Hey! I'm back with chapter 3! I hoped you liked all the other chapters, too. Don't forget to send the e-mails! VanillaChick32@yahoo.com But please, no flames. Thanks!
Serena stared down at the boiling soup as she stirred it. The wooden spoon was covered in broth up to the middle of the stem. The vegetables and chicken strips swirled around in a circle as she stirred.
Serena stared into space as she thought of him. Darien. The prince. 'Maybe I'll see him. Oh, I hope I'll see him. I want to see him.' She stared blankly at the soup in deep thought. 'Wait, why do I want to see him? It's not like I really know him. For all I know, he could be a heartless jerk who only cares about his appearance.' Although she said these things, the back of her mind doubted her. 'Then why was he so nice to me?'
She felt a hand on her shoulder and snapped out of her trance. She looked back to see Lita smiling down at her.
"Don't let the soup burn or get cold. Keep stirring and try to stay down here on Earth." She smiled again and winked, then turned around and started walking through the kitchen checking out everybody else's cooking.
Serena turned back around and stirred the soup. She sighed and whispered to herself, "If I don't like him, then why am I always thinking of him?" She shook her head. "I'm so confused."
Molly nudged Serena. "Confused about what?"
She snapped her head up and looked up at Molly cooking some potatoes. "Oh Molly! I didn't see you! Um... about... um... why we have... um... pieces of dough in the... uh... soup, when we're serving bread." She smiled shakily.
Molly eyed her blonde friend. "Serena, you've been acting weird all night. Is something up? Is something wrong?"
Serena smiled at her friend, glad that she was so caring. "I'm fine, really. I was just thinking. I like doing that. I get to sort out my thoughts. No worries!" She smiled again.
Molly smiled. "Ok. I just wanted to make sure." She turned back to her potatoes that were boiling in a pot and took them out. She started mashing them with a spoon.
The Earth prince walked into the room and looked at all the guests. 'Whoa. I thought mother said she was inviting a few friends.' He sighed and watched his mother and father talk to the guests.
Darien walked over to a small table on the side and poured himself a glass of crystal clear water. He stood against a light golden painted wall and sipped his water. Many girls tried to get his attention, but he just pretended he didn't see them.
A little while later, Queen Isabelle walked over to her son smiling at him. "Ah, my son. How are you?" The queen smiled and hugged her raven- haired son. The queen pulled away and looked at him. "I have someone I want you to meet."
Darien looked at his mother. "Who, Mother?"
The Queen smiled. "She's a maiden that lives toward the end of town. Her name is Lady Beryl. She's a very charming girl. She's your age, too. Unfortunately, her mother and father died when she was 4 years old. Her mother died of a terrible disease, and her father in an attempted killing of his dear friend." The queen sighed. "It's so sad, and I'm even surprised she's survived through life and still is very sweet."
Darien rolled his eyes. His mother was always trying to play matchmaker, but he never liked any of the girls. They were either gold-diggers, or just plain annoying and trying too hard to please him. 'Jeez, Mother. Will you give it up already?'
The queen smiled. "She's right over there," the brown-haired queen said. She pointed to a girl with a dark blue dress on. The dress hugged her waist and chest, then poofed out at the waist and flowed down. Her hair was an auburn color and was very long. It was let down for the night and ended a little below her waist. Her skin was pale, and her blood red lips curved up in a thin smile as she talked to another girl with short red hair. Her black eyes sparkled as she talked and listened to the other girl speak.
The prince looked at her. 'Well, she seems normal,' the prince thought. 'Maybe she'll be-' his mother tugging at his sleeve cut off his thought. He looked at her. "Yeah?"
Queen Isabelle smiled. "Come on, I want you to meet her, and please be nice and formal this time."
"When was I ever not nice or formal?"
"When you met that girl Ashley. You totally ignored her, and you didn't even kiss her hand like you were supposed to. You made her feel really bad."
Darien rolled his eyes. "Mother, she was really boring and wasn't even talking!"
"How would you know? You weren't listening." Queen Isabelle giggled.
