Yesterday I didn’t even have to get a text from Ben to know that he was in the country. All I had to do was watch the five o’ clock news.

@HRHPrincessAnna: How do I know my fiance has arrived in the country? I turn on the local news station. 

The local stations and even a few national outlets went crazy when he got off the plane at the nearest airport and drove here. Last night we didn’t even have to turn the porch light on. The lights from the news trucks and police cars was enough. Of course, we did anyways but still.

It’s been a long time since he’s been here, so maybe that’s why they’re making such a big deal. It just sucks because for the longest time this town has basically protected me from all the media hype. Our police chief said if he saw any paps lurking around town he would escort them out himself. We’re still small town folk that don’t like nosy photographers. And thank god for that.

“You look beautiful,” he says as Bryant starts to pull out the rollers in my hair.

I snort, “Ben, they’re not even done yet.”

He smiles, “I know.”

“That reminds me,” Bryant says with the raise of an eyebrow. He locks eyes with Ben through the mirror. “Get out.”

With a bulging lower lip and puppy dog expression, Ben asks, “Why?”

“Remember the rule we set? Every time we do her up all pretty you need to wait outside—it’s part of what makes most royal relationships together, you know. A lot of royal couples still get ready separately to not ruin the surprise.”

He creases his eyebrows and cocks his head slightly. “Like who?”

“Well I happen to know that Crown Princess Mary and Crown Prince Frederik still do that—her makeup artist is best friends with Garret.” He explains, “And look at how happy they are.”

I grin, “It is kind of cute, Ben.”

Surrendering to our pressure, he get ups, shooting me a wink before leaving. “Alright, I’ll be waiting with your brothers—maybe they’ll appreciate my company,” he jokes.

I don’t realize I’m blushing until Valencia says I am. “You are pink as a rose right now, sweetie. He does that a lot to you, doesn’t he?”

As she finishes off covering up some of the bumps on my face, I wrinkle my nose. “Maybe.”

“No need to be ashamed,” Bryant comments, tugging at my hair. I have no idea what he’s doing and that scares me. “My boyfriend still does it to me. It’s a sign of a good relationship.”

I shrug, “I guess that’s true.”

It takes Valencia and Bryant an hour to get me “perfect” in their eyes. Finally, Val spins me around to face my mirror—and I smile the widest I have in a long time. I look good. I look really good. My usually limp, lifeless dark blonde hair is pulled over one shoulder, with the rest flowing freely in down my back. He must have done something in the way of teasing, because it’s more voluminous than I’ve ever seen it before.

Val did my eyes with hints of the pastel green and pink in my gown, and even did those fake eyelashes that I have no idea how to put on. It’s a good thing I decided to bring these two over here last minute.

“Ready for the dress?” Bryant holds it up as I stand, stripping down to my underwear. Once he slips it up, I slide my bra off. With one clean, fast zip it’s fitted snugly to my body—and damn, does my ass look awesome.

I reach over and grab the earrings, slipping on the bracelet before clipping them in my ears. The last things they hand me are my clutch and heels. Then, I take a deep breath and say, “Let’s do this.”

They both nod and motion for me to lead the way. As soon as I reach the top of the stairs I see mom waiting at the bottom, pacing. She sees me and yells, “Oh, honey! You look beautiful!”

And of course that makes everyone run to the stairs as I carefully descend. Marc grabs my hand just before I step onto the floor—I think he saw my bobble. 

Then, I look up and see Ben—standing there with a smirk on his face and his arms crossed. He opens his mouth, then shuts it again. So, the boys speak for him.

Adrian elbows him, “Speechless, huh? Sis, I think you broke your fiancé.”

I burst out into laughter, along with the rest of the room. Ben finally says, “You look gorgeous.”

“Oh! He speaks!” Alec jokes.

“We better leave now if we wanna get good spots on the green!” Dad says, walking through the front door. He stops for a moment when he sees me stepping into my heels. He smiles, “You look beautiful, Anna.”

With a roll of my eyes, I reply, “Thank you dad.”

Ben—always the gentleman—holds me steady as I get settled into the four inch pumps. He comments, “Those school boys better pay attention to that ring.”

As he kisses the back of my hand I tell him, “They’ve certainly taken notice.”

