Yay! Longest chapter yet! This wasn't originally in my story planning so it may seem it bit badly planned out, sorry for that. I'll probably polish it up eventually. I'm just finishing chapter 6 (originally chapter 5) so no angst yet! Review time!
AnimePopCircle: I also ship Daring/Cerise but in this story he's really too mean and conceited so Cerise would never fall for him.
StoryLover: Well Daring features in this chapter and Raven is major in the last couple chapters. Maddie also makes a short appearance here. Ashlynn and Hunter will eventually come up too.
Lisa Poulson : I hate how none of the characters are very well-rounded in the webisodes but I'm getting 'The Unfairest Of Them All' soon so hopefully I'll be able to round the characters well.
Let the story begin...
Chapter 5 - Princes, Peasants and Thieves
It was sweltering today. Blondie's Mirrorcast had told of a heat wave for the next couple days but today would be the hottest by far. Duchess had her hair up in a high ponytail and forgo-ed her usual tulle lined tutu for something less stifling. Lizzie had already left the dorm early that morning saying she was meeting Kitty for tea at the Mad Hatter's Tea Shoppe. How she could have tea on such a hot day was beyond Duchess. Duchess had rifled through her closet most of the early morning looking for something to wear. It felt strange to not be wearing a dress but Duchess knew that after 15 minutes in that heat she would die if she were wrapped up and corseted. Her shorts were white-washed denim and she wore a black sleeveless t-shirt that had curly gold writing scrawled across it with a pair of pale pink heels. Her Mirror-pod's earphones were blasting 'V is for Vanity' and she danced around her dorm singing along to the music while looking for her purse. She found it half buried under a pile of her old ballet slippers. She grabbed it and left the dorm, slamming the door behind her. Today was the perfect day for step 2 to commence.
Book End was filled with students. Everywhere you looked you saw someone you knew. Duchess's hair swung back and forth behind her as she strode purposefully through the village. Her eyes brightened when her reason for being here came into view.
Daring Charming.
Ooh, Apple is lucky to have a boy toy like that.
Daring flipped his perfectly styled blonde hair to one side and flashed his brilliantly white smile at the group of girls surrounding him like flocks of pigeons. Duchess scoffed at their blatant admiration of the fine boy and wandered over to the nearest table at the Page Turn café to sit down. She never outright stared at Daring, or any boy for that matter. It was unbecoming of a princess. She crossed her legs and stared at the menu halfheartedly before calling a skinny waiter to take her order. The boy's voice was nasally and he wore the ugliest pair of glasses she had ever seen but her passion fruit lemonade came soon enough. She watched Daring converse with the girls as she sipped on the drink. He looked bored, like he was saying a well-rehearsed speech. The girls still swooned, completely oblivious to the future king's obvious boredom as he bid them farewell with a princely bow. Duchess trained her eyes back to her mirrorpad on which she was reading 'Fairest of Them All' monthly.
Daring glimpsed her reflection in the mirror shops window and turned to see her. Duchess was very different to the sweet life-loving girl she had been before. Daring knew what he had done that night but it had been for the best, Apple didn't need someone with so terrible a future weighing her down. If Apple was weighed down Daring would eventually also be. He continued down the street towards the Glass Slipper. Apple was bound to be there. He took one last glance at Duchess. It wasn't that she was bad-looking, on the contrary, Duchess was beautiful and those shorts sure did make her legs look long. Daring shook his head. Don't go down that road Charming.
Duchess watched Daring continue down the cobblestone road. She sighed, probably off to see Apple. She finished the last bit of her refreshing lemonade and left the money on the glass topped table before getting up. Maybe the dress shop was open, Duchess could use a summer dress that wasn't for ballet. As she started towards the shop she took out her Mirrorphone and started to text Blondie when a squirrel decided to run straight at her feet. She tripped over the furry creature and her phone went flying. She barely had time to brace herself but the bang she hexpected never came. An arm caught her waist as her heels slipped across the cobblestone. She cautiously opened her eyes to see green ones above her and a familiar smirk. Of course it was Sparrow. She scrambled out of his arms and brushed herself off with an indignant humph.
