The Princess Sisters (The Princess Sisters Series) (19 page)

Then
the girls all climbed into the car and began discussing Cinderella’s plan. 
They talked excitedly about their ideas, but each one was nervous they weren’t
going to be able to pull it off.  Dana overheard snippets from the front seat.

“What
are you girls up to?” she asked.

“Just
trying to fix our school problems,” Belle answered.

“We’re
done being teased.  This time, we’re going to fight back,” Aurora added.

“Just
so long as nobody gets hurt,” Dana said.

“Guess
we’ll have to get rid of the lighter fluid then,” Ariel said.

Dana
whipped around so fast in her chair that the car swerved and barely missed a
collision with the car in the next lane.

“Mom! 
She’s joking!” Cinderella said.

The
girls all laughed as Dana righted the car and waved an apology to the honking
sedan beside them.

That
night the girls all sat in Belle’s basement on the giant bed they had created
from a dozen or so quilts and as many pillows as they could find.  The coffee
table that normally sat in the center of the room was pushed against the wall
and covered with various boxes and bags of goodies.  A bowl of popcorn sat as
the centerpiece, with a parade of chocolate, gummies, and chips extending to
the outer limits of the table.  The Princess sisters decided to have a teen
movie night to pump them up for the coming week.  They first watched a “girl
power” movie, in hopes that the diabolical planning of the teens on the show
would rub off on them.

Then
they watched a cute, fairy tale spinoff and cheered when the nerdy girl in
school became the gorgeous, popular one.  Finally, they ended with a musical
trilogy.  They were on such a buzz by this point, with the intake of exorbitant
amounts of sugar and having caught their second wind around 1:00 a.m., that
they spent the rest of the night dancing, singing, and giggling and didn’t
sleep at all.

Chapter
Twenty-Nine

Monday,
September 6th

Belle
grumbled as she walked toward the large brick building. 
I shouldn’t have to
be here.
 
It’s Labor Day!  I should still be in bed!

“Call
me when you get done!” Mary called out the car window.

Belle
waved behind her back, to acknowledge she had heard.  But she didn’t turn
around.  And she didn’t say anything.  Belle pulled open the large door to the
school and stepped inside.  The halls were empty.  She stood there, staring at
the great open space.  She half expected to hear a bell ring and see dozens of
kids come pouring out of their classrooms, but the hall remained silent.  The
door opened behind her, and Belle turned.  Her face dropped.

“Should
we get started?” Dave asked.

“What
are
you
doing here?”

“I’m
your tutor.  You are Belle Princess, right?” he asked, trying to make a joke.

Belle
glared at him.  Then she pushed him aside with her shoulder and shoved open the
heavy front doors.  The sunlight hit her square in the eyes, so Belle had to
squint as she hurried toward the parking lot.  Dave had to jog to keep up.

“Look,
I know I’m not who you expected.  When I signed up to be a peer tutor, I wasn’t
expecting to get you either!”  This wasn’t true.  When Dave saw Belle’s name on
the list, he had to bribe her original tutor with $50 to make the trade.

“I
just decided I don’t need help after all,” Belle said, calmly.  “I’ll do it
myself.”  She crossed her arms and looked out at the empty street in front of
her.  Dave leaned to one side, trying to peer around Belle to see her face. 
But she turned her body as he did, keeping her back to him.

“Are
you waiting for someone?” Dave asked, holding his hand out to display the empty
road.

“A
car, a train, a bus, I don’t really care at this point.”

“To
hitchhike?” Dave asked.

“No! 
I’m going to push you in front of it!”

“So
you’re still mad then?”  As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Dave
wished he could take them back.  Belle whipped around so fast, her hair flew up
and slapped herself in the face.  She glared hard at Dave.  Dave took one look
at her and knew if they were in a cartoon, there would be steam coming out of
her ears!

“What
do you mean
still
mad?”  Belle spoke slowly and softly, but her words
seethed with anger.  “I don’t see any reason why I wouldn’t
still
be mad
at you when you’re fifty!”

“Fair
enough.”  Dave put his hands up to surrender.  He waited a moment before daring
to speak again.  “So, should we go inside and get to work then?”

“Why
should I work with you?  I can just talk to the school and have them get me a
new tutor.”

“Sorry,
but I’m all you got.  Everyone else has already been assigned.”

Belle’s
arms dropped and she looked at Dave in disgust.  “Seriously?”

Dave
nodded.  “I’m afraid so.”  He tried to sound consoling.

“Maybe
I can go through another service then.  I don’t have to get a tutor with the
school.  My mom said to call her when I’m done.”

“Then
why haven’t you called her yet?” Dave asked.  Belle looked at Dave as though
she were about to cry.  “I know why you haven’t called her,” he said.  “It’s
because you’re not a quitter.  You want to get better at reading so you can
prove Cynthia is stupid.”

