Ever After High--The Secret Diary of Apple White

by Heather Alexander

  I was yanked upward.

  Faybelle had grabbed the bow on the back of my apron.

  “Sorry, Duchess, but you’ll have to clean up the papers you dropped. Our merry crew has detention, and our cleaning hexpertise is needed in the Grimmnasium.” Faybelle took one of my hands and Lizzie took the other. Before I could say fiddledeedee, they led me away from a fairy shocked Duchess.

  You can imagine how confused I was. Faybelle stood up to Duchess for me! And Lizzie and Kitty did, too.

  I stopped in front of the doors to the Grimmnasium and thanked them.

  But something was bothering me. Why were they suddenly being nice?

  Then came Surprise #4: They said they’ve always liked me. Even Faybelle, who I wasn’t sure actually liked anyone. But it turns out that Faybelle likes me just fine, and she even told me that she respects the way I stick to my story. She said she thinks I will make a fine Snow White someday. Now there’s something I never imagined would happen today—that I’d receive a fairy nice compliment from Faybelle!

  What a topsy-turvy day this has been!

  Charm you later!

  Apple White

  Oh hex!” Apple took in the Grimmnasium disaster zone. “How can such cute little creatures do such major damage?”

  Apple was nervous about getting things cleaned up in enough time to persuade Headmaster Grimm to reinstate the dance. The destroyed decorations looked even worse than she’d remembered. She regretted sending the woodland creatures outside to gather berries and nap in the shade.

  “Don’t worry, Apple. We can fix this quick as a game of croquet.” Lizzie surveyed the room.

  “Purrfectly,” agreed Kitty.

  “Really?” Apple couldn’t hide her surprise. “You’ll all help?”

  Faybelle nodded. “We want the dance, too. I want to wear my ice-blue gown with the black velvet trim, and the cheerhexers choreographed a dance to teach everyone. So… what now?”

  Apple realized that they were waiting for her to assign jobs. They were all going to work together! She hadn’t lost her leadership skills ever after all.

  “Just know I don’t do water. No sponges or mops for me,” declared Kitty. “Or apple-bobbing bins.”

  “We should each do what we’re good at.” Apple handed Kitty the knotted strands of twinkling lights to untangle.

  Faybelle flew to the ceiling and unhooked bits of crumpled garlands.

  Lizzie stood back and shouted orders to everyone… but at least they were helpful orders.

  Apple tried her best to repair the decorations. She fashioned new flowers from ripped tissue paper, but the wilting petals looked as if they’d suffered the Evil Queen’s icy glare.

  “Those are sad,” Faybelle agreed.

  “How can I ever re-create the Enchanted Forest with what’s left? All I have are felt leaves with tiny bite marks and chewed-up apple cores. Recycling and repurposing will only go so far.” Apple threw up her arms in defeat.

  “So change the theme,” said Faybelle.

  Change the theme? Apple’s theme was hexcellent. And it had won the committee vote.

  Apple shook her head. “The Enchanted Forest theme is fairy important.”

  “Really?” Faybelle shrugged. “Some muse-ic, friends, and fun are all I need.”

  “I need a nap,” called Kitty.

  “Oh cards!” cried Lizzie.

  Kitty followed Lizzie’s orders to get straight to work and batted the cracked chocolate eggs into a basket. Lizzie joined in with her croquet mallet.

  “Time for tunes.” Faybelle switched on her MirrorPhone. Tailor Quick’s voice filled the Grimmnasium. Each girl took a turn singing lead, pretending the brooms and mops were microphones.

  Apple realized she was having more fun than she’d had last night when the committee had decorated for the first time. This was what the dance was all about: having fun with friends. If only Duchess could see that.

  Wait a spell! Apple thought.

  “Faybelle, you just gave me a great idea for a new theme,” she declared over the muse-ic.

  “Oh yeah?” said Faybelle.

  “The theme is fun,” Apple said simply. “We’ve cleaned the floors, the walls, and the tables. We’ll hang lights and streamers and let the students bring the fun. It’s fairy simple.”

  Faybelle’s face broke out into a wide grin.

  “I like it!” declared Lizzie.

