Princess For Hire: The Second Semester
By Melanie E.

Part 11: A Princess Goes Home

This part is dedicated to the memory of Wren Phoenix, Edeyn Blackeney, and Stanman. All three were very supportive of the story, and I'm incredibly sorry that they are not here to celebrate its completion with us.

-31-

The last day before a major break starts is always a hectic one. What do you take with you? What do you leave?

For me, that question had another layer: do I pack for Becky, or for Beck?

It was the day before spring break, and there were no classes for the day, since Kingston Academy wanted to make sure every one of us students had time to prepare for being gone. When I had first come to the school I had figured on spending most of my breaks except for summer vacation on campus, to save money and because I just wasn't sure exactly how good a relationship I would have with my dad after how long we had been separated from one another. Thanks to being a Princess, though, a lot of opportunities had opened up to me. Sarah had offered to let me hang out with her over the break, but I opted instead to pay for plane tickets out of my own pocket to visit my dad. There was a limit on how many days the program would pay you for dressing as a Princess per week, I had been a little let down to find out (though not surprised,) but even at that I had made plenty of money to afford the round trip.

I had offered to pay for Dad a ticket to come get me, but he insisted on taking care of at least that.

I'd had the tickets for a couple of weeks, but like any teenager I'd waited until the last minute to start any packing for the week and a half I'd be gone. Now it was less than three hours before Dad would arrive to pick me up, and I had... nothing.

Why nothing?

Being a Princess full-time had so far worked wonders for my school life. Without the issue of whether I was a guy or a girl getting in the way I was having a lot easier time dealing with all my fellow students, and for the first time I could remember my wardrobe consisted of more than just hand-me-downs that were a good three sizes too big for me.

Of course, almost all of those clothes were girl's clothes, and that was only where my problems began.

Jeans and tee shirts I could probably get by with either way, Beck or Becky, but I'd been spending so much time in Princess-mode that even the girly options for those were in short supply. Plus, it was starting to warm up, and warmer weather meant shorts, which I had none of at all. I could sacrifice my two pairs of boy's jeans to the god of cutoffs – they were frayed and ragged enough that if anything it would make them look better – but that was only a stop-gap measure. I could buy clothes when I got to my dad's, too, and that was the option I was looking at the most.

But boy's clothes, or girl's clothes?

It was all such a confusing mess, and no small part of that was the constant battle inside my own head to understand why I let the clothes matter in the first place.

Frustrated, I left my still-empty duffel bag on my bed and slipped on a pair of shoes. Maybe a walk would do me some good.

Walking around campus I couldn't help but admire the new life spring was bringing to the surface all around me. After months of cold weather, brown grass and even browner trees, the fresh buds sprouting from everything were a sight to behold. There were dogwoods spotted throughout the campus grounds, in lots of different colors, and the gardeners had already started preparing flower beds and trimming bushes. Even the sight of the second dorm hall's half-finished construction off in the distance did little to detract from what was a beautiful place to walk around and lose yourself in, and it wasn't long before I found my thoughts drifting away from the confusion and problems with my situation and, instead, on to some of the good things.

It was nice to have friends. Sarah, of course, Leslie too, and even Ruby. There were the rest of the princesses, too, and all of us had a special connection that the rest of the students didn't – couldn't – understand. Even Stew had warmed up to me more since the whole GSA thing, and I had been surprised to see him walking around the other day holding hands with a guy who looked suspiciously like Jules' escort to the alumni banquet so many weeks ago. I didn't see Bobby much, but every time I did he made sure to talk to me a little, so I was pretty sure that we were cool again after everything that happened with Andrew.

Andrew.

As much as things between me and Andrew still continued to confuse me, I had to admit that I liked him. A lot. If you had told me at the start of the year that I would have a boyfriend, or that I'd actually be upset by the idea of not seeing him over spring break, then... okay, I probably wouldn't have laughed in your face or anything, but it would have been a really hard sell. Now, though....

I'd had plenty of time over the last couple of weeks to think about Jules' warning about not breaking Andrew's heart. I knew he had his brother's best interest in mind, but the more I thought about it the more it pissed me off. For one thing, it was none of Jules' business, and for another, he seemed to think that boy or girl me mattered. Just to prove it didn't, I did something I never thought I'd have the nerve to do.

I straight up asked Andrew.

Sure, he had said when we had started “pretend” dating that it didn't matter to him, but having him say it again, with full conviction, had been a relief. What's more, I believed him, and more than that, I knew in my heart of hearts that it wouldn't make a difference to me either.

