Carousel

"Not hungry, Karina?" Mr. Parks asked.

I stared down at the mushroom omelet sitting on my plate and shook my head. Breakfast time at the huge mansion always took place at a small round table in the kitchen. It was a unspoken tradition. The table was barely enough to seat the four of us. I wondered where their mother was, but never dared to ask. It seemed like a touchy subject with the family.

"Great," Anthony said, flashing his perfect smile.

"Uhm..." Paige said.

"Paige, you need to become friends with your soon to be sister-in-law. You will have to take care of their children sometime, you know."

I blushed slightly as Anthony softly chuckled and put his arms around me. Mr. Parks did not seem to mind - he actually seemed quite happy with it.

"Well, you can't expect me to hang out with her when he's gonna be like that," Paige replied.

"Take her out to see a movie or something, then."

"Fine."

---

"So this is New York, New York," Paige said flatly as we stepped out of the luxurious limousine.

I wondered why she had repeated New York twice, but didn't ask. There were more people than I had ever seen in my life, and being royalty, I had seen quite a few. There was so much to look at, lights flashing everywhere, all fighting for my attention. Though that was interesting, I didn't like the air here - it just wasn't as fresh and clean as the air back home.

"So... let's go see a movie?" Paige asked in a bored tone.

"But didn't we watch one yesterday?" I questioned.

"We can still... oh, never mind. I'll give you a tour of the city, then."

We walked all around town, as most strangers avoided Paige when they saw who she was. Apparently, she was famous for being rich in this city. She pointed out different stores, restaurants, and generally everything we walked by. It was all so different to me, wonderful yet terrible at the same time. I just didn't know which was more accurate.

Paige was not an unpleasant person to be with. Though she did not make much conversation, she didn't think the silence was awkward. At first, she seemed cold and irritable, and I thought about her fight with Anthony last night. But I pushed the confusing thoughts away and focused on the moment. I asked her about the many sights we saw, and she her plain face softened. She smiled more often as we walked into a restaurant and were seated in a booth.

I flipped through a menu, not knowing what anything tasted like, or what it was at all. Paige laughed gently and ordered for me. Sitting across from her, I noticed how pretty she was, and how all it took was a close look. Her face was symmetrical, her dark gray eyes smiling whenever she was happy. She was not particularly beautiful, but she had something.

"You came from a really different place, didn't you?" she asked as we were waiting for our food.

"Yes... but I'm getting used to this world."

"But you still can't lose the dress, can you?" she joked.

"They're just most... comfortable," I said, looking down at my floral green and blue dress. I had, however, gotten past showing my ankles. Though it horrified me at first, it was not even given a second look in this place.

"Hmm," she said, raising a thin eyebrow. "I never thought of it that way."

The food arrived and I ate, as daintily as I could with a "hamburger". I picked up my fork and knife, but Paige just laughed and showed me how to eat it. She chewed thoughtfully and I wondered what she was thinking about as I fumbled with my food.

After a messy meal and many laughs from Paige, she paid the bill and we walked out, the mood considerably lighter than before we left home. It's strange to think that I already thought of the Parks mansion as home, instead of my own castle. It seemed so far away these days.

"Let's take the bus home," Paige suggested. "It's not the best experience... but one you need to have."

"The bus?" I asked as she dragged me to a street corner. The "bus" shortly arrived and the passengers loaded on. There was a foul odor in the air, and I wrinkled my nose, as did Paige.

"I wonder why I just didn't call for a limo," she said when we saw that all the seats were full. "We'll have to stand."

I found it quite difficult to stand on a moving surface, but Paige supported me, and I felt nice inside. Warm. I guessed it was friendship, because I never had any real friends before. At the first bus stop, the bus jerked still, and Paige, not paying attention, fell directly onto me in an embrace.

It was strange. I had never been this close to anyone out of my family other than Anthony, but I decided I liked the feeling. My insides warmed up as her small body pressed into me. She was a head shorter than me, and I was able to place my chin on top of her shiny black hair.

"Sorry," she muttered, blushing furiously.

"It's okay," I said, confused to why she would apologize, and even more so as to why she would be embarrassed. Paige didn't talk the whole way home, answering me with one or two worded answered. As we got off at the closest stop to the mansion, she started running, leaving me to walk alone.