I was going to be a ballerina princess one day. My Price Charming would come and put my glass slipper on, and we would live happily ever after. Play dates, Barbies, dress up, Disney princess movies. Those were the innocent dreams of my childhood. Everything seemed so easy; everything was so planned out. The princesses were all naturally beautiful, fell in love, and lived happily ever after. My friends and I thought of those movies as a ‘Girls Hand Book’ to life, as if they would prepare us for life! Boy, were we wrong.
Once upon a time there was an undercover princess who spent a lot of her time in a place far, far away, called high school. Now, this girl grew up making friendship bracelets, playing skip-it, and whispering to her best friends about that boy in her class who had cooties. Little did she know that one day, her best friends would be whispering to her about boys in a different way. In this strange far away land called high school, boys no longer had cooties. As boys were changing, so were her friends. So was the princess, for that matter. Boys started to notice her and not before long, she had her first high school Prince Charming. Would they live happily ever after? Probably not. They were still young and innocent. But for the time being, they had fun dancing the night away at the ball.
Now, this locker room was a magical place. Most of the time, it was just a place where the princess and her friends would talk and giggle while getting ready for gym class; however, the giggles were not always that great. Dark secrets were poured out of potion bottles into the cauldron of bubbling gossip. The princess would hear of unspoken things. She couldn’t help but to eavesdrop as the words of dark potions would permeate the air.
“Yeah, we did it yesterday. He wasn’t as good as that other guy though. He’s hot, though, so it’s ok.”
“No! I heard hid his pot so his mom wouldn’t flip a sh!t.”
“I don’t give a f*ck what they think! I’m getting it pierced no matter what!”
“He’s such an ass! He posted the picture of my friends and me when we were buzzed!”
Once upon a time there was a princess who couldn’t quite grasp what she was hearing around her. The more exposed she was to high school; the more she lost her innocent, and not before long, her soft, pink, glitter filled, princess gown faded.
“Yeah, we did it yesterday. He wasn’t as good as that other guy though. He’s hot, though, so it’s ok.” The word repeated over and over again in the princess’s head. There was a magnificent thunderstorm taking over the princess’s kingdom. Standing in the field embracing the rain, the princess stared at her castle. The field was far away from the castle, but she still was able to capture the whole scene. The sun was at its peak and the flowers were flourishing and lovely. Why was it only raining above the field though? The words kept hitting the princess and stinging her skin like the raindrops falling from the heavens. I can escape the treacherous rain… she thought to herself. She picked her muddy, soaking dress up and dashed up the hill to the entrance gate of her beautiful, mighty castle. “LET ME IN”! She hollered as she yanked on the shining poles of the gate. They wouldn’t budge.

Everything looked so simple on the inside of the gate. She took one more great pull. Nothing. The princess took one last look at her kingdom, which she has be living in since she was a young child, and walked away. She knew her place now.
***
I know my place now, too. I know princess movies and stuffed animals will always be there for me. But… maybe this is normal. Maybe everyone goes through the stage of moving out of their ‘happily ever after’ castle. But, isn’t that just a part of growing up? Sometimes it hits us hard when we go to school and hear new things that force us out of our fairy tale life and into reality even faster.
Once upon a time there was a normal girl who wasn’t a princess. She went to an ordinary high school with ordinary gossip and started and in the ordinary gym locker room, learned that not everything is a ‘and they lived happily ever after’ story. She learned that as other people grow up, they change, but it’s their choice how to handle that change. However, she can learn from the way people change in order to shape and sculpt her own sculpture of maturation and make it a beautiful piece of art. And that’s completely normal.
I may not be a princess anymore but I know which way I want to direct my life. And who knows, if I keep following my positive path, maybe I’ll find my way to my new, grown up, kingdom. And...maybe I will get my ‘happily ever after’ after all.
The Beginning
“Every end is a new beginning.”