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The entire day, Melissa and Callie kept asking if I was okay, despite the smile that I had managed to paste on. I knew that they weren’t buying my answer, but I kept trying to sell it. It’s what I wanted to believe. I was fine.

Kevin came to sit with us today at lunch, which was both a good and bad thing. Good, because he was the only one who really knew what was going on and it felt relieving to have him there and bad, because his presence scared off Micah.

Melissa and Callie were giving Kevin hell for allowing Ashton to even breathe near me and he was trying to crack some jokes to make them feel better.

“You two are acting suspicious,” Melissa said, narrowing her eyes at us.

Kevin and I stared wide eyed at her and then blinked in unison. This peaked Callie’s interest.

“Are you sure you two aren’t dating?” she asked.

“No, no, that’s not it,” Melissa decided, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. “Kevin was spaced out the whole English class.”

“Same thing with Liz.” Callie said, poking at her salad. “Even Ashton didn’t bother her today.”

Melissa and Callie looked up at us and we both plastered on smiles at the same time.

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“You told me to get some sleep, but you didn’t take your own advice,” I said, poking Kevin’s arm.

“You said you would get some sleep, but you didn’t take my advice,” Kevin said, poking my cheek.

Ashton stared at us. “Are both of you zombies? Or is there a chance that I know one of you?”

He grimaced as Kevin and I yawned in the back seat. None of us, including Kevin, trusted Kevin to drive to the palace while sleep deprived, so we carpooled with Ashton to get there.

In the meantime, Kevin and I had a complete snooze-fest in the back. Ashton was opposed to Kevin and me riding in the same place, but I refused to get in without Kevin. I realized that when I was sleepy, I was more stubborn. Ashton just sighed and complied.

Brooke was still feeling sick and the queen had taken her back to see the physician. Ashton and I stared awkwardly at each other at this sudden announcement. Kevin went to the kitchen to wolf down some food.

“So…” I trailed off.

“I’ll drive you home,” he offered.

I nodded. Since Brooke wasn’t home, what else would I do here? Maybe I could visit Micah. That didn’t sound like a bad idea.

“The guys are meeting up here,” Kevin said as he came over to us. “You should join us.”

I wasn’t eager to crash their party, but Kevin managed to talk me into it. A promised packet of gummy bears sealed the deal.

I followed them upstairs to the second floor. We passed his parents’ office, but as soon as we came close to it, Ashton quickly steered me away down the hall. We came up to another door and Kevin pushed it open, gesturing me inside. This was their main meeting room.

Suddenly, Ashton glowered. “Why didn’t you answer my text?”

“Huh?”

“Don’t ‘huh’ me, Elizabeth. I need that bracelet.”

“I still haven’t talked to my parents yet,” I groaned. “And what text?”

“Still?” he groaned. “Is it that hard to ask them about it?”

I winced. “Yes, it is. I’ve known them my whole life. Imagine how they’ll feel if I start doubting them now.”

“Imagine how I’ll feel if I have to get married to you because you’re too scared to ask them about what happened that night.”

I rolled my eyes. “I’ll give you the bracelet soon enough. Then we can put all this behind us.”

He sighed.

“Now what text?”

He pulled out his phone and showed me a text he had sent.

We need to talk ~Read

I stared at it, then stared at him and pulled out my phone.

We need to talk ~Unknown

“Unknown?” he frowned. “You don’t have my number?”

“Why would I?” I scoffed.

“Why wouldn’t you?” he shook his head. “You really are different.”

“Thank you.”

“It wasn’t a compliment.”

“I’ll take it however I want, your highness.”

His lips pulled down in a small frown. “Don’t call me that.”

“Your highness, your highness,” I repeated, just for the fun of it.

Ashton rolled his eyes and a chuckle escaped his lips.

In a moment, loud noises sounded from outside and the doors opened. Jackson came in first, completely engrossed in reading some papers. Jun bounded in after Kristof, who waved at me. Beau came in, smiling down at his phone and Raúl stepped in last.

His eyes lit up as he saw me.

“Hola, babe.”

“Hola, Raúl,” I greeted with a smile.

Ashton frowned at him, but was called over by Jackson who was still poring over some documents.

“Are you still confused about royalty?” he asked. “I’ll tell you everything you want to know.”

“I know some stuff,” I said slowly. “My dad’s a History lecturer. I know about the king and the queen.”

