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From the outside Apple White seemed her usual self, going through her every day at Ever After High. What everyone else didn’t know was that that night she was planning to sneak away with her secret lover, Darling Charming. The pristine goody-two-shoe daughter of Snow White was going to sneak out to cheat on her boyfriend with his sister.
The reality of the situation was that everyone knew that Daring Charming was cheating on Apple with Cerise Hood and a multitude of other girls. Even Apple knew, but for the sake of her reputation, she stayed silent. This was her act of defiance.
“What about you, Apple?” Mrs. Queen called Apple, pointing to the board with her pointer. On the board was written a simple question: “Out of These Three Candidates, Who Is The Best Prince For Marriage?” The three options written below were the wealthy, the charming, and the handsome.
“It’s the wealthy.” Apple beamed proudly. Princessology was her favorite subject; if she wasn’t smart, she was at least charming and good at pleasing those around her.
Mrs. Queen clapped her hands together. “Very good, Apple! You are by far my brightest student,” she praised. Mrs. Queen, also known as the White Queen, was Apple’s favorite teacher by far. Every time she snuck away to see Darling, Mrs. The Queen's image flashed in her mind with a sullen appearance, but that wasn’t enough to stop her from having the one thing that was undeniably hers and no one else’s decision.
The class went well, nothing particular about it, and the bell rang, leading Apple to walk to her next class. In the hallway she flashed nice smiles or waves at all the fellow royals; the rebels wanted nothing to do with her and found her repulsive. Though across the hallway she made eye contact with one specific rebel that wasn’t talking to her at the moment, Raven Queen. Raven quickly averted her eyes back to her friend she was talking with. In all honesty Apple resented Raven too, but not for the reason everyone thought. She was jealous of her bravery.
Raven was the first person to refuse her destiny, and because of that, she refused Apple’s destiny. Both of them relied on each other's destinies, so if one of them refused, the other’s destiny was incomplete. Because of Raven, Apple could never have the destiny everyone expected of her, had she really wanted it? No, but it was easier to do what others insisted of her than to defy them.
Apple soon reached her last class of the day, student council. If princessology was her favorite, student council was her second favorite solely because she got to see Darling. Apple sat down at her designated seat as student president and chirped, “Good afternoon!” As everyone sat down one by one.
Darling walked in last with sweat dripping down her neck from P.E. She sat down next to Apple and leaned over to whisper, “Sorry I’m late; the coach was mad at Dexter and made us run a couple laps around the field.” Hearing Darling whisper sent a jolt up Apple’s spine.
“Well, that’s fine, Ms. Charming; just don’t make it a habit.” Apple smiled happily at Darling, who gave a sickeningly sweet smirk. Apple coughed in an attempt to gather everyone’s attention. “So today we must address some of the concerns about the upcoming Legacy Day. I’m sure you all remember last year’s events and the changes made to the school’s structure. Many rebels are proposing that this year we cancel it entirely.” As Apple spoke, she could feel Darling’s eyes on her, which started to make her feel extremely nervous.
The rest of class was a blur, but she could recall that the consensus they came to was that Legacy Day was canceled with the book destroyed and all. Even though the book had been destroyed, the feeling of duty remained prevalent within the school, and things stayed the same for the most part. Though she didn’t have time to dwell on it much, as she was finally done with her classes that day and had to deal with another struggle, Raven.
Apple made her way to her dorm room after stopping by her locker and started her schoolwork at her desk. Soon after, Raven came in looking exhausted and fell onto her own bed. Neither of them spoke, opting to stay silent.
Later that night after finishing her schoolwork, Apple received a call from Darling. Apple answered eagerly, and Darling asked, “Are you almost ready? My roommate isn’t here tonight as planned, so we should be good.”
“Almost, I’ll be over soon.” Apple whispered to the phone.
“Can’t wait to see you.” Apple could practically hear her smirk through the phone.
“I can’t wait either.” Apple said before hanging up the phone with a real genuine smile plastered on her face.
“Who the fuck are you calling?” Raven asked, looking up from her magazines over to Apple.
“No one of your interest.” Apple gritted her teeth, her smile dropping.
“This is so in my interest; goody two shoes Apple is sneaking away to meet some secret person I’m not allowed to know about.” Raven scoffed.
“As I said, this is none of your business.”
