Adam's POV

I walked through the halls as I saw maids and kitchen staff rush around, trying to get everything in order for Thanksgiving Dinner. We didn't usually have it, but this year Nico, my mom and my dad had decided to celebrate it. It was going to be put on the Report even though it wasn't friday yet, which just added to the stress.

I stuttered out an apology as I bumped into a passing maid, my face on fire. Even though I loved the holidays, I hated the rush. It made me even more anxious than usual.

Over the last week, I had gone on a few dates. Nico had invited me on another group date with Rosie and Cam. We had gone to a fifties style diner, which was really cute. That time period had a lot of flaws, but I liked the aesthetic.

Cam and Nico had gotten up to dance, while Rosie and I stayed seated. I had talked to her a little, she was really nice. We had gotten ice cream afterward together, and promised to go swimming together once in a while. We both loved the sport, it was one of the only ones I could stand. Now that I think about it, there wasn't really a jock in our family. Henry might end up liking sports though.

I had also talked to Alex again. It wasn't really a date, but it was still fun. I liked her. I knew I should actually ask someone out, but it was so nerve-wracking.

I sighed, and maneuvered my way through the crowds to get to the library. My dad had given me some paperwork to do, and I knew a few books that would help me. Nico got the most homework, but since I was still a prince, I had to do some. I still had duties even if I wasn't going to be king.

I finally got to the library, and pushed the big wooden doors open. I smiled as I entered. I loved the library. It was always peaceful and quiet, and had that old-book smell that smelled really good for some reason.

To my surprise, I wasn't alone if there like I usually was. I saw Alex and Eliza draped over beanbags and couches, talking quietly. I also saw Genevieve looking through the science section. We met eyes, and she smiled politely, but it didn't reach her eyes.

There were a few adults here too, and when I looked up to the second floor, I saw a familiar flash of red hair.

Maybe that's Aisling, I thought.

I found the few books that I was looking for, and was about to sit down at a table when I heard my name being called. Eliza was waving at me, and then motioned for me to go to where they were.

"Hey!" she said, smiling brightly. "Wasn't expecting to see you here."

"Yeah, me neither. Is it okay if I sit?"

The two girls nodded, so I sat down on one of the other couches.

"Did Uncle Leo give you paperwork?" Eliza asked.

"Yeah."

"Why would you get paperwork? Isn't Nico the one that's going to have the big royal duties?" Alex wondered out loud.

"Well, princes have duties to. They're a lot less important though, so that's why I don't get as much work as Nico does," I explained.

Alex nodded. I had noticed that she had become a lot more relaxed around me then when were first talked. I guess she was the kind of person that got more outgoing when you knew them better. So was I.

For some reason, the more I got to know her, I felt more and more like she was hiding something. I didn't know why, I just felt like it.

She overheard the conversation about the blueprints, a voice in my head whispered. Maybe she knew about it beforehand.

No. It wasn't that. It couldn't be that. That was just Nico's paranoia getting to me, as if I wasn't paranoid enough.

"Hey," Eliza suddenly said. "Have y'all read Queens of Geek? It's really good, and super diverse."

Turns out Alex had read it and enjoyed it, and I needed to read it. Another reason Alex was cool, she loved books. She did work at her family's bookstore, which sounded like a dream.

After we talked about books a bit more, Alex and Eliza started to read their books and I started on my paperwork. It was about how to deal with war, and how to try to lower the casualties. I wonder why that is.

I sighed, opened up my books, and got to answering the questions. It wasn't that bad, some of the questions/answers were really interesting. I was so deep into the work that I didn't notice Eliza scooting closer and closer to me.

"So who are you going to ask out next?" she whispered, making me flinch. One of my books clattered to the floor, and Alex looked up from her book.

Eliza winced. "Sorry."

I picked it up and went back to work, still thinking about Eliza's question. My twin thought Genevieve was a good choice, but she definitely didn't like me very much. I had offered to show Mackenzie around the castle a while ago at the ball, but that could get awkward fast.

Eliza interrupted my train of thought again. "You should ask Alex. I'm not trying to shove myself into your love life, but she's great. You both like books too! It's a match made in heaven."

"I would, but we already went on a date. Kind of. I showed her the library because she likes books, but that's not really a date. Is it? We spent some time together, but I'm not sure if-"

"It doesn't. Ask her out! I will if you don't."

I knew Eliza wouldn't, she knew she would get punished, but I agreed anyway. Why did I agree?

