The second school day had come to an end. Everyone sat at the tables and chatted while eating their supper.

Nate shoved his hands into his pockets as he looked at his tray full of food. "Who knew learning about politics and diplomacy would make you hungry? Even singing would make you hungry, I thought it'd only make you thirsty." He let out a whistle.

Michael rubbed his eyes and loosened the tie around his neck. "I've never sung in my life and I did not know I could sing those notes," He then paused, recalling the scene vividly. "If you count a sick toad with a fly stuck in their throat, then I'm a natural."

Amelia giggled at and nudged him as she walked away from the lunch line. "You weren't that bad. A little pitchy, but you have range." She encouraged, trying to be a little supportive towards Nate while flashing a smile. "Don't be so hard on yourself."

Witty looked behind him at Sidney as his tray was filled with dinner. "You were pretty good, even our choir teacher said you have range. With a little practice, you can smooth out those vocals." He praised her, wanting to make her feel a little better.

Sidney then noticed Thea was caught up in her thoughts as Dree was chatting away. "You guys go head to our table. I want to have a word with Thea." She told them, leaving them to wonder why she needed to speak with her.

She walked towards Thea, knowing this couldn't wait any longer. "Good evening, Thea! I don't think we met on the right track. If we will be here the whole school year I think she should at least get on the right foot." She gave a smile trying to be confident, although it was flattering. "I know you don't like scholarship winners, but believe me, I don't hold it against you because maybe that was how you were raised or a bad experience before."

Thea snapped out of her thoughts, giving her body a little jolt, and turned towards the girl. "Uh? Oh, um, yes, Sidney? Uh, you again . . . what do you -" She stammered, trying to collect her thoughts.

Dree sat back with raised eyebrows. "I am surprised you are speaking with us again after it was obvious I don't like you." She forced a sweet smile but her tone was condescending. "I don't care if we got off on the wrong foot or not, nothing you say will change how I feel and I would appreciate it if you left me alone."

Sidney was a bit stunned and didn't know exactly how to react. "Oh, yeah, that does seem like the best opinion. I just thought I would try." She sighed and then thought. 'Try to be the bigger person.' She glanced at her friends and then back to Thea. "Anyways, I want to congratulate you on being Crown Princess. Your Father seems so happy for you and so does your Mother." 

Thea hummed, swallowing what was in her mouth, and could feel Dree's eyes burning into her skin. "Does it look like I care? I don't need your congratulations nor do I care how you feel about it." Then something clicked in her head what her father had said earlier. "I heard you checked my dad into your hotel."

Sidney had to do a double-take to make sure she heard her right. "Wait, Marshall Messing is your father?" She couldn't believe she had not put two and two together. "I didn't even know who he was." 

Thea had a hard time believing she didn't know that Marshall was her dad. "How many people do you know with my surname?" She asked, knowing fully well Messing wasn't a very common surname.

Sidney bit her tongue. 'She is right. Messing is quite an uncommon surname, I think it might even be banned from being used in Senoia, at least from what I recall Missy telling me.' She thought to herself and then replied. "No one, I guess?" 

"My point exactly," Thea pursed her lips. "If you happen to see anyone with Messing as their surname odds are, they are related to me. Of course, I take it you knew nothing about the royals before coming here, am I right?" She questioned condescendingly much to Dree's content. 

Sidney sighed heavily, crossing her arms over her chest. "Yes, you are right. That was more of my sister's thing than my own. The only reason Missy was into you guys was to escape our world and troubles fantasizing about a life she'd never have." She explained, pushing a lock of hair behind her ear.

"You're right," Dree butted in before Thea could say a single word. "We don't care about your little world. It is an eyesore and takes away from the beauty of our city. I'm sure that Thea would love nothing more than to level it all and put up nice luxury apartments and a garden or some nice penthouse flats." She placed her manicured hand on her chest. "Isn't that right?"

Thea swallowed harshly. 'I don't want to displace people like Sidney . . . That isn't right.' Her thoughts trailed off as she figured they could come up with another reasonable option. "I - yes, that is right." She looked down at her plate. "Maybe even a country club, we don't have one of those yet."

Sidney let her arms fall to her sides, letting her palms hit her tights making a slapping sound. "You would displace so many people who would be homeless to make this whole city a luxury living place or a country club for other kingdoms to admire? How could you be so cruel? People like me have no money to spare and if you take down our houses we have nothing. This is all we have. All we can afford!" 

Thea could tell she thought she would make an awful Crown Princess, her expression was a dead giveaway. "And how is that my problem? Maybe you guys should have thought about that before becoming poor. I don't get how you guys just can't get out of the rut, it takes some gumption. Yes, a few sacrifices might have to be made, but isn't that worth it?" She snapped, seeing Dree proud but inwardly she felt guilty.

