The bell would not ring fast enough. Looking out the window, my hand always finding the perfect spot to rest on my chin, I sat there and willed time to go faster.
Once the bell finally rang, I made my way to the garden on the far side of the property. After mere seconds of pondering a single daisy, I flew up to see the big clock. It was 2:30 and considerably past time, so from the stone courtyard to the school, I flew fast to get back to my lessons, skidding when I got too close to the ground. Oh no. The entry gate was locked. In desperation, I banged on the 32 ground level and some 2nd floor windows. No one heard me. Alas, there must have been noise reducing enchantments placed on the classrooms now that school was back in session.
With the afternoon left to me, I wandered off. Nervous at first, then free. I had always wondered what it would be like to break the veil of the fairy realm and often faced repremeants because of it. I still remember when I was so eager to produce nature manipulation during lessons, and Sister Bluebell capped my magic as a 2 day suspension. Another time, I went a little zetsy on the fairy dust, and Sister Marigold made me sweep the room after everyone was done making a mess. No wonder I had always wanted to leave, I thought to myself after remembering the events. After, I skipped down the trail a little faster. I knew I wouldn’t have much time until the Primrose Order would be after me. They could be so cruel, 10x worse than Tinker Bell on her most angry day.
Along the path I happened upon two children who were tossing back and forth an orange ball. I moved on, though still quite fascinated with the children’s sport, because I knew there was something just beyond the hill. I had spent nights lying awake and daydreamed thinking of all the wonderful things on the other side of that hill. It was my chance to finally see who was behind all that laughing that had been driving my curiosity for years.
“Jack! You’re going to fall!”
“Jill, don’t worry about it!”
I saw a boy fall and a huge bucket of water spill. I saw a girl go tumbling after. Why she would care so much about water, I had no idea. In one swift motion, I conjured up my magic and bent the water droplets back into the bucket.
“There you are,” I said to Jack, handing him a pail full to the brim.
“How did you-” he asked, taking it.
“Gee, thanks!” exclaimed Jill, while brushing the dirt and grass off of her skirt. “Are you a real live fairy, then?”
Out of nowhere, I heard Headmistress Juniper bellow, “THERE YOU ARE!”
“Quick, get behind us,” whispered Jack.
I did, not wanting to face Headmistress Juniper’s wrath.
“Hello, children. Have you seen a lost little girl anywhere?”
“No, no,” said Jack and Jill in unison.
“Well, if you do see my sweet Amelia…”
There wasn’t time. She snatched me. Jack and Jill ran after her. Then, just when I thought all hope had been lost, the headmistress tripped over a stray basketball; I scrambled out of her arms. I was free again, although for how long, I did not know.
Jack, Jill, and I all ran to Jack’s house. When we entered the door, I couldn’t pay attention to Jack’s mom's reaction as her eyes grew. This was an emergency. Jack and Jill explained the situation to Jack’s mom as I stood there sheepishly. She agreed to help devise a plan. I told them we would have to work fast, knowing that magic is strongest at dusk. We worked for an hour in complete silence. When all was finished, a fiery broom was shoved strategically through the door, silly string triggers were planted in the yard, and a cookie-shooting crown was balanced in the window. If the Primrose Order was going to come in, they’d have to go through the DIY Enchanted house first. And if all else failed, I could fly.
Zap!
A blue light jolted the house. Signature Sister Bluebell. And like that, it had begun. Deafening cracks, snaps, and pops sounded through the air. Flowers with a nauseating aroma filled the house; we were blinded by the explosive fairy dust puffs. The Primrose order hadn’t even noticed our booby-traps. This is when I knew the attack wasn’t going to stop. And the worst part wasn’t going to be the embarrassing defeat; it was knowing that as soon as I walked out, I’d be giving up any power for the rest of my life, losing again to the Sisters who’d always been in control. It was going to be worth it because I wouldn’t be able to live if something happened to my new friends, Jack and Jill, the two kids that barely knew me, who tried to save me and Jack’s mom letting her poor house get destroyed without even knowing my last name. I knew what I had to do for the people who showed me even for an afternoon what it meant to be kind. With my fate accepted, I pushed the front door open.
***
I woke up to Jack’s mom wiping my forehead with a cool washcloth. She stroked my hair back once she saw my eyes flutter open. I looked around, coming to my senses. There were some fairytale people I recognized and some that I didn’t scattered all over the living room. Of course, I knew Red Riding Hood, Little Miss Muffet, and Jack (He had his mother and cow still with him after all these years.), but why were all of these people here? Everyone was so glad to see me, and I listened to their stories of the events that happened at the great “Silly String Battle'' while eating a freshly baked cookie. Little Miss Muffett had sent spiders crawling under the door, Jack had scattered beans all over the floor, and the fairies were unable to fly, having been tangled up in the string. In disbelief, I ran up to the polka-dot curtain to check. What I saw next was the best thing I’d seen in my entire existence. I saw the Primrose Order in the front yard covered in silly string, babying their hands from the burns, rubbing their rear-ends from falling, and scratching from fear of the spiders on their skin.
“Don’t you get it? You can do both,” Jill said, stepping out onto the step next to me.
From then on, I lived with the humans and used my fairy abilities freely, having found the world that accepted me: the fairytale world. Years later, I went back to visit the covenant I had grown up in. And in my blue skirt and personalized, wing-holed blazer, I thought what a weird society the fairies had that kept me hidden for so long. That’s what being not afraid of the humans but all together curious of them made me. Powerful. More powerful than all the rules of the fairies. Jill had been right; I was more than the fairies I’d known, and that I could live happily without giving up anything that I liked about myself.
Universal theme: There’s nothing wrong with being who you are.