I was about to go back to my paperwork when Eliza gave me a look. If I didn't do anything about this, she would. Eliza did have pretty low self-esteem, but suddenly became confident when she wanted to make me do something. I guess friends can be like that.

"Um uh, Alex?" I managed to get out.

"Yeah?"

"I was wondering if you wanted to um, if you wanted to-"

"Sure," she said. Alex seemed to regret the action a second later, her cheeks started to turn pink. "I mean. Go on a date. That sounds fun. And great. Yeah."

My heart seemed to stop beating for a second. How did she know?

"W-What do you mean? I was going to ask you that but how did you know? Did you overhear? I mean, that is the most logical reason."

She smiled awkwardly. "Yeah. This is a library, it wasn't that hard to overhear. I didn't mean to. I don't want to be rude, but you two weren't that inconspicuous."

Alex held up her phone, which showed a picture of the two of us obviously whispering. In the photo I looked nervous, and Eliza was smirking and gesturing with her hands.

"Oh," Eliza said, looking down and playing with her skirt. "Sorry. My bad."

There was an awkward silence which surprisingly, I broke. "So um, do you want to go to a concert? You wear band T-shirts a lot, so. Yeah."

Alex's face broke out into a genuine smile, and she nodded. "That would be awesome."

The kitchens were really hot. They always were really hot, something was always cooking, but during the holidays they got even hotter. I felt like my skin was about to melt off, but I needed to find someone.

"Ella?" I called out. The kitchen was so crowded, I had to push past people everywhere I went.

"S-sorry, sorry," I stuttered as I bumped into someone. I kept my head down, I didn't want anyone to recognize me. They would start bowing, and I didn't want that.

I got closer to the stoves, and saw a familiar figure stirring a pot. I hurried toward her, trying not to bump into anyone.

"Ella."

The girl turned around, and it was Ella. I sighed in relief, I hadn't thought what I would have done if it wasn't her.

"Hey. What is it?" she asked, fixing her hairnet. There was brown liquid smudged on her cheeks and on her gloves.

"We um, have to get ready for the dinner. Nico sent me. You need to change."

"Oh." She frowned. "Shoot. I was hoping to help out more. Gimme a sec, I gotta throw out my gloves and find Astrid."

"Addie's here?"

"Yeah, she came with me. You can leave if you want, I know the kitchen's not your favorite place."

"Okay, I will. Thanks."

She nodded in acknowledgement, and disappeared in the crowd. I headed out of there as fast as possible, sighing in relief when I got out. It was so stuffy, I didn't get why Ella liked it so much. Maybe because her dad worked there.

In a couple minutes, Ella and Astrid walked out of the kitchen. Their hair was really tangled because of the hairnets they were wearing, and Ella still had gravy on her face. I stifled a laugh.

"Dinner's in 15 minutes, right?" Astrid shook out her hair.

"Uh, yeah. We should go get ready. How long does it take to get into those dresses?"

"Too damn long," Ella said, smirking a little. "Let's go."

The two of us started to walk, but Addie suddenly stumbled forward to grab Ella's hand.

'What?"

"You have something on your face," she said shyly, wiping the gravy away. Addie was blushing, which made me smile. Those two were so cute together, I was surprised they weren't dating already.

The three of us walked to our rooms to get ready. I had to wear a suit, which I hated. It was so stiff, I couldn't move around. Not like I was athletic, but still. It was still so stifling.

It was kind of hard to put on by myself, but I still did it. I always felt so awkward when people helped me change.

I was fixing my tie when I heard a quick knock at the door. Nico burst in right after, even though I didn't answer the door. Twin brothers are like that.

"Good. You're ready. Addie and Ella are taking forever," he said, walking to my mirror and fixing his hair.

"Well, they do have to put on dresses. It's got to take longer."

"True. They're gonna match this year, right?"

"Um, yeah. I mean. I don't know. They do every holiday, so they have to."

For every holiday since they were seven, Astrid and Ella matched outfits. The only one they didn't do was Halloween, because we would do our group costume. Pictures of them always made the front page of magazines. Even though they would wear elaborate gowns/dresses, their outfits would be the newest trend.

We left my room to wait in front of our sister's rooms. Nico knocked on Ella's door, and we heard her yell to wait through the door.

"You are too impatient," Ella teased as she opened the door, Astrid in tow. "These gowns are a bitch to put on. And we have to do hair and makeup. You boys have it easy."

