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“Don’t tell me that it even had fireworks!”
Faybelle crisscrossed her legs at the edge of Duchess’ bed, dying for a gossip she swore she didn’t need. The restlessness became even more obvious when compared to the calm and cozy atmosphere of the dormitory. While talking, Duchess filed one of her broken nails, much more interested in maintaining its shape than satiating Faybelle’s curiosity. On the other side, resting on her own bed, Lizzie alternated her attention between her cellphone and a deck of cards; she released it any time a new notification appeared on the screen and didn’t question a single time why Faybelle was broking the curfew.
“It was Briar Beauty’s birthday, of course it had.”
The obvious answer from her friend made Thorn punch the white and lilac duvet. Everything started last year, when Briar threw a party and Faybelle was the only one who was not invited. Naturally, on her birthday a few months later, she purposefully left her off the guest list and since then a dispute ignited: a party better than the other to simply rub it all over the other’s face. Briar knew just too well how to do it. Although she didn’t invite Faybelle, she never stopped her from entering, which made Thorn obliged to watch her have fun. Dancing with Hopper until he transformed into a frog, thanking everyone for the compliments about the party’s organization, all of this with a jaw-dropping look. She knew she was being watched of course, making Faybelle’s blood boil was her talent.
Though certain that she would come out as the winner, Thorn had to admit that the princess was always a step ahead of her. The charm, the budget, the strategy. Faybelle wanted to end it for good, but not a single plan came to mind.
“I don’t get it.” Lizzie said out of nowhere, the two turned to her. “Isn’t Faybelle the one who curses Briar? Why all this fuss if you are the one who laughs last?”
“Took the words right out of my mouth.” Duchess yawned. “You are a villain, let her have fun while she can.”
“Seriously, Duchess? Remembering your legacy made you so feathering sensible about hers?”
“I’m just saying.” She shrugged her shoulders, she didn’t want to think about it.
“Okay, whatever! It’s just that she makes me feel so…”
Stupid. That was what she thought, not what she had the courage to say. Between all that crowd, far away from all those school rules and lip syncing the loud music as it played, Briar seemed untouchable. The occasional retribution of Faybelle’s steady look only served to distribute the tiniest bit of attention to some stupid one that couldn’t reach her level. Not even if she tried.
~
The rumors about a party before summer vacation spread like wildfire. By the way Ashlynn was describing so many details about it, it was easy to imagine that Farrah was involved in it too. Her excitement, however, didn’t merely meant supporting whatever her friend was doing.
Ella grasped with tooth and nails whatever opportunity she could have to stay with her crush without worrying about stares. As gum stuck in a fancy shoe sole, the possibility of her parents finding out about it hammered night and day her head. Many times she postponed meetings with the excuse that she was busy with a Management test, Princessology group work or simply because of the store’s high demand. None of those reasons were true. Ashlynn preferred that Hunter didn’t think too much as she did, still, she couldn’t deny that all of this deepened even further her will to have him closer.
Vacations meant returning to her parents’ kingdom, a whole month full of noble duty and nothing compared to the slyly stolen kisses. She only needed a couple of hours with the hunter before leaving.
“I’ve heard that the party will be in some hidden place inside the Enchanted Forest, which means no chance for Grimm to found it out.” She explained. “We should finish the semester with a flourish!”
“A hidden place? Is it safe?” Briar contradicted.
Even though she had already gotten two warnings for organizing parties without authorization outside school, Beauty couldn’t deny that she preferred the security and the comfort that only the available ballrooms of Book End could offer. In theory, the rules referring to events like this were crispy rigid, especially those at nighttime. Grimm handpicked which rare celebrations would happen, with punctuality to end and to begin, without accepting any resistance or suggestions. This didn’t necessarily prevent the students going crazy, but sometimes Beauty took it to the next level, making it impossible to go unnoticed especially at the places usually chosen.
“I can’t believe it, Briar Beauty hesitating to put herself in danger?”
Briar turned away to a movement in the corridor, leaning against her closed locker.
“Briar! I’m not talking about Sparrow’s nasty tree house, Farrah told me that it will be in a ballroom on the fairies’ domain, as if by magic it appears and puf!” She opened her hand to illustrate the sound. “Disappears without leaving traces that we were even there.”
