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 3: A Princess's First Day

-7-

"Hurry up or we'll be late for class!"

"Grr, I'm coming!" I barked as I shut my door behind me. I silently cursed Leslie as I followed her down the hall and toward the stairwell, tugging down the skirt of my new uniform every few steps in a vain attempt to make it just a couple of inches longer.

Of course, I knew I couldn't actually blame her for anything. She hadn't made me agree to be a campus Princess, but she was the closest and most convenient target to vent my anger toward. And since I didn't have a girl's uniform of my own yet, she had been "gracious" enough to lend me one of her spares.

The skirt had looked a lot longer when she had been wearing it.

"Stop pulling at it, you'll mess it up!"

"Well, sorry for being used to having my butt covered!"

"Geez, it's not THAT short! You've just got longer legs than I do, so it seems shorter on you, that's all. It covers you up as much as it did me."

"Yeah, well, that's YOU."

"Just get over yourself and hurry it up."

Despite her constant harping on me to be faster, we made it to class with plenty of time to spare. I would have been in a better mood if she hadn't made me skip breakfast to practice sitting and walking in the skirt -- as it was, I knew that for the rest of the morning I'd have to deal with a growling stomach.

In addition to that, I found it hard to deal with the stares from my classmates. I had thought it was bad the day before, but now that I was officially a Princess things were even worse. Many of them seemed to be merely curious, and I received a number of compliments on how well I passed from my classmates in the hallways, but some of them...

I wasn't sure which to be more worried about, the looks of disgust or the ones that looked like they wanted to ask me out. I wasn't sure I was ready to deal with either one for the moment.

Leslie left me at the door to my first class and left for her own, muttering to herself about how late she was going to be. I considered apologizing to her, but in light of the torment she had already put me through I reasoned that she could deal.

What can I say, I get mean when I'm rushed and hungry.

Apprehension washed over me as I reached for the door to my home room. I took a couple of deep breaths to calm myself. Whew. Okay. Nothing to worry about. I pushed the door open and walked in.

"Good morning. Miss Rebecca Henderson, I take it?"

It was already official? How did that happen? "Uh, yeah," I nodded, scratching the back of my head where it itched from Leslie's work on my hair earlier. I was still ticked off at her over the pigtails. "That's me, I guess."

The teacher, a Mr. Johnson if I remembered right, smiled at me, then checked the list in his hand. "You'll be here in front, miss."

I thanked him and took my seat, very aware of the stares from the rest of my classmates. It was uncomfortable, but I made it through the class without any trouble.

My next three classes went much the same, with only one exception. I'd had no idea that Andrew was going to be in my third period Economics class, and I doubt I would have noticed him, so wrapped up was I in my own situation and self awareness, if it hadn't been for an accident. Like with my prior two classes, the teacher greeted me and gave me my seat, but when I went to sit down I must have stepped badly or something, because I felt my ankle twist to the side and I began to fall. I braced myself for the impact, knowing it was coming, and that it would hurt like a -

"Oof!"

"Aah!"

"Watch it!"

I hadn't realized my eyes were squeezed shut until I opened them and looked down to see Andrew lying on the floor beneath me. With a start I pushed myself up from where I had landed on him and into a sitting position.

"Uhm..."

"Hi," he said with a grin, looking up at me. "I'd planned on catching you today, but I hadn't thought it'd be quite like this."

"Uh, yeah, sorry."

"It's alright." He gave me a quick once over. "You can get up any time, though."

I looked down, and suppressed a gasp when I noticed that I had landed straddling his legs. I shot up as quickly as I could, feeling the blush climb to my cheeks. "Oh god, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to--"

"Hey! Hey. It's fine." Using the desks to either side, he lifted himself upright and began to brush the dust off his pants. "There's worse ways to start my first full day of classes than rescuing a damsel in distress." The rest of the class laughed at his comment, embarrassing me even more.

I felt myself blush again as I adopted one of Leslie's mannerisms and began to play with the hem of my skirt. "I'm not really... I haven't... oh, crap."

"You look nice."

"Thanks." What else could I say?

Without another word we took our seats, and it was only then that I noticed that his was right behind mine. I wondered to myself as the teacher droned on about something or other, how would I ever live this down? My first day of classes, really, and already I was a klutz and a Princess both. I hoped things would calm down soon, otherwise I doubted I'd make it through the next four years.

