Pumpkin Patch Princess

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN: Back to the Pumpkin Patch

In the days that followed, I kept wondering whether I had been pardoned because of my last name, but Maud assured me otherwise. Why should I get special treatment, anyway? If C.A.F.E. kicked me out, Mom would still sell a zillion shoes. Dad would still grow pumpkins for kings and queens. No, I had earned my second chance on my own merit . . . with a little help from Maud, of course.

Sloane Davis, I learned, had also been given a second chance. C.A.F.E. had sent her to work with a client in a desert kingdom thousands of leagues away, probably to give her reputation some time to recover. I ran into her grandmother several times at headquarters after my appearance in front of the Council. No matter how busy or rushed she was, Madam Davis always had a smile and a nod for me. I remembered what she said - about voting for the person who deserved the position most, even if they weren't her family - and wondered why Sloane couldn't be more like her.

True to her word, Jessaline took the next train back home to Indigo. The last I heard of her, her mom was trying to get her a job at Indigo's most famous celebrity and fashion magazine. Knowing her ability to gossip and spy with the best of them, I thought that might be a better fit for her than being an F.G.

Neither Jessaline nor I won C.A.F.E.'s Best New Intern Award, which went to Emily Locke, my friend from Trainee Week, who had taken down a broom-happy witch all by herself.

I didn't mind, though.

After all, I had become a celebrity after the King's Festival, with my face splattered across every newspaper and magazine in Finale.

Every time I stepped off the C.A.F.E. campus, I was bombarded by journalists shoving notepads in my face. I even had fans! Girls my age would hover nearby with shy, nervous smiles, until one of the braver ones approached me and asked for my autograph. All the clothing stores throughout Finale now sold shirts with my face or a glass slipper on it, and people would hand them to me to sign. I gave hugs to sobbing girls, kissed babies that their mothers held up to my face, and fielded dozens of marriage proposals from sketchy guys.

My intense, overnight fame helped drive even more business to Mom and Dad. Tourists flocked to Indigo to view "the pumpkins that inspired Noelle's famous carriage!" and to buy authentic copies of "Noelle's famous glass slippers!"

Even the queen of Citria wanted in on the deal. She wrote to Mom, offering to provide an unlimited supply of diamond glass from her mines in return for the latest footwear.

That was how pumpkin carriages and glass slippers became in vogue, and the first of many fashion trends started by me. Every piece of clothing that I picked for Princess Cynthia, every style I put into her hair, and every shoe I chose for her landed on the front page of magazines the next day. We had more requests for interviews than we knew what to do with!

At last, my dream of being known for myself - and not just a Simpkins - was realized.

Cynthia, by the way, had almost completely overcome her fear of the outdoors. She told everyone who would listen that her fairy godmother had knocked it right out of her. After her stepmother and stepsister were sent packing in shame, Cynthia was officially recognized as the crown princess of Indigo, and when she hired a fleet of knights, she appointed a blushing, proud-looking Geoff Oakdale as her captain of the guard.

She even agreed to the army of servants I recruited for her, though I still caught her polishing the stairs from time to time.

"I'm just, you know, working out and staying fit," she would say guiltily, whenever I found her with a rag and a mop.

Maud had not assigned me any other clients just yet, so I worked for Cynthia full-time. The best part of this was that I got to go home to Indigo and see my parents. I never forgot M.D.'s wise words and still cherished a hope that one day I'd do everything I wanted to do: make shoes, grow pumpkins, and be a fairy godmother.