A/N: Slight trigger warning, just a heads up

Aru clapped her hands and her friends went to their positions. Kara watched this while sitting on Aru's bed, confused. Aru cleared her throat.

"Let's begin. No nagging, bragging, sweating, fretting, slipping, tripping, slurping, burping, twittering, or frittering allowed. Stay present, stay pleasant, stay proud."

"What?" Asked Kara. Aru pointed at Brynne.

"Hit it." Brynne turned on the speaker and started playing one of the most famous songs in Barbie: Princess and the Pauper. Aru walked over to Kara.

"To be a princess is to know which spoon to use." She sang, holding out different types of spoons.

"To be a princess is a thousand pairs of shoes." Vimala opened the wardrobe, showing a few pairs of footwear.

"Wait-" Kara tried.

"To maintain a regal gait." Mini vocalized.

"Um-"

"Leave the parsley on your plate." Brynne held out a dish containing the plant.

"Okay?"

Aru lifted the corners of Kara's mouth with her fingers. "And be charming but detached and yet amused."

The girls gathered around Kara, Aru holding spoons, Vimala holding shoes, and Brynne carrying her plate of parsley. "To be a princess is to never be confused." They harmonized in symphony, then burst into laughter. Kara smiled weakly.

"You should have seen your face. You weren't considering doing all those things, were you?" Vimala giggled. Kara shook her head, blushing.

"No?" At this, they all started giggling again. Brynne turned the speaker off.

"Although, the parsley part is true." Aru made a face at that.

"We can debate on that later. Our priority is Kara." Mini hurriedly stated before Aru could disagree.

"Right, what we are going to do is use the stuff you found on Google and help you practice that and help it come to you naturally. Perhaps remove some unneeded items off the list." Vimala stated before looking at Aru. "Can you pull that up again?" Aru immediately whipped out her phone and read aloud:

"29 Ways to Make Someone Fall in Love with You:

Make sure you're what they need.

Try to look your best.

Be a good listener.

Don't stop smiling.

Find out what they're passionate about.

Leave a little mystery.

Play hard to get.

Mutual friends can be helpful.

Look into their eyes.

Be a good friend to them.

Don't try too hard.

Mirror their body language.

Ask them to do you a small favor.

Laugh at their jokes.

Share your flaws and imperfections.

Be present on Instagram.

Watch a scary movie with them.

Carry a warm drink in your hand.

Mimic what your crush is doing.

Wear the same colors they do.

Spend more time around the people you're hoping to befriend.

Compliment other people.

Try to display positive emotions.

Be warm and competent.

Allow Yourself To Be Vulnerable.

Take Care Of Your Looks.

Flirt by casually touching them.

Dress Up.

Wear Some Perfume."

"I have an idea, let's go to Starbucks and grab some coffee. Aru can jot down the important points and we can practice them at the cafe." Mini suggested. Aru frowned, but gave her a thumbs up, before taking a screenshot of the list and running off to find a notebook. She didn't like Starbucks; not anymore.

As soon as she came back, the teenagers headed off to the store. During the walk, Mini had taken the notebook from Aru and stole her job as well, claiming the other girl was 'unreliable'. Aru was calling B.S. and kept trying to snatch the notebook back. Brynne was regaling them on her latest recipe she had invented, Kara was reading a book she had brought along, and Vimala was brushing up her makeup.

—

It was a relief to all pedestrians when the gang finally reached their destination. Aru looked around, this place looked oddly.... Familiar. She was getting a wild case of deja vu. That gnome, she'd seen that gnome before. She had brushed her finger on its red hat while walking through the entrance once. It had been warm from the sun, her head started to ache. Before she could think too much about it, however, Brynne started talking.

"OK, I'll take your guys' orders while Mini talks about what she wrote down. And Shah, no coffee for you; you're on a caffeine time-out." Aru grumbled and muttered something about capitalism, before following the rest of the group to their seats, shuddering nonetheless. The room was starting to spin by now. She quickly sat down to steady herself, breathing hard. Thankfully none of the others noticed. Mini took out the notebook.

"So, important parts only. First, 'don't stop smiling'. That means...." Black spots were dancing in front of her eyes and everything became muted. Aru rubbed her temples and tried to distract herself by looking at the decorations adorning this Starbucks, but it worsened her dizziness. Those flowers....

She remembered how this shop used that kind of rose. Remembered smelling them as her mom ordered tea for herself at this very shop years ago. Remembered plucking a petal and clutching it tightly in her fist as she left.

".... 'Don't try too hard.' As in...."

She remembered the lady that was currently working behind the counter. She had winked at Aru and cooed about how adorable she was. Aru remembered giggling at that and trying to wink back at her.

"What about the part; 'flirt by casually touching them'? I may have...."

That small, delicate windchime that hung near the menus. She had stared at it, enchanted, while Krithika finished paying so long, long ago. She kept looking back at it while leaving through the door, wanting to run it through her fingers and hear the sound of the bells softly tinkling against each other.

"Ah, by the way, Shah, I got you a little something to make up for the lack of coffee." Aru looked up at the sound of Brynne's voice.

"Hmm?" Brynne pushed a plate with a pink pastry on it.

"A cake pop. You used to eat it all the time."

Yes, the cake pop. How could she forget the feel of the crisp, brown paper bag beneath her small fingers? How could she forget opening it in the car instead of waiting to get home, admiring the pink frosting and small pearls, and sticking her tongue out at her mother's playful teasing? How could she forget popping it in her mouth and smiling gleefully, just before a car rammed into theirs and the taste of iron replaced the sugar?

After all, it was on that fated day she had lost her father.

A/N: I updated! OK, so this if you guys remember seeing a dash right before they all enter Starbucks, that marks the pivot point of the story. This chapter was just going to be another help Kara part, but it was getting boring and almost impossible to write. I deleted this chapter 3 times before I decided to stop writing about Kara and focus more on Aru and the actual plot. It was just proceeding as the original story and it was becoming bland. It wasn't fun to write so that dash is where I changed my mind and went wild. What do you all think? Hope you enjoyed it! See you in the next one :)