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 9: The Princess And The Queen

-25-

I looked down at myself in my freshly pressed uniform and sighed. Parent's Day, and I found myself yet again stuck in a girl's uniform.

I hated to admit it to myself, but in actuality I would almost prefer to meet my dad wearing the girl's uniform rather than the guy's, if for no other reason than I knew it made me stand out. It had been over three years since we had seen each other in person, and I kept having these horrible thoughts of him walking in, and even though I would wave to him over and over to get his attention he would never recognize me.

On the other hand, when we finally met each other again after so much time, I wanted him to see someone he could be proud of, and for some reason I felt like seeing me in a skirt and blouse would be more likely to make him laugh.

Not that it mattered. All the Princesses would be wearing their girl's uniforms for the day, so at the least I knew that I was not the only freshman worried about what their parents would say when they saw them.

I cannot be certain how much longer I stood there, staring at myself in the mirror, but my attention was eventually broken by Leslie walking in through the bathroom door.

"Oh! Sorry, I figured you would be ready by now," she said, turning away with a blush.

"Don't worry, I am," I said, laughing. I turned around and on impulse gave her a hug.

"Uhmm, thanks?" She said, when I backed up. "What was that for?"

"For... I don't know... just being here." I looked down at my feet, studying the scuffs in my formerly shiny mary-janes. "You've been a lot of help lately and, I guess I'm just nervous."

Leslie giggled, squeezing me around the shoulder. "It's alright. You've been working a lot more with Sarah than me, though."

I shrugged. "Maybe, but you're still my big sister."

Her face lit up when I said that, and with a skip in her step she threw my door open and waved me out. "Come on, little sister and get a move on, it's Parent's Day!"

We stepped out of my room to find Sarah and Andrew already waiting for us. Sarah eagerly took Leslie's hand, giving her a quick peck on the cheek and admiring the Heidi braids she had put in the night before, while Andrew stood to the side, for once looking more uncomfortable than I in his stiff suit and tie.

"Rebecca," he said, giving me a sketchy bow.

"Andrew," I returned, dropping into a sloppy curtsey and fighting to keep a straight face.

"Alright you two, enough playing around, time to get going!"

"Yes, mom," I whined, standing up and rolling my eyes at Sarah, who giggled and started dragging Leslie down the hall, while Andrew and I followed along behind about a foot apart.

"She seems excited," Andrew said, as we watched Sarah talking animatedly to Leslie as the two of them led the way to the cafeteria.

"She is," I told him. "She's from Persistence. I'm looking forward to seeing my dad, since it's been years since we've seen each other, but it must be almost as rough on her, knowing her parents are so close but hardly ever getting to see them."

"Why haven't you seen your dad in so long?"

I sighed. I knew I would have to explain eventually, but today was not the time I wanted to. I decided to give him the short version. "When I was really little, my mom and dad divorced and afterward my dad came out as gay. I used to get to visit him fairly regularly, but about five years back he started to get into the drag scene and when my mom found out about it she threw a fit. She convinced the stepfamily to move further away, and my dad couldn't afford to pay my way each direction for me to see him, so I haven't had a chance to do more than talk to him over the phone since."

"But he's got custody of you now?"

"Yeah."

"How did that work out?"

This was where things really became uncomfortable. "I don't get along well with my stepfather. My stepfamily in general, really. I love my mom, and I know she thinks she was doing the right thing and all, but the rest of them don't care about me and think I'm some kind of freak."

"You're not," Andrew said, when I stopped there.

I gave him a smirk and gestured down my body. "My stepfather tried to tell me I couldn't go to Kingston when I was accepted. It hurt my mom's feelings, but I told her that if they didn't let me go, I would get Dad to take legal action. It was the first time I ever really stood up to my stepfather, and even then I had to do it through my mom." I laughed. "My mom gave my dad full custody after she had a fight with my stepfather over things. At least I think that's how it worked, I never did get all the details of how and why. Funnily enough, though, even though I was stuck there with them until school started nothing really bad happened. So, now my dad's got custody of me, and as far as I know my stepfather won't even let my mom write to me."

