"There's an alternate meaning behind the words you spoke,
I can hear that now.
Well I know he wants you back but I don't wanna let you go.
Can you feel that?
It's tight enough to choke."

"ARE YOU SURE this is a good idea?" I whispered, stealing a glance at Siobhan. It was our second and last day in London, and while Siobhan and I wanted to go sightseeing more than anything, Emily managed to convince me to stay in the hospital and spend a few hours with the Royals first.

"Of course, it is!" Siobhan insisted, looking slightly offended that I would even question her. She let out an almost sinister laugh as she made the last of the surprise arrangements. "If I'm going to be forced to squeeze into a bland room for hours, I'm going to make it worth my time!"

I sighed, shaking my head. Despite that, I couldn't help the small, excited smile that managed to slip onto my face. Even I was excited for the surprise that Siobhan had planned.

We wasted no time heading to the hospital where the rest of them were already waiting, but not before picking up some breakfast for them. When we entered the room, Asher was still lying in bed with Emily by his side, while Robin slaved away on his computer in the corner of the room and Yuko sat by the windowsill, reading his book. Logan was the only one that paid us any attention when we entered the room, probably because he had gotten a whiff of the freshly-baked croissants in the basket in my hands.

"Oh my god," Logan whispered, unconsciously licking his lips. He rushed over to help us carry it into the room, but not before sneaking a bite of the crispy pastry first. "I loveyou two!"

"You're welcome, Logan," Siobhan snorted, rolling her eyes. I began to hand the food around to the boys who were spaced out around the hospital room before finally coming to a stop next to Asher's bed. I handed a cup of coffee and a croissant to Emily, and Asher held his hand out expectantly only for me to gloat and walk away, leaving him empty-handed.

"None for you," I said, causing him to scowl.

"Why not?" he protested angrily.

"You're sick," I said, shrugging my shoulders. Turning to the rest of the boys who looked rather amused, I asked, "So everyone's going to stay here for the entire day?"

"Yeoaush," Logan chirped, although he was incoherent due to the fact that he had stuffed his face full of croissants. Frowning slightly, he chewed and swallowed before repeating himself, "I meant to say yes."

"We know," Asher muttered from his bed, scowling. He looked enviously at his friends who were eating their croissants happily, and then to the breakfast spread in front of him that had been prepared by his beloved hospital.

"Can't I have one bite?" he practically begged Emily, reaching for her pastry before she swatted his hand away

"You're sick, Ash! If I share food with you, I might catch your bug," Emily said, much to Asher's disappointment. He continued to sulk in his place, occasionally taking a bite of his gooey oatmeal.

"This is stupid," Asher seethed, crossing his arms.

"Serves you right for falling sick," Siobhan teased, sticking her tongue out at him childishly.

When Asher finally simmered down and reluctantly began to eat his breakfast, the hospital room returned back to its state of peace. Everyone was preoccupied with doing their own thing, comfortable with the silence in a room full of people. I had to admit that I wasn't as comfortable as the rest of them with the silence, and awkwardly fidgeted about as I tried to think of something productive to do.

In the end, I came up with nothing and decided to pass the time by playing games on my phone. Sighing in boredom, I reminded myself that Siobhan's surprise would be arriving any minute now, and comforted myself with that fact.

I almost jumped with joy when I heard three sharp knocks on the door, alerting Siobhan and I of the delivery she had made. Siobhan, who was engaged in a fierce debate with Logan over what was the best campfire food, jumped onto her feet with a grin.

"It is here," she announced proudly, and everyone stared at her quizzically.

"What did you do now?" Logan sighed, probably expecting the worst from her. I wouldn't blame him, since she was known to be a notorious prankster for a reason.

"Oh, nothing bad," she said, waving her hand dismissively, only to cause all of the boys to narrow their eyes at her suspiciously. Clearly, they had a hard time believing her.

