Meet the Characters: All are good friends except for * under divided line:
Tahlia "Lilah" (Lie-La) Samerique: a seventeen year old girl who is a princess warrior. Her favorite color is hot pink. She's clever, energetic, enthusiastic, fashionable, a girly girl, sassy, funny, outgoing, daring, sweet and creative. Is considered the Spice in Sugar and Spice. She is the Princess of Alexdriana Hall Palace.
Anthony Samerique: a nineteen year old boy who is Lilah's older brother. His favorite color is blue. He is cocky, funny, a ladies' man, knows he is good looking, boastful, a jock, and is protective of his little sister. He is the Prince of Alexdriana Palace.
Chrystina Samerique: a proud mother of Lilah and Anthony and is the Queen of Alexdriana Palace. Her favorite color is red. Her personality is a lot like Lilah but Lilah believes Chrystina is flirtier than she is.
Jazz Michaels: an eighteen and ¾ boy who is Anthony's best friend for life (are practically brothers) and Lilah's frienemy. His favorite color is green. He is cocky, a jock, funny, a ladies' man, lay back, and knows he's good looking. He especially loves to annoy Lilah.
Sunny Adrias: a seventeen and a half year old girl and is Lilah's best friend. Her favorite color is purple. She's persistent, a girly girl, sweet, clever, and is Lilah's personal relationship adviser. Is considered the sugar in Sugar and Spice.
Blaze McDeils: an eighteen year old boy and is Lilah's other best friend. His favorite color is orange. He is shy, sweet, a jock, a little nerdy, and always has his friend's backs. He has a soft side for Lilah.
Lexi McBrown- a seventeen year old girl and is one of Lilah's closest friends. Her favorite color is pink and turquoise. She is funny, sweet, pretty, is a singer, model, dancer and actress, she is also very fashionable and knows the latest trends. She moved to Florida but Lilah keeps in touch with her and invites her to visit over the summer. (Has a little brother named Brian who is a very good dancer as well.)
Brandon Miller: an eighteen and a half year old boy who is friends with Anthony and Jazz. His favorite color is royal blue. Even though he is friends with every one of the above characters, he has a closer relationship with Lilah (Anthony and Chrystina have the most of course.)
Others:
Jerry and Bruce Evans: Queen Chrystina Samerique's older brothers. (Are Anthony and Lilah's uncles)
Tiffany Simons: one of the most popular juniors in Lilah's grade. Her favorite color is aqua and pink. She is very pretty, fashionable but over does it in inappropriate ways, outgoing (most of the time in a bad way), and is trying to be part of Lilah's inner circle of friends along with her crazy posy.
Steven Samerique: Husband of Chrystina Samerique, father of Anthony and Lilah. He disappeared three years ago with no trace, and is the King of Alexdriana Palace.
More about Lilah Samerique and some inside background about her life:
Lilah Samerique is an African American. She has long thin black hair up to her waist, an long heart shaped face, light brown skin, brown eyes, pretty cheek bones, dimples, small ears, a small nose, middle sized lips, a skinny body, long legs, wears make up normally golden/brown eyeshadow, and black mascara for symbolism. What she likes to wear other than dresses, skirts, blouses, skinny jeans, beanies, and other girly attire, is her ivory long sleeved low cut blouse, tan capris she stuffs into her knee length brown boots with a one inch heel, a brown shiny belt, with a loop for her sword, brown gloves, small ruby red dangling earrings, and a locket that is shaped like a heart and is gold colored that has a picture of her father.
Lilah loves adventure and her battle skills. If anyone says she can't do something, she'll prove them wrong. The biggest things that help her in her sword fighting are her aggressiveness and her flexibility. She isn't afraid to get muddy and dirty too. She can sometimes be short tempered but is also wishy washy with her emotions. She can be a joker and big mouth one day and then quiet and serious girl the next day. She loves coming up with her own styles and has a secret. She loves to sing, dance, write stories and songs and is really good at it. Nobody knows not even Sunny. Her birthday is October 28th. She lives a pretty normal life. She goes to public school and has an iPhone.
