Social Butterfly
Lyssa had just finished curling Bella’s hair when Ivy and Clara, both in Crystal Castle carriages, arrived. Each classmate of theirs was being picked up by a carriage.
“Wow!” Clara said, stepping back to look at Bella and Violet. “You both look amazing!”
Bella blushed and saw color flushing Violet’s cheeks too.
“Lyssa helped us pick out the outfits,” Bella said. “She was with us all morning and afternoon.”
Bella wore a teal scoop-neck dress with a tulle skirt covered in petal appliqués. The dress had a bow at her right hip, and it zipped up the back. Bella’s feet were comfy in black peep-toe ballet flats. Lyssa had curled Bella’s naturally straight brown hair, and it fell in waves around her shoulders.
Violet sparkled in a hunter-green dress. The color made her red hair pop. The dress had three layers of ruffles along the bottom, and it was dotted with light-catching green sequins. Violet wore a pair of Bella’s rhinestone-dotted black velvet ballet flats. Lyssa had flat-ironed Violet’s curls into straight, shiny curtains of red hair.
Violet and Bella had hugged Lyssa and thanked her over and over as they left Bella’s room. Once outside, the girls followed a smooth path that had been placed over the grass and led to the stage. Each time Bella put a foot on the path, it changed colors.
A carriage came to a smooth stop in the driveway and Todd, a boy in Bella’s class, jumped out of the carriage. Todd followed the light-path and climbed the stairs to the platform.
“Hey,” he said to the girls. He had bright-green eyes and freckles sprinkled across his nose.
“Hey, Todd,” Bella said. “This is my cousin, Violet.”
Todd smiled. “Hi.”
Bella leaned close to Violet. “See? It’s not so bad, right?”
Violet nodded. “I think this is going to be fun!”
Upbeat music played through big music crystals that rotated around the platform. The sun was just about to set, and rainbow-colored spotlights flickered on and off.
More carriages arrived, and each time, Bella made sure to introduce Violet until she had met each person in Bella’s class.
“Ben!” Bella stuck her arm in the air and waved at the dark-haired boy who stood on the platform’s edge. Clara, next to Bella, waved at Ben too.
Smiling, Ben nodded at the other people, who were in groups chatting and swaying to the music.
“You look nice,” Bella said to Ben. Ben had on a black shirt with black pants instead of his usual stable uniform.
“Thanks. You all look nice too,” Ben said. “This is going to be fun! It was so nice of your parents to do this.”
“I know. We all see each other every day, but really never get a chance to hang out,” Bella said. “Tonight we can!”
“May I have your attention, everyone?”
All the kids turned their heads in the direction of the front of the stage. Queen Katherine, in a sunny yellow dress, smiled at them from atop a small podium.
“I’m so excited to have all of Bella’s classmates here tonight,” Queen Katherine said. “A party was long overdue! I read progress reports for each of you and know how hard you work at school. I’m so proud to have you as students at Crystal Castle.”
Everyone started clapping.
“There are some yummy treats under the red tent,” Queen Katherine said once the applause died down. “The party ends at nine, but if you would like to go home sooner, come find me or King Phillip and we’ll get a carriage ready. This isn’t the last party, by the way. I am already planning an end-of-spring party, and I hope you’ll all come!”
Cheers rang out across the platform.
“Thank you, Queen Katherine!” Todd shouted from his spot next to Bella.
“Thank you!” the rest of the class added.
“You’re welcome, and have fun!” the queen said.
Music began flowing through the speakers again. Bella almost hopped up and down when she glanced around and spotted Violet chatting away with a few kids from the class.
Bella, Ivy, Clara, and Ben started dancing and talking as they moved around the floor. The platform lit up under their feet just as the walkway had done.
No one was on the sidelines—every person in Bella’s class was dancing on the floor. “Are you having fun?” Bella asked Violet as she sidled up next to her cousin.
“So much fun!” Violet threw an arm around Bella. “Thank you for inviting me! This is one of the best nights ever!”
“Aw, I’m so glad!” Bella said, hugging her cousin back.
Bella accepted an empty plastic cup from Ben and peered at the bottom. “Sunray and cranberry juice with ice, please,” she said. Immediately two ice cubes appeared in her cup, and it slowly filled with orange-red liquid until it was just full enough. Bella took one sip and then another. Sunray juice was so good! It was sour and sweet and unlike any other fruit in Crystal Kingdom.
Ben and Bella chatted about Glimmer’s green transformation.
“Uncle Frederick explained it to me,” Ben said. “That’s so amazing, Bella. I can’t even imagine having a unicorn so in tune with me that she changes colors if I’m feeling something so strong.”
“In this case, it was kind of a curse,” Bella said, shaking her head. “But I hope if Glimmer ever changes colors again that it will be from a good emotion that I’m having.”
“Hey,” Ben said, touching Bella’s arm. “No one’s perfect. You must have worked it out, because the last time I saw Glimmer, she was purple.”
“I had a little help from my dad,” Bella said. “I finally did the right thing and I learned my lesson.”
After dancing for a while, everyone headed to the Bamboo Garden. A giant movie screen appeared in the air as the students plopped down onto lounge chairs, blankets spread on the soft ground. During the movie, trays with dozens of delicious desserts floated to everyone. At the end of the movie, the credits rolled and the music began again.
Soon the sun had set, but everyone was going strong. Violet, a new social butterfly, flitted from group to group, and Bella couldn’t help but grin as she watched her cousin. Violet and Adrienne, a cheery girl in a tangerine-colored dress, were off to the side of the floor talking.
The party was perfect. Bella couldn’t have asked for anything more. She hoped that Violet would go home with new friends and maybe convince her parents to invite kids of Foris’s castle workers to school at the castle.
“Bella,” Ivy called out, almost having to shout to be heard over the music. “Some lady in a Crystal Castle uniform wants to talk to you. I feel like I’ve seen her before, but I don’t know why.”
“I bet she’s one of the party planners. She probably can’t find my mom or dad,” Bella said.
“She said she would be waiting for you by the food tent,” Ivy said.
“Thanks, Ivy,” Bella said. “Be right back.”
Bella hurried down the platform steps and peered inside the massive tent. The red canvas covered the banquet tables full of food and drinks.
“Hello?” Bella called.
“Over here,” a pleasant voice replied. Bella spotted a blond woman waving and smiling.
Bella walked over to the woman. “If you’re looking for my parents, they’re around here somewhere,” Bella said.
“Oh, no, dear,” the woman said. Her blond hair started turning black at the roots, and her rosy cheeks paled. Ruby-red lips and eyes that glittered black stared at Bella.
“I’m not looking for your parents.” The woman continued to change in front of Bella’s eyes. The princess gulped. Goose bumps covered her arms. It felt as though the temperature had dropped fifty degrees!
Black hair cascaded down the woman’s back, and the ends were red. The Crystal Castle uniform was replaced with a black cape and a long black dress that touched the ground.
The sweetness was gone from the woman’s voice. A hard edge with a rough tone was in its place.
“I’m looking for you.”
Queen Fire was here.