Chapter 5 - The Prince & The Ghost Boy

Ahoy bucko!

Today's entry is going to stick closer to shore. We got a new mate on board the class roster and that scallywag has gotten tongues wagging around the class. Ladies giggled and whispered amongst their rose circles while gents took to two teams alternating between outrightly challenging him to maintain their social hierarchy or trying to coerce him to join under their flag.

Why the commotion? I'm glad you asked. Normally, such a human would never catch my interest. However, I can't help but observe a little more closely when both girls and boys started commenting about this new young rapscallion's appearance. The reason for this entry is to report my observation of all kinds of interesting humans. If he were a normal prince from a fairy tale blessed with everything with seemingly no flaws, I wouldn't have reported it. Thankfully, he wasn't all they made him up to be and I'm here to shed some light on the truth.

Firstly, according to conventional standards of beauty, the swab has baby soft skin unkissed by the sun, gold hair and ocean blue eyes. That's enough to get the girls in class talking. On the other hand, it was introduced by the homeroom teacher that this swab was a chess prodigy and had a brown belt in karate on top of his dreamy appearance. If that introduction wasn't overkilling with his aristocratic mannerisms, I don't know what is.

Being popular meant that the new swab is the centre of attention, giving me a better cover from the backdrop of all the action. Even the teacher's eyes constantly drift over to goldilocks. It's no surprise that with all the correct answers he'd been giving the teachers became smitten by him. The Teacher's Pet didn't even bother him because nothing fazed his popularity. That's when things started becoming interesting.

It took about four days of observing before I finally found a microscopic crack in his impeccable mask. Then again, for a ten-year-old to be this controlled in his act I would have to give him credit when it was due.

Scallywag has a nickname and I dub him Prince Charming for easier identification.

That crack happened when the girls were crowding around him and fighting amongst themselves in front of him on who has the right to sit beside him at lunch. Prince Charming merely smiled at the centre with the girls who started painting their faces with poor skills all in hopes of impressing the big fish. Then I saw the ghost of our class approach Prince Charming from behind. For reference in this entry, ghost boy is going to be called Casper because why not?

Casper tugged shyly at Prince Charming's shirt sleeve and peered through his thick bangs that always covered his eyes all the way to his nose. Boys left Casper alone and girls shunned him. Everybody thinks that he's freaky and even the bullies decided that it would be wiser to stay out of his path. Casper was known for being untidy and clumsy. His laces often came undone and it isn't uncommon to see him fall in the hallway, scattering his books all over. Nobody bothered helping him and everyone shunned the poor soul like the plague over a silly rumour that Casper could see spirits. That wasn't true… Casper just has a habit of daydreaming and talking to himself but we won't discuss that right now for Prince Charming might get jealous that my attention is elsewhere.

For someone so popular like Prince Charming, one couldn't possibly imagine him hanging out in the company of the peasants and the misfits. Not even I knew what Casper was thinking when he grabbed onto Prince Charming's sleeve. They locked gazes and then Prince Charming laughed and actual laugh for the first time in days. It was the kind that went all the way up to his eyes and wrinkled his nose. There was even a slight blush on his cheeks and for the first time since his arrival, Prince Charming looked charming.

The girls who were pulling each other's hair paused to drink in the sparkly sight. They didn't even hear what he said as he left with Casper. I found it odd that Prince Charming escorted Casper away by clasping their hands together as if that was a normal thing to do. It would be a cute sight if they weren't ten-year-old boys. There was something different about Prince Charming and Casper's interaction. Prince Charming's eyes would light up whenever he saw Casper around and I paid more attention to the new student. His voice would become higher in excitement whenever Casper was in sight and it made me think about the teen romance novel I chanced upon in the library. I had my suspicions but I couldn't be sure about it until I saw something I shouldn't be seeing yesterday.

It's normal for kids to go to the toilet during break times and sometimes in the middle of lessons. I've never seen Prince Charming do it before. It was completely by coincidence on one of my walks after snatching a hall pass from an inattentive teacher that I saw Prince Charming hurrying down an empty hallway with no classes ongoing for that day. He looked really pale so I followed him out of concern.

Imagine my surprise when Prince Charming didn't go to the gents but turned into the ladies. I didn't have any trouble going to the ladies' washroom but I'm almost certain that boys shouldn't be going to the female washroom. For such a refined boy, this was certainly disappointing behaviour.

Your captain might be a foul-mouthed and snarky brat but I couldn't stand around watching female students fall prey to a peeping tom so I barged into the occupied stall by kicking the flimsy thing. The lock was already faulty so I wasn't to blame when it opened. I heard the girliest shriek when I did that and awkwardness ensued when we locked eyes.

Lo and behold, Prince Charming was actually Princess Charming in disguise. They made me swear secrecy and it turned out that Casper was a childhood friend that she had a crush on. With her intellect and capabilities, it wouldn't be difficult for her to advance years in the curriculum but in order to pursue her sweetheart, she stayed and even begged her parents to let her attend school. As expected, Princess Charming was a rich young miss. That would explain her mannerisms and also how she was previously home-schooled and had certain privileges when she attended this school.

Since Scallywag wasn't such a bad person, I decided to pretend I didn't see anything and walked away. However, as I am writing this journal, I can sense a disturbance in the force. Your captain is used to spying on others but never the other way around.

I wonder how long it will be before 'Prince' Charming starts to tire of me...

Fair winds and don't slack off!

Pirate S.