RubyI make sure to wake up half an hour before Alice comes in so that I can have time to get ready on my own today. Besides, I figure that doing so will give Alice fewer things to complain about -- although I’m certain she’ll still find something.It’s still dark outside as I pop out of bed and scurry to the bathroom. Atwood’s side of the bed is still neatly made, which makes me wonder if he has been sleeping in another bedroom. Maybe he just doesn’t sleep at all. I jump into the shower, giving myself ten minutes to enjoy the hot water.Tamara and I didn’t have water this hot in our old home. I could only afford to pay the bills sporadically, so sometimes we would be lucky to have lukewarm water but most of the time we would have cold water. I got used to it after awhile, but having a hot, strong stream of water feels nice.When I step out of the shower, the bathroom is all steamy. I wipe the steam away from the mirror as I wrap myself in my towel and begin drying my hair, then I use

RubyThe weekend passes quickly.Far too quickly, because although it’s sunny and beautiful outside, Atwood won’t let me leave the castle. He has Alice follow my every move, even going so far as to have her stand outside the bathroom whenever I have to pee.It’s humiliating for me, but I can tell that Alice enjoys it, because now she has plenty of time to insult my every move.It feels like every five seconds she’s saying things to me like “Stand up straighter, don’t slouch,” or “We’ll have to work on your table manners, you pig,” or “Your slovenly appearance is no fit for a future princess.” With each snide comment, with each pinch of my belly to exclaim how fat I am, and with each comparison to the stranger named “Luna” I can feel myself beginning to break.I think that Alice wants me to break. She wants me to lose my temper and go on a rampage that will finally get me kicked out of the castle. In a way, I want that to happen so that Tamara and I can just go back to our old life. Bu

RubyStudents watch and whisper as the professor ushers me down the hallway and up the massive staircase leading to the headmaster’s office.“No, please,” I beg, but she won’t listen. I just know that I’m going to be expelled, or worse if what Nancy said about the headmaster was true.The professor climbs the stairway, not caring for the fact that I’m stumbling and tripping behind her. Once we reach the top, she pushes me ahead of her toward a large wooden door at the end of a long corridor.“It wasn’t me!” I cry. “Donna started it!”“You can tell that to the headmaster,” the professor says with a grimace. “See if he’ll believe your lies.”The professor presses a button next to the large door. Inside, I can hear a doorbell chime followed by the sound of a man cursing and crashing about.The headmaster swings the door open.His hair is a bit disheveled and his jacket has been removed to show a white button down and a red vest that looks somewhat comical stretched over his round belly.

Atwood“Sir?” Kayne asks, puzzled at my request.Wordlessly, I motion for my beta to follow as I make my way toward the garage, which is located on the lower level of the castle. Much to my neurotic mother’s dismay, I’ve collected quite a few vehicles over the years. My father always had a love of foreign sports cars; when he died just before my nineteenth birthday, all of them were passed on to me, and I’ve added even more to that collection since then so that I now have fifteen entirely unique cars.On my twentieth birthday, I bought myself a motorcycle. My mother was furious at this purchase, stating over and over again until she was practically blue in the face that I was going to kill myself on that thing, but I never listened.She wasn’t entirely wrong, however.Not even six months after I bought my motorcycle, I was in an accident. It was all my fault, really. I was going too fast around the winding roads near the castle, when I overshot a tight turn and wound up flying off the

RubyAt the end of my last class for the day, I run to my locker to get ready. Nancy shows up a few minutes later as I’m hurriedly fixing my hair and primping my uniform.“Wow, got a hot date or something?” she says. She’s wearing her cheer uniform and opens her locker to braid her long red hair in the mirror.“I’m… I’m auditioning for the school play,” I say. I can’t explain why, but I’m both excited and nervous at the same time.Nancy spins around to look at me and bounces excitedly on the balls of her feet, clapping her hands together.“Oh my gosh, really?!” she says, loud enough for the surrounding students to look at us.“Shh,” I mutter, feeling my face flush with embarrassment.“I have to come with you to your audition. Are you going right now?” Nancy says, this time much more quietly.I look at my watch. “It’s in fifteen minutes.”“Okay,” she says, grabbing her bag and slamming her locker shut. “I’ll meet you there. I have to, um, meet with someone really quick.”Smirking, I lo