Chapter Twenty One

A lot has happened in the last forty eight hours. It all began that Friday night when I found out Abe had made arrangements for three princes to come to us. So, I could choose who I wanted to marry.

It was very unexpected. Well, not that unexpected. Lily did give me a head ups before it happened but I dismissed the whole thing. I didn't think it would actually happen. I was hoping it wouldn't happen but wishing upon a star didn't help me very much. I should've just gone to Abe and maybe, maybe I could've stopped it or at least been better prepared.

The next day, I got to know Marceau, William and Hadrian, the princes. Marceau is a musician and singers just like me, William is an artist and Hadrian is a dancer. They are different from one another and it made it easier to choose who I wanted to sacrifice everything for my sister's happiness.

If that isn't bad enough, came the following day, I found out I had to make my choice that very day. I had until the end of the day to make my choice. It was too overwhelming and I wished I could escape from it.

I was so furious with Abe, I still am, that he forced me to do something I obviously didn't want to do. All because he wanted a pure royal bloodline. He didn't care how I felt even though he told me he wanted my happiness. Apparently, that only goes so far.

I found my safe haven with Hayes even if it was only for a short while before Lou, my stylist, found me to get me ready for one of my biggest moments. I didn't want to go through with that but I didn't have much of a choice. I'm the oldest and the future of Arysn will rest on me. After I graduate, things will be different. Way different.

When I accepted Marceau's proposal, everything that followed next was complete chaos. I was force to take hundreds of pictures with him, smiling big as if I was in love.

There was so much going on. I couldn't focus on anything and I was just glad Marceau didn't kiss me. I don't know how I would've reacted if he did. I have a heavy weight on my shoulders and it just begun.

Which leads me to the next thing. I stare down at my hand. The finger that's been completely free for the past eighteen years is now occupied by a gold rim stone band and in the very center is a huge shining diamond.

I can only imagine how much it cost but that's the least of my worries. I slide the ring off and stick it in my backpack, feeling slightly better that I don't have it on anymore or I don't have to look at it.

If I feel this way, I imagine Hayes feels worse. He watched me choose a guy he believed I was interested in and choosing Marceau probably isn't  helping with that.

During all the chaos, I looked for Hayes in the crowd but I didn't find him. I didn't know if he left or I just couldn't see him anymore but I wouldn't be upset if he did leave. If he were in my shoes, I probably would've left, too. I wouldn't be able to handle watching the whole thing, pretending I was in love with a guy I just met two days ago and spend less than two hours with.

I mean I throw a big fit when he told me he was going to start dating Maya. My situation is ten times worse. I'm engaged. I have a fiancée now and he's not the one I want.

I glance at Hayes while he drives us to school. His eyes never looks in the rear view mirror. They stare straight ahead. I need to talk to him. I need to see how he feels.

The SUV pulls onto the school grounds and the gate closes behind us.

Before we go to class, we make a stop at Mrs. Kovok's office. The end of the month order is over and it's time for Lily and I to decide if we want it to expand longer or end it.

"As you know, the month is over." Mrs. Kovok begins. "That means either two things. One, the order stays until further notice or two, it ends today as it is meant to. What will it be?"

I can feel Lily staring at me, not sure what I'm going to do. She's all for the second option and I promised myself I would agree to removing the order for her. That way she can be with Lucas and I can try to appear normal again.

"I vote for ending it." I say.

Mrs. Kovok is surprised by my responds and so is Lily.

"Are you certain, Princess Millian?"

"Millie, you don't have to do this for me." Lily says. "If you need more time, take it. I can wait until you're absolutely ready to go back to before."

"Good to know." I smile at her. "Because I'm absolutely certain and ready to end it,"

"Very well then. I will inform your teachers about the decision. If you change your mind-"

"I won't." I interrupt her. "I can handle this."

"You still need to see Mrs. Braxton every week." Mrs. Kovok informs me. "If you need anything else, you know where to find me."

I stand and start to follow Lily out the office when Mrs. Kovok says something that catches me off guard.

"Oh, Princess Millian, congratulations on your engagement."

I shouldn't have been caught off guard by her words because yesterday that's what all the picture were for. Abe had wanted the word to get around so every Arysian would know their future queen has chosen their future king, their leader.

It gets worse as the day goes on and I dread going to lunch but it's inevitable. I trail behind Lily as she hurriedly heads for our normal table that's occupied by Lucas, Laura and Danielle.

As soon as she gets to the table, she drops her tray and wraps Lucas in a huge hug. Laura and Danielle smiles at them, fondly.

