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 Ten: A Thanksgiving Interlude (1)

-28-

I tapped my foot, nervous and unsure about the coming weekend.

"Relax!" Sarah said as she lowered the handle on her rolling suitcase and sat down on it carefully. "Everything will be fine!"

I gave her a tight-lipped smile and tried to calm myself down, unsuccessfully. I knew she was telling the truth, and I had met her parents briefly just a few hours ago during our parent's day events, but that helped very little in the face of spending the next four days with them.

Sarah giggled, as best as I could tell amused at how tense I was. "Seriously, they liked you. Just try and have fun. And look on the bright side, no princess duties for four days!"

That had me grinning. Though skirts and the other accoutrements of the Princess program caused me few if any problems any more, it was still a relief not to have to deal with them in an official capacity for a few days. For once in a long time, I could escape the stress of being a Princess and just be Beck, or even Becky as I knew Sarah would ask if we could go out as girls at least once.

A few deep breaths, and I at last managed to calm myself, and settled down on top of my own duffel bag to wait for our ride.

Even without the Princess duties, I had still not managed to completely escape girl's clothes for the next four days. Without a whole lot of clothes at the start of the year I had expected to have to do laundry quite often. The Princess Program had helped to relieve my clothing problem somewhat, if in an unexpected direction, but the clothes were not exactly masculine. Despite that, I had taken to using some of the girl's underwear even on my days dressed as a boy to help fill in the time between laundry days. On top of everything else, once I had learned what styles worked for me and what did not, it had become more comfortable to wear the girl's underwear that fit rather than the old, threadbare boy's underwear I had.

I shifted on my bag, vaguely regretting my choice to bring only the girl's underwear.

"There they are!" Sarah called as she bounced to her feet, startling me. I looked up in time to see her mom, a short Asian woman who looked like an older version of Sarah, and her father, a stocky gentleman with graying hair, both walking toward us with smiles on their faces.

"Are you two ready?" Her father asked as he was assaulted by Sarah wrapping him in a hug. "Hey princess."

Her mom gave me a soft smile and reached out her hand. "Come on, we won't bite, I promise!"

I took her hand and stood up, then we both grabbed our bags and followed them out to their silver van, warm and waiting for us.

"Thank you for letting me come over to your house for Thanksgiving, mister and misses Graham."

"Please, call me Sakaki. And you're very welcome. We're just glad Sarah has another friend like herself at the school."

"Mom!"

"I'm sorry?" I asked, confused.

"You know!" She gestured at Sarah, a knowing look on her face.

"Um, Mom, Beck isn't... oh, god."

Now Mrs. Graham was frowning. "She isn't? But I thought with how she looked."

I sighed. "It's okay, Sarah." I looked her mom in the eyes. "I don't want to be a girl like Sarah does, Misses Gra- er, Miss Sakaki. I just, uh... look like this."

"But... when you stood up I saw your panties," she said, confusion evident in her tone.

"MOM!"

I sunk into my seat and wished desperately that I had simply stayed at the school.

We spent the rest of the twenty minute ride explaining to her parents exactly what my situation was. No, I was not 'like Sarah' in that I did not want to be a girl. Yes, I was part of the Princess program, they had seen me in my pink dress earlier. Yes, I knew I looked very pretty (their words) and not much like a boy. I quickly grew tired of their well meaning but still stressful attention.

Finally, I had enough. "I'm sorry I've caused you so many problems, if you need to take me back to the school I can-"

"Oh, no! We can't do that!" Sarah's father said, giving me a stern look in the mirror before giving that same look to his wife and daughter. "You are a guest of ours, and you will be treated with respect. I apologize for our confusion, we simply assumed that because Sarah always talked about you as a girl that was what you preferred."

I glanced over to see that now Sarah was the one with the blush on her face.

"Sorry," she said quietly, not looking me in the eyes.

I squeezed her shoulder lightly. "It's okay." When she looked up, I gave her a smile. "Really."