His arm loops around my waist as we walk towards the door. I brace for the flash of cameras, on top of the already bright afternoon sunlight—but there are none. It’s all nice and quiet as we pile into two separate cars and head for the town green—where basically everyone goes to take pre-prom pictures with friends and family. 

What I’m dreading is the people. Pretty much the entire town comes out to see all the sequined gowns and boys in tuxes. And I just know since they’ve heard of Ben’s arrival they’re all going to be there to snoop. To add to the annoyance, the photographers are probably going to be there as well.

“You’re still going to let me put this thing on you, right?” Ben suddenly asks, holding up the corsage.

With a laugh I answer, “Of course, Ben.”

The rest of the short ride I can feel him staring at me. I makes me flush, which makes him chuckle and squeeze my hand tighter.

Once we pull up to the green, it’s clear that everyone has heard of Ben’s stay here. There are many more people than last year. The green is a sea of parents, grandparents, teenagers and little siblings. 

And all eyes seem to settle on my entourage as we walk towards Ash, Ave, Sami and Mel’s families. They all give one big scream when they see me. Ash and Ave break away from their dates, while Sami and Mel abandon their families to meet me in the middle.

“Oh. My. God! You look gorgeous!” Those are basically the same words repeated within our group for a few seconds before someone says something different.

“Oh my god, is that him?” Sami whispers quite loudly, glancing over my shoulder.

With a nod I answer, “Yep. That’s Ben.”

I wave for my family to hurry up, and Ben is the first one to arrive in near the group. I swear I’ve never seen Mel and Sami’s eyes so big. Not to mention, their families that stand behind them are inching closer with their jaws ajar. It’s pretty funny. 

Although, even if Ben wasn’t the heir to the throne of a European nation I suppose he’d still be intimidating. At six foot two and looking like a runway model, his body is enough to make people gape.

“Everyone, this is my fiancé, Ben,” I’m proud of myself for not faltering on the word ‘fiancé’ and then I continue with my greeting. “Ben, these are my best friends—of course you’ve met Ash and Avery before but these are my other two best friends, Sami and Melody—and their families.”

A few people utter a couple of hellos while others simply stand there in silence. 

“Nice to meet all of you,” Ben says with perfect diplomacy and ease. 

“So should we get on with those pictures?” Mom says cheerfully.

That eases the nervousness in the air and we quickly become occupied with taking the first sets of pictures—of dates, or fathers in Mel and Sami’s cases—where the corsages and boutonnieres are exchanged. Ben gladly presents me with a gorgeous corsage of one pink and one white rose. It’s beautiful, and even has a pearl bracelet instead of an elastic band. And if I know Ben—and I do very well by now—those pearls are real.

“Please don’t tell me those pearls are real,” I mumble. I’m terrified I might lose them.

He chuckles, “Alright, I won’t tell you. What I will tell you is that it’s actually just a normal bracelet. When you take the flower part off it’s yours to keep.”

Giving him an exasperated look, I surrender and give him a light kiss on the cheek. I can practically feel the shuttering of paparazzi cameras as I do.

“Thank you, it’s gorgeous.” As I stare down at it in all it’s white, pearly gorgeousness. I can’t believe I’m being trusted with something this expensive. He should know better.

“Anna!” Someone snaps from the line of bejeweled gowns and tuxedoed seniors. 

Ben gives me a light push on the butt, which I would hit him for if there weren’t so many photogs lurking in the bushes. He grins, “Go on.”

I tip toe through the grass to get into line next to Sami and Avery, the only other two single girls in our party bus group. The entire way I’m thinking about how there’s going to be a picture of Ben with his hand on my ass in the tabloids tomorrow morning. I would bet my entire savings on the release of that photo.

But, at least it’ll assure people we actually like each other.

“Oh my god, he is gorgeous,” Sami hisses as the three of us in the middle link arms. 

Avery adds, “I can practically feel the jealousy seething from all the girls on this lawn.”

Sami whispers through a smile, “And me and Avery are two of them.”

Jabbing her in the side jokingly, I suppress a laugh and reply, “you two will have no trouble finding someone tonight in those gowns.”

“But none of them are princes,” Avery whispers.

“This is true,” I suppress a chuckle.

Once the group photos are done and over with we retreat back to our families. The enormous party bus is waiting to drive us the thirty minute drive to the nearest big banquet hall. 