I was no longer embarrassed to say that, whether it made either one of us gay, straight, bi, or something else entirely, I liked Andrew. Not “liked him like a boy likes another boy” or “liked him like a girl likes a boy,” if there's even a difference. I liked him, full stop. I liked walking around with him, arm in arm, or arms around each other's waists. I liked his laugh, I liked his personality, I liked the smell of the cologne he always wore, even if he tried to claim he didn't.

I liked kissing him.

Even with nobody else around thinking about kissing Andrew caused a blush to rise in my cheeks. Sure, we had done it a few times here and there before I went and punched him, but the ones since we got back together, since I'd finally started to realize how much I cared for him, had been so much... more.

I'd miss Sarah over spring break. She was becoming more and more like a sister to me, and had pretty much taken over Leslie's job as Princess big sister too. I'd miss Leslie and the others, too. But, I'd miss Andrew more than any of them.

If spring break was messing with me this badly, I had no idea how I'd handle summer vacation when THAT rolled around.

“Becky? Miss Henderson, there you are!” I heard someone calling to me from down the path behind me.

“Mr. Cooper? What's wrong?”

“Nothing, nothing. The headmaster asked me to fetch you from your dorm, but when you weren't there some of the other students told me you were out here taking a walk. Shouldn't you be packing young lady?”

“Umm, yeah. I just needed some air.”

“Ah. Well, if you could head to Mr. Uchiha's office before you leave he would like to have a word with you. And might I say you look very nice today,” Mr. Cooper said with a kind smile, reminding me why he was one of my favorite teachers.

I couldn't help but laugh. “Thank you, sir. I'll head there straight away.”

“Good girl.”

Mr. Cooper turned around and started heading back down the path the way he had come, leaving me to find my own way to Mr. Uchiha's office, wondering all the way what it could be he wanted to talk to me about.

-32-

Mr. Uchiha's secretary was nowhere to be found when I reached his office, doubtless already off to enjoy the school's spring break in their own way, but the headmaster's inner office door was wide open, and I could hear him typing away at a keyboard inside.

“Mr. Uchiha?”

“Miss Henderson! Please, do come in.”

The last time I had been in Mr. Uchiha's office he had been stressed and frazzled, and even though I had been trying to find an opportunity to talk to him again since the incident with Professor Swift the two of us had never seemed to catch each other at a good time. Now, though, I could instantly see how much more relaxed Mr. Uchiha was than the last time we had talked, and he gave me a happy smile as soon as I stepped through his door.

“I'm glad you made it. I've been meaning to talk to you for some time. How are your classes going?”

“Good,” I said, taking one of the seats across from his desk and sinking into its softness. “I was expecting more trouble, to be honest.”

“Your records show you're maintaining a 3.8 average. I'm very proud of that, as is your father. He's been calling the school every couple of weeks to keep up with what's going on with you. You should be proud to have such a caring father.”

“Thank you, sir,” I said, unable to keep a grin from spreading across my face at the news. We'd talked to each other at least once a week since Christmas break, but I had been unaware he had been calling the school too.

“How has your extra study period been? I have a temporary replacement coming in after spring break until the Professor returns, but I'm sure you and your classmates haven't suffered too much in the class's absence?”

I started to shake my head, then froze. Had he just said what I thought he had said? “Professor Swift is returning?”

Mr. Uchiha nodded. “I understand there have been rumors circulating that he has quit. Given his reputation with the student body at the moment and the uncertain nature of his return I thought it prudent not to argue. He is, in fact, on a temporary leave of absence. With any luck he will be back at the beginning of next year a changed man, and it's all thanks to you.” Mr. Uchiha was smiling at me, obviously happy with the outcome of our bit of sneakiness, though I was still confused.

“I thought I'd driven him off,” I admitted, keeping my eyes pointed down toward the floor.

“No, you didn't drive him off, though you did embarrass him.”

“Oh. Umm... sorry?”

Mr. Uchiha laughed, shaking his head. “Don't be. I have confidence in the professor's ability to teach, but he most certainly needed to be taken down a peg or two. With any luck he will return with a better outlook on life. For now our sister school has agreed to lend us one of their teachers to fill his place.”

Now I was even more confused. “Sister school?”

“Of course! Silver Valley Academy for Girls. Didn't you know?”

“I had no idea, sir.”

He nodded. “Most students don't, though I expect that to change in a couple of years when we start an exchange program of sorts. No worries, bringing in female students will have no effect on the Princess program, unless it's to strengthen it.”

“How?” I asked, now genuinely curious.

“The Princesses will be our first exchange students, only for a few weeks. In exchange, they will send over a handful of their Princes for us to host during the same time.”

“Princes. You mean....”

“You didn't think we could truly promote equality and acceptance just with one side of the gender divide, did you?” He asked. I started to ask another question, but Mr. Uchiha waved me off and said nothing more, but gave me a knowing look.

