Princess For Hire
Book 2: The Second Semester
By Melanie E.

Beck returns to Kingston Academy after an eventful Christmas break, for all new adventures -- and maybe a little romance to boot!

Alright, before we start let me just say I hope I don't come to regret posting this so early. I was hoping to have the first nine chapters/three parts finished before starting to post the story, but as it is I've just finished the second part. I'm hoping that, like it worked with the first book, getting reader's comments will help to fuel my creative energies toward writing more quickly.

So, without further adieu, here we go!

Part 1: The Princess Returns

-1-

It was with a mixture of sadness and joy that I watched the gates of Kingston Academy roll into view. Joy, because I was finally returning to what I had come to think of as MY school, a place where I belonged. Sadness, because returning meant another four months before I would see my dad, someone I was just beginning to connect with again after our years apart.

I felt a hand reach down and take mine, squeezing it gently, and when I looked up Sarah gave me an understanding smile. "Come on, cheer up. I bet Leslie's waiting for us already. And Andrew, too."

I rolled my eyes, but felt my sullen mood lifting.

Christmas break had been an even more wonderful experience than I could have ever hoped for, even if it was far different than I had expected. The initial plan, where I would share the front room with my dad for the time he was there, was abandoned quickly when he arrived with his boyfriend Mitch in tow. He apologized to the Grahams extensively, but they just took it all in stride, and after a bit of finagling Sarah convinced them to move me into her room, the end result of which was that I'd had very little "Daniel" time over the past two weeks -- not that I was expecting to have much to begin with.

Thinking about everything that had happened over Christmas helped to drive away the rest of my bad mood. I had my dad again, and being around Sarah's family was oddly more comfortable than I had ever felt with any of my own.

"That's better. We're here!"

Sarah's father helped us unpack the car, leaving our luggage on the front steps, and true to her word Leslie and Andrew were there waiting to bring our bags up to the dorms. Seeing Andrew again sent nervous tingles down my spine. I had thought a lot about us while away on vacation, but I still had trouble coming to terms with the idea of actually dating another boy.

"Hey Sarah. Becky," he said, looking at the turtleneck and jeans I was wearing, both obviously girl's.

"Hey Andrew! Say hi, Becky."

I shot Sarah a withering glare, but she ignored me as she caught Leslie in a lip-lock, leaving me standing there across from Andrew even as I heard her parents' car pulling away.

"Uhm... hi," I finally managed to squeak out, before mentally slapping myself. Before I could get nervous about it again, I stepped forward and gave him a hug, which he returned warmly. When we let go of each other, he was smiling, and I felt the same begin to grow across my own face. "Hi," I said again, much more certain of myself.

"Are you ready to take your bags up?" Leslie asked us, reaching for the heavier of Sarah's bags.

"Are we ever! It's freezing out here!" Sarah complained, rubbing her arms through her thick coat.

Andrew grabbed the heaviest of my bags without even asking, and with that we were on our way through the building and to the dorms.

"So how were your Christmas breaks?" Sarah asked the boys as we trudged through the school's halls.

Leslie spoke up first, straining under the weight of Sarah's bags. "Fine. I got a new laptop. It has built in wireless, so I don't have to rely on that glitchy card any more."

"Good! I was missing your emails. What about you, Andrew?"

Andrew shrugged under the weight of my duffel bag. "Not bad I guess. Jules was impossible to live with as usual. Then again, you two know how he can be. I didn't get anything as fancy as a laptop though."

"Aww, so no sending love letters to Becky by email then?"

Andrew grinned. "I'll just have to write 'em by hand I guess."

"Oooh," Sarah said, as I tried to shrink down into my turtleneck and disappear.

"Alright, stop it you two," Leslie chimed in, the voice of reason. "You're embarrassing her. You don't like being picked on either, Sarah, so no excuses."

"But I'm not picking on her," she said, pouting. Leslie just glared at her.

"Stop or I won't let you do my hair again."

"But that's no fair!"

