Lara rested on a window sill. After eavesdropping on the king’s conversation with Ray, she knew where to look. For the last few days, Lara had been flying from town to town, looking among each town’s royal families for that perfect someone for Ray. But right now, she needed a little break. Stretching her arms above her head, she leaned into the corner of the window to settle in for a nap. Just then, she heard a commotion around the corner of the manor she was resting on.
“I can tend to the garden if I want! We can’t afford enough servants to keep up this place, anyway.”
“You are the daughter of a baron! You shouldn’t be kneeling in the dirt, getting your hands dirty to pull those nasty weeds!”
“Oooh, the daughter of a baron working in the garden,” Lara twittered to herself. “This seems promising.”
Lara flew around the corner of the house. No one saw the little twinkle of light as Lara landed in the garden a few feet away from the arguing twosome.
“Well, if my father was still alive, I’m sure we’d still have a reliable source of income and I wouldn’t have to help the servants,” said a young woman with out of control, brown, curly hair pulled back in a low pony. “But rest assured, even if we did have the money, I would still help!”
“That is not how a lady should behave,” a middle-aged woman said, with her hands on her hips.
“Good thing I never wanted to be a lady, then.”
“This again?! If you’re not going to be a lady, what are you going to be, Bella?”
“It’s Izzy! And I just want to be me!”
Izzy had apparently had enough. They stood up, brushed their hands off on their plain, rosy pink skirt, and stormed into the house.
“Oh, this is just lovely!” Lara smiled. “They’ll do perfectly.”
Lara gave herself a high five and zoomed off back to the palace. She knew exactly what she needed to prepare to make Izzy the most fabulous person at the ball.
Izzy shuffled down the hallway. They stopped in front of the full length mirror at the bottom of the stairwell. Izzy let out a sigh. Their stepmother wanted them to look like a lady, so she wouldn’t let them cut their hair. Their hair was the worst. It was so thick that it hurt to have it up. It was so curly that it itched the back of their neck. It was hot and stuck to their skin more often than not.
Their stepmother also couldn’t stand Izzy’s clothes. To be honest, Izzy couldn’t stand Izzy’s clothes. If they had their way, they would wear pants most of the time. Their stepmother had filled their closet with frilly dresses with intricate, corsetted bodices. They couldn’t do anything in those dresses! Those dresses are made for ladies to do ladylike things, like embroidery. Ugh, embroidery. She wouldn’t budge on the types of clothes she bought for Izzy, so Izzy started doing odd jobs for the people around town, making sure to keep it secret from their stepmother, so they could buy their own clothes. It was better that way, anyway, because the family was starting to run low on finances. Izzy would settle for wearing plain, boring clothes if it kept their family afloat. It wouldn’t even be so bad if they could get their stepmother to budge on the no pants rule.
Izzy trudged up the stairs to their room. If their stepmother was going to nag them about helping the few servants they had left, then they would just stay out of sight in their room. As they passed the doors into the other bedrooms, a head with perfectly curled blonde hair in an updo much too fussy for such a regular day popped out of one of the doors.
“Were you digging in the dirt again, Bella,” Tiffany chided.
“You know my name is Izzy and it’s called gardening,” Izzy muttered. Why did they even try anymore? After their father had died, their stepmother had become obsessed with turning her daughters into ladies who could increase their status. Izzy had been bundled along with their stepsisters, so the nickname had to go. It wasn’t “ladylike” enough.
“How will anyone know that you’re a girl?” That’s what their stepmother said. Izzy opened their bedroom door and locked it behind them.
“Why can’t she understand that I’m not a girl,” Izzy muttered to themself as they undid their simple, front closure corset. “I only wear this stupid thing to keep my breasts from flying all over the place!”
Izzy threw the corset into the corner and started undoing their skirt. “She just thinks I’m a ‘tomboy.’ But I’m not! I’m just me! Why must I be put into all these boxes that I don’t fit into?!”
Izzy stomped over to their bed and lifted up the mattress. They pulled out a light blue pair of loose linen pants and slipped into them. These were Izzy’s secret pants. If their stepmother found them, they would disappear. So Izzy made sure to only wear them behind locked doors.
“I can’t wait until Tiffany and Beth are married. Then I can convince Chandra to go live with one of her daughters and I can have this house all to myself.” Izzy flopped onto the bed and soon fell asleep.
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