Skylar had knocked on the door, prompting the pair to move and open the door. Currently, all four of them were sitting at the table on Bell’s darker side.

A screech blasted out of the speaker.

‘Do they want to make us deaf?’, Skylar grumbled.

‘Ahem. The Welcoming Ball starts in twenty minutes. All first graders please attend the Enchanted Hall. Please note, this is also an assessment and you will be marked on couple appearance - yes, you’re with your roommate -, dancing skills and behaviour. There are other things, but it’s better not to tell you. We expect you to solve the riddle to get in.’, Hestia’s voice rang.

‘Okay. The white door leads to a bathroom. The pink or purple one leads to a wardrobe.’, Skylar told November and Bell. ‘I thought you might want to know since you stood at the entrance the whole time.’

They shuffled, a sign that they were slightly miffed.

Skylar and Nathan left, and everyone entered their wardrobes.

November changed into a royal blue across-the-shoulder gown that dropped down to her ankles and split at the knee. Shimmering diamonds lined the hem. She left her hair out, clipping it back with a rose-gold clip that had small amethysts in it.

Skylar changed into a flowy dress that wrapped around her knees. The mint green and rose red organdie had sapphires as an adornment, creating breathtaking patterns around the neckline. She neatly pulled her hair into a half up, half down style and pinned a ruby brooch to her hair tie.

Bell and Nathan had no inkling as to what to do, so an arrow felt sorry for them and pointed out white collared shirts and black pants. Bell had a mahogany coloured tie and Nathan had a pine green tie to go with it.

‘But what if it’s cold?’, Bell complained in a hushed voice to the arrow. The arrow then pointed at a jacket.

‘Thank you.’, Bell smiled.

The four of them gathered outside their dorm doors.

‘Why do girls have so many fancy options?’, Bell murmured.

‘I don’t know.’, Nathan replied, shrugging.

Trooping down the staircases again, the ballroom was right in front of the staircase, more huge doorways in their faces.

Whispers flitted about the corridor, about, ‘They’re from the Royalty Tower!’ and ‘They look new, but they’re royal?!’ and last, but not least, for sure - ‘They look like royalties - who do you think are their parents?’.

Skylar strode through the mob, leaving timid little November and Bell to follow. Nathan had already gone ahead to the door.

The guard boomed, ‘Despised I am by knave and liar. After me, the wise enquire. I rise above all death and fire. What am I?’

Bell sighed. ‘The truth.’

‘Correct. Welcome, Princess November Aurelia May of the Ice Realm. Welcome, Lady Skylar Leylah Bista of the Fairy Overworld. Welcome, Prince Bell Everett of the Poison Underworld. And a welcome to you, Prince Nathan Kershaw of the Fire Land.’

‘Seriously, what is up with these titles?’, Nathan asked himself.

Waltzing into the ballroom, screens popped up in front of them. It was the rubric for their ball assessment.

Grade

Couple

Dancing

Etiquette

Charisma

Cuteness

Points

A

Holding hands, hugging

Skillful ballroom steps, in hold all the time

Eating neatly, careful and precise

Very social, chats a lot

Cute positions, rather timid

27-30

B

Occasional brushing of hands

Average ballroom dancing

Eating neatly

Talks to those around

Smiles sweetly

20-26

C

Talking to each other

Dancing

Can eat without spilling food

Occasionally strikes a conversation

Acts like a lady/gentlemen

15-19

D

Glances at each other

Walking around

Eats slightly messily, slurps, etc.

Chats to those at table

Sometimes rude

10-14

E

Distasteful glares

Standing still

Extremely messy, leaves mess everywhere

Replies sometimes

Snorts and makes barbaric sounds

5-10

F

Total ignoring

Sitting at the table

Eats like a barbarian

Acts like a spoiled witch/wizard dude

Scoffs and insults others

0-4

Notes

These can be adjusted to circumstance.

Depends on health condition.

No exceptions are made here.

Depends on whether chat is effective.

Can be adjusted.

‘We need an ‘A’ or a ‘B’ to pass this.’, November said quietly.

‘For the Charisma and Cuteness section, it’s one or the other. You and Bell will aim for Cuteness - although I’m sure you’ll have no trouble - and Nathan and I will go for Charisma. The Couple thing we’ll just have to bear and Etiquette and Dancing won’t be a problem. We were tutored by the Duchess of Somewhere or Other herself, after all.’, Skylar instructed. ‘Now, we have to get going with the ‘A’ for Couple.’

Reluctantly interlocking hands, Skylar and Nathan walked up the staircase to the sign reading, ‘Princesses November and Skylar, Princes Bell and Nathan’.

November and Bell exchanged a look before touching fingers, then finally joining hands and following their friends up the stairs.

Sitting down, the four of them waited patiently. The guests managed to trickle in, the riddles hard for them to solve. In the end, the guard was so sick of telling the riddle he charaded the answers for them.

There were girls in aqua dresses, mauve gowns and yellow cocktail dresses. Of course, there was always someone with the little black dress. But one noticeable girl was the one with dyed yellow hair and a bubblegum pink ball gown that just made it through the doorway. And seeing as the doorway was huge, that was an accomplishment.

Flicking her hair, she strode in.

‘I am the Queen Cornelia of this Academy.’, she announced in a high-pitched whine. ‘You will all defer to me.’

Everyone sniggered at her self-centred attitude. One even replied with, ‘Look up there!’, and pointed at November’s table.

Feeling gazes lock on her, November blushed and refocused her attention on her pair of chopsticks.

