The Marriage Contest

Chapter Thirty Nine - A Youth's Innocence

A/N This hasn't been edited. Sorry for the mistakes!! Enjoy! Oh and sorry for the wait, but I hope the long chapter makes up for it! :)

Chapter Thirty Nine - A Youth's Innocence

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And I don't want to ball about like everybody else,
And I don't want to live my life like everybody else,
And I won't say that I feel fine like everybody else,
'Cause I'm not like everybody else,
I'm not like everybody else.

But darling, you know that I love you true,
Do anything that you want me to,
Confess all my sins like you want me to,
There's one thing that I will say to you,
I'm not like everybody else,
I'm not like everybody else.

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Aleene was very frustrated and erratic the next morning. She immediately pulled me out of bed and started pinning a wig in my head and before I knew it she had dressed me in a navy blue dress that was a little less provocative than they usually were. It still accentuated my curves and showed a little cleavage. It wasn't poofy, but it wasn't exactly form-fitting either. Aleene grabbed my arm and set me back down at my vanity. She started by putting rouge on my cheeks and other things to make me look, well, not like myself. Once Aleene was done she said, "Alright, I'm going to check on your parents and once they are done I'm going to bring them in the living room so we can review what you all are to act like today." She slipped out of the door before I was able to ask what it was that we were doing. I looked over at myself in the mirror to see that it looked like I had a constant blush on my face and my green eyes were enhanced. My lips were a rosy red and they looked full and plump instead of thin and dull.

I heard someone knock on my door and Mary came in. Her eyes grew wide at my appearance. "Belinda!" Her voice seemed awed. "You look...so lovely." I laughed at her. "I'm sorry." She dropped her head to the ground.

"Nothing to be sorry for, Dear."

"I just came to clean up some things."

"Let me help?" I asked and started to lift myself from the chair.

"No. No need for that, Belinda. Aleene's due back any minute and I can't have her seeing you helping me clean. Plus I wouldn't want to ruin any of your makeup." I sat back down in my chair and pouted. It was so boring, being a noble and all. If I didn't have lessons with Aleene everyday, what would I have done?

As if on cue, Aleene popped back in and grabbed my arm. "Hurry up! I don't have much time to instruct!" Aleene seemed quite frazzled.

"Instruct for what?" I asked.

"Your meeting with the Jones family."

"With who?" Aleene shut the door behind us and continued dragging me down the hall.

"A noble family. I must have you acquainted with at least one girl before the ball. Hopefully you will like her since you and Sue didn't come off on good terms, although I don't blame you for that one."

We quickly shuffled down the stairs and to the living room where I saw Mom and Dad sitting on the couch dressed in navy blue as well. Aleene motioned me to sit down on the couch and I did as I was told. Only then did I realize I was slightly tired from being pushed around here and there this morning with no time to really wake up.

"You three will be meeting the Jones family this evening. You all did very well when you had dinner with the royal family, but this dinner will be a little different. Whenever you walk into their dinning room you don't sit down until the Jones family is all seated. You all will say grace and then begin eating at the same time. Throughout this dinner you will chit chat a little, but make sure to not say anything too risky." We all nodded our heads. No one else needs to know about my identity and Andrew. "They will introduce themselves, but I want you to know beforehand that it is a family of three. The man of the household is Edward Jones. His wife is Pricilla Jones and his daughter's name is Prudence Jones." Aleene went on to say that Edward and Pricilla were the same age as my father and mother. Then said that Prudence was quite younger than I was at the age of fifteen. Then she explained how we were to act and present ourselves at dinner today.
We left at half past eleven to arrive at the Jones's residence a little before noon.
The carriage ride took every bit of twenty minutes to get to their house. When I stepped out I observed the house, but not in an awing way. I needed to act as if this type of housing was like an everyday thing, when in reality there were more peasants than nobles.
The house was quite elaborate. It was made of a red brick and was two stories high. There was a balcony in the front of the house that the master bedroom probably led to. There was a wooden deck around the whole house with elaborately designed wooden poles to support the house and deck. I looked back and noticed a gate surrounding the Jones's property. It was old and rusted.