I turned to her father, already regretting what I was about to say. "Sir, if it would make things easier, I could be Becky for the weekend."

"Really?"

"NO!" Her father bellowed. He seemed shocked at his own outburst, but quickly recovered. "No," he said again, much more calmly. "You don't have to dress as a girl just because we had the wrong idea. Thanks to Sarah," he gave her a loving smile in the rear view mirror, "we've learned our lesson about making people be someone they're not."

I felt the tension I had not noticed building drain from my shoulders at his words. I truly did want to just relax this weekend, and while I could handle the clothes, knowing that I would not HAVE to wear them was a relief.

Sarah tugged on my sleeve lightly.

"Yeah?"

"Umm, even if you don't spend the weekend as Becky, can you at least spend one day as her? You don't have to," she said quickly, when she saw her father's glare in the mirror, "but if you want to, I was thinking we could just have some fun?"

Her mom coughed lightly from the front, gaining our attention, and gave me an apologetic smile. "I, uh, had planned for us to have a girl's day out on Saturday already."

"Sakaki, don't make him do it if he doesn't want to."

I shook my head. "It's okay." I sighed, and glanced over at Sarah again. "So long as the rest of the time it's up to me how I dress, okay?"

Everyone in the vehicle nodded their heads solemnly, and I sat back and pondered my situation. Something told me I would be spending more than just Saturday dressed as a girl. As I had said, so long as they did not pressure me into it, that was okay -- I had been expecting as much, hanging out with Sarah, and had packed a couple of outfits just in case as it were. It was looking more and more, though, like my Princess-free weekend was slipping away.

I vowed to buy some better fitting boy's underwear at the first chance, as well.

-29-

We pulled up in front of a beautiful two story white house in a nice neighborhood, complete with white picket fence and a large shaggy white dog tied to a lead in he front yard. As soon as Sarah climbed out of the car, he began to jump up and down, barking excitedly.

"Hey Marley," she said, jogging up to him and wrapping him in a hug as he eagerly licked her face.

I watched for a few seconds before heading around to the back to grab my bags, only to find Mr. Graham standing there with both Sarah's bags and mine thrown over his shoulders.

"Sir, I can help," I said.

"That's alright," he said, smiling at me. "Go introduce yourself to Marley while I take these inside."

I looked back over to see Sarah pinned to the ground by the large pooch and laughing as he slobbered all over her, seemingly immune to how dirty he was making her clothes. With a chuckle of my own I hurried over and crouched down next to her.

As soon as I approached Marley backed up, letting Sarah up, and gave me a curious look. His tail was still wagging, though, so I was pretty sure everything was okay.

"Marley, this is my friend Beck. Beck, this is my little brother Marley."

"Hey boy," I said, holding out my hand. In a flash I found myself on the ground in the same position Sarah had been moments before, a happy but heavy dog on top of me.

"Marley, down!" Sarah commanded, grabbing his collar and pulling him back, letting me up. "I think he likes you."

"I'm glad," I said, a bit breathlessly.

"Kids, come on in so we can get things sorted!"

"Coming Mom!"

I followed Sarah into the house, feeling more comfortable by the moment. The walls were filled with pictures of Sarah and her family, including a tall older boy I could not recognize. In all the pictures they looked very happy, almost like the perfect family.

"There you are," Sarah's mom said, coming around a corner and seeing us standing in the front hallway. "Oh, look at this, I'm sorry about that Beck, Marley is a big sweetheart, but he still thinks he's a puppy half his size."

"It's okay," I said smiling as she tried to dust the worst of the grass and dirt from mine and Sarah's clothes, tutting all the while.

"Well, you can change as soon as we get you settled." She gave me a nervous glance. "We, uh, had been expecting you to share a room with Sarah, but since things aren't exactly how we thought, I'm afraid you'll be sleeping on the living room couch."

"Can't Beck use Tommy's room?"

"And leave me on the couch?" I voice I had never heard called from the room she had came out of, followed by a tall, athletic looking young man who I recognized from the photos. "I don't think so."

