Spring Single

Juniper had never been asked to a dance. Despite her school throwing every single dance in the book, Juniper was single for every one.

This time was no different. It was her school's spring dance, and she was dateless yet again. Juniper didn't mind being single, unlike most of the other girls at her high school. Now here she was, in her school's gym, watching everyone else dancing or chatting. Every other student (even the teachers!) had a date. Well, every student that actually came to the dance had a date. Most hadn't bothered to come, and Juniper couldn't blame them. Her school was notorious for having lame dances.

The snack table was mercifully empty, with everyone else in the gym either dancing or chatting to each other. The food was literally the only reason Juniper bothered coming to these dances. Her family never bought these kinds of sugary treats. Juniper selected a strawberry jelly donut and bit into it, not caring that it made her fingers red.

As she ate, Juniper thought back to this morning when she had been in school. She was standing at her locker, getting her history book out, when her friend Emily walked up to her.

"Hey, Junie! Who are you taking to the dance tonight?" Emily asked, opening her own locker.

"No one. Again. Why are you expecting anything different?" Juniper replied, pulling out her heavy orange textbook.

Emily huffed and rolled her eyes. "Junie, if you ever want to go with someone to a dance, you have to get up, take initiative! None of this snack food junkie act. If you want to be successful in dating, think more about boys and less about desserts! You're focused on the wrong kinda sugar, Junie."

Juniper sighed and consented to go, just so Emily wouldn't bug her about it any more. And now here she was, wearing a dress and sandals, and eating donuts by herself. Emily was in the thick of the crowd, dancing with practically every teenage boy in the building and laughing away. Juniper could very honestly say she was not jealous. Better to have one, nice boy over thirty annoying ones.

After a little bit longer, Juniper decided that being home with no sugary snacks was better than staying here and dying of boredom. She turned and was about to leave the gym and almost tripped over something small on the gym floor.

"Hey! Watch where you're going, girl! You almost killed me! And believe me, we mice don't have a lot of life to lose in the first place!" said a high voice from below her.

Juniper looked down and saw a large mouse standing with its front paws on its hips and giving her a hard glare. The strangest thing about the mouse was that it was wearing a green hat and vest.

"What's the matter? You never seen a mouse before? Geez." the mouse said, rolling its beady eyes. "Well, we better get going! Fairy Godmother told me to getcha, so here I am, getting you. Come on! Move your gigantic, dangerous feet!"

Juniper was too surprised to object, and followed the mouse out the gym door, into the hallway, and out onto the school grounds.

A little old woman in a long coat sat on a bench in front of them, and smiled when Juniper approached.

"Ah, hello, darling. And good to see you too, Earnest. How long has it been?" the old woman spoke.

"It's been five minutes." Earnest grumbled, climbing onto the old woman's shoulder.

"Excuse me, what's going on? Who are you people-slash-mice and what do you want?" Juniper asked, feeling quite confused.

The old woman smiled. "It's not about what we want, it's about what you want. That's why we're here, deary. To help you." she pointed a chubby finger at Juniper.

"Now, if we're going to get you to that ball on time, we'd better get started! No time to dilly, no time to dally! Ahem, Earnest? Where did I put my wand?" the woman asked, looking in her coat pockets.

"Your sleeve. Where it always is." Earnest answered, rolling his eyes.

The woman pulled out a long silver stick and whispered a few words to it before waving it in intricate patterns. Glitter seemed to come out of nowhere and follow the wand tip.

Juniper watched the waving for a minute before the woman pointed the wand directly at her. With a feeling like being blown by mist, Juniper saw her clothes being transformed. Within seconds, her simple dress and sandals had turned into a magnificent white ballgown and clear heels. On closer inspection, they seemed to be made of glass.

"Wow..." Juniper breathed, spinning to get a feel for the gown. "Just like in Cinderella!"

The woman and the mouse gave her puzzled looks.

"Just like in Cinderella? Darling, you are Cinderella. I hope you're feeling well enough for this ball, because that prince of yours won't wait forever." the woman said. "Now for transportation!"

Before you could say "bibbity bobbity boo," the woman had summoned more mice and a lizard, and transformed them into horses and a footman, respectively.

"Now we just need a carriage. There don't seem to be any pumpkins around here, but maybe..." the woman stooped and picked up an old, forgotten water bottle.

Juniper recoiled, making a face. Who knew what that had touched? Before she could make an objection, the water bottle had been transformed into a roofless carriage of silver and sapphire.

Her eyes widening and her mouth dropping open, Juniper stepped closer to touch the side of the gleaming carriage.

"Now, deary, listen to me for a moment. You have until midnight, and then it's back to rags and water bottles with you. That's just how the spell works. I do hope you have a fun time, deary! Goodbye!" the woman said smiling at her handiwork.

'But I wasn't wearing rags before...' Juniper thought as she climbed into the carriage. And they were off.

As they rode, Juniper became aware of the landscape changing from city streets to a thick forest. There weren't any forests anywhere near her school. Juniper looked behind her and saw endless forest expanding as far as the eye could see.

"Excuse me, but what just happened?" Juniper asked the lizard-turned-footman.

