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The School for Good

Rose woke up with his eyes sore and heart metaphorically empty. Rose sat up and the emptiness sank into him. He looked around and frowned at the pink room he was in. He looked down and frowned at the pink dress he had left on, which was now incredibly wrinkled.

Rose did the best to push his hair into place and straighten out the pinafore. He grimaced as he looked at the shoes and put them on his sore feet. He gave up and tossed them aside for now. He would go barefoot. Rose stood up and slowly went down the stairs like a haunted ghost; eyes glazed over and aura dim.

He stepped into the dining hall to find he was the only one in pink. Apparently princesses don't eat breakfast. Well, good thing Rose wasn't a princess, he thought as he partook of the food there. Rose did his best to ignore the stares from the other boys as he ate, but his attempts were futile. He noticed the way the room had gone quiet when he had walked in. He noticed how several of the boys had spread themselves out around the tables indicating there was no room. For him.

Following breakfast Rose went back to his room and shoved his feet in the blasted pink shoes. Wobbling, he descended the stairs to the first floor where classes were being held. He walked in and Professor Anemone gave him a glare in the middle of her telling the class that the most important part of a smile comes from the eyes. Rose quietly took a seat in the back of the taffy room as Professor Anemone went about judging smiles, "Wonderful, Julie. Less teeth, Monica. Goodness, Beatrice! You look like you have gas. Marvelous. Marvelous. Splendid. Open your mouth a little, dear." She reached the end. To Rose. "Now, Rose. Let us see a smile."

Rose felt the color leave his face as everyone turned to look at him. But he composed himself and gave Professor Anemone his best smile. Half the class swooned and Rose's nose burned.

"That is . . . charming, Rose. But as a princess we are looking for sweet and innocent."

At least Rose hadn't gotten the 20. Beatrice had gotten that one. But a sallow number 17 hung over his head. And even though being a princess was one of the things Rose hardly cared about, it was still a put down knowing that he got a low mark in the class.

The next class was with Pollux where Rose was disturbed by seeing Castor's head missing from the body. Pollux stood proudly at the front of the classroom and announced, "Today we will be working with posture. Now, grab a nest of eggs and place it on your head. Follow me, and try not to lose any eggs. This way, ladies."

Girls grabbed a nest and followed Pollux out of the classroom. Rose grabbed one and hesitated. He couldn't put these eggs at such a risk. He couldn't.

Pollux popped back in, "Are you coming, Rose?"

"Are—are these real eggs?" Pollux nodded. "I can't do this. Not to the eggs."

Pollux sniffed, "Then I suppose you shall get the 20. Is that what you want? If you don't want to harm the eggs, then make sure you keep your posture perfect. Now get out there with the nest on your head with the rest of the girls, please."

Rose stiffened. Then slowly went outside where he found nineteen of the girls with nests on their heads. Carefully, rose placed his nest on his head. Lily walked over to him, "Just remember what we told you yesterday. You should be fine." With a gentle pat on his shoulder, Lily and the rest of the girls started parading around following Pollux. Rose followed. Sluggishly. After all, one of Mia's words of advice was not to rush.

Somehow Rose made it without breaking a single egg. Somehow Rose walked in the pumps without wobbling too much. Unfortunately, Rose was disheartened seeing two of the girls lose one of their eggs and watched horrified as they smashed to the ground.

Back in the classroom numbers hovered over the student's heads. Mia had the golden number one over hers. Rose had a pink number five.

Rose and the nineteen girls found themselves standing by the banks of Halfway Bay where a young woman was chittering with a squirrel. After a few moments the squirrel chattered a little and pointed towards us. Princess Uma looked up, "Oh! I am sorry. I did not see you." Turning back to the squirrel she chittered and the squirrel ran off while she waved good bye. "Now, today we will be focusing on telling our dear little animal friends what we want. Communication is incredibly important in fairy tales. Letting a passing songbird know you've fallen into a trap can save your life! Even in this last tale the storian wrote, animals were crucial helping Good overcome Evil. So today we will be learning how to let the animals know what we want."

Rose was confused. What we want? What about what we needed?

"Today we will be working with Wish Fish! And whoever gets the clearest image with them gets top points." She gestured to the pool where a school of fish were waiting, "Now, Lily, would you like to go first? Just place your finger in the waters and let your wish fill your soul. The fish will read for it!"