Lilah decided she wanted to be more than a princess; she wanted to be a warrior like her brother. In her backyard, boys in the town practice to advance their battle skills in the warrior battle training groud, and Chrystina's brothers Jerry and Bruce run the camp. No girls were to practice any battle techniques but were instead to cook and clean and help their family. The princess was supposed to learn these duties and be formal which sounded boring to Lilah so she disguised herself to be a guy named Roman and proved to all the boys and her uncle that a girl could actually learn to beat them if she tried. Before her secret was revealed, she became the first guy to advance to the higher group while so young. When her secret was revealed, she befriended Blaze and they've been friends since.
Lilah always watched the boys practice from her bedroom window. Some of the boys liked to see that she was there and try to impress her. She would laugh when they made a mistake and the boy would blush so red Lilah thought no one could turn back to their skin tone again. She especially loved when she would be sent to give a message to her uncle Jerry that her mom needed him, and when she walked through the battle grounds, all at once the boys would be shooting bow and arrow at the targets trying to hit the bulls- eye just to impress her. She rarely flirted back but occasionally she would. She thought it was hilarious when she would walk up to some of them ask if she could touch their bow and show her how to use it. When they would stand behind her, hold her arms and release her expecting her to miss, she would do better than how he shot, since she already knew how the use the bow and arrow. Then they would say lucky shot.
Why there were no girls allowed and how this didn't stop Lilah:
Boys groups: 10-15 beginner, 16-23 advanced. (Lilah was 14 and a half at the time.)
Boys were known to be better fighters because they were stronger. Lilah didn't believe strength had anything to do with fighting as much as the willing to practice and think one step ahead. Since she wanted to join, she had to hide her identity. She ran into her father's closet and grabbed a cap which was loose, but if she tied her hair in a bun, it would fit perfectly. She ran into Uncle Jerry and asked for help to hide her identity. He laughed at the idea of a girl especially Lilah fighting but helped her by giving her a small uniform that wasn't used. He also gave her a wooden sword and bow and arrow for practice. He told her that if she could beat everyone in her age group when they had their battle assessment, then he would let her continue her studies, and get a real but small sword of her own and advance to the older group which was the advanced group her brother, Jazz and Blaze were in but also keep her identity a secret. He made her promise that if she couldn't achieve that, she couldn't continue in case she got caught and would get in trouble. She came up with the name Roman, got introduced the next day, and ended up proving her uncle wrong, and beat the boys in her age group by a mile. She moved to the advanced group and was the first guy to jump ahead so quickly, and this leads up to how she met Blaze.
She was still young so she had to train with the sixteen year olds so she was paired up with Blaze a lot. One day, they had to choose partners to practice sword fighting with. Roman had beaten Jazz and embarrassed him in front of Anthony and his friends. He told Roman that he would teach him a lesson but Blaze stopped him and told him to try someone easier. Blaze had suspected Roman was a girl but wasn't too sure. They practiced sword fighting and Blaze noticed part of Lilah's hair was sliding out of her cap. She panicked and used one hand to hold the cap and the other to sword fight. Luckily, her uncle ended the battle training for the day and everyone left. When Lilah was about to leave, Jazz, Anthony and some to their friends challenged her. Lilah could tell Jazz was still angry and accepted the challenge. The five boys circled around her and started attacking and Lilah struck back. While they were fighting, her cap fell off and she didn't notice. Immediately, the guys noticed and stopped with their mouths dropping open. Lilah panicked, picked up her cap and fled to her uncle with the boys on her heels. She hid behind Uncle Jerry while the boys protested. Uncle Jerry sent Lilah inside and she ran to her room crying. Blaze met up with her in her room and she explained to him that she might have to quit her training. Blaze listened and joked with her and made her feel better. Lilah thanked him for making her feel better. They next day, Blaze came early and convinced Uncle Jerry to let her continue her studies. Uncle Jerry called for Lilah who was in her room lying down still upset and told her to come to practice. Excited, she quickly changed into her battle uniform, went to the training ground, hugged Uncle Jerry and Blaze and Uncle Jerry told the boys they were to accept Lilah otherwise they could quit. The boys didn't like it at first but eventually they got over it. Anthony and Jazz took the longest to accept her but they found her helpful in many of their group challenges. Jazz and Blaze been good friends to her since, and Anthony liked the idea of having his little sister train with him.
