Up For The Test (Aru Shah AU)

Chapter 10

Third Person

-Monday-

Philipe brought in 3 dressed for Aru to choose out of. He knew there was only a slim chance of getting her to wear one, but it was worth a shot.

"Do I really have to go to this stupid ball, Philipe?" Aru sulked. "I barely know anything about it!"

"Yes, Aru. Now, please choose," Philipe laughed. Aru hugged her sidekick, as she liked to call him, and looked at the dresses.

Her eyes first set on an off-white dress. It had many gold decals, and it had a long train as if it were a wedding dress. "Nada on this one," Aru said.

The second was metallic blue. Aru liked it, but when she looked at the dress from behind, she realized it had a very unrealistic body type that it was made to fit. It poofed out at the bottom, which Aru imagined would make it hard to sit in. "This is nice, but it's poofy."

"Aru, these are what people wear to the balls! Do you think Queen Urvashi always liked what she wore?" Philipe asked.

Queen Urvashi and King Hanuman walked in behind him. "In fact, I did, Philipe. I'm the queen, and I get what I want in a dress. So should Princess Aru."

"I told him he could call me Aru, ma'am," Aru said.

"No, no, no, Aru. The queen is right. I'm just a servant here, and I'm on this team to help you, not be your buddy."

"You're more than my buddy, Philipe! You're my sidekick who helps me steal cookies from the kitchen at midnight because we are cool like that!"

"You guys do what?" Hanuman asked. Aru shut her mouth and looked at the floor.

Philipe smiled at Aru and opened his mouth to speak. "Arundhati is right! We are friends, Queen Urvashi. If you don't like that, then you can fire me."

Aru ran over to her buddy and embraced him in her arms. Philipe wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer as if he knew what was coming next.

"You're fired then," Hanuman spoke loudly. Aru pulled back.

"No! You can't do that, sir," she pleaded.

"You can't do that to Philipe, Hanuman. He's worked here the longest out of everyone, and he is our most loyal-" Urvashi started.

"I can, and I did, Urvashi. We can't just step back and let the servants run wild! He addresses our princess by her first name!" he cut her off.

"Byburn won't have a princess if you fire Philipe!" Aru yelled.

"What?" all three of them asked at the same time. The king and the queen's gazes went to Aru.

"I will go back down to the town if you fire Philipe, and you will be stuck with Rudy as heir to the throne."

Hanuman tried to talk, but Aru raised a hand to silence him. "Do you really want that? Rudra can barely run his own life, let alone a country. Let's face it, I'm the best shot you have if something were to ever happen to you."

"Arundhati, please rethink this," Hanuman said. He was about to say something else when a loud screaming child ran down the hall.

"You cannot get me to wear a dress for this stupid ball!" Brynne yelled, dashing down the hall as fast as a cheetah. She ran into Aru's room. "Hey, guys! What's up?" she panted.

"They fired Philipe," Aru said.

"What? They can't do that," Brynne pouted.

"Philipe, you're rehired," Urvashi said. "From now on, don't listen to Hanuman. He can be a jerk."