Ashley St. Helens feels trapped in her own house, saddled by housework and homework, and lonely for friends and a life of her own. She's a psychological mess, really, with OCD—feeling the need to constantly clean up after her shopaholic stepsisters, PTSD—still in shock about her father's sudden death three years after her mother's, and ADD—with a head full of ideas and dreams, none of which seem to fall into place. She longs to go college, and she wishes Jeff Prince, her second-grade sweetheart and the most popular boy in school, would remember she's alive.
Enter Harry Carrington, esquire, her long-lost godfather. He's got surprises up his sleeve, the least of which is a solid education on how to choose the right shoe, which is difficult for Ashley, since she's got foot troubles on top of everything else.
When Harry gives Ashley the motherly support she needs to get her act together and go to her senior prom, strange things start happening. The fact that Jeff picks her out of the crowd, just after he is crowned prom king, clues her into the surreal feeling she's suddenly living a fairy tale.
But the magic of coincidence can't solve life's real problems; things must be said, and the truth must come out. In the end, Ashley finds out who her friends really are, and learns what family really means.
(Ashley's story is part one of three stories about friends with "princess problems.")
Synopsis