  “You like what?” asked Raven. She, Briar, and Maddie had just pushed open the Grimmnasium door. “Wow! We came to help you, but it looks spelltacular in here.”

  “This already feels like a party!” Maddie began to dance to the muse-ic.

  “We’re having some fun while we work,” Apple hexplained.

  “We?” Raven’s eyes darted between Apple and Faybelle. “Really?”

  Apple nodded.

  “We brought you food, Apple. We know you missed lunch, too.” Briar pulled out a slightly smushed princess pea-butter sandwich.

  “I got you a fritter.” Maddie produced an apple fritter from under the turquoise silk top hat on her head. Then she reached under the hat again. “Two fritters. Three fritters. Four fritters. Well, I say. They just go on and on and on and on.…”

  Maddie stopped reaching under her hat. She placed it on her mint-green-and-lavender hair. “The End,” she declared.

  “Yum!” Apple realized how hungry she was. “Lizzie, Kitty, Faybelle, let’s eat!”

  As she shared the delicious food, she saw Briar share a perplexed look with Raven.

  “Apple, can we talk to you?” asked Briar.

  “Of course.” Apple swallowed her mouthful of pea-butter sandwich.

  “Privately.”

  “Oh.” Apple didn’t like to leave others out.

  She gave an apologetic wave to Lizzie, Kitty, and Faybelle, who were sipping the elderberry tea that Maddie poured from a flowered teapot. Then she stepped to the side with Briar and Raven.

  “Why are you singing and laughing with Faybelle?” whispered Briar. “Raven told me what she did to you.”

  “This mess isn’t really only her fault,” said Apple.

  “Maybe, but she blamed you. Has she apologized?” Raven asked.

  “Well, no…” Apple thought about Faybelle putting Duchess in her place. “Maybe she did in her own way. I know she has good hidden underneath all her Dark Fairy badness.”

  Raven smiled. “You always find the good in everyone.”

  Apple was touched that her friends were looking out for her. “They just want what we all want—to get the dance back.”

  “Do you think that will happen?” asked Raven.

  “I hope so.” Apple took a deep breath. “I’m going to talk to Headmaster Grimm right now. Wish me luck.”

  Diary Entry

  Oh my fairy godmother, Diary. I can’t believe what just happened. It was a totally spelltacular fairy-fail.

  Really, there’s no other word for it. He totally shut the book on me.

  I was feeling so determined when I went to find him. I gave him my most impassioned speech about why I felt the dance should be back on. I poured out my heart.

  And he liked it. He really did.

  He inspected the Grimmnasium and was royally impressed. While I was gone, Faybelle had hung cheerhexing pom-poms from the ceiling. Kitty had turned on the little twinkling lights (then quickly disappeared into the shadows), and Lizzie had built a big chocolate fountain out of playing cards!

  Next we went to check out the Castleteria. I was feeling super hopeful at this point. I was already planning my outfit for tonight. Basically, Diary, I was counting my beans before the beanstalk had grown.

  You get the idea.

  Because as soon as we all entered the Castleteria, Headmaster Grimm frowned and said, “I see you had some help, Ms. White.”

  I froze. And then I saw them.

  Two rabbits had come back all on their own to shine the silver goblets and tureens. Weren’t they the sweetest honey-bunni
es to do hextra cleaning?

  Headmaster Grimm saw what they were doing and quickly realized that we had broken one of his rules. Make that, I had broken one of his rules. I made sure to tell him that, too—I was the one who brought in the helpers, and the other girls had not been involved.

  Headmaster Grimm asked the girls if it was true. They hesitated—I could tell they didn’t want me to take all the blame. But I deserved it.

  “Go on, tell the truth,” I said, and smiled at my new friends.

  And they did. I was proud of them. Just this morning, Faybelle lied fairy easily to Headmaster Grimm. And now, maybe with a little help from my positive influence, she told the truth!

  Headmaster Grimm thought for a few minutes in silence. Then he told us that the dance was back on!

  But as punishment for breaking his rule about not having any help with the cleanup, I was forbidden to attend.

  Faybelle and Lizzie were about to speak up for me when Sparrow rushed in. The Potions class had mixed fizzy ginger root with porcupine quills instead of walrus whiskers. Cauldrons were bubbling over, sending rivers of purple foam through the basement.

