Something about a new law the King had passed, making yet another strange item forbidden. What was it this time? Spinning wheels? What exactly was a spinning wheel anyway? Briar gave a mental shrug and went back to her parchment. Honestly, was anyone really interested in this? She scanned the room quickly, making note of the two or three people paying attention while the rest of the class slumbered behind their textbooks or giggled as they passed notes back and forth.
She raised an elegant eyebrow as Leah Staub, the girl behind her, handed her a folded up piece of paper. The handwriting was small and cute looking, with all the i's dotted with little hearts. Oh boy, here we go... Briar Rose carefully hid the note behind her book as she read it:

I heard from Tiffany Decosta that Eric and Jacob both like you! Which one do you think is cuter? I would totally go for Jacob, I mean his family owns every ship in the port. But Eric's father is a Count, and a member of the King's trusted counselors. You're so lucky!

Briar did her best not to bang her head repeatedly on her desk. She didn't want anything to do with those idiots. Who cared about being a Countess or owning ships?! Of course, reject them and everyone would think she was stuck-up or something. Not that she really cared much, but it was nice to have people she could sort-of consider as friends. Her quill pen scratched swiftly as she wrote her reply:

Gee Leah, that's a tough one. They're both so... well, they're something... but, I couldn't really decide... so if you want to go for either of them, you're welcome to. I'll even put in a good word or two for you if you would like.

That ought to keep her and the little group of giggling girls busy for a while. But alas, it wasn't so. A few minutes later Leah urgently passed the note back to her:

You'd really do that?! You think Jacob would go for me? Maybe he'll ask me to the King's ball! I'd just die! So who are you going with? It's coming up next Friday isn't it? and your birthday is the Friday after, right? Did you decide who to invite to your party?!

Great. Just great. Briar Rose chewed the end of her pen thoughtfully as she contemplated her answer. She'd totally forgotten about that stupid ball. It was the social event of the year, just about anyone who was anyone would be there. She supposed she might make an appearance. Maybe her mother would let her sew her own dress. Hey, that wasn't a bad idea, not bad at all. She'd been wanting to try her hand at one of those new gowns for a while now. The only downside was the fact that you had to have a date. That part she could do without...

Sure, I'll talk to Jacob after school today. I'll drop a few hints about you wanting to go, I'm sure he'll be happy to. As for my party? I hadn't even thought about it. Who do you think I should invite? You're good with planning parties, what do you think I should do?

That would definitely keep her busy for a while. Just the idea of a party going unplanned or guests going uninvited would make Leah's hair curl. Briar had no problem leaving all that to her. It was just another thing she wouldn't have to worry about. She could hear Leah scrawling quickly on the parchment as soon as she'd had a chance to read it. Rose went back to her own doodling. Maybe she could make the dress like this... with little embellishments here and here. Then add some ribbon there...

By the end of the school day, Briar had her party planned, her dress drawn out, her guest list made, and just about every other tiny detail planned out. Plus a bonus of detention next week for passing notes in class. The only thing left to decide was who to take, or, more accurately, who to get to take her to the ball next friday.
She packed her bag and walked slowly out of the classroom, the girls around her chattering excitedly about next week's events, and the party the following week. She tried her best to stay in the conversation and to keep that big fake smile plastered on her face, but she just kept thinking about who she was going to go with. She honestly didn't want to encourage any of the guys currently courting her, but it didn't look like she was going to have a choice. She just had to make sure she wasn't stepping on any of the other girl's toes. Leah liked Jacob, Tracy liked Edward, Whitney and Eric, Gracie and Todd, the list went on and on.
The girls around her went silent and Briar Rose looked up to see why. It looked like Jacob Thompson was walking toward them. They scattered like mice before a hungry cat, leaving Briar alone to face him. Briar kicked herself as she remembered that she'd promised to talk to him. He wasn't too awful she supposed. If you didn't mind that your men were only interested in one thing, and it certainly wasn't your personality or the shoes you wore last month to Tracy's party.
"Hey Briar Rose."
A charming pick-up line. She was shocked that she didn't immediately fall head over heels for him. She did her best to look uninterested. "Ah, hello Jacob."
"So uh... I was wondering..."
One perfect eyebrow rose as she replied, "you were wondering?"
"well yeah, 'cuz like, the King's ball is next Friday and..."
Well I was just wondering if it's possible for you to speak in complete sentences. I suppose I can't hope for miracles. "You were wondering if I'd ask Leah if she wants to go with you, weren't you? You're too shy, is that it? How sweet. I'd be glad to."
Jacob just stood there for a moment, his jaw hanging a bit slack. It reminded Briar of the same vacant expression the cows out in the pastures wore. "Uh..."
She wasn't about to give him a chance to saw otherwise, so she kept talking, "Ah, don't worry about it. No need to thank me. What time should I tell her to be ready for you to pick her up?"
He shook his head, "Well, I..."
"Six would be good, maybe seven. yes, I think seven would be perfect. What do you think Jacob?"
"I guess I..."
"Wonderful, I'll let her know. She'll be so excited!" Before he could say another word, she scampered away to re-join the girls and make sure they heard the good news.

