Great, Robin thought. She thinks I'm an arrogant jerk again. Why did Elizabeth have to come and ruin everything? I mean I love my friend, but she can be annoying sometimes.

"Why did you do that, Elizabeth?" Robin asked coldly

"What?"

"Why would you be rude to Maria. Yes, you are my friend that I haven't seen in awhile, but you didn't have to be mean to my new friend."

Elizabeth's lip quivered, "I jut don't want her to replace me. I'm sorry. I was just jealous."

"Don't worry, she will never replace you. We can have that dance now because I should probably give Maria some time to cool off before I apologize." The friends talked and laughed, as they danced, completely unaware that they danced for almost an hour. When Robin realized this, he quickly rushed off to find Maria. She wasn't found in the ballroom, or the kitchen, or the hedge maze. He decide that she must be in her room; so he climbed the steps to the tower.

When Maria heard a knock on her door, she opened it. Robin was standing there, and when she saw him, she slammed the door shut again.

His voice drifted through the door, "Maria, I'm sorry. My friend Elizabeth asked me to dance earlier, but I told her to wait. I haven't seen her in a year, so she was anxious to talk to me." He paused, waiting for an answer.

"That's no excuse for her rudeness though!"

"She said it was because she was jealous. She and I have been best friends for years. Our mothers both died when we were only a couple of years old. We got along so well because we could understand each other. She was sent away to a school in London for a year, and when she came back today, she saw me with you and thought that you had replaced her. She was jealous because she thought she lost the only person who understood her."

"What?!? Do you think I don't get it?!? My mother died when I was a baby. I know how you feel, but you don't know how I feel! You still have your father; I don't! He's dead!"

Unsure of how to answer, Robin simply said, "I'm sorry" in a voice so soft he wasn't sure she heard him. He sat down at the bottom of her steps, thinking.

He was startled when Maria sat down next to him. "I'm sorry, too. I understand your friend might have been a little surprised when she saw us dancing... in the moonlight... alone..." Maria trailed off, and Robin stared at her incredulously. When she caught his look, she quickly jumped up and ran back into her room. By the time Robin registered what just happened, he heard the bolt slide across the door, shutting Maria off from him.

Not sure of what to say, Robin decided just to go home for the night. As he walked through the woods, he heard rustling in the bushes next to him and noises that sounded like someone dragging something. Robin dismissed it as some of his father's men dragging wood for fires around the castle. The boy still couldn't get Maria out of his head. He fell in love with her during the first attack at the gate. The fiery way her eyes flashed with determination to escape had captivated Robin. Because of this, he didn't pay attention and had a nasty cut on his had to show for it. He was angry that she got away, but ever since then, he couldn't get Maria out of his head. Why couldn't she see that?

I have to tell her, Robin thought. he turned and ran back to the manor. She has to know!

He banged on Maria's door frantically. "Maria! Please let me in! I have to talk to you!" He knocked and knocked, but to no avail. Not a sound came from Maria's room. He quickly tried the door, but it was still bolted. Robin remembered a secret passage his sister told him about. Robin frantically raced through the woods to the cave his sister used to live in. The empty boxes she stacked in front of the secret door were quickly shoved out of the way as he raced down the tunnel and up the circular staircase at the end. As he opened the secret door at the end of the staircase, he was astonished to see a completely empty room.

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Hey guys, sorry for taking forever to update, but when I got back from camp, I had volleyball tryouts which were from 9am to 9pm and I was super tired then on Thursday I started typing but I fell asleep and my weekends are always crazy. Then on Monday I had summer volleyball practice and we had to run a mile and part of it was uphill and I was about to die. Anyway, enough of my rambling, this chapter is dedicated to my three new readers @Rosieogan, @Tinalgli, and @ash3h16. Anyway, I have basketball try outs in a couple weeks and today I was in a video that my church made for our special conference we are having next week. Ok, you guys probably don't want to hear any more about my boring life so bye now. Vote and comment, please.