"Well done Sarah, You certainly surprised me." said an amused female voice.
Sarah turned around and smiled, dipping into a formal curtsey.
"Hello again your highness."
-
"Sarah, Emily." The queen said, politely nodding her head at them both. "I was wondering if I might have a word with you?" The queen asked. Emily took the hint that she was not wanted in the conversation and excused herself, scurrying around the corner and peeking her head around the corner to watch from afar.
The queen gave a light chuckle and said "Emily sure seems to be fond of you. You two sure have bonded quickly."
"Yes your highness, Emily and I have quickly become familiar with each other over the course of our stay."
"That's good. It's always nice to be able to make friends with others quickly."
"Yes." Sarah said.
"Well Sarah, obviously this was not the reason why I came here to talk to you. I actually have a request that I was hoping for you to fulfill for me."
"Anything for your highness."
"Well, I was hoping to wear the dress you made in the competition just now. If you let me, I will of course pay you accordingly for the dress."
"Of course you can wear the dress your majesty. It would be my honor to see the queen wearing one of my own designs."
"Sarah, please let me pay you. Will 1,500 dollars be enough?" The queen insisted.
"Thank you. Your highness is most generous. Although I was wondering, could your highness give 500 of that money to John Terra? The original dress was of his design so he deserves some credit too."
"Of course Sarah. That is so very kind of you. I have one last favor for you."
"Yes?"
"I was wondering if you could give this to Maxwell Fredrickson." She said, handing an envelope to her.
"You want me to give this to Max?" Sarah said, confused. What would the queen have that she wanted to talk to Max about?
"Yes, please bring this to him as soon as possible. This is both confidential and important so I am trusting you not to look inside that envelope."
"Ok your highness. I will deliver this to Max when he comes back. He left for the taylors a while ago and should be back soon."
"Very well. Thank you Sarah. I will be contacting you about the dress payment very soon."
"Yes your highness." Sarah said while dropping into another curtsey as the queen walked away.
Sarah glanced down at the letter the queen had told her to give to Max and saw that the envelope only had the name Maxwell Fredrickson scrawled on the outside. She thought about opening the letter but then decided not to. The queen had entrusted her with important information and she wasn't going to let her down by letting her curiosity take over. She looked around to see if Max was anywhere in sight and when she saw he wasn't she rounded the corner to go to their room, thinking that he might be there.
When she placed the key card into the slot the door opened. All the furniture was back where it was and the 3 boys were back to playing video games, just like before. She waved hi to them and noticed that Max was not there so she walked to their room. No Max in sight. Not in the closet or bathroom either. She grabbed her phone and texted Max, asking if he was back yet but received no reply.
She went back into the closet of their room and put the envelope that the queen had given her and placed it inside of Max's suitcase because the queen had said the letter was both confidential and important, she kept it hidden. She had put it into Max's suitcase for 2 reasons. 1- If she forgot to tell Max about it, he would see it when he opened his suitcase. 2- if the letter was found in her possession she could be accused of theft of important information.
There was a knock on the bedroom door so Sarah got out of the closet and shut the closet door. She walked over and hit a button to unlock the door, Emily stepped in and waved. "Sarah! What did the queen talk to you about?!" She asked her excitedly.
"The queen asked me if she could wear the dress I designed in the competition earlier."
"Woah! That's so cool! The freaking queen is gonna wear the dress you made!"
"Yea!" Sarah said with a laugh as they walked out of the room. Leaving the letter hidden and unopened in Max's suitcase.
-
Behind a monitor the queen smiled. "I knew I could trust you Sarah. Well done."
-
"Sarah! Come here real quick!" Said a guy's voice from the couch. Sarah looked over her shoulder to see Alex waving her over. She turned to Emily and said "I'll be right back." Emily nodded her head and played on her phone while she waited for Sarah to return.
"Good job on the win today."
"Thanks Alex!"
"Wanna try?" Alex said, offering up the controller in his hands.
Sarah glanced over at Emily and saw her furiously typing on her phone. Her eyes said she was angry at something and Sarah didn't want to meet an angry Emily so she said "Sure" and sat down next to Alex on the couch.
"How do you play?" Sarah asked Alex.
"Simple." He replied. "You just click here to shoot from the cannon, here to change directions, here to jump, do this to double jump. Also if you press here then you can smash things and this button changes your weapon." Alex said as he pointed out each button to her.
"Here, I'll put you on an easy level for now."
"Ok, i'll try…" Sarah replied hesitantly.
A little grey mouse ran around on the screen with a gold crown and wand. She jumped over spiky plants and ducked under airplanes. She ran around smashing blocks and killing the hissing cats with her wand. She was actually pretty good at this game. She hit the button to switch characters and the little mouse turned into a bee, making her able to fly and the hissing cats turned into birds, snapping at the little bee, trying to eat it. Sarah squealed in surprise as one of the birds began to fly around, chasing the cartoon bee.
Sarah quickly changed back to the little mouse with the hissing cats. Alex laughed at her and took back the controller. "Lemmie show you how it's done."