"Tommy!" Sarah squealed with even more excitement than when she had greeted Marley. She tackled the tall young man, wrapping her arms around his neck. "I thought you were still on tour?"

"I got out home yesterday," he said, grinning, as he wrapped his own arms around her.

"Tour?"

"Tommy's in the army," Sarah answered me when she finally let him go. "Tommy, this is Beck, my best friend. Beck, this is my older brother Tommy."

He held out his hand to me. "I see you already met our little brother," he said, looking at my stained and dirty clothes.

"Yup. Nice to meet you," I said, taking his hand and preparing to shake it, but surprised when he instead lifted it and kissed the back.

"Charmed," he said, giving me a thousand watt smile while I stood there, speechless.

Sarah giggled. "Uhm, Tommy?"

"Yeah, sis," he said, never looking away from my face.

"Beck's not like me, he's a guy."

The smile slowly drained from his face, to be replaced by a blush. "Oh." He dropped my hand and stepped back, coughing nervously. "Sorry about that, dude."

I struggled to find something to say, while Sarah moved from giggling to outright cackling at our matching blushes.

"Sarah! Stop teasing your brother! Tommy, why don't you go help your dad with the steaks for dinner?"

"Yes, mom," both Sarah and Tommy said at the same time.

"Sarah, why don't you help Beck set up in the front room?" Mrs. Graham said, handing her what looked like a large-ish roll of plastic while Tommy made a beeline for what I assumed was the kitchen. Then she winked at me. "And I'm serious about not teasing your brother, he was only trying to be nice."

"Okay," Sarah said in a sad voice, then turned to me with a smirk on her face. "Come on, let's get you set up."

We entered the comfortable room and set about clearing a space out of the way where she unrolled what turned out to be a blow-up mattress and proceeded to fill it with a pump, taking turns.

After several turns each, I turned to Sarah. "Sarah?"

"Yeah?"

"Were you serious? About me being your best friend?"

She nodded. "Yeah! I mean, I know it's kind of weird since we've only known each other a couple of months and all, but... yeah."

I was taken aback. "But I thought Leslie was your best friend?"

"Well... I like Leslie. A LOT," she said, grinning with a far away look in her eyes. "But, I dunno, it's not the same." She frowned for a moment. "Don't take this the wrong way, okay?"

I nodded, having a feeling I already knew what she was going to say.

"Leslie, I see as a guy. And I'm sorry, but-"

"You don't see me as one," I said, interrupting her. She looked at me, and I thought for a moment she was about to cry, so I wrapped her in a hug. "It's alright, I guess. And I'm honored, really. You're my best friend, too."

"Really?"

"Uh huh."

It was true. Leslie might have been my mentor in the Princess program, and he was a great guy, but as much as it annoyed me, I knew he saw me as more like Sarah too, as did the other Princesses. What was it about me that made people think of me as a girl? Was it just my looks, or did I behave in some kind of overtly feminine way? Whatever the reason, it has created an almost imperceptible barrier between me and most of the other Princess program members that I had no idea how to cross. The only one who did not seem to have that was Sarah. As a result, I had grown closer to her than any of the others, and the more I hung out with her the easier it was for me to see how badly she needed someone else around who she could identify with.

We spent the rest of our time preparing the room in silence, but a comfortable one. Occasionally Sarah would look at me, and I imagined I could see a glimmer of relief in her eyes.

I had decided a while ago that I was not going to feel sorry for myself over things, and this was just another part of that. She really was my best friend. And if part of that was her thinking of me as a girl, then I knew that I could live with that if it helped her be more comfortable.

-30-

"Wake uuuuuup, sleepyhead."

I rolled over, pulling the blanket up around my head to block out the light.

A sudden tug and spin, and I screamed as my retinas were burned by the brightness.

"Come on!" Sarah said, lightly smacking me with the end of the blanket she now held in her hands. "I've been trying to get you up for half an hour! We gotta get ready to go to my grandma's for Thanksgiving!"

