grin spread over Xavier’s face. “Prince Kaelen?”
“Yes, Prince Kaelen. Now go to your dormitory.” She turned to Kaelen. “You should be at supper.”
“I’m not hungry,” he lied, although his growling stomach told a different story.
“I thought you might say that.” With a flick of her wand, a tray of food appeared in mid-air. “You may eat in your room, but only tonight.” She walked away, leaving Kaelen scowling.
By the next morning, there wasn’t a single person in the school who didn’t know about Kaelen’s fate. Catcalls and jeers followed him as he went, in the hideous pink dress, to find a table at breakfast. He tried to ignore the comments around him, but it was hard. An unfamiliar stinging sensation pricked his eyes, but he blinked it away.
The day continued from bad to worse. Gelasia ensured that Kaelen went to all of his Wednesday classes. Other than whispers and snorts, language arts didn’t go too badly. Then he went to mathematics where he listened to more whispers and laughter; especially when a confused Marius asked, “Are you lost?”
“No,” Kaelen replied through grit teeth, “I’m supposed to be here.”
Marius looked at him for a moment. “Oh, yes,” he said. “I forgot, Kaelen, your punishment. Yes, of course, well, take your seat then. Now, long division is a source of trouble for many of you so please take out yesterday’s assignment.”
Lunchtime came and he spent it sitting by himself and biting the perfect, long fingernails. Gelasia caught him and slapped his hand away from his mouth. “A young lady never bites her fingernails.” When other boys began snickering, she continued loudly, “And gentlemen don’t bite their nails either.” Several boys stopped laughing and hid their hands from her as she tsked her way to the staff table.
After lunch, Kaelen spent a dull hour in history before going to the tower for hunting. He sat down as Diana brought the class to attention. “Today we’ll be going down to the grounds to work with your hounds. There’s not much wind today which will make being outside nice. Be sure to grab your jackets, because it’s not very warm. Kaelen, you may participate in today’s activities.”
The class headed down the stairs and out into the field where their dogs were waiting. He watched Diana stroke Rusty’s ears while other dogs ran to their owners. His dog remained near Diana, confusion in his big, brown eyes. “Rex, come here,” he called.
The dog turned and loped over to Kaelen. He barked and wagged his bushy tail.
“Will you cut that out?”
Rex whimpered and cocked his head to the side. Thinking that perhaps the little girl in front of him needed cheering up, Rex ran to find a stick. He brought it back and dropped it at Kaelen’s feet, tail wagging. When he made no effort to pick up the stick, Rex nudged it closer with his nose. He tossed the stick over his shoulder and watched in disbelief as Rex bounded away after it.
“Rex, come back here now,” he shouted.
Poor Rex was terribly confused. This girl looked like Kaelen’s sister, but she didn’t want to play. Anna always wanted to play. What was wrong? He tugged playfully at Kaelen’s skirt.
“Bad dog, stop,” Kaelen scolded.
Rex whined and lay down at Kaelen’s feet, looking up at him mournfully.
“Diana, what’s wrong with him?”
“You’re a girl, Kaelen. Girls play with dogs, they don’t work with them. Good boy, Rusty,” she interrupted herself as Rusty brought back the ball she’d been tossing him. She scratched behind his ears and tossed the ball again. Unlike a normal ball, this one zigzagged through the air before landing. “Even playing can help hone in a dog’s skills. Rex will respond better if you play the part you look.”
Kaelen was furious. He needed the dog to work. He glared at Rex who was now watching Diana and Rusty with a wistful expression. “It’s not my fault, you know,” he spat.
Rex sighed and lay down with his head on his paws. As another dog approached, he picked his head up and watched intently.
“Good girl, Queenie,” a dark-haired boy said, patting the dog’s head as he took the stick from her. “Hey, I know you probably don’t want any advice from me, but if you teach the dog to protect you as a, um, in your current state he’ll protect you when you’re yourself again.”
“Yeah and how would you know, George?”
“Look, Kaelen, I’ve got nine older sisters and each of them has a dog. Dad insisted on their having one to protect them since we live so close to the mountains. My sisters will tell you that there is no fiercer dog than one protecting the person it loves. The stick teaches them to be alert and to attack on sight. Love teaches them loyalty and devotion better than shouting.” George threw the stick and Queenie sped away. “Think about it,” he called over his shoulder.