Andrew gently grabbed my arm and frowned down at me. "I'm sorry you had to deal with someone like that."

I shook my head, and looked up into Andrew's eyes. "I feel more sorry for my mom. I think things are better for her without me there, though." I could feel tears trying to flow, and quickly reached up to make sure they would not mess up the makeup I had worked so hard that morning to apply.

Andrew wrapped me in his arms. It was strange, the first truly intimate contact we had ever had, but I let him, and it did help me feel better.

"Ah hem," a teacher's voice came from behind me, sending me and Andrew flying apart.

"No PDA's, you two," professor Grumby said, giving us The Eye.

"No sir, I mean, we weren't..."

"Sir, it was just-"

"Now, now," he said with a smile, "I know how you kids are, and I'm a liberal, after all, 'no prop eight' and all that, but it's against school rules."

"Yes, sir," we said in unison, our voices so quiet as to be almost whispers.

"Good. Now, move along."

We moved, and made it around the next turn in the hall before we looked at each other and broke up laughing.

-26-

If there was one thing that I was not looking forward to concerning our contribution to Parent's Day, it was the outfits.

Not that they were bad outfits, per se, but rather that they were exceedingly feminine.

I gave Leslie a wry grin. "I don't think this is exactly what the school had in mind when it asked us what we would do for Parent's Day."

She laughed. "Me neither. But it is good for a laugh, wouldn't you say?"

"Only if you're laughing AT us."

"But of course," she said, with a grin of her own.

All of the campus clubs were required to contribute something to the Parent's Day activities, whether it be the drama club performing famous monologues from different plays, the culinary club providing refreshments, or the school band playing a selection of old Swing music in the cafeteria. The school considered the Princess Program to be a school club for the purposes of events like these, so in addition to any other club responsibilities we might have, we were all expected to provide some form of entertainment that only the Princess program could provide.

That was why I now found myself in a pink, ruffled dress covered in lace and holding a tray, waiting to deliver drinks to parents waiting in the next room.

I had to admit, I had worn far more revealing and provocative outfits before, but this one took the cake as far as embarrassment potential. Reaching to mid thigh, the skirt stood out a good six inches from my legs on all sides, supported by a cloud of netting and lace. Ribbons had been woven into the fabric, crisscrossing up and across my torso, adding a shiny rose detail to the otherwise pastel pink dress, with even more lace at the neckline and around the openings of the short, puffed sleeves. All of this was accented by yet more lace in the form of a short white apron, and cream stockings with more rose-colored ribbons wrapped about them.

The small, plastic tiara was just another laughable topping to the already horrendously little girlish outfit, leaving me feeling as though I were the victim of an explosion in a cotton candy factory.

"Here you are, sirs. Is there anything else I can do for you?" I asked as I curtsied to the gentlemen sitting at my assigned table. They shook there heads, and I began to turn around and head for my next table when there was a tug at my skirt.

"Ooh, ooh, mommy I want a picture with her!"

I looked down, and there stood an adorable little girl, wearing a dress that would have looked at home in a fairy tale book. She looked up at me with a broad toothy grin, and jumped up and down in excitement.

"Mommy, please, she's so pretty can I have a picture with her pleeeeeease?"

The woman standing behind her gave me an apologetic smile. "Sorry about this, but would you let me take a picture of you and her together?"

"Um, okay, sure," I said, blushing.

"Yaay!" The little girl said, jumping up and down even more, causing her pigtails -- very similar to mine, I was less than surprised to notice -- to bounce around merrily. "Over here!" She said, grabbing my hand and dragging me over to a table where Jules was busy serving drinks.

As we walked, the young woman with her bent down and whispered in my ear. "We didn't have the heart to tell her you were all boys. She's only six, and when she saw how much alike you looked she dragged me and her dad in here. If it's a problem we can tell her no."

I shook my head, and gave the gleeful little girl next to me a glance. "That's alright. I wouldn't want to spoil her day," I whispered back.

