Once upon a time

BY SOPHIA FULLMERBY SOPHIA FULLMER

Perfectly Unrecognizable

There was a little princess thatlived in a castle on the shores oflived in a castle on the shores ofDan marrow. She grew up inthis castle all her life and washappy and content to stay in it.The castle was splendid andThe castle was splendid andmiraculous. It had marble floors,silver bells on every hall lampand door, tables glistening withsilver foods that were heavenlysilver, foods that were heavenlyto the taste buds, music filledevery hall, and magic hung inthe air.

Although her life was wonderful,g ,she did not have everything that agirl needed. She did not know howshe knew she was missingsomething or what it was but shesomething or what it was, but sheknew that there was somethingshe truly longed for. Alicia justcouldn’t put her finger on it.g

So, Alicia made a list of what she did have in her lifeher life.1. she has parents that love her dearly.2. She has a palace to live in.3. She has delicious food. 3. She has delicious food. 4. She is well looked after.5. She has things like toys and furniture, (including her soft cozy bed). 6. She exercised everyday and ate a good amount of both fruits and vegetables every day.

She had to think for a long time when she She had to think for a long time, when she started writing the list of the things she didn’t have at the moment.

Besides a few Besides a few toys and books, she couldn’t think of anything. She paced back and paced back and forth on her vast bedroom floor.

When she looked out her window, seeing a couple ofservant girls casually walking on the castle groundsservant girls casually walking on the castle grounds,laughing and joking around, it came to her. WhatAlicia had been missing was a friend. Throughouther life so far in the castle, Alicia had played byherself Her only companions were her family andherself. Her only companions were her family andthe adult workers in the palace. They were great totalk to, but not the same as a friend her own agewould be. She sighed, finding a friend would not beeasy Alicia knew that there were some childreneasy. Alicia knew that there were some childrenaround her age that worked as servants, but theyweren’t very educated and were always busy. Itwould be hard to have a conversation. The onlyplace to find a good friend, would be to go outsideplace to find a good friend, would be to go outside.

She shuddered at the thought ofleaving her safe and wonderfulleaving her safe and wonderfulhome. She tried to talk herself outof it by saying things like, howbad did she really need friendsanyway or I have everything else Ianyway or I have everything else Icould ever want and need in thisvery castle. She tried to talkherself out of it, but the more shethought about it the more she wasthought about it, the more she wascertain that she had to leave. Onceshe was certain she had to dosomething, Alicia becamedetermined and as ready as shedetermined and as ready as shewould ever be. So at dinner shewas going to have to prepareherself to ask for her parentspermission to go outside of thepermission to go outside of thecastle walls, using her well thoughtout plan.

Alicia decided that the best way to make real friends,ywas to hide in plain sight. Meaning she would disguiseherself as someone who worked at the palace and gomeet people without them knowing at all who she reallywas. If the people she met liked her for who she was,

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without knowing that she was royalty, than they may bethe friends she was looking for all along. As for adisguise, it would have to be from a worker that wasn’tvery high ranked, but still working at the palace. It

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would be a whole lot easier for her if she didn’t have tomake stuff up about her life. An animal trainer, therewere a lot of them and they were some of the lowest inrank. So before dinner Alicia went down to the laundry

d l d k d f f hand cleaning center and took a used outfit from thelocker of a servant. She felt bad at first for taking it, butshe needed it more than they did at the moment.

The outfit she had taken, and was now wearing under her dress, was a blue long sleeved shirt made of itchy wool and a light was a blue long sleeved shirt made of itchy wool and a light green skirt made of the same itchy wool. The blue shirt was full of hairs, which would make the itchy shirt even more uncomfortable. The green skirt came with a large brown belt attached to the fabric, which was going to make the skirt very , g g yuncomfortable. Alicia was having some doubt to whether she could actually pull this off. She sighed and commented on the discomfort of the too small shoes, that came with the outfit, but knew she had to do it. The next step to pulling this off was to change the look of her well known face Her face was always on change the look of her well known face. Her face was always on posters, postage stamps, and magazines. Since she couldn’t do anything really about the way her face looked, she decided it would be best to change the way her hair looked. So, she messed up her well groomed hair and cut some of it up, (this p g p, (was so her hair could look ratty and less full as it is always seen). She put on a cloak as black as night and turned to stare at herself in the mirror. She could hardly recognize herself.