Chapter one:
"Lilah get your butt over here!" my brother Anthony shouted.
I got up from my bed where I was examining my blade of my sword, pull up my black capris and pull down my white low cut tank top and open the door to see Anthony looming over me.
"Why didn't you clean the bows this morning?" he demanded.
"I don't know "dad" maybe I didn't think I lost to Jazz in the showdown." I object, rolled my eyes and stepped past him.
"Hey, you might as well call me dad since he isn't here at the moment."
"Never, you think you're so mature and adult like yet you don't have a single hair on your chin." I say flicking his chin to emphasize my point.
He grabs my wrist and gruffly whips my arm behind my back and pins me against the wall. Before, I would scream and wiggle to get free. Now I stay quiet and wait.
"Are we clear on whose boss now?" He asks in my ear.
"Yes," I complain and he releases. "You're 19 and yet you still don't have a hair" I laugh which makes him frown and tense up.
Anthony believes he's 25 or something even though I'm sure he is really 8. Many girls at my school always ask how Anthony is. Or girls I rarely talk to ask if we can hang out at my house (So they can drool over Anthony.) To be the prince (yes we are a part of royalty and yes that means I'm a princess for those who can't catch on) of the Alexdriana palace, he does take his role sometimes too seriously. Well that's my opinion at least. He is well built up though. He has a six pack with good biceps and can run fast like me but is slightly faster. He has curly African hair and sometimes I call him Daffy Duck cause he has big feet. He has chocolate colored skin and he's 6'2", has small ears, a middle sized nose and brown eyes. So if I was one of those girls in school who just looked at him for the first time I guess I would be crushing on him too. But in this case ewwwww! The annoying part is that he knows he's hott, but hey if he can say that he's hott, i can say that a wart hog is hotter than him and that I'm sexier than Mila Kunis.
He smiles feeling satisfied. "Go clean the bows Lilah." He says smiling and walks down the stairs to the study room to prepare for his match test this afternoon.
I sigh and trudge down the stairs after him but go out the back door to the warrior practice arena. I walk to the box of dusty and muddy bows and drag them toward the tap. Next, I fill the bucket next to the tap with water and soap, grab two rags, a stool and tie my long silky black hair in a high messy ponytail. As I bend down to dip one rag into the soapy suds, I hear a snicker from behind. I quickly stand up and turn my head around to see Jazz grinning at me.
"Now that should be what you stick to Pig Brain, instead of being a warrior, it fits you better." He taunted.
I step away from the bows and march up to him not taking my eyes off of his. I made sure there was a slight distance between us but enough so we stood face to face. Well face to chest. Like Anthony, Jazz is tall about 6'3" and every girl likes him at my school too. They think he's this hunk with smooth words. Only I know what he is capable of.
"Well Beef Brain, someone has to be fair and take actions for someone's cheating." I say and turn on my heel to get back to the bows.
"Victory feels so sweet. I soooo did beat you and you have the bruises to prove it." He walked up to me and poked my side which hurt. "And in case you didn't know, pulling my shirt is a fowl. What were you trying to do? Glance at these bad boys or what?" He starts to walk off.
I ignore his comment for a second. Just like Anthony he knows he's hott and is just as annoying. Actually, he's worst. Then it hit me. He thought I meant that I cheated.
"I didn't cheat you ass!"! I exclaim. "You illegally pushed me!"
"On accident!" He grinned turning around to face me. I swear he loves to see me mad. "Maybe you should keep your hands to yourself. If you want something, just ask."
That's it. Screw the bows and my uncle who could be in the study room. He can mark me down on points for all I care. I grabbed the bucket of suds and threw the water at him, washing his smug smile off his face. He got really angry and charged at me. I threw the bucket at him to by myself some time and ran. I ran around the house and through the front door. I bolted into the living room and sat down in one of the single couch arm chairs. No sign of Jazz yet so I guess I was fine for now. About two minutes later, my Uncle Jerry strolls into the living room calmly. I didn't look at him and pretended to be interested in a vase by the flat screen TV.
