AllFreeNovel
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This is my play.
Starring a beautiful princess with hair of gold.
An overly protective king who keeps her locked in the tower.
Her brothers, the brutish princes who wish to inherit the kingdom.
And the handsome prince who climbs the tower to her window, defeats them all, and frees her so they can live happily ever after. Played brilliantly by Dylan Sherman, of course.
Time seems to stand still, but goes by far too quickly. The play ends with true love’s first kiss and the crowd goes wild with shouts and applause.
Grant was right.
Everyone loves a fairytale.
* * *
I scan my bookshelf one more time, making sure I have everything I need before packing my backpack and heading to campus.
Three finals down. Two to go. Then, my first semester as a Northie is officially complete. No time to celebrate just yet. My public speaking final shouldn’t be too bad, but I’m not as confident about algebra.
So, it’s time to study.
As I stash my textbook and notebooks in my backpack, I sense my father standing in my bedroom door.
“Knock, knock,” he says.
I chuckle. Strangely, I’m going to miss that next year when I move into the Beta Kappa house. “Come on in, Dad.”
He looks at my backpack as he steps inside. “You on your way out?”
“Yeah, I have a gift-wrapping thing-slash-charity event with Beta Kappa this afternoon, and then I’m gonna head to Courtney’s place to study. I have a lot to go over, so I might crash there tonight.” I stop, looking up from my backpack. “If that’s okay.”
“No, that’s… more than okay,” he says, standing tall but… a little timid, too. “I trust you to take care of yourself and make your own decisions.”
I abandon my stuff. “Look, Dad, about the play last night…”
“It was great,” he says. “Really great. A lot of fun, too.”
“Yeah, but… I didn’t mean to make the king so over the top. That just came out when I was work-shopping it with Dylan and?—”
“It’s okay,” he says, stopping me. “I know how these things work. Sometimes, art imitates life. And…” He shrugs a shoulder. “Sometimes, a dad needs to see a caricature of himself with two goof-ball sons lording over a princess he keeps locked in a tower upstairs before it can really sink in that he needs to relax a little and let his daughter grow up.”
I wince. “It’s not totally based on us. I mean, I don’t even have a pet dragon.”
Dad smiles. “I’m so proud of you, honey.”
He opens his arms and I step into them. Hugging me close, he kisses the top of my head while I cling to his sweater.
“Thank you, Daddy,” I say.
He releases me and extends his pinkie finger. With a laugh and a lump in my throat, I curl my fingers around it and squeeze.
“Good luck studying tonight,” he says, stepping back.
I exhale at my backpack; the stress climbing back up my spine. “Thanks,” I say. “I’ll need it.”
“You want to get lunch on campus tomorrow? My treat.”