Now that she had a disguise she had to test itSh di i h di i Thout. She went to dinner in her disguise. The

disguise worked, no one recognized her. Sadlythe disguise worked a bit too well. Twice shewas ordered to go clean out the stables andwas ordered to go clean out the stables andworst of all her parents didn’t believe Aliciawhen she tried to tell them her plan and that itwas her (their daughter and princess) Not onlywas her, (their daughter and princess). Not onlydid her own parents not recognize her, but theyfired her and sent the guards to throw her outof the palace They said, before the guardsp y , gcame, that their daughter was never unhappyand would never wear such clothes.

On Alicia’s first night on the streets, she was terrified, hungry, and hadh I ’ il h d h h f d hnowhere to go. It wasn’t until the next day that she found out that to get

by, you needed to work to get money. Sadly when she was puttingtogether her disguise she hadn’t been thinking of money, so she hadnone at the moment For a while Alicia walked around the stores tryingnone at the moment. For a while Alicia walked around the stores tryingto find some sort of job she could do. She saw a hair salon and went in,but they just sent her out after a brief conversation. They said that theydidn’t need any more employees at the moment and that little girls atdidn t need any more employees at the moment and that little girls atmy age don’t work at salons.

Finally at almost 3:00 in theafternoon she found someone whoafternoon, she found someone whowould have her as an employee. Itwas a bakery on a very busy street bythe lake. A girl about her age wasthe lake. A girl about her age wasworking on a strawberry tart in thebakery’s small kitchen. She hadblond hair with streaks of brown,blue eyes, a long nose, and her faceand hands were dusted with flour.The girls uniform was a brown shirtand a lighter brown skirt, with a lightgreen belt that had yellow flowers.

The girl said, “hi…are you a new employee?” Aliciasaid shyly, “yes...I was sent to get a uniform and startwork”. She told Alicia that her name was Shanna andwent to the cabinet to get her a uniform. Alicia’suniform was the same with the exception of havinguniform was the same with the exception of havingan apron instead of a belt. “Is this your first time,cause you look a little nervous”, Shanna asked. “firsttime at what?” Alicia was confused at what she meantb fi i d if h k h h ld hby first time and if she meant work how should sheanswer. “first time working”, Shanna said. “Um…..no,I used to work in the palace as an animal trainer”,Alicia said. “Ok well for today all you need to do isy ymake two batches of blueberry muffins and this thelemon upside down cake to this address”, she said asshe handed Alicia a white box, that had an addresswritten on the lidwritten on the lid

Alicia’s first day started out good. Shanna helped hermake the muffins it was Alicia’s first time bakingmake the muffins, it was Alicia s first time bakinganything, and Shanna was very nice and was into a lotof the same things she was into. They both likedriding horses, the theater, and both liked baking,(Alicia thought that baking was actually very fun evenif it was a bit messy). Though, Alicia new that thisgood day would not last, she still would have to sleepon a cold stone bench Surprisingly at the end of theon a cold stone bench. Surprisingly at the end of theday, Shanna asked if Alicia had a place to stay. WhenAlicia said that she didn’t, Shanna told her that shecould stay at her house for the time being.

. Her house was actually rightabove the bakery, it turns outabove the bakery, it turns outher father owned the bakery.It was a small, butcomfortable house withthree rooms. Alicia ate withShanna’s family and her twodogs, Muttley and Snowball.Alicia now had a shelter,good food, and maybe evenher first friend.

On Alicia’s second week on the streets, while Shanna,and Alicia were walking the dogs, Shanna saw a posterasking for a reward for the missing princess Alicia.“Wow the princess has the same name as you”, she saidshowing Alicia the poster Thankfully the photo givenshowing Alicia the poster. Thankfully, the photo givenwas a little blurry, but Alicia was a little surprised thatshe was still undiscovered as the missing princess.“What would you do with money if you did find therunaway princess” Alicia asked suspiciously. Whatwould her new friend do if she new that her friendwas worth 500,000 dollars. “I know that all thatmoney would be useful but I just couldn’t take themoney would be useful, but I just couldn t take thereward.” “My dad says that doing the right thingshould be its own reward”, she said proudly. “So youwouldn’t take it”, I said excitedly. “No, like I said itwouldn’t be right”, she said.