“Fairies you say…” Beauty unlocked her phone and went to distract herself by checking her MyChapter feed.
“It’ll be cool, I swear!” She closed the locker door and directed her gaze at her best friend.
“Ash, there’s no point on me going if I’m going to be blocked right at the entrance”
“Who said that you will be blocked?”
“Farrah wouldn’t have the initiative to throw a party like this, Faybelle is with her, and you know that.” She said as she began walking towards the classroom.
“It seems that you care about that “dispute” way more than you think!”
Ashlynn made quotation marks with her hands while following her steps. She still wanted to convince her.
“I don’t give a hex about it; I’m not disputing anything.”
“If so, why do you care so much about the chance of being blocked at the entrance? I mean, what’s stopping you from sneaking in?”
“Come on!”
“It wasn’t you who said that we should live life at its fullest? Sneaking into a party seems so exciting to me!”
As usual in Princessology class, the sound of chalk hitting the blackboard reverberated at the silence and dissipated any chat between the students. Punctuality was surgical precise, as well as the strictness. Ashlynn hugged her books as she entered the room and greeted the teacher but still stared at Briar hoping for any positive sign.
A quick run through her incomplete notes brought the reminder that the finals were coming. In this subject specifically, Briar had serious chances of not passing and the idea that it all depended on five to seven questions in a foolscap paper brought shivers down her spine: her shoulders hardened, she felt guilty for having fallen asleep so many times and underestimating the classes. By her side, Ella wrote every word the teacher said. Different from the other students that had practically aced the first test, her discipline was exactly the same. Beauty didn’t take long to conclude that a night with music was more than fair after studying so much. Deserved even.
“I will think about it!” She whispered.
Ashlynn did tiny claps to show her excitement, she already knew that “I will think about it” meant an “yes” when Briar said it and could already imagine their beds filled with clothes as they got ready together. The expectation grew larger within the days but was kept hidden as much as they could, the girls didn’t even touch the subject. Briar wanted to draw back, thought in many ways she could say it to her friend, but forgot them all every time they met. It was difficult to say no to those sparkly green eyes.
At some point, Briar couldn’t distinguish if her reluctance came because of the party or the final test in Princessology, that by all magic coincidence, would happen on the same day. As she left the dormitory, she felt that she wasn’t ready for either of them. She straightened up and moved on, wanted to faint when the teacher White Queen showed up with a thirty-minute dissertative test, but recomposed herself to not show it and soon concluded that going to Faybelle’s party certainly couldn’t be worse than that.
The excitement started at the beginning of the night. As Ashlynn was telling about a client that didn’t let her close the store at the right time, she unbuckled her shoes in a sudden hurry. Complaining wasn’t exactly the kind of thing Ella felt comfortable doing, she always preferred to keep all those little inconveniences aside and let the kindness speak louder. It was amazing however, how she let herself be more honest when only Briar was around:
“I just wanted to spend some time with my crush, but maybe that’s too much to ask for…”
“Just when I thought that I would pull you to the dance floor with me.”
“In the middle of everyone? No way!”
“You don’t know how to party, Ash. You just want to be woken up with kisses, a bunch of them.”
“I’m going to honor a friend’s effort in the first place, Hunter’s presence is just a bonus.” She lifted one shoulder and winked with one eye before entering the bathroom, convincing herself that he wasn't that important.
“How noble of you!”
Between giggling and not knowing what to wear, Beauty couldn’t ignore the irony: this time, it was her who was being dragged outside of the campus and not the contrary. It would definitely be fun if this happened more frequently.
The sweet odor of perfumes and moisturizing creams were still present in the room when the door suddenly opened. As usual, night inspections happened to guarantee that the students were all in their respective rooms. Every night around ten o’clock, a teacher was charged with checking if the curfew was respected on the girl’s floor. The same happened on the boys’ floor but by one of the knights that guarded Ever After. The reality is that the guards usually took turns for who should go and check the students, but every now and then, they mixed up the order of who needed to check and with certain frequency, they simply forgot to do so. Teacher Mama Bear, however, did her duty religiously.