Darien rolled his eyes again. "Ok, fine. But, do I really have to kiss her hand?"
"Yes, you do. We want her to feel welcome here."
The raven-haired prince sighed. "Ok, whatever. But do I have to sit next to her during dinner?"
"Well, if you don't want to…"
"And I don't," he cut in.
"Alright, alright," the queen agreed. "But she is at least sitting at our end of the table."
"Fine," Darien answered, annoyed.
"Ok. Now that that's settled, I want you to talk to her." The brunette queen grabbed the prince's arm and started to drag him across the white marble floor.
As Darien was pulled across the room, he could see Lady Beryl glancing at him, and then looking back at her friend and talking to her. 'Well,' he thought. 'I bet she's trying to pretend not to notice me. Heh, it's not working though. I know she notices me.'
As the mother dragged her son across the dining room, Lady Beryl whispered to her friend and then smiled at her. The girl smiled back and walked away.
Finally, the prince and queen stopped in front of the Lady. Darien bowed to her, and she curtsied to Queen Isabelle and Prince Edymion.
Queen Isabelle smiled at the Lady. "Ah, Lady Beryl. How nice to see you again! This," the queen pushed Darien forward, "is my son, Prince Endymion, as I've told you about."
The Earth prince glared at his mother then looked at Lady Beryl. Her took her hand in his and gave her his most charming smile. "Lady Beryl. It's a pleasure to meet you." He bent down and lightly kissed her pale hand. Her fingernails were regular length and painted dark blue to match her dress.
Darien let go of her hand and stood up. She smiled at him, her cheeks were a light crimson color. Darien grinned at her and thought, 'Jeez, when are the servants gonna serve the food? I'm hungry, plus I really don't want to talk to this girl. She gives me the creeps.'
Darien shivered at Lady Beryl looked up at him. "Is something wrong?" she asked. Her voice was slightly deep and it was as if she could blow ice out of her mouth.
Darien forced a smiled to form on his face. "Oh, nothing. I'm just slightly chilled… and hungry."
Lady Beryl giggled. Her giggle was low pitched, too. "Yes, me too. I wonder what we are having."
"I think we're having a soup and meat and stuff like that. The chef had to cancel at the last minute and they had to hire a replacement. I heard she's really great at making food. Then again, most of all the Jupitarians are. I never doubt their food."
The Lady nodded in thought. "Yes, but you never know. I would make sure I knew the chef first before they cook for us."
"My mother and father have spoken to her, and they said she seems nice." Darien blinked, and then remembered something. 'When did my mother leave? I never saw her leave. Where on Earth did she go anyway.' He rolled his eyes at himself. 'Stupid, Darien. She probably went off to talk to more guests or something.'
"Uh... Prince Endymion?" Lady Beryl looked up at him, her head tilted to the side.
Darien shook his head. "Yeah?"
"Um... I think we are sitting down."
Darien looked up and saw the other nobles starting to sit down. "Oh, ok." He turned his attention back to Lady Beryl. "Well, it was nice meeting you, Lady Beryl." He bowed to her, and she curtsied.
"I do hope I see you again sometime again in the future." She smiled. "Perhaps, after we eat, we might be able to dance to a song or two."
"Maybe..." the prince answered. He bowed again as she curtsied, and the two went off to their seats.
A couple minutes later, Lita stood up on the stool and faced the kitchen. "Quiet people! Please!" The kitchen got quiet and all eyes were fixed on Lita. She continued, "Thank you. It is now 6:30 and the guests are starting to file in. They will sit down at 7:00 and we will need to be out there to be ready to serve. I need the people who are stirring the soup," Lita paused and glanced at Serena, and continued, "to hurry up. When you're done, please turn off the heat and put the soup to the side. Put a lid on top to keep it warm. When the guests are ready, you will pour a bit in a big enough bowl to serve the people on your side, but also small enough that you can carry. Take a ladle and walk out to the room and start serving your portion of the guests." Lita looked down at her Jupitarian watch, and then at the crowd of servants. "Okay. We have 25 minutes. Please hurry." With that, she stepped off the stool and pushed it aside. The servants went back to what they were doing, and Lita examined everyone's work again.