This was the moment, she thought to herself. “Shanna what if I couldll h h i i ” h k d k i h i dtell you where the princess is”, she asked keeping her voice down, so as

not to be overheard. “What do you mean?”, she asked suspiciously.Alicia whispered in Shanna’s ear and told her who she really was andhow she left the castle Shanna gasped and tripped on a tree root ashow she left the castle. Shanna gasped and tripped on a tree root asMuttley started chasing a squirrel. Shanna yelled, “Muttley! Stop!”Snow ball was pulling Alicia towards the commotion and sooner thanshe thought possible they were both tangled up, there leashes wereshe thought possible they were both tangled up, there leashes wereknotted up and the dogs were still yapping and running about. Shannaand Alicia struggled to get untangled and calm the dogs down.

When they finally did, Shanna stared at Alicia for several long minutes.She kept opening her mouth as if to speak and closing it as if she hadShe kept opening her mouth as if to speak and closing it as if she hadchanged her mind. Finally Shanna spoke, “So why did yourunaway……Alicia”. She was relieved Shanna hadn’t said princess or yourhighness. Alicia told Shanna all about her palace life, how it was

d f l b l i l l d h h li d h hwonderful, but also sometimes very lonely and how she realized that sheneeded a friend. When Alicia finished her story Shanna smiled and said, “Iget why you did leave, but why didn’t you just ask your parent or let themknow”. “I tried, remember I was going to show them that I was prepared, g g p pand that my plan could work and ask them then”, Alicia said. “But theydidn’t recognize you like you hoped they would”, Shanna finished. “Youknow they have been looking for you all through these two weeks, in factthe posters ere up the da I met ou” Shanna said before continuing “Ithe posters were up the day I met you , Shanna said before continuing, Ijust wanted to show you because I thought the princess looked like you”,she finished with a laugh.

“Really I should probably get back then” AliciaReally….I should probably get back then , Aliciasaid with a sigh. Alicia hadn’t seen the posters,since she had been in the bakery most of the timeor just wasn’t paying attention. Now that she knew,or just wasn t paying attention. Now that she knew,Alicia felt guilty and home sick. “How do we getthe king and Queen to recognize you this time?”“Easy I’ll just put on my crown, my purple silky j p y y p pdress, and fix my hair a bit and they shouldn’t havetoo much trouble recognizing me”, Alicia said.“You still have them with you?”, Shanna asked. “Mydress was under the castle uniform and my crownwas tucked into my oversized belt”, Alicia saidproudly.

Later that night the girls arrived at thecastle, wearing their best clothes. Aliciawearing her dress and crown, andShanna wearing her best dress and shoes.Shanna and Alicia told the king andQueen all that had happened and at theend of their story the king and queenend of their story the king and queenlooked very shocked. “Have you reallybeen lonely”, the king asked with a veryconcerned expression. The queen was

i h h d ’ h h b i lcrying she hadn’t thought about a sociallife for her daughter other than havingsome royal families come for dinner oncea year and was horrified that she hada yea a d as o ed a s e adactually thrown her own daughter out ofthe castle. They both apologized andthanked Shanna for helping Alicia andb i i h b k f lbringing her back safely.

. Just as Shanna had said, Shanna didn’t take the reward when she wasoffered it. But before Shanna could say why, Alicia interrupted saying,“Actually there is a different award that we both think would be better interms of the situation.” “Our baker is about to retire, perhaps Shanna’sdad who is an excellent baker, could take his place as the palace baker”,Alicia said. The queen and King thought this was an excellent idea ifShanna’s father agreed to take the job Shanna new her father would sayShanna s father agreed to take the job. Shanna new her father would sayyes. “My father would be honored to take the job”, Shanna said excitedly.

Five years later Alicia made a list in bed of all the things she has.1. she has parents that love her dearly.2. She has a palace to live in.3. She has still delicious food.3. She has still delicious food.4. She is well looked after.5. She has things like toys and furniture, (including her soft cozy bed).

h d d d d f b h f d6. She exercised everyday and ate a good amount of both fruits andvegetables every day.7. She has a best friend named Shanna, who was fun to talk too, likedbaking, lived in the castle, like horses as much as she did, and was alsowell educated.8. She was also going to become Queen in five days.