Luckily for me, the argument ended when we reached the outside doors. We would be in the dorms soon, but it was too cold outside to waste the time arguing.

We rushed as quickly as we could through the quad, and wasted no time once we reached the dorms, racing up the stairs to our rooms. I felt the tingle of excitement as we reached the "P" wing, the familiar smell of the hallway making me feel a sense of... something. I was not sure what I felt, but it was good.

Leslie and Sarah continued on down the hall to her room while Andrew and I stopped at mine. Putting my things up took a back seat, however, when as soon as our hands were free Andrew wrapped me in another hug. I resisted slightly at first, but his warmth changed my mind.

After a few seconds he pulled back a little, but did not let me go. "Becky, I've wanted to ask you this since before Christmas break. Can I... can I kiss you again?"

I cannot remember what I said. On the other hand, it must have been "yes," because that is what he did.

-2-

"So who else is back already?"

Leslie shrugged, sitting backward in my desk chair, as he often did when visiting my room. "Most of the other Princesses are back already, as well as a few of the Protectors, like Andrew and Bobby. For the most part, though, this is it until probably the day before classes start. I would have thought you and Sarah would have waited too, since she lives so close."

"Mr. Uchiha asked us to come a couple of days early. He said there was something he wanted to talk to us about before classes started and he'd be busy the day right before. We're supposed to meet with him about ten in the morning."

Leslie groaned. "Crap. First day back and already having to get up early?"

I nodded, not at all pleased myself. "Tell me about it. Then again, Sarah's entire family is early risers, so this will be like sleeping in for me."

Leslie's eyes grew wide as the implications of what that would mean if he stayed with Sarah sunk in. Leslie liked his sleep at least as much as I did.

"Don't worry, it's just me and her he wants to talk to. You're off the hook," I said, fighting not to laugh at the visible relief on his face. "So why aren't you in there with Sarah still? You two seemed pretty intense when we first got back."

He frowned. "I tried to explain to her why she needs to lay off you and Andrew, but she doesn't get it. We were getting kind of heated, so I backed off and left before we had a major fight."

I stopped my unpacking and went over to him, patting him on the shoulder. "It's okay, just because you're my 'big sister' doesn't mean you have to stand up to your own girlfriend for me."

"I just don't see why she doesn't understand! I mean, we all pick on you, yeah, and Jules is the worst. Then again, Jules is Jules, and Andrew's brother, so that's different. But Sarah's supposed to be your best friend and-"

"And she thinks of me as a girl." I didn't feel like having this conversation, but I knew we had to, and I had to let Leslie know what was going on. "She doesn't think of me as a guy at all, Leslie. Come on, most of the people in the school don't."

"But Sarah..."

"Sarah IS my best friend, and she tries to understand. But she still has problems seeing how my situation is different from hers."

"Why?"

I shrug. "Because she's normal?"

I thought Leslie was going to argue with me, but instead a light seemed to come on in his eyes as he got it.

"Exactly," I said, sitting back on the bed with a pleased look on my face.

"But it's still not nice of her to pick on you."

"It embarrasses me, yeah, but it's not that bad. She does it because she wants me to loosen up about it, and she's right, I need to."

Leslie still looked unconvinced. "Well, if you're sure..."

"I am," I said, nodding with more confidence than I felt.

He stood up. "In that case, I'm gonna go apologize to her."

I grinned. "Alright. If Ruby's here could you ask her to come visit with me?"

"Ruby? Oh! Right. Sure."

"Thanks."

He left, and I had just enough time to finish unpacking before I heard the unmistakable "oof!" of Ruby tripping over my door frame.

"Hi."

"Hey Ruby," I said, not being surprised upon turning around to find her a girl's school uniform. "Dressed a little early for classes, huh?"

She blushed. "I just like it is all."

"It's alright. So how was your Christmas break?"

She smiled, turning the chair Leslie had been perched on around and sitting carefully on the edge. "It was great! I got to see my sister again, and I told her all about the Princess program. She thought it sounded great, though..."