"I swear, Vaughn, if this is another one of those chainsaw pranks of yours─," Asher began, before she quickly cut him off by opening the door. Simultaneously, the boys braced themselves for the worst only to be caught off guard when a litter of pups came bundling into the room.

"Oh my god, puppies!" Emily squealed, reaching out for a fluffy golden retriever and lifting him onto her lap. The little pup barked once, then started to lick Emily's cheek, much to her delight. Even Asher managed a small smile as he reached out to rub the golden retriever's tiny belly.

"Aww!" Logan cooed, before falling onto the ground with his arms and legs spread out. Immediately, a bunch of puppies covered him, effectively drowning him in a sea of fluff. "Come to me, puppies! Siobhan, is this your doing? I love yo─ mmphhh!"

A baby pug trotted its way to the window where Yuko stood, frozen. He stared down at the puppy who whined and pawed at his legs until he picked it up and cradled it in his arms, staring at it with wide, wonder-filled eyes.

"I've never seen anything so small," Yuko said, a small but bright smile slipping onto his face.

The only person who seemed completely unaffected by what was happening was Robin, who was too engrossed on whatever was on his computer screen to realise what was going on in the room. It was only when a few puppies noticed him sitting at the corner of the room and skipped towards him that he finally tore his eyes away from the screen.

"What the─," Robin spluttered in surprise when three little puppies swarmed around his legs and began to paw at his pants. He stared at the puppies with wide, confused eyes, before looking up and catching my eye.

"What is happening? What─? What do I do─?" he stuttered, looking even more flustered when one puppy began to bark. "What do you want? Do you want me to pick you up?"

"Animals can't talk, Robin," I snorted, walking over to where he sat and picking up a happy puppy with both hands and sitting down next to him. "Just pet them."

Robin frowned slightly, rubbing his eyes.

"I don't know if I should," he muttered.

"Oh, come on. It's a puppy, not an alligator," I snorted, picking the last puppy up and cradling it in my arms. Robin scowled at my slightly condescending tone, ignoring my comment before very hesitantly reaching out to pick one of the puppies up and placing it on his lap.

When the puppy licked his palm, Robin's usually stoic expression softened. "He's so small. I'm afraid that I'll accidentally hurt him."

"This is the best day ever!" Logan howled with glee while four puppies licked his face, adverting my attention to the squealing brown-haired boy rolling around the floor. "I love my life!"

"You're welcome," Siobhan sang, grinning widely while petting a puppy. "See? Not everything I do is ba─"

"Achoo!" A loud sneeze erupted, silencing everyone's gleeful laughter. With wide eyes, I turned to look at Robin, whose nose had already turned pink.

"I think," he began, staring down at the puppy in his lap, "that I am allergic to this little buddy over here."

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"IT'S NOTHING BAD, she said. Not everything I do is bad, she said. Hah, look at us now," Logan muttered under his breath, casting Siobhan a dark look.

"Oh, shut it, will you? Who would've known Robin was allergic to dogs?" Siobhan sniffed, crossing her arms and pouting.

"Well, you should've made sure!" Logan continued to reprimand. "At least get him out of the room before bringing the puppies in. Now look, I can't play with them anymore and my day is ruined."

I stared at Logan, shell-shocked. He was upset not because Robin had gotten an allergic reaction, but because he couldn't play with the puppies anymore? Unbelievable.

"She meant well, Logan. Stop whining like a child," Yuko said, sounding more like a wise, elderly man than an eighteen-year-old. Yuko cast a glance at Siobhan, who had a tinge of pink on her cheeks, then quickly looked away.

"Don't mind me, everyone. I'm completely fine, I really am," Robin muttered, giving all of his friends a pointed look. Logan had the gall to look a little embarrassed, and quickly stopped himself from complaining further.

After Robin started sneezing, he couldn't stop. Yuko decided to accompany him downstairs to the doctor's office (how convenient) to get some allergy medication. Luckily, it wasn't anything too serious, and Robin was back to his usual, stony self. However, Siobhan decided that it was a good idea to send the litter of puppies back to their rightful owner to prevent Robin's allergy from getting worse, much to Logan's despair. I've never seen a man look so absolutely heartbroken when Siobhan had to forcefully take the puppy he had tried to hide under his shirt away.