As soon as they heard the steps moving away from the door, at almost the same time, the two quickly got out of their bed and sighed in relief for not being discovered. Finally free, they dedicated more time to the final touches on the makeups. Briar didn’t worry about being as shiny and radiant as she could, she was certain that, independently from the way she went, she could be recognized and thrown out. If that was the case let, at least, be with style.
A gloss to complement the pink lipstick usually was the cherry on top, but Ashlynn’s fear of being late didn’t allow her to use it. In no time, the two were already on their way to the Enchanted Forest, so far from Book End and all Ever After’s pristine buildings that they had to start worrying about not dirtying their platform sandals and dresses. The invite was a key to one haunting but mystical portal, in a way that Beauty couldn’t even distinguish whether it was invisible, or it just camouflaged behind all that darkness. She was still trying to get a sense of everything when Ella pushed her inside, only resulting in more confusion and a little bit of grass in Briar’s hand as they fell together.
A few feet away, a spotless ballroom – showing all the last architectural trends from the fairy society – let some light beams escape. The guests were walking towards it and forming lines before entering. The landscape, however, was the same as she used to know: filled to the brim with darkness, frog noises and flies dancing to get away, but that contrast made it seem like that building came from another parallel reality. If that party was exclusively made by Farrah, Briar would say that she was honestly impressed by it. Milton Grimm, without a doubt, wouldn’t find them.
“Do you want me to sneak in with you?” Ashlynn asked, showing clearly that she was excited by firmly keeping her hands closed.
“Relax,” The sleeping princess said, observing if it had any more entrances besides the main. “We’ll meet there.”
Beauty sneaked around the trees until she reached the other side of the building, she searched for some windows but didn’t find any that she could try to climb in. It didn’t take long until she realized that trying to climb the windows wouldn’t be a great plan: her high heels weren’t exactly the right support nor gave the right balance she needed in order to jump inside. She rolled her eyes, was this truly happening? Right, she needed to find a lower aperture.
Half a minute later she found herself in front of a huge glass door. Wide open, it divided the internal space from an external area as equally decorated. Those who weren’t dancing were outside searching for some place to breathe fresh air and with less noise to finally have a conversation. It all seemed so easy, so easy to be true. Was Faybelle so sure that she wouldn’t come? No chance.
Already inside, Briar noticed that the internal area was even better than the external, especially because of the acoustics that place had that made her skin seem to vibrate. Melody Piper was performing on stage that night, behind the biggest amplifiers she had seen. One hand she used to hold the headphones close to her ear while the other controlled the buttons and slides to make the mostly electronic songs sound as clear and loud. She was so entertained that she had for sure forgotten her promise to the princess to only play at her parties.
While searching for her friend, the melody was the only thing that insisted on staying in her mind as she looked at all the corners and hidden staircases where Ashlynn used to stay. There she was all over Hunter, caressing his chest with a look that most certainly devoured him. He usually didn’t notice, could only keep a shy smile on his face, besides this, he was the first to note Beauty’s presence. After the guy waved towards Briar, the starving princess finally noticed that her best friend’s mission was a success, as a natural reaction, she could only give the brightest smile to show that she was there too. Before approaching, however, Briar discreetly blinked at her friend to sign that she wouldn’t interrupt. Ella returned the gesture, moving her mouth to say, “you’re the best”, Beauty already knew that.
Briar’s head happened to move together with the beat, for an instant she even forgot the recurring thought that she shouldn’t be there. Royals, rebels, heroes and villains all together in that huge ballroom where nobody seemed out of place between the mix of both fairies’ tastes on what a party should be.
“Oh my Godmother! Briar?” Farrah said, improvising a hug while her hands were occupied by two delicious looking milkshakes.
“That’s me.”
“Would you like one? Its flavor is strawberry cheesecake, but we choose to call it Enchanted Forest instead. Faybelle insisted that we should also have a chocolate one, so there is Dark Forest as well. Pretty clever, don’t you think?”
She tilted her head towards the buffet table, where five cheerleader fairies kept themselves occupied in handling out the two flavors. Briar didn’t take long to accept it and manifest a genuine reaction frowning her eyebrows:
“Wow, this is amazing!”