Kaelen sat sullenly for a moment before contemplating the stick lying next to Rex’s paws. He picked up the stick. Rex looked up at him. “You want the stick?” he asked, holding the stick higher. Rex jumped to his feet and watched the stick. “You really want it?” He tossed the stick to his other hand. Rex barked happily and hopped to the other side of Kaelen. “Go fetch!” He threw the stick as hard as he could. Rex bounded after the stick before bringing it back to Kaelen. When Rex returned, Kaelen tried to take the stick away. Rex shook his head and growled playfully. “Come on, boy, give me back the stick,” he grunted as he pulled on the stick. Rex let go and Kaelen once again threw the stick.
As they left hunting, George gave him a look that said, “I told you so.” The boys walked inside the greenhouse for botany. Russett was standing at the doorway holding a vase in one hand and pruning shears in the other. “Boys, you’ll have to excuse me momentarily so I can give Prince Kaelen his assignment. The rest of you will kindly sit at the benches and wait for instruction.” Some boys started snickering as Kaelen followed Russett. Russett turned suddenly, hitting Kaelen in the face with his dark red ponytail and causing Kaelen to run into him. “I’ll not have anyone making fun of Kaelen in my class or I’ll see to it that all of you spend a day in his shoes.” The laughter died instantly and Russett turned again, leading Kaelen into the back of the greenhouse as he muttered, “Laughing at classmates just because they’re being punished. Not in my class. Boys will be gentlemen in my class. I’m sorry Kaelen,” he continued. “I realize this must be hard for you. But think of it this way, girls like gentlemen who appreciate the finer things. Trust me; my wife loves it when I do the flower arrangements.”
Kaelen was hardly comforted by this thought, but continued to the table Russett motioned towards. On the table was an assortment of vases. “What am I doing?”
“Basic flower arranging. Every young lady needs to know how to arrange flowers by color, scent, and size of bloom. It’s easiest to start with color. Warm colors like reds, oranges and yellows work well as do cool colors like violets, blues and greens. Pink and white can be either dependent on the shade.” Kaelen looked at him blankly, and he laughed, “Now that you’re thoroughly confused, I’ll leave you to it. You’re not colorblind, are you?” he asked as he walked towards the door.
“No.”
“Good. Please feel free to use any flowers you want. Just make sure your colors work well together. I’ll be back in a half-hour to check on you.”
Russett walked away, leaving Kaelen behind. Bushes of flowers of all colors surrounded Kaelen. He walked around them for a while. The varying scents assaulted his nose and he had absolutely no idea where to begin. How could pink be both warm and cool? And how was white either of them? White wasn’t even a color, Stefanos had told them so in art class. A group of brilliant red poinsettias caught his eye. He took the pruning shears and clumsily lopped off a couple blooms. “Okay,” he said aloud, “I have red. Now I need orange or yellow.” Kaelen searched for something equally vibrant. Spotting some boxes of daffodils, he chose a few bright yellow blooms. Then he saw a group of marigold plants and decided to throw some of those in for good measure. He saw a pale pink rose bush and chose one to complete his ensemble. Layin
g the freshly cut flowers in front of the vase, he tried to decide how to arrange them. “I’ll just wing it.” He began putting the flowers haphazardly into the vase. He plucked some of the poinsettias’ petals to make room for the taller flowers. He stood back from it and looked at it. “That is the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”
“I’m afraid I have to agree,” Russett said from behind him. “You really can’t arrange poinsettias and you didn’t do yourself any favors by decimating the blooms. And that pink is a cool shade; it really doesn’t fit with the others at all.” When Kaelen looked more miserable than ever he smiled, “I’ve got ten minutes before I have to check on the others. Let’s see if we can salvage this, eh?”
“Where should we start?”
“Well, these daffodils are lovely, let’s start there. The poinsettias can’t be saved, I’m afraid, but I believe I have some tiger lilies in here that would work nicely. Go fetch three lilies and one more daffodil. It’s one of the cardinal rules in arranging. Do things in threes. I don’t know why it works, but it does. Anyway, off you go.”
Kaelen went through the aisles until he found the box labeled tiger lilies. Then he got one more daffodil. Next to them he noticed some white daisies. He held the daffodil up to them. Carefully selecting three, he