"Why is it that every time you're around I nearly die?" She put her hands on her hips and pouted. Her hair was messy and she had scuffed her heels. And where was her phone?
"I don't know, maybe you've been cursed or something," He shrugged and stuffed his hands into his jean pockets. Today he wasn't wearing the usual excessive amount of clothing as he usually wore. Now he was just wearing a white t-shirt with the words 'We write our destiny' printed on it and a pair of dark wash jeans. His sneakers were old and ratty in what was at one point probably red. Duchess just sighed.
"Did you see where my phone went?" She worried for a moment, what would her mother say if she had broken her phone? What would her mother say if she saw what Duchess was wearing?
"Here you go, no need to thank me. Unless you want to of course, I don't mind," Sparrow held out her phone. How he had managed to catch her phone and her Duchess didn't know but she was grateful nonetheless. She grabbed it from his hand and put it into her feathery purse to ensure no more mishaps. She looked up at Sparrow. He wasn't wearing his fedora today nor was he carrying that loud and obnoxious guitar. He looked almost normal. Then again, what was normal in Ever After.
"Thanks," she mumbled though she knew princesses should never mumble. Sparrow smile and grabbed her wrist tugging her in the direction of the Mad hatter's Tea Shoppe, "Oh no, I am not drinking tea on a day like this."
"C'mon Duchess, they make great brownies!" She resigned herself to her fate and followed him into the shop with a sigh. A bell tinkled as they entered the tea shop. Multi-coloured doors covered the walls and ceilings and there was a haze in the room that made Duchess feel sleepy. The chatter was soft and unintelligible . Sparrow dragged her to the back of the room where the was a secluded booth. They sat at opposite sides of the table on the bright plush chairs. Sparrow whistled to signal a waitress. A girl with wild blue and purple hair came to their table. Her apron was on backwards and her writing pad was upside down.
"Hello Duchess, hi Sparrow! And what may I get for the lovebirds today?" Maddie was cheery to an annoying degree. Duchess felt her cheeks heat up. How dare that girl make such assumptions!
"We aren't on a date. We're merely hungry." She took care not to look at Sparrow whom she could tell was smiling at her discomfort. Maddie giggled in that high-pitched voice of hers and shook her head.
"Okey-dokey, so what do you want?" She leaned up right close to Duchess who sat further back in her seat.
"Two strawberry-chocolate cocoa's and two plates of White Rabbit Brownies please," Both girls turned and stared at Sparrow in surprise. Maddie giggled again, stood and skipped away. Duchess straightened herself out and looked at Sparrow with a raised eyebrow.
"I used to come here with my mom, we always got the same thing, it was kinda tradition." He had a faraway look in his eyes. It was strange, this was the first real piece of information Duchess had gleaned from him. She felt like she should tell him something like that too.
"My mom used to be like that. She'd take me to the lake near our house every day and we would explore for hours. Finding rare flowers and making daisy chains. Life was sweet," Sometimes Duchess wishes it never changed. But then she wouldn't have met Sparrow and would have stayed and oblivious destiny following zombie like Apple and the rest of her friends. Maddie reappeared and set two plates onto the table followed by two steaming mugs of cocoa. Sparrow started eating immediately but Duchess wasn't so sure. The brownies did look appetizing but just imagine the amount of calories in white chocolate brownies. And they cocoa probably wasn't made with low fat milk either. She took a tentative sip of her warm cocoa and the flavours washed over her. Strawberry and chocolate aren't supposed to go together but this was just perfect. She drained the mug quickly and plonked it back down on the table. Sparrow laughed at her and used his thumb to wipe off the cocoa on her cheek. Duchess went pink. What kind of princess was she?
