made it wintery was the lights in the trees and the shimmery snowflake decorations around the school.

"It's a beautiful night," I sighed, rubbing my hands together like they were cold.

"Do you remember when we stayed up all night and mapped the constellations?" Ben asked, looking up at the stars.

"Of course. You helped me find the princess."

"Jane told me where it was first." Stupid Jane. "I just wanted you to think I was smart."

"Oh?" I hadn't known that, I was only six after all. But it was still a good sign. "I did think you were smart. Still do. You'll make a great king one day, Benny."

"We're almost there."

Ben led me off the paved path and we went into the starlit woods. I couldn't help but smile. The woods were my favorite place and Ben and I had spent many days as children running around there.

Finally, we arrived in a clearing lit up by the lights hanging in the trees. Covering the glass was a snowy picnic blanket covered in a spread of all my favorite foods. Carrot sticks with hummus cups, strawberry tarts, specialty cheeses…it was all there. I could not help but blush.

"Wow…Ben, this is amazing."

"I had some help. Mrs. Potts made a lot of the food and Lumiere helped with the lights…" He was looking at me out of the corner of his eye.

"You're a princess Audrey, they want to impress you."

"It's perfect."

A perfect first date.

"Then what happened?"

"Well then," Ben laughed, "then Chad fell off the rail and came out of the pond dripping wet. It was great!"

"Boys like to talk about themselves. Remember that."

"Your initiation sounds crazy," I giggled, sipping on the straw in my lemonade cup.

"I've been so busy…high school isn't like I imagined it would be." His smile was gone.

"What do you mean?" I had been loving high school. The popularity, the friends, Ben even though it took a while.

"It's so busy and there's so many expectations. My dad's been teaching me how to be king and he keeps yelling at me. And then there's everyone at school, always starting rumors…I just feel so lost."

What to do, what to do, what to do?

"Ben, you were chosen for this life. There will be struggles, I'm sure, but no one can deny that we're perfect for the job."

"We?"

"Hm?"

"You said we."

"Oh." I was sure I was redder than I'd ever been.

"Never show your hand before he does."

"I meant you, obviously," I quickly spouted out. Grammie was going to kill me. I stared at the blanket, hoping Ben had not noticed my mistake. There was a loose thread that my nervous fingers started tugging on.

Nothing. He said nothing.

Finally, I chanced a glance at him. I nearly lost my breath.

Ben was looking at me softly, in a new way then he had when we were children.

"Audrey?"

"What?" I think I said that. I may have been to star struck.

"Would…would you be my girlfriend?"

My answer was chosen long before my birth. This was my destiny, my fate, the start of my happily ever after.

"Yes!"