  Headmaster Grimm hurried to the door, grumbling about how first-years never learn and wondering where to find goblin toenail clippings to reverse the reaction.

  Faybelle called after him, asking him to please reconsider and let me go to the dance. It was so fairy sweet of her to try to help me! But it was all for nothing. He said that I cannot set foot in the Grimmnasium tonight. “And that’s The End of that.”

  Can you believe it? Neither can I.

  But at least the dance is back on for everyone else!

  Charm you later,

  Apple White

  Raven Queen checked her thronework for the third time, hoping to find a mistake. She erased the 8 and rewrote it, making the circles as round as she could. She chewed the end of her quill, then tapped it on her desk. What else could she fix?

  “I know what you’re doing.” Apple sat at her vanity and brushed her shiny hair. She gave it seven hundred strokes every night to keep it bouncy.

  “What am I doing?” Raven looked up.

  “You’re pretending that you have tons of thronework so you can delay getting dressed. You don’t want me to feel sad when I see you get ready for the dance.”

  Raven bit her lip. “Don’t you? Feel sad, I mean.”

  “I do.” Apple turned. “But it will make me sadder if you go to the dance wearing that.”

  Raven looked down at her violet tunic, black leggings, and fuzzy lavender socks and smirked. “It can be a protest outfit. To let the teachers know I stand with you.”

  “I made a mistake, and it’s only fair that I take my punishment like a princess. I don’t want you to protest.” Apple stood and flung open Raven’s closet. “I want you to go to the dance and have double fun—for you and for me. You must look fableous times two.”

  It felt so fairy wrong to Raven to be getting ready to go to the dance without Apple. Dressing together was as much fun as going to the party. They’d turn on muse-ic and help each other pick outfits. Neither would walk out the door without the Royal Roomie Seal of Approval.

  Tonight would be the first time they hadn’t done that together.

  “I like this one.” Apple held up a dark-purple dress with a fitted black bodice covered in black rhinestones. The skirt was constructed of layers of black and dark-purple tulle with an overlay of delicate black lace.

  “Me too.” Raven fidgeted, suddenly unsure how to act with her friend. “I can go get dressed in Maddie’s room so you don’t have to watch.”

  “And ruin the little fun I get tonight? Have you flipped your crown?” cried Apple. “Helping you makes me feel like I’m going, too.”

  Raven was amazed at Apple’s good spirits. Raven didn’t think she could be so upbeat if the glass slipper were on the other foot. She decided to let Apple make her fashion choices. “Okay, then, what shoes should I choose?”

  Apple picked out plum suede platforms with thin ribbons that tied at the ankles. She fastened a choker that held a silver teardrop pendant around Raven’s neck. Raven let Apple spin the tunes—Katy Fairy, of course. Then Apple styled Raven’s long hair half up, half down with soft curls. Raven drew the line at Apple’s choice of a sweet apple blossom headband. Instead, she rested a spiky, silver tiara on her dark hair. A princess had to stay true to herself.

  “Hello and good-bye!” Maddie entered the room, out of breath because she was hopping. Backward. “Is everyone hexcited about the dance? I usually wear pants to a dance, but tonight I’m wearing a hat. Do you have a fork I can borrow to match my not-pants?” Briar followed.

  “Oh, I adore your dresses!” Apple clapped her approval.

  “Thank you.” Briar blushed. “I feel terrible leaving you behind, Apple. Isn’t there anything we can do?”

  “The merry-go-round is in motion.” Maddie spun on her heels. “There’s no pulling the horse from the carriage now.”

  “Maddie’s right. I can’t undo what’s done. I want you to have fun and then come back and tell me everything.” Apple smiled at her best friends forever after. “Come on. No gloomy ogre faces.”

  Maddie scrunched her face, working hard to mimic a growling ogre. Briar and Apple laughed, but Raven was too busy reading something on her MirrorPhone to look up.

  Briar and Apple started pulling silly ogre faces of their own, but Apple stopped when she noticed Raven tilting her screen toward Maddie. Maddie nodded and nudged Briar. Briar peeked at it, and her eyes widened.

