Happy Ever After

This short story I wrote when I was 13, about families and their importance :)

‘And they lived happily ever after!’ I finished with a sigh. It was past my usual bedtime, but unfortunately my very annoying but very innocent sister had insisted that I stay up and finish the story of Cinderella, which I had mistakenly started reading to her five minutes before we were due to bed.

‘Wow, Cass,’ said my sister, Mae. ‘Now that is one interesting story.’

‘Of course it is,’ I said rubbing my eyes. ‘Now will you be kind enough to let me go to bed, Mae? I have school tomorrow.’

She gave a huge yawn and snuggled under her cover, without bothering to neither answer me nor turn off the light. In two seconds flat, she was fast asleep. I sighed again as I turned off her light, walked across the room to my own bed, and fell on my bed, falling asleep almost instantly.

 

                        *              *              *

 

I woke up next morning to the sound of Mae talking quietly to her dolls. How she manages to get up at precisely 6 everyday in the morning each day without the need of an alarm clock and talk to her dolls first thing in the morning beats me. I can never get up before half past 6 in the mornings, not even if the whole roof came crashing down on me.

‘Good morning, Cass dear,’ said my ever so sweet sister.

‘Good morning, Mae dear,’ I replied. “What are your plans for today?”

‘Oh you know, the usual,’ said Mae. ‘An exotic bath first thing in the morning and heading over to the parlor for a manicure. Eating a big meal in front of my plasma TV and heading out to shop. After which, I shall join Mrs. Darcy for tea. Then, awaiting the arrival of my beautiful children and lovely husband and spending time with them for the rest of the evening!’ she finished with a heavy British accent.

See why my sister loves fairy tales?

‘Mae, Cass, come down for breakfast, will you?’

After hearing mum’s words, I brushed, washed, changed and headed down with Mae for breakfast. My mum, Tracy White, is a doctor and knows a lot of stuff about how to remain healthy. I have to admit, she does cook food that sounds horribly wrong, but it doesn’t taste half as bad when you get used to it.

Downstairs, I found dad sitting at the table and reading his newspaper. My dad, Robert White, is the principal of the school I go to. Some people think that it is the most highly respected and most honorable job on the planet or whatever, but I think his job is an embarrassment to his 14 year old daughter (me). I mean come on, why should I be hearing s**t from Danny B about how unfair my dad is when all he did was give Danny a 1 month detention for throwing spitballs at the math teacher? How more fair can that be? But still, I always will think of my dad’s job as embarrassing and that he should have stopped as a teacher of a school which is in Africa or something, far away from my own.

‘Cass,’ said dad. ‘How come your friends haven’t visited our house yet? As far as I know, 14 year olds should be drooling over slumber parties, right?’

‘Yeah sure dad,’ I said. ‘I shall try to bring my friends home one day.’ Like that’s ever really going to happen.

‘You both should head over to school,’ said mum. ‘Here’s your lunch. Come straight home after school.’

I took Mae’s hand and headed over to school. Her school was on the way to mine, so after dropping her off, I headed to Liverpool Middle School, LMS. I was at my locker when my best friend April Hill came running to me.

‘Cass, guess what!’ said April, her voice suggesting something good had happened.

‘What?’ I asked politely.

‘Dad’s coming home!’

‘That’s great!’ I said. ‘For how long?’

‘Um… actually, only a week.’

April’s dad, Bob, and don’t laugh, he’s a builder. Not just any builder though. He’s the one responsible for almost all the schools and colleges in Ireland. He was born and brought up there, so he almost always works there. Her mom works as an interior designer from home, and she is like the best mom I have ever seen in my life. She is really pretty and dresses up in the most fashionable clothes, like she is a fourteen year old. My mom is just the opposite. She dresses like a forty year old (well, to be frank, she is forty years old, but still). Besides, she has absolutely no dressing sense and I can hardly remember the last time she took me to a mall. Aril has always agreed to take me to the mall. She can fish out a whole outfit at the best rates in 10 minutes flat. Suits me just fine. More than fine, ‘cuz I hate shopping, but hey, I need new clothes!

‘Let’s be happy he’s making more often visits this year,’ I said just to reassure her. Just then, the bell rang, and April and I grabbed our stuff and headed to our homeroom.

The first thing which we saw was a big crowd gathered at the front of the classroom. I was pretty sure it was Vanessa Lloyd, our arch enemy, who was at the centre of the crowd. She is by far the richest girl in the whole school and she has something new to brag about every day. Today, she was holding a life size object at arm’s length. I couldn’t quite make out what it was, because the whole class was crowding around her. But I was pretty sure it was going to be something spectacular by the pitch of her voice.

As I got nearer, I saw that she had an arm around a real, live boy, who was sulking. His back was facing me, but I could tell that he was sulking because his shoulders were slumped. I wanted to get a better view, so did April, so I said pretty loudly, ‘What do we have here today?’