‘As if that’s a princess.’, Cornelia scoffed. ‘Look at the way she turns away when other people look at her!’

‘Really?’, another said. ‘You’re definitely failing Charisma and Cuteness, then, while she gets an ‘A’ for that!’

Everyone laughed.

Lips snuffed into a pout, she turned around to have the door slammed in her face.

‘Ugh.’, she sniffed and went to find herself a table. Her roommate, obscured by the massive pink folds of Cornelia’s dress, scampered behind.

Gentle music began to play, and pairs began to travel out onto the dance floor, in need of a good grade. Unfortunately, majority only just scratched a ‘C’, the minority a ‘B’.

Skylar and Nathan went down first, demonstrating a perfect tango routine.

As they came up, November pulled Bell down.

The couples moved away, curious to see what these mouses could do.

What they could do, was the waltz, no mistakes.

Soon, the ballroom was chatting about the four people sitting up on a glass platform.

‘Two subjects down, two to go.’, November whisper-sighed, exhausted from the swift waltz steps. She hated dancing, let alone in front of 2000 or so people.

Food was conjured, the menu on screens. November chose dainty sushi and matcha ice-cream. Skylar went with a more hearty dish, beef bourguignon and vanilla ice-cream. Bell had no idea what all those fancy dishes were, so he copied November. Nathan only recognised one food: spaghetti, so that was what he chose. For dessert, he went with a doughnut in a cup, with chocolate ice-cream and maple syrup. Very decadent, indeed.

Soon, the aromatic scent of food was spreading through the room.

Picking up her chopsticks, November carefully picked up a baby salmon roll. Biting into it, she held the chopsticks securely so that the sushi wouldn’t fall. She chewed delicately, and with her mouth closed. And the food cycle began again.

A fairy watched Bell attempt to copy November’s fluid chopstick motions, then giggled and flew to the faculty table. No one had noticed this out of the way table in the far corner.

Skylar too politely sipped her stew in silence, watching Nathan bite his spaghetti like a paranoid thief, making sure no one caught him. It was quite amusing, actually, watching Nathan making sure he wouldn’t break any etiquette rules.

November had seen Bell copying her and helped him hold the chopsticks properly.

‘Look, like a pencil.’, she instructed. ‘Yeah, like that.’

The same fairy had come back, only to see the chopsticks lesson and take off giggling again. The fairies were there to report any good (or bad) activity.

Dessert soon came, and November steadily dipped her miniature spoon into the green gloop, then went up. Eating the ice-cream, she smiled as Bell once again tried to emulate her smooth movements. More ice-cream lessons.

Meanwhile, Skylar was teaching Nathan to do it naturally, not like a paranoid thief and these mini lessons sent the fairy howling and shuddering with laughter, back to the faculty table again.

Sighing in relief, November stretched her arms. Most subjects passed! Of course, she had failed Charisma, and you could never really be sure about Cuteness.

Skylar was sleepy as well, and looked at Nathan, who was looking at Bell, who was looking at Cornelia, who was looking at a girl, who was looking at a boy, that was looking at Skylar.

‘Cornelia must be very dumb.’, Bell murmured to himself. Well, he did almost everything to himself. His only interactions were with himself and Nathan. And his only interactions with Nathan were mostly ‘Mmm’s.

While chattering away in his brain about all the odd things in the extravagant ballroom, Bell felt a light weight drop onto his shoulder. Slowly moving his head as to not disturb the thing, he found it to be someone’s head. And if November sat on his left, and the head had blonde, long hair, then it was obviously her. Then she must have fallen asleep, Bell concluded.

The fairy, still weak after the first bursts of laughter had come back expecting nothing too interesting. But then she saw the head on Bell’s shoulder and tore off, giggling like a madwoman. Or madfairy.

Skylar was also literally asleep, bobbing her head as she drifted off, only to snap back up.

Nathan curiously watched her head as it went up, down, up, down, down, down, wait a sec, something went wrong. She was asleep now.

‘Is it good for girls to sleep in these positions?’, Nathan whispered.

‘I don’t know.’, Bell whispered back.

‘Well, at least my shoulders are free from heads.’, Nathan teased.

Bell didn’t reply, miffed again. Miffed is about as angry shy people will get.

Bell fell asleep as well, and Nathan watched them all sleep until, a quiet ding! ran throughout the room, sending Skylar and November rocketing up, fully awake and alert.

‘Huh?’, November said, relaxing again. Thinking, she vaguely remembered falling asleep, which is why her neck hurt, but then what did she lean on? Looking around, she saw the still figure in the chair next to her, sleeping peacefully. Oh, great. She’d slept on her roommate. Way to go, November, she thought dryly.

A screen popped up. It read, Please make your way back to your dorm whenever, the ball is officially closed as of now.

‘Do you want to go?’, Nathan asked.

‘Yes please.’, Skylar replied, getting up and wiggling her neck. It was sore.

November slowly tapped Bell. And tapped again.

Nathan and Skylar watched her tap Bell in a futile attempt to wake him up. As the pointless tapping continued, Skylar raised her eyebrows.

‘Okay.’, Nathan said, going over to Bell. ‘To wake a person up, you do this.’

Nathan shook Bell, who woke up abruptly.

‘W-what?’, he said, rubbing his eyes.

‘We’re leaving.’, November said, taking his wrist and leading him down the stairs.

Laughing at November, Skylar took Nathan down in a similar fashion, and left the ballroom with a swoosh.

‘Ta-ta.’, she whispered, her silhouette blocking the light from outside.