A week had gone past and I still hadn't spoken to Solidad. I spent all my time with Paul and Dawn. Solidad hadn't chased me up either. It was so tense between us and every day I felt worse.

I distracted myself when I visited the princess. I didn't need to think about anything other than witty comebacks and ways to defend against her attacks.

She made me feel so many things at once. I felt happy with her whenever she lit up. I felt sad for her whenever I thought about what I was really doing. I felt guilty for trying to take her away. Something else as well that I couldn't quite place.

She was…Something that I never wanted to let go.

I knew my place now though. I'd accepted my role as the dirty common boy who never should make friends with her. I'd accepted that she had to move on to higher hints while I could only watch from a distance.

"Stop moping about," Dawn said, "Just go apologise. It's not that hard. It's a five letter word."

Dawn had been trying to get me to say sorry to Solidad all week, but sorry didn't seem to cut it. I felt like I needed to do something different; something that really showed her that I was sorry and didn't mean what I'd said.

I was lost at what though.

"What do I do?" I asked, "To make it up to her?"

"Say sorry," Dawn suggested.

"More than that," I said, "I want to show her that i really mean it."

Dawn frowned for a moment.

"She'll like flowers," she said, "You could go get her a bunch of flowers."

I grinned at Dawn.

"That's a great idea!" I exclaimed, "I'll go get them myself!"

"Bring them here first," Dawn said, I'll check over them for you."

I grinned at her and rushed out. Paul glared at me on the way, probably for talking to Dawn, but I didn't have any time to waste on him.

I rushed outside. It had been a while since I had fully been outside just to enjoy. I'd only really gone outside when I needed to get to the princess. I hadn't actually stopped for a while.

I looked around for flowers. We would have flowers here somewhere.

I spotted some small yellow ones browning between the tiles. Yellow was a good colour. It was a happy colour. I always felt brighter when I looked at yellow. That might be nice. Surely Solidad would like these. It would set my apology on the right path.

I picked them from the ground and held them in my hands. I saw some other yellow ones. They'd work too! I couldn't have enough yellow.

These ones were darker with more petals that were thinned.

I looked around for any more. There were some tiny blue ones too. I picked a few of them up. Blue might show her that I was sad.

Once I felt like I had enough flowers I made my way back to Dawn.

"Here," I said to Dawn, "I have flowers."

Instead of looking pleased, Dawn looked horrified.

"You can't her those!" she exclaimed, "You have sour-sobs, dandelions and Forget-me-nots. Those aren't special."

I frowned. What was wrong with these flowers?

"I picked them myself though," I said, "See? Yellow to make her happy again and blue to show her I've been sad."

Dawn sighed.

"Jaiden, there are nicer flowers than these ones," she said, 'These are so common they're not special, and often they're called weeds."

These weren't good flowers? They were flowers though?

"You still have a lot to learn about flowers," Dawn said.

"Well, I'm going to go to Solidad now," I said.

I ignored Dawn's protest and went down the hall. I knocked on Solidad's door.

There was a shuffling and then the door opened. Solidad stood in the doorway. I thrust the bunch of flowers to her.

"I'm sorry," I said, quickly.

Solidad paused, staring at the flowers.

I hope she liked them.

"I picked them myself," I added.

Solidad stated laughing.

"I figured as much," she said, "No respectable florist would sell bouquets with dandelions and sour-sobs."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked, frowning.

She ruffled my hair.

"That I think you're very sweet," she said, "And that I forgive you. I'm sorry too."

I shook my head.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," I said.

"Just feel lucky that Solidad thinks you're cute," Dawn whispered, "Any other female would rather slap you for being insensitive."

I didn't understand.

"Oh yeah, Paul's coming with you tonight," Dawn said, "He wanted to see what's really going on. Make sure to make things go well."

I frowned. Why was Paul going to come? I didn't want him to come. This was my mission. These were my meetings with the princess.

"It's only one night unless you want him to come again," Dawn said, obviously noticing my look, "Just one night. Then you have the princess all to yourself after that."

I frowned again. I didn't though. The princess didn't belong to me. Why would she have said that? I didn't understand.

I jumped through the window later that night.

"Hey princess, I see Drew's still here," I said.

Which was good because then it was worth Paul coming along.

Drew scowled at me and I rolled my eyes.

"Hi to you too," I said sarcastically.

I still didn't think Drew quite liked me.

"Hi Jay-Jay," May chirped.

I groaned. Why had I ever told them about this nickname? I don't even remember why I brought it up.

"Please don't call me that," I said.

Having Harley use it daily was enough for me. I didn't need anyone else to use it too.

May smiled innocently and Mina giggled. Mina jumped off her bed and held up her sword.

