The room feels so much colder with Anna gone. Texting her isn’t enough, calling her is alright, but even skype messaging won’t settle the anxiousness I feel. Ever since I heard her say those three words it’s like our bond got one thousand times stronger.

Who knew that such a terrible occurrence could bring us closer together?

“Ready?” Dad asks from his seat beside me.

In a few minutes we’ll be shooting a video that will be broadcasted on every news outlet known to man—and posted on Youtube. Our advisors think it’s a good idea to show everyone that I’m okay. That’s a good idea and all but I just wish Anna was on the other side of me. Now that would be the full picture. But, she already on did her own video and had it posted on her Youtube account. It’s already got over a million hits. Maybe mine will be just as famous.

I shrug, “Ready as ever. This princely stuff is just automatic now.”

He chuckles, fixing his blazer. “I figured… I am very proud of you, you know that?”

The statement catches me off guard. “Proud of what? That I didn’t die?”

Sighing deeply, he replies, “No. I am proud of how strong you’ve been and how put together you’ve acted… I just feel that I don’t tell you that often enough.”

There it is. The guilt complex that the people I love have been riding on ever since the shooting. Anna wouldn’t stop apologizing for not telling me how she felt sooner. Dad still won’t stop telling me that he doesn’t say he loves me enough. My family hasn’t stopped telling me they regret not visiting more often.

I hate guilt. I hate it when I feel guilty; I hate it when people around me feel guilty. It’s not a good feeling and I don’t want them to go on thinking like this.

“Dad, trust me you do.” I insist, shifting uncomfortably. If an infection doesn’t kill me than this hospital bed surely will.

Then, he adds, “By the way the RCR has given you a month’s leave from your station.”

“Well, it’s about time. Did they expect me to show up at the base with a bandaged shoulder ready to go?” I wince as a shot of pain zaps me in the chest. I forgot to tell the nurse it’s hurting again.

But if Anna was here I wouldn’t even need the pain meds. When she’s in the room I can focus on her, and forget the pain in my chest, the soreness in my muscles and the nightmares that plague me at night.

I always thought she would need me. But, right now I think I need her more.

“And in three, two…” The woman behind the camera gives us the signal. I see the red recording light go on.

Dad starts off by saying that we’re very appreciative of all the love, support and prayers of the people of both countries—and the rest of the world of course. I take over half-way through to say that, again, I appreciate everyone’s support. I do the usual briefing of how I’m doing and how I feel. The special part I put in about thanking the men that saved my life and others that day pops up onto the teleprompter. Like always, I read it off with ease.

@HRHPrinceBen: Once again, thank you everyone for your prayers and thoughts. My heart goes out to all other victims and their families.

Once everything is said and done dad says, “Good enough. You need to get your rest. Physical therapy starts tomorrow… oh, and your Aunt and cousins are stopping by in a little.”

It’s great that I have family members that care so much. It’s not great that they have chosen to come visit at the same time Anna usually calls or facetimes me.

“But, in the meantime, I figured you would want to wish your godfather Henri happy birthday with me—Beck is getting him on the phone now.”

When isn’t there a royal birthday to celebrate? I can’t believe even when I’m lying in a hospital bed I still have to worry about birthdays… but he is my godfather after all—not to mention one of dad’s best mates.

It is nice that the rest of the royal families sent me video messages and flowers though. My other set of royal godparents, the King and Queen of Denmark sent me boxes of chocolates. Apparently they still remember my love of sweets.

I bet all the royals in the world, never mind just Europe, are thinking the same thing right now; that they could have been in my shoes.

Hopefully, like Anna said, it’ll scare them into spending less money and doing more charity work.

Dad’s assistant, Lizabeta scurries in. I see one of their usual exchanges. I notice the way they interact. I’ve always had a hunch they like each other, but dad always denies it. He’s definitely lying. I see that look in his eyes.

I bet it’s royal protocol that’s holding him back. Liza is a widow, and if he started a relationship with her the palace would have a fit. I think it’s ridiculous—especially since I know she makes him happy… maybe not as happy as mom did, but she was in a whole different category.

I’ll have to discuss a plan with Anna. Because, after all this, if there’s one man that deserves happiness it’s dad.

_______

I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy to see that stupid, corny Falcon statue in front of the school before. I don’t think I’ve ever sighed in relief walking through the front doors of my high school, or relished in the sound of hundreds of students milling around in the foyer.

But today is different.

I’ve always known I should take advantage of as much of this ‘normal’ time as possible… now, that idea is even more impressed into my brain.

The girls are standing by my locker, waiting for me. Ash is, as always, the first one to rush into my arms and embrace me in a bear hug. People all around us move on with their day as usual, thank god. No one even so much as looks our way. Either that’s a good thing or bad thing.

