Hurt

January 21st

"Pri-i-i-i-ince!" a girl squealed in delight.
Enis turned and stopped the small, bouncing girl in her tracks with a sweet smile. "Hello. What can I do for you?"
The girl bounced on her feet excitedly in the hallway, her eyes sparkling. Other girls were whispering around her, staring and starting to draw a crowd. "Here!" she thrust a small bag into her hands. "I-I made these for you. Please accept them!" She waited, her eyes gleaming.
Enis smiled brighter, her eyes kind. "Thank you."
The girl made some odd-sounding gasp of delight, her smile turning blinding and then ran away to her friends waiting a few feet away. When they stared at Enis, she waved, making them all squeal and blush.
It was the same thing every day, not that Enis minded so much anymore. She'd gotten used to her prince roll among the girls. When she had made it to the high school level of Rose High, her "fan club" had even refused to let her buy a girls' uniform. So, here she was, a full-fledged girl in a boy's uniform. She couldn't really say she wasn't grateful. She didn't like skirts so much or girly outfits, but pants were fine. If it made her look even more like a guy, that was fine. She didn't mind the attention. Girls were cute and sweet and sparkling. To be their idol was a dream. . . . Even if it did make her a little sad.
Enis walked into her class, glad to get out of the crowded halls. It hadn't taken so long this time to get through them, but that was perfectly fine with her. She was glad for the slight peace. It really sucked, though, because now all the girls were crowding around the windows. She ignored them, like always, and turned her attention to outside, her backpack next to her on the floor. She yawned, tired. She had spent all of yesterday with her brother at the construction site, lifting and building and doing the odd jobs that her brother allowed her to do when he wasn't being paranoid about her safety.
"U-Um, Prince?"
Enis looked over, plastering a smile on her face with ease to see another girl, someone obviously older, blushing and holding a goody bag. Enis already had eight just from this morning. Once again, it seemed that her lunch was going to be full of muffins and cookies. "Hi. What do you need?"
The girl's face brightened and she held out the pink and blue bag tied with a ribbon. "I-I made this last night. I hope that you like it."
Enis took the bag, her heart swelling just enough to turn her smile genuine. It didn't matter that they weren't from boys, the feelings were the same and she could sense the love delivered into each treat she was given. It was enough, she supposed. She shouldn't be daydreaming about being the princess when it was so obvious that she was the prince of the fairy tale. "Thank you so much." She put the muffin on her desk corner and smiled back up at the girl. People were starting to fill the classroom and it was getting close to last period. "You had better hurry or you'll be late for class."
The girl's hazel eyes starting to sparkle in awe. "Yeah. You're so nice." She turned, waving at Enis with a broad smile. "See you later, Prince!"
Enis waved her off and flashed a smile at the group still standing at the open windows and watching her. She leaned back in her chair, throwing an arm over the back. "You all better hurry up, too. I wouldn't want your grades to slip because of me."
The girls--and some boys, too--squealed in delight and scurried down the hall, finally emptying it. The noise was significantly depleted and the rest of the class sighed in relief, Enis's classmates swarming her now that they were free to do so. She was still a little tense, to be sure, but it was easy to talk to everyone here. They were nice and good people, but it was still lonely. She never noticed how lonely it was to be nice all the time. She wanted someone to talk to, someone who didn't expect her to smile, someone who would see her as a girl, not as a prince. Of course, asking for that was like wishing for the moon. It just wasn't going to happen. She was never the princess, never the damsel in distress--or even just the damsel, for that matter.
"Are you tired, Prince?" Carter asked. His smile was teasing as he flicked his black hair away from his brown eyes. "I would be too with all that attention."
Carol pushed him out of the way, blowing her own brown hair out of her face. She was growing it out and it was at that awkward length where she couldn't pull it all back into a ponytail just yet. "Shut up, Carter. You're just jealous." She turned her eyes back on Enis. Enis had always liked Carol. She wasn't one to put up a front, and that was nice, but she also made it apparent that she thought of Enis as the prince everyone else had labeled her as. She placed her hands on Enis's desk. "Don't listen to him, Prince. Being popular is a burden."
"Yeah," Carter agreed dryly. "One you know nothing about."
Carol turned away from Enis to glare at him, hand on her hip. "it's not like you would know, either. You're in no way 'Mr. Popular'."