"I see you enjoyed the cocoa. Try the brownies, they're even more amazing," he took another bite of his brownie and smiled. Duchess used her small colourful fork and took a tiny piece of brownie to taste. Sparrow was right, it was magical. Only wonderlanders could have done it. The rest of the meal passed in silence as outside the air cooled and became grey with rain heavy clouds. By the time they had finished many students had already made their way back to the school. They split the bill and left the tea shop. Maddie winked at Sparrow on the way out and put her finger to the side of her nose. Sparrow did the same and followed Duchess out. The wind was blowing more now but the air still held the early day warmth. Sparrow steered her towards a little corner shop at the end of the street.
"We can get an umbrella."
The shop was old and dusty. The ceiling was barely high enough for Sparrow to stand up straight. An old grey-haired woman with oval glasses sat on a high stool at the counter and Sparrow called out to her.
"Hey Freda, can we borrow an umbrella?" The women looked up from her knitting.
"We? Let's see this girl now," The women leaned over the counter and stared at Duchess's face. She scrutinized Duchess's outfit and hair before nodding, "She looks like a good one, don't disappoint me now boy and do something stupid." She hopped off her chair and walked to the back of the shop. Duchess looked around the shop. There were shelves on either side of them but they were empty except for the top shelves. A menagerie of odd items sat at the top of the shelves but at the top of the one to her right sat a silver bracelet. It looked like the only object in the room not covered in dust. The woman returned with a large umbrella and gave it to Sparrow.
"Thanks Freda, I'll get this back to you tomorrow," They exited the shop and Sparrow opened the umbrella immediately . The rain had already started and was pouring now. Mud had already started to form. Duchess griped about her shoes which were already becoming muddy as they walked back to school.
"Nobody cares what you look like Duchess," Sparrow held the umbrella up to shield them from the rain and Duchess hugged herself she was so cold. The sleeveless t-shirt and denim shorts were not working well with this weather.
"Well, as a matter of fact I care about how I look - especially compared to Apple White," she was only being honest. Here hair was now starting to frizz and she knew she looked terrible. Her shoes were completely ruined now, once pale pink and now muddy brown. Her arms were covered in goosebumps and she shivered.
"I think you look beautiful," Sparrow didn't realise he had said this out loud. He had meant to think it. Duchess looked up at him with a smile.
"Really?" She knew she was just fishing for compliments now but no-one had called her pretty in a long time - much less beautiful. Sparrow realised what he had said and looked down Duchess.
"Yeah, you do," Duchess smiled. She bet Daring didn't think she was pretty but for now Sparrow was enough. She shivered again as the wind became stronger, her fingers were really cold now. What happened to the warm front Blondie had predicted? Sparrow noticed her discomfort and slipped an arm around her shoulder. Duchess froze but decided to just go with it. He was warm anyway.
"So, what classes do you take? I never see you in school," It was a question that had been in the forefront of her mind for a while now.
"I'm in the year above you, I already pledged last year," that explained a lot. They spotted the school up ahead and a few rays of sunshine. Somehow it never rained directly on the ground of Ever After High. The clouds gathered but it never rained once you went across the bridge. They crossed and Duchess untangled herself from him.
"Thanks for saving me earlier today, I guess you don't owe me a life debt anymore."
"It was nothing. And I never owed you a life's debt in the first place." He laughed and closed the umbrella as they walked up the front steps of school.
Daring stood in the hallway next to Apple as they conversed with Blondie about their relationship again. He laughed and looked backwards to see Duchess and Sparrow laughing with each other. Duchess's hair was a frizzy mess and her shoes were muddy but she looked genuinely happy with Sparrow. Daring didn't know why it made him slightly angry, she was just a fangirl. Duchess left Sparrow's side and went in the direction of the girl's dormitories. Sparrow watched her walk away and then turned to catch Daring's eye. Sparrow smirked and Daring clenched his jaw. This was not going to end well.
Daring doesn't have a crush on Duchess, he just likes to keep his fangirls under a tight leash. Also Freda is just someone I made up (Sparrow's great aunt) and she owns a second hand junk shop.