Flunked (Fairy Tale Reform School, #1)(8)
“Copycat!” I yell at the picture, hoping for a reply.
“What are you talking about?” Miri sounds almost bored.
“This picture!” I say bitterly. “This is the whole reason I’m stuck here in the first place. My family would be more than fine if the princesses hadn’t given Ella’s fairy godmother all the formal-wear shoe orders. Now whenever someone wants a glass slipper for a proposal or a ball, she just poofs them up!”
“The pink ones are gorgeous!” Miri chimes in. “I ordered a pair just to look at.”
“Hey! You will not disgrace one of our princesses by speaking of her like this,” Pete tells me. “She is royalty and doesn’t have to explain her reason for doing things.”
“She owes us!” I complain. “My father came up with the glass slipper, and then her lousy fairy godmother ripped it off and took all the credit.”
I think of all we’ve given up since Ella’s shoe policy changed. How much my brothers and sisters have done without. That’s why I started stealing. Not to hurt people, but so I could bring in the extra cash Father no longer could. I was trying to help. But my parents don’t see it that way, and I’m not sure they ever will.
“Rapunzel wore my father’s shoes to the Once Upon a Time ball two years ago,” I tell Pete. “He was so pleased when Happily Ever After Scrolls said everyone should have a pair of those pink pumps. Father could have made good money with those shoes, but instead Ella lets Fairy Godmother just copy them with a poof of her wand.” I don’t care that my voice is echoing in the grand foyer. “It’s not fair.”
“No, it’s not,” I hear someone say, her footsteps barely more than a whisper against the floor. “But then again, a lot in life isn’t fair.” The woman is concealed in the shadows. “It’s how you handle yourself in such situations and what you learn from them that will define you. That’s what you’ll learn to master during your time here.”
An older woman steps out of the shadows and I see a thin smile spread across her lips. It’s her. Princess Ella’s formerly wicked stepmother in the flesh.
Happily Ever After Scrolls
Brought to you by FairyWeb—magically appearing on scrolls throughout Enchantasia for the past ten years!
From Pond Scum to Headmistress: Flora Leads FTRS
by Beatrice Beez
It isn’t easy being the most despised woman in Enchantasia. Just ask Flora. Five years ago, she couldn’t leave Galmour Castle without being pelted with rotten radishes.
And that was on a good day.
After Miri the Magic Mirror showed Flora the torture she put Ella through, Flora vowed to change her ways. “I still can’t talk about the glass slipper incident without getting upset, but I will say that I did not encourage my girls to cut off part of their feet to fit in a shoe! I’m not insane!” Flora insists.
Self-help books and meditation helped Flora realize that the pain she inflicted on Ella was the same she went through as a child. Flora spent her days taking care of her siblings. She never had time for friends. “Mother only gave her love to my sister Anastasia, who was fair-haired and blue-eyed.”
Flora escaped by accepting an arranged marriage proposal and had two daughters. When the marriage failed, she met Rufus, Ella’s father. That’s when Flora’s life felt complete. “Those first few years we were all very happy together,” she says.
Then the green monster of jealousy took over. Flora began obsessing about how much Ella looked like Anastasia and worried that Rufus only cared about his own little girl. “I can never take back what I did, but I will spend the rest of my life trying to make it up to Ella,” Flora says.
After her transformation, she sought Ella’s blessing to tear down Galmour Castle and create Fairy Tale Reform School on that very spot. “I wanted to help others avoid the same destructive path,” Flora says. She sought out and mentored some of Enchantasia’s most villainous criminals, many of who are now staff members at the school.
She has even seen a change in her girls. “They are much more compassionate. The three of us can finally look at Miri the Magic Mirror (who advises part time at the school) and feel good about ourselves,” Flora says.
We’re sure Princess Ella would approve. Rumors have swirled for months that the princess is going to make a public show of support for her stepmother by throwing an anniversary ball in the school’s honor. Check your Happily Ever After Scrolls for more ball updates!
CHAPTER 4
Home Sweet Home?
So this is what the stepmonster looks like.
I’ve never met Headmistress Flora before. Her long, thin face and pointy nose, dark, tiny eyes and sweeping black-and-white hair don’t exactly soften her reputation. Still, I’m kind of disappointed there are no lightning bolts shooting out of her hands or devil’s horns poking out of her head. The way my buddy Cedric talked about the time his brother got hauled in here, I was sure that’s what I would find.
He also said her office looked like a dungeon, which it does not. It looks like a princess threw up in here. The furniture is gold with purple velvet cushions, oriental rugs, and crystal vases everywhere. It’s kind of how I imagine Ella decorates her castle.
Headmistress Flora interlocks her long fingers under her chin and stares at me with interest over her mahogany desk. “I have been waiting for the pleasure of this meeting for a long time.”