Who to take, who to take... Rose kicked the cobbled road as she waved goodbye to her friends and started to walk home. She could hear heated voices around the side of the school as she walked past. Another fight no doubt. Well, she wasn't about to go watch a couple of idiots beat one another senseless.
"I'm not payin' you a cent! You'll do it or I'll make sure your father never works in this town again!"
"You do that, you don't get the paper, and you don't pass Mr. Sanders' class. I don't see why you're whining so much in the first place. It's nothing but pocket-change to you."
The sound of flesh hitting flesh. "You think you're so smart, don't you?"
Briar covered her ears. Stupid boys. Fighting over stupid things no doubt. She hurried down the street and back toward home.

"Mom? Mom I'm baaack!" Briar yelled through the house as she closed the door behind her.
"Bri? Is that you?" her mother's voice echoed back down the flight of stairs just past the entrance hall.
"Bri's home!" came a jubilant shout and the pounding of footsteps running downstairs. "Bri!"
Two blonde identical boys came racing into the foyer, vying for her attention.
"Bri! Come play soldiers with me!"
"No! Let's play hide n' seek! C'mon!"
"woah woah, Bri needs to sit for a few minutes. You guys go ahead, I'll catch up to you." A few pouts and whines followed, but the twin boys recovered quickly and ran outside to play. She could hear her mother, Heather, coming slowly down the stairs now too.
"How was your day Bri?" She'd been working hard again, Briar Rose could tell. There were threads clinging to her dress and several strands out of place in her usually perfect hair.
"Ah... good Mom, good. I actually wanted to run this dress pattern by you, see if you could help me make it by next Friday?"
"Next Friday?" Her mother gave a sly smile. "So did you finally decide who's going to take you to the ball?"
Briar paled a little, but the disheveled woman before her didn't seem to notice, "Uh... yeah Mom. But about this dress, I thought it'd be cute if we-"
"So who's the lucky young man? Oooh is it that cute little Eric boy? I've always liked him. Or maybe Brian down the street?"
Briar put on a smile, though she didn't really feel like wearing one right now. "It's a... surprise Mom. You'll get to see him on Friday, now about this dress-"
"ah.. this dress... I don't know honey, this seems a little bit... too modern. You don't want to stick out do you? Everyone else is going to be wearing dresses that are a little more... elegant, classic, you know?"
Briar sighed, "But Mooooom, I don't wanna wear one of those! Please? Just this once?"
Heather rolled her eyes, "fine fine. you kids these days and your crazy fashions... I'll need you to run back to town though and get me some fabric. I'll need about... well let's see..." she paused to look over the sketch critically, "Six yards of satin, eight yards of ribbon, six yards for the lining..." she scratched her head, "let me go get some paper and write all this down..."
Briar watched her leave with just a bit of relief. She'd expected her mother to make a bit more of a scene, but she must be in a good mood. She's probably just glad to hear I'm being courted by someone. Ugh, if she could only see all the idiots I have to put up with at school. She'd be GLAD I wasn't accepting anyone's courtship gifts. It's nice to see her smiling though... I haven't seen her smile much since Dad died... and it's been almost five years now...

* * * * *

Ugh... I feel like I've been sitting here for years now... Christopher sat calmly on the hard wooden chair behind the counter of his family's shop. It had been a long day, and he was only too ready for it to be over. His pen lazily slid over the paper as he searched for the right words to use.