Although she didn’t like to be in the spotlight, Farrah couldn’t deny how good she felt receiving compliments.
“That was the idea.” Farrah kindly asserted. “What do you think overall?”
Being as observant as she was, Farrah didn’t take long to realize that the small talk wouldn’t last long as she felt a certain restlessness coming from Briar. It wasn’t hard to deduce why.
“Faybelle is at the dance floor, right there in the middle. You don’t need to worry.”
As expected, the princess’s attention was all over and exclusively towards the dance floor, leaving it even more obvious on why she was so unease. When Briar saw that whitish blonde hair followed by blueish wings, her only reaction was to bite the straw she was using. In a way to show indifference she finally answered:
“The party is great.”
“And it’s only beginning! You have no idea how hard it was to rent this place…”
Farrah continued, letting all her enthusiasm for doing all the arrangements overflow. Briar already knew a good part about it because of Ashlynn, but didn’t bother to listen to it again. The words weren’t as clear because of the loud music and because that Beauty wasn’t all there as she had been following with her eyes those shiny and reflective wings. From one side to another. Thorn’s clothes had so much black on it, being a clear contrast with her pale white skin, and for the first time, the princess could see this perfectly as Faybelle’s delicate and somewhat strong back was exposed. Her hair being loose, only allowed more of that sight as she moved around the dance floor.
Through a quick and more appropriate look, her eyes encountered Thorns’ eyes. Briar almost chocked, following this tiny disaster, she could see that the blonde let out a discreet laugh. She didn’t make a scene, nor did she play it back to her. It was comical to see her attempt to keep her jaw in place: nothing made sense. She literally sneaked in but didn’t hear any teasing nor the classic outrage coming from Faybelle, how out of character was that?
It wasn’t news to anyone that Thorn hated her and how Briar reciprocated it. The princess hated the arrogance she had just because of a pair of wings and pointy ears that she proudly showed as superior from everyone’s mundane and “too human” traits, as well as the constant need to bother. Faybelle was a petulant insect, always buzzing on her ears. Even her voice was annoying! But not at that distance. Beauty felt ready to once more silence that buzz, but she didn’t see nor hear anything that she swore to hate.
A very upbeat song was playing, one of those that nobody could resist dancing, when Faybelle got tired of all that people and went straight to the bathroom, only signaling a friend that she would quickly come back.
“Hey, Farrah. Can you hold this for me, pretty please?” The princess said, not elaborating. “I swear, I am going to get another when I come back!”
“Of course, is everything alright?” the kind fairy asked, only to receive a thumbs up that quickly disappeared between the crowd.
Without thinking twice, she followed those shiny wings to the bathroom. Beauty adjusted her sunglasses on her hair to disguise her tension soon as she realized they were the only ones there. The other didn’t do anything other than throw a part of her hair to her front, to check if it was still as good as she prepared it to be.
“Congrats on the party.” Briar said, overcoming a sudden nervousness.
Faybelle moved away from the sink and simply walked towards the exit. No answer. As a result of it the nervousness reignited and transformed into something more. Despair. Despair for what Thorn wasn’t giving to her. Anger, disdain, sarcasm, anything. Blocking the exit, she repeated:
“I said congrats on the party.”
“Thank you.” Thorn acknowledged it without any mockery.
“Thank you?”
“Thank you, princess. Now if you excuse me, my friends are waiting for me.”
Briar’s brown eyes remained fixated on those gray ones, searching for any clue from where all that coldness was coming from. Maybe blocking the door was too much, but not enough to make her give up.
“What’s wrong with you?!” Briar confronted, firmly gripping the fairy’s shoulder.
Faybelle laughed as the greatest villain of them all, she was a good actress when she wanted to.
“Seems like someone was really enjoying the view. How gratifying is to make someone’s blood boil, isn’t it?”
Briar confident look quickly disappeared as well as her strength while she interpreted those words.
“Dancing and dancing, just to show that not even a centenary curse can take your passion for life.”
This time it was the princess who laughed. “As if copying me would make you the winner! You’re ridiculous.”
“Oh, am I?