“Promise you won’t fall asleep on me? You need to come to after-prom so I can beat you in the obstacle course,” I quip as his hands meet my waist.

He bends down closer to me and says, “I promise. And Gabe says everything is ready for the weekend. It’s going to be perfect, I promise.”

The goofiest smile bursts onto my face as he kisses my forehead. 

“Now go have fun—you’ve only got two more months left to be a regular teenager. Enjoy it.” He rubs my side and pushes me by the small of my back towards the group waiting to board the party bus. After a quick goodbye to mom, dad and the boys I grab my clutch from Gabe and climb onto the bus with the rest of our twenty-two person group.

And as soon as we’re on the road the very first comment about Ben comes up—courtesy of Ashlyn’s boyfriend Jared.

“Hey, Anna your fiancé is pretty hot,” he shouts. That earns him a whack on the chest from Ash. “Ow! What? That guy makes all of us look like trolls!”

“This is true,” she replies. It sets off a series of ‘ooh’s amongst the group.

“So is he coming with us for the weekend?” Sami asks from across the aisle.

I nod, “Of course. But he has to go back on Monday—catch up on his drills.”

The rest of the ride is pretty normal. People refrain from bugging me about him too much. A couple of people genuinely want to meet him out of pure curiosity—like the president of the history club who’s in love with royalty. She practically curtsies to me now, which is slightly disturbing.

I have to wait until Marc and Gabe park and meet me at the front doors. Then, I walk in with Sami and Avery. Just like at Junior Prom, the teachers, principal and vice principals greet us. Except this time they actually recognize me. Last year they didn’t even know my name.

But now it’s all smiles and handshakes for the cameras that are lurking outside. Principal Anderson smiles more at the wall of windows than he does at me.

As soon as we’re inside the giant hall, Marc and Gabe fall back like they told me they would. I’m allowed to run around and take pictures under the chandeliers and near the giant windows. We even manage to get out into the courtyard garden before dusk falls.

Thankfully, it’s only people I’m really close with at our table. I plop myself between Sami and Avery as we wait for dinner to roll around.

It very much reminds me of the New Year’s Gala I made my first appearance at when the waiters and waitresses come out in a formation; serving us in a graceful ballet of dishes and bowls. It’s impressive for a simple little dining hall in middle-of-nowhere Maine.

But the real fun starts when we get out on the dance floor. Unfortunately for me, not everyone understands what the enormous engagement ring on my left ring finger means. Seriously. I come close to shoving it in everyone’s face when they start grinding on me. They don’t understand that those huge floor to ceiling windows are practically an invitation for photographers to get a picture of me “cheating” on Ben.

As another guy grabs at my hips I whack his hands off pretty quickly. When I turn around the face I see is none other than Richie.

Since when is he interested in me? He was always just the one that instigated bickering and tried to hook me up with his friends.

Times change when you become famous.

He gives me a raise of his eyebrows, which makes me want to slap him in the face. We’ve always had that kind of hate/hate relationship. Since the third grade he’s been my little bickering buddy.

And now he wants to grind all up on me? Ah, no.

“Aw, come on his royal highness doesn’t have to know,” he speaks straight into my ear as land another slap to his arm.

With a roll of my eyes, I tug at Avery’s wrist. In seconds I’m being pulled into a safety circle of Sami, Avery, Ashlyn and her date, Melody and her date and Maddie and her date. I can’t see his face, but I bet Rich is a little disappointed.

My feet screaming at me, even though I took off my heels hours ago. My head is pounding and I’m sweating like crazy. My hair fell out a long time ago, and I’m pretty sure I lost my little barrette… but it’s ok. Because I’m having fun. FUN. As in actual fun, not just hanging out with Ben or the girls. Senior prom means more to me now than ever.

I even take pictures with some teachers, even though I said I wouldn’t. I slow dance with Sami and Avery because we’re some of the only losers with no dates. I sing at the top of my lungs when “We Are Young” comes on. I even scream as loud as the rest of the class when it’s announced as being our class’s “theme song” in the yearbook.

My voice is on the verge of giving out as I scream when Maddie wins Prom Queen with Aaron. I’m glad the two of them have finally found someone. Maddie deserves him and he definitely needed her in order to stop chasing after me.

