Part Two
"It's time for young ladies to get thier beauty sleep. Serena, I hope you like your classes tomorrow. I'm sure you'll fit right in." And with that she left.
I took out my nightdress and changed into it. The others did the same. Three bedside lamps went out and the bed curtains were closed. I closed my curtains, but didn't turn off my lamp just yet. Instead, I lay there for awhile and thought random thoughts. Then I took out the book Christopher had given me.
The book had all sorts of fairy tales in it. Some were familiar to me, but most I had never heard of. There were also fully illustrated pictures for the stories. So I turned to the first story.
It was a story of Cinderella. But, in this version, the Prince never found Cinderella after teh ball. He ended up marrying a Princess and had forgoten about Cinderella. She never forgot him and was sad and lonely for the rest of her life of servititude.
I cried at the end. Then I put the book away nad put out the lamp. I wanted to save the stories for times when I'd need comforting.
The next day a bird singing outside my windo woke me. I got dressed quietly and went to teh dining hall to eat breakfast. Ten minutes after I had already gotten my food, a groggy-eyed Beth walked in and sat next to me.
"Good morning," I greeted her.
"Good morning," she yawned. "You must be a mornign person. I prefer to sleep in at every possible moment."
"So why aren't you still asleep?"
"Aha, the curse of being a light sleeper. You woke me when you closed the door. I can sleep throught storms and most loud noises, like Julia's snores, but if you were to whisper while I was asleep, I'd probably have a heart attack. That just shows you why most of teh girls think I'm odd."
"I'm sorry."
"It's alright. I'm usually late to my first class and never get breakfast. I usually put cotton in my ears so I don't wake up from small noises," she explained.
The dining hall filled within the next hour. We sat talking when Headmistress Rose handed me my schedule. "Here is your schedule, Serena," she told me. "All girls the same age have teh same classes. Elizabeth can show you to your classes. Good day, ladies."
"Good day, Mistress," we said in unison.
I looked at the schedule. We had sewing first. I immediately began to panic. I had never been shown how to sew because my mother had died when I was twelve. I had always been reckless so I wasn't trusted with sharp objects and then my mother had fallen victim to murder. I told Beth I didn't know how to sew.
"Don't worry," she told me. "You'll get teh feel of it soon enough. My mother died when I was three so she never taught me either, adn men are hopeless with needles. And my father never remarried so no stepmother ever showed me."
My panic lessened but did not disappear. The sewing mistress was Madame Ruth. As soon as I had settled myself into a chair near Beth, Madame gave me a needle and thread. She told Beth to instruct me if I needed it. I saw and watched Beth for a little while. Finally, I had decided to try it. Within twenty minutes, Madame came to see how I was progressing. I had one hundred stitches that were about as neat as an amateur can get.
"Have you ever sewn before?" Madame asked me.
"No, Madame," I answered.
"This is excellent work for a beginner! You are a natural." She smiled at me and went to attend the other girls.
Beth turned toward me. "How'd you learn to sew so fast?"
"I don't know. I watched you for awhile and then tried it myself. I've been told I was a fast learner but I just thought that people were being kind."
She looked at me as though I were insane. She went back to work, but I couldn't get rid of the feeling that she was upset with me. We didn't talk for the rest of the lesson, but taht could have been because Madame said one could not concentrate on her sewing while gossiping.