The clock is striking midnight and the prince has left the ball,
He's not the only one who needs you,but you don't see me, not at all---

He jumped as the door to the shop opened and the little bell announcing customers rung sharply. "Hey Topher! Whatcha up to?"
Chris relaxed as he heard the voice, then put his pen and paper away, "Hey Ethan. You finally decided to visit---" Christopher frowned at Ethan's new bruises, "What happened to you?"
"This?" Ethan rubbed at his purple cheek, "courtesy of Mr. Jacob Thompson."
Chris put a hand to his head. "Idiot. What'd you do to make him that mad?"
His friend shrugged, "Wrote his term paper for him and had the audacity to make him pay for it."
Chris slapped the back of Ethan's head as he walked past. "Okay, so you're not an idiot, you're a complete and total hopeless moron!" he grabbed a few salves from their first-aid section and a soft cloth, then set them down with a clang in front of Ethan.
"yeah... you're probably right." Ethan picked up one of the potions and dipped the cloth carefully in it before gingerly wiping his cheek. "And Professor Ardeneaux is teaching me Cure Spells next monday. Don't you love the irony? It'd sure be nice to have that spell about now."
Christopher sat back in his chair, "You're lucky he's teaching anything to a dimwit like you. What'd you THINK would happen if you tried to make deals with Jacob?!"
"Hey, I still got paid, that's all that matters." Ethan nursed his cheek and frowned at his friend. "You can't be a little more sympathetic?"
Chris flicked a strand of stringy black hair out of his eyes, "Well maybe if I knew half of what was going on, I could be, but you're always too busy. It's like, as soon as you started that school, you didn't have time for anything else. We used to hang out all the time, but now the only time you come here is when you need something, or you want to unload all your problems on me. You hardly even come to rehearsal anymore!" Or at least, that was what Chris would have liked to say. Instead it came out more like, "Fine... what is it this time?"
Ethan didn't need any second asking. He launched into his overly-dramatic story and it took all the willpower Christopher had not to roll his eyes and groan. "So, you're telling me you started doing other people's assignments for money, just so you can buy a present for some girl that probably doesn't even know you're alive?"
His friend crossed his arms and started to pout, "She knows I'm alive, she even knew my name when I talked to her this morning."
Chris sighed and scrolled through a mental list of things he could say. He could console his friend, tell him everything would work out, or continue to make him feel like the colossal moron he must already be feeling like. "Alright, alright, I get it."
There was silence for a moment as both sides calmed down a bit. Ethan shrugged, "Anyway, I brought my case. We could practice if you want."
Christopher almost smiled, "alright. Allen will be back soon, he'll take over for me. You can go on upstairs though if you want, warm up or something. I don't know how you think you're gonna play a violin with your cheek swollen like that, but more power to ya." he shrugged.
Ethan gave a quick salute, then grabbed his things and hurried up the stairs behind the counter. Chris pulled out his parchment again and scanned the lyrics before crumbling them into a ball and throwing them in a nearby wastebasket. It was a silly, childish dream, becoming a singer... especially for him. But it never stopped him from dreaming. In the late night hours he pressed pillows into the cracks of his door so no one would hear and practiced singing with the piano till his fingers ached and his throat was raw. He wanted to try performing sometime, but he knew that time would never come. At least not anytime soon. He drummed his fingers on the sanded wood counter and settled into his chair to wait for Allen, his father, to return.
Chris' ears perked up at the chime of the little bell near the door. He looked up to see the same girl he'd run past this morning, on his way making a delivery to the Peterson's. She looked the store over with a glance and walked quickly to the small selection of fabrics.
"Good evening Miss. Can I help you with anything?" Chris recited the usual lines without really looking up from his paper. The usual response was "No thanks, I'm just looking," or "No, I know where it is." Instead she walked slowly over to the counter, her shiny black shoes clacking loudly on the wood floor.
"Is this all the fabric you have here? Odessa's shop was closed when I got here, so I wasn't sure where else to go." She chewed the corner of her lip and didn't want to look him in the eyes. He didn't blame her, he wasn't the prettiest guy to look at. He set his papers down and walked with her over to the fabrics. He was easily a foot or more taller than she, but then, he was taller than most people. It was all he could do somedays to keep from tripping over his long gangly arms and legs.
"Um... what exactly are you looking for? I could check our inventory if you like." Chris rubbed his arm nervously. He hated being left here in charge of the store. But it was the family business, so what could he do? Well, not that he was technically family anyway... He didn't look a thing like his short, plump blonde mother, or his average, balding father. They never had to tell Christopher that he'd been adopted, he'd known for a long time---
"Well, I was thinking perhaps a pale blue satin?"
Christopher raised an eyebrow, "Satin? It's doubtful... we got a shipment in a couple years back, but most of our customers thought it was too pricy..."
That was all it took. She pouted her bottom lip and looked up at him with her large brown eyes, "Oh, could you please check? I'd really appreciate it..."
Chris made his way back to the inventory room, "yeah, sure, " he managed to mumble. It wasn't that he wouldn't have done it anyway, he just hated girls like that. The ones that thought they could use their good looks to get them whatever they wanted. He still couldn't believe Ethan was head-over-heels for one of the girls at Althea Secondary Academy. She was bound to be at least as stuck up as the girl out there.

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