Chapter One
"Why are you wearing that tiara?" George beamed out of this room. He was wearing a cargo pant well paired with a football t-shirt. It had prints of his favourite team – The Knights.
"Because I think that I am a Princess." I said rolling my eyes. We started towards the main doors of the castle. I was wearing a worn out navy coloured jeans and a polo top. We rarely get to wear casual dresses. Especially jeans.
"You know," George said seriously,"I think a jokers cap would just fit in beautifully with that tiara .What's your say?" He wriggled his eyebrows.
"Can I borrow a joker's cap from you?"I asked in an ironically polite way.
"Ha-ha. Very funny." He said, sarcastically.
We saw the chariot waiting for us. As we drew nearer, we saw the King and Queen, dressed up in sporty dresses, waiting for us. We all looked so abnormal.
"Whiterose, George you are late." Mother scolded as we both settled in. The chariot started moving.
"Mother it was him, he was late. I was waiting for him. "I explained. My mother ignored me. I can say this cause her eyes were flickering from my tiara to my dress. But, thank the angles for this, she did not comment.
"Do you forget manners as you leave the castle, "Father began, "This happened even during the last picnic! You spilled the whole cup of tea on your mother. You spoiled everything."
Then he glanced at my head, "And thank god you did not forget to wear your tiara."
"Shall I remove it ,then?"My voice was uncertain.
"Let it stay where it is, so that you don't forget who you are." He finished.
I looked through the window, my high pony tail brushing my neck. I love tying high ponytails. Anne says I look good in them. But mostly I am in a bun. Anne always does my hair. She says that the faint brown colour suits my complexion. Sometimes it is difficult to understand her.
As the chariot moved I saw many villages passing. On the borders of each and every village I saw fields of wheat and rice, a proof that we had good rains this time. Mother and father were discussing about the revenue collected in Awas city.
"You know, even Helen, Sarah and Maxen are going to be there."George said.
I was blank for a second .
.Oh Shit! Sarah! No... No one told me about her. I recalled and recalled but not a single word about the royal family of Draland.
"Father you did not tell me about the Brown family visiting us." I asked, quite nervous, yet controlling my voice.
"Actually sweety, we are visiting them. They invited us to their picnic place." He answered, peeping away from the Daily Gazette.
"This way?" I asked mentioning my clothes.
"Father did say 'picnic place'", George answered for father.
"You knew it all the time and did not bother to tell me? Mother, would you like to reconsider fathers decision about me wearing this tiara?"
"No." Mother simply said.
"Sure?" Please say no.
" Pretty sure."
Why? Sarah -the –hell is visiting me, no wait , I am visiting Sarah-the-hell wearing a tiara upon jeans. She will laugh for ages. I regret not removing it when George had asked me to.
As I was thinking, George leaned over my shoulder and whispered,
"Are you nervous about Maxen?"
I wanted to smack him on his cheeks.
"Why should I be nervous about Maxen?" I said loudly.
Too loudly.
Three pairs of eyes shot disapproving glares at my direction. I smiled sheepishly, rubbed my nose and looked out of the window.
When things were cooled down I asked George ,"Pleases can you help me if anything goes wrong there?"
"Why should I ..." I cut him.
"Because , you will love having my share of dessert. Deal?" Say yes, say yes.
"Deal." He agreed. He can do anything for an extra ice-cream.
The chariot halted after what I think must be an hour. My heart was yelling, ordering me to just throw away that tiara. Yet, somewhere my precautious mind lingered upon the thought of being caught and grounded. No picnic for next six months, no chocolates, no parties and functions (Every dark cloud has a silver lining!), and no friends (though I fairly had any) .
Ladies first . God , don't kill me . I stood up and followed mother. My mother was wearing a fancy yet sporty frock. King Ronald greeted my mother. Then I stepped out expecting him to welcome me too , but someone suddenly came in front of me , to help me out of the carriage.
"Please," he said, stretching his hands for me.
"N-no. Thank you ." Oops, I have never been so rude. Holy angles help me.
