Doll Stories

Princess Rosie

Rosie waited among the chattering girls waiting for the school's owner to post the cast list for the ballet recital. Everyone rose and raced over to the window when they saw Miss Casey taping up the results. As other girls pushed and elbowed their way to the front of the crowd, there were excited hisses of "yes!" mixed in with disappointed "oh no!"s. When it was finally Rosie's turn to see the list, her face fell as she read the results. "I didn't make it." She whispered, ducking her head down and walking away from the list. She tried to put on a brave face as the tears threatened to overflow from her eyes. Her footsteps lead her back to her mother's car. "I wanted to be a princess." She sniffled as she walked. "I wanted to be a princess so bad." She pouted as she climbed into the car.
"Shhh, it's okay, Rosie. Maybe next time you'll get it." Her mother turned around and gave her a few pats on the knee.
Rosie shook her head, her brown, curly pigtails flinging from side to side as she did. "It won't be the same!" She sulked.
Her mother gave her a sympathetic smile. "Well, I'm sure your role in the ballet show is very good already. I'm very proud of you for going against Madi."
That only made Rosie slump in her seat. Nothing her mother said could make her feel any better. Her bottom lip quivered, and her eyes glistened with the threat of tears as she sat in the back seat and did her best not to start crying on the way home.
Once back home, Rosie raced to her room to find her best bear friends, Nellie and Snuffles. She held them tightly.
"Did you get it, Rosie? You must've gotten the part, right?! After all these days of holding out hope for you, did it work?" Nellie asked, her blue eyes sparkling with excitement.
Rosie finally let the tears fall as she hugged the bears. "I didn't get the part." She sniffled and slumped on her bed, burrowing into her favorite fuzzy Winnie the Pooh blanket.
"But we watched you prepare so well!" Bamboozle, the panda her uncle bought from a trip to China, exclaimed.
"Who got the part?" Snuffles asked.
Rosie peeked out, pulling the soft blanket around her shoulders. "Madi. The girl in Year Nine. The one who's fifteen and a dance prodigy." She repeated the words she heard the teachers say whenever they discussed Madi. "The teachers all say she's so cute, she'll be the perfect fit for the part."
"Rosie, you're only eight!" Snuffles exclaimed. "Remember what you said the teachers told you?"
"What?"
"You're a very brave girl for auditioning, since you're so young. Even the next youngest girl was thirteen." Nellie and Snuffle chimed together.
"And that's the age of the youngest girl who ever got a solo in the ballet recital, too." Rosie finished.
"Yeah! So if you're going to break the record, wait for your ninth birthday. And then if that doesn't work, you have your tenth and eleventh and twelfth birthday, too!" Nellie beamed at Rosie, edging closer to the girl for another cuddle.
Rosie rested her head on Nellie's soft head and hugged her tightly as her tears slowly stopped falling.
Snuffles counted on his paws. "Madi is seven years older than you are, Rosie. That means she's almost twice your age!" His jaw dropped. "You're very very brave to try and audition with her!" His sincere, beaded eyes looked into Rosie's damp, sad eyes, and he leaned in to give her a Snuffle kiss.
Rosie held her dolls closer and hugged them tightly again. "You're right, Nellie!" She beamed back at the stuffed animals. "Plus my tenth birthday is coming up. And I want a pink cupcake cake with lots of cupcakes, candles, and yummy, colorful sprinkles!"
"Your tenth birthday sounds like it's gonna be awesome!" Nellie exclaimed. The bears and other stuffed animals in Rosie's room nodded in agreement.
"Plus, even though you didn't actually get the part, we still want to call you Princess Rosie, like how we practiced with you before the audition. Is that okay with you?" Rosie's Big Pooh asked.
Rosie's eyes lit up. "Snuffles, Nellie, Pooh, Bamboozle, everyone, you're all the best dollies and stuffed animals ever! I'm so glad you're my friends." With that, she scooped them all up and warmly embraced each of them.