"Aw, for once, I actually miss the Lucian moments." Danielle says, grinning at them. "But don't over do it." She warns, pointing a finger at them.

"Let them alone, Dani." Laura chaises her. "At least give them a week pass."

Danielle rolls her eyes. "Alright. Fine. I'll get them a week. I miss you guys." She says.

"Yeah, we're glad you two are back. I don't think Lucas could handle another second away from Lily." Laura replies.

"Was it really that bad without us?" Lily jokes, smiling.

"Only the worse." Danielle agrees, nodding her head. "I have a bunch of gossip to spill but before we get to that. You." She points at me. "have some explaining to do."

I frown. "Me? About what?"

"You know what? You don't have to downplay it for us." She says.

When I don't say anything, she rolls her eyes and points at her empty ring finger on her left hand.

"Your engagement?"

"Oh, that."

She scoffs. "Yeah, that. It's not like it's a big deal or anything." She says, sarcastically.

I shrug. "It's not."

"Are you kidding me?" She exclaims. "It totally is! I mean I guess it's not for you since you're the princess and all. But for us normal people." She gestures between herself and Laura. "It is."

"We're normal?" Laura asks, raising an eyebrow.

"In comparison to them, yes we are." Danielle tells her. "What's he like?"

I glance at Hayes and he's expressionless. I know he's hiding his true feelings from them and from me. He doesn't want to hear about the guy I'm engaged to and I don't want him to hear it.

"I rather not talk about it." I say, moving my food around.

"Oh, c'mon, Millie!" Danielle pushes. "Just one little thing."

I sigh. "He's French."

She nods, uninterested. "Yeah, I gathered that. Give me something else."

"Okay, he's a singer."

That enlightens her. "Oo, that must be nice, right? Just imagine your children inheriting the musician genes."

Children? I rather not imagine that. If I do, I'll imagine a family with the guy I'm not supposed to be dating. But I don't want to think about having children anytime soon.

"I don't want to think about children right now." I tell her.

"You got a point. Children are little devils in disguise. Okay, then moving on. Where's the ring?" She asks, glancing at my bare finger.

"I..um...I left it in my room." I lie. "I didn't want to lose it or anything."

Danielle nods her head. "I get that. We do have conniving little thieves roaming around the school."

"She's right. A few girls in our P.E. class has gotten their jewelry stolen last week." Laura says.

I give them a small smile. "Well, it's a good thing I left my ring in my room, huh?"

I'm so grateful when Lily decides to jump in and change the topic to something other than my engagement. I give her a thankful smile and she nods, understanding how uncomfortable I am.

So, Danielle and Laura forgets about my engagement and Danielle dives right in with the drama we missed in the past month. Apparently, we've missed a lot.

Kaitlin and Derrick are a thing now and that's not going so well with Courtney, who still isn't over Derrick. She's making Kaitlin's life a living hell.

Moving on, Tyler is supposedly having a cheating on Jessica with her sister, Bethany. I don't know how that could've happened in a closed off campus but apparently it's possible.

Penelope is pregnant with Colton's child and that's a problem because Penelope is, was, with Daniel, a sweet guys who probably is the only guy at our school who still believes in marriage before sex.

But the most shocking of all, is when Danielle informs Lily and I that Guardian Lynn is making a move on Ms. Devanney. I never saw that coming and I don't think Lily did, either by the look on her face. It matches mine.

"Wait, back up." Lily says. "Ms. Devanney as swore off men for the rest of my life Ms. Devanney."

"It came to a surprise to everyone." Lucas says.

Laura nods her head. "I know, who would've thought those two would've ended up together."

"Never in a millions would I ever put those two together." I say, still shocked.

"If you think that's surprising, just wait until you see how she acts when you walk into the dorm building." Danielle warns me.

"I don't think I want to see it." I tell her.

"Oh, I have good news." Danielle says. "You're gonna want to hear this."

I raise an eyebrow. "What is it?"

"They're no longer talking about you anymore. I don't know why or how but the talk about your trial is gone."

I glance at Lily and she's confused too.

"Are you sure?" Lily asks.

"Absolutely." Laura says, nodding her head. "Every since Friday, the talk died down. I guess someone found out who the source was and they got into serious trouble so the rest are backing off."

Friday was the day of the show from the lower schools. They were so many people there, I assume Mrs. Kovok caught word of the trial from the students and dealt with it. If she did, I wonder why she didn't bring up to me?

Maybe she didn't want me to worry about since she handle it but it seems unlikely because she would've involved me with how I wanted the punishment to be handle. Or at least add something to it like she asked me too when Steve called me horrible names last semester.

"This is a good thing, Millie." Lucas says. "You don't have to worry about it anymore."

