Queen for a Day

Ch.3: Big Sister or Babysitter

For the first half of my childhood, I remember how much Roxy was slowly becoming the biggest thorn in my side! She. Was. CRAZY!

I mean, don't get me wrong! I loved my sister more than most things, its just that she had this habit of getting on my nerves rather quickly. You know, like any typical sibling relationship.

She also worried me a lot, too. She was a klutz and on top of that, she was extremely careless! It got to the point where someone had to be watching her at all times, just to make sure that she didn't hurt herself. And who was the one who ended up with that responsibility?

Me, of course!

On some days, I liked watching her. We would play games and practice whatever songs we were going to be performing together later that week.

On other days, I wanted to bash my head up against a wall from how stupid she could be. If I wasn't there to stop her from pulling about half of the stunts she wanted to do for our shows, or just because she was "bored", she'd probably be dead by now. I really wish I was kidding, but I'm not.

Luckily, on most of these days, dad would come and drag me away from her so that he could give me lessons on "How to become a great queen!" I was so happy whenever he did that, because that meant I wouldn't see Roxy for the rest of the day.

When I wasn't watching her, mom was. She'd take her to the library and the two of them would stay in there all day reading books.

You know...now that I think about it...mom and I never got to spend much one-on-one time together after Roxy was born...I guess I sort of miss that now...

Sorry for getting all meta on you like that, it was just something that's been on my mind for a while now...

Anyways, this weekly routine continued on like clockwork. Our everyday lives became so predictable that it was just like autopilot...and it was kind of boring. Just like Roxy, I yearned to learn something new, not about music, but about being a queen!

Then it happened...

You guys may be familiar with this part of the story already, so I won't go into too much detail.

One particular evening, about a few weeks before I turned eleven, Roxy and I were playing tag in the castle garden. Even though it was just made up of a couple of rocks and tufts of dead grass, we still called it our "garden." It was better than just calling it "that one place with the tall rocks and dead grass."

Roxy was being careless, again. She was climbing on top of the slippery rocks. Again! I tried to convince her to come down before she hurt herself...again! And of course, she didn't listen.

Like I said before, it was just. Like. Clockwork.

I even counted down the seconds to when she would slip and fall face first towards the ground. I had my arms up, ready to catch her and everything.

Except this time, she didn't fall forwards. She fell backwards! I was caught so off-guard that I actually froze for a bit, before realizing a second later that I should probably run and catch her before she hit the ground.

I was panicking so much by the sudden change in the routine that I didn't even notice how weak the ground was beneath my feet...until we fell through it.

We screamed as we tumbled head over heels down a giant hole. I soon crashed into something in the darkness, and a few seconds later, my sister fell on top of me.

"I'm sorry sister, I-"

"Just get off of me..." I growled. I was not happy. My head was spinning and I felt sick to my stomach. Roxy quickly jumped off of me, and I slowly started to stand up.

Where the heck were we? And what was being kept so secret down here that it had to be covered up?

Roxy answered my question after she nearly blinded me with a flashlight. It was just a bunch of dusty old books. I was rather disappointed. Roxy, on the other hand, looked like she'd just came across a treasure trove.

"Come on, Roxy, let's get out of here," I told her as I started to climb up the way we came in.

"Yeah, just hang on one second..." I could hear her shoving books into a bag she had found on the ground. I was starting to get impatient.

"Now, Roxy!" I said through gritted teeth.

"Alright already! Jeez!" I heard her zip up the bag, then she climbed up after me.

Once we had climbed out of there and had covered our little secret back up, Roxy hugged her newfound "treasures" close to her chest. Then, she ran inside and up to her room.

A part of me was saying that I should tell mom and dad about this little library we had just found, but the other part of me said not to, so I didn't tell them anything.

Boy, am I glad I kept my mouth shut!

I didn't see or hear from Roxy for an entire week. When I did finally see her again, mom was getting her into the angler bus.

"Mom, where are you going?" I asked. She turned around with a surprised expression on her face.

"Oh! Katie, I was just about to go looking for you. Get in the bus, sweetie!" I was taken aback by this sudden news.

"Umm...why?" I asked.

"We're going on a road trip to the other troll kingdoms!" Roxy squealed from inside the bus.

"What?! No!" I shouted. "I'm not going to babysit her! You can't make me! Besides, I have stuff planned with dad today, so-"

"I already talked to him about it. You'll get to do all that stuff with him tomorrow," Mom responded.

Fun Fact: She never told him. I figured that out after we returned. She lied to me so we could spend more time together. Dad wasn't exactly happy, though...

"And I never said that you had to babysit her. In fact, this'll be a great opportunity for you to learn how the other troll leaders rule their tribes. Maybe they can give you some tips!"

My ears perked up at the sound of that. Without a second thought, I jumped onto the angler bus and sat down next to Roxy, who was holding an old map in her hands. She was studying it closely.

As we left Volcano Rock City, I couldn't help but wonder what was really in store for us in the other troll kingdoms. Then their was that small part of me that was hoping that Roxy wouldn't cause any trouble...

But this is Roxanne we're talking about here...a tiny eight year old troll who couldn't go two seconds without getting into mischief. I should've known better than to think that. Of course she was going to cause trouble.

I will admit, I saw her sneak away from us every time, but I'm glad that I didn't stop her, otherwise...

She probably wouldn't be where she is today.