-33-

I returned to my room, going over my new knowledge of the inner workings of Kingston in my head and still not being able to straighten any of it out. The fact that Kingston had a sister school just for girls made me wonder why Sarah had never transferred there, until it occurred to me that if I hadn't known about it it was entirely possible that Sarah didn't, either. I had my hand on the knob of my own door when I changed my mind and went down one more doorway, knocking on Sarah's door instead.

“The door's open,” she said, and when she saw me open the door Sarah immediately rushed over and wrapped me in a hug. “Becky! You sure you don't want to just skip visiting your dad and come home with me?” She asked wth a puppy-dog pout that only months ago would have broken my will almost immediately. I had since grown immune to the look, though, perhaps from over-exposure.

“Hah! I think not. This'll be the first time I've ever seen my dad's place, and I'm looking forward to it.”

“Alright then. But if you change your mind....”

“You're on my speed dial,” I told her with a grin, giving her another quick squeeze. “That's not why I came over here, though.”

“Ulterior motives, huh? Spill.”

“Did you know Kingston had a sister school?”

Sarah nodded, turning back to her own packing. “Yep. Silver Valley. Doesn't everyone?”

“I didn't.”

“Oh. And now you're wondering...” she trailed off, obviously slightly uncomfortable.

“Umm, yeah. Why didn't you transfer?”

Sarah sighed, turning around and plopping down on top of a pile of clothes and giving me a wary look. “Promise you won't laugh at me?”

“Of course!” I said without a pause, holding my pinky out to her as a reminder of Thanksgiving break. She smiled at that and linked pinkies with me. When she let go she fell back on her bed with another sigh.

“It's too far away. They don't go into Persistence on their breaks, because they're on the other side of the state, so it would be harder for me to see my family, a LOT harder. Plus, silly as it is, Kingston Academy looks better on your transcripts, despite both schools scoring nearly identically on most tests. Besides, Leslie's here,” she admitted with a blush, and I had to giggle at her.

“Okay, I was just curious.”

“Why?” She asked, sitting back up. “You thinking about transferring next semester?” Her voice had a note of worry in it.

“What? No! I only just found out about the school, and I was curious. And why would I transfer anyway?”

Sarah shrugged, but gave me a look that clearly said I should know why.

“Sarah....”

“Becky, I know what you're about to say. You're not like me. You're right. But.”

“But what?” I asked, honestly curious about what she was about to say.

“But... I think you might be. Eventually. Maybe. I don't know,” she groaned, collapsing back on the bed again. “Just... if you are, promise you won't leave me alone here, alright?”

I shook my head, laughing. “You're the one who's graduating next year, not me.”

“True!” She said with a giggle.

I left Sarah alone after that, heading back to my own room to contemplate my luggage again.

Okay, so I wasn't the only one confused by everything going on. I didn't know about what Sarah had said, about me maybe not being like her now but that changing in the future.

I mean, how could I change who I was?

Then again... would it really be a change?

Thinking back over everything that had happened since arriving at the school, I realized that things had been adding up to prove to me that I wasn't stuck having to be either a boy or girl. Sure, everyone thought I was a girl, but if I had been too worried about that a hair cut and some acting lessons could have stopped it. Instead, I'd stuck with the argument that no matter how I was dressed I was the same person.

Was that person a guy or a girl?

Did it really matter?

A grin began to spread across my face as I started packing with a sense of determination.

No, I didn't have an answer to any of my questions. I'd only been doing the whole girl thing for a few months, after all. What I did have was the opportunity to decide, an opportunity most people never had.

Regardless of what I chose, I had friends. I had a boyfriend who liked me. Sure, we might drift apart, but that wouldn't be because of me choosing to be a boy or a girl. I had a job that paid me well for doing next to nothing most of the time, and I had a school I was growing to love.

Would I be a boy next year? A girl? What about in the long run? I had no idea. I knew about what would happen when spring break was over – I was already committed there – but as to the rest of my life, that was a long way away. Why should I rush a decision?

“I'll find out soon enough,” I said out loud, zipping up my duffel bag and dropping it next to my knapsack at the foot of the bed.

For the first time all year, it was a liberating phrase instead of a confusing one.

(End of Part 11)

(The End of Princess For Hire: The Second Semester)

---

Welp, that's all folks! I hope everyone is happy with the way the story turned out. I know a lot of people were hoping for an ending that defined who Beck/y would be for the rest of their life, but really, s/he's fourteen years old, going on fifteen. There's all the time in the world to come to a decision, and no better place to take the chance to learn what that decision should be than Kingston Academy.

This has been quite a journey, hasn't it?