"What?"

She blushed again, and would not look me in the face. "She said she hoped grace lessons were part of it, 'cause I really need 'em."

Okay, it was kind of mean, but I couldn't help the laugh that bubbled up within me. I tried to fight it, but there was no way the snickers would remain contained. Finally, I let it out.

"It's not that funny!" She complained with a huff, but soon she was laughing too, just as hard as I was. Seeing her laughing, and eventually fall out of the chair, caused me to laugh even more. It was a couple of minutes before we could look at each other again without giggling.

All in all, it was good to be back.

-3-

If anyone were to ask where the idea came from, I would blame it on the corrupting influences of Ruby and Sarah. After all, I had only meant it as a joke -- it was the two of them who had run with the idea, drawing every other Princess who had shown up for the session early in with promises of food and bad horror movies. Who could resist?

The end result was that, with the house attendant's permission, we had organized an impromptu slumber party in one of the two lounge rooms on the ground floor.

It was surprising how many of us had shown up already for preparation for classes. The group consisted of Sarah, Ruby, Brandy, Amanda, Kylie, Leslie, Jules, and of course, me, all hanging about the lounge room with sleeping bags or blankets and pillows in varying levels of girly sleeping attire. I had on a plain set of pajamas I had bought to wear at Sarah's place, while Amanda and Leslie were in boxers and tees, their only concession to femininity being Amanda's breast forms and Leslie's painted nails and up-done hair. Brandy had appeared in of all things a long flannel nightgown that she had obviously received from her mom, blushing brightly at being seen in it, while Sarah and Ruby, of course, wore the most feminine nightgowns they had. Jules, to everyone's surprise, showed up in an extra-long sleep shirt with a picture of a kitten on it, stating it was a gag gift from Andrew for Christmas. All in all, we made an interesting collection to find in a boys' dorm hall.

What had at first started out as the group of us talking nervously in small clusters, no one quite sure of how to approach the event, soon evolved into a group conversation, and eventually into the night of board games and bad movies I had expected it to. Of course, given the nature of such events, and our unique situation, it became apparent that we would be acting out as many of the stereotypical girly-girl slumber party activities as we could get away with.

The pillow fight was a bust, since we all found it far more exhausting and irritating than fun, and though Sarah and Ruby spearheaded a makeover session that rapidly deteriorated as well when it was discovered that they were the only two who had anything more than the bare minimum of different styles of makeup necessary for school events. When the game of truth or dare came along, though, was when the night grew interesting.

"Alright alright alright, who's first?"

"Sarah!"

"Sarah it is!" Jules said, grinning evilly. "Well, then, Sarah. Truth or dare?"

Sarah wiggled uncomfortably. "Uh, truth?"

"Good. How about this, then. Have you and Leslie gone all the way yet!"

"Jules!" Someone interjected, but she ignored them, staring holes through the top of Sarah's head.

"Noooo," Sarah said, her face flushing.

"So then you've only gone so far as --"

"JULES!" The force of the voice convinced her to stop, though she looked dejected that she wouldn't get to finish her line of questioning.

"Sarah's turn to ask someone," I said, nudging her lightly since we were side by side in the circle the group had formed for the game.

"Oh! Okay. Amanda! Truth or dare?"

"I'll take truth as well."

"Do you like being a girl?"

Amanda hesitated before answering. "Well, it's okay. It doesn't BOTHER me. I dunno... sometimes?"

Brandy nodded. "It can be fun, but it's a lot more work than I thought it would be." Everybody around the circle nodded their agreement with that, even Sarah.

"But isn't it nice to feel pretty sometimes?"

Amanda shrugged. "I guess. I do like the way a lot of the clothes feel, and it's nice not to have to act tough all the time. When you're tall and black people tend to expect you to be some kind of athlete or something, but I've never really liked playing sports too much. It might sound kinda sexist, but I like not being expected to be all physically powerful when I'm dressed as a girl."