Either people have gotten so used to me that they don’t care, or they think I’m a snot. I personally like to think the first reason is why everyone carries on ignoring me. And that’s fine. As of right now I prefer to go on thinking that.

“We were so worried,” Avery says tearfully. “I mean, we heard about it like an hour after you left. Everyone thought you weren’t coming back.”

I assure them, “Oh no. No, I fought to come back here. I’m not leaving until June. I told you guys that.”

“Well, you better tell Mitch that, because he thinks you’ve left him with the lighting board forever,” Melody comments as she hugs me. “Not to mention Vlad has been worrying like crazy.”

As we begin our walk to the history wing I tell them everything. Thankfully, no one else seems to care. Still, I twirl my ring around my ring finger, waiting for someone to throw me an angry glare or something. It never happens, and when I walk through the door into Vlad’s room I can’t help but heave a sigh of relief. It really feels like I’m back home.

Vlad’s eyes light up when they meet mine. He gets up out of his chair and wastes no time enveloping me in a bear hug. It’s a good thing everyone knows he’s a family friend or else this would be very awkward.

“Thank god you’re okay,” he sighs, flopping back down into his desk chair. “Everyone was so worried.”

When I hear a snort from the row of desks beside me I know exactly who it is. But, I ignore it and thank him. I also let him know Ben is okay.

“Oh, and here’s the essay I missed,” I add, handing him the five page paper I knocked out at three in the morning in Ben’s hospital room. I feel very accomplished about it.

“A country to worry about, duties to perform and places to be yet you still find time to write an essay about the holocaust?” He chuckles heartily. “Yeah, you belong in the honor society alright.”

I hear the same snorted laugh from beside me, except this time it’s followed by a whisper. “Loser.”

With a flip of my hair I take my seat. I won’t let her phase me, not this time.

A few minutes later Maddy arrives, and almost knocks me and the desk over with her powerful hug. She successfully makes me smile and giggle.

“Do you even know how worried everyone has been?” She huffs.

I hear another scoff from the left side of me. A rather unpleasant voice suddenly says, “Oh, give it a rest, will you people? No one here really gave a shit and you know it.”

Erica. 

Another voice, a male one from the back of the class, says, "I cared."

The encourages another person to agree, "Yeah. I did too."

With a smile, I look behind me and thank them. Then, I turn to Erica and very directly say, "Just stop."

"You think just because you're a Princess everyone suddenly likes you?"

"And you think anyone actually likes you?"

I glance over at Vlad's desk and find he's not there anymore. Gabe and Marc look a little tense though, standing near the doorway.

She spats, "Well I don't need a crown to make that happen."

"Oh, will you just shut up," I'm through. I'm so done right now. Done with her. Done with her cronies that snicker as she comes up with stupid comebacks. Just done. This princess is snapping.

As the bell rings, I feel my anger come to a boiling point and say, "Get a grip or go get a therapist."

I'm surprised when I hear people clapping. Erica's mouth opens to say something but Maddy interrupts, "For once in your fucking life Erica just keep your mouth shut."

My eyes almost pop out of my head, I swear. For someone who's always been in Erica's shadow, Maddy sure does know how to talk back. I give her a pat on the arm for good measure.

The rest day passes relatively easily. Only a few more select assholes decide to make negative comments.

@HRHPrincessAnna: It’s good to be back in East Creek #homesweethome 

After spring talent show rehearsal and dance practice Ash and the girls follow me back home. They want a more private place to talk about everything.

“So have you seen the headlines lately?” Melody asks, flopping onto my bedroom floor. She whips out her iPhone and rambles off a few of them. “First of all, they came up with a couple’s name for you—Benanna. Isn’t it great?”

Ash and Ave burst out laughing while Sami and I groan. Mel continues, “Crown Princess Calls Out Terrorists; America’s Princess Back in Town; Crown Prince’s Dying Wishes.”

“They think he’s dying?” I ask with a raise of my eyebrow.

“Apparently,” Sami snorts. “Those tabloids think every celebrity is on the verge of death.”

“Or having an affair,” Mel adds, “they’ve got so many pictures of you and Ben with different people, saying you’re both cheating.”

I flat out laugh. “Trust me, there’s no guy out there I would chose over Ben.”

“Even Brad Pitt?”

“Yes, even Brad Pitt,” I giggle, slapping Mel on the shoulder.

After a bit of talk about the stupid magazine covers, and some laughs about my bad hair day pictures, we get on the top of the wedding once again.

“You know you guys are going to be bridesmaids, right?” I assume they’ve already got it figured out.

They all nod casually.