They did. He just shrugged it off and Father did not hear that. The first thing I did was to search for Helen . We had been to many functions together, so we were quite acquainted. She is older than me, yet she mixes up almost immediately.
" Helen was not able to join", He smiled. He might very well be more than half a foot taller than me.
"Hey Georgie , How are you?"Sarah-the-hell called out. How did I not notice her?
"Hello Princess Sarah." George said, kissing her hand.
"Good morning, Prince Maxen.", He greeted with a formal bow or something as such, I was not taught about that kind of bow so DONOT BLAME ME!
Both of them replied and somewhere nearby my father a-hemed. Of course he was eves dropping. Royal etiquettes.
"Hello Princess Sarah and Good Morning Prince Maxen" I kept it short and by fault, rude.
"Rose! It is you. You look so beautiful."Queen Rebecca hugged me ." And as usual feel cool."
I was quite startled, initially. Why were they behaving so casually? Maybe because it is a casual day out. Maybe.
"For heaven's sake Rosie. Why are you wearing that tiara ?"Sarah-the-hell spoke, loud enough to be heard for a mile of radius. Every eye was on my head. Was I wearing it properly?
I was going to babble away something but George said," It looks great, Doesn't it , Sarah?"Wow he remembers the ice cream.
She just nodded . George shuts Sarah-the-hell up. OMG! Breaking news! This must be the headline that will hit tomorrows Daily Gazette.
But everyone was chatting again .No one took a note of it. Bad luck. Sheer bad luck...
"Good Morning, King Ronald."I said.
"No , not today young lady , I am just Ronald , for now." He answered back and winked in a friendly way.
No one has ever winked at me but I recollected.
"So good morning Mr. Brown?"I corrected.
"That's an improvement", Maxen beamed.
"Maybe, it is", I said.
As we were led by the Brown family near their royal pond, I nudged George.
"Thank you so much, Georgie" I said in a Saraish manner.
"Don't forget the dessert, Rosie." He replied in a familiar way.
After a while, I could see the pond. It was a small one acre pond, with crystal clear water and many beautiful kind of fishes floating in it.
Queen Rebecca and my mother found a dry place to settle down. It was just beneath an orange tree. We all laid the camp. Sarah seemed to be too busy with George, that she forgot me. Idiot girl. Idiot George. After they finished having their juices (I politely refused mine for George) King Ronald said,
"Common Kids, leave us alone for some time. We want to have a parental meeting. Maxen, Sarah show your friends stuff around here."
What does he mean by parental meeting?
Even before the words were left from King Ronald's mouth , Sarah was beside George.
"George, let me show you my garden."She said leading George away from us.
I was left dumbly alone. I stared at my mother. She moved her eyes in a weird manner which made things even more confusing. I just stared at her blankly. Then I slowly raised an eyebrow.
"Maxen, I said show her stuff. " King Ronald said.
"By stuff do you mean something alive?" he asked in his charming voice.
"It's your choice. LEAVE US RIGHT NOW." Queen Rebecca demanded.
Maxen grabbed my hand and pulled me away from the elderly group . I saw my Father gape .After being at a safe distance ,from our parents , he realised me.
"Thanks for that," I said rubbing the hand he had been holding.
"Oh, sorry." He said, "Follow me."
"You are still cold . May I know why?" he asked.
"I am still cold because I am not warm." I answered, "Where are you leading us by the way?"
"What's your age ?" he asked taking left and entering a large orange orchid.
"Excuse me?" I said.
"No. I mean seriously what's your age?"
"Fifteen", I mumbled beneath my breath.
"Pardon me." He smiled. I am trying hard not to kill this person.
"One-Five. Fifteen." I said loud enough for his deaf ears to hear. What else did he hear -50?
"So, I am legally not supposed to show you what I am going to show you." He said. Now we were in deep woods.
"I don't think that I must see things that I am not supposed to see."I said he paused then.
"Sure?"
"Pretty sure."
"You would have had loved him ." He said , trying to sound as though he really does not care , but failing to.
"Please take me back."I said.
"Fine. Sorry for troubling you, really."
We resumed our walk in the opposite direction.