I woke up extra early that morning. I had just thought of something: what if the story had changed? Because I tampered with it, did it change in the book? I quickly jumped out of bed and grabbed the book from its hiding place under all my dresses in my dresser.
I opened it up on my bed and flipped to Cinderella. The beginning was the same, she danced with Charles, and she left her shoe. But then it changed.
It now read: Princess Momo picked up the shoe Ella left behind. Prince Charming came over and Momo handed him the shoe, but the shoe slipped and broke!
To summarize what happened, Charles went back to the dance and didn’t find anyone else he liked as much as Ella. Boring. But they didn’t have a way to find Ella so Charles hired a person to paint a picture of her and put up wanted posters all over the kingdom. Wow, he really wants her. But he still doesn’t find her. Ella sees the posters but still doesn’t say that it was her. This goes on for years until they bump into each other at another ball… then they get married. But this is good because the flower girl isn’t me this time. It’s a tiny girl with blonde hair and a pink dress.
So this ending is better! I don’t have to be a flower girl, Charles and Ella still get together, and the Step Mother dies of a sickness. Wait, what? Well, that’s good for Ella, I guess. Apparently she got a sickness from somewhere and was so old that her body just couldn’t handle it. Or at least that’s what I got from this very un-descriptive book.
Then I wonder: what else could I change? This story is a good ending for me, I don’t have to be a flower girl and Charles and Ella still get together… but who else might not be happy with their story? Could I help them? Could I change it?
I decided to start at the beginning, which is Goldilocks and the Three Bears. I read over the story and think of how to help Goldilocks. She’s a girl who goes into a bear’s house and tries their porridge, breaks a chair, and sleeps in their beds. Stupid, but I would probably do it too. I just wouldn’t run, I’d fight. I could do two things: have her not go into the house or save her from the bears. But what if it’s already happened? Although Ella’s story hasn’t finished yet, so I decided that after tea I’d track down Goldilocks.
But then I realized a flaw in my plan. Our kingdom is big, and there’s many other kingdoms. Now I know how Charles feels, trying to track down Ella. Well, I can figure it out later. I stuff the book back in its hiding place and get ready. I put on a blue dress, blue gloves, blue socks, and white slip-on shoes (I’ll take them off when we get there). Then I put my hair up in a ponytail.
I go downstairs to breakfast. Mother, Father, and Charles are all already there. Mother is ready for tea also. Father and Charles are both discussing how to find Ella.
“What if you got an artist to draw El-er, her, then put them around the kingdom and the posters say something like ‘Lost. If you see this girl ask if she lost a glass slipper.’” I suggest.
Father laughs, but Charles looks as if this is the best idea anyone’s ever had. Well, I guess I now know how he got that idea. I sit down and load my plate with pancakes then pour syrup all over them. Then I start stuffing my mouth. Mother clicks her tongue at me, and I glare at her. But I fix my posture and start eating more ladylike.
After breakfast we all say our goodbyes and Mother and I go to our carriage. We board and I sigh. I hate Alex, tea, and acting ladylike. I really wish I weren’t a princess.
___
We arrive at Queen Marcella’s palace at noon. The air smells like freshly cut grass and flowers. Their castle is a huge structure and is so shiny it looks like it’s made out of glass.
One of their servants helps Mother out of the carriage, and I follow. Even though I don’t want to. We get out and go up to the castle where Alex and Queen Marcella are waiting for us.
“Alex, go entertain Nora.” Queen Marcella says, and leads Mother
into the castle.
“So, Momo, what do you wanna do?” Alex asks.
“Change out of this dress, get a pirate ship, and have a sword fight.” I answer.
“We can arrange that.” Alex, smiles, and grabs my hand. I pull out of it.
“I don’t need help walking.” I say.
“Ok then.” Alex says, and starts walking into his garden. I follow.
“So, Momo.” He says. “You’re kinda cute you know…”
“I know.” I say. He tells me this everytime he sees me. Any other girl would be flattered but I’m not every other girl.
“Would you like to go on a date sometime?” He asks. I blanch.
“EW NO!” I shout.
“Ok, ok, why not?” Alex asks.
“You want me to tell you why not? You’re snobby, think that every girl has a crush on you, think that you’re cool because you’re so rich. You hang out with your stupid friends and make fun of townspeople, and it’s not cool!” I fume.
Alex looks shocked. “Snobby? What do you mean? I don’t think that every girl has a crush on me! I wouldn’t care if they did! You’re the only girl I want!”
“Save it.” I snap, and head deeper into the garden.
“Well, you could just give me a try. I’m not so bad.” He said, and I rolled my eyes.
“Yeah, you’re more than so bad. You’re the worst!” I told him.
“What did I ever do to you?” He asked, and I laughed.
“You wanna know what you did? Well, you pushed me into the river, you dumped paint on my head, you chased me with frogs and you destroyed my book!” I yell.
“But we were younger. I’m mature now.” He says, and I huff.
“Sure. Sure. So, what would you do if we did start dating?” I ask.
“I’d bring you flowers everyday, visit you often, take you on dates to fancy restaurants, sing songs for you, dance and maybe even a kiss once in a while?” He says.
That sounded disgusting. Fancy restaurants? Ew, no. I prefer pizza, not cooked fish eggs. And flowers? Maybe chocolate, but I prefer my flowers outside, not in. I wouldn’t mind being visited by my boyfriend often, but him singing me songs? Erm… ew. And I don’t dance.
“How about bringing me chocolate everyday with pizza and we could go outside and go on a picnic. Then we could take a hike and we WOULDN’T sing or dance.” I say.
“Anything you want.” Alex says.
“Oh my gosh, would you quit it already? I’m not interested!” I yell, then storm off down more into the garden. But of course, Alex followed me.
“Please, just give me a chance! I’ll do anything you want- I’ll take you to balls, shopping, surprise you with jewelry-”
I turn around so fast I’m probably a blur. “NO jewelry, NO shopping, and most of all, NO BALLS!” Then I ran off deeper into the garden.
“Nora! Alex!” I heard someone yell, and I quickly turned around and ran back to the castle. Alex followed me.
“Nora!” Mother exclaims as I run up to her. “You’re all sweaty, your hair is a mess, your dress is rumpled and your make-up is running!”
I groan as Mother leads me and Alex inside. Mother takes me into a bathroom and fixes my look then takes me into the tea room. Alex and Queen Marcella are already sitting at the table. Mother makes me sit by Alex.
“Queen Lily, Nora is simply beautiful.” Alex says.
“She certainly is.” Queen Marcella agrees.
I gag, but Mother beams. She loves when Alex compliments me. I don’t know why, I hate it.
“I asked her earlier if she wanted to go on a date with me.” Alex says.
“Oh, really? What did she say?” Mother asks.
I’m about to say no when Alex pipes in and says “She said yes.”
I blanch. What? No, no, no, no! Now Mother will force me to go on a date with him! But it’s too late, Mother and Queen Marcella are already making plans for our future marriage.
After twenty minutes of torture Queen Marcella changes the subject. “I heard Charles found a girl at the ball, but she ran away.” She said.
“Yes, and the girl left a slipper. A pretty glass slipper, must have been really expensive. But Nora sadly dropped it and it broke.” Mother replied.
“Oh, what a shame. What a shame.”
Yes, what a shame.