"Welcome girls, I am Synika Thorpe, you can think of me as a counselor, manager, advisor, even caretaker. we are on a tight schedule today so do me a favor and keep your choices quick and crisp. Don't worry we have the palace prep team to blame for that, however they are also fixing the problem as we speak, the introduction ceremony will be a half hour shorter than the original plan." All I could hear was relieved sighs and I spotted a not so happy frown from miss Thorpe before she continued "I will personally take everyone of you to your rooms. Your quarters will be located on the 2nd level of the palace," She said as she started walking toward a golden staircase that curled up to the to the next level "Now if you will follow me, Miss Barrow your first then Miss Booth then Miss Cateron, Miss Condie, Miss Freta, Miss Kalladia, Miss Mason, Miss Mennesan, and by now you would have probably guessed that your rooms have been assigned by last name alphabetical order, however due to a minor confusion the Prince has requested for Miss Vale to be assigned to Suite 9 and Miss White to Suite 10." She said looking down at her holo-board.
I was startled but waited in the hallway for her to drop each of the girls of at their assigned rooms. I was too busy thinking about the note tucked safely in my pocket, the prince
and taking in as much as I possibly could of the palace that I am now in. In no time she was standing right in front of me.
"Ready to go miss White?"
"Oh, yes,and i would much rather you call me Ella instead." I said in awe.
She laughed at my expression and said.
"Yes I understand it's a lot to take in, but I promise you that you will catch up quickly, uh, Ella, besides you have me if you need any help. There are a few guidelines when using the Suites. To start out when you or another person is standing in front of your door a panel will pop up from wall beside your door. Every week you will need to provide a blood sample by selecting the medical sign, then selecting blood sample, it does not matter at what time you choose to do this. A circle will pop up on the panel and you are to place your finger on the circle. The needle will take in less than a drop of blood. This is a clean and painless process. Please go ahead and do that now." I was nervous and I hated needles for as long as I could remember but followed everything she said, and the needle didn't even feel like it was under my skin. But that didn't stop me from thinking of all the negative outcomes to this, starting with the most stupidest ones, that my finger would somehow get stuck to the needle and it would not come out, although that is not possible for you can't visibly see the needle, it simply pokes at your skin when you have you finger firmly placed on the panel.
"The blood samples help the doctors analyze your health condition." She said once I finished. "Now I am here to help program your handprint into the security system. The only people, other than you that are able to access your room would be the royal family me,you and of course your maids. But don't worry neither the royal family, your maids nor I will be able to access your room without your consent, this is simply there for safety measures. The rest of the girls won't be able to access your room at all unless you are in there at the time. Now can you put your hand within the outline on the panel please" I watched the green rays scan my hand. "Thank you, this will take a few minutes, the door won't open until I finish loading your print in the system. The next time you enter all you have to do is wave at the panel and you'll be in." She said before silently continuing on working. I put my hands in my pocket waiting for her to finish when I felt the little note still snug in my pocket.
"When do I get the chance to meet the prince tonight?" I asked trying not to sound to determined.She definitely knew something was up. But got the wrong idea.
"Wow you just got here and you can't wait?" she said with a smirk. "Just kidding, you'll meet him during the introduction ceremony which to your luck will be 30 minutes shorter and he is to dance with each one of you tonight as well." She said just as the doors opened behind me. "Well, dress to impress, ill see you at the ball she said and walked away as I entered my giant room.
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"Oh my goodness she's here Laura she's here!" I heard a young voice say.
And the next thing I saw were three girls running at me. They were wearing navy blue maxi-pants and a navy blue V-neck, short hand blouse tucked in, both with white strips on the side. Along with it was a white apron tied around the waist. It was elegant but casual.
"OMG, hello Ms. White..um im Garland, Grace for Short, " talking fast she says pointing to herself, she had blonde hair with chocolate colored skin "and and that is Soul" she said pointing to the one with brown hair and a light tan skin color."And she is Synthia, Syn for short." She said pointing to the one with pitch black hair and a light colored skin color. "We we will be your maids for the rest of our time at the palace."
"Grace calm down, sorry Gracie talks a 'little' fast when she gets nervous, as you can see" says Synthia
'Well....we will put you into your costume for the night, first there will be pictures, one with the whole group, one individually, and one with the royal family. The pictures are quick so you won't have any time to actually meet with the Royals, or the other girls. After pictures will be time for the party, the whole palace is invited, the ball will take place throughout the night till only a few people are left over. It is palace tradition to let the ball last until every being leaves. It is going to be amazing!" Soul said dragging me further into my gigantic room.
