22Rating: PG-13
Summary: Almost every little girl's dream is to become a princess. When Grace visits London on vacation, her far-fetched wish from childhood might not be so far-fetched after all…
Chapter 1: Here Comes the Bride.Three-year-old Grace stared at the videotape in front of her in confusion. She impatiently ran over to her mom who was in the kitchen drinking her coffee with a frown.
She tugged on her mom's bathrobe sleeve, "Mommy, what does this do?" Grace held out the videotape that she could barely hold with her small hands.
"Sweetie, that's a videotape," Grace's mom, Lucy, explained.
"What's a… a wedeotape?" Grace tried to pronounce the foreign word, but found that she could not pronounce the v.
Lucy laughed warmly as she picked Grace up, and walked over to the living room.
"A videotape is something you can record something on and then you can watch it over and over again."
Grace blinked, "Oh."
"What does that do?" she inquired again.
"Here, why don't we watch on?" Lucy offered.
"Okay," Grace's face brightened up cutely.
As the videotape began to roll, Grace sat in front of the television, amazed.
Lucy explained what was happening on the screen, "This is the wedding of Prince Charles and Diana. See this beautiful lady?" Lucy pointed at the Diana in her wedding dress. "That's Diana. She's getting married to a prince, like the prince in Cinderella. She's going to become a princess."
Grace looked at her mom in awe, "She's going to become Cinderella?"
Lucy smiled, "In a way. Cinderella became a princess… so will Diana."
Grace turned her eyes back to the television screen, her mouth open in an O. "Wow… she's so pretty."
Lucy gazed at her daughter in adoration, "Yes, she is."
"Mommy, I want to become a princess," Grace announced proudly to her mom.
"Of course, sweetheart. One day you'll meet your Prince Charming," Lucy kissed her daughter on the forehead, and they returned their attention to Prince Charles and Diana's wedding.
Grace smiled in anticipation as she and her best friend, Peyton, waited to board their flight from O'Hare Airport in Chicago departing for London. She was finally being rewarded her wish of visiting London. A wish she had been longing for since the 4th grade when her old baby-sitter left to backpack in Europe and declared that London was the most magnificent place on Earth through the postcards that she sent to Grace.
Grace Lin was a fresh graduate of pre-med school from Yale. As a gift from her parents, Jeff and Lucy, Grace was given a round-trip plane ticket to London as a graduation gift. Grace's parents had been planning for months with Peyton's family, the Bridges, a trip for their daughters to London. Peyton had received the same ticket from her parents, Rob and Beth, as her graduation present from Yale Law School.
Grace caught a glimpse of her own reflection in the thick glass that separated the landing strips and planes from the inside of the airport. Her naturally straight, black hair reached down slightly below her shoulder blades. Warm dark brown eyes stared back with slightly arched dark eyebrows. With an oval face and dark pink lips, she wasn't classically beautiful, but still pretty in a sense that she drew people towards her with her charisma and her warm personality. Both of Grace's parents were Asian, Chinese to be exact, and are extremely strict and overprotective of their only daughter. It was a treat to be allowed to go on a paid vacation with only her best friend. Although turning twenty-two in less than a week, on June 15th, her parents still thought and treated her as if she was only twelve.
Peyton sat next to her, hazel-green eyes looking through the latest issue of In Style. Peyton's brown hair was pulled back into a casual ponytail. She looked comfortable in her jeans and t-shirt from Guess. Grace surveyed her own outfit; khakis and a navy colored thick strapped tank top from Gap.
"Flight 472 to London, England is now boarding at Gate 9." A voice announced from the PA system. Peyton lowered her magazine, and shoved it hazardously into her carry on bag.
"That's us," she said excitedly.
"Yup," Grace couldn't wipe the grin off her face, as she picked up her own carry on bag and her Yale pullover. She knew from experience that planes were heavily air-conditioned and it tended to be chilly throughout the flight.
"Thank God…" Grace collapsed onto the comfortable queen size bed in their hotel suite.
"Ten hours is much too long of a time to spend cooped up in a plane."
"No kidding." Peyton tossed her own bags onto the floor and flopped down next to Grace. "London better be amazing."
"Just going to the Wimbledon finals is enough for me," Grace smiled contently.
An avid tennis fan, the ultimate gift for Grace (besides a trip to London) was tickets to a tennis game. So when her aunt and uncle gave her a pair of tickets to the Wimbledon finals, she was beyond excited.
"Andy Roddick better be there." Grace's favorite tennis player was Andy Roddick. Besides from having a kick-ass serve, she swore that he was one of the hottest tennis players out there.
Peyton giggled to herself, "I'm picturing the look on your face if Andy Roddick didn't make it to the finals."
"All I'm saying is that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity and if Roddick isn't there, I'll personally go over to wherever his house is and give him a pep talk so that his ass better be at the next tennis game I go see," Grace growled menacingly.
"Yeah… just a pep talk." Peyton wriggled her eyebrows suggestively at Grace.
"I might throw that in there just to persuade him to work extra hard."
Grace and Peyton burst into laughter.
"I'm starved," Peyton complained. "Let's order room service."
Author's Note: I hope you liked it. I have to admit; I thought this chapter was a bit slow. But it is the first chapter. Please leave feedback. I love hearing opinions and constructive criticism. ~Ivy