Belle’s
jaw dropped slightly.  She was surprised Dave would bring her up and she was even
more surprised that he would call her stupid.  Belle thought Dave was friends
with Cynthia.

Dave
continued.  “I’m here now.  And I’m offering to help you.”  He held an open
hand out to Belle.

She
stood there, considering his offer for a moment.  Then she slapped his hand
away as she walked passed him, back toward the school.  “Fine.  But if you ever
try and kiss me again, I swear I’ll punch you in the face.”

Dave
smiled as he followed Belle back inside the building.  At least she was talking
to him!

Dave
led her to their assigned classroom and set up two desks, side by side.  Belle
looked at him and turned one of the desks so they were facing each other
instead.  Dave grabbed the desk to turn it back again, but Belle held onto the
corner so he couldn’t move it.  Dave sighed.  “We really can’t work well if we
aren’t next to each other,” he explained.

“Why
not?”  Belle folded her arms and stuck out her bottom lip, daring him to argue.

“I
can’t be of much help if I can’t see your book.”

“Then
get your own book!” Belle said, taking a seat at the desk.

Dave
slowly moved his desk back into place beside Belle.  “I don’t have a copy of
the book.  You’re in regular English and I’m in Honors English, so we aren’t
covering the same material.”

“Well
isn’t that convenient for you,” Belle said, eyeing him.

Dave
could hear a hint of humor in her voice, which gave him hope.  “So what are you
reading right now?” he asked.

“Romeo
and Juliet,” Belle answered, pulling out her book.

Dave
grinned.  “Really?” he asked, smiling.

“Don’t,”
Belle said, slamming her book down on the desk.

“What?”
Dave asked.

“Just
don’t.”

They
began reading, their heads bent over the book together.  Dave taught Belle to
slow down and relax, taking it one word at a time.  He had her read aloud,
sounding out each syllable as she went

“I
feel like a little kid again!” Belle said, sitting back in her chair.  “This
makes me feel stupid!”

“It’s
just for practice,” Dave said.  “It will get better; now let’s keep going.”

Belle
rolled her eyes, but continued to read.  Dave watched as she read.  Her
perfect, soft, pink lips moved with each word.  Her beautiful, dark eyes darted
back and forth as they scanned over the pages.  She lifted her slender hand and
pushed a strand of long, yellow hair behind her pixie ear.  Dave leaned closer
and sucked in a deep breath.

Belle
turned abruptly and looked at Dave with fire in her eyes.  “What are you
doing?!”

“Nothing,”
Dave said, shifting uneasily in his seat.

“Did
you just smell my hair?” she asked.

“Only
a little,” Dave said, holding his index finger and thumb about an inch apart. 
He tried to joke his way out of the situation, but Belle wasn’t having it.

She
shut her book and jumped to her feet, preparing to leave.

“Wait!”
Dave said, holding up a hand.  “I’m really sorry!”

“You
know what I think?” Belle asked, shifting her weight to one foot and placing a
hand on her hip.  “I think you are a...a stupid donkey, who’s just out to get
as much action as he can!”

“Donkey?”
Dave asked, trying not to laugh.  “Don’t you mean ass?”

“No!”
Belle said, clapping her shoes together.  “My mother taught me not to use words
like that,” she added, haughtily.

“
Your
mom?”

“Alright,
so it was my aunt Elizabeth.  What’s it to you anyway?”

“Nothing,”
Dave said, unable to hide his smirk.  “So are you going to tell your cousins
I’m your tutor?” he asked, once Belle had the classroom door open.

“Seriously?”
Belle asked.  She walked back over to where Dave was sitting and smacked him
hard on the shoulder with her book.  “I think I learned my lesson from that
one!  No thanks to you!”  Belle stomped out of the room, slamming the door
behind her.

Chapter
Thirty

Tuesday,
September 7th

Tuesday
morning Cinderella took a deep breath and then entered the locker room.  Belle
wasn’t there yet, but she set down her bag and worked the combination on her
locker.  She could hear some other girls enter behind her, but she didn’t turn
around.  Once her locker was open and her backpack shoved inside, Cinderella
sat down on the carpeted bench and slowly removed her sunflower yellow heels.  They
had small white flowers on top of the strap that stretched out over her foot.

“Cute
shoes,” one of the girls said to Cinderella.

“Thanks,”
she responded.  She tried desperately to act casual and not seem over-excited
about the compliment.

Cinderella
continued to slowly get ready for gym and was completely dressed before Belle
entered the locker room breathless.

“Sorry!”
she said.  “I was picking up some information on running for the sophomore
class president.”

Cinderella
raised her eyebrows.

“I’ll
explain in a minute,” Belle responded.  She got dressed in record time and the
two girls raced into the gym as the first bell rang.