It wasn't until after class that we spoke again. I had hoped I could escape without him noticing, but of course that couldn't happen, could it? The bell had barely finished ringing when I felt his hand on my shoulder.

"Beck?"

I looked up to see him standing next to my seat. I sighed. "I think it's been decided that I'm 'Becky' when I'm dressed like this." I gestured towards my clothes. "Um, thank you for catching me."

"No problem," he laughed, touching my shoulder. "Jules said it was kind of hard to get used to the uniform at first, I doubt anyone will give you problems over it."

"Jules, you mean Julie? She said she was your sister."

"Yeah, Julian's my older brother. Er, sister. Sorry, at home he's a he, and it'll take me some time to get used to him being a she. You know what I mean."

He grinned again, and I couldn't help but smile back. "Yeah, I know. She was a little confused over it yesterday, too."

"Good thing it's not just me, then. To tell the truth, I'm not surprised they picked you already. With how pretty you are, I figured they would be asking you before anyone else."

I wasn't sure what to say. Looking into Andrew's face, I could see his amusement at my situation, but I could see something else as well. Nah, it couldn't be. "Well, I'm still not sure if I'll stick it out, but it sounded like an easy way to make money while I'm going to school, and it doesn't cut into my homework time a lot either."

"Let's see you say that when it comes time for some of the school events. Or Parents Day. Jules said that being a Princess means you're obligated to help with those."

"Yeah, but that's later." I glanced at the clock on the wall behind him nervously, watching the minute hand tick over. "Hey, I really need to get to my next class. Can I talk to you some more later?"

"Sure thing," he agreed, backing away so I could get out of my desk. "Need an escort?"

"Nah, I should be fine." I busied myself gathering my things, not wanting to look at him. "I'll see you later, 'kay?"

"Yeah, catch ya later."

I waved to him as I walked out the door, and hurried to my fourth period class. The same greeting, almost the same seating arrangement, but this time I had more on my mind than just how the rest of the students were reacting to me. This time, I was worried about Andrew in particular.

-8-

"I wouldn't worry about it too much," Julie said as she munched on her sandwich. "Andrew's a nice guy, and I'm not just saying that 'cause he's my brother. I am a bit surprised though. Are you sure?"

"Well, no," I mumbled, staring at the remains of my own lunch and contemplating another sandwich, and whether it was bad etiquette for a Princess to have seconds while not really caring. "It was just a feeling I had, ya know?"

"I do," I heard Sarah say from my left, where she was idly picking at a small salad. "Like Jules said, though, it shouldn't be a problem if he's a nice guy. Uh, I know it's kinda rude to ask, especially since we don't know each other that well, but... do you like guys or girls?"

"Uh, I dunno, really..." I shrugged. Okay, it might be a little weird, but it was the truth. Maybe it was my dad's influence, or maybe it was because I always tried my hardest to distance myself as much as possible from the views of my stepfather and his family, but I had refused to let myself ignore the possibility of being gay, or to be disturbed by it. With all the problems I had at home, though, I had made a constant effort NOT to think in terms of like or dislike towards either guys or girls. Not that I couldn't appreciate a beautiful girl, I most definitely could, but I could do the same for a very handsome or well built man. So which did I prefer? Or did I like both? "I haven't really made up my mind yet," I answered her.

"Oh." She looked surprised. "Huh. Well, the nice thing about Kingston is that it doesn't really matter. There are the jerks who are all anti-gay and stuff, just like any school, but because the school tries to promote tolerance bullying gets cracked down on fast."

"That's what Leslie was telling me."

Sarah nodded. "You're going to have to deal with them some time or other, just because you're a Princess. They assume that all the Princesses are gay guys, despite evidence to the contrary."

I gave her a confused look, and she just smiled and nodded towards Danielle on my other side.

"I've got a girlfriend back home who came up with my folks on Parents' Day last year." Danielle grinned. "She was a bit shocked when she saw how I was dressed, but I think the rest of my class was more surprised when they met her because most of them thought I was gay despite me telling them about her already."

"And she's okay with," I waved my hands up and down her body, "this?"