Serena turned around and continued to stir the soup, and started sorting her thoughts out again. 'Maybe what I'm thinking is normal. Maybe it's just a stage. Maybe I'm feeling a little lonely that I long for a friend, and maybe he's so nice that I want him to be my friend.'
Before she could finish her thoughts, Lita interrupted her. "That's good. You can take the pot off the heat and put it to the side. Then put a lid on it. After you do that, then you can day dream." She smiled a winked, then walked away.
Serena watched as Lita glided down the kitchen floor, and then back up to the front. Serena then turned back to the pot. She turned off the heat and moved the soup to the side. She reached over the counter and grabbed the metal lid, then set it atop the pot of still-boiling soup.
Serena turned around and leaned against the counter edge. Her blue eyes scanned over all the servants cooking and preparing. Then her eyes landed on Lita standing by the door to the dining room, leaning against the wall and chewing on her green-painted fingernails. Serena smiled at her and walked over.
As Serena approached, Lita's green eyes looked up at her. Her hand with half-chewed green fingernails fell to her side and she stood up, instead of leaning against the wall. "May I help you?"
"I just came over to say hi. You looked lonely." Serena smiled. "And nervous."
Lita sighed, giving in. "Yeah, I'm nervous... a lot. This is my first time cooking for the royalty of Earth. I'm just hoping they like the food, and everything else..."
Serena giggled. "Calm down, it will be ok. I promise. I'm sure they'll like your cooking. They wouldn't have replaced the sick chef with you if they didn't think they wouldn't like your cooking? Besides, I heard what we were going to serve, and this is different, and everything sounds delicious. I'm sure you have exquisite taste, and the food looks totally wicked." She smiled and winked at Lita.
Serena could see Lita's shoulders rest and her body loosen up. Lita smiled at this sweet, blonde girl. "Thank you. I'm not as nervous now. You've helped thanks. By the way, what's your name?"
"Serena."
"Wow. You have a beautiful name. I'm sure I've heard that name somewhere, but I don't remember where." Lita bit her lip in thought. "Well, anyway, I'm Lita. I live of the planet Jupiter."
Serena smiled. "I know. You told us."
"Oh yeah! I did, didn't I? But, wait. I didn't tell you I lived on Jupiter, did I?"
Serena shrugged. "You must have. I wouldn't be able to know any other way, since I don't think I've seen you anytime in my life. I'm never left Earth, I don't think."
Lita furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "How can you not know if you've left Earth?"
Serena sighed. "My guardian, Ilene, told me that she found me on her door step in the middle of the night. So, basically, I really don't know what planet I'm from, who I am, or who my birth mother is."
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to ask such a personal question. I didn't know…"
Serena blew it off. "It's ok. It doesn't matter. I don't really care, as long as I'm happy here." She smiled.
Lita let out a sigh of relief. "Ok. That's good. I don't want to make anyone mad or anything."
Serena smiled. "I wouldn't get mad at you for that."
Lita shrugged. "You never know." The brunette looked down at her watch again and then back up at Serena. "Ok. It's 5 of. We'd better get ready." Lita pulled out the stool she was standing on before, and stood up on it. "People!" she yelled. Everyone dropped what they were doing and looked up at the chef. "Ok. We have 5 minutes. I want you all to get in the groups you I assigned you, and if you're pouring the wine, then get in the front of the line. If you're serving the soup, then please do as I told you before and line up behind the wine servers."
The boys, girls, men, and women lined up according to their groups. Serena ran over to the pit of soup she cooked and poured it in a large wooden bowl. She grabbed her metal ladle and got behind Molly in the line.
Molly turned around and smiled at Serena. "You ready, Serena?"
Serena shifted the wooden bowl filled to her left arm and held the ladle in her right. "You bet!" She smiled back.
The two girls smiled at each other one more time before turning around and watching Lita.
Lita stood by the door chewing on her fingernails again. Then she caught Serena's eye and lets down her hand. She smiled and Serena smiled back.
