Everything I have ever wanted

"Alex, wake up. We're not gonna get there on time. You need to get ready!" "I know," she grumbled. She really wouldn't miss this - her mother's optimistic start to the day, planned down to the last letter. Everything always had to be her way -- perfect, neat. She was pretty good at it -- until Alex was born. It was clear from the first moment that nothing about her was going to be neat at all. The perpetually tousled wavy hair, the glasses up to the tip of her nose that almost seemed to fall off at any moment, the wrinkled clothes, and her scrawl. Her mother was the exact opposite. Perfect from her dyed platinum hair to the tips of her carefully painted toenails. Her mother simply looked like an aristocrat -- she came from a wealthy family, after all. She may have lost her social status when she married Alex's father, but there were some things you just couldn't get rid of. That's why, even though they lived in a small house on the edge of a small town, Alex's mother exuded such energy that you almost thought she inhabited a royal palace. And Alex, on the opposite, looked like the child of a maid. "Alexandra Orléans, this isn't funny anymore. Get out of bed. And I hope you're packed!" Damn it, I should have finished my bags! Alex started running around the room, throwing random things into the open suitcase -- sneakers, toothbrush, clothes -- and especially books. She has loved books since she was a little girl. Before she could read, in fact. Her first memory is of lying in bed one night, her dad sitting next to her, reading her a book. She couldn't remember the title, but it was about a prince who saved a princess and with her the kingdom. She gasped in amazement. Daddy smiled at her, and before she fell asleep, he whispered, "Someday you'll find a prince like that too, my little princess..." Then she spent many days flipping through books and looking at pictures and letters that she didn't understand but knew were magical and held outstanding stories. She loved to read. She read at school during lunch break, she read on the bus on the way home, she read in the evening before her mother scolded her to go do something useful too, and then she had to read secretly in the garden house where she hid until it was dark. She just kept reading until she didn't know if she found life outside the books dull and gray because it wasn't half as wonderful as the one in the books, or if it was simply because she hadn't lived it to the full for a long time. All her childhood, her friends were books --- and her dad, of course -- no one else. Not that they were mean to her at school, she just wasn't interested in talking to them, and they weren't interested in talking to her. It suited her. In fact, she'd gotten used to it and didn't want to change it. But then her mother wouldn't be allowed to hatch a plan to ruin her life. "Alex, I've got great news for you!" she said one evening when Alex was returning from a secret reading in the garden house. Oh, no, she thought. Just by her mother telling her that she had "wonderful news" for her, Alex knew that disaster was coming. "Remember when I told you about the academy I went to before I married your father? It was called Guilhelm Academy." No way! Alex was starting to panic. Her mother knew full well that she wasn't going to transfer to any new school--and certainly not the elite academy for rich snob kids where her mother had studied. "I remember. Why do you ask...?" And I remember telling you I wasn't gonna go there, she thought. Of course, she would never say that loudly. (Her mother scared the scariest criminals for miles around.) "They texted me today that you were accepted! You can start right after the holidays. We'll still have to find you a dorm and get you a uniform, but those are the details. I'll arrange it all, of course, although..." Alex has long since stopped listening to what her mother says. Her words began to melt away in the deafening silence that echoed in her head. And that's it. I'm done. The rich kids are gonna eat me up for sure. I don't have a chance to survive a day, let alone a year! Is she crazy? She has to be! Doesn't she even know me? I can't even use cutlery properly, how am I supposed to survive at a snob school? Besides, you may not have noticed, mom, but you're not a rich aristocrat's daughter anymore... Everything I have ever wanted was peace from my mother, lots of books, and my prince charming. And dad came the quiet voice in her head. Shut up, she thought to him, this isn't what we're talking about. As always, however, she overcame her mother's crazy ideas with just a few unenthusiastic words and preferred to sneak back to her safe haven, back to her books. Her mom talked a lot. In fact, that's what she did all day - talk. Alex was more like her father. She only spoke when she wanted to or had to. She valued words because she knew they had power and were only valuable if they weren't wasted. She took her headphones and tried to suppress the feeling that