"Yeah," Danielle agreed, "she was a bit weirded out at first, but, well, let's just say that we had some fun over the summer with her parents being none the wiser."

The whole table broke up into laughter and chatter after that, and for the longest time everybody else ignored me, which I was more than happy for, but before long their attention returned to my own problems.

"Back to you, little sister," Jules said, pointing at me. "So how did it make you feel when you thought he liked you?"

"A little uncomfortable, to be honest. I'm used to people picking on me because of how I look, not complimenting me because of it."

"So you didn't like it?" Sarah asked.

"I wouldn't say THAT." I shook my head. "It was just, unexpected. And weird. I don't know how to handle someone being into me, if he even IS, or was I just seeing something?"

Almost the whole table shrugged at that.

"Well, whatever happens, if he bothers you just let me know, I'll take care of it," Julie said, cracking her knuckles in a menacing way. For a moment, she really did look more like a boy in girl's clothes than anything else.

"Or me." Sarah patted my shoulder sisterly. "I can give you lessons on how to talk to boys later if you want. Since I've been living as a girl ever since I was first allowed into the Princess program I have more experience than the rest of the girls do in that kind of thing. Whether you like them or not, it's good to be able to handle them."

"She's right about that," Leslie said with a knowing look. "I might not be into guys, but sometimes knowing how to talk to them comes in handy. Sarah's a pretty good teacher, too," she said, giving Sarah a big smile. I was surprised to see Sarah blush.

"Well, I'm alright."

Leslie looked as though she was ready to tell Sarah just how great she really was when the lunch bell rang, startling us all out of our conversation. Danielle was the first one up, and with a quick "Catch you later," she rushed for the tray deposit and out of the cafeteria, followed shortly by the rest of us.

As I made my way to my first class after lunch, I was glad for the support of the rest of the Princesses, and felt happy to know that they all had experience with the problems I was facing. It struck me how hard it must have been for Leslie, Sarah, and the other Princesses their first year, without people to lead and help them, and I shuddered at the thought.

In comparison to something like that, the deal with Andrew -- if there was anything to begin with -- seemed like only a mild annoyance.

My opinion on that issue changed shortly after I entered my first class of the afternoon. All faces turned to me, leaving me feeling uncomfortable as I walked towards an empty seat. By the time the bell rang, I was beginning to feel like some kind of freak, and had to break the tension.

"What is it already?!"

Most of the boys nearest to me jumped, and every face in the class seemed hesitant to answer, but eventually one boy to my left gained the courage to whisper, "is it true?"

"What?"

"That it's your first day as a Princess and you're already dating Miss Stone's brother?"

I couldn't have been more stunned. "Who said that?"

"Well," another boy joined in, his nerves bolstered by his partner's speaking, "it's going around earlier today you were sitting in his lap and uhm..."

"I fell! He caught me!"

"Oh. Uh... so that means you're still single then?"

"Buh, I, uh... what I mean is... dammit, where's the teacher?"

"Right behind you, and amazed at what a foul mouth our newest 'princess' seems to have, MISS Henderson," a crisp, annoyed voice I would recognize anywhere said.

As though to remove any doubt that might have been left, the rest of the class spoke in unison. "Good afternoon, Mr. Swift."

-9-

I was two hours late getting back to the dorms after classes, thanks to detention with Professor Swift, only to find Leslie waiting for me outside my door and tapping her foot impatiently.

"Where have you been?"

"In detention," I grumbled as I reached past her and opened my door. "With Professor Swift."

"You got detention on your second day? That's gotta be a new record, especially for a Princess."

"Yeah, well I seem to be good at setting new records, don't I?" I asked her with venom in my voice.

"Hey! Don't take it out on me just because you got in trouble." She glared at me as I flopped backwards onto my bed. "And don't do that in my skirt -- you'll wrinkle it."

"Oh horror of horrors!" I replied with as much sarcasm as I could muster, but reached underneath myself to straighten her skirt before any serious damage was done. The skirt had caused me enough problems already; the last thing I needed was for Leslie to get mad at me over it, too. "Can I wear pants tomorrow?"

"Nope, sorry but can't do. You're a Princess now, and like we told you yesterday, all Princesses are expected to dress up the entire first week of class to get the rest of the students used to us being around."

"Girls wear pants too, I'm sure I've seen it once or twice."