Vanessa turned. ‘Oh hi, Cassandra and April.’ I have no idea from where my parents fished out that name, Cassandra.  I HATE being called Cassandra. Unfortunately for me, Vanessa knows that. So she, just to irritate me, will talk in this fancy voice calling me Cassandra with that annoying smirk on her face, all of which I hate.

‘I suppose you both haven’t quite met Brad yet,’ said Vanessa

‘I suppose we haven’t,’ said April, both eyes on Brad, whoever he was. ‘Why don’t you introduce us?’

‘Of course’ said Vanessa. ‘Brad, meet April and Cassandra, two of my very good friends. April, Cassandra, meet Brad, my newest friend whose dad works in my parents’ company.’

‘Pleased to meet you,’ said Brad politely and shook hands with each of us. He was a pretty good looking guy, with cute features, such as brown eyes, dark brown hair and an athletic build. His eyes were totally focused on me, which freaked me out a bit.

‘I met him yesterday, when he travelled all the way from Norway to Merseyside. I hope you guys like him,’ she finished unnecessarily.

Just then, our homeroom teacher, Mr. Dave, walked in and everyone went back to their own places. He took the attendance. Then we dispersed to our respective classes. Brad was in almost all my classes. He was quite good in all the subjects, and turned out to be a promising teacher’s pet in his first day of school. I was eagerly waiting for PE, my favorite subject, which was two periods after lunch.

At last, PE class came around and after changing we headed to the gym. Thankfully, we were doing basketball that day (piece of cake) and our teacher, Mr. Phil split us into four groups. I landed in a team with both Danny and Vanessa, lucky me. April was in a team with Brad, and she was naturally really happy.

We were first up and I played against Ellen’s team, the only other good basketball player in my whole class. We won easily, 10-3. Then, the other two teams played. To be frank, Brad was pretty good. His team won too. Finally, it was us against Brad. It was a very close game, the final score with them in the lead 9-8. I almost saved the match by scoring a point in the last 20 seconds. We were tied. Last 10 seconds. Brad slammed the ball into the basket. His team won. Everyone went wild. We lost. 

 

                        *              *              *

 

That night, April invited me to her house for a sleepover. Like I said, she has the best mom ever and I felt totally comfortable with her around. She cooked us a king size vegetarian dinner. After that, we both went up to her room where her mom helped us paint our nails and style our hair. We stayed up till midnight and then raided the refrigerator. We ate chips and drank coke and did a good job of staying awake. Then, when we finally were able to go to sleep, it was almost morning. It was one of the best days, or should I say nights, of my life. Her life is perfect. She has no embarrassing parents and no annoying sisters.

I wish my life were like hers.

 

                        *              *              *

 

That morning was a Saturday, so it was going to be horrible if I sat at home all day. To pay April back for the wonderful time that she had given me, I followed dad’s advice and invited her to a sleepover at my house that night. I never realized what a big mistake bringing my one good friend and my two parents together was. Before I could make amends, it was too late.

Here are the events of my very first sleepover. April arrived at precisely 7 pm and she looked really happy when she came in but then my mom spoiled everything by treating her to a lousy dinner of ground bologna with pickles. My friend was obviously expecting something better as tears started streaming from her eyes and she started flapping her hands in front of her mouth as soon as she gulped down a forkful. It reminded me of myself a few years ago when mom had started treating us to food like this. After she had swallowed at least ten glasses of water and proclaimed it to be the most exciting dinner of her life, my dad took her down to his study and discussed global issues. He told her all about the environment and how it is polluted and crap like that. April liked the speech but I could see that she was uncomfortable with the principal of her school sitting and talking so casually in front of her.

Afterwards, we went up to my room. We couldn’t paint our nails or anything because I don’t own anything so fancy. Just then, Mae came into my room asking me to read her a fairy tale, but after I shooed her away, she started bawling but thankfully, mom scooped her downstairs. So we were sitting there, bored to death, with nothing to do other than chat and browse sports magazines, and I could tell that April was already bored.

At last, midnight. When we opened the refrigerator, what did we find there other than greens? April was very disappointed, I could see it in her face, but she obediently grabbed a celery stick with some cream and we went up. We sat up chatting for a while and then when I told her I was very sleepy, we headed to bed. My sleepover was finally over, and it was the worst day of my life.

 

                        *              *              *

               

The first person I met on Monday morning was April, who looked as if she had been crying.

‘Cass,’ she said. ‘My dad cancelled his trip. Now I’m never going to see him until summer.’ There was a tone of sadness in her voice and I felt sorry for her.

‘Oh, it’s all right,’ I tried to reassure her. ‘Let’s be happy you’ll at least see him during the summer.’

‘You don’t understand do you?’ she said sort of angrily. ‘I am probably never going to see him this year. You have got a dad who never leaves town. You have got a perfect dad whom everyone knows and respects. You have got a dad who always makes time for his daughters each night to talk to them and educate them. How can you understand? Your life is perfect, Cass. You don’t have to worry about anything. Your parents do everything for you. You don’t even have to move a muscle.’ And then she burst out crying.