“Nice,” Beau said, sitting beside us. He grinned. “I still can’t believe Ashton found his betrothed.”

I shifted uncomfortably. I still didn’t really know how to react to that.

“Uh… what’s the difference between being betrothed and engaged? I’ve kinda been using them interchangeably.”

They stared at me and then turned to Ashton.

“You didn’t explain it to her?”

“I’ll get to it eventually.”

Beau rolled his eyes at that answer and Raúl took over the conversation animatedly. “I’ll tell you what the difference is.”

I turned to him and he cleared his throat dramatically. “Let me enlighten you, young one.”

“I’m probably older than you.”

“How old are you?”

“Seventeen.”

“Me too. I'll be eighteen in November.”

“April.”

“¡Caray! (Darn it!) Well, I’m older in political knowledge.”

I laughed. “Okay, great guru. I’m your humble pupil.”

He grinned. “Well, it’s basically the same thing. In our kingdom, a betrothal’s done when the persons are younger. It’s like a promise between their two families that they’ll get married someday. Engagements are more public and make the agreement more official. That’s the time they propose with rings.”

I ended up staying and talking with him and Beau for a while. He was a pretty nice guy. Fun and simple. He made me comfortable.

“Hey!” I pouted as Raúl’s laugh echoed through the room when I told him about my recent adventures as a rebel.

“Sorry, sorry,” he chuckled. “Maybe you should forget about being a rebel and just be you.”

“You don’t think I’m boring?”

“What defines boring?” he frowned. “I don’t think doing something you enjoy makes you any less interesting than everyone else. If everyone was doing the same thing, then that would be really boring. Diversity makes things fun,” he smiled. “You’re you and I like that.”

I grinned up at him and then we started talking about cars. One of his passions.

I left when it started getting dark and I ended up getting caught in one of Jun’s explosive pranks. It was meant for Kristof, but I was almost blown up instead. He grinned mischievously and apologized, but Ashton whacked him and pulled me out of the room.

In the car, I kept thinking back to a conversation I’d had with Raúl just before I’d left.

“You seem really happy today,” I’d said, observing the perpetual smile etched on his face.

“I am. Can I tell you something?” he whispered to me.

I cocked my head in curiosity.

“I'm seeing someone. Her name's Thalia,” he grinned.

I smiled at the happiness in his eyes. “She’s lucky to have you, Raúl.”

“You can’t tell anyone, though,” he frowned. “She’s not someone of high status.”

“Does it matter?” I asked. “I’m not either.”

“Sí, (Yes) but you are betrothed to the prince. You basically have a title already. My mother… she won’t like it.”

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I sighed.

“Don’t release your sadness in my car,” Ashton said, as we drove out onto the highway.

“Hey,” I said, turning to him. “I didn’t know status was so important here.”

He nodded. “Lots of people wish for a life like this… It’s really not all it’s cut out to be.”

“I see that now.”

He nodded again. “For your sake, I hope you’re not Elizabeth.”

“I hope so too,” I whispered. “Do you remember her?” I asked after a few moments of silence.

He nodded. “We only met once, but I remember some stuff.”

“Do I look like her?”

He glanced at me and an unreadable emotion flitted across his face. “Your hair and eyes are similar. When you smile, sometimes it reminds me of her.”

“That’s weird,” I decided.

“Yeah, it is.”

I sighed again. “The king will probably be upset that I’m not the girl he’s looking for.”

Ashton froze for a second, and his face became clouded with worry. He glanced at me uncertainly. “I didn’t think about that.”

“Of course you didn’t,” I smiled. “You’re the prince. You have bigger things to think about.”

“I’ll make sure he doesn’t do anything to hurt you.”

“The king wouldn’t hurt me.”

He stared straight ahead at the road. A muscle clenched in his jaw.

“The faith you have in your father is unbelievably small,” I muttered.

“That’s because I live with him. I know him.”

I noticed that he wasn’t wearing his ring. “You only wear your ring in the palace?”

“Aren’t you full of questions today,” he commented drily.

“It’s either the questions or the sighing.” I sighed for dramatic effect.

“Yes, I only wear it in the palace. Don’t ask me why.”

“Okay,” I hummed.

We drove on in silence, but I noticed the way his expression darkened as his thoughts drifted. I had no idea what was going on inside his head, but I knew that deep down there was something that was troubling him.

Maybe he didn’t want me to be Elizabeth or maybe he just didn’t want me to be his Elizabeth.

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