Being Ordinary: Chapter Two They had one week before they started school; one week to settle in and learn the subjects Charlotte had chosen to study. She had no idea what she wanted to do, so she wanted to go with her strengths. Mary seemed to be buzzing with excitement, as they squashed into a cramped taxi outside of the airport in London. Their destination was Cambridgeshire, where they would be sent to a tiny house in one of the surrounding villages. She wasn't looking forward to it. "Mary?" "Yeah." Charlotte winced at her common language; she still hadn't gotten used to it. "Why do we need a week to settle in? Surely we are perfect anyway, are we not?" Mary gave an unconvinced look up and down Charlotte's clothes. The other girl raised her eyebrows. "You know, most people don't dress like princesses. You'll need to wear normal people's clothes if you don't want to stand out." "But--I--" Charlotte huffed, not seeing what was wrong with her current outfit. "Hush, equal." Mary was enjoying this WAY too much. "Trust the commoner to know what common people do. Also, you've got to drop the attitude; people don't like it." Charlotte was absolutely disgusted. How DARE Mary speak to her like that? She was a princess. But then she remembered that, for now, she wasn't, and it upset her. She didn't ask for this. She didn't ask for any of this. "Look," Mary began, "We're here, and, no matter how much you protest, you've got to get used to people stepping over you and treating you like dirt, because that's going to happen, and the sooner you get used to it, the easier it will be." "But I don't want people stepping over me." Charlotte's voice was small and weak, "I don't want to be treated like dirt." Her eyes began to fill up with tears. Mary grabbed a lock of her hair and began twirling it around on her finger, "Nobody does, Sweetie. But this is real #life now, not a palace. You won't have people at your call for every little thing you want. You won't have every little luxury. But, most importantly," Mary gave her a wicked smile, "You won't have your mother trying to marry you off to Harold." At this, Charlotte giggled. Harold was a perfectly respectable, polite young man, and that was exactly why Charlotte didn't like him. He was boring. And every girl had a secret fantasy that a handsome man would come along to sweep her off her feet and take her on some grand adventure. At least, she thought every girl did. Come to think of it, she hadn't met very many real girls. Only Mary. "Yes. That will be a relief." Charlotte rolled her eyes. She breathed in, and out again, and decided to throw herself head first into this adventure, and hope that she could do it without a man. She could be strong by herself, and become the greatest ruler Meylan had ever seen. Of course, she had to survive the one trying to kill her...and school. "Mary, when do we go shopping?" Her former maid smiled again, and Charlotte found it infectious, "We just have to settle in today, and we'll go tomorrow." Trying not to let her fear show, Charlotte replied, "Okay." "Whoa. This place is huge." Mary exclaimed as they reached their house. Charlotte thought it to be rather small. "It is?" She asked. "Yeah. It's no palace, but it's at least three times the size of the house I grew up in." "What?" The house was white, with wide windows all over it. It was three stories high and looked extremely modern in design. Through the glass, Charlotte could see that it was furnished much the same. She picked up her bags, as instructed by Mary, and went inside. They looked in all the rooms, which were rather plain, but Mary kept saying that they were 'amazing' or 'stunning', and at one point she said that 'this place is just whoa', which Charlotte thought to be rather odd. When they reached the top, the level with the bedrooms, they went to the end one first. As soon as they saw it, and it's size, Mary's hand shot straight up, "Bagsy this room!" She said quickly. The older maid, Georgia, put a wrinkled hand on the young girl's shoulder, "No. The biggest room goes to the Princess." "But I bagsyed it." Mary argued. Charlotte had no idea what she was going saying. "Don't toy with me, missy. Our Princess gets this room." Georgia gave a kind smile, one that created creased around her eyes, and lifted up the corners of her mouth gently. It lit up her whole face. Mary wasn't convinced, "Bagsy." She stressed. "Oh, you're going to play that game, are you? Well, I bagsyed this room for Miss Charlotte long ago. Deal with it." Charlotte couldn't help but chuckle at their banter, and marvel at this new Mary she hadn't seen before. It was like opening her eyes from a deep sleep. "Fine. Which one's mine?" Mary's hands went straight to