Sidney's jaw almost went slack. "Things don't work like that. Most of those who live in my part of the city have health problems, or disabilities, and can't get a good-paying job due to circumstances for whatever reason, or not having an academic education. All of the money we need is taken away to fulfill the rich and for many other reasons. It isn't our fault, it is yours for not making a better economy and making everything so expensive!"

Witty walked up to Sidney and grabbed her arm. "Come on Sidney. She isn't worth wasting your breath on." He whispered in her ear, his eyes shifting to everyone who was either looking or whispering.

Sidney, without saying a word, followed Witty to the table and sat down. She folded her arms and rested them on the table, then she rested her head on the folded arms. 'Was that how all the royals and nobles saw them just as Thea did? How on earth was being poor my fault? As if I had any control over the economy.' She thought to herself, holding back tears.

Thea's gaze softened as she watched Sidney walk away but Dree's look made her harden them back up. She needed not to allow that to bother her, it was a tough decision she'd have to make. 'Don't give in. Don't feel anything. Like Mother always said: emotions don't get you far in politics. It's better to have no personal feelings than you can't muck up things.' She thought to herself.

Dree skeptically looked at Thea, trying to read her face. "You're not feeling sorry for her, are you? Because that wouldn't be good, now would it?" She asked, leaning forward to see if her friend would lie, although she was a flawless liar. 

Thea pulled her gaze from her plate and looked up at Dree. "Hmm? Oh no, I'm not. I was just thinking," She quickly replied, and took a sip of her drink. "About how I can't believe Dad is going to be teaching here! He is going to be helping Headmaster Alexander out."

Mia chewed on the food in her mouth and then spoke. "He is? How did your mom even allow that?" She asked, knowing fully well Katherine wasn't happy.

Thea pushed a lock of hair behind her ear and sighed. "She didn't. She was furious to know he had shown up out of the blue and gave us that information. I'm pretty sure she marched off to give Headmistress Devona a piece of her mind."

Dree huffed as she listened to Thea go on about her parents. "Please tell me they didn't make a scene in front of everyone? I couldn't handle the embarrassment, and I'm not even their daughter." She asked, cringing at what could happen.

Thea wasn't too happy with Dree, despite her point. "Well, with this year being the last as Duchess, I'm sure they'll keep it cordial with each other. Wouldn't want them destroying my rep, huh?" She replied, avoiding the question. 

Dree snorted, picking up her fork and twirling it around on her plate. "Do you think that just because they care about your image? Don't be naïve Thea." She scoffed and shook her head.

Thea glares at Dree for a brief moment then she inwardly sighed and collected herself, letting her glare disappear. "It's not like I can do anything about it after all. At the end of the day, regardless of what I say they will do whatever they want. They're grown adults. It's not my business." She said, taking a few bites of her food.

Dree rolled her eyes and took a sip of her drink. "It's not your business? Thea, sweetie, they're your parents, of course, it's your business. How they act affects you and your image. Do you want the tabloids to say: Crown Princess Thea. Not Even Her Parents Can Get Along. How Can She Run A Kingdom?" She asked in an announcing voice.

'Even though it's not my business I have been playing mediator between the two my whole life.' Thea thought to her and replied bitterly as Dree gave a smug smile."I hate it when you're right. I hate it?"

Skyrina Elliot found the courage to speak up after having not said a single word all day out of fear of how Dree would react. "You just uh, gotta stand up to uh them and uh tell them your feelings flat out." She weakly suggested, glancing only at Thea for a second before looking at her plate.

Dree glared over at Skye, narrowing her eyes and pressing her lips into a thin line, causing Skye to look down at her lap. "I told you not to speak unless I tell you thag you can." She chided, shaking her head, and looked up as two girls walked past her table. 

Princess Jingyi Yue got up from her table and walked over to Sidney, pushing her golden blonde hair off her back as her warm brown eyes gently looked at the girl. "Um, ni hao." She bowed to them. "I just wanted to apologize on Thea's behalf. Not all of us think that way about you guys, I certainly don't." 

Her soon-to-be Royal Lady, Daianna Ming followed behind her princess, bowing with her as her long black fishtail braid swayed as she moved; however, her bangs didn't move an inch. "Ni hao!" Her dark brown eyes looked between everyone. "We know it isn't your fault and not all royals care about the less fortunate like our kingdom does." 

Jingyi gently nodded, agreeing with Daianna. "Most kingdoms don't care about you, they see you as nothing. I wish more people would see you like people and want to help you guys out. You don't deserve the life you have been made to live in."

Daianna stuffed her hands into the pockets of her skirt. "Thea thinks it's such a disgrace to other royals and nobles. She thinks scholarship winners are nothing special, that they are just a waste of space, and that they don't belong. We know that isn't true. All royalty is descended from mere commoners, heck, her father only became a Duke when he married Duchess Katherine." She rolled her eyes at the mere thought.