The girl's mother gave me another smile. "Thanks."

"Daddy, you take a picture with us too!"

"Okay, sweetheart," the man she had stopped next to said, picking her up and setting her on his knees. "Do you want to stand behind me, so we can all be in the shot," he asked me, "or would you prefer that I stand so you can sit down?"

The little girl fidgeted until she was only on one of her father's knees. "She can sit with me!"

"Honey, I don't know if that's appropriate..." her father started, but petered out when she gave him what can only be described as "puppy dog eyes." He gave me a desperate look.

I shrugged. I had done more embarrassing things since becoming a Princess, including wearing the dress to begin with. What could one photo hurt? "I don't mind, if it will make her happy."

"Are you sure?"

I nodded. We both shifted about uncomfortably for a moment, until finally I managed to maneuver myself onto the edge of his right knee.

We all smiled, and after a few quick flashes the photos were done. "Thank you so much!" The little girl said, jumping off her father's knee and wrapping me in an unexpected hug.

I gave her a quick squeeze back. "You're welcome."

She giggled, then ran off again, leaving me standing there with her parents.

"We're sorry, and thank you again for letting her have her picture. We can compensate you if-"

I waved them off. "No, that's alright. I didn't mind, really." I gave her father a smirk. "I'm more sorry if it embarrassed you, sir."

He laughed. "It's alright. I guess it's pretty obvious that she has me wrapped around her little finger, though."

I laughed along with him. "Just a little."

"Brother, see the princess I took my picture with?"

I looked up, and had to suppress a further laugh as Stewart stumbled up, hand held in a death grip by the little girl.

"Hi Stewart."

"Hi," he mumbled. "Um, Becky, isn't it?"

"Yep."

He tugged on the little girl's hand, causing her to giggle again. "Sorry if Rosie was being a nuisance."

"I'm not a nuisance!" The little girl, Rosie apparently, said with a pout.

He shook his head. "Well, um, it was nice seeing you again... I guess. See you around?"

I nodded, and gave Rosie a wave. "Bye Rosie!"

"Bye Princess Becky!"

I returned to my work, sure that I would be grinning like an idiot the rest of the day, and sure enough for the next half hour there was nothing too embarrassing or that could keep me from remembering how happy little Rosie had been with our picture. Then my day was made even better.

"Well, I certainly didn't expect to see you in something like this," a familiar voice said from behind me.

I spun around, and looked up into the warm, smiling eyes of one of my favorite people in the entire world.

"Dad!" I cried, as I wrapped my arms around my father's neck in the first hug we had shared in far too long.

-27-

I had known I would be emotional when I finally had a chance to see my dad in person again, but I had never expected to be so happy to see him that I would end up crying. Regardless, that is exactly what I did, tears of happiness running down my face as I kept a death grip on him. In the back of my mind I vaguely wondered if I would have felt so free to express myself if I had been dressed as a boy. Yes, I determined, I would.

It must have been at least five minutes before I finally let go, and when I backed away I saw that my dad had been crying too.

"Take the rest of the day off," I heard Jules say from behind me as her hand rested on my shoulder. "Go visit with your dad." I gave her an appreciative nod, then waved my dad toward an available table.

"Do you want to change before we sit down?" He asked me, gesturing to my outfit.

"Why?"

"No reason," he said, with a smile. He pulled out one of the chairs and waited expectantly.

"Oh!" I said, finally getting it and settling myself into the seat as he pushed it in to the table. He took the seat immediately across from me and sat, his hands clasped before him.

"You do look beautiful," he said, still with that same warm smile on his face. "I'm proud you've taken so well to things here."

"I like it here," I said. "It's a good school, and most of the teachers are great, and even this," I waved down my outfit, "can be fun sometimes."

He nodded, laughing. "Don't I know it. You have no idea how crazy some of the girls at the club went when I told them my son was a Princess at an all boys school. Of course, they went on to mention that it wasn't much of a surprise," he said, with a dramatic flourish of his hands, "given who your father is. They want pictures."