As Enis laughed and enjoyed the show with everyone else, she sat back and kept her thoughts to herself. There was a wall between her and her "friends". She didn't know when it had become apparent that she was sort of in her own little world unto herself, but over the past few years, it had become easy to see. She just couldn't have the closeness that Carol and Carter shared with each other. She didn't know why, but somehow, someday in the past, she had started to put up invisible glass that she was always wanting to break through. It kept her from having the kind of friends she could rely on. Instead, she had shallow relationships and false smiles. She felt like she was creating a dream for the people around her, and that no one saw her as a real person, with real feelings. It hurt, but she couldn't say she was completely unhappy. She had the type of idolized love that people dreamed of. That was a good enough for her, and she wouldn't think about the day when she woke up and realized it wasn't.



Georgie really hadn't been trying to get in trouble. Class was just so hard some times. It wasn't like he tried to be dumb, but he just couldn't keep up sometimes. That and it just wasn't easy to keep up appearances all the time. He really wished that he could tell somebody everything--just once. It would be nice to let someone know what his problems were, to lay it all out and be accepted for who he was. He was so tired of putting up a front and having to pretend he was something he wasn't just because he chose to live a different way than normal men. Even his parents hadn't been accepting. Just because he liked things other boys didn't like, they sent him to Rose High, and because they couldn't "handle" it, he was living alone in a cold apartment.
He bent down to smell the roses, letting their sweet scent heal his empty insides. He wanted someone to understand. He wanted someone to talk to. Hell, he just wanted to be normal, but that wasn't in the cards. He couldn't stop being who he was just because it didn't fit in with everyone else. But sometimes he wished he was a normal boy. Sometimes, just sometimes, he wished he didn't---
Georgie's thoughts were cut off when someone bumped into him. He went sprawling into the bushes, thorns cutting his clothes as he face-planted into the roses, gasping in surprise.
"Oh my!" the assailant said in surprise and upset. "Are you alright? I'm so sorry!"
Georgie turned his head around. "Of course I'm not al--" He stopped as he took in his attacker, his anger completely changing to surprise. It was obviously a girl, but she was wearing a boy's uniform, and he knew exactly who she was. It was the Prince. If the uniform hadn't been enough of a give away, her short black hair in a boy's cut would have been. He'd never seen her up close and as she offered him a hand, he took the opportunity to get his fill.
She was absolutely stunning. She was tall and lean with a long, straight nose that turned up slightly at the end, a puckering full set of lips with a freckle just underneath the right corner, and dark smoldering eyes with thin, soft brows. Why she was labeled a prince was beyond him. She was completely a woman from the tips of her hair to the ends of her long legs.
"I'm so sorry," she said again, her expression worried as she pulled him out of the bushes. Georgie was a little disappointed to find that he was somewhat shorter than her. She bent to dust his clothes off. "I wasn't paying attention to where I was going." She straightened, smiling at him with that famous smile he'd heard about. He had to admit, it was something else. "I just wanted to get away from everything for a while, you know?"
Georgie's brows rose slightly, surprised. "Yeah, actually, I do."
She seemed to relax, relieved. Her smile turned genuine. "So. . What's a smart-looking girl like you doing ditching class?"
Georgie smiled bitterly. Right, back to wearing a mask. In front of others, while he was dressed this way, he was a girl. "I could ask you the same thing. You're just as guilty of ditching as I am."
She gave a surprised laugh. "Guess you're right." She offered a hand. "I'm Enis."
Georgie shook her hand, marveling at how strong and soft it was. "I'm Georgie."
The greenhouse went quiet, but Georgie couldn't think of anything to say. Actually, he felt fine not saying anything at all. The air between them wasn't heavy or cloying. Hell, it wasn't even tense, it was just nice. He was never able to just stay with someone and be. It made him wonder who this girl was. . . Well, he knew of her, of course, but he wanted to know what made her her, why she was here. Most of all, he wanted to know why the Prince felt the need to escape.



Enis was surprised. She hadn't expected to find someone in the abandoned greenhouse. No one ever came here since it was overgrown and mostly boarded up except for the ceiling. It bothered her tremendously to know that even in this deserted place, someone was around. She couldn't find reprieve anywhere and it was getting harder to keep her smile in place, her patience in check. Though Georgie seemed like a nice girl, Enis just wanted one hour-- No, not even that. Ten minutes would be fine. Even two would be enough. Instead, she had to keep up appearances. Again.
Enis glanced at the girl she had knocked into while being mesmerized by the garden's wild beauty. Georgie fit here, it seemed. She was just like the wild roses she had tumbled into. Her hair was long and beautifully golden, her eyes just as yellow as her hair. Though her face was a little on the sharp side and not exactly feminine, she would turn heads for one reason or another, whether it was for the perfect waves in her tresses or the down-played makeup she had on. She had a sort of atmosphere about her that didn't fit in with the other girls--and Enis had seen so many girls that tried and failed to have just a smidgen of what Georgie was giving off in waves. It made her wonder how Georgie had gotten this way, and what she was hiding behind the sad sort of annoyance in her shoulders.