Sidney didn't quite know how to react. "Um, thanks . . . ?" She didn't know either one of their names so she didn't know what to call them.

Jingyi's face flushed a bit red and laughed out of embarrassment. "Oh, right. I'm Princess Jingyi Yue of Shixiang and this is my Royal Lady, Daianna Ming. I already know who you are, everyone can't stop talking about you." She gave a cute curtsey, followed by Daianna.

Amelia titled her at what Jingyi had said, people were talking about them. "I hope that is a good thing not bad. Because I'm sure there are mixed feelings about our presence, Thea is proof of that." She rambled on nervously with a sheepish expression on her face.

Daianna cracked a smile, seeing how they were all perplexed. "It is a mix of feelings. I suppose the shock of six scholarship winners hasn't worn off for some. We do hope you stick around and end up graduating and proving everyone wrong." She exclaimed, happily clapping her hands.
        
Jingyi enjoyed how enthusiastic her lady was. "We will be here to cheer you guys on no matter what happens. We will have your back and if you ever need us please don't hesitate to call us. Anytime Thea or Dree decide to come at you, we will be ready with fists in the air. Metaphorically speaking." She explained making various hand gestures. 

Yasmin exchanged looks with the others and then looked back up at the two girls. "That's very nice of you to offer. It means a lot to me, a lot to . . ." She turned to her friends to see if she could speak to them and they nodded for her to. "To us."

"Of course! It is honestly nothing." Jingyi flashed a smile and continued. "It was nice talking and sorry we can't stay to talk longer. We must hurry and finish to get some studying in for tomorrow and early sleep." 

Daianna curtseyed to the scholarship winners, Jingyi following what her friend did before scurrying back over to their tables and quickly sitting down.

"I am starting to change my view that all royals and nobles are awful people. Those two girls seemed genuinely nice and the type of girls I would have no problem being friends with." Nate rested his arms on the table after pushing up his empty tray.

Yasmin ruffled his hair and smiled at him, then she gently nudged his arm. "Hmm, I have to agree with you. Not all royals or nobles are awful, it is just how they were raised, I suppose. Jingyi and Daianna seem nice. If only some people would learn from that." She sighed heavily, glancing over at Thea and Dree for a brief moment.

Michel interjected, going a different way to get away from the three girls. "What extracurricular activities do you guys want to do this school year?" He asked, knowing in their spare time they had to pick at least one, which was mandatory.

"Probably polo. I have always wanted to learn how to ride a horse. This is my chance and I have always been super great with horses." Amelia exclaimed happily, bouncing in her seat.

Yasmin tilted her head back and forth as she pondered it. "I agree with Amelia, polo sounds like fun. Plus we get to spend time around horses and ride them. I also heard we get to try our hand at dressage too if we choose polo." She said as she pushed her hair to her back.

Witty pushed up his glasses that had slid down his nose. "I think I will have to look to see what is available. Quite honestly, I am not a sports type person, most of them use my brain and do a little exercise. So, there is always badminton which they offer here." He didn't mind exercising that indication.

Nate laughed at what Witty had said, patting his back. "Oh, I am tempted to just ride horses because that sounds fun. I don't think I want to participate in polo or dressage, but let's see how I do with my first time riding." He said, finishing off his drink.

Sidney ran a hand through her hair. "That all sounds good. I am focused on school right now and just getting through at least the first semester . . . but if it is mandatory, I'll have to figure it out." She softly spoke, looking down at her lap and twiddling her thumbs.

Nate finished his drink and leaned his arms on the table. "I think this weekend I am going to give my family a tour of the academy through video chat. Before I left, they wanted to know exactly where I was going, but online pictures don't do it justice." He smiled at the thought of his family being interested in his time here.

Sidney grabbed her napkin and lifted her cup, wiping up the water ring from the glass sweating. 'So, I guess I won't be the only one video chatting with my family at the end of the week. I'm sure Missy is curious about what's going on and will be asking a bunch of questions.' She thought as she glanced up at her friends.

Witty stood up and grabbed his empty tray. "I will see you guys at the dorms. I am pretty exhausted. Today was a bit brutal on the mind." He said as he walked over and dumped his tray into the trash before setting it with the others.

Sidney did the same, yawning softly and using her hand to cover her mouth. "See you guys,"

She just hoped Witty was joking about tomorrow being brutal on the body, she wasn't looking forward to it.

〰❦〰❦〰❦〰❦〰❦〰❦〰

A/N:
Sorry this is so short. I didn't have much inspiration for this and I probably still later or who knows add this to the previous chapter. It all depends on when I get this finished. That is when I will worry about all that, because my sole focus is finishing this book.

Chapter Talk:
I took out a part that had Katherine, Thea, and Marshall having dinner, so, I figured I'd save that chapter for later since I didn't think it'd fit with this new version.

Thanks for reading!