Guest blogger

Hi faithful blog readers! If you couldn't tell by the ridiculously cheery opening, this isn't Rachel. It's her sister Kristina! Huzzah! Hooray! Hallelujah! And other such happy words starting with H. And now for a story...

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful girl named Octavia. Not a princess, just a girl. Despite this disadvantage, she was still the fairest in all the land. Also the smartest, funniest, and overall amazing-est. Oh, and also the humblest. Really. She didn't care that she was far and away the best. She just wanted to get married. You might think it would be easy for such a beautiful and talented girl to get married, but that wasn't the case. All the men (and especially all the boys) were intimidated by her. This made Octavia very, very sad. The only silver lining was that at least she wasn't rich too, for that would be even more intimidating.
One day Octavia finally met a man who wasn't so awed by her that he was scared to talk to her. This was because he was already madly in love with a girl named Meg. Meg was nice enough, but this man, named Joseph, thought she was pretty much the greatest thing. Ever. Not just since toilet paper, not just since toast, not just since sliced bread. Ever. So when he saw Octavia, he thought she was nothing special, at least not compared with Meg. So, Joseph talked to her. He wasn't intimidated by her awesomeness, and decided he might as well start a conversation. After all, at this point in time neither cameras nor phones had been invented yet, so he thought he might as well talk to Octavia, because he couldn't call Meg, or even stare at a picture of her. So, Joseph said Hello to Octavia. Octavia was thrilled! This was the 1st boy outside of her family to ever talk to her reasonably and un-self-consciously! As they talked, it soon became apparent that along with all her other attributes, Octavia was also a great conversationalist, and very friendly. Soon the two became fast friends.
However, also soon, Meg moved. Previously she had lived in the country far away from the village Joseph was apprenticed to a shoemaker in, so Joseph had plenty of free time to talk with Octavia. But when Meg pursued him there, Joseph spent all his time with her. Little did he know she was just a gold-digger. And little did Meg know that shoe making isn't the most profitable business. But Joseph complimented her and gave her rhinestones he bought on credit, so she decided she could wait for him to give her diamonds he paid for in cash. Octavia looked on with dismay. She saw that Meg was no good for Joseph, and he would be much happier if he forgot her and moved on to someone else. Someone else like, oh, say, her! Because in the short time before Meg moved to the village, Octavia had fallen in love with Joseph. He was funny, hardworking, nice, and just an all-around good person. Unfortunately for Octavia, Joseph was too preoccupied with Meg to fall in love with Octavia. It was nothing but friendship on his side. Even worse was the fact that he would talk to Octavia about how much he loved Meg. Every time he did, Octavia felt like someone was stabbing her soul then twisting the knife. And then pouring salt on the wound.
Then came the fateful day. A nobleman came to town. Meg was beginning to realize that shoe-making wasn't the most horribly profitable business, and so when she saw this nobleman, she immediately began scheming about ways to get him to fall in love with her, because he could give her not only diamonds, but also rubies, pearls, sapphires, emeralds, gold, silver, the list goes on and on. Meg was wily, and in the short time the nobleman (Albert Charles) was in town, he fell for her. He was even making plans to marry her, but he realized he had no ring grand enough for her, so he had to leave to go get one. In the meantime, Joseph was beginning to feel this strange sensation in his soul that Octavia felt. The stabbing and salt-pouring sensation. He could tell Meg loved another, and this hurt him so much. So when the nobleman came back with a suitably large ring, proposed to Meg, and she said yes, Joseph was devastated. She was the only girl he'd ever loved, and now that she was gone, he had no idea what to do with his life. Octavia, however, had plans on what he could do with his life...
Time passed, and Joseph eventually got over Meg. He realized that she was no good for him, and he would do much better to find another girl. Another like, oh, say, Octavia! His friendship for her had finally blossomed into love! Once he realized this, he immediately proposed, although he didn't have a big fancy ring, but that was OK, because Octavia loved him for himself, not for his money. Of course she said yes, and they lived Happily Ever After.

That was my story. For those of you thinking Octavia is supposed to be me, because of Rachel's lie and vicious rumor that that's my middle name, she's not. I did get the name from that LIE, but I'm not that conceited to think all the rest of it is true. It's called creative license. ANYWAYS, hope you liked the story! Sorry it's so long.