Disclaimer: I don't own Ever After High.


When Darling next opened her eyes, she was in her room. Which she found odd because she did not recollect ever falling asleep there. Then she remembered she fell asleep on Chase's shoulder while Lizzie was there. "Well that's embarrassing" she thought. She swung out of bed dressed in her pyjamas. Her throat felt dry, and she was feeling kind of cold. She knew the perfect remedy. "Hot chocolate." She walked downstairs only to find her brother Dexter staring at a screen with his hair messy and eyes red. What she wasn't expecting see was his glasses on the floor, not on his face. She decided to leave him undisturbed. While waiting for the kettle to boil she didn't hear Dexter enter the room.

"Hey, can you make me one too, please?" He whispered in a raspy voice. Darling nodded, not expecting Dexter to see. Soon Dexter received his hot chocolate and then went back to what he was doing on his laptop.

"So… You want to tell me what you're up to?" Darling asked.

"Er, I'm just taking an eye test. "

"An eye test? Online? I know I'm blonde Dexter, doesn't mean I'm going to believe something as stupid as that."

"Fine, fine. I'm just looking up ways to impress girls. "

"Please don't tell me this is about Raven."

"It's not." Darling looked straight into Dexter's tired eyes. Not believing a single a word he said.

"I thought you said you were over her!"

"Yeah, I thought that too, but every time I look at her. I can't help feeling what I do! I just want her to like me this time. As a classmate. I'm not trying to marry her anymore." Darling rolled her eyes in response.

"Alright okay. I'm going to go back to bed."

"Goodnight."

"Goodnight " In truth Darling felt sorry for Dexter. She knew how much he loved her, but when Raven showed no interest in returning his feelings it became painful. But it hurt most when Dexter started to see she didn't love him either. His mood soured, and he took most of his anger on his family. His relationship with Darling suffered the most. They weren't as close as they used to be. Conversations they used to have became unheard. Now that they were back on good terms, the last thing Darling wanted was for their relationship to be ruined again, all because of the same reason. She took a sip from her hot chocolate and allowed the worries to drift away. Hot chocolate really was the best before bed. Then she downed it and placed the empty cup on the floor. Tucked in bed, Darling just closed her eyes, and allowed her mind to take her wherever it wanted to travel to.


When Darling arrived at school she was glad Chase walked up to her when he did. Honestly the dream she had last night, bugged her more than anything. "How was Lizzie?" She asked.

"Pretty good, no wait. Not in that sense. What I mean is she left soon after you fell asleep so it wasn't that bad. How was your dream?"

"It was pretty good? You appeared in it. "

"Really? Was I a dashing knight?"

"Dashing? No. A knight? Yeah, actually you were. " Darling and Chase started walking toward their form rooms. Form time in the morning was boring. You weren't allowed to use your phones or talk to people. You were only allowed to read books. Which was good if you were a complete book nerd like Darling's cousin, but if you weren't, you'd be sitting in silence for the supposed twenty minutes. That's why Darling and Chase made sure to take very long detours.

"Wait, so who else was in your dream?"

"Well, you, my brothers, me and Rosabella."

"Rosabella?"

"Yeah, she got captured by the dragon so we had to go rescue her." Chase didn't know what to think. His mum had told him dreams always had a message, some more clearer than others. So what they hell did her dream mean if it meant anything? He'd just text her, she was expecting a message from him today anyways. 'Hi mum, I had a dream about my friends and I going off to rescue this girl, what does it mean?'

"Chase? Are you even listening? No you're not. Who're you texting? You're mum?! What the hell Chase, you'd rather text your mum than listen to me. I'm hurt."

"Sorry, sorry. Come on it's almost ten to, we'll miss the register." They both went their separate ways. Chase was nearing his classroom when his pocket went buzz. He checked his phone. "A reply?"

'Is there a girl you're crushing on in school dear? It sounds very romantic, the knight in shining armour rescues the princess from the evil clutches of a dragon. You must give me the name. Either that or you've been watching too many action films before bed. Have a lovely day at school!'

Chase just stared at his screen. "Was Darling crushing on Rosabella?" He thought, immediately after he brushed it off his mind. They were definitely watching an action film before bed so it was probably that. Last time Chase checked, Darling was not gay, or lesbian for that matter. Right?

"Hey Chase! You playing tonight?" When Alistair called out from the distance, Chase immediately filed his thoughts away somewhere separate. Today he was going to focus. No break-time detentions.

He was half way through geography. All that he needed to do was stay awake and take all the notes down, and then he wouldn't have to worry. He could barely focus, staying up all night to do something that probably wasn't that important wasn't a good idea. Now he felt himself drifting off into a dark abyss and he had no energy to fight it with. "Oi, Dexter. " That shocked Dexter back to life. "Are you going to the party next week?" It was his best mate Humphrey Doughty, who asked.

"No. I might do some revision instead. Honestly right now, I just want to sleep."

"Whaa? I need you. Apple's going to be attending. I have to go."

"You say that to every single one of her parties and then pussy out in the last minute. This time won't be any different. "

"This time is different!" Humphrey's whole face lit up like a starry night sky. "It's a masquerade! Therefore I can talk to her and she won't even know it's me!"

"Who're you going to be? Identity fraud is wrong Humphrey."

"No man, it's a total confidence booster. You could talk to Raven and if you messed up she wouldn't even know it's you. You could literally say anything!"