"Is something wrong?" Enis asked before she could stop herself. She shouldn't pry, she shouldn't play favorites, but she couldn't avoid helping if she could.
Georgie blinked as if in surprise. "Ah. . . Not really." Her brows drew together suspiciously. "Why?"
Enis tilted her head slightly. "Because you seem upset." She flashed a quick, understanding smile. "It's okay if you don't want to talk about it." Her brows rose as a thought popped into her head. "Oh, am I bothering you? Should I leave?" Though she didn't want to give up the solitude, Enis turned and made to go.
Georgie caught her hand in her strong grip. It had surprised Enis the first time when they had exchanged greetings to find how strong and large the girl's hands were.
"No," Georgie told her quickly. "You can stay." She added quickly just in case, "Please stay."
Enis's heart thumped against her chest and she hid her frown behind relief. Her heart never thumped. What was that about?
"Thanks," she said, meaning it and sitting on the grass. "I don't find a place to relax often."
Georgie joined her on the grass, fixing her skirt so that it didn't ride too high. Enis envied her ability to wear a skirt so easily. If only. . .
She shook her head. What was she thinking? Her in a skirt? As if. She didn't even own a skirt, let alone be able to picture herself in one. She wasn't like Georgie; a cute, adorable girl who could wear cute, girly clothes. There was nothing that Georgie probably had in her wardrobe that would look good on Enis. It really bothered her, of course, but what could she do? Nothing, really. It was obvious she was a girl, but she didn't look good in those types of clothes. Things like the lace flounce poking out from under Georgie's plaid skirt, the flower-patterned black tights, the shiny black heels and the over-sized sweater weren't things that would look good on Enis's long body. She knew that. And about the only thing she had in common with the girl next to her was the fact that they were both pretty flat-chested. Enis was proud to find that she seemed to have more in that area than Georgie, but that sweater could be hiding more than it revealed.
"Why are you ditching?" Enis asked. She eyed the girl. "You don't seem the type."
Georgie smirked at her. "Oh? What type do I seem like then?"
Enis felt herself flush. "I didn't mean--"
Georgie laughed, cutting her off. It was a low, throaty sound that made Enis pause. "I'm just teasing you." Georgie sighed, stretching her legs out and leaning back on long arms. She looked up at the overgrown ceiling, her blonde hair falling back to touch the grass. "I'm just ditching class. It gets boring having to put up a front every day and smile all the time, you know?" She offered a sheepish look. "Besides, I'm not the smartest guy around."
Enis crossed her ankles, stretching out as well. "I bet you're smarter than you give yourself credit for."
"Wanna bet?" Georgie straightened on one hand to reach into her pocket and pull out a crinkled piece of paper. She handed it to Enis. "Take a look at that." She laid back, crossing her arms behind her head and then her ankles and closing her eyes.
Enis picked up the paper that landed on her thigh and unfolded it only to have her mouth drop open in shock. It was the latest report card handed back about a week ago. There were red marks across every class except chemistry. Enis had never seen marks like these before. Hell, she'd never even got close to a red mark before, so this was quite the surprise.
"Well. . ." she tried, wondering how to approach the obvious failure without calling Georgie stupid.
"Yeah, I know," Georgie finished for her. "Pretty bad, huh?"
Enis cleared her throat, unsure what to say. Suddenly, an idea popped into her head. "Hey! I can tutor you, if you'd like."
Georgie's eyes shot open and she sat up, obvious surprise on her face. "Huh?! Why would you do that?"
Enis smiled. "It's a thank you for letting me stay here." Georgie seemed at a loss, so Enis continued. "You, um, need the help and I have the highest scores of our grade. Please let me help. As a thank you."
Georgie was surprised and confused. "You want to. . help me?"
Enis smile slipped. "Yes. . . Is that a bad thing?"
She rubbed her hands on her skirt, nervous. "O-Oh. If it's okay, that would be awesome. I'm failing epically."
Enis laughed, patting her on the back. Odd, she didn't feel any hint of a bra. Maybe Georgie really was as flat-chested as she looked. "It's not so bad. Nothing that can't be fixed with hard work and dedication."
Georgie wrinkled her nose. "I hate hard work."
Enis laughed again. "I'll try and make it fun." She smiled at Georgie, hoping that she might be the friend she so desperately longed for. "So, where do you want me to tutor you?"
"That's easy," Georgie said without hesitation. She finally smiled and Enis felt her heart thump against her chest, her cheeks going red. "My place."