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But I was young, and I was distracted by the prospect of going away to school with my best friend. Anita and I had decided we would make the most of it. The summer flew by in a flurry. The school provided us with a list of all the possessions I was expected to bring. School clothes were selected, trunks packed, and Mrs. Baddeley was planning to make preserves and other goodies to send along with me. Anita and I felt as if we were preparing for a grand adventure.
Anita fit right into life at my home. She was practically living with me at that point. She stayed over almost every night. The staff loved her. She actually took an interest in Mrs. Baddeley’s stories, and she impressed Miss Pricket with her incessant reading, and how quickly she was picking up French. And as for me, she had become more than just a best friend. She was my family. She didn’t always go on about my mama the way Miss Pricket did, always assuring me of her love, but she comforted me in other ways. She calmed my fears about the future and stayed up to make me tea when I had a terrible dream about Papa. I wouldn’t have survived that summer without her.
While we counted down the days of summer and waited for our real adventure to begin, we did all the things we thought we would have to give up once we were transformed into young ladies. Things only little girls were allowed to do. Every day we did something we had loved doing as children: we had tea parties with my dolls, snuck down to the kitchen and stole tarts while Mrs. Baddeley wasn’t looking, and dressed like characters from our favorite stories and acted them out for Miss Pricket and the servants. But my favorite times during that summer were staying up late at night reading from the book of fairy tales my papa had given me. The night before we left for school, we stayed up well past our bedtime reading together and imagining our own fairy tales.
“I don’t think we have to give up reading our fairy and adventure stories, Cruella,” said Anita.
“I agree! I don’t think I could ever give them up, even when I’m an old lady,” I said. “My favorites are the Princess Tulip stories,” I added dreamily, halfway between our world and the world in which Princess Tulip lived. “She’s so brave and outspoken! She’s not afraid of anything, or anyone, or to say what’s on her mind.”
“But she wasn’t always that way,” Anita pointed out. “Remember the story about her and the Beast Prince? She was very different then.” Anita was right. She had been very different then, but that’s what made Tulip so utterly amazing to me. She had started out a dim-witted princess and turned into this magnificently brave and brazen woman. Anita continued, “My favorite stories are after the Great War, when she helped Oberon and the Tree Lords.” Her eyes widened. “The way she went to the Rock Giants all by herself and talked them into helping the Tree Lords in their fight with the Dark Fairy’s dragon was so awe-inspiring.”
“I know,” I agreed, “that was amazing! But I felt sorry for the Dark Fairy. I can’t believe those witches brought her back to life.”
“Ah, let me guess, you’re talking about Circe and Tulip again.” It was Miss Pricket; she was standing in the doorway. “Cruella, I need you to finish picking out the things you want to take to school with you. Anita is already packed and her cases are downstairs. I would like to see yours down there before this night is through.” As excited as I was about starting this adventure with Anita, I really was nervous about leaving home. I had just lost my father, and it seemed as though I might have lost my mother as well. I wanted to put off leaving as long as I could.
“Yes, Miss Pricket,” I said in a singsong schoolgirl fashion. “I’m sorry we can’t all be as perfect as Anita.” Anita laughed.
“Oh, Cruella. I’m not perfect. I just can’t wait to leave! I’m so excited,” said Anita, blushing.
“I’m excited, too,” I said. “But perhaps a little nervous.” Anita put her hand on mine.
“Of course you’re nervous. You’re leaving home for the first time.”
“How I will miss that sweet nature of yours, Anita,” Miss Pricket said, smiling at both of us.
“Miss Pricket,” I said, changing the subject. “Do you think the other girls will like us? What do you think they will be like?”
“I think they’ll be very much like you and Miss Anita. Though perhaps not so interested in fairy tales, at least not the sort you two fancy, and not quite as smart or pretty, I would wager.”
“Then they will be nothing like us,” I said, laughing.
“Oh, Cruella stop,” Anita chided gently. “I’m sure we will like the girls at school. This is our grand adventure, remember? Miss Pricket, you met the schoolmistress. What was she like?” Leave it to Anita to ask something sensible.
“She was a matronly woman. Very austere and serious. You’d better watch yourself around her, the pair of you!” Everything Miss Pricket said that evening sent us into peals of laughter. It was infectious, because soon Miss Pricket was laughing, too. It was because Anita was there. Anita could soften my sharp tongue, and she could charm Miss Pricket into laughing.
“What were the other girls like? Did you see any of them? Were they all terrible snobs?” I asked.
Miss Pricket just laughed. “You will have to see for yourself when you get there, Cruella. Now please finish selecting the things you would like me to pack for you or I am going to take Anita with me into the other room so you’re not distracted. Don’t forget, your mother is arriving early tomorrow morning to see you off to school.”
“Yes, Miss Pricket, we promise to devote ourselves entirely to our tasks,” I said, laughing, as she left the room. When she was gone, I turned to Anita. “I am curious about the other girls, Anita, aren’t you? And the teachers. My goodness, I bet they’re all a bunch of upstart in-betweens.”
“What’s an in-between?” Anita asked. My heart sank. I had been in such a jovial, lighthearted mood, I had forgotte
n myself. Anita didn’t know about my nicknames.
“Well,” I said slowly, “Miss Pricket is an in-between. She doesn’t quite fit in downstairs with the servants, but she’s not exactly accepted into the more elite social circles. She’s somewhere … in between.” I saw the hurt and realization wash over Anita’s face.
“Like me,” she said.
“No, Anita! You’re different from the other in-betweens, you’re better! ” I said, trying to make her understand.
“But you love Miss Pricket, don’t you, even though she’s, as you say, an in-between?”
I thought about it. “I suppose I do, in my own way. But not the way I love you. You’re different, Anita. Miss Pricket is my servant. You’re my friend. You are my best friend, and therefore associated with the finest of social circles. No one at school will look down on you, even the snootiest of girls won’t dare.”
“You know I don’t care about such things, Cruella. I don’t care what those girls think of me.”
“Well,” I said with a smile, “I will make sure they think nothing but the best of you, Anita. You’re much more than an in-between.” I got up, remembering something I wanted to bring with me, and went to my jewelry box to fish them out.
