Sofia the first: Mean Princesses

Flying Derby Match

"Sofia, patches of your hair's been turning a golden hue lately," Mom said the next day as she combed my hair.

"Shut up, Mom. Leave me alone," I demanded, pulling away from her strong grip.

"Okay. Have fun at school!"

I hopped into the coach and Amber followed suit, dressed in James's clothes, still slumping and ornery.

--

In dance class, I immediately ran up to Hugo, even though he looked depressed from his breakup with Amber.

"Hey," I ventured.

"Oh. Hi, Sofia," he responded dully, his eyes now a muddy hazel and his hair slightly tousled.

We began waltzing like the old days, when Amber hardly existed in my life.

"I'm so sorry about your breakup with Amber," I blurted out, though deep down inside, I was squealing uncontrollably with excitement.

"Nah, that's all right. I'm actually grateful that you told me."

"I pretty much saved you from dating a bloated dumb blonde. Good thing she still has to manage her club. You were too good for her, anyway."

"Sofia, you're hilarious, but you're pretty blonde yourself for some reason," he said jokingly as he twirled me around.

This 'blondness' of mine had been getting out of hand. I gave him a playful punch.

"Shut up."

He chuckled heartily, which sounded like a thousand ringing silver and gold bells to my ears. Oh, how I had missed that joyful sound. The remaining light in my depressing life.

"So," he said, "are you still going to compete in flying derby?"

"Oh, right. I almost forgot about that."

I lowered my gaze to our dancing feet.

"When's the actual competition?"

"Today," he answered, "against Hexley Hall."

"I guess I can't go anymore," I sighed in despair. I was so stupid to back out of flying derby practice. I felt like going back in time to kill myself for making such a dumb decision.

"It would still be nice if we had a girl in the team. After all, we need to kick Hexley Hall's prankster bottoms. They've been vandalizing Royal Prep lately and James doesn't seem like he'll be coming back anytime soon."

"Is it too late to join?" I asked desperately.

"Nope!" Zandar chirruped as he emerged out of nowhere.

"Zandar, what the heck. Stop creeping up on us," I responded angrily.

Hugo laughed. "It's okay, Sofia. He's cool."

I've had a few boy crushes back in Dunwiddie, but this one was different. Hugo hit me like a big golden coach.

I looked at his mesmerizing hazel orbs and I noticed they regained their usual radiance. Looking deeper into them, it felt like I was gazing into a thousand suns and all of a sudden, I was looking into our bright future together.