her life had just changed - and certainly not for the better. After all, it was still two months away. A lot of things could happen. It's not even official yet. They've only written, nothing's been confirmed yet, she told herself. "Sweetheart, I called the dorm, and they have room for you, but you'll have to..." came from the kitchen. What a perfect mother, she thought. And what an imperfect daughter... At least I'll be away from my mom for a while... *** But the holidays actually went by quickly and her mother certainly didn't change her mind (as always, in reality, it wasn't even an option...). And knowing all this, she still hoped deep down that it would all work out somehow. Like she always did. After all, she'd always been more likely to drift through life, and when she didn't have to, not making decisions or saying much. According to her, people actually talked an unbearable amount. Which was fine with her, as long as they didn't demand it of her. So here she stood now, in the middle of an uncleaned room that she knew her mother would surely clean the day after she left, neither packed nor willing to believe that this was really happening to her. In fact, she was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't hear her mother rush into the room after her. "Alexandra, why is this place such a mess? Why aren't you dressed yet? And where are your suitcases? I can't believe it, are you serious..." The rest of Alex's day blurred into one blur of hurry and his mother's worried cries of lists of things she was convinced Alex didn't have. Alex just put on the hood of her sweatshirt with her favorite band's logo and turned the music volume up to a maximum. She sighed and patted Heatcliff on the head. Oh, you don't actually know Heatcliff yet! Heatcliff is an almost half-pound Rattus norvegicus, a rat with silver fur, a long tail and the cuuutest little snout. And, like his namesake, he has a penchant for roaming. That's how Alex found him - soaked and emaciated to the bone with an injured leg, he was lying in front of the garden house, looking at her with his dark eyes, frightened and perhaps pleading at the same time. Alex took care of him and they became inseparable friends. Though she was quite a long way from that emaciated little creature, she thought as she looked at his protruding belly. Heatcliff wasn't a people person either, but he would let Alex pet him and cuddle him, and when he wasn't in the mood, he would just crawl into the house and fall asleep. And as a bonus, he can't speak and Alex's mother can't stand him. "Do you really have to bring that thing with you?" She asked, not hiding her disgust in her voice. "Mom, it's not a thing, it's a rat. And besides, Heatcliff is my best friend. And you'd throw him on the pavement as soon as you got home, she thought. The rest of the trip was silent. Heatcliff fell asleep in Alex's arms, and she watched despairingly out the car window as the landscape slowly changed from sunshine and green plains to a rainy nightmare. But the real nightmare was yet to come. Here we are. Her mother whistled excitedly, and Alex shuddered. She got out of the car and couldn't believe her eyes. As far as the gray sky, a tall building loomed before her, more like a castle than a school -- almost like in her books. She had to admit, this was something -- "Now that's something," came a disdainful voice behind her. She turned and stared into the stern cold eyes of a well-groomed blonde whose beauty both charmed and chilled. Behind her were several other girls (all of them in gray uniforms), all keeping their eyes fixed directly on her. "Hello, girls!" Alex's mother spoke up as always. "I brought my daughter to school, she is new and starting today." The blonde just continued to stare silently into the eyes of Alex for a while, who was trying to create a hole in the ground with her gaze to hide in. Then suddenly she beamed, grinning from ear to ear, and looked up at her mother. "But sure, we'll take care of her!" They chatted excitedly for a while, but Alex didn't really hear them. She looked up to look at the scary blonde again. She was smiling, but her eyes said something else: Watch out for me, hillbilly... She thought about just turning around, grabbing Heatcliff and running off into the vast forest surrounding this hellhole, when a charming young man appeared right in front of her, nearly taking her breath away. He was tall and muscular, with short golden hair and sky-blue eyes. He looked like something out of a fashion magazine or a movie. His figure resembled an ancient statue, and Alex had never seen anything more beautiful. He's a prince, she thought. "Hello there," he said in a melodious, deep voice and smiled at her. His teeth were perfect and white, and he had the brightest smile in the world. Alex felt like her heart missed a few beats when he leaned over to her until they were almost touching each other and said right into her ear, until his breath tickled the back of her neck: "Do you want a tour, rookie?"