"Wow, watch your language," Nico retorted.

"Shut your mouth and compliment us. We look gorgeous."

Ella wasn't lying. They both wore beautiful off the shoulder evening gowns that reached the floor. They were layered, and each new layer there was a new color. They went from golden to yellow-orange to orange to red.

The girls' hair were pulled up into identical complicated-looking buns. They both wore gold-orange eyeshadow and red lipstick, and had gold-orange nails. How had they found the time to paint their nails?

Women had to be magical.

"You two do look amazing," I said.

"You're my favorite now." Ella pointed at me. "See Nico, Adam should be your example."

Before Nico could say anything, Astrid spoke. "We should probably go. Aren't we gonna be late?"

"Yeah Nico."

"Shut up Ella, we have to go. Stop looking for trouble."

Ella rolled her eyes, but we finally started to walk to the dining hall. We got there before everyone else did, so we were actually early. Ella didn't hesitate to start a friendly argument with Nico about it.

"They always do this," Addie muttered.

"Yeah. They would make a cute couple I guess, if they stopped arguing. I mean, Ella likes someone else. So it would never work out."

I mentally yelled at myself as Astrid looked up at me, surprise and hurt badly hidden behind nonchalance. Before I could screw things up more, the doors opened and our parents walked in, along with the royal advisors and the rest of our squad. I silently thanked the universe.

"Oh my god you two look gorgeous!" Lena squealed. She grabbed Addie's hand and pulled her away from me and toward Ella. Bree followed her. I guess the universe was on my side for once.

"Aw, thanks. You guys do too!"

Lena grinned and did a little spin and a curtsey. She was wearing a shimmery red dress the color of autumn leaves that reached her knees. Her lipstick and eyeshadow matched her dress, and so did her nails. Lena's hair fell in waves, and she was also wearing stilettos. How did women run in heels?

Bree was wearing a maple-orange dress the same length of Lena's, although it was poofier. She was wearing flats and little fake leaves and flowers weaved into her short hair. Her lipstick was light red and her eyeshadow was the same color of her dress.

Was everyone wearing fall-colored clothing?

"Wow. Did you ladies color-code or something?" Nico asked, almost voicing my thoughts.

"Yup." Bree grinned. "Fall colors are the way to go now, especially because Christmas is coming up soon. Gotta wear it when we can."

Before I could disappear into the background, Eliza appeared next to me.

"Hey," she said.

"Hi. You look pretty."

She shrugged, crossing her arms self-consciously. "I guess. Lena gave this dress to me. She did pretty much everything else too. I don't look that nice."

"No, you do. Trust me. I might not know anything about clothing or style, but I have eyes."

Eliza smiled at me. She was wearing a cream-colored dress that brushed the floor, and rose-gold lipstick and eyeshadow. Her nails were rose-gold too, and hair was in a long fancy braid down her back. She looked stunning.

"Can we stop the chit-chat and sit down," Julie interrupted. She was wearing an elegant olive green dress, which I guessed was an autumn color. "We don't want to look unprofessional when the cameras and the Selected get here."

My parents nodded in agreement, and we sat down in our respective seats. A few minutes later the Selected walked in led by Penny. A lot of them were wearing warm colors like the girls in our squad.

"Wow, fall colors really were the way to go," Nico muttered under his breath.

After the Selected sat down, about five cameramen walked into the room. Four started setting up, but one came over to us to tell us what the plan was.

"Okay, so we'll just start filming once everybody's ready. We're thinking about filming Your Highness' speech, and when the food comes in and is presented. We'll also get close up shots of everyone and film some conversations, sorry if we invade your personal space. Please just act normally, the citizens want to see all of you in a normal environment. We probably won't be here the whole time. Is that okay with Your Majesties?"

My dad nodded, and the cameraman that was talking with us went back to help finish setting up, I think. I didn't know how cameras worked.

I noticed Nico sitting up straighter, so I did too. I didn't really like that we were being filmed, it was making me nervous. I was probably going to do something wrong. I started tapping my fingers on the table, which Nico saw.

"Stop worrying," he whispered to me. "It'll be fine. This isn't live anyway, they'll just edit out the stuff they don't like."

Oh yeah. He was right.

"Thanks," I said quietly. Nico grinned.

"Okay everyone, we're going to start filming in five, four. . ."

The cameraman (I still didn't know his name) counted the reston his fingers silently, then I saw the familiar red light blink on. Only now, it only meant filming instead of LIVE.