Her convinced expression made Briar back up a little. The back of her arms collided with the door and suddenly Faybelle’s hand kept them really tight there. She was ready to say yes, Thorn was ridiculous, as many times needed. But she couldn’t. Before she could even open her mouth, it had already collided with the other’s.
The belief that it was just one more of the fairy’s ways to annoy her and make her disgusted wasn’t enough to pull her away from it, and because of it, the kiss lasted a little longer than it should. Faybelle searched on her face for any trace of disgust for losing and for the smudged lipstick with traces of another color that she would have to remove later. The search, however, didn’t result in anything besides another kiss. As surprising as the first, Briar sought for a reason for the strange restlessness that took over her body. Faybelle let go of her arms, just to be followed by Briar pushing Thorn’s hands towards her own waist and all that suddenly touching lips became tedious.
Dealing with Thorn wasn’t easy, there wasn’t any middle way in that relationship. And even if a moment of truce was possible, it was far from ideal. As soon as the strawberry started to mix with the chocolate, Briar noticed that she really needed that, much more than she would’ve liked to admit.
The loud music became muffled behind those walls. She started to want more when the other’s hands went down her hips, unpretentious perhaps, but not for long: as she was the most helpless girl in the world, Briar stared at Thorn, caressing her nape as she let the hair strands pass through her fingers. Faybelle got the message, she loved the invitation to go down her neck. The thought that the princess would have to leave that bathroom filled with a good portion of marking took so much of her attention that she couldn’t prepare to feel her back touched, little by little, until reaching the point where her wings started:
“Holy Hex!”
Her cheeks became bright red, Briar couldn’t not be surprised by it. In other occasion, she would have busted laughing, but her skin was too hot, and her heart was racing so much that she couldn’t ignore how attractive it was to see her lose her composure.
“That was cruel.” She looked away for a moment. “If you do this again you won’t go unharmed!”
“I’m so, so, scared of you!” Briar said, with one of her hands up her forehead for a dramatic effect.
They were about to kiss again when they heard something close to the door. They held their breaths, exchanged glances for a second. Faybelle needed only half a second to conjure a spell that blocked the door and to be grabbed by Briar. This was getting excessive; Farrah probably was getting worried and Ashlynn preparing to leave. Even so, she couldn’t stop.
Once between her rival and the door, nothing passed through her mind when she sat on the marble sink and felt Thorn’s hips between her legs. Briar wanted to consume every drop of those emotions until there was nothing else to feel, only to remember. She hoped that Faybelle wouldn’t forget it either and with it hate her even more, setting her heart on fire once again.
How stupid it was to let herself get carried away, do nothing but bring her closer with her arms every time she tried to get a breath. Her eyebrows were moving and the hands tried to reach the newly discovered weak spot of the other, who punished her just the way she wanted. The restlessness wasn’t strange anymore and became something else, enough to make Beauty want to stay the rest of the night with her. She didn’t have anything more to lose or to hide, only one question to ask:
“What was that with the wings?”
While staring at her, she ran her fingers close to her mouth to try to see if her lipstick was too smudged. Thorn let out a defeated sigh, keeping her hands leaning on the sink:
“Lots of nerve endings, it feels nice.”
Briar let out a malicious laugh. “By your face it seemed very nice.”
“Bold of you, considering I’m still between your thighs.”
The comment resulted in a push that made the fairy burst out laughing. Briar went down from the sink and checked if her skirt was too wrinkled but didn’t spend much time analyzing her own reflection. In a matter of seconds, her mouth was as pink as when she left the dormitory.
“Are you going to keep laughing and miss your own farie-tastic party?”
“Of course not!” She said, walking to the now unblocked bathroom door with Briar. “In fact, I need to kick out some uninvited people that sneaked in.”
A roll of eyes preceded one last kiss. Back at the dance floor, the two danced together for the first time. Faybelle took the opportunity to wear Briar’s pink sunglasses, just to not be able to contain her smile when she saw that Beauty started laughing because of it. Observing from far, Duchess thought out loud:
“If you can’t beat your enemy, join them.”
Lizzie followed Swan’s eyes only to be met with the rather unusual scene. Something told her that Faybelle would never stop making a fuss because of that princess.