When all of the craziness had finally died down, I realised how late it was. It was nearly four in the afternoon, and the girls and I were supposed to go sightseeing at two! Disappointment began to set in when I realised that I probably won't be able to visit all of the places that I wanted to by the end of the night. Siobhan seemed to realise this too, and frowned slightly.

"Damn, I'm sorry about sightseeing," she said, biting her lip.

"It's alright," I replied with a small smile, trying to brush away the disappointment. It wasn't her fault anyway. No one could've predicted that a litter of puppies would be Robin Clair's ultimate demise.

"I'll bring you back here again one day, and we'll stay for as long as you want and we can go sightseeing every day, okay?" Siobhan promised, sincerity coating her words.

"Okay," I said, and this time my smile was genuine.

❁❁❁

I DIDN'T TALK to the Royals at all for an entire week after we returned from London. It was mainly because everyone was busy preparing for our first yearly assessment tests, and also because Asher and Robin still managed to make me want to tear my hair out in frustration every time I saw them, which in turn resulted in me avoiding them like the plague. Instead, when I wasn't spending most of my time cooped up inside my room studying, I was studying on the benches behind the Grand Library with Emily.

Lunch time with Emily became a rare occasion since Asher almost always insisted that she sit with him, so I spent my lunch break with Jake and Wesleigh instead. Luckily, the rest of Jake's friends have warmed up considerably to me, although I still preferred Jake and Wesleigh over them.

It was just another lunch break at Jake's table when suddenly, Wesleigh nudged me gently, stealing my attention away from whatever joke Jake was telling his friends.

"What?" I whispered, raising an eyebrow.

"Centre Table kids are staring at you," Wes said quietly, making sure that none of the other people at our table heard. If they did, I was sure that they would start on a rant about how much they hated the Royals and that they were scum. Even though I wasn't on the greatest terms with most of the Royals, I still felt extremely uncomfortable when they gossiped so carelessly about people they didn't know.

Raising an eyebrow, I stole a glance at the table in the middle of the dining hall. Sure enough, Robin and Logan were looking at my direction with unreadable expressions.

"They could be staring at any one of us," I replied, and Wes gave me a pointed look. "What? It's true!"

"They don't look very pleased, that's for sure," Wes commented. "Did you do something to piss them off?"

"Did not!" I gasped. "I'm not even friends with them!"

"Technically, you are mutual friends because of Emily Park," Wes pointed out.

"So? That's still not─"

"What are the two of you whispering about?" Jim asked suddenly, causing me to jump in my seat in surprise. The rest of the people at the table turned their heads to look curiously at Wesleigh and me, including Jake.

"Yeah, man. Were you even listening to my joke?" Jake asked. He looked between his best friend and me, furrowing his eyebrows. I stole another glance at the Centre Table, catching Robin's eye briefly.

"We were just...discussing about stuff," Wes said, coughing slightly.

"About what?" Jake asked, tilting his head to one side.

"I was just asking him about how he did for English," I said, lying through my teeth. Jake stared at us for a second before his frown softened and he shot me a cheery smile.

"Oh! Why didn't you just say so? Speaking about assessment tests, how did you guys do for math?" Jake asked, and our conversation resumed as if nothing had happened. Despite that, I couldn't help but sneak another glance at the Centre Table a few minutes later, only to find that the table was empty.

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A/N: It's the holidays now but I haven't had time to write ಥ_ಥ Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! As always, remember to vote & comment <3

#QOTC: Did you like this new chapter? ;) Re-readers and FTRs alike, I hope you like this new addition to the book (since it wasn't included in the original draft).

Song of the Chapter: Cruel Ways, by The Drowners. The Drowners are my absolute favourite band! Not to mention their frontman is hella cute~