Chapter 1 - Leaves

Lily waited patiently in the long row of girls in black dresses. Her short brown hair hung loosely, free to blow in the light breeze. She fiddled with the ill-fitting garment. It was too tight everywhere, but she only had to wear it once more. Her nerves jittered around inside her. The corsage that one of the choir mothers had pinned on her chest was now upside down. She looked at it, annoyed. Her annoyance quickly left, however, because she found more than one reason to be joyful. It had finally come. The last choir concert of her middle school years. She was moving on to high school and would be amongst some of the best singers in the city. She smiled inwardly just thinking about it.
The young man that stood behind her snapped her out of her dream world suddenly when he tapped her on the head with his music folder. "Hey, space cadet! What the hell are you always smiling about?" he asked, looking at her with a crooked smile. Lily blushed. Dom was talking to her. "For your information, Dominic, I was thinking about how awesome choir is going to be next year. Of course, you would never value frivolous thoughts like that, now, would you?" she said more icily than she had intended, hands on her hips.
"Lily! Hsst!" whispered the girl next to her, Ana. "Quiet!" Lily narrowed her eyes at Ana, an underclassman. Ana was only an eighth grader, and therefore had no right to order Lily to stop her conversation with the handsome Dominic.
Suddenly, Dom leaned down and sniffed Lily's flower, his eyes closed and his face as that of an angel. Lily's heart fluttered. He opened his eyes and stared at Lily, his face close to hers. "Beautiful," he said. Closing his eyes again, he walked off after his row onto the outdoor stage.
Lily blushed so deeply that Ana looked at her, worried. "Lily, do you have a fever?" asked the short girl, standing on her tiptoes to feel Lily's forehead. Again snapping back to reality, Lily took Ana's outstretched hand in her own and shook her head.
"I'm perfectly fine," she said dreamily, following the tiny tenor that stood on her other side up the stage steps. She sung her heart out, making it the best concert of the year. Her eyes filled with tears and a wistful smile spread across her lips as she hugged the director. She bid her fellow choir members farewell and, with one final look at Dom, ran out of the building to meet her aunt.
Her parents had died in a plane crash in Lily's early youth and she had never really known them. She lived with her Aunt Barbara, Uncle Tony, and cousin Morissa. They treated her well enough, even though Morissa was a total enigma. Barbara, a rather large woman, greeted Lily with a huge hug. With black curls covering most of her face as usual, Morissa quietly congratulated Lily on a job well done. Tony put a rough arm around Lily's shoulders and told her he was more proud of his lovely daughter Lily than he could say. She glowed at the fact that he considered her his daughter. With a laugh, she thanked him and hugged him tightly as they walked back to the car.
When they reached their house just outside of city limits, Lily plopped down on the couch in her room and picked up one of the many books strewn upon her bedroom floor. Ace, her sleek, gray tiger-striped cat jumped up and lay on her stomach, purring contentedly. She petted him gently as she read, humming to herself. Without a knock, Morissa appeared in the doorway.
Lily looked over the book, eyebrows raised. "Yeah?" Morissa removed the hair from in front of her face, affording Lily a rare glimpse of her immaculate white skin and calculating violet eyes.
"Who is the boy?" she asked mysteriously.
"Boy?" Lily questioned.
"The one who sniffed that blossom," Morissa specified, pointing to the corsage that lay in a heap with Lily's dress. Lily threw a pillow in Morissa's general direction.
"You nosy twit! It's none of your damn business!" she shouted.
"You're infatuated with him. Admit it. You love Dominic," Morissa taunted, a devilish smile on her crimson lips.
"GET OUT!!!!" Lily howled, tossing harder things than pillows at her cousin. Morissa retreated. "Sorry, Ace," Lily apologized to her cat, scratching his ears. He purred and batted at one of her slippers.
With a sigh, she fell back onto the couch, picking up another one of her books from the floor. It was Robin McKinley's Spindle's End. "Good book," she said to Ace, showing it to him. He purred louder. She laughed and started to read it to him. "The magic in that country was so thick and tenacious that it settled over the land like chalk-dust and on floors and shelves like....." she read a few pages, yawning intermittently. Slowly she drifted into sleep, dreaming that she was a princess.

Her castle was deep in the woods, secluded and mysterious. Her parents, the king and queen, were holding a ball in order to choose a husband for her. Her nurse was pinning a beautiful rose to her dress just before she went out to make a grand appearance on the dance floor. The stringed quartet in the corner played a Bach minuet as she floated out amongst the guests. They stood, awed at her angelic beauty. She smiled at each, whispering politely to some of them as she passed. A certain young man stood out from the crowd, the light catching his handsome face just so. She couldn't take her eyes off him. He caught her gaze and flashed a charming smile as he began to make his way toward her. She blushed, embarrassed that he had seen her looking at him. He took her in his arms and they danced, spinning around the room as gracefully as two swans. As the music ended, he leaned down, eyes closed, and sniffed her flower. "Beautiful," he said, kissing her softly.

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