Princess For Hire Part 14

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Princess for Hire

By Melanie Ezell

Daniel Henderson has managed to beat the odds and been accepted into Kingston Academy, one of the best private high schools in the country. However, when Daniel is invited to take part in a special program, he learns that there's more to the school than he had thought...

NOTE: This story is loosely -- as in VERY loosely -- based on the manga/anime "Princess Princess." After the initial concept, any similarities are mostly coincidental, unless they aren't. (Puzzle that out why don't ya.)

Part 14: A Princess And Her Prince

-40-

"Really?"

"Uh, yeah, sorry."

"Oh. Well, okay then. Umm... sorry for bothering you." The boy turned away from me and hurried away down the hall, leaving me standing there very much embarrassed myself.

Sarah's gaze jumped between me and his retreating back while she asked in a puzzled tone, "does that happen often?"

"Unfortunately, yes."

"Wow."

"Come on, we'll be late for class if we don't hurry," I said, wishing to think about something, anything, other than what had just happened.

"He was kinda cute, though."

"Sarah, can we please just, I dunno, NOT talk about it."

"Okay," she said. "For now," she added with a wicked smile.

I groaned, but by the time I came up with a response she had already split off for her own class.

I focused my entire mind on Professor Cooper's lecture about conic sections, and did my best not to let my thoughts wander to what had happened. It was the same procedure I followed every time that it happened, and it was facing the same downfall as well -- I just could not keep from thinking about it.

Why me? He could have asked anyone else in the Princess program -- all of us were dressed today, as cheerleaders again no less thanks to another pep rally -- but he had chosen me. Why?

Did I just LOOK like I liked boys, or what?

"Excuse me, Miss Henderson, but if you could please pay attention," Professor Cooper asked me with a smile on his face, making me blush and stutter out an apology when I realized I had been staring out the window instead of following his work.

It was not long though before my mind began to wander again.

What had made it worse, I thought, was that it was the third time in a week that someone had asked me out, the fifth overall since coming back from Thanksgiving vacation. It seemed the longer the Princess Program ran, the more often it happened. By the time I reached my senior year, would this happen daily?

I prayed desperately that that would not be the case.

"What's eating you?" Andrew asked me when he saw me sit down.

"Nothing."

"Come on, spill. We've got time."

I looked around. He was right, of course. Our etiquette lessons had ended the week before, leaving all of us with a study hall for the next two weeks, to be replaced with some kind of "Life Planning" course next semester. I caught sight of Sarah and Leslie already making their way over to our table, and resigned myself to having to explain things.

"Well?" Sarah asked the moment she sat down, and I could tell by the sly grin on Leslie's face that she already knew what had happened.

"What do you want me to say?"

"What happened?" Andrew asked.

Before I could answer Sarah jumped in. "Becky got asked out on a date today."

"Again?"

Sarah went silent as Andrew turned toward me, fighting back a laugh.

"It's not funny, Andrew," I said, hoping that I was not pouting as much as it felt like I was.

"But that's gotta be the third time this-"

"Week. Yes. I know."

At last, my unhappiness penetrated his sense of humor, and he became far more serious.

"This is really bothering you, isn't it?"

I started to give an adamant "yes," but hesitated. "I... kind of."

Sarah gave me a curious look. "Why? Just because they ask doesn't mean anything."

Andrew turned to Sarah. "I think I might know part of the reason."

"And?" Sarah egged him on, when he paused.

He looked at me, asking for permission, and I nodded.

"This is the first time this month it's happened when she was dressed as a girl."

"So?" Sarah asked, then Got It. "Oh. So the others were asking you as a guy."

I shook my head. "They were asking out Becky, not Beck or Daniel."

"But you were dressed as a guy?" Leslie asked, her first words in the conversation.

"Yeah."

"Ah."

"But what's the problem?"

I shook my head, but when I looked at Sarah, she honestly looked as though she did not understand the issue. Even after all of our conversations, she still had to work at it not to think of me as a girl.

I tried to form into words all my frustrations, everything that was bothering me, but I could not do it. Instead, I said, "I'll let you know when I figure it out."

-41-

I continued to be distracted all through dinner. No matter what anyone said or did, I constantly found myself slipping back into my own head, trying to work things out and still unable to clarify what my problem was. Finally, I had had enough, and took my tray to put away. When I turned around, however, there stood Andrew, waiting for me.

"Come on," he said, gesturing toward the door. "We need to talk."

"O...kay?" I said, unsure, but I followed him out. Instead of turning toward the dorms, he headed down one of the darkened halls, toward the classrooms. When we at last stopped, I realized with a shock that we were in the same alcove we had used to talk after the Alumni banquet, but quickly shoved that night out of my mind.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" I asked him.