Luckily
they were running for class that day, so Belle had plenty of time to reveal her
plan to Cinderella.  The girls walked side by side around the large, oval
track.  They would pick up the pace and jog every time they passed their
teacher, and then resume walking as soon as they were out of his sight.

“I’m
going to work really hard on my reading,” Belle explained.  “And I’ll even keep
working with Dave,” she said through gritted teeth.

Cinderella
walked quietly and let Belle do all the talking.  Belle had never talked so
openly about her situation before!  So Cinderella kept her mouth shut and just
listened as they walked the track.

It
was a warm day, especially for being so early in the morning; not ideal for
running.  But Cinderella loved the heat from the sun’s rays on her bare arms. 
Thank
goodness for global warming!
  She rolled her short sleeves up and tucked
them into her shirt, revealing the skin on her shoulders.  No way was she getting
a tan line during gym!  As Belle continued talking, Cinderella looked around
over the lush football field.  Another class was out doing stadiums, and she
watched as a snake of students ran up and down the steps.  Then up past the
stadium she could hear the chinking of a dozen or so tennis balls against the
surrounding chain link fence.   

“So
I figure giving a speech in front of the whole school is a pretty good way to
prove what Cynthia said doesn’t bother me.”  Belle turned her head and looked
at Cinderella for acknowledgement.

“It’s
true,” Cinderella said, nodding.

“I
mean, I’d like to be able to give a big speech and not mess up any of my words
to prove Cynthia wrong,” Belle continued.  “But I know there’s no guarantee I
won’t screw something up.  So I figure if you can’t beat them, join them!” she
said, panning over the other students on the track with her open palms.

“Join
them?” Cinderella asked.

“Yeah,
like what you said before, Cindy,” Belle said.  “Act like we’re in on the
joke.  If I’m playing along, they won’t have anything to make fun of!”

Cinderella
nodded her approval.  “So what do you need help with?” she asked.

“Making
posters and stuff,” Belle said.  “I’m a little behind since I signed up so
late, but I think with some help, I could still win.”

They
began closing in on where the instructor was standing, so they began jogging
again.  Then when he turned his back to speak to another student, the girls
slowed back down and Belle continued.

“After
all,” she said, smiling, “People know who I am!”

“That’s
for sure,” Cinderella said, smiling back.  “And just think, you could thank
Cynthia in your acceptance speech!”

“Oh
man!  Can you imagine?!” Belle asked and the two broke into a fit of laughter.

***

That
afternoon the Princess sisters sat around Belle’s bedroom, posterboard and
markers scattering the floor.  Belle held up her finished project for the
others to see.  She had drawn dark blue and silver flowers around the edge of
her light, powdery blue posterboard.  Along the top in bold black letters it
read:
Dyslexics are teople poo
.  Then at the bottom in slightly smaller
writing it said
Vote Princess Belle – Sophomore Class President
.

“Awesome!”
Ariel said.

“We
should get matching shirts like that for your campaign!” Aurora added.

Belle
grinned and looked back down to begin work on the next poster.  The others
turned toward Cinderella with surprised looks, but she could only shrug back. 
They had always known about Belle’s struggles, but never in their lives had any
of the girls ever heard or seen Belle use the “D” word before.  Usually she
beat around the bush without fully admitting to her problem.  The cousins
shrugged back and continued their work.

“We
need music!” Ariel said a moment later.

“Do
you have anything new?” Snow White asked, scrolling through her selection.

“Already
on it,” Ariel replied, holding a case up.

“Who’s
that?” Cinderella asked, crinkling her nose.

“Give
it a chance,” Ariel sighed.  Once the breathy voice entered the room, the girls
seemed to relax.  Ariel had such a varied musical collection, the cousins never
knew what they were going to get.

“Who
is this again?” Snow White asked.

Ariel
replied and Snow White nodded, forgetting the name almost instantly.

“I
like him!”

“This
isn’t bad!”

 “Where’d
you find this?”

The
other three replied in staggered unison.  They grinned at each other, and then
went back to working on their advertisements.

“What
do you think?” Aurora asked, holding up her own poster.  The girls all looked
up and laughed.

“Love
it!” Belle said.  And she gave her cousin an air high-five.

The
poster was bright yellow with a large picture of a cartoon Belle holding up a
magic mirror.  The mirror was displaying Belle’s real school picture and the
poster read:
You don’t need a magic mirror to tell you who would be the best
sophomore class president!

“That
is so perfect, Rora!” Cinderella said, admiring her artwork.

Aurora
turned the poster around and held it up for herself, smiling.  She proudly
looked over it one more time before placing it on top of Belle’s finished
poster.  Then she picked up another posterboard and placed it on the rug in
front of her crossed legs.  She tapped a pencil against her chin while her eyes
wandered around the room as she waited for more inspiration to come.