  “What’s up?” asked Apple, moving closer for a look.

  “It’s just a hext.” Raven tucked her Mirror-Phone into her black velvet purse with the silver chain. “We’re going to go now, okay?”

  “Okay, sure. But… who hexted you?” asked Apple, curious.

  “Uh, no one. The person had the wrong number. Happens all the time, right? Spell you later.” Raven made for the door. Maddie and Briar hurried after her, all in a sudden rush to leave, acting as if the clock had struck midnight and their dresses were going to turn into rags.

  Apple watched them glide down the hall toward the Grimmnasium. She smiled and waved.

  It was not until she’d closed the door and was all alone in her room that she let her smile fade.

  Diary Entry

  We did it, Diary! At this fairy moment, the entire school is at the dance—the same dance that was canceled just this morning. I’m so happy all our hard work paid off.

  But I have to admit… I can’t help being a little sad, too. I really, really wanted to go to the dance. And sitting on my bed all by myself is lonely.

  Even though it’s just you and me tonight, Diary, I’m trying to make the fairy best of it.

  I put on my favorite old flannel pj’s that I always keep in the back of my drawer. They have a red-and-green smiley-face apple pattern that’s too nursery-rhyme school to wear in front of my friends. I haven’t worn them in forever after, but they are super soft and I love snuggling up in them.

  They are the most royally perfect outfit for a night in by myself.

  Hmmm…

  Diary, it feels fairy strange to be all alone. I’m almost never alone at Ever After High. If I’m not in my room with Raven, I’m in class or the Castleteria or doing an activity with one of my friends. Anywhere I go, a friendly face waits to say “Once upon a hi.”

  Hexcept now.

  It’s certainly quiet in here without Raven, Briar, and Maddie.

  Most especially Maddie!

  I know, I know, Diary. I need to focus on the positive. Even though I’m on my own tonight and I’m sad to be missing the dance, I got the dance back for all my friends, and that was fairy important. When I picture them dancing under the twinkly lights, that fresh-out-of-the-oven apple cobbler feeling warms me up.

  I just have to keep thinking about the happy part and not about being alone and missing out on the fun. As Maddie said, that story has already been written
, printed, and put on the shelves. Time to move the plot forward.

  That makes perfect sense to me.

  What I don’t understand is, what was up with my friends just before they left? Raven hadn’t wanted me to see something. But what? And what caused them to leave so fast?

  Best friends forever after shouldn’t keep secrets.

  Unless they were keeping a secret to protect me. Maybe that hext was mean and would’ve upset me. I have had enough bad news and tears for one day, that’s for sure.

  It’s time to focus on the next chapter. I’m going to put down my quill and close my eyes and picture tomorrow.

  I’ll go right to breakfast. There will be no mice or cleaning or

  pple White had fallen asleep.

  She dreamed she was dancing in the meadow. Pastel flowers opened their petals in celebration. Butterflies fluttered in a wave of golden color. White mice circled her, singing and feeding her bits of orange cheese. Then a rabbit appeared and waved her toward the Enchanted Forest with its big, floppy ear.

  Apple and the little mice followed it, prancing through the tall grass. They walked and hiked and ran. But they couldn’t get there. The Enchanted Forest looked so close, but it was so far, far away. Apple called for help.

  No one was there. The rabbit had gone. The mice had gone. Her friends had gone.

  She was all by herself.

  Then she heard a chirp, chirp, chirp.

  A bluebird! She searched the cloudless sky, then the trees, for the bluebird.

  Chirp, chirp, chirp.

  The bluebird called to her again.

  Where was it? Why wouldn’t it show itself?

  Apple’s heart beat faster as she whirled around, searching.

  Chirp, chirp—

  The sound was next to her head.

  Apple opened her eyes. She blinked, unsure where she was. It took her a moment to realize that she wasn’t in a meadow. She was in her room at Ever After High.

  Chirp, chirp, chirp.

  The bluebird’s call startled her.

  She looked around, still a bit fuzzy from her unintended sleep. Had it flown in from the window? Apple pushed back the white eyelet curtains. Moonlight bathed the room in a pale glow, but the window was firmly shut. There couldn’t be a bird in the room.