"Not yet princess, though I do appreciate your enthusiasm," i said, trying not to grin, "Two on one isn't fair so thought I'd even the odds. If he eventually gets up here."

Why hadn't Paul come in yet? It can't be that hard to climb a ladder and jump in.

I walked over to the window and leaned out to see.

"Hurry up and get in here," i called.

I frowned when I saw he was just standing beside the window.

"Why are you just standing there?" I asked.

"I was just waiting for you to finish flirting," he muttered.

My face heated up slightly and I hoped the princess hadn't heard that. I wasn't flirting.

"I am not. Just get in here," I muttered, moving away from the window.

I watched Mina's eyes scan over Paul cautiously.

"You have your friends here," I said, "So I thought I'd introduce mine. This is Paul. He's been my friend ever since we were stuck in class together."

"Speak for yourself," he muttered.

No I wasn't. Friendship was a two sided thing. He was just pretending to be grumpy.

"He's grumpy," Mina said.

Paul glared at Mina, but she seemed unfazed as she glanced back at Drew. I was impressed. Not many people could be glared at by Paul and not cringe or shy away.

"Two on two, sounds reasonable," she said, "I'm still going to beat you Jaiden."

I had to stop myself from smiling at that. Why did I want to smile like an idiot?

"Paul gets pretty serious," I warned.

I hope he didn't do anything too bad.

"Don't worry," Mina said, "It'll give Drew something to vent his jealousy on."

Was Drew still jealous? That comment was made ages ago. Couldn't he let it go already?

Drew jumped up, unsheathing his sword and Paul brought his level.

Mina nodded to Drew and swung her sword at me. I blocked and jumped away from Drew and Paul. Now that I thought about it, a two vs two battle probably wouldn't be easy in the confined space of her room. It was too late now though. Drew and Paul were already trying to behead each other. I seriously hoped Paul wouldn't hurt Drew because that would be bad. Mina would hate me for it too because I brought him here.

I felt increasingly nervous. I wasn't so sure that Paul was a good idea. Mina would never forgive me if Paul hurt Drew. That would leave me back to square one.

I hit a wall behind me and groaned. I had no more space to go.

Mina grinned as she held up her sword against me, reaching over to take mine. I chuckled slightly, letting her steal the sword from me.

How many swords did she have now? She'd taken so many from me now.

I looked over to Paul to see he was in a similar position that I was in. Drew had his sword under Paul's chin while Paul's sword had been knocked away. Wow, Drew was pretty good. At least I now knew Drew's skill level. So fighting Drew wasn't a good option. If he could beat Paul, then there would be a high chance he'd beat me too.

I had to think about it carefully.

"I think, I win," Mina said.

Her breath came out in little pants and her hair was damp with sweat. She really wasn't an ordinary princess and there was nothing I want to do more than hug her now; even while she was hot and sweaty. She just never ceased to amaze me.

"Let's get out of here," I said sternly to Paul.

He looked like he was ready to try to get out with his fists and then continue with Drew.

Paul looked at me in disbelief and I held his gaze. I meant it.

He clenched his fist and knocked Drew away from him, hitting him in the jaw with a strong right hand sweep.

May gasped and ran to Drew while Paul glared at me.

"No wonder you never get anything done. You're soft on her," he said.

Mina took the swords away from me, also running to Drew. She looked up and glared and I watched her for a while.

I knew I was soft on her. I couldn't seem to help it.

I pushed Paul to the window. He rolled his eyes and jumped out.

I was not bringing Paul back again. Not if he was going to cause trouble.

"I'll come back alone a different night," I told her.

I wasn't coming back with Paul again. I had a plan forming in my head, but I still needed a few things to make it happen. Just a little more time and a little more knowledge.

Mina looked up at me, her eyes focusing intently on mine.

"Good night princess," I said.

I jumped out the window.

"Goodnight Jaiden."

I almost lost my balance as I landed, but I quickly held myself upright.

She'd said goodnight to me. That was the first time she'd said that back. She usually just watched me go.

My heart beat felt like it was speeding up and something inside felt fluttery.

Paul was raising an eyebrow at me.

"Isn't she awesome?" I asked, grinning.

Paul rubbed his head with his hand.

"I'm not answering you," he said, "Come on before you get even more weird."

I wasn't weird. I was just happy.

Me: There we go. I'm so sorry that I didn't upload this last night like I normally would've. I wrote it, but then I was so tired that I just couldn't function enough to correct it for you guys so I thought I'd just put it up today. So you'll get two today because I still have the one to upload tonight

Jaiden: Maybe you shouldn't write late at night

Me: I usually do because that's when I feel inspired, but I was tired from the day.

And *giggle* Jaiden's definitely falling here. I don't think he realises it. Aw, poor Jaiden. He just doesn't understand these things