Chapter 5
1989 Words
Five
The first week of college went by in a blur. I couldn’t go anywhere without people staring. The sun necklace weighed heavily. Then, to make matters worse, the pictures of me leaving Apollo’s dorm went viral. On the internet. In the little tabloid that Coleum printed, which apparently everyone had read.
I heard the whispers in my Art History class.
I saw the magazine being passed around in my Writing 101 class.
In my biology class, people were more interested in my biology than what was being studied. There was no escaping it. Worse was the strange, overwhelming tension that had happened every time I passed Apollo on the campus.
He hadn’t spoken to me since that night with the ball, or with the dorm. But when I saw him in the halls, he would give me these long, lingering looks that drove me crazy. Meanwhile, I was getting driven crazy because no one would approach me.
Of the male species, that is.
The girls had no problem approaching me, for entirely different, entirely annoying reasons. One day, I was sitting with Everly in the cafeteria. A girl with perfectly, highlighted blond hair dressed head to toe in pink came over to where we were sitting.
“Is it true?” she demanded.
Everly rolled her eyes. “Grace, leave her alone. What’s going on with her and my brother is no one’s business.”
“She’s engaged to our Prince. To our future King. It’s everyone’s business.” Grace looked at me, with narrowed eyes.
“Is there a problem?” a cold voice asked.
I looked up and standing there was Apollo. “I can take care of myself, you know.”
“Because you’re doing so well with it,” said Apollo, in a clipped voice.
Grace glowered at me, then looked at him. “You could have told me before you decided to parade her around. How long did it take before you were with this one, hmm? Honestly, Apo, I know you’re the future King, but you have no compassion for other people. We’ve known each other since we were children!”
“Which is why I won’t let my sister slap you for your impertinence,” he said, “you hold no power over me. I owe you nothing. I have made my decision. She wears my necklace, we’ve made our promise, and if anyone has a problem with that you can take it up with me. Or the Queen. I’m certain my Mother would be thrilled to discuss why you don’t approve of her choice for her son.”
Grace huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. “You’re a fool, Apollo. She doesn’t belong in our world.”
“She belongs where I say she belongs,” He said tersely, “I say that she belongs by my side, which means everyone else should be fine with her there.”
Grace rolled her eyes. “This won’t last.” She glowered at me, then stormed from the room. Everyone watched her, and for a second, I was relieved. Because they weren’t watching me. Except that didn’t last long.
It didn’t last long, because he took my chin in his hands and stared directly at me. He licked his lips, before I knew it, he was kissing mine, in front of everyone. He had stolen my first kiss in front of the entire school.
I was going to kill him. Once I got over the shock of what his lips were doing to mine. Or the fact that his hands were running through my hair, or that there was a groan escaping my lips. He pulled away, massaged my neck, then smiled.
“In case anyone had any doubts.” He left me alone, sitting at the table, too stunned to even move.
Everly placed a hand on my shoulder. “Are you okay?”
“I don’t…I mean…what….” All I could do was sit there, stammering like an i***t. “He kissed me, Everly.”
“I know.”
“He kissed me in front of everyone.”
“I know,” said Everly with a nod, her blue eyes sparkling with amusement.
“He’s just…. I can’t…Everly!”
She rubbed my back. “I know hun, I know. You want to go back to the dorm?”
“Uh huh,” I said with a nod.
We got up and tossed the remains of our lunch into the trash. When we got back to our dorm room, we were surprised to see another set of security guard’s standing in front of the door. Security guards that were not ours.
The guards looked at Everly grimly.
“Oh no,” she said, her face going pale, “how long has it been?”
“Not that long, fifteen minutes at most,” the first guard said.
“Did she have tea today?” Everly asked.
They nodded. “She did,” they answered.
Everly took a breath. “Come on. Time to go face the music.”
“Face the music,” I said, “Everly, who’s in there?”
She sighed. “My Mother. The Queen.”
“Oh god,” I said, “I regret everything. Everly, it’s been fun knowing you, but your family is insane, and I’m running away.”
She grabbed hold of my hand. “Come on. You can do this. You faced off with my brother, you’ll do fine.”
