Tallula had just graduated from The Wisdom Tooth Fairy Academy. Unlike her two best friends, Cecily and Thea, who breezed through the final exams with flying colours, Tallula had just scraped a pass. She was not a natural Tooth Fairy and if she could have her way she would be far more content waiting on tables in The Wings Cafe. But Tallula came from a long line of successful Tooth Fairies and her parents would never be persuaded to break with the family tradition. Her Grandmother had even been awarded the prestigious Wisdom Globe for attaining the largest number of teeth in over fifty years! She had a lot to live up to.
Tallula watched her friends walk proudly on to the stage ahead of her to receive their graduation certificates. They looked beautiful in their new graduation gowns; Thea's long brown hair was fastened with a head band and Cecily's blond hair adorned with a flower and their wings glimmered in the afternoon sunshine. Tally, as she was more affectionately known by her friends, looked mournfully down at her second hand peach silk dress with its fraying hem. It would have been okay had it not clashed with her wildly curly red hair and her wings had not dried all wrinkly after her shower this morning.
"And finally...Tallula...", Principle White announced. "A satisfactory pass", she added. There was no flourish celebrating her exceptional qualities and guaranteed success as there had been with previous students. Principle White impatiently beckoned her to come on to the stage as if she had far more important things to do. Everyone directed their attention at Tally. Flustered by the sudden silence she looked down at her scuffed ballet pumps and shuffled forwards but half way to the podium she became aware of sniggering in the front row. A young fairy was pointing at Tally's dress. In horror she saw that the dress was shorter than it had been ten paces ago. A thread lay on the floor and as she followed its path all the way back to the side of the stage, she saw Eliza holding the end and laughing so hard she looked like she might fall over. How could she!
Eliza and Tally had never got on, ever since Eliza had told Tally that her appearance and demeanor tarnished all the other fairies at the Academy and she should never have been allowed to study there. Tally had replied that Eliza was the most spoilt fairy she had ever met and only there herself because her father was the Mayor of Enamel City. Since then Eliza had tried to humilate Tally at every opportunity but in front of all these people, she had no choice but to carry on.
Principle White looked at her dress with disdain.
"Here you go", she said, handing Tally her certificate between thumb and forefinger as if it were a piece of rubbish. "Er...good luck", she added adopting her crowd-pleasing smile.
*
That evening there was a ball at the Tooth Fairy Queen's castle. Tally was getting ready at Thea's house and Cecily was there too. Thea put her arms around her two best friends.
"We've done it! Now the fun begins!" she exclaimed. Cecily flew up into the air and somersaulted.
"Yippee!" she shouted. Tally did not feel excitement in the way her friends did. Her Grandmother had told her many times what a hard job being a Tooth Fairy was and Tally was not sure she was looking forward to it.
"What's wrong Tally?" Thea asked.
"Oh. Nothing", Tally fibbed. She did not want to dampen her friends' enthusiasm. The three of them stood in front of the mirror arm in arm. Thea's sister had loaned Tally her graduation ball dress and Cecily had done her hair. She looked...nice! The girls smiled at their reflections.
"Come on", Thea said. "Let's go!".
To be continued...
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