A normal life

Introduction

Hi, my name is Cassy.

I know, I know it sounds like such a cliché starting my story by introducing myself. Since I started it this way, might as well run with it.

Let us try this again. My name is Casoritania Chrishinkiano Jouberten, but most people call me Cassy for short. Everyone that is, except for my parents. Basically, everyone that I consider close personal friends and all-around "cool" people. Not that they are terribly "uncool", but, well, I am a teenager so I will never admit to that. It is our job as their offspring to make them feel old and outdated, as it was when they did the same to their predecessors. An obligation of sorts.

I am a 16-planetary cycled-young college student following my dream of studying... Let me keep that to myself, I do not want to ruin the entire story.

Supposedly we are pretty much the same as most of you, not to sound presumptuous. The only difference between you and I would be my sharp pointy ears, my weird eyes, and well, my curse. You see I am what you would call an elf. Pale skin, big eyes, pointed shoes, the whole shebang. Not to be confused with fairies. For one, those guys are weird, with their wings always flapping about trying to act like us. Please note that no self-respecting elf will ever act the way they do. Ever.

I am currently attending a small, somewhat unpopular community college. This is my second cycle and to be... honest, I have no idea what I am doing here. I could be in the best schools, but no my parents wanted me to have a, what is the best way to put this? A "normal" upbringing. If one can call it that. You see I am a princess. Not a very well-known princess even though my dad is like a king of the, well he is the king enough said, but my sister and I were raised in what some would call isolation, far away from the royal life you would imagine a princess to have.

We were raised similarly to most kids, by playing outside in the mud, climbing trees, and crafting bows and arrows from twigs and string. Not by balancing old, heavy books on our heads so that one day we will be able to balance a 25kg crown. Thank heavens for that! With my slim neck that might just turn out to be decapitating. Just so you know elven crowns are actually lighter than a feather. Not a phoenix feather, but almost as light as a pixie's. So basically, you hardly know it is there.

There were no extravagant balls or ball gowns. As we never had any balls. What would be the point as music was banned? We would dress as many other kids our age would. Maybe even worse, as our clothes were hand-me-downs and thrift store specials. To be honest, I quite enjoyed tailoring the old worn clothes into something new by hand. Knowing that there will only be one of its kind and no one could duplicate my look. It helped me develop my own style. Not just following that of the norm, and the pride that came with knowing you made it that way is quite a big confidence boost. It is not that we could not afford the better things in life, we are royalty after all.

Our parents wanted to imprint a sense of gratitude, respect, and honour. They wanted us to understand that we were not better than anyone around us, but also note that no one was better than us. We are all equal parts of this world and we must be thankful for what we have. That way we can appreciate what is to come so much more. Be grateful for what was given and even more so for what was earned.

We were both placed in public schools all our lives and, as you can imagine we were made fun of A LOT, or at least I was! Told that my parents did not love me and were ashamed of me because of the way I was raised. They just never understood where it was coming from. Try imagining this, we even had to take a bus, a bus to and from school. A stinky, smelly, boy sweat contaminated, germ-infested, on the brink of just falling to pieces on the side of the road, bus.

Our bodyguards drove in front and behind the bus to ensure that we got to the castle in one piece. However, they were never allowed to interfere, not even when we (by we I mean me) got into fights. Apparently, this would teach us to stand up for ourselves. Build character.