“I didn’t exactly face off with your brother. I got tricked into an engagement with a complete stranger and kissed by him. That was my first kiss by the way! Your brother stole my first kiss. I might have wanted to save that for Harry Styles or something.”
Everly raised an eyebrow. “Do you frequently fantasize about kissing Harry Styles?”
“What? No. Nope,” I shook my head, “that’s not the point, Everly! The point is your brother has gotten me into a public mess that I didn’t ask for and I don’t even think I can escape!”
“There’s no need to,” a cold voice said.
I glanced up, and the door to the dorm room had opened. Standing there was a woman who might as well have been Everly, but older. Her hair was done up in the neatest bun I had ever seen, held together by a pearl and gold clip. The skirt suit combo she wore was pink, also like her daughters.
She was sleek, like Audrey Hepburn in her later years.
“Hello, Rose,” she said, “it’s a pleasure to meet you, finally.”
I mimicked a curtsey, because I didn’t know what else to do, and I had seen it in the movies. “A pleasure to meet you too, your majesty.”
Everly raised an eyebrow. “What was that?”
“I don’t know,” I whispered.
The Queen smiled. “Come inside, girls. We’ve got some important things to discuss.”
We glanced at each other, then we stepped inside our own dorm. The door was slammed shut behind us. The Queen sat at Everly’s desk.
“Mother,” said Everly, “I’m so confused. What’s going on? I thought that Apollo wasn’t allowed to date Rose, and now he’s declaring her as his.”
“Your brother had an idea, right before Rose came,” the Queen said, “and I for one happen to think it’s brilliant. The people are restless, they always have been, but it’s gotten worse. Royal marriages are rarely love matches, and what your brother is proposing would paint us in a different, more understanding light. It would also give Miss James a future that would open up a whole world of possibility to her.”
“While closing others,” I reminded the Queen.
She looked at me sharply. “Yes, there will be some sacrifice. But if you do this for us, if you become our Cinderella as it were, I can give you almost anything you want in the world.”
I hesitated. “I…I wasn’t coming to Coleum looking for this. I was coming to Coleum to escape.”
“There is no greater escape than a fairytale,” she said, “I know your story, Miss James. I know you are an orphan, I know you are friendless. You were a loner back in the states. What I’m offering you is family, stability, and a chance to never, ever want for anything ever again.”
I hesitated. “Your majesty, I don’t mean to sound ungrateful for this opportunity, but I…I’ve never even had a real boyfriend. What you’re asking me to give up is love.”
“Love,” she said, “is a fool’s game. Like everything else, it can wither, and die. Tell me, Miss James, do you have plans after college?”
I shrugged. “I thought, maybe, about opening an art gallery.”
“If you agree to this, I can make you the head Chair of the Coleum Museum of Fine Art,” she told me, “you’d oversee not just our local exhibits, but our international ones as well. I could put you in charge of the opera, and the ballet, give you a staff of people to do what you wanted. The sooner you and Apollo marry, the sooner you can have access to everything your heart desires.”
“Mom,” said Everly coldly, “you can’t just buy people like this.”
“She’s here at our leisure,” said the Queen, “if she wants a future, yes, I can. Otherwise she can go back to her dumpy, little midwestern town working at that terrible movie theater job of hers.”
I grimaced. I couldn’t go back there. I wouldn’t go back there. It hurt too much.
“I don’t get it. I understand why this is a good deal for me, but why I am I a good deal for you?”
“You are an average, American girl,” said the Queen, “you will prove that we have changed. Your engagement will last through your education, then you will get married shortly after the summer that you graduate. An heir will, of course, be expected.”
I swallowed.
I was crazy to accept this offer, but the Queen, of course, was right. “One condition.”
“Yes?”
“If any word of an affair ever leaks, on the Princes part, as Prince or King, I want the option to be released. I’ll play Cinderella, if that is what you wish, but I’ll not play the fool.”
She smiled. “I can agree to that. I’m certain Apollo can too. Keep your nose clean, Miss James, and we’ll announce the engagement soon. Everly, my dear girl.” She hugged her daughter, then left.
I stared at her. “So, I guess I’m engaged to your brother.”
“I guess so,” she said with a grin.
- Writer