With a sigh, Andrew placed his back against the wall and slid down until he was sitting on the floor. From that angle he could have seen up my skirt if I were not careful, so as best I could I slid myself to the floor across from him.

"Do you like guys or girls?"

Just as carefully as I had sat down, I stood back up. "Is that what this is all about?" I asked him.

He shook his head, but made no move to rise. "No, I just wanted to know."

I sat back down, but did not look at him. "I don't know, alright?"

He nodded. "But you don't like being asked out?"

"It's not that. It's flattering, it's just..."

"Just what?"

The thoughts I had been having all day finally coalesced, and I had my answer. "I just want to know it's ME they want to date."

"Huh?" Andrew asked, seeming to be genuinely thrown by my answer. Now that I had finally figured it out myself, though, I knew I could explain it, and grinned triumphantly.

"Everyone who has asked me out hasn't asked me as Daniel, or even as Beck. They've asked me as Becky. How many of them do you think would want to go out with me if they saw me as a boy? And before you say anything, yes, some of them have asked me out when I was dressed in my boy's clothes, but they always called me 'Becky.' We both know most people don't pay any attention to how I'm trying to present." I tried to hide the bitterness in my voice in that last sentence, but knew I had failed miserably.

"So you want a guy to ask you out as a guy?"

I huffed. "That's not it either. It's just... whoever asks me out, I don't want them to care about if I'm a guy or a girl, I want them to ask ME. Does that make sense?"

"...No."

I sighed. "Don't worry about it."

We sat there in the dark, neither of us saying anything and neither of us moving, each alone in our thoughts. Now that I had figured out what my problem was, it made dealing with my feelings about saying no easier, though it also brought along the question of whether I would have accepted if they had asked me out as a guy.

"You know, Beck..." Andrew said, shifting nervously.

"Yeah?"

"If you wanted people to stop asking you out, uh... jeez."

"What?"

"We could, well, I could, I mean, if you wanted to."

"WHAT?" I asked again, when he failed to continue.

"Well, I mean. Heck, we could always say we're dating." Even in the darkness, I could see the blush covering his face.

I fought the urge to laugh. Would that not be just too perfect? Tell everyone who had been saying we were dating for so long that yes, they were right, we were going out? But looking at Andrew, without any hint of a joke showing on his face, I knew he was serious.

"You're serious?" I asked. You can never be too sure.

"Yeah?"

I thought about it for a moment, until I had an idea.

"Stand up."

"Huh?"

"Stand up!" I repeated, waving my arms upward. When he finally did so, I stepped right in front of him and looked up into his face. "I'm a girl right now, right?" I asked, with as stern an expression as I could muster.

He looked down at me, confused. "Okay?"

"So if we were to do that, that would make me?"

"My... girlfriend?" He asked, as though he thought it were the answer but could not be sure.

"But tomorrow I'll be a guy. And we'll still be doing the pretend-dating thing. Which will make me?"
I waved my hands to urge him on.

He pondered it for a moment. "My... boy... friend?"

Bingo! "And this would be okay with you?" I asked him. It was the moment of truth.

He shrugged, still wearing his confused look. "You're still you."

At last, I let out the laugh I had been holding in and stepped to his side, wrapping my arm around his.

"So what just happened?" He asked, looking around us as though there would be someone with a camera waiting in the shadows.

"You won," I said. "We're officially pretend dating."

"Oh! Uh, great?"

"Now walk me to my room," I said, stepping out into the hall.

He followed me slowly at first, but it was not too long before he finally worked out what had happened, and laughed himself, getting into the game. Both of us already knew; this was going to be a blast.

-42-

As we walked down the hall between classes, his arm around my shoulder and chatting to one another quietly, it was amazing to watch the faces of all my fellow students as we passed.

Word had spread quickly, and by the end of they day I doubted there was anyone who had not heard. We had made it official. Andrew and I were dating.

Of course, there were a few people who we had decided the night before on the walk back needed to know the truth. Sarah, Leslie, and Bobby were on that list. We had debated on whether or not to tell Jules, but in the end we had decided that he would either not believe we were pretending or not approve for some reason, and so had decided to let him be fooled along with the rest.

As for me, I felt a sense of relief, at the same time as I had an odd feeling of... excitement? Relief, because I no longer had to worry about turning others away if they asked. After all, I was already taken, so anyone who would ask knowing that would be someone who I would not want to consider anyhow. Excitement, possibly from the thrill of pulling wool over the eyes of the entire school population.

The most amazing part was how little we had to change to pull it off. We walked a little closer, we would touch one another on the arm or smile at one another a little more often, and that was enough. We never out and out held hands, or even hugged that first day, but what we did was enough to tell everyone around; I was off limits. I was Andrew's girl.

It was absolutely hilarious, until after Drama.