After the final slow dances and even more pictures, people start to trickle out of the hall. Everything that happened tonight is a blur and it feels like some strange dream as I grab my clutch and shawl.

@HRHPrincessAnna: Exhausted but still smiling, tonight was awesome #Prom2012 #ECHS

And then I’m knocked back into reality when Marc appears beside me and says, “Your Highness, if I may speak freely,” he mocks protocol, “you do look the very epitome of a—how do you Americans say? Hot mess.”

With the raise of an eyebrow I give him a good thunk! to the chest. He, unlike Rich and the rest of the guys I did that to tonight, doesn’t even flinch. Gabe snorts in laughter and holds up my lost barrette. 

“Missing something?”

“I’m missing a lot of things… including my voice,” it cracks as I speak, which only makes them chuckle harder.

“Come on, Princess,” Sami jests, tugging at my arm. “We need to get back to Mel’s house to change.”

Rolling my eyes, I let her tug me out of the hall, waves and goodbyes following us as we go. We meet up with the rest of our group—only, they’re not outside.

No, they’re standing in the middle of the foyer chit-chatting. And why is that? Why else; because there’s a hoard of photographers snapping away at them. There’s about fifteen of them just waiting for me to run out there.

“Shit,” I hiss. The group turns to look at me, and I just know this isn’t going to end well.

“Group formation?” Ash questions, glancing up at her boyfriend, Caleb. 

“Group formation,” he nods.

They converge on me in a swarm so fast that Gabe and Marc are stuck on the outside. I guess high school seniors pose a real challenge to two ex-covert ops guys.

“Ready?” Someone asks.

I sigh, “Just go.”

I’ve never been in the middle of a group this big while moving but now that I have… I never want to do it again. Elbows are bumped, heads are being knocked around and a chorus of yelps are heard as we scurrying out the door and to the bus.

The photographers barely have time to snap one picture before we’re on the bus and in a heap on the floor. 

I haven’t laughed this hard in a pretty long time. It’s refreshing. The achy feeling in my ribs as I slump down into my seat is, for once, actually a good sensation.

“We should do that more often,” Mel’s date, Conor comments breathlessly. “I love fucking with those guys.”

I snort, “Yeah, you guys should just become my full time security walls.”

“Don’t you mean guards?”

“No, walls. As in impenetrable and pretty bad ass. Thanks,” I shove Caleb’s shoulder affectionately.

The ride home is quieter than the one to the hall. Everyone, including me, gets some shut eye. We’ve got a long night and weekend ahead of us.

But then the bus stops and we have to trudge off and into Mel’s house. Well, at least half of us do. The other half walk two houses down to Amanda’s. Our sleepover groups are different from the bus groups, funnily enough. Friendship and alliances are strange in high school.

Ripping my gown, jewelry and hair pins off is more satisfying than the nap I took, though. Once I’m in a pair of loose sweatpants and my dance team shit I’m content.

Actually, no. Not fully content. I need Ben.

After seeing all those couples dancing, kissing and being all lovey dovey I’m in serious need of him.

In fact, he’s all I think about until Marc, Gabe and I finally get to the school. We park next to Ben and his new protection agents, Oleg and Sergei. It’s weird seeing him with two now, but hey at least we have a whole entourage. 

“Ready to go back to high school?” I ask as we walk across the parking lot. A breeze makes me shiver and he wraps an arm around me.

With a slight laugh he answers, “I suppose I have no choice.”

“And you would be right,” I confirm, giggling as his lips meet my temple.

The moment we step through the door it’s like someone’s hit pause. This is scarily reminiscent of the first day back after I announced to the world who I really was. Except, this time it’s not just students. It’s faculty, parents and students from other schools that came to our prom.

As I hand the woman our tickets, she does that side glance that every woman does when Ben is around. No one can seem to look straight at him for more than two seconds. Hell, I know I couldn’t for the first few weeks I knew him. 

“Do they usually freeze like this?” He asks as we move down the line and get our hands stamped. His comment earns a short burst of laughter from a few PTO parents.

I think one of the things I love about him is his ability to do that; turn these awkward situations into relaxed ones. He just has a talent for getting people to calm down around him.

We meet up with Ash and the group, who still look a little star-struck. I can’t blame them. I mean, I was pretty flustered meeting