12 A Girl & Her Outfits

The two girls headed up to Emma's current accommodation, one of the palace's guest suites.

While they were heading there, they were stopped by Julius, who was holding a long list of the supplies they needed for ZALE.

The two girls stopped, greeting the King's most trusted advisor and secretary.

Julius had always been known as one of the King's most trusted friends, so it was no shock that the King had made him his advisor and secretary many years ago.

Julius cleared his throat. It was soft, and Emma and Lily's attention was now focused on him.

"Greetings ladies, the King has asked me to personally deliver the list of supplies that are required for the academy. It's best you start packing right away. After all, ZALE starts in a week, and the students there can never be too prepared," he reminded the two ladies, handing the long list to Emma, who continued to say nothing and just stared at the list.

"I assume you've already chosen your lady-in-waiting, Ms Grey?" He asked right afterwards.

Emma nodded, ready to introduce her best friend to the King's most trusted secretary and advisor.

"Yes, I have. Mr Finnigan, meet Lily Carmichael, my lady-in-waiting," she introduced.

Lily smiled at Julius, and Julius nodded, a smile now plastered on his face.

"Ah, yes. I'll inform the King and Queen of your decision immediately. It's good to see you've already chosen your lady-in-waiting," he said before turning his attention to Lily.

"You are one of the palace maids, are you not?" He asked curiously.

Lily nodded, keeping quiet this whole time.

"Well, all things considered, you'll most likely be excused from your duties when you accompany Ms Grey to ZALE. I wish you both the best of luck on your studies there," he said, his tone halfway between approval and amusement.

He then took his leave, heading for the throne room to inform the King and Queen of the news, which was who Emma had chosen as her lady-in-waiting.

Meanwhile, Emma and Lily were thinking of the exact same thing. The sooner they saw the list, the sooner they'd get it over with.

"Come on, Em. Read the list," she urged.

Emma opened the list, revealing hundreds of bullet points, signalling the many necessities needed for ZALE. And to think, these were only the basic necessities for ZALE. The list of books needed for ZALE hadn't even been given to them yet.

Lily gasped in shock. That was one long list. It was much longer than the both of them had expected.

"When you said we were going to ZALE, I did expect to need a lot of stuff since the school's prestigious and all, but I didn't think we needed a truckload of stuff. We need to bring at least fifteen dresses, and that's not even counting the number of ball gowns we have to bring. How is this supposed to fit in a few duffel bags?" She asked.

Ah yes, the undeniable problem that the two girls would face. Luggage. The only containers they had were the duffel bags they had used to move all their belongings when they separately moved into the palace - with their parents when they had just started working as maids and butlers - as young children.

Yet the solution was simple. Emma was a royal now, and her closet had a private area of room just for the many luxurious and elegant luggages suited for a princess. That being one of the many perks of being a royal or being related to one.

Emma sighed. She already had expected this to happen and knew that her closet probably had hundreds of suitcases, duffel bags, or containers that they could use to pack their belongings in.

"Well, we could always check the closet out. There's got to be evening dresses and ballgowns of some sort," she suggested, knowing fully well of the closet's contents.

They both went to her guest suite, arriving there in a matter of minutes, before heading straight for the enormous room that was only supposed to be the closet. If a guest suite's closet was this huge, imagine how large the King and Queen's closet would be. It wouldn't have been a surprise if they're quarters were the size of the entire maid's quarters.

The closet was impressive, the clothes were perfectly colour-coded, colours ranging from pure white to black, also complimenting the closet's private interior and modern theme.

As for clothing, Emma and Lily were both the same size, so they often shared clothes, making the choice of clothes not a problem.

As they sifted through the many choices of clothing, Lily looked at it in awe, wishing she was able to have this much clothing, or even having the privilege of having so much clothing. After a while, the girls had chosen a plethora of outfits for each of them to try, choosing outfit after outfit that they were going to wear at ZALE.

The two being besties didn't mean they had similar styles. While Lily opted for more light-coloured outfits, Emma chose more colorful and stylish outfits.

Since ZALE wasn't as strict as they were about outfits as they were with the rules of etiquette. After a few hours of picking up outfits, trying them on, seeing what fitted and what didn't, the two girls fell onto the huge canopy bed, exhausted by their massive haul of outfits and ball gowns, that were now neatly packed into suitcases and luggages laid out on the carpeted floor, or collected in a rack that was filled with ball gowns the girls had chosen to bring to ZALE.

The two girls also had packed all their other necessities needed at ZALE, also managing to pack some mementos that they had taken from the maid's quarters that would remind them of their home, and their families.

Lily broke the silence, sharing her current thoughts.

"That was so much fun. I can't believe we chose outfits to go to ZALE. I can't believe I'm going to such a prestigious school," Lily admitted, running a hand through her naturally auburn hair.

Emma chuckled.

"Yeah, I can't believe it either. To think, I was simply a commoner yesterday," Emma said, her legs weakening by the moment.

"What time is it?" Lily asked, unaware of the current time, and how long they spent simply choosing clothes.

Emma raised her head, glancing at the wall clock that looked to be ancient.

She said casually, "It's half-past ten."

Lily's eyes widened, momentarily forgetting that she didn't have to work as a maid anymore.

"I'm late for my next shift. Oh my-

She was interrupted by Emma's sudden fit of laughter.

"Lil, I think you forgot you're not a maid anymore, or don't have to work as one," she reminded her best friend, fighting back another fit of laughter that was to burst out at any moment.

Lily was fully reassured, only now remembering what Emma said was true, but also recalling her curfew. Her parents, another maid and butler that worked for the princes, that being the main reason the two girls met in the first place, and also the start of a beautiful relationship between two best friends.

"I completely forgot. My parents gave me a curfew today! I have to go now! I'll see you later, Em. Bye!" She exclaimed as she scrambled out of the room in her maid's uniform.

Emma looked at the door which Lily had just passed through before her eyes fluttered to a close, and she slowly drifted asleep, into another dream.