Lily knelt down beside the pool and gently dipped her finger into it. Everyone watched entranced as the fish changed colors and swam around forming shapes. A distinct figure of one of the boys, Cedric, was made by the fish and all of the girls started chattering about boys. Rose gaped at the image. He certainly hoped that it did not matter what image the fish formed as long as it was clear.

One by one the girls dipped their fingers into the waters. With each one a different prince came from the fish: Peter, Justin, Jay, Cedric, Adrian. Rose couldn't help notice that between Mia's vibrant wedding with Richard and Monica's feint image of Timothy that Raven hadn't been wished for.

"Now, Rose. I believe you are last."

Rose gently slipped his finger into the water and watched intently as the fish immediately started changing colors and forming a shape. Horror began to fill Rose as the fish seemed to build a prince and all of the girls around him leaned in close to watch a face emerge on the dashing figure. It was Rose's.

Rose grinned to himself at the image in front of him. The fish wouldn't lie. Slowly, the disappointed girls leaned back giving the area around Princess Uma and Rose a little more room.

"Decent image, Rose." Numbers blazed over the heads of everyone and Rose held a decent number 10.

Rose then remembered that these were telling him how well he was doing as a princess and frowned. He looked at the girls gossiping about boys and glanced at the castle wondering what the boys would be doing right now. Probably fencing. What was Raven doing right now?

Lily glanced at Rose's sudden change in disposition and came over beside him. "Is something wrong?"

"No. I don't think so. Not besides being placed in here as a princess. Though, I do wonder, why did none of the girls choose Raven?"

Lily shrugged, "He's pale. The others are golden. He seems to lack confidence where the others thrive in it. I would choose you to him with your enchanting violet eyes, golden hair, tanned skin . . ." she stopped and blinked, "I'm sorry. Anyway, why does it matter? You wish to be a prince and isn't that what fairy tales are for? For dreams to come true? All you need to do is do well in class and you'll have your chance at happily ever after."

Rose let out a sigh, "Yes, and live happily ever after. Like my grandmother." Rose looked off to the side and started walking off towards the castle. Wobbling, Rose finally gave up and kicked his shoes aside and headed off towards the back. In a cranny a sat down with his legs drawn up remembering his grandmother's story. Happily ever after indeed.

"Hey." Rose looked up and saw Lily standing over him holding his shoes. "You left these." She knelt down sideways like. Proper like. "You might want to bring your knees down. You're flashing." Blushing Rose imitated Lily's pose. "What got you so upset?"

Rose sighed, "My grandmother's storybook. If that's a happy ever after I'm not sure that's what we should be striving for."

"Who was your grandmother?"

"Briar Rose, the Sleeping Beauty."

"Ah. Were you named after her?"

Rose nodded, "My parents wanted another girl. They named me Rose anyway."

There was a small silence. Lily spoke up, "I know what you mean about happy ever afters. Your grandmother went through quite a bit with her prince, didn't she?" She was frowning. "My parents' happy ever after wasn't exactly happy either. The Princess and the Frog. My mother was the princess. A spoiled princess. One of the few stories where the princess saves the prince from a witch, even if my mother is a spoiled brat." Lily's eyes glistened, "Makes you think how useless beautification is, doesn't it."

Rose didn't find any humor in this.

"Well, just do your best in class, Rose. You'll get your chance and you'll find your happily ever after. Isn't your grandmother happy with Jack now?"

Rose paused to think. She was happy. Much happier than she had been with his grandfather. It wasn't like she chose him. "I suppose so."

"Even though you seem to be in the wrong part of the school everything will be fine. Just like Agatha and Sophie!"

Rose cringed at the stories Millicent had told him about her years with Agatha and everything that had happened. Good against evil. Boys against girls. The dead verses the living. So many casualties. So much death on all sides. All because Agatha and Sophie's friendship was irregular. Would anything happen with Rose's irregularity? With Rose being put in princess classes?

Lily interrupted his thoughts, "Come, and let's head to history." She stood up and offered her hand to Rose.

Rose took it but told her, "I don't think I'm up to this. I think I'm going to head up to my room. I don't know if I can do this."

Lily nodded, "Very well. I'll see you at lunch, then." She handed him his shoes and while she headed for the clearing he went into the castle barefoot (shoes in his hands). Padding up the stairs Rose reflected upon what Lily had told him: acing princess classes would be his best chance at becoming a prince.