"Honestly Humphrey, I doubt a mask is going to make her believe it's not me. She's smarter than that."

"Not if you buy the right ones." Humphrey smirked. He knew a 'secret' website that sold the best masks, that pretty much made it impossible to tell who it was. "Reviews say, that if you look in the mirror wearing these masks you won't even recognise yourself. PLUS it even comes with a costume that complements your masks, but that's definitely optional. Look I'll send you the link later." Dexter too tired to argue just allowed Humphrey to get away with whatever he was saying. But what it true though? Would he be able to talk to Raven and not mess up every single second? Dexter decided he would check the website later on in the evening to find out if it was legit or not. Now he just wanted to sleep.


Meanwhile Darling was having a great start to her day. She had forgotten to bring her USB stick in to school today, the one with her four-week presentation due in today, on it. When she thought her day couldn't get worse she had forgotten to bring in her textbook for chemistry, AND her PE kit. Unsurprisingly her attitude about today worsened.

"Guess who didn't get a detention today!" At least she had Chase for break today. "Aw what's with the frown?"

"I just completely forgot everything today!"

"Don't worry about it. We all forget things, this time it happened to you. You just have to find ways to deal with it."

"I forgot my PE kit Chase."

"Oh." Chase could see the panic in Darling's eyes. She was completely stressing out. A detention was something anyone could handle. A PE detention was hell. It was actually torture. They forced you to sit in agonising silence, to stare out into eternal boredom. If you made even the slightest noise you'd have to come back to do the same thing but AFTERSCHOOL. One kid had to come back after school only because he was BREATHING too loudly. As much as she loved PE, this was one thing she hated on the earth. One thing she would avoid at all costs. Darling was considering going home early today. "Let's go out and watch your brother's play football. I think Hunter might be getting into a fight with someone from the older years.

"Okay." Darling reluctantly replied. She'd rather mellow around in her own pity before her doom. But maybe a decent fight might be able to cheer her up.

"Hey Darling!" Rosabella called out from the distance. Darling stopped in her tracks.

"I'll wait by the side." Chase said before walking off.

"Hey I just wanted to say thanks for helping me hang up those leaflets on the wall."

"No problem. "

"I think the party might actually go well. I was getting really nervous in case people were really put off by the masquerade bit, but reactions were mostly positive!"

"It does sound really cool."

"It does suck that you can't attend. You do seem really cool." Darling was taken aback by that. A smile crept onto her face; she wasn't expecting to hear that at all from anyone in her school.

"Rosabella?"

"Yes Darling."

"Do you have a spare PE kit I can borrow?" Rosabella thought about it for a few seconds before replying.

"Yeah, but it's not been washed. You can still borrow it if you want though."

"Thanks so much!" Chase and Darling made their way to the fields.

Chase was very unsure what to think of their 'chat'. If Darling's dream did mean what his mum thought it did, well Chase didn't know what to think. He studied Darling's reactions and saw the way Darling smiled towards Rosabella." But that doesn't have to mean anything, right?" He thought. "That could just mean she's happy." Then he saw Rosabella walk away, and decided to approach Daring and ask directly. "So what was that all about?"

"Oh she just came to say thanks, and she let me borrow her PE kit! Which means no PE detention!" Darling cheered, she stopped when she noticed Chase wasn't cheering with her.

"Chase you alright?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm good."

"Let's go watch that fight then."

When they reached outside there wasn't actually a fight, but apparently they were close to having one. Darling didn't mind too much, her day was finally looking up, and she had her best friend. Then Alistair came over.

"Heyo guys, want to join and play touch rugby?" Chase looked at Darling, not wanting to ditch her, but the thrill of touch rugby!

"Go ahead Chase, I can't tie you down." She beckoned.

"Yeah, I'm coming Alistair!"

"You're so excited for a guy who's going to have his ass handed to him!"

"Not in your wildest dreams Alice!"

Darling sat alone on the bench. In the corner of her eye, she saw Rosabella. She seemed to be talking to her cousin about something. They were too far away for Darling to make out what. Then Briar walked away. Rosabella waved in Darling's direction. Darling looked around to see if there was anyone behind her that Rosabella was waving too, but couldn't find anyone. Was Rosabella waving to her? So she risked it, Darling waved. Rosabella smiled in response, then decided to approach her.

"You okay? You looked kind of…lonely." Darling stared into Rosabella's dark hazel eyes.

"I'm not lonely." She replied.

"You're here - "

"plus I know Chase won't ditch me."

"You sure? Guys can get pretty wild sometimes." Rosabella asked.

"I know Chase won't. He's been my best friend for – for forever."

"Wait… So you aren't dating?"

"What? No!" Rosabella giggled. "Please tell me you're the only one who thinks that!"

"Actually the whole school thinks that. A few teachers included."

"No wonder Mr Nimble wouldn't let Chase and I walk together on the trip!"

"Did he seriously!"

Rosabella and Darling kept talking for a while. Chase kept making glances towards them, distracted he lost the game. Not that he minded, but Alistair's well-earned bloating irritated him. "Does Bunny know you're like that?"

"Don't cry Chase. We all get our off days. "

The bell was rung, and Rosabella said "see you later" to Darling. Darling walked to her next lesson with Chase, who was still sulking about the game.

"You'll get him next time Chase." Darling just gave Chase a consoling pat-on-the-back.


Thanks for reviewing (those who did) and favouriting and/or following, because it does motivate me, when I don't feel like writing. Read you later?

Crunol