((Disclaimer- I do not own Tortall, Jon, Alanna/Alan, Delia, Gary, Raoul, or anything else mentioned in Tamora Pierce's books. If I was Tamora Pierce, I wouldn't have misspelled her name three times before getting it right. No sleep=bad.))
Hello All. I am super busy right now, but had this idea in the shower and it would not get out of my head. So of course I had to jot it all down. Just a fun little one-shot. I hope you all enjoy.
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Page Alanna of Trebond sat at her cramped desk, studiously going over stacks of notes. Her final exams were the next day, and she planned to cram every bit of information she could until her eyes closed on their own behalf.
The sun had long since fallen from the sky and disappeared behind the Palace walls when her door was thrown open with a bang.
"Alan," shouted an energetic Prince Jonathon. "I thought you were going to play knucklebones with us tonight!"
It was true, Alanna thought to herself. Weeks ago they had set up dates to sneak out of their squire or page rooms, and gather in the Prince's room to gamble. That was before she realized that her last exams as a page fell upon one of those nights.
She looked up at her older friend with a tired smile. "Sorry Jon, but you know I can't. Exams are tomorrow and I would really rather not repeat this year again."
Jon's response to her jaded look was to wrap his arm around her shoulders and hauled her to her feet.
"Up you go, Alan! Live a little! I am sure you have studied enough to pass a hundred exams, let alone the ones tomorrow. Just take some time to relax and enjoy your time before Squiredom. Trust me, you will want this free time."
"Free time, Jon? Really? I haven't that that in four years, not getting any when I am a squire won't be that bad." Alanna replied with a sour look, sitting back down. All she wanted to do was get back to her studies, and for him to leave.
Unfortunately, fortune was not with her as Jon grabbed her arms to lift her out of her chair once more.
Alanna, who loathed being manhandled in such a way, placed her thumbs on his pressure points on his wrist. He let go of her immediately but still did not leave.
The Prince looked to the red head imploringly. "Please, Alan. You are one of the few people that can actually beat Raoul and stop him from taking all of our money."
"Jon, for the last time, no! Now get out of my room before I make sure you that will never be able to produce an heir!" Her violet eyes flashed angrily at the young man.
Jonathan's eyes widened and he held his hands up in mock surrender. "Alright. Alright. If you insist." He walked backwards out of the room, and closed the door behind him.
Alanna sighed and turned back to her work.
"You do not even want to drop in for a minute or two?" His voice suddenly interrupted her, Jon's head peaking through the doorway.
The girl glared at him and said nothing. He knew her well enough to know when enough was enough, and shut the door behind him for good.
Alanna tried to get back to her studying, but she could not get Jon's interruption out of her head. Finally she gave up, deciding only one thing could clear her mind.
Revenge.
+++I am tempted to make this a two-chaptered thingie. But nah. I want to write it now. CHEESE!!!+++
She quickly got up and left her room, making sure to lock the door behind her as usual. She scanned the hallways as she darted through them, searching for one person in specific.
After passing the entrance to one of the Palace gardens, Alanna saw her target.
"Delia!" She called out, but to no avail. The Lady of Eldorne would not respond to her, and continued walking.
Grumbling to herself, Alanna called out again. "My most beautiful Lady!"
This time she received an answer.
The snotty young woman looked over her shoulder at Alanna. "You called, Page?"
Alanna barely stopped herself from rolling her eyes. "His Highness Prince Jonathan sent me to give you a message."
"Oh?" The young woman looked mildly surprised, but happy. "Continue."
"He wishes to see you in his rooms immediately. He says that he has something very important to tell you, in private."
A dreamy look came over the court lady's face as she turned to walk towards Jon's rooms, not even bothering to thank 'Page Alan' for delivering the message.
As soon as she turned the corner, Alanna went the opposite way to her own room.
+_+
It was only half a bell later when the door to Alanna's room was thrown open, and then slammed shut hastily.
"My door is going to fall apart if you do that." She grumbled to the room's new occupant, not glancing up from her papers.
"You have to help me Alan!" Jon's frantic voice whispered. "She will not stop following me! She keeps talking about how she 'always knew I would come around', or 'when do you want to get together…at night'. I can not take it!"
"Who?" Alanna said, pretending to still study, though a smirk was beginning to play across her face. Very similar to the one her left-of-center friend George had.
Jon did not notice her expression, and continued on his rant. "Delia! I have no idea why she is suddenly acting so clingy! Sure I noticed her stalking me during balls, but she just burst into my quarters during the middle of our game and began going off about how much she knew I loved her and…"
The Prince stopped when he finally noticed Alanna's full fledged grin that she tried in vain to hide from him.
He gasped. "You! You set this up!"
Alanna finally looked up at her friend, and cocked an eyebrow. "And some people say you are dumber than you look, normally they are right. Nice to see a change, for once."
Jon looked thoughtful for a moment, as if trying to figure out how many times his friend had insulted him, but gave up.
Instead, he put his arms across his chest and stared at her. "You are going to fix this, now. Go tell her to stop stalking me, and that you made up…whatever you told her to get her to be like a lost puppy."
"No." Alanna shrugged simply.
"Yes." Jon retorted.
"No."
"Yes."
"No."
"Yes."
"Yes."
"No…wait!" Jon shouted.
Alanna grinned up at him. "You should know better than to argue with me. It took enough out of me to talk to that vile woman in the first place, there is no way in the Dark God's realm that I will do so again."
Her older friend did not respond, but lifted her up out of the chair before she could react, and dragged her to the door.
"Hey! This isn't fair!" She growled.
"Life is not fair, do you not know?" Jon said, smiling back at her.
He released her from his grip, and they walked down the hallway in silence, Alanna pouting with her shoulders slumped.
The just turned a corner when a shadow to their right shifted. In the dark they could see two people leaning close to one another, too close to be proper.
Jon's eyes widened and Alanna's jaw went slack as they saw who the couple was. They glanced at one another before hurrying back to her room and closing the door.
"That," she began. "That was…"
Jonathon shook his head in amazement at what he had just seen. "Gary and Delia. Who would have thought?"
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Oh yes, and I'm beta-ing now, so if anyone needs a beta and wants me to do it???? haha. Thanks for reading!