“And I hate to choose, but Ash and Ave…”

“Maids of Honor?” Sami guesses, “Yeah. It’s alright, we’ll just be happy being in the wedding party! Are we going to be paired up with any lords or dukes for the procession?”

“Actually, I think so,” I wink over at Mel and Sami, who are still currently single ladies. “My family doesn’t have many guys left, but I’m sure you’ll like the people Ben’s picking out.”

“So this is actually going to happen?”

Avery’s question catches me off guard. I pause, realizing I’m twirling my ring again. The girls go silent as I glance down at the obnoxiously sparkling green thing on my finger.

“Yeah,” I nod, “I’ve finally realized it’s real… I guess it just took some time.”

“Yeah, well if I were you I’d be in South America hiding in some tiny beach village by now,” Mel snorts. “I mean, not that Ben isn’t great but… getting married at eighteen?”

With a sigh I explain, “I know it sounds weird to you guys but back in Chirnova and Vladesvya it’s perfectly normal. Eastern European cultures all encourage early marriage… even my parents had me and my brothers at play dates with other Chirnovians as toddlers. Everyone grows up together so everyone knows each other and…”

“But that’s not how it is for you and Ben,” Mel challenges.

Ash adds, “you guys didn’t even know each other until now.”

“That happens too,” I shrug, “but less often.”

“But you love him, right?” Sami asks, making me smile to myself like an idiot. She answers for me with a laugh and a slap on the arm. “You do! You so do! I knew it!”

“How could you not?” Ash says, flipping through one of the magazines with my face splashed across the cover. She flips it around and shows me a picture that takes up an entire page. It’s a picture of Ben in his blue and green uniform. It’s probably my favorite. The jewel toned blue and green bring out his eyes.

Note to self: make him wear that for the wedding.

“That’s my favorite uniform,” I grin. “But have you seen him in the white one?”

Avery sighs dreamily, “I love a man in a white uniform—it’s so… prince charming-ish.”

And so we spend a good amount of time talking about the wedding before we skip to another important topic: nationals. Nationals. How could I have forgotten? I have to work my ass off to get back into the groove of our three minute long pom program, our one minute kick-line and our two minute long lyrical piece.

Yes, I can do it in my sleep because we’ve been practicing since November, but I still feel like I’m falling behind. I’m co-captain for god’s sake and I haven’t even been here for half the practices.

And we head down to Florida in two weeks… great.

“Becky still needs some work. She’s the only one who can’t get the kick line sequence perfectly,” Ash complains about one certain awkward freshman. “I bet she hasn’t been stretching like I told her to.”

I laugh to myself. Ash always tries so hard to help the freshmen girls but they never seem to listen. For some reason they only listen to Sami.

“Why didn’t you have Sami talk to her?” I ask, flipping past another news channel flashing my face on the screen. Mel grabs the remote from me and flips back to it. She’s become obsessed with watching news segments on me, because every time they talk about me there’s a chance they’ll talk about my friends… and Mel just loves seeing her and the girls walking beside me in paparazzi photos.

Avery pipes up from the window seat, “She did. Even Sami couldn’t get through that thick freshman skull.”

Sami nods, with a mouth full of popcorn and a chemistry book in her lap. “It’s true,” she mumbles, kernels falling out of her mouth.

I hear the news anchor say something about me being the most photographed person on the plant as of right now, and flinch. That’s not something I’m proud of. I can’t help but feel like people are only interested in me because I’m supposed to be dead.

“The Princess is back in the states right now, which is no surprise given the fact that she still has to graduate high school. Sources report that she will also be attending the high school dance team National Championships in Orlando, Florida two weeks from now, and then will head back to Chirnova for several official engagements. We certainly look forward to seeing America’s secret princess back to her normal routine!”

@HRHPrincessAnna: “Sources” ? What sources are these news stations hearing from anyways?

I hear Mel snort a laugh. Sami scoffs, and I make a disgruntled noise.

“These news anchors are soo corny,” Ash rolls her eyes.

“America’s Princess?” I ask, “Have they forgotten I already have a country I’m princess of? And seriously, am I that interesting?”

“No,” Mel jokes. I reach over and smack the remote out of her hands.

“What?! I’m just saying, they’re going a little overboard here! I’m on your side!”

“I honestly cannot wait to get to Florida. Maybe they won’t follow me there.”

------

Hey guys! Sorry it took so long and sorry if it’s sucky but this is just one of the few connecting chapters :)

Thanks so much for reading and commenting, you have no idea how much it means to me. It really keeps me going. You readers are awesome! Let me know what you think so far!

P.S. I have decided on setting this in 2012 :) thank you for all your input!

Here’s another question for you guys: Would you like to see Anna and Ben do a little match-making for Victor?

See you all next time ;) xx