That's what I wanted since the first day back. I wanted them to stop talking about me, about them, about what they thought happened or didn't happen. I wanted them to believe he was capable of doing everything he did and so was she.

I nod. "Yeah, you're right. I just wish I knew who it was."

The bell rings, signaling lunch is over with. I stand up and throw my food away, putting my tray with the rest.

It seems like time went by slowly this day. Usually my afternoon classes went by faster than my morning classes but today it feels like it dragged by. I blame it on the fact that it's a Monday and I haven't had a good night sleep last night.

I wanted to be with Hayes but I couldn't because I had to spend every possible second with Marceau before he left.

I think he knew I wasn't too happy because he tried everything to make me smile or laugh and I just wasn't in the mood. I didn't want to be with him. My mind was on someone else, wondering where he was.

I planned on sneaking to Hayes's room that night but Abe had made other arrangements without asking me first. He took upon himself to invite Marceau into my room. A place I thought I could escape from my nightmare, for a few hours before I had to return back to it.

I hated every second he was in there with me. Abe said it would be another golden opportunity for us to spend more quality time together before he left in the morning. I thought otherwise.

He didn't sleep in the same bed as me, I wouldn't ever do that to Hayes. I made him sleep on the floor as far away from as I could make him. I was glad Abe didn't find out about that or I wouldn't hear the end of it.

He woke before me having to catch his flight back to his home country along with William and Hadrian. I wouldn't miss Hadrian but William I might even if he could care less about me and more about my sister. I still don't think she knows he's crushing on her and I'm not going to tell her. She's happy with Lucas.

I woke up to a note he left me. I read it and threw it away. I might like Marceau as a friend but I hated him as my fiancée. It doesn't settle well in my guts and when he was gone, I began to feel a little better.

Finally, I'm walking into my last class. I sit beside Lucas in the second row at the edge. Mr. Dean takes his favorite spot on the spot and smiles as if he has the greatest news ever.

"As you know we held auditions last Saturday and I thank each and every one of you who showed up." He begins. "It was a very tough decision to pick who for what part but after many thoughts about it, I finally got the cast set. I posted it in the back and I think you will be very pleased with what we've came up with. With that being said, let's focus on your assignment."

We stand up and head up to the stage as Mr. Dean arranges us into our vocal range group. He teaches us a new song and it's for a participation grade, nothing too seriously.

Then the moment everyone is waiting happens; the bell rings. I kid you not, everyone rushes to the back, pushing Hayes out the way. I wait my turn and when I can see the paper clearly, I look for my name and I find it, right beside the role I auditioned for.

If I didn't see the italic words beside it, I would've been highly upset with Mr. Dean. But I'm not because I'm the under story.

I pray Ashely can pull through and get her role down and nothing happens or I'm going to be filling her spot.

"Practice begins today at six! Be here!" Mr. Dean calls out.

I walk out the class and outside into the cold. I glance at Hayes. We haven't had much training in the past three days and now with the play we would even have time to.

"Are we able to have training now that I have rehearsals to go to?"

He nods. "I'll make it work."

We continue to walk to my dorm building in silent. When we arrive, Ms. Devanney looks up from her desk and smiles, brightly. I never seen her smile before.

"Hello Princess Millian. Guardian Cipriano." She greets us, warmly.

I exchange glances with Hayes. She never greets Hayes before. She's always either glaring at him or rushing him to get out. This is what Danielle was warning me about earlier at lunch. That has to be Ms. Devanney lost long twin sister.

"Okay, that was really weird." I say as we head up the stairs. "She said hi to you."

"I know. I'm used to her cold attitude. Not this happy, bubbly one."

We reach my door and walk in. This is the only chance I have with Hayes alone today. I'm not wasting it. He's going to tell me how he feels.

"I made him sleep on the floor." I tell him.

He nods his head. "I know."

I frown. "You know?"

"Before he went to your room, I made a quick visit to his. I told him, very explicitly, that if he tries anything with you, he wasn't leaving freely on his plane but in his body bag."

It makes sense now. Marceau didn't object to the idea and he agreed to it wholeheartedly. He was scared of Hayes's threat.

"You didn't have to do that." I tell him. "I can handle it on my own."

He shrugs. "Let's just say I persuaded him a little more. Now are we done talking?"

I barely nod my head before his lips crashed onto mine. I'm getting used to his kisses and I'm starting to feel the same way I did before that night happened. The sparks are returning and I'm liking it, loving it.

He pulls away a few seconds later. "I have to go but I'll be back to take you to rehearsals."

I nod. "Okay."

After giving one more kiss, he's gone.