I clawed about for a pillow, slamming it over my eyes as quickly as I could. "Alright, I'm up! What time is it anyhow?"

Six thirty, we've gotta get ready if we want to make it to her place by two. If you get up soon there might be some of my dad's homemade waffles left."

"Waffles?" I asked, grasping for something to give me a reason to bother getting up.

"With chocolate chips, covered in karo syrup and butter..." Sarah said, in soft tones right next to my ear.

"MMmmmmm...."

"If you want them, then get up!"

"I bet I can get her up," I heard Tommy say. Then I screamed again as the mattress beneath me began to slide sideways. I reached for the edge blindly, but only managed to send myself rolling to the floor with a sound "thump."

"Oh, geez, are you okay?" Sarah asked, sounding worried.

I groaned. "Those waffles better be worth it."

Thank goodness they were.

Thanksgiving had dawned a bright and crystal clear if incredibly cold Thursday morning, and after finishing the world's most delicious waffles I was sorely tempted to curl up in a blanket near a heat vent and doze the day away. Unfortunately for me, all of the Grahams were almost annoyingly perky on this particular morning, and I soon found myself thrust into a bathroom with a handful of clothes and ordered to take a shower and get ready for a big day ahead of me. Luckily, long practice had given me the foresight to double check my clothes before starting my shower.

"Sarah!"

"Can't blame me for trying," she said sheepishly as she handed me a pair of my own jeans and a polo shirt to replace the skirt and blouse I had been given. As I washed, I cursed my bad luck that everyone around me any more seemed to be such morning people while I would not object to sleeping in until noon on a regular basis.

In addition to getting dressed, I was also expected to help prepare a handful of dishes to take as well. Sarah worked on a pie with her father while Tommy made some kind of casserole. Having admitted I had no experience cooking beyond the occasional bag of popcorn and a few other microwave dishes, I had been relegated to helping Mrs. Graham remove vegetable sushi from a large plastic container and arrange it on a platter to take with us.

"I can't cook to save my life, that's why Alan does all our meals," she said to my curious expression. "But when he first introduced me to his parents, they went crazy over the fact that I was from Japan, never mind that my family moved here when I was only six. Ever since, they've expected me to bring some kind of 'authentic Japanese food' to every family outing, and I've just never had the courage to tell them the truth." She grinned. "So we buy it from a restaurant in town and move it over to our own dishes. As far as I know, nobody's figured it out yet."

We both had a good laugh over that, and before I knew it it was time for us to pack up and head out. Because there were so many of us, it was decided to split into two vehicles. Tommy would ride with Sarah's dad, whose name I had learned was Alan, while Sarah and I would ride with Mrs. Graham and the food.

The trip out to Sarah's grandparents' house was filled with laughter and conversation, and I had a chance to experience a happy family situation like I had not seen since before my mom and dad had divorced. It was enough to make me long for such a family myself. In the end, though, I knew it was not meant for me, and instead contented myself to be able to be a part of this loving group even if just for one weekend.

After over two hours of driving we eventually stopped in front of a long ranch-style home in the middle of the woods with what must have been a dozen cars, trucks, and SUVs already parked in front. We waited for Tommy and Mr. Graham to arrive, and when they had caught up each of the adults took a dish and had Sarah and I lead the way to the house.

When we reached the front door, Sarah rapped the old iron knocker three times, then stood back, waiting for an answer.

(End of Part 10)

NOTES:

Sorry for this one being up a day late! I got an Xbox 360 last week (I know, I know, I'm a total game geek, okay?) so that kind of cut into my writing time a bit. On top of that, I spent a lot of time trying to work out how to get everything I wanted for the Thanksgiving break into one part, and it just wasn't happening, so we're looking at a two to three part set here, meaning that the time until I take my break has been extended by as much as two weeks!

I hope y'all enjoy this part of the story, I plan on it being a lot of fun, and it's part I've been looking forward to even though it isn't necessarily required for the main story arch.

Melanie E.