Chapter 35: The Explanation

"Princess May, please return to the theater." The intercom said. "Princess May, return to the theater."

"Am I in trouble?" May asked.

"They're not asking for me, so I don't think so." Drew said.

May and Drew walk back to the theater. Everyone sees May and they applaud.

"Umm...what's going on?" May asked.

"We'd like to announce the talent show winner...Princess May!" The hostess announced on stage.

"What?" May asked.

"You won." Drew said. "Better go get your trophy."

"Umm...right." May said. She walked to the stage.

"Congratulations, Your Highness. The audience voted that the winner is you!" The hostess said as she held out a trophy to May.

May accepted the trophy. It's gold with a treble clef at the top. "Thank you so much." The audience started applauding again.

The bell for the end of school rang and everyone rushed out of the theater. May got off of the stage and exited after everyone else. As soon as she exited the theater, she saw that she was surrounded by a lot of students.

"Umm...hi?" May said.

"Hi, Princess! Did I ever mention how beautiful you are?"

"Princess May, you will find a good Prince in me!"

"Would you like to go out with me, Princess?!"

"Umm…" Was all May said.

"Excuse me." Drew's voice said from the back of the crowd. He was squeezing through the crowd.

"Drew." May said.

Drew got through the crowd and he walked to May. He took her hand and stood next to her.

"D-Drew, what are you doing?" May asked, blushing.

"You'll see." Drew faced the crowd. "Listen up everyone. I won't let anyone date her, understand?"

May's blush deepened. The people started whispering to each other.

"Does that mean she's yours?"

"Are you two together?"

"Have you chosen your Prince, Princess?"

"No." May said. Drew looked at her. "I haven't." She pulled her hand out of Drew's and started walking through the crowd.

"May!" Drew called. He followed her.

They exited the school.

"May-" Drew said, but got cut off by May.

"It's okay Drew. I'm okay. It's just that...talking about the whole Prince thing...I didn't want to talk about it. But I thank you for trying to make them leave."

"So...you're not mad at me?"

"Of course not."

Drew exhaled. "Good. I was worried there for a second."

They made it to the gang.

"So what happened with you both when you two ran out of the talent show?" Dawn asked.

"All you need to know is...everything's okay between us." May said.

"You two aren't dating?" Gary asked.

"No, but maybe someday we can." Drew said, glancing at May.

"Maybe." May said.

"So...I have a few questions for you...Princess." Dawn said. "Hopefully that's okay?"

"Of course." May said. "And you guys could just call me May."

"We don't have to use your title?" Ash asked.

May shook her head. "You guys are my friends. It just doesn't feel right for you guys to call me by my title."

"Well...how about at times?" Misty asked.

"...sure." May answered. "If you really must, then I guess it's okay. So, I think you all have questions for me?"

"Okay. I got one." Dawn said. "Just to make sure...you've really always been the Princess when we'd see her in town and you were always Daisy in school?"

"Yes."

"So why did you wear a disguise in school?" Misty asked.

"Look around us." May said. People were just staring at them. "If I came to school without pretending to be someone else, I would've brought way too much unwanted attention to myself. You guys remember how the Princess hasn't shown her face in years before I started going to school?"

"Yeah…" Dawn said.

"Well, the reason for that being that my parents were scared that if I exited the castle, I'd get hurt by evil people. They finally let me go to school this school year, but I had to wear a disguise and be someone else."

"So...you've lied to all of us about who you really are." Drew said.

"I had to." May said, looking at Drew. "Believe me Drew. I wanted to tell you so badly when you asked me about where I live. But I just couldn't."

"So that's why you never told us where you live." Ash said.

"It's okay." Drew said. "We all understand why you hid yourself."

"Yeah." Dawn said. "And another question...will we get to visit you in the castle?" She asked excitedly.

"I'm sorry, but no." May said. "My parents won't allow you all to visit."

"Aww...that's too bad." Dawn said.

"Okay. I have a question now." Drew said. "Daisy is really the one that told me about my Ninetales visiting the castle and stuff to really visit her Ninetales? And he participated in a battle with Daisy's Ponyta to evolve it into a Rapidash?"

May smiled. "Yep. Thinking back to all the moments you saw the Princess...it's kinda crazy."

"Wow." Drew said. "No wonder we never saw Princess May and Daisy at the same time."

"So true…" Gary said.

"I have to hand it to you May." Dawn said. "You really did an amazing job with keeping this secret."

