Celia
"Aren't they driving you crazy?" I asked Amelia, the gaggle of girls around me had finally dissipated as the girls returned to their normal seats after the initial excitement of me entering the room. This exact thing had been happening every time I walked into the Women's Room for three days since everyone found out that I was the Princess. It seemed that all of the girls thought that getting close to me would give them a better chance with the Princes.

"They mean well," said Amelia watching as Alexis and Emerald gossiped over a famous actor from a magazine that Emerald was holding. 

"I still can't believe that he and Natalie Luca were really married," Alexis was saying, "my mum says that she thought they were a perfect couple!"

"Celebrity couples never last," sighed Emerald, "but they would've had really cute kids wouldn't they!" Both girls giggled at the thought.

"Besides, you haven't spent nearly as much time around them as I have," Amelia continued, "most of them are really lovely when you get to know them a bit."

"Why do you say most of them?" I asked, "what don't I know?"

Amelia's eyes wrested on Gwendolyn Diamond, who was reclining on a sofa, rubbing her temples as if trying to rid herself of a headache.

"Not all of them are as friendly as they want the royal family to think they are," she said, "she thinks she's fooling AJ and Shalom, but I see right through her. She's manipulative."

"I'll keep it in mind," I laughed.

********

"Mum!" my parents arrived at the palace the day before Christmas Eve. Although they had visited the palace several times since I had been here, but they had a big job that had to be finished by now, meaning that I had not seen them for a while. They had completed it, allowing them to arrive a day earlier than everyone else.

"Ah here's our little Princess," Dad smiled the moment he saw me walking down the stairs towards them.

"Dad I think you might need to stop calling me that now that I'm an actual Princess," I laughed.

"I think that's the first time I've heard you admit it out loud," Dad hugged me tightly.

"Wednesday!" America was descending the stairs behind me and quickly embraced my mother before I even had a chance. Whilst I had initially expected America to hold some animosity towards my mother, they had almost immediately become fast friends. My mother was 53, whilst America was 37, a total of fifteen years age difference, but my mother had always said that she thought the Queen was wiser than her years, clearly, she had been proved right.

"Hi, Mum," I grinned and hugged her. 

"Hi, sweetheart," she smiled and tucked a loose hair behind my ear, "I always said that green was your colour." She noted my green dress, which was one of my favourites that I had worn since arriving at the palace.

"Are you going to join us in the Women's Room?" America asked Mum eagerly, "You're welcome to join us as well Quentin."

"We'll go and get cleaned up and then we'll join you there," Mum smiled back at America.

"Paige will take you to your room," one of the women who often accompanied America stepped forwards with a smile, gesturing for my Mum and Dad to follow.

"We'll see you in a bit sweetie," my Dad kissed my forehead before he and Mum made their way up the stairs.

"I love your parents," America sighed, "they're the sweetest people in the world."

I smiled, "I know."

"The selected girls have been banished from the Women's Room today," said America, "my family are arriving later and so is Maxon's aunt."

"That's a shame," I replied, "I was hoping to finally introduce Mum and Dad to Amelia."

"Amelia doesn't count as selected," said America, "she is practically family."

"Well, soon enough she will be," I said. I was still in the dark about which of the Princes Amelia had entered the selection for, but it was only a matter of time until she married one of them.

"Has she told you which one it is?" America asked me, as we began to make our way back towards the Women's Room.

"No, but it's only a matter of time," I smiled, "she's going to marry one of them, it's just a matter of which one!"

America laughed, "you're right about that."

We walked together in comfortable silence. 

"I have to warn you about my family," America said, "they can be a little much."

"I'm sure they're wonderful," I said.

"No really, they're a lot," she continued, "I think you'll love May. You remind me of her if a little quieter."

May Singer was a media darling. Even without having ever purchased a magazine I knew who she was, the girls at school were always talking about her, everyone was always talking about her.

"I can't wait to meet them."