"We have done our very best to try and come up with different types of outfits you would like, but of course we couldn't and and so we each decided to make one that we thought, um, would look good on you as well as suit your personality." Grace said stumbling over her words again. "This is mine Miss," she said picking up a deep green, one sleeve dress. It had a floral design on it and so many frills that I could spin and the dress would look like a beautiful umbrella. Overall the dress looked elegant, it was meant to make me look young but mature. This is definitely a ball gown I would wear, but something is missing. Before I could comment on anything Soul piped in.
"Or if this isn't what you were looking for then pleeeeese tell us, we would love to cook something up that is more of your style miss."
They looked so excited, it made me more excited than I already was. "Oh girls the gowns are amazing, you three girls have amazing talent. But I'm going to set some ground rules" I said changing my voice to military style,"1, we are to work on outfits together, 2, your are to be my best friends, my closest sisters, and 3, we are to have the most fun any of had had in a long time!, understood!!!!" I say
Their expression went from glum fully confused to smilingly happy. We all looked at our each other with smiles.
I looked at the dresses again and something clicked,"how much time do we have to get ready?"
"About an hour ish, why" souls asks
"Well my mom wore this red dress to a ball here once, my father presented it to me with the invitation, I was wondering if I could wear it....with an upgrade" I said with a smirk.
I ran to the black bag on my bed and took out the white silvery box with red ribbon, after a deep breath, I handed the box to my maids.
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I stood in front of the mirror, and took in the person standing I front of me. It was like I was still there, but not all of me was...this was the new me, the me that somehow had her dream come true, just being in the palace was an honor, but getting a chance like this, it's something I would call a miracle.
The dress I had on was my mother's, but this sure did have an upgrade. This one had a sweetheart neckline, over it was a net like material that wrapped around me down to around my belly button. The net was tucked in the elegant golden belt and on top made A-line sleeve, making anything above the sweetheart neckline visible. Below the belt all traces of the net was gone, in its place was smooth red silky velvet material the flowed down to the floor, in the back the material extend thus giving the effect of some of the fabric trailing behind me. The bottom of the dress had a golden flowery design that that slowly blended into the the red velvety fabric from bottom to the belt up. Leaving the halfway point form the belt and the the bottom of the dress ending the golden design and showing close to nothing but just the red velvet fabric. The gold in my dress is anything but shiny. In fact it's a dull gold with a tint of bright bronze here and there.
It was magnificent, elegant, but most of all my mothers dress still looks like hers. It feels like she right here beside me, telling me everything will be okay, telling me that whatever happens, it always happens for the bestest of reason. Tonight's going to be GOOD I tell myself, and look back to the mirror to examine my self again.
My pale face looks like it has some life back into it. And my eyeliner is winged. The whole look made me look fearless, passionate but innocent too.
"Ms. Wh-, I mean Ella you have 15 min to be in the portrait extant of the palace. A guard is waiting outside to escort you there." Grace started leading me to the exit of my room, when Syn came in and surprised me by saying, "Gracie I got her, I have to go down to the workroom anyways, can you go find Laura for me? I have to show both of you something." Syn locked our elbows and started dragging me to my door instead.
Something odd was going on. Once we were out of my room she closed the door behind us
"What is goi-"
"Oh my god, Mark your okay" Sny said before embracing him in a choke hold. "How did it go?"
The man she called Mark didn't hesitate to return the embrace "3 gone, something exploded down there...one of them is Luke...." He said his expression changing to a smug.
"Listen everything will be alright okay?" Sny said concern slipping into her voice.
Again before I could say anything Syn let go and said "Ella I think you forgot something" and handed a note. After closer inspections I realized that it was the note that the little girl gave me, the reason I was so eager to meet the prince, I can't believe I forgot about it, that is so odd, I would never forget something so important.
"How did you know about this?" I ask, not knowing what to think.
"Look all you need to know is that you are not alone, and that we know about your friends, I promise I'll explain everything to you later. For now this is all your going to get, this boy," she says pointing to the man she called Mark. He had dark brown hair and tan skin color, it looked more like a sun tan than a natural tan skin color. "That is Mark Marshall, he's a really good friend of mine, he is also your personal guard for the rest of your stay here, hopefully, so trust me when I say that he will tell you everything you need to know to make tonight go smoothly. We know about it Ella, we know all about it. Prove to us that your one of us tonight, I know you can do it, I know you have it in you"
