Benard grabs Harold’s hand. “You need to stop being a bitch,” he said. Harold stammers, “You never go into a fight before. Do you really think you are going to get away with punching someone today?”

Harold sighs, “Fine. Fine. Fine.” He looked over at Margo.

“I’m sorry?”

Margo looked over at me. I was not sure how to respond.

“Ok,” I said. We all stood in silence. 

“So are you going to kick me out now,” Harold asked not even looking at Margo. 

“Do you want me to?”

“Not yet. Dad will have my head if I am out first.”

“There are only three of y’all and so far you are the only one who hasn’t even made an attempt to hang out with me so uh yeah?”

Harold nodded, “Yeah. Yeah. You’re right.”

Silence again.

“What are you doing tonight,” Harold asked.

“Are you asking me out infront of your boy–”

“No. Not really? It’s just–”

“His dad would be really pissed if he didn’t at least try,” Benard said with an eyeroll, “Look, we are. Well,” he looked over at me. “Are you a snitch?”

Margo shook her head, “I would never tell on you. I would never out you like that, that would be wrong!”

Benard sighed, “We found a secret tunnel and it leads out into town. We were thinking of sneaking out.” Harold looked over at Benard his eyes wide.

“What are you doing, don’t invite them!”

“You need friends Harold. Here they are. They are going out with us if they want to.”

Margo nodded eagerly, “I always wanted to sneak out! It’ll be like the movies! Except we aren’t leaving through windows!” She grabbed my hand, “We’ll go!”

Benard looked over at me, “Suki, do you want to go?”

I looked down at my hand. Margo was holding it. I nodded, not even wanting to open my mouth to respond. 

“Great, we’ll meet here tonight,” Benard said grabbing their masks and handing one to Harold. 

~~~~~

“You cannot wear that,” I told Margo who spun in one of her nice dresses. It was one of the many that she could wear to big events. She spun again and laughed.

“I know, I know! I just don’t have anything else. Plus I look good in this!”

I shook my head, “You look good in anything, Margo.”

She stopped and stared at me, “Really? You think so?”

“I know so, now we need to find something more appropriate,” I said as I looked through the closet.

All of her clothes were nice. Too nice for some townsfolk to own, unless they were rich. I didn’t want Margo to stand out amongst the people. She needed to blend in, but all of her dresses made her stand out. 

I huffed, it really looked like she had nothing to wear that would make her blend in. I make note of this and will get her something more traditional. I looked over at Margo, she too was looking through her clothes. She tossed a few over her shoulders. First was a night gown, then another was a pink sun dress which she wore during a photo shoot.

I looked down at my clothes compared to her’s it was less extravagant. I thought about my closet. The clothes I would get from Ma, the ones that were bought from thrift stores, or gifted to me from other maids or butlers.

“You can wear my clothes,” I said without even realizing it. Margo turned to look at me, her eyes wide,

~~~~~

I realized halfway to my room that Margo had never seen it. We often spent time together in the many other more exciting rooms in the palace, but never in my room. My room, she was going to my room. My possibly messy room.

I grow worried about what Margo may think of my room. The room that I sparsely decorated. The room that had the unmade bed and an overfilled laundry hamper. She may see the true messiness of my being. I am so good at cleaning everything but my own personal belongings.

We climb the stairs to my room. There were elevators to most floors, but my room could not accommodate an elevator and since I was the youngest I decided to claim the room so the older employees did not have to climb so many stairs.

Climbing the stairs were nothing for me. I could climb up them fast, my body grew used to the strain and work that came with climbing them. I only stopped and turned around after hearing Margo let out a loud exhale.

“Sorry,” she said bending down, “I’m not used to stairs.” I smiled and held my hand out tot here.

“I can slow down, I know I walk fast.”

She looked at my hand, “I’m use to you walking fast. Just not running up the stairs.”

Was I running? Was that how fast I was going?

She grabbed my hand, and I helped pull her up.

“You are always in such a rush Suki. It’s okay to take things slow. It isn’t like the clothes are going to be gone by the time we get there.”

Margo was right. I didn’t realize until now how fast I moved. I wondered how long I have been doing this. Did Margo always had to catch up to me when I moved? Why hadn’t she said anything until now?

“I can slow down, if you want. I didn’t realize I was moving so fast.”

Margo smiled, “Well, no. Don’t slow down. It’s one of the many reasons why I like you.”