If Raven Signed

Permanent Ink: Restart

Cerise Hood was more miserable than she had ever been. She had been depending on Raven not to sign, but now there was no hope left. She would have to follow in her mom's fairytale footsteps, which meant living out the rest of her life in a lie. She could never just be happy with her sister and father. She would have to lead a separate life, without them in it. She sighed, pushing her jello around with her spoon.

"What's wrong Cerise?" Cedar asked. "You look miserable."

Cerise looked up at her roommate, who was sitting across the table from her with Hunter. Maddie sat by her side, drinking tea with her dormouse, Earl Grey. It was the day ever after legacy day, and they were all eating in the castleteria. The mood: somber.

"You can hardly blame her," Hunter said. "When Raven signed, that was essentially closing the book on our happily ever afters."

"Don't blame Raven for this," Maddie said, taking a break from sipping her tea. "She's under a lot of pressure. You should have seen her before. She was absolutely bonkers with stress!"

"No one's blaming Raven," Cerise said. Truly, she didn't. She supposed she could have refused to sign herself. But then people would wonder why she didn't. It's not like she had the worst ending ever after. They would start to ask questions, and she might expose her parents. No, not signing had never been an option. Unless Raven hadn't signed first.

"That's just right," Blondie said from across the Castleteria. Cerise had her back turned to the royal table, she just couldn't stand to look at them today. Blondie's voice grated against her ears as she continued talking, "Raven did a brave thing! She made sure all of our destinies are secure. I couldn't be prouder of her."

Cerise gritted her teeth, trying to ignore them.

"Tell me about it," Briar said. "I totally thought she was going to go off the rails. Luckily we've all signed. There's no going back now." Before she could keep talking, Cerise heard her stuff some jello in her mouth. You'd think they'd serve something with more substance.

"Yeah, how great for you," Hunter said under his breath.

"What was that?" Daring Charming asked, starting to grow indignant.

"Come on guys, there's no reason to fight," Cedar said.

"You're right," Hunter said. "Let's just ignore them."

Cerise went back to eating, meat being the only thing that could make her feel better. She wished so badly that Raven hadn't signed.

The rest of lunch would have been peaceful, if it weren't for one Kitty Cheshire.

"Kitty?" Maddie said. Her friends turned to her. Maddie covered her mouth. She had forgotten they couldn't hear the narrator. But what was Kitty going to do?

She found out sooner rather than later, as fries flew across her vision. One landed in her tea, another in her hair.

"Oh it is on like fairy song," Cerise said, pushing away her plate and standing. Maddie looked up to see Kitty giggling, holding fries in her hand.

"No wait--" Maddie started, but it was too late. Cerise threw a handful of fries at Briar Beauty, who ducked so they landed on Daring's face. Maddie sighed. This was going to be a long year.

...

Raven wasn't sure what to do. Her friends were fighting because of her. She had brought up the idea to rebel in the first place, making everyone uneasy. Even though she had signed in the end, it didn't stop others from resenting their own destinies. She glanced at Cerise, who had to hide a terrible secret because of her destiny. Raven couldn't imagine how miserable she felt after signing.