Darling Charming: Finally Extraordinary

12: Temporary Wallflower

{RECAP: Hey, so I know it's been a while! When we last left off with Darling and friends, it was the Odd Squad's first day at EAH. Darling thought she saw Luke around though she hadn't been expecting to. This is that same day,  but later on.}

From that moment on I was unable to focus all day. Had I really just seen him, or had I imagined it? Plenty of kids around here had brown hair, blue eyes and headphones. He would recognize me. Right?

At dinner, I sat with Bella, Annie and Ailie at the edge of a long wooden table in the castleteria. My oldest brother stopped by my table to say hello and welcome to EAH. There was a girl with him; he hadn't said he'd had a girlfriend.

"Hey little sister, hey little sister's friends," Daring said coolly, snatching one of my fries off my plate and stuffing it into his mouth.

"Hey. These are my friends Annie and Ailie, and you know Bella." I said, hoping he wouldn't be stupid enough to walk away without introducing his own friend. When he didn't, and began randomly talking about spring sports physicals, I took note of the girl's awkwardness and tried to help by saying "um, Daring, aren't you going to introduce us to your friend?"

Daring's friend had long, straight brown hair with bangs and some cream-colored streaks and silvery eyes. She was tall, taller than me and any other girls I'd met my age, but not as tall as Daring was. She was wearing a red hooded cape and the shiny ring on her finger was in the shape of a fierce wolf.  Her thin but strong frame made her appear athletic, and since she is friends with Daring, I assumed she was. Daring isn't exactly friends with the girls he talks to, mostly because they just obsess over him and he never knows if they truly like him for him or just for his looks. Being a Charming is not as easy as it looks. The girl wasn't exactly the type of girl I usually saw Daring with either... She was too shy, and too real. She wasn't goggling or fawning over him.

"Oh, right. Guys, this is Cerise Hood, the only girl on the bookball team and the MVP from this year's Thronecoming game," he introduced her, making her blush. She pulled her hood over her head more, almost self-consciously. I liked that my brother hasn't introduced Cerise as "the daughter of Little Red Riding Hood", which clearly she was, but that wasn't important. Instead he focused on her personally, not what she was destined to be without a choice.

"She's a rebel like you," Daring leaned closer to me and whispered. Definitely not the type of girl Daring hung around with, with his royalest of royal hearts. I wasn't even sure he had male rebel friends. I really was shocked. "Anyway, we're meeting in the grimmnasium to organize the True Hearts Day dance after dinner, if you guys want to come and meet some people in the grade. Even if you don't, Cerise and I will be there, and we'll chill with you if you want." I guess I'd been wrong about Daring too. He wasn't the worst brother a girl could ask for.

*

When I took a step into the Ever After High grimmnasium, I was greeted by an overly friendly and overly fake Apple White.

"Darling Charming! Rosabella Beauty! Aileen DunBroch! Nice to see you!" Apple then turned to Annie. "I'm sorry, hon, but do I know you?"

"Annie is the second princess of Arendelle," Rosabella informed the idiocy that was Apple. Of course she knew Annie, she knew every princess in every kingdom. She just needed to insult me in any way possible.

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't talk to my friends as if they're beneath you," I told her before walking off to find my brother.

Apple's jaw dropped and I heard a familiar voice snicker "better close your mouth, Apple, or you're going to catch flies."

Before I'd even turned around, he called "Darling Charming, is that you?"

I looked into his blue eyes with mine. I hadn't seen them since he'd kissed my cheek and wandered away.

"Luke Montague. Wondered when I'd see you again."

"Thought you didn't start here for two more weeks." Luke was different. He was just as smooth and, for lack of a better word, charming, as he had originally seemed, but with a sharper, snobbier edge. I noticed some girls watching him from the far wall. I'd never seen him act like this before. The over-confidence he displayed was far from the desperate, dramatic state he'd been in the first time we spoke. Even the second time, it wasn't like this.

I didn't know how to respond to him. He made it sound like he had been unable to prepare for me showing up now. Was this not who he wanted me to think he was? I didn't know if I was being lied to or if it was all in my head. "Well I'm here now," I said, sounding more disappointed than I had planned to. I swear Luke was scowling. "See you later, Romeo," I ended it, taking my friends and getting out of there before my head overflowed with confusion.

I fled to where Cerise was standing alone near the bleachers, since I didn't see either of my brothers. "Hey."

"Oh, hey. It's Darling, right?" Cerise's tone was kind, but uncomfortable. I wondered if the was the type that didn't get too much social interaction.

"Yeah, that's right. So, can I ask you what you think of that kid right over there?" I pointed to Luke when he wasn't looking.

"Luke Montague?" Cerise stifled a laugh. "He's one of the biggest posers at this school." She gestured to a blonde girl with long curls that looked like they'd taken hours to perfect and a face caked with more makeup than I'd probably ever worn in my entire life. "See that girl? That's Anna Capulet. She's Apple White's evil henchwoman. She's Luke's girlfriend, but I might be one of the only people in the whole school that can tell he'd rather be dating used, useless fairy dust on the floor than dating her. People are so easily swayed by what appears on the surface."

Cerise spoke the words of a true wallflower. The things she said shocked me more then they should have.

Cerise turned her whole self toward me instead of just turning her head. "Why do you ask?"

I shook the question off, unable to answer it. "It's not a big deal. Can I ask you a question, sort of personal, sort of not?" I searched the nearby area for my friends, but I didn't see where they had gone.

"What's the question?"

"Well, clearly you're a wallflower. The outside-looking-in type, right?" I hoped Cerise wouldn't be offended by what I said.

"Yeah."

"Can you tell me about how the people in this school see my oldest brother?"

Cerise's head ducked, and she stared down at her black crownverse sneakers. In not much more than a whisper, she said "the school is so wrong about him."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

She sighed, not meeting my eye. "People that like Daring think he's a party animal, a ladies' man and a brainless jock, not much more to him. People that don't like Daring think he's a stuck-up snob who only cares about sports, money, parties and girls. They're both wrong."

"I'm still getting to know the real Daring Charming," I admitted.

Cerise didn't say anything more. She gazed longingly over by the wooden podium, where both my brothers and a few of the other major jocks of the school stood.

I smiled at her, and she only barely saw me. "Thank you." I found Ailie's crazy hair in the crowd on the bleachers and began making me way toward it.

I swear I heard Cerise growl "he doesn't even like parties."