Two minutes later, a man with very short black hair and tan skin peeked his head through the door and whispered to Lita. Lita nodded and the man walked out. Lita turned to the line. "Ok," she said shakily. "That's our signal to go in. The group who is serving the wine, will you please walk out and start pouring the wine into the people's wine glasses, please? Only serve your section, though!"
Lita nodded at the girl in the front of the line, and the line started moving and filing out into the dining hall. After the wine pourers were out, Lita stopped the boy who was holding a bowl filled with soup.
The Jupitarian teen peeked out of the door and watched the servants fill the nobles' crystal, wine glasses. She started chewing on her fingernails again.
Serena smiled and shook her head. She bit her lip and counted how many people were in line to keep herself busy until the wine servers came back.
Molly looked back at her friend. "Serena, are you nervous?"
Serena looked at Molly. "Why, of course not." She smiled and laughed nervously.
Molly giggled. "It's ok if you are. I'm a bit nervous, too. I just really hope I don't mess up or anything. You know, trip or something."
Serena nodded. "Yeah, me too." 'Serena, why are you lying to yourself? Your nervous about seeing the prince!'
The wine servants started sauntering into the kitchen holding their almost empty glass pitchers. Lita nodded at the wine servers, telling them they did well. Lita then turned to the servant in the front and nodded for him to go out.
The line started moving and Serena gripped onto her bowl. She started walking, and as she passed Lita, the two girls exchanged smiles.
The soup servers entered the dining hall and started walking to their select spots where they were to serve.
The room sparkled. Almost everything was in gold. The walls were painted a light gold, and the ceiling a darker gold. The chandeliers that hung off the ceiling were also golden. The floor was white marble with a tint of gold sparkles. Serena marveled at the whole set up of the glamorous room.
She was so taken by the aura that she almost forgot what she was there for. She steadied herself and walked to her spot. She watched how the other servants served the soup, and then mimicked them. She soon realized that she was at the royalty end of the table. She gulped quietly and prayed to see the prince. She first started off with Kind Edward, who nodded and continued to talk to his wife, Queen Isabelle, who she served next. Serena then moved over to the other side of the table and stepped forward to serve in the next person's bowl. She dipped the ladle into the hot soup and took it out. She poured it into the fine china bowl. When she bent down to pour the second ladle full, she realized she was serving the prince!
She started to pour the soup into the bowl when he whispered in her ear. "Thank you, Serena."
She glanced at him and smiled, while he flashed his dazzling smile. She pulled back and continued down the side of the table with her cheeks rosy and a dazed smile on her face. 'Oh my Gods! He remembered me! I can't believe it!'
Once she finished serving the soup, the bowl was almost empty. She walked back to the kitchen approximately the same time the other servants were done.
She entered the kitchen filled with the aromas of the freshly cooked foods. She tried to hide her smile as best she could, but she was unsuccessful. Luckily, no one noticed. Everyone was too busy running around and Molly was still serving. She smiled again. 'I still can't believe he remembered me.'
Darien took a sip of his soup. The warm liquid filled his mouth. 'Mmm. This is good. I wonder if she made it...'
Across the table, Lady Beryl sat a couple seats away from across from the prince. The Lady kept smiling at him, and Darien was getting quite annoyed. He turned to his mother.
"Mother," he began. "You told me she wasn't going to sit at our side of the table. Then why is she?!"
"Darien. You mustn't be so loud." The Queen glanced at Lady Beryl. "She might hear you, and then you might never have a chance with her."
"Mother, I don't want a chance with her. Sure, she's nice, but she's not my type. If I'm going to marry someone, something has to click when I meet her. I don't feel anything around her. She, actually, kind of freaks me out."
"Darien, she's a very nice girl. How can you say that?"
Darien sighed. "You'll never understand." He looked back down at his soup and continued to eat.
'Wow, this soup is really good. The chef did a great job. I have to be sure to tell him, or maybe even her, after the dinner,' Darien thought. He looked up again, only to see Lady Beryl smile at him again. He forced a smile onto his face and thought, 'This is going to be a long night.'