Sarah thought for a moment, then decided she was done. "Alright, your turn, who are you gonna pick?"

"Uh, how about Kylie?"

Kylie shook her head no, but everybody's urging finally pushed her over the edge, and she mumbled a quiet, "alright. Truth, I guess."

I listened avidly, waiting for Amanda's question. Of all the girls, I probably knew Kylie the least.

"Do you ever dress as a girl when you're not doing Princess stuff?"

Kylie's eyes grew wide.

"Well?"

She looked away, then squeezed her eyes tightly shut. "Sometimes," she said, too quietly to be heard if the room had not been dead silent.

After a few seconds of tense silence in which nobody picked on her or laughed, she finally opened her eyes to find us all watching her, smiling.

"Go on," Sarah said, in the same tone you would use to coax a scared puppy out from under the bed.

"Uh, when my cousin came over for summer break last year, she found some of my Princess clothes, and we spent a few days hanging out as girls? And again, when she came down for Christmas?" Finally realizing that none of us would pick on her for her answers, she opened up. "And sometimes... sometimes, just because."

"Because why?"

She shrugged. "Because."

The entire room was silent, contemplating her answer.

"Alright, do me next," Leslie said when things started to grow uncomfortable. "I'll be different and take a dare."

"Okay." Kylie brightened up, the spotlight being off her now. "I dare you to... gosh, this is hard."

Everybody laughed at that, but seeing they were laughing with her and not at her, Kylie relaxed even more, becoming more like the girl I had seen many times at meals. "How about this. I dare you to wear your Princess uniform underwear under your boy's uniform for the next month."

Leslie lit up a bright red, but everyone approved of the dare, and after much ribbing she finally nodded her consent, to cheers around the room.

"But how will we know if she does it?"

"Easy," Sarah said with a gleam in her eye, "I'll check." This was followed by a wolf whistle from Jules, but everybody ignored her as they clapped in approval.

"Now your turn. Who are you going to challenge?"

"Well, I've gotta pick on my little sister, don't I?" Leslie's words left my blood running cold. "Come on, Becky, it's your turn. Truth or dare?"

What should I do? I wrapped my arms around my knees as I thought for a moment, considering my options. If I did truth, the question would likely be something about being a girl, or about Andrew. If I did a dare, well, it would probably be the same. All the faces around me were waiting intently for my answer.

"Truth."

"Alright. Why don't you dress as a girl every day like Sarah does?"

I was shocked. Of all the people in the room, Leslie was the one I least expected to ask a question that loaded. Then I saw her face. I could read in her eyes the apology for the question, but there was something else there as well. An urging to answer.

She had given me the opening I needed to explain to everyone my position.

I took a deep breath. "Never."

There were many sighs and mumbles around the room, before I heard someone ask, "why not?"

"Because I'm a guy?"

"But you make such a good girl!" I looked in Sarah's direction, but she shook her head, telling me it hadn't been her who had said it.

"And even dressed as a guy you look like a girl."

"And you don't act very masculine either."

I shook my head, growing annoyed. "So what! So I'm happy with who I am, and I don't feel I need to change that for anyone. Why does that make me a girl?"

"Why does it make you a guy?" The same voice from before asked. Why couldn't I place who was asking? But more importantly, how do I answer?

Finally, I simply shrugged. "Does it really matter?" The edge in my voice was enough to prevent anyone else from questioning me, but even as we all called the game quits and began to clean up for sleep, I still found that I was questioning myself.

(End of Part 1)

NOTES: Yes, yes, I know, the "girly sleepover" is about as cliche' as you can get, but that's the point, after all! On the other hand, I'd *like* to think that I gave it an interesting twist, so hopefully that makes up for some of it.

This is just the beginning! I can't promise a posting every week like with book 1, though I will strive for it, but I can put in a good word for getting at least a new post every two weeks or so. I'm aiming for fifteen parts on this one, same as the first, so that should last you a good while, no?

Melanie E.