"Tahlia." He said piercingly.
I slowly looked over at him.
"Up. Now!" He snapped and I immediately got up and followed him.
He led me to the Study Room and held out a hand for me to wait and used his other hand to gesture someone to come. A second later, Jazz stepped out. He was shirtless, his pants and hair was still wet and he had a pink towel over his shoulders which made me shudder and almost throw up. That was one of my towels, and my uncle was letting him use it.
"Tahlia apologize." My uncle said calmly.
My mouth dropped. Seriously? My uncle who is very reasonable, and is always on my side just told me to apologize? To this monster?
"Excuse me? What was that?" I say not believing what I heard.
"I said apologize." He replied looking me in the eye making my heart plunge under his stare which meant do it or you're dead meat. So much for having special treatment.
I start to squirm and out of the corner of my eye I saw Jazz grin, loving to see me get defeated.
"Turn to face him!" My uncle barked.
I slowly turned toward Jazz biting my lip which tasted like watermelon because of my lip gloss.
"I'm..."
"Look at him!" My uncle said angrily tired of my foul actions.
I sighed and dreaded the moment. "I'm sorry Jazz." I say quickly trying to make this nightmare end.
"For what?" Jazz pushed smiling smugly at me.
"For drenching you with water okay. Happy?" I say whipping my head toward my uncle giving him the "can I go now?" look.
"Tahlia, you will finish cleaning the bows and swords." My uncle said simply and Jazz snickered. "With the help of our good friend Jazz." My uncle stares at him, pats him on the shoulder and immediately he stopped laughing.
"But." He whined.
Now it was my turn to snicker but then I thought. About two hours cleaning with Jazz... NOOOO!
"Uncle Jerry!" I cry.
"You can't expect me to work with her." Jazz added pointing at me.
"I would like to see them polished by lunch thank you." My uncle says ignoring our pleas and walks into the study hall.
Jazz and I stand there quiet staring at the Study Hall door.
"This is all your fault." Jazz finally says glaring at me.
"How. How is this my fault?" I retort glaring back at him.
"You splashed me!" He exclaimed throwing his hands in the air.
"You cheated!"
"You tried to slide your hands under my shirt!"
"What?!"
"You heard me."
"That never happened! I didn't even touch you. You lying weasel!"
"You're so annoying!"
"Right back at cha." I snapped.
I turned on my heel and stormed into the courtyard, grabbed two rags and picked up the bucket I threw and filled it up with water and soap. I sat on the stool I had left there and started cleaning. Jazz not too long afterwards placed a stool next to me, sat down, grabbed a bow, grabbed the second rag and dipped it in the bucket. I must have signed loudly or something because he looked at me.
"What?"
I said nothing and continued cleaning the bow I had picked up, and tucked my bangs behind my ear.
"What did I do?" He asked not getting it.
"What are we supposed to dry the bows and swords with genius?" I retort and continue cleaning the bow.
He holds he wet rag and says nothing. I look over at him out of the corner of my eye and see him looking at the bow. He's still shirtless and has my towel over his shoulders.
"I'll get a new rag." I say sighing about to get up but Jazz puts his hand on my wrist.
"Hold on. You got something on your face." He says making me look at him.
"What?"
"Hold on I got it." He says and puts his fingers on my chin and slowly pulls my face close to his face.
We're so close that I can smell the faint scent of his cologne. With his other hand, he puts the wet rag on his knee and flicks water on my face.
"What the heck!" I yell pulling my face away from his while he's laughing.
"Now we're even." He smiles at me and I just narrow my eyes at him and get up and turn to get a new rag. "Come on Paris you need to lighten up." I hear him call.
I turn my head. "Paris?"
He looks at me as if he knows something I don't know. "I don't know. Just tryin it out. You look like a Paris. Annoying, and cold as stone."
"Lilah is just fine thanks." I call and return with another rag and sit down. He chuckles and shrugs cleaning his bow.
"Sure thing Bloated Buffalo."
