Nico's POV

Boredom. The emotion I hated most. Sure, sadness was awful and anger was uncontrollable, but boredom was just plain annoying (which was another emotion I hated, but not as much as boredom). Luckily, boredom was cureable.

I didn't have any paperwork to do or anything to study (for once) and the squad were all doing different things. Adam was on a date with Alex (they were going to a rock concert, which seemed like the opposite of what Adam liked), the girls were in the Women's Room hanging out (Ella said something about Mario Kart) and I wasn't sure what Zane was doing. Probably something dangerous that would get him in trouble. That's what he did most of the time.

I already had spent too much time messing around on the internet, so I got up to do something.

I should go on a date, I thought. It's been kind of a long time. Yeah. That's what I'll do, good idea me.

I stood up and left my room, breathing in the fresh air. The windows were open, even though it was getting chillier. And by that I mean dropping a few degrees. It never got really cold in Angeles, or snowed. Why couldn't my ancestors make the palace somewhere that actually had seasons?

I sighed, and walked down the hall. Since it was after Thanksgiving, it was officially Christmastime (to me anyways). Or the holidays, if you didn't celebrate Christmas. But we did, so the staff were starting to get out all the boxes of decorations from storage and put them up. I saw a few maids putting up lights as I went down the stairs.

I grinned. I loved Christmas. It was amazing in the palace, with so many lights and fires always burning in the fireplaces and the biggest Christmas tree with so many ornaments. Everyone was so much happier all the time. It was my favorite time of year and my favorite holiday, ever since I was a kid. It was Adam's too. We were similar in some aspects.

Unfortunately, my mood was immediately soured when I saw someone walking toward me from across the hall. Well, two people, but only one of them was the one that really caught my attention. I tried to duck out of the way, but she noticed me.

"Nicholas," Ruby Walker called out, a fake smile plastered on her face. I fought the urge to groan and/or run the other direction, but I didn't smile.

She and her husband Micheal walked up to me. I didn't know much about him, but I knew way too much about her. The third royal advisor who hated people of color, LGBTQIA+ people, the poor, and pretty much every minority ever. She could even be sexist to her own gender, which I didn't understand. I didn't like violence, but having to listen to Ruby rant about the latest minority to show up on the news made me want to punch her.

"Hi," I said, my voice sounding unpleasant even to myself. I smiled to make up for it, but it probably looked fake. I was never good at concealing my feelings, which wasn't good considering I was going to have a career in politics. Oh well.

"Good morning," she replied.

"I'm actually going somewhere so-"

"Please, this will only take up a minute of your time."

I sighed inside. I couldn't escape.

"I hear that we are letting in refugees from Venebia. Is this true?"

I thought back to when I was looking at the news this morning. That had been one of the biggest headlines, that we were letting in refugees from the war between Venebia and Argentina. It was a really controversial topic.

Of course she was bringing it up.

"Yeah, that's true. Why?"

"It is? I hoped it wasn't."

Don't get into an argument don't get into an argument don't get into another argument with her this isn't going to end well please just don't-

"Excuse me? Why do you think that?"

Goddamnit.

"Well, why don't they just stay there? It can't be that dangerous. Plus, a lot of the refugees coming in are probably dangerous. We can't endanger our own people for the sake of a few refugees."

As usual, I couldn't restrain myself.

"You've never been in a warzone. It's going to be dangerous. Plus, Venebia wasn't the greatest place to live in the first place. It's even worse now. And it's not a few refugees, few means three. There are over a hundred currently," I retorted.

"They just have to stick it out then. It'll get better, the war will end."

"You don't know what will happen. Those people could die over there. What kind of a person would let innocents die just because of their skin color or that they're immigrants?"

That was it. I had crossed the line. I had definitely started another argument.

"Did you just call my wife a racist and a xenophobe? You need to show her some respect young man. I don't care that you're a prince, you need to be taught where to draw the line," Micheal said, finally saying something. Great, I guess he was like his wife. You can't expect anything out of anyone anymore.

"I'll show her respect if she respects them," I shot back.

"I am being respectful! I just think they should stay in Venebia where they belong."

I was ready to start yelling, but then I saw someone behind Ruby and Micheal. A blonde girl in a white blouse and black skirt, struggling to carry a pile of books. I was pretty sure that was Cecelia Rhode, but I couldn't exactly tell from this far away.

But she was an escape route.

"Sorry but I have to go she needs my help," I said as quickly as possible. I dodged the two of them, ignoring what they had to say, and walked as quickly as I could to her.

"Nico!" she said, eyes brightening. I couldn't see the rest of her face, it was covered up by books. "Sorry, can you help me with this?"

"Of course."

I grabbed several books off her stack, revealing a happy smile that warmed my heart.

"Can you come to my room? Sorry, I can't carry all of these on my own."

"Yeah, no problem at all."

She thanked me, and we set of to the Selected's hallway. It was thankfully in the other direction. I saw Micheal glancing back at us, which was weird.

