It was autumn. So what better place to go for a ball gown, than a costume store? I stepped into the shop, excited as all hell. I jumped from place to place, looking for the perfect one. Jamie and Alison were with me as well. Alison was wearing dark contacts to distract from her eyes, which were slowly turning more and more red. 

While looking around, I saw Yvette at the front counter. She was behind the counter, working at the register. She must have worked here. When we regathered, we found the choices we had made to be... acceptable. Alison had grabbed a red velvet dress, (which we later figured out was just a Mother Gothel costume from Tangled,) Jamie found a cheap-looking southern belle costume, and I... didn't have anything. 

It was then that Yvette had come over to us. "Having trouble, girls?" She said. 

"Yeah. We're going to a costume party. And our princess here can't find anything." Jamie pointed at me. 

Yvette slowly stoked her chin in thought. "Princess, huh? Would this happen to be for the Northwest Ball?" We all nodded. "Then I think I've got the perfect thing. Come on, Princess." Yvette took my hand, and I shivered. I got goosebumps. 

Yvette snuck into the back room for a few minutes, before coming back out, holding a gown. "Whoa." I said. 

"Try it on." She said, handing it over to me. I changed quickly, stepping out in the gown. Jamie and Alison saw me come out of the changing room. 

"Whoa." The echoed my last words. So did Yvette. 

I looked beautiful. Like the princess should. The gown dark, dark purple. It had a ballgown skirt, (obviously,) with a low, square neckline. The sleeves were tight, until they reached the elbows, where they hung loosely, black ruffles on the inside of the openings of the sleeves. I looked into the mirror. I looked like the princess. 

Yvette stood behind me. "Oh yeah. You've got that princess look down. Just one thing." She took me by the arm and snuck me back into the changing booth. "Don't worry, it's only hair." She said. I gave a small "oh." And turned around so that Yvette could put it up. She pulled it back into a tight, braided updo. "Alright. Turn around." I looked into the mirror and gasped. 

"Oh my god."

"How's it look, Princess?" She asked, hands on my shoulders. I was amazed. I really looked like the princess. Just what I wanted.

I cried. 

"Whoa, whoa, sorry! I didn't mean to. Here, let me-" I stopped Yvette from taking my hair down. 

"No, no! It's wonderful, but..." I turned to her. I wanted to tell her something, even if she wouldn't understand. "I'm the princess. I really am, but is that what I want?"

"What?"

"I mean, this is what I wanted right? To be the princess? But with everything that's happened... I'm afraid I've bit off more than I can chew." I said. Yvette turned her head to the wide, confused, before smiling. She grabbed a hairbrush off the hanger rack in the change room, and got down on one knee, holding the hairbrush like a sword. 

"I promise, Princess Carson, that nothing bad will happen to you at that ball. I pledge to protect you." She said. 

And there, in the cramped space of a changing room with a hairbrush as a sword, Yvette made a promise to protect the princess.