1 CHAPTER ONE - HOME (1/2)

It was morning, the sun's rays pierced through everything within its range, which was everything actually. It reached deep into the darkest of spaces expelling darkness wherever it found it. It was going to be a sunny day alright and everyone was up early, so as to start the day's work before the sun turned on them. On days like this, it felt like they had angered some unknown gods of some sort, for the ones they knew lived not too far away. And it was pretty apparent that they were not responsible for this heat wave, for everyone was awake, except the gods themselves.

The sun rays peeked through the palace's window, caressing the princess's gentle face. It wasn't harsh, for even the sun knew better than to disturb the princess while she was asleep, even if it was way past time to get up. Well, everyone knew that, save for her handmaiden. She whisked through the room as always, reached for the princess's cover and in one swoop, pulled it off her body. The princess moaned as she was forced to get up. She got up in a fit to see who it was that ruined her sleep. She was in the middle of a very nice dream where a prince proposed to her and she said yes. Seeing it was her handmaiden, the only word that came to her mind was no.

"Oh, you again," The princess slurred as she tried to rub the sleep out of her eyes.

"Good morning, princess. Hope you slept well?" The handmaiden asked as she briskly walked to open up the curtains.

"You never let me sleep," The princess caviled as she walks towards her mirror. She loved her sleep so much. To her, it was still too early for anyone to be up.

"It never is enough for you, is it?" The handmaiden moaned. It had become a routine for her actually. Ever since she started working there, not once had the princess woken up early. And it didn't look like it would ever change. Even though she was just a handmaiden, the princess always treated her like a friend, especially since they were about the same age. So she related quite freely with her, but she was always mindful not to cross her boundaries or risk angering the queen. And no one ever wanted that. The queen was quite the harsh figure and it was always a wonder as to how the princess turned out to be the exact opposite.

As the handmaiden opened the curtains, a gust of light entered the room forcing the princess to blear her eyes with her hair. Her hair was long and wavy but was in disarray, partly because she just woke up, but she was never really the tidy type. She adored her reflection in the mirror. Her dark hair and her green eyes still stood out underneath all that untidiness.

"You're going to be late if you keep staring at yourself," The handmaiden was feeling really apathetic at the moment.

"Late?" The princess asked. But then it hit her, the dream she was having didn't just spur up by accident. She had been waiting a long time for this day. The day her prince would come and ask for her hand in marriage and that day was today. "Oh my God, I'm going to be late!" The princess fretted as she began to prepare. But just as she tried running across the room, the whole place turned upside down and she found herself on the ground right beside her bed. Only thing was, that wasn't her bed and definitely not her room.

As she struggled to get up, she kept on repeating the words, "I'm going to be late." But someone responded "You're always late. Why are you so bothered today?" But this person wasn't her handmaiden either.

"What? Where am I?" She asks looking around. She found herself in the room of someone who was possibly a teenager. Clothes were hanging in every part of the room and it was nothing like her room in the palace. Before her, stood a woman who looked familiar but she couldn't quite pick out the face. "Do I know you?" She slurred. "Where's my Tiara?"

"Here we go again. Get up or you're going to be late for school. I don't want your teacher calling me again because of you," The woman said.

And then she realized that it had all been a dream and that she wasn't a princess. But worse of all, her prince charming wasn't coming to ask for her hand in marriage. She dragged herself all the way to the bathroom to freshen up. If her dream got anything right, it was her untidiness. Her hair was in tangles and her shirt was tilting to the side exposing more skin than it ought to. Her skin was a light brown tone that glowed despite how dreary she looked. Her hair was long all the way to her back and was of frosted brown tone and her green eyes shone as she blandly brushed her teeth in front of the mirror. She hated school, but her only respite was that she hated her house even more.

Her name was Alicia Robertson, Alice for short, a sophomore student at Bellmoore high school. Her mum died years back and her step mum never really had time for her except when her teacher called. She'd leave the house sometimes and no one would notice. It was almost like she didn't exist. Even though she was ill treated at school, she preferred it to being completely ignored. The memory of her mother who cared for her so much would always come back to haunt her. But in the end, she just wanted peace of mind, someone to talk to, to confide in, but she never showed it. She hid behind her drab expression, telling the world that she didn't care. But nothing was farther from the truth.