"You okay?" Cecelia asked me after a while of walking in silence. "You looked really uncomfortable back there. And angry. Did I do something wrong?"

"No, no. You didn't do anything wrong. You actually helped out a lot."

She gave me a quizzical look.

"I was talking to Ruby Walker. She's a royal advisor, and hates pretty much all minorities. I despise her, as do most of the squad," I explained. "She was talking to me about how refugees from Venebia shouldn't seek asylum here. I disagreed."

"Oh," she said, nodding her head. "I don't get how people can think that way. It's so cruel."

"Exactly! I'm glad we're on the same page about that. Thanks, by the way. I always end up in shouting matches with her, and my dad hates it."

"It was nothing. I didn't even do anything, I just happened to be there."

"It still helped a ton. I owe you."

We had gotten to her room by then, so she bumped the door open with her hip walked in. I paused.

"Am I allowed to be in here?"

Cecelia put down her books and then shrugged. "I'm not sure. You might as well, we're just putting books on my shelf. It's not a big thing."

I nodded, and walked in. Penny would have a fit if this wasn't allowed, but she didn't need to know.

Her room was like the rest of the ladies, but a few things were different. Her bed was a little messy, there were a book and a notebook on her nightstand, and a dress was draped over a chair.

"Your room's nice," I said.

"Thanks. I haven't changed it that much."

We quickly put up the books on her shelf. I recognized a few books Adam and Eliza liked, one of them which I had read.

"You have good taste in books," I mentioned.

"Oh, thanks! Most of them were recommended to me by the other Selected or your friends. They're pretty cool."

"Yeah, they really are. Annoying but awesome."

Even though we had finished putting up the books we kept talking.

"I guess siblings are like that."

"You have siblings?"

Cecelia smiled. "Yeah. My older brother, Asher. He's 22."

"Is he nice?"

"Yup. He teases me, but is kind of overprotective."

"I get that. Adam and I are super overprotective over Addie. She doesn't really get out much though, total rule-follower. I'm not sure if she's ever done a bad thing ever."

"I can see that," she said. Her smile was really nice. "You said squad earlier. What did you mean, if you don't mind me asking."

"Oh, that. What we call the squad is me, Adam, Astrid, Ella, Zane, Eliza, Julie, Lena, and Bree. We all hang out when we can, considering Bree, Lena, and Julie don't live in Angeles. Sometimes my other cousin Oliver hangs out with us, but he's younger and doesn't visit as often. It can get pretty chaotic sometimes."

She looked curious for a second, but her face quickly morphed back into its regular level headed expression. I could still see a hint of interest in her eyes. "Really? Some of them seem pretty calm."

"Yeah, Adam is. So is Eliza and Addie. Zane, Lena, and Bree kind of make up for it though. Do you want to hear stories? I've got a lot that I can't really share with the press," I said, already starting to smirk.

"Sure."

Cecelia sat down on her bed, almost like she was settling down to listen. I leaned against the bookshelf.

"Okay, one of our favorite games to play is Truth or Dare. I try to get out of it when I realize that Bree is planning something, but she has a way with words. Mostly bribery. She's really good at talking me into playing. I got out of it last time, but before I've gotten grounded for a week. I also almost set the kitchen on fire, but that wasn't my fault."

"What happened?" she asked, leaning forward a little.

"Well, the grounding thing was because there was this big meeting with all the representatives from every province. In the room there are all these photos of influential people from Illea's past. Bree dared me to replace all of them with memes. I don't back down from a dare. A lot of those representatives are older, and very confused when they see pictures of Spongebob and Gru from Despicable Me. We also had Despacito blasting in the background. You should have seen their faces."

We were both laughing like children at that point. Her cheeks were red.

"You got grounded for that?"

"Well, one of the portraits accidentally fell and got glass everywhere. The frame broke too. That's why. I know that my parents thought it was hilarious though."

"I wish I was there, that sounds legendary."

"It was. My descendants will know of me as their memelord ancestor."

She grinned, and then we heard a buzz.

"Huh," she said, pulling out her phone. "Oh shoot, my friends are wondering where I've been. I should probably get back to the Women's Room, they're getting worried."

"Oh, yeah. I forgot. It was fun to talk to you."

"Thanks. I like talking too you too."

We walked to the door together, and I opened it for her. She started to walk down the hall, sun shining of her blonde hair, and I had an idea.

"Wait," I yelled, jogging to catch up to her and gently grabbing her wrist. "Do you want to talk more?"

She turned around. "Huh?"

"Do you want to talk more? Preferably over lunch? I know a good cafe in the city we can go to, if you're interested. It's only fair, since you saved me from the horrors of Ruby."

I slid my hand down her wrist to her hand and entwined it in mine. Cecelia didn't pull away, only smiled a little wider.

"Yeah. That'd be cool."

Eyyyyy quicker update then normal. Watch me disappear for a month again after this. Also can you see how my political opinions are bleeding into this because I sure can.