Woah. I never expected this. April thinks my life is perfect. What does she know about my life? But then again, what do I know about hers? Maybe her life isn’t perfect after all. This is the first time someone has made me think of my family and my life from a different light.

I was lost in thought as my sleeve got slowly wet with April’s tears. Just then, Vanessa walked up to us. I knew she would say something cut right like ‘Oh, take a look at our darling baby’ but all she asked was ‘What’s up?’

April started on a fresh set of tears and blurted out, ‘My dad... He doesn’t even have time to visit his only daughter. Look at Cass. Her parents have great jobs and people respect them and she is well known all over the school. But the best part is that she is not spoiled. Her parents take care of that too. Her life is perfect. I wish I were as lucky to get parents who actually love their daughter and not pretend to.’

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. But then, I couldn’t believe what happened next. Vanessa put an arm around April and patted her awkwardly.

‘All of our lives aren’t perfect,’ said Vanessa. ‘What is the use of being so rich that you could eat your money? My parents have a lot of money, but unfortunately money cannot buy a heart. Why is it that they think money is can solve everything? I wish I could lead a normal life like a normal kid. Like Cass’

I was so stunned after hearing all this that I gave them both a big hug. I didn’t trust myself to speak. When I did, as expected, the tears came pouring down.

‘You guys,’ I whispered into their ears. ‘You guys don’t know how much you mean to me.’

 

*              *              *     

 

 

        “That necklace is sooo cute!”

It was a cold Saturday afternoon and my friends and I were granted a whole day at the mall. Right now, we were sitting in the coffee shop comparing our purchases.

 “I know right,” said Vanessa, one of my best friends. “I got it on sale for half the price.”

“I love it,” said my other best friend, April. “It is so much more glamorous than my plain old pearl necklace.” She sounded disappointed, so to cheer her up, I showed her my findings, which weren’t half good as theirs.

“Oh my god that scarf is so out of date,” said Vanessa, giggling her head off. “What were you thinking when you bought it Cass?”

I have like the worst fashion sense in the whole world, even if Vanessa is always beside me to assist me. What to do, I have been brought up by parents who never allowed me to go to a mall until I was 13. But, it doesn’t mean I hate them. I still love them as who they are. It’s surprising how just a week ago I used to hate them for embarrassing me in front of my friends. But, things have changed a lot though. My dad is now taking interest in something other than how to save the planet and has agreed to give me basketball coaching. He has finally understood his daughter’s real area of interest and is working towards it. My mom has finally stopped feeding me gross food and is making an effort to cook something different. So there was something edible to eat in the refrigerator at my next slumber party. Things are working out great, just the way they were meant to be all this while.

 “Hey you guys!” said a voice behind me. I looked up to see a classmate, Brad. My heart stopped beating. I looked at my friends. April had the same reaction on her face, but Vanessa looked kind of cross. A week ago, she was overprotective of him, just because she was the first one to know him. Brad had, unfortunately for her, become independent. He no longer needed her and brushed her away from his shoulder. From that day, she hasn’t spoken to him at all.

“What are you doing here?” I finally found my voice.

“Shopping, duh,” he said and sat down beside us. “Um… Cass? I wanted to talk to you for a while.”

 “Um, I think we shall take a look at that store right there,” said April and grabbed Vanessa’s hand. They both shot off at lightning speed.

“Um, Cass?” said Brad. “I was thinking, perhaps we could meet up sometime? You know, just to talk and all that. We both have a lot in common you know, so I thought well, why not do something together? Maybe we could give some kind of basketball coaching to neighborhood kids. That would be a good way to start off. We both live pretty close together don’t we? So what do you think?”

I was nodding my head even before he was finished. I was on cloud nine. Brad was officially, indirectly asking me out. What a great excuse, basketball coaching. I wouldn’t mind though. I love basketball and love playing it too. And of course, who would resist an opportunity to spend time with Brad.

My life has changed so much in the past few days, come to think of it. Who would have thought my ever so boring life would change in this unthinkable way? All this time I was waiting for things to crawl out of the dark and transform my boring life into a magical wonderland, but now I realized that the only person who could do any sort of magic on your life is… yourself. Of course, my life isn’t a fairy tale, where with a wave of a wand, you could change everything. The only magic that you can do in your life is to approach things with an optimistic vision, and they will automatically work out fine, just the way you meant them to be. Look at me now. My life is complete. I have very supporting and caring parents who I love to bits, two very faithful and loyal best friends, and a guy who is willing to spend time with me. Who could have asked for a better life?

 May my life be happy ever after!

Author's Note

is it like... too childish or something? i always worry about that with my work :/

Reviews

[New Theory]

Nice story and really well written. :)

[Praveeta]

It is perfect. An engaging read.

[Vaishali Roopesh]

Oh yaaaay! :D
Thanks a hell lot,Praveeta! Its really sweet of you to review my work :)
It means a lot to me, honest.

[Praveeta]

You are welcome.