Serena sat on a counter watching the cooks on the other side on the kitchen. Most of the soup servers retired to their quarters for the night, but Serena decided to stay for moral support. Lita needed all she could get.
Serena watched as the Jupitarian girl instructed a man on his cooking. Lita looked over and the two girls exchanged smiles.
After Lita was done explaining to the man, she walked over to Serena and tossed her a roll. "Call it a gift." She smiled.
Serena caught it and smiled back. "Thanks. You baked it yourself, right?"
"Yep." Lita wiped her hands on her green apron and then looked up at Serena. "I want to say thank you. You made me feel more calm about this and you stayed here when you could have just as easily left. I barely even know you, and you still act as if I'm your best friend."
"I-Is that bad?"
"No, Of course not. I'm glad. I like having a friend. I never really met anyone my age."
"Why? You seem like a really nice girl. Why wouldn't anyone want to meet you?"
Lita sighed. "Well, it's for two reasons. One, I do a lot of martial arts, and I'm known as the tough girl around my planet. Many girls don't do that kind of stuff, so they're afraid that I'll be mean to them or something. The second reason is... that... well... I'm not really supposed to tell anyone this. It's kind of confidential... but..."
"You don't have to tell if you don't want to," Serena cut in.
Lita shook her head. "No, it's ok. Just don't tell anyone, alright?"
"Of course." She smiled.
"Ok. Well, I'm the princess of Jupiter, and I'm always busy. I have all my classes to attend and talk to my parents about important stuff. I mean, one day I'm going to be the queen of Jupiter, and I'm 13 years old. My parents want me to be plenty ready for the tasks ahead of me. They want me to start early in my training for the ruling of my planet so I'll be ready. My parents started early, and everyone loves them. So they want me to be the same."
"Oh, wow." Serena let the new information sink in. She never dreamed of meeting a princess, but here one was, standing right in front of her! "I'm sorry your life had to happen like that. But, in case you ever need someone to talk to or write to, I'm right here." She smiled.
Lita looked at Serena thankfully. "Thank you so much."
"No problem," Serena replied with a smile, and started to nibble on the roll Lita gave to her.
"Well," Lita said, looking around the kitchen. "I think it's time to send the wine servers out for refills."
Lita called the wine servers and they assembled into a line. Once the servers had their pitchers of wine and were settled down, Lita did a head count. As she got to the end of the line, her eyes widened. She turned to Serena and whispered to her. "Serena, we have a slight problem. We're missing a servant."
Serena looked up and bit her lip. She put the roll down and jumped off the counter. "I'll fill in their place," she volunteered and dusted her dress off. She spotted an extra wine pitcher and filled it with wine, then turned around and smiled at Lita. "Is that ok?"
Lita let out a sigh of relief. "You're a life savor. Thank you so much."
"No problem," the blonde replied and joined the line of wine servers.
Lita gave the sign to the first person in line, and the line filed out into the dining hall for the second time.
Serena watched where everyone else was serving, and according to the information she collected, she was to serve at the same spot she had before. 'Oh my Gods! I get to see him more than once tonight! I can't believe it!'
She poured the wine into the glasses as the other servants had done, and when she got the prince's glass, he, once again, whispered in her ear, "Thank you again, Lady Serena."
Serena glanced at him, still pouring the wine, and whispered, "I am no Lady." She stopped pouring the wine, for the glass was full, and continued down the line of nobles.
She was the second one to finish serving her section, and then she strolled back into kitchen. Serena looked at Lita and smiled, and then set her pitcher on a countertop.
Lita smiled at Serena. "Thank you so much."
"Anytime," she replied. But at the moment, only one thing was on her mind. The prince.
Ok! So that's chapter 3! I hope you like it. I kinda ended up at a writer's block at this time, so I decided to end the chapter and continue it in chapter 4. Besides, it was getting pretty long anyway. Don't forget to e-mail me! Thanks! ^_^
Back to Chapter Two
Chapter Four