"Heh, they aren't the only ones," I said, then told him about Rosie.

"Well, I might have to track them down and ask for a copy or two of that."

"I doubt they'd mind." I sighed in contentment, and just looked at my dad for a moment. "I missed you so much," I finally said, feeling the tears start to well up again and fighting them back.

"I know, Beck, and I'm sorry it took so long for us to see each other."

"I understood," I said, wiping my face with a napkin. "I knew money was hard for you to come by even when we were living closer together, and that mom and... them, would have thrown a fit if we had asked them to help me visit you."

He nodded, a grimace on his face. "Still, I should have worked harder, I should have...." He choked up, then moved quickly to the chair beside me, wrapping me in a hug again from the side.

I leaned into my dad, enjoying the closeness. I felt him rumble slightly beneath me, and looked up.

"What?"

"We're getting some odd looks from the other parents, and a few of you fellow students."

"Who cares."

We just sat there for what felt like forever, and still all too short a time, just feeling the comfort of being near one another again. Eventually, though, I had to break the silence.

"Are you staying for Thanksgiving?"

"I wish I could, Beck, but I've got another show that the club manager said he needs me to do."

I sighed. "At least you made it down here for Parent's Day."

He squeezed me gently. "I wouldn't miss it for the world. So, what are your plans for Thanksgiving, then? I would take you with me, but-"

"Yeah, yeah, I know. We'd have to drive because you couldn't afford plane tickets for us both."

"And by the time we got down there,-"

"It'd be time to turn around and come back up," I finished for him, punching him playfully in the shoulder. That had been a major part of the reason that I had stayed with my mom between the custody change and school starting, after all. "But you are letting me come home for the summer, right?"

"Nope! I thought I'd send you out on your own, to explore the good old U S of A with nothing but a backpack and good intentions."

"And then bail me out when I'm arrested for hitchhiking."

"Good point," he said, cradling his chin in his hand with a look of mock pensiveness. "Perhaps it would be better to bring you home."

"I think so."

"Then that's what we'll do. But, Thanksgiving?"

I grinned. "My friend Sarah," I pointed her out to him, across the room and waiting on a table, "said I could spend it at her place if I couldn't go home with you."

"She's the local one, right?"

I nodded.

"Well, have fun. But not too much fun. Not until you're eighteen."

"Dad!"

"Well, she is a cute girl..."

"And dating Leslie, dad."

"Which one's Leslie?"

I pointed her out to him.

"Hah! Your school certainly is something else, that's for sure."

"Yeah," I agreed. "But... I think it's better like this."

"Me too, son, me too."

"Dad?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm wearing a dress."

We both fell apart laughing after that, and turned our conversation to catching up on everything we had missed over the last three years. There was a lot to catch up on, but I found myself focusing more and more on the events of just the past few months at the school.

All too soon, it was time for us to close up shop, and I had to tell my dad goodbye.

"I'll miss you, Dad."

He gave me one final hug, then backed away. "I'll miss you too, Becky. I'll try to save enough to have you home for Christmas, though."

I smiled, and nodded. "Now get out of here or you'll miss you plane!"

He started to walk away, then stopped and turned around again, a sad look in his usually happy eyes. "There are other planes, but I don't get to see you every day."

"I know," I said, "but we'll see each other again very soon."

"Maybe, but how soon?"

A single tear I could not stop traced down my cheek. "We'll find out soon enough."

(End of Part Nine)

Notes: I'm still not QUITE happy with this part. Like part 7, I'll probably go back and add more to this later, but it'll be after I finish the rest of the story, so no worries on it happening too soon :P

The comments on the last part were a bit scarcer than normal. As a result, funding for this post was cut. I had to hire an efficiency expert, who recommended laying off half the staff I use for proofing/editing/testing. Of course, half of 'none' is no major loss, so the story suffered little for this cutback.

As always, remember, if you comment, more will come. IF YOU COMMENT, MORE WILL COME.

Melanie E.