I won't be the villainess

Chapter 20 - thank you

The first ball was fun. In all honesty, it was more of a party than a ball. Anastasia wore a black, body-con dress, pulling at her figure. Her face was dusted lightly with black eye-shadow and maroon lipstick, all products of her own company. She stuck with Melissa, Kieran, Jamie and Leo. Melissa wore a beautiful strapless dress, a new product of the company. She was accompanied by Kieran, who wore a matching grey suit. Leonard matched with his own partner, and newly found fiancée, wearing a deep blue. Jamison wore a white suit, and stuck tightly to Anastasia. The two were inseparable. Students wandered about, singing and dancing together. There was much crying and laughing that rang throughout the darkening light of day. Then came the second ball.

The sixth year females split from the males, all going to change in their own assigned areas. There was much crying and teasing, as everyone got ready. As tradition, everyone wore gowns and suits of light colours. Anastasia, herself, wore a beautiful, off-shoulder, lavender coloured ball gown, her black hair brushed out and reaching her higher thigh. It revealed the cursive black words tattooed across her collar bone, looking as majestic and eye catching as the first day it was engraved into her skin. She gathered all the students outside the hall into two rows of boys and girls of age order, before taking Leonard's arm and waiting for the sign of entry. She heard an announcement before the large wooden door in front of her was pulled open, as the two swept across the centre of the hall, tall and proud in their honour, followed by the rest of the students. The sound of tapping shoes filled the silent air. As she came to half way down the hall, her eyes trailed toward the King and Queen sitting at the centre of the stage ahead of them. As the two that opened the 'Royal' academy, they would always attend every 'End Of Year Ball'. She felt loved at the small nods and smiles the two sent to herself and Leonard. The two came to a halt, almost at the stage, before turning to the students behind them and falling into a curtsy and bow. They started the ascent up the lifted ground, faking once more into a deeper curtsy and bow. The two were introduced once more, as a round of applause rung throughout the air. Now, the speeches.

Leonard went first. His speech lasted a couple of minutes, involving his gratefulness towards the school and how much he had been learning throughout the years at the academy. Anastasia felt her heart flutter as another applause rang out and he stepped back from the stand to allow herself to go forward and begin her own speech. None the less, she took the steps forward, and moved towards the mic ahead of her, to tell the others of her gratefulness.

"I've been in this kingdom for 6 years now and these past 6 years have been the best years of my life by far. When I first arrived in the kingdom, I booked myself into an inn with a new name and went about the streets to see the area. I bumped into 4 kids-"

She gave a quiet laugh/sigh.

"-who have been my best friends since. We all were admitted into the Royal Academy of Kou, where I met new people and, for the first time in my life, I felt friendship. Before I came to this country, I had no one to love. No one to trust. I had no hopes, no dreams- nothing. Then, in that year, there was a woman. This woman took me in and told me that everyone is someone in this world."

She looked up, brushing over every students and meeting all their eyes.

"Everyone has an impact. She told me that everyone deserves to be loved. And she told me, that if I had no one, she would be the one to love me. That's why, before my entry into the academy, I cut my hair and freed myself of the standards I had been given in my childhood. I gave myself a new identity. Now this woman and her husband, they gave me the support I needed and in the middle of my first year, I began to have a dream. And that dream came true: alongside others and with proper backing, I helped create the Earth Dance course. I helped spread my joy for this dance among others. Going into my second year I continued to contribute to the Modern Dance course and continued to attempt to aid others. I tried to encourage people to try different styles of clothing and be more free- wearing what THEY wanted to wear and what made THEM feel confident about themselves in. In my third year, I was granted a title and blessed with a family- 2 adopted younger siblings and a whole lot of maids and butlers who knows me like the back of my hand as I know them too."