"Yeah, well, we're not actually girls, technically speaking, are we? Sarah might be able to get by with it, but not the rest of us."

"But that's not fair!"

"That's what you're getting paid for, though," she said, standing over me and grinning. "By the way, nice panties."

For a brief moment I felt myself begin to blush, and reached down to cover myself, but my frustration was enough to override my natural embarrassment. "You should know, you're the one who picked 'em out."

"True. Well, I'll leave you alone to calm down for a bit. Dinner's in about an hour, I'll come over and help you fix your face before we head down."

I grunted in acknowledgment, and listened as she left through the bathroom linking our rooms. I knew I had been a lot more rude to her than I should have been -- she was just trying to help, after all -- but all I had been wanting since the day began was a little time to myself, and I had been in no mood for company especially after detention.

I rubbed my sore hand as I remembered Professor Swift's punishment. I will not swear in class. I will respect my teachers. I will never dishonor my school. That was what he had made me write, over and over, for what must have been an hour and a half, and then he had made me recite it to him. He had also told me that if he caught me swearing again, that the next time I would have detention for a whole week. The punishment seemed excessive to me -- it was my first offense! -- but I wasn't about to complain. They could have made me sit and write a book on how I'd never curse again for all I cared, anything was better than having to return to my stepfather.

At least I had managed to avoid Andrew for the rest of the afternoon. He had been in my last class, and I was sure he had wanted to talk to me, but I made sure to sit on the other side of the room from him, and left before he could corner me. I just wasn't ready to deal with him yet. Did he just want to be friends, or was he interested in more? Did that make him weird if he was, or did it make me weird? As though going to classes dressed as a girl wasn't enough indication I wasn't exactly normal, I thought to myself. I'd have to deal with it eventually, I knew, but for the moment I chose to file it away.

It hadn't been my intention to fall asleep, but I must have been more tired than I realized, because the next thing I remembered was Leslie shaking my shoulder gently to wake me.

"Hey, come on, it's almost time for dinner. We have just long enough to fix your makeup before we need to go."

I stretched and yawned. "Can't I just clean it off and go down like normal?"

"Not unless you happen to have some casual girl's clothes just lying around somewhere, which I doubt, and even then you'd still need to wear a bit of makeup." She grimaced, as though she wasn't too happy with that rule either. "We're Princesses, and Princesses are supposed to be as girly-girl as they can be, so even if you had regular clothes they'd still have to be at least a little on the feminine side."

"So I can't even wear my guys' clothes to dinner?"

"Not until the end of the week."

"Dammit!"

"I agree," she said with a sigh. "I don't mind the whole Princess thing once in a while. Heck, I don't mind it a couple of times a week even. But I get tired of all the work after a couple of days, and just want to be myself for a while." She sat down on the side of my bed and stared at me for a moment, frowning. "At least you don't have to do as much work as I do to look like a girl."

I shook my head. "I doubt it's that hard for you to look like a girl. You fooled me."

She laughed at that. "This will be my third year doing this, of course I can fool you! But it takes a lot more work now than it used to. When I was your age I could just throw on the skirt and a little mascara and get away with it once in a while, but now I have to shave every morning, then spend at least half an hour on my makeup, then the wig..."

"Wig?"

She nodded, and lifted her hair at the back of her neck. Looking closely, I could just make out the edge where the wig began and her own hair peeked out slightly beneath.

"So you're not really a redhead."

"Nope, but the wig was cheap and it looked good enough on me. What I'm trying to say, though, is this: you think it's tough on you now? Just wait until you have to start waxing your chest, THEN tell me you've got it rough."

I couldn't help but wince in sympathy, and I saw Leslie start to smile. "Now get up so we can get this over with. I'm starving!"

It took us significantly less time to fix my makeup than it had to do it before classes that morning, and I managed to only stab myself in the eye with the eyeliner once. Dinner itself was filled with conversations about either my detention on the second day of school, or about whether it was true or not that I was dating Andrew. Jeez! You would think that it being an all boys' school would mean less of a gossip mill, but I guess I was mistaken.

And to top it all off, who should stop by our table at the end of the meal but the troublemaker himself.

"Hey, little brother!" Jules called, giving me the first indication that something was going on. My suspicions were confirmed when just a moment later a large body leaned down on the table between me and Sarah.