We were on our way back to the dorms, and as an added bit of proof for our bit Andrew had given me his spare blazer that morning to wear instead of my own. It absolutely dwarfed me, but I was finding that an advantage in the chilly mid-December air as we crossed the quad. His arm was around my shoulder as well, further sheltering me from the cold wind, and we were both huffing and shivering when at last we reached the dorm building.

"It's freezing out there!"

"Really," he said, blowing on his hands as he tried to wring some warmth into them. "You want something to warm up?"

I nodded, "Sure," and started walking toward the small kitchenette in the dorm hall.

We were not allowed to have a full kitchen in the building, but the school had made sure that each floor of the dorm hall was outfitted with an area with a microwave and a sink, as well as a few basic dishes like cups and silverware. When we came to the counter, Andrew reached into his pocket and pulled out two packets.

"Instant apple cider," he said with a grin when he saw my curiosity. We each grabbed a cup and filled them with hot water before setting them in the microwave. When they were steaming hot, we took them to one of the nearby couches and poured in the mixes before stirring them.

For a while, I just sat there with the cup in my hands, luxuriating in the warmth as it spread up. At last, though, I took a drink.

"Mmm, that's good," I said. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

I turned toward Andrew, to start talking about classwork, or our little charade, or anything really, only to find him looking at me intensely. My words died on my lips when I saw him looking at me.

'What is he doing,' I vaguely wondered as I took another drink of my cider. He looked away, and sat his own cup on the table before turning back to me.

He looked as though he wanted to say something, the frustration evident on his face as he seemed to fight with something.

Then he kissed me.

(End of Part 14)

END NOTES:

This is probably another one of those parts that, like the Halloween one, I will end up going back later and expanding. Parts of it seem to move too fast, but I'm out of time if I want to make my deadline for the week, SO *shrug*.

People have probably been expecting something like this to happen for a while. It was kind of inevitable, wasn't it? And, whaddaya know, with only one post left to go before the beginning of Christmas break. Won't THAT make for an exciting chapter?

I seemed to have a bit more trouble capturing some of the characters right this time around. If it's too jarring, let me know. Hmm.

Melanie E.

If you comment, more will come. IF YOU COMMENT, MORE WILL COME.

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Comments

Yes I agree wholeheartedly!

Thankyou Melanie.

LoL
Rita

Age is an issue of mind over matter.
If you don't mind, it doesn't matter!
(Mark Twain)

LoL
Rita

He took

Angharad's picture

his time, he's been wanting to do that for the past few episodes.

Angharad

Angharad

Aaaahhhhh!

So Beck(y) and Andrew finally hit upon the idea of "pretend" dating to stop Beck(y) being continually asked out on dates, regardless of attire.

Only, as with everything else in this story, things aren't as simple (or should I say things are even more complicated?) than they seem...

 

Bike Resources

There are 10 kinds of people in the world - those who understand binary and those who don't...

As the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body, then only left-handers are in their right mind!

Princess For Hire Part 14

Well, Becky needed to get things straight about her identity. Now that that's been sellled, will they start necking? And do the Princesses get a gaffe to wear when in Princess mode? Reason I ask is when dressed as cheerleaders, a gaffe would help in presentation.

    Stanman
May Your Light Forever Shine
    Stanman
May Your Light Forever Shine

I don't think it's necessarily settled at all

Andrea Lena's picture

these kids are young enough and the situation has been manipulated enough by the program that it may just be normal experimentation. Just a thought.



Dio vi benedica tutti
Con grande amore e di affetto
Andrea Lena

  

To be alive is to be vulnerable. Madeleine L'Engle
Love, Andrea Lena

I Hope Beck Finds Himself

a beautiful "prissy" girl who will reset his compass in the
right direction. Just because a boy is as pretty as a girl
doesn't make him a girl. After all women may fancy such a guy.
They have rights. It's that socially limiting all boys school atmosphere that is responsible. Not to mention a Princess program while well intentioned is not the best for a boy. Some of those guys must be confused to begin with. Perhaps just a little fooling around and then a realization the skirts are an act but this other stuff, no way. He needs to discover the moist and supple lips an soft and silky legs of a beautiful young lady while he ..... Stop. Censored.

Stanman

What gives you the right to critique others so frequently bearing in mind the mind numbing, grammatically awful rubbish you 'write'?

May your bullshit forever flow

oh, please.

You may think what you like about his comments. At least his name is on them.

Fast is Good

I personally like short stories that read fast. What happened
I believe is what can happen when you have a boy afraid of girls
and another not sure where he belongs. The boy starts to see
female clothing, smell the perfume and hears the soft voice and
what will register is girl. In a school with women this might
play out differently. As for the person playing the part of
Princess we might have a situation where that person will start
to fit the role just as an actress would. Especially in a case where the Princess is confused as to what he/she prefers. In this case both will benefit, Andrew can lose his fear of women and Beck can resolve where he wants to be. With someone that is basically safe and both can keep it platonic. I enjoy reading your story and look forward to it being posted. Thank you for this excellent story.