"It wasn't easy…" May said. "But when I heard about the talent show, I figured it'd be the best time to finally tell everyone."

"And you did it in the best way possible…mystery girl." Drew said.

"I really had no idea that I'm the one you heard that one day in the choir room." May said.

"Yeah. And after all this time...I didn't know either." Drew said. "And I kept telling myself that there's no way that Daisy and Princess May could be the same person."

"So...now what happens that we know?" Dawn asked. "You'll still talk to us in school, right?"

"Of course I will." May said. "You guys are still my friends."

"Friends with the Princess…" Gary said.

"Are you still in love with the Princess now, Gary?" Misty asked.

"Maybe a little…" Gary answered.

"Oh yeah...Have you found a Prince yet, May?" Dawn asked. "Don't you have to choose one to marry?"

May looked down. Drew looked at Dawn.

"That's something May doesn't want to talk about." Drew said.

"Oh...really?" Dawn asked. "Sorry May."

May looked up. "No. It's fine. I'm okay with telling you guys. No, I haven't chosen a Prince out of all the ones that came to see me. Because I don't want to choose a Prince."

"What do you mean?" Misty asked. "Don't you have to?"

"Yeah...my parents have been trying to force me to choose one of the Princes, but...it's not what I want to do." May said.

"What do you want to do?" Dawn asked.

"I don't like how my parents will force me to choose a Prince when…" May paused, thinking about the best way to finish the sentence. "There can be Princes in everyone. If I marry someone, I want it to be for love. I want it to be with someone I know will always love me not for my being a Princess, but for who I am inside."

("Like me…") Drew thought.

"Someone who's romantic…" May said dreamily. "Kind...caring...and he could always make me happy no matter how sad or upset I am. That's my ideal Prince."

("She's basically saying that it's me.") Drew thought.

"So...romantic, huh." Gary said. Gary reached out and lifted May's hand. He started bringing it closer to his mouth, so he could kiss it.

Drew started feeling angry that Gary is really trying to kiss May's hand. Drew grabbed May's arm and pushed it down which slipped her hand out of Gary's. Drew then took May's hand in his. Gary stood up straight.

"Sorry Gary, but I won't let anyone kiss her." Drew said. May blushed. "No matter where the kiss is."

Gary smirked. "So...you've really fallen hard for a girl, huh Drew?"

"...of course I have." Drew answered. "I can't believe you'd try to kiss May's hand when I confessed to her earlier."

"Hey, I'm just telling her that there's many guys out there to choose from." Gary said.

Drew glared at Gary.

"But there's nobody that's like Drew." May said. Drew looked at her. May looked at him. "I can't say for certain if I love you or not, but Iwas describing you as my ideal Prince."

"You were?" Gary questioned.

May and Drew looked back at the gang. May nodded. She then blushed again. "I'm going to try and convince my parents to let me be with whoever I want to be with. It might take time though. My dad could be really strict."

"And then...what will happen?" Drew asked, looking back at May.

May looked at Drew and took her hand out of his. "We'll have to wait to see what the future holds."

"Feel better now that you told everyone?" Dahlia asked.

"Absolutely." May answered. "Now, there's nothing to hide and I can rest easy knowing that my friends aren't even mad at me."

See? What'd I tell you? If they got mad at you, then they weren't real friends."

"Yeah...and...I never thought Drew would confess to me like that. He's so romantic."

"And you want to date him."

"N-no one said that…" May stuttered. "I mean, we...can't."

"You told him you'd try and convince your parents to let you date whoever you want."

"But I just…" May started. "If we were to date, there's so much that could go wrong."

"Like?"

"His fans." May answered. "He has so many fangirls that love him that something will definitely happen if we were to date."

"But still...he sang you a love song in front of everyone to confess his feelings to you." Dahlia said. "And what was the song he sang? Beautiful Soul? Can you tell me some of the lyrics?"

"I don't want another pretty face. I don't want just anyone to hold. I don't want my love to go to waste. I want you and your beautiful soul." May quoted. She blushed at the words she just said.

"See?"

May shook away her blush. "But still…" She looked at the single rose in a vase on her bedside table. "There's no way to know for sure that he won't break my heart. I just...want a love that lasts forever, you know?"

"Mm hm. But you've never even had a boyfriend before. Sometimes it could take awhile to find the perfect one."

"I know…" May said. "I hope Drew is the only one I'll need though. The only Prince to steal my heart."