"Hey b- sis. I just wanted to let you know I joined the Protectors today."

"Oh, that's great! I kind of figured you would, though," Jules said, giving him a friendly pat on the shoulder. An evil gleam came to her eyes. "Becky was just telling us about how the two of you are most definitely not dating."

The slab of meat known as Andrew at least had the good grace to blush when he turned to face me. "Uh, yeah, about that... sorry. I didn't know that would happen. And I mean, I'm not into guys, so you don't have to worry. Not that you look like a guy, you're a really pretty girl, and you do look like the kind of girl I would ask out but--"

"STOP. Just stop," I said, before he could ramble himself into a deeper hole than he already had.

"Right." He scratched the back of his head, obviously embarrassed, then extended his other hand out to me. "So, can we still be friends?"

I thought about it for the moment, but nodded and shook his hand. "Sure," I agreed. He had been a good guy, after all, and I wanted him as a friend. And, who knew, maybe with time we could get past the whole awkwardness thing.

Another thought occurred to me, though, and so I turned to Jules and asked, "What are the Protectors?"

"Nobody's told you?"

I shook my head.

"The Protectors," she continued, in a haughty teacher's voice, "are a club of students on campus dedicated to watching out for us Princesses both on and off campus."

"But I thought that we were pretty much accepted here?" I asked her, confused.

"Well, yes and no," she said, rocking her hand back and forth. "A lot of the student body and faculty can see what the experiment we're a part of is going for, and support us, including most of the members of the honors classes and sports teams, since we're their cheer squad. Most of the rest of them don't really care one way or another, or don't dislike us enough to do anything about it other than ignore us. But then there's the group that really does hate us. The homophobes, fundies, people like that who made it past the school's tests somehow or other. There aren't many of them, but there are enough that we have to be careful sometimes."

I nodded, thinking back on the last day and some of the looks I had received. Most had been positive or indifferent, but a few of them had been downright scary.

"That's where the Protectors come in. They watch our backs, especially when we go to other schools with the sports teams and things like that. It's a little sexist, really -- even more so considering our actual status -- but there have been a few times over the last couple of years when their help has come in handy."

"That's kind of scary," I said, looking around the table at the serious looks on everyone's faces. "If things can get so bad that we need protection, then why don't they just cancel the program?"

"There are a few reasons," Sarah interjected before Jules could start talking again, "the biggest of which is that the headmaster doesn't want to cancel it."

"I think he just likes seeing us in the skirts, the perv," Danielle said in a stage whisper, and the entire table laughed.

"Another reason," Sarah continued, "is that the results of the experiment have been positive so far. Our sports teams have all gone undefeated the last two years, and we're hoping to keep that going this year. The school has always done well on testing, as well, but I've heard that the last two years even our averages on the standardized tests are higher."

"Okay, I'm not sure how that's connected with us..."

"Something about 'impressing the ladies,' I overheard one of the teachers talking about it one day. Regardless, the results have been good enough that they outweigh any problems the experiment has caused so far, and I've heard there's already talks of keeping the Princess program going after they finish the four year test run."

"Personally, I just think it's a cool idea," Andrew added in, "and since my brother... er, sister... is in the program too, I wanted to do whatever I could to help out. Since I'd look like an idiot in one of those school uniforms you guys wear, I joined the Protectors."

Jules reached over and mussed his hair, and he batted playfully at her hand before leaving our table. That pretty much ended dinner for all of us, so as a group we rose and took our trays to the return window and headed back to our dorms.

As I took off my makeup and changed into my pajamas -- the first male clothing I had worn all day -- I took the time to reflect on how my first day as an actual Princess had gone. It had been scary in places, and frustrating a lot of the time, but I was sure that with a little effort and time I could get used to it, and the money would definitely make it worth it.

And, though I hated to admit it, there had been times when it had been fun as well. Being a girl, or at least pretending to be one, was so much different from being a guy, and I was starting to appreciate all the work it must take them to look nice all the time with all the requirements society put on their appearance. I could see it was going to be hard work, but I had no doubt it was going to be a lot of fun as well.

With that thought in my head, I smiled at myself in the mirror and returned to my room. Tomorrow was another day, and I hoped to try getting ready without Leslie's help.