Luv'en this!

Poor Beck is going to end up even more confused I think. Andrew doesn't really know what to make of this either I'm thinking. He knows he really likes Beck but the whole boy/girl thing has him bemused too. Ah yes, teenagers working out their sexuality and how they feel.

Wonderful tale!

hugs!

Grover

Okay..

So now I'll comment.. Now GIVE ME MORE!! Seriously.

I like this story, it's fun. And although filled with 'implications' and 'wrong suspicion' or maybe just naivety -to the hilt- it's progressing steadily into something we're all anticipating and which will never come.

But you've captured my interest, even to the point I'll comment, and now I want more.

GIMME GIMME GIMME... :)

Jo-Anne

Now this

ALISON

'is what I call "going steady"! About time,Andrew, now you are the Prince.

ALISON

YESSSSSSSS!!! YESSSSSSSSS!!!

Jemima Tychonaut's picture

YESSSSSSSS!!! YESSSSSSSSS!!! YESSSSSS!!!! WOO-HOO!!

Okay, it was an okay chapter on the whole. ;-)

Finally, Andrew kissed Beck(y). I had wondered if you were going to tease us a bit longer with the relationship-that-wasn't-but-might-be. Even this chapter I thought, nope she's going to stretch it out another chapter and then *wham* a kiss. I think I may have been more surprised than Beck(y) so convinced was I that we weren't going to see it this chapter.

As for moving too fast, I think its potentially possible that ice ages move too fast for Andrew. The pacing seemed fine to me. I get the feeling Beck(y) is going to be really needing to get an answer to some of those questions about identity and sexuality soon.

Great work Melanie.



"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

Playing with Fire

terrynaut's picture

I saw this whole chapter coming a mile away, and I still loved it.

Trying to pretend to be boyfriend and girlfriend isn't going to work. Andrew is too obviously smitten with Beck(y). They're playing with fire and I hope neither one of them get burned.

The kiss! The kiss! It was so sweet, and it will pretty much guarantee some form of strong reaction in the next chapter. I hope it's a good reaction but I suspect there will be problems. Otherwise, it wouldn't be a story. *sigh*

Thanks for another chapter, Melanie. I don't think it's moving too fast.

- Terry

It's a right lot of confusion.

Of course, with our society like it is, I don't think it hurts anything. Those two have been on intersecting paths for some time. This is fun.

Gwen

Loved It

Well it worked Beck, but think you got a bit more than you expected.

3 out of 5 boxes of tissue and 8 gold starsDesHS.jpg

Goddess Bless you

Love Desiree

Goddess Bless you

Love Desiree

I do love how you describe

I do love how you describe the inner termoil of both Andrew and Beck(y) as they try and decide their friendship and closeness to each other. Jan

Princess for Hire

Very good story; I can't wait to see what happens next with Becky and Andrew.

Well it was bound to happen.

Well it was bound to happen. I think Andrew was smitten since Day 1. I know for a fact I have never been attracted to men but it came as a surprise to me that once in a VERY blue moon I find a man attractive physically and intellectually. The emotional aspect though is a problem as I do not think I can bond on that level, which is crucial.

Anyway, that was the sweetest little moment and we are of course all waiting for Beck's numbness to wear off before he reacts.

A lovely cliffhanger :)

Kim

YAY~!

"My... girlfriend?" He asked, as though he thought it were the answer but could not be sure.

"But tomorrow I'll be a guy. And we'll still be doing the pretend-dating thing. Which will make me?"
I waved my hands to urge him on.

He pondered it for a moment. "My... boy... friend?"

Bingo! "And this would be okay with you?" I asked him. It was the moment of truth.

He shrugged, still wearing his confused look. "You're still you."
Way to go Andrew -huggles him- Now that's how it should be mew :D

I know who I am, I am me, and I like me ^^
Bisexual, transsexual, gamer girl, princess, furry that writes horror stories and proud ^^

I know who I am, I am me, and I like me ^^
Transgender, Gamer, Little, Princess, Therian and proud :D

Expand it?

Just don't lose the suddenness of Andrew's kiss. It's beautiful just the way it is.

(Is this comment thing addictive? I go 14 or 15 parts not saying a word, make one virtually meaningless comment and the very next time I have this irresistible urge to type!)

Yours from the Great White North,

Jenny Grier (Mrs.)

x

Yours from the Great White North,

Jenny Grier (Mrs.)

fake dating, huh?

based on the kiss at the end of the chapter, maybe not so fake ...

DogSig.png

Tonsil tennis is a ball .

Tonsil tennis is a ball . Finally !

Karen