"A world-warp. We had to use one to get from your strange building to the ball. Don't worry, the only side effects are pink freckles." the footman told her. "See? I've got some now." he said, pointing to his reflection in the shiny floor of the carriage. He did indeed have a lot of pink freckles.

"I don't have any, do I?" Juniper asked, looking at her own reflection.

The footman chuckled. "Don't worry, you're all good. Look up ahead, we're arriving."

Juniper looked up and gasped. Before her stood an enormous castle of shining marble.

"If you think this is huge, would you believe this is only the third biggest castle we have? The other two are vacation houses for the royal family-"

Juniper stopped listening to the footman as he launched into an explanation of royal affairs, architecture, and traditions. There was so much to see. She could look at the castle for years and keep finding new details. It was nothing like her family's apartment at home.

At last, the carriage stopped in front of the doors to the palace.

"All right, Cinderella! Have fun at your ball! But remember, midnight, okay?" the footman said.

"But wait, what do I do? I've never been to a ball! School dances, sure, but a royal ball?" Juniper asked, suddenly feeling very uninformed.

The footman flicked the reigns and started riding away. "Just be yourself! Dance with the prince!" he called before he was lost in the darkness.

Juniper groaned. A fat lot of help that was. She barely knew how to dance. Might as well get this over with, since her ride probably wouldn't be back until midnight.

The inside of the castle was even more magnificent than the exterior. There were chandeliers hanging from the beautifully painted ceiling, and the carpets were gorgeous as well. Every wall had some art piece on it, and Juniper couldn't even begin to count them all.

Before she knew it, she was in the ballroom. Soft music played as hundreds of couples danced in the light of a giant chandelier. Juniper looked around, hoping there might be some kind of snack table. Aha. There it was, to the side of the ballroom. And even better, there were strawberry jelly donuts!

Juniper picked one out and bit it carefully so she wouldn't stain her white dress. Then she noticed a young boy standing next to her, also eating a strawberry jelly donut. He had dark hair and grey eyes, with some freckles across his face (though not pink ones).

"Um, hi." Juniper said, trying to be friendly.

The boy looked over at her. "Hello. Have I seen you before?" he asked.

Juniper shook her head. "Nope. I just got here." There was an awkward pause.

"So. Would you care to dance? I mean, everyone else is doing it, so..." the boy suggested, holding out his hand.

Juniper hesitated, then took it. The two of them went out to a more open spot, and started a waltz.

As they danced, Juniper became conscious of a lot of eyes watching them. She hoped she wasn't that bad of a dancer.

"Uncomfortable, isn't it? How about we just talk then? Does the balcony sound nice?" the boy asked politely.

"Yes, thank you." Juniper said, relieved.

The two of them walked out to the balcony, the boy grabbing a box of jelly donuts on the way out.

Juniper and the boy sat down on a bench, opened the box of donuts, and started talking. Somehow, it was easy to talk to the boy. Juniper felt like she could say anything at all and he wouldn't mind. They talked and talked, laughing together as the hours went by.

"Wow. I feel like I know everything about you." Juniper said, smiling.

"The feeling is mutual. I know everything but your name by now." the boy said, also smiling.

"And I don't know yours." Juniper answered.

"I'll go first. My name is Prince Edmund. I think you probably realized I was a prince while we were talking." the boy said.

Juniper nodded. "Yeah, I figured. Not everybody grows up in a castle."

"So what's your name, then?" Edmund asked.

"It's Ju-" Juniper began, before she looked down at her watch. It was 11:40. "Oh, geez."

She stood quickly. "I have to go, I don't want to miss my ride and get trapped here forever. Sorry, Edmund." Juniper said in a rush, waving goodbye and running out the door.

Edmund stared after her for a moment before following.

Juniper breathed a sigh of relief when she saw her carriage waiting for her. "Oh gosh, thank you for not leaving me!" Juniper said gratefully as she climbed into the carriage.

Edmund ran up behind her as they started to move.

"Wait, lizard guy! Stop for a second!" Juniper said.

The footman looked offended. "Lizard guy, how rude!" he huffed, but stopped the carriage anyway.

"You left behind the last jelly donut." Edmund said, holding it out to her. "And you never told me your name."

"Juniper. It's Juniper. And thank you, so much. This is literally the best dance I've ever been to." Juniper answered, smiling.

"Even though we didn't really dance?" Edmund asked.

Juniper laughed a little. "Even though we didn't dance. I'm sorry I have to go so soon, but I need to get back to my own world before midnight and my ride turns into rats, a lizard, and a water bottle."

Edmund nodded before looking up at her, his face flushed. "Maybe...I could come to your world sometime?"

"Yeah. That'd be cool." Juniper answered, holding out her hand.

Edmund took it and held it for a second before the footman cleared his throat loudly. "Excuse me, lovebirds, but I want to ride out of here while I still have hands to steer with, thank you very much!"

Juniper and Edmund let go of each other's hands quickly. "Bye, Edmund." Juniper called as they rode away.

"Bye, Juniper! I'll come see you soon!" Edmund called back.

Juniper smiled.

"I guess not all dances are lame." she said to herself.

The End