Darling Charming: Finally Extraordinary

9: But Violent Delights Have Violent Ends...

It was Tuesday at noon, and Bella and Ailie had just left the estate. While I would miss my friends dearly, I wouldn't have to miss all of them.

Because Annie is still here.

I'm not complaining, since her parents still haven't shown up. I'd be devastated too.

Okay, so maybe I am complaining. But Annie's I-don't-know-how-to-be-a-correct-teenager attitude towards everything was getting sort of old already. This morning, when my parents were off at some "find the Arendelles!" meeting, I gave our Chef a break and fished around in the pull-out drawer freezer until I found an old (but not expired!) box of toaster waffles. Bella and Ailie were already loading up their plates with syrup for dipping while I was plugging in the toaster, and Annie had never seen a toaster waffle in her life, forget having tasted one.

Right now, I was in my room dressing up to meet Luke and tell him about my story. Okay, so maybe I don't really like Luke, and making myself look gorgeous just to meet him may be giving him the wrong idea. But he's a boy. Plus, he likes Ailie anyway, and I'm a Charming princess. Unfortunately, even if it wasn't the impression I wanted to leave, the Charming princess impression was the only option.

"Darling?" Annie called, emerging from the bathroom wearing a green dress I'd lent her from the back of my closet I surely hadn't worn in ages. "Who is Luke again?"

"Romeo boy," I stated, leaning closer to my mirror to apply my mascara.

"Oh. What are you putting on your face?" Annie asked next, examining a bunch of books on my bookshelf.

You've got to be kidding me.

"Makeup," I said simply, sighing to hold back frustration. I know I can't blame her, she doesn't mean to annoy me.

"What does it do?"

"Make you look even prettier than you already are."

"Oh."

Annie was quiet for a few minutes, and I glanced over and noticed her skimming through a copy of the Snow White story that had probably been collecting dust on the shelf for ten years.

As I coated my lips in shiny pink gloss, I watched Annie's startled expression when she noticed Snow White in her deep sleep in the glass coffin.

And then came the prince, and I could see a new question flickering behind Annie's sea-foam green eyes.

"That's your brother's destiny?"

And there it is. "Yep."

"Wow."

Annie didn't say much after that until she left. She was just dazed by Snow White and Prince Charming.

*

The ground in the woods was all wet and soggy from a storm that must have taken place sometime last night. Just for fun, since my parents were still at meetings and would be all day, I'd taken a spare and more blunt sword from Daring's room to cut a path through the thick woods. I'd told Annie to stand back, and I could hear her nervously whimper every time I slashed through another branch.

As we were getting close, I could see Luke sitting on the same tree stump I'd found him sitting on last night. He hadn't noticed us yet, though the sharp noises my sword made weren't exactly quiet. His sneakers were muddy from the ground too. My shoes never really get muddy. Perks (or weird quirks) of being a Charming. He was wearing headphones, but the music wasn't loud enough, nor was I close enough, to hear what he was listening to.

"Boo," I said, grabbing his attention away from the music.

"Oh, hey," he said coolly, turning to face me. "Wanna sit?" He motioned to a slightly smaller round tree stump conveniently a few feet over.

I snapped my fingers, pointed to the stump, and called "Annie."

Annie came running over, somehow having gotten caught a few paces behind me. There was a stain on the old dress of mine she was wearing from possibly tripping, but she seemed chipper as usual.

Luke gave me a look that said really, why her? in a way that made me have to hold back a laugh. I threw up my hands as if to respond sorry, I had to. I hoped I could make it up to him (and myself).

"So, your story?" Luke asked, pretending everything was going as he had planned.

"Right. Well, it's really not all that interesting. Some old king decides he wants to make me his wife, and obviously I'd be thinking like "lol no" but I'd have to anyway, but then a handsome young prince comes swooping in and asks me to marry them instead. And that makes everything better I guess. The prince saves the day, again," I explained to my friends. I rolled a rock around with the toe of my silver high heel.

"Still isn't nearly as bad as Romeo and Juliet," Luke responded.

Annie's jaw dropped. "But what if it's not true love?"

"I don't know, but it's the story, so according to the rules regarding the Storybook of Legends, no one except me, you, and a few more people of this generation care," I tried to say in shorter terms. I checked the bottom of my shoes hoping they'd be dirty for once, but they still weren't. Glamorous to anyone else- but not to me, I'm so sick of it!

Luke ran his hand through his chocolate brown hair and Annie twirled that weird random white streak in her hair around her pointer finger. I suddenly was overcome with the urge to flip my hair but I knew that I'd have to ask my friends to look away in order to do that, and it being the first time this situation has come up I know they won't listen, and I don't feel like dealing with that. Instead I jerked my head around awkwardly trying to flip my hair away from my face without actually flipping it. That they noticed.

"What, what are you doing?" Luke asked.

"Trying to flip my hair... It's hard to explain," I mumbled, still oddly jerking my head. It wasn't working and I think I pulled a muscle in my neck. Ooooops. Maybe it would've been worth it just to slow time down for a few seconds. Ugh.

"Explain! Please?" Annie begged, and I immediately felt bad saying no since all she really wanted in the world was to learn more.

"Fine. Okay, when I flip my hair at just the right speed and other people are looking at it, it slows time down for a few seconds. So if I just don't touch it myself, sometimes that effect doesn't work."

"Let me help." Luke stood up from the tree stump, walked right up to me, looked me in the eye, slowly moved my hair away from my face, and kissed me lightly on the cheek. "Goodbye, Darling." And then Luke just simply stepped around me and walked towards the edge of the clearing that was behind my back. Leaving me, standing in the center, and Annie, sitting on the other stump.

"What am I, melted snow?" Annie shouted angrily, waving a fist in the air.

I scrunched my eyebrows confusedly and shouted, "What just happened?"

And Annie just shrugged, eyes wide.

Guess I made it up to him.