her hips, an unconscious move Charlotte had noticed a few times before. "This way." Georgia motioned for Mary to follow, and they said goodbye so that they could both settle in. Charlotte walked into her room, and found it smaller than she expected, although she should have. A double bed sat against the opposite wall, with a large wardrobe set into the wall to the left of it. On the right was a desk--a computer sat on top of it. She knew that it would be very useful to her studies. Behind the bed, was a set of windows, creating the effect of one giant one, overlooking a lake. Four teenagers, all around her age, played around it. There was one girl, and three boys. She went over and opened one of the too windows, and could hear their laughter. It relaxed her about staying in England, and set her mind at ease. She breathed in the fresh air, and smoothed down her dress. It was more casual than any dress she had worn before, as she had had one of the maids make it for her before she left. It was made if green silk, and exposed more skin than she thought necessary. A thick belt showed off her thin stomach, and made her feel as though she were handing out pieces of herself to everybody who saw her in it. One of the boys at the lake looked up and saw her, and the only feature she could make out was his black hair, like hers. He waved, and the rest turned to wave, too. She lifted up her hand in an identical greeting. The group continued what they were doing, and Charlotte quickly moved away from the windows. She hurried down the stairs, into the lounge, as Mary called it, and sat down on the plush, white sofa. The television was set to a strange program with five people in a bar. "You okay?" Mary asked. "Yes, I--I'm fine." The other girl furrowed her eyebrows, "Are you sure? You look like you've seen a ghost." Charlotte didn't like that expression, as it brought up unpleasant thoughts of actually seeing a ghost. She nodded anyway. "You excited?" Mary playfully shoved her shoulder. "About what?" "Your first real shopping trip!" The two girls beamed at each other, and Charlotte couldn't help but share Mary's feelings. The week passed by in a blur of shopping and listening to music. Mary had dragged her down to the Apple store and bought her an iPhone with the money her mother had given them. She downloaded hundreds of songs and told Charlotte to "go crazy". She had listened to them, and familiarised herself with them, only half to fit in. Having listened to classical music her whole #life, it was a huge relief to be able to listen to pop. Mary had said that just because she was a princess didn't mean that she should have been THAT sheltered. She said that she didn't think that it was that way anywhere else, but she couldn't be sure because she wasn't the Princess of any countries. Mary told her lots of things about England and education here, and about the social hierarchy. Charlotte had learned that she wanted to fit it with the crowd that is fun and not disliked, but weren't afraid to be themselves. Mary said that those made the loyalist friends, and wouldn't pry too much into her old #life. Charlotte's mother and father had told her not to get attached to these people. There was a lot of dictation in her #life, and she didn't like it. So she decided that she would do what she wanted to do, which happened to be what Mary told her to do, because she had survived before and, therefore, would be more trustworthy. Wouldn't she? Charlotte didn't know, but there were a lot of things she didn't know, like how school would be, for one. She wasn't sure if she was excited or if she was dreading it, but she knew she had strong feelings about going to school the next day. And she couldn't stop thinking about the four down by the lake outside of her bedroom. She hadn't seen then again, and wondered if they would be at the school, too. She guessed she would find out tomorrow. When she started school. And studying for her GCSE's that she had picked yesterday. Going with the "do which ever you want to" approach, she had chosen French, Spanish, Music and Art. Mary would be doing the same as she did the previous year, to make it easier on herself. The King had pulled a few strings to allow Mary to be able to retake her GCSEs. It wasn't hard, he had told her. Charlotte still hadn't asked what Mary was taking. She wondered if that would have been the polite thing to do. But, now, lying in her new bed, just a few hours before her first day of school began, it didn't matter. It was too late for anything else. What was done was done, and there was no going back. She would go to school in the morning, and hope this whole deal with the killer would blow over, and she could return to her kingdom.
