Darling Charming: Finally Extraordinary

8: The Beginning of an End

Back at the castle, my friends and I snuck back through the secret exit and into my room, never getting caught. Of course, with me as their fearless leader. Just kidding, I'm surprised we didn't get caught. Then again, we used the Golden Child's secret exit, and he never gets caught.

"Okay, am I the only one who thought that Luke kid was totally weird?" Rosabella said, sitting down on the floor.

"I don't know, he just seemed a little... Dramatic," Ailie began, "but I don't blame him." She sat on the floor to Bella's left and twirled a long red curl around her finger. "I'd always be complaining about my life if I was a character in Romeo and Juliet."

"I still don't know what Romeo and Juliet is," Annie said, sitting next to Ailie.

I sat between Bella and Annie, completing the circle, and said, "Romeo and Juliet is a story where the children from two families that hate each other and are always fighting meet and fall in love. After they meet, they get married, a whole bunch of drama happens and in the end they both end up dead."

"Ew. I don't like that," Annie groaned, making a face.

"I know, right?" I laughed. "He was kinda cute though."

"Yeah, he wasn't so bad," Ailie agreed.

"Ewwwww," said Rosabella.

"I think Darling has a crush on him," Annie declared, laughing.

"I do not!" I defended. He was cute but I don't like him. He and Ailie could be a thing though. I see it. I ship it.

"Me too," Ailie whispered to Annie, cupping a hand over her mouth so I wouldn't hear, but saying it loud enough and obvious enough so that I would hear it, at the same time.

"Agh, I hate you guys," I said, giggling and rolling my eyes.

"Really?" Annie stopped laughing and got really serious. "What did I do? I can fix it! I promise! I'm so sorry Darling I-"

"You didn't do anything wrong, Annie! It was sarcasm!" I was shocked Annie really didn't know what sarcasm was.

"Oh... What's sarcasm?"

"When you say something you don't really mean in a mocking way," Rosabella tried to explain. I didn't think there was a fifteen year old on this earth who didn't know what sarcasm was. Apparently, though, my friend does not.

Ailie frowned, looking concerned. "No one's ever used sarcasm around you before?"

"No.... Wait, uh-huh. Uncle Kristoff. But I never heard it used like that. I'm sorry. That was probably really weird and embarrassing and I-"

"Annie, relax. We're not mad at you. We understand. Everyone had a different experience growing up. If there's anything else you need to know about being a teenager, we can help," I said welcomingly.

"Oh, thank you," Annie said, pulling Ailie and Rosabella into a hug, and trying to get me into it also. I hugged my friends happily. "Oh! I wanted to ask you guys! Does it ever snow here?"

"Yeah, sometimes, in the winter. Why?" I asked. I got up from the carpeted floor and stepped over to my desk. I plucked a bag of chocolate drops from my secret candy stash out of the drawer and brought them over to share with the group.

"Because where I'm from, sometimes, it snows in the middle of the summer. The whole kingdom comes to the village square, and somehow there's always a layer of ice covering the ground! We always ice skate on it. My friend Olaf taught me how to ice skate," Annie explained.

"Woah... Sounds like a lot of fun!" Ailie exclaimed.

"I was just thinking you guys should totally come one time when it snows in summer so we can skate! Olaf can teach you if you don't know how, or I can. Oh, I forgot to tell you, I thought of it because Olaf really likes warm hugs. He's a talking snowman," Annie described, her eyes glittering when she talked about snow in the summer.

"Snow in the summer? How magical," Bella sighed, taking a chocolate drop from the bag I'd placed in the center of the group.

"Oooh! Chocolate! My favorite!" Annie cried, taking a handful and eating them one at a time.

Annie told us more stories of her ice skating experience in the summer until there was another knock on my door. It was after midnight, and my dad looked awfully tired and stressed.

"Darling, Annie, I need to tell you something," he said, scratching a hand through his messy bedhead blond hair.

Annie and I rose from the group and followed him into the hallway. Something's wrong. Dad wouldn't come talk to just the two of us in the middle of the night.

"Annie, we have some bad news. We are unable to locate your parents' ship right now. I'm sure they are going to be just fine, probably just a malfunction or something, but you are welcome to stay here until we hear back from them," my dad said in his kingly voice, despite it being very late.

"Nobody knows where they are?" Annie squeaked, becoming panicked. It looked as if she'd stopped breathing for a moment.

"Not at the moment, but I promise, we will find them," dad again said very calmly, even though the situation was extremely serious.

Annie turned away for a moment, and I thought she might cry, but I didn't want to embarrass her by looking. I turned to my dad instead. "They'll be okay, right?"

"I'm not sure. We're hoping for the best. We think there might be a storm our at sea..." My dad said, this time shutting his eyes, and putting his hand to his head, as if it was pounding.

"Oh no," I mouthed, feeling myself begin to tear up also. I leaned into my dad and buried my head into his shoulder, hoping I wouldn't cry.

"It will be okay, sweetie," he whispered.

I sneaked a peak at Annie, who had both hands covering her face and tears running down her chin as she leaned against the wall.

My dad started leave, and we said goodnight to each other before I focused my attention back on Annie.

"Why are you crying, Annie?" I whispered, coming over to her side.

Trying to stop herself from crying, she took a short breath and wept "that's how grandma and grandpa passed..."