"Good evening Illea," my father greeted, voice smooth as silk. He smiled graciously at the camera, already standing. "I hope you all are having a wonderful Thanksgiving, or had considering this will be put on The Report after Thanksgiving.

"I and my family have a lot to be thankful for. We have a home, clothes on our backs, amazing food to eat tonight, and most of all a family. But all of us here at the palace today are thankful for you. All of you citizens, who we depend on to keep Illea running. Thank you all so much for all of your hard work, and we promise to work hard to make sure all of you are living the best life you can.

"However, we would also like to apologize to a certain group of people. As all of you know, the land Illea stands on was first known as The United States of America. America had many flaws and shortcomings. One of the first ones was that it was built on the bones of many indigenous tribes that lived there before European colonization. On the behalf of my whole family and the leaders who have come before me, I am sorry this has happened to you. We will try our best to help Native Americans out when they need it.

"That ends my speech. I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving feast, for those who celebrate it. Thank you all."

My dad sat down, still smiling at the camera. I saw Nico quickly flash him a grateful look before the doors to the dining hall from the kitchen swung open. Maids and butlers walked out holding platters of amazing looking food and beverages. The cameramen holding cameras walked over to them to film them.

The staff put the food down, bowed/curtseyed, and left the hall. Then we all started to eat.

While the food was delicious, I couldn't get over my lingering nerves. Eating while being filmed wasn't that nice, I felt on my guard and tense. The room was also silent, so that didn't help.

Apple cider was being passed around the table at the moment, so I poured myself some and passed it on. I didn't think much of it until I heard someone yelp.

"Oh my god, what the hell, that's so hot!" Zane put down his mug of cider, glaring at it.

Bree laughed. "Did you seriously drink it now?"

"Yeah? I'm thirsty."

"Bro, it's steaming. It just came out of the kitchen. It's going to be hot."

"Guess I'll die then."

The two of them continued lightly bickering as always, which broke the tension in the room. Soon, everyone was talking like normal. Nico and Julie were passionately talking politics, and Lena had joined in the bickering between Zane and Bree. The Selected had started talking as well.

"Hey Adam, you should help out in the kitchen sometime," Ella said unexpectedly to me.

"I'm uh, not that good at cooking," I replied.

"Well yeah, but you're good at baking. Remember those brownies you made a couple months ago? I would die for those, I swear."

"You remember those?"

"Yeah, of course. I'm the daughter of a cook, I have to love food. It's like a law. Also, you'll get to spend more time with your beloved sister."

She swung one arm around Addie's shoulders and pulled her closer to her, both of them giggling.

"Plus you're much better than Nico. Remember that time Lena dared him to make souffle and it literally exploded in the oven?"

"Yeah," I said, smiling a little at the memory. "The fire alarm went off. We had to evacuate the kitchen."

"Nico got grounded," Eliza added.

Finally, Nico noticed that we were talking about him.

"Oh my god, wait. Are you two gossiping about me?" Nico feigned hurt, pressing his hand to his chest. "So rude. I can't believe it. You actually found "

Ella only smirked. ". Remember the souffle?"

There was a pause, and then Nico groaned. "Please don't remind me of that. It was a traumatic experience that I would not like to relive."

Ella, Astrid, Eliza and I giggled while Nico kept ranting. "It wasn't even my fault! Lena was the one who dared me, and I had never cooked before. A souffle is literally the worst option for someone who never cooked before. How did it even explode? It makes no sense!"

"It's a souffle," Ella answered. "Those don't obey the laws of science."

"Touche."

I grinned. I still felt a little awkward and nervous because of the cameras, but I was getting better. I was glad I had great friends. Or should I say thankful?

We finished our dinner while chatting, and the staff brought the dessert out. There were two pies, and some cookies and brownies as well.

"Addie helped make the apple pie!" Ella exclaimed loudly while it was being served. My sister blushed, but she was smiling.

Lena took a bite, and her face looked like it melted. "Oh wow. I love this."

"Yeah, it's really good," Eliza said shyly.

"Thanks. I only helped with the pie crust though."

We almost didn't notice the camera crew leaving as we ate dessert.

I smiled. Thanksgiving dinner wasn't as bad and nerve-wracking as I thought it would be. It was actually really fun, and we got to eat amazing food.

I had a lot to be thankful for.

I'm. . . so bad. . . at updating. . . I'm so sorry.