“You can’t seriously still be salty about the whole destiny thing. Wrap it up, Apple; it's over. You can do whatever you want now, be whoever you want.”
“As much as I would love that, I have a reputation, and my mother would be absolutely livid.”
“Suit yourself.” Raven shrugged, averting her attention back to her magazines. Apple took a deep breath and then opened the door of their dorm, leaving and shutting it as softly as possible and making her way down the dark hallway.
After reaching Darling's dorm, she knocked on the door exactly 3 times in succession and one extra one after a pause, a signal the two developed to show it was the other and not a stranger. Darling opened the door smiling when she saw it was Apple.
“Hey,” Darling said, pulling her inside and shutting the door behind them.
“Hi,” Apple said, already blushing.
Darling took hold of Apple’s blonde curly hair and pulled her into a deep kiss. She slowly guided Apple away from the door, not breaking contact. The knight pressed Apple against the bed, deepening their kiss.
Apple had to break away for a second to catch her breath before Darling dragged her in once again, kissing hungrily like a starved woman.
“Apple,” Darling murmured, releasing only to press kisses into her neck.
“Darling,” Apple panted, managing to sit up and steady herself. Whenever she was with Darling, she was a complete mess, evident by her behavior in student council. Darling tenderly put a hand on Apple’s cheek, dissipating her thoughts.
“You’re really cute when you’re like this.” Darling said, locking eyes with Apple. Her mesmerizing sky blue eyes engulfed the student president. She couldn’t even speak in response, the words seeming stuck in her throat.
Darling chuckled and pulled her into a kiss, her silver curls falling over her body as she leaned down. Apple bit on her bottom lip and threw her arms around Darling’s shoulders. Her shoulders slumped, relaxed for once in her life.
The two went on like that for around an hour before deciding to stop, but Apple still didn’t want to go back to her dorm. Mostly she didn’t want to deal with Raven, but she wanted to stay and talk to Darling.
“Darling, what are we?” Apple sighed, lying beside her on the bed.
She paused and sat up, running a hand through her long silver hair. “Let’s not define it.”
Apple sat up as well and put a hand on Darling’s leg. “What are we even doing?”
“Apple—”
“You don’t love me, do you?”
Darling paused. “Do you even love me?”
Apple scoffed, “Of course I do!”
“Then why won’t you break up with Daring for me?”
Apple turned away from Darling and curled her legs up to her chest. “You know this. I have a reputation.”
“You really think someone cares that much if you date a girl?!” Darling raised her voice as she stood up.
“I’m going to be queen one day! Plus, you know, to achieve my destiny, I have to meet my PRINCE, who is in fact Daring Charming.”
“That’s so funny because last I checked at the dragon games when I kissed you, somehow you miraculously were lifted from your curse!” Darling blurted out before covering her mouth. “Wait, Apple, I—”
“You didn’t tell me?” Apple sat up straight, her hands trembling. “This changes everything.”
“I didn’t want to tell you because you were so wound up in the idea of destiny I thought you would date me just because of it being your ‘destiny.’ I’m so sorry, Apple.” Darling pulled Apple into a gentle hug.
“I don’t have to be with Daring? ” Apple asked, sounding almost confused.
“Not if you want to; I mean, my brother is a huge dick,” Darling joked.
Apple laughed and put a hand on Darling’s cheek, her expression now a genuine smile. “If you really did that, this might work. We could be together. Not just me sneaking away at night to see you; we could be dating, and people could know. I could still be a royal!”
Darling gently took her hand off. “Apple, you still don’t get it. I want you to do this because you love me, not just because it's what other people expect.”
Apple frowned. “No, you don’t get it. If you weren’t my princess charming and I was still with you, I could lose everything.”
“I would give up everything for you.” Darling rebuked
“Listen, I love you, but love can’t secure a future.” Apple sighed, resting her head on Darling’s shoulder.
“I just wish you would understand,” Darling said, stroking Apple’s blonde curls.
“We can’t fix everything in just one night. But I can fix one thing right now.”
Darling raised an eyebrow as Apple took out her phone and opened up Daring’s contact. Apple typed out, “I regret to inform you, Daring, but I no longer would like to date you. Goodbye.” She then blocked his number.
“That’s a start. I guess now we can be girlfriend and girlfriend. If that's what you would like?”
“Yeah. I’d like that.”