A/N: ok, so I admit, I've been slack and this chapter ain't so great and pretty uncreative, but I felt I had to update, so here's a dull chap for you guys to laugh at! Thanks for the lovely reviews guys!

' "Today, in this room, I stand alone,

Where yesterday I stood so happy and warm,

You left me and went to your "true love",

When I'd always thought I was the one." '



My second hobby: poetry.

My hated poetry category: love poems.

What that poem was: a love poem.

Reminding you what kind of poems I hate: love poems.

Got the picture: I'm hoping.

So, Wyldon heard of my little evil-doings in Etiquette and told me that this was my very last chance at fitting in. And so he sent me off to a Poetry club, where I could "express my hate towards the world and its people with a quill and inkwell".

He didn't realize that I actually loved poetry, that I was sensitive in that area, and not all-around tough like I enjoy portraying myself as.

'Reem,' the teacher, Sir Kaller, called out from his desk, motioning for me to get up and read my lovely poem.

I nodded and got up with the sheet of paper stood at the front, looking at my peers.

They were all guys; I'd never expected that.

Weren't girls good enough for poems either?

Oh, no, otherwise, Shakespeare and his little merry followers wouldn't have dominated the charts of best poets, because women kick men's arses in poetry. We're the "touchy-feely" sex.

I coughed and read out my poem.

' "This destruction around me is bringing me down,

My life has no meaning in this crazy town,

Brother against brother, sister against sister,

Each person's thoughts cause me to shiver.



I don't understand how people can live,

In this world of chaos, this world of filth,

I scream and scream, yet no one hears me

This selfish world has blocked its ears.



So my prayers are vivid, so bright and true,

But no one realizes, they have no clue,

Their eyes are closed, their ears are blocked,

The truth, the lies, by nothing they are shocked.



Each night I wonder, if I'll be saved,

If this was all a dream and I was merely dazed,

It would be so nice, to sink into a heaven,

Where love is not blind and the truth is not hidden.



Some day, some day, the world will tire of its vanity,

That day, I'll learn the true meaning of sanity,

Because the world was crazy, soon it will rejoice,

For the poverty and illness shall fade, God make haste." '



I looked up from my piece of paper and saw Sir Kaller looking at me thoughtfully, with a hint of a wry smile on his seemingly ancient and withered face.

'Thank you,' I quietly mumbled, sitting back in my seat.



'You bloody—'

'Count them and weep babe!'

'Go to hell! No way!'

'Oh yeah! Damn hell way!'

'God!'

'Yep! Come on, pay up!'

I averted my eyes from the scene ahead of me. Khalil and Serena were playing "poker", while I was sitting in a corner of the room, on a very comfortable chair, reading a David Eddings book, which I'd borrowed from one of the girls in the dorm.

Trying to block out their noise—Khalil and Serena's—was like trying to block out an earthquake or hurricane, or some other uncontrollably loud disaster. They went on, and on, and on, and on…

And they were having so much fun, laughing and joking and teasing…and here I was, pretending to read when in fact, I was miserably sulking.

Atkin was infuriating me with his elusiveness, Roald still wouldn't—and for no apparent reason—talk to me; Khalil was driving me mad with his poems for Serena, which he never actually gave to her; the King's continuous lectures for me to quit my "relationship" with Roald, which was nonexistent, because Roald wasn't even talking to me, but I wasn't about to tell that to the King. And last, but not least, I was desperately homesick.

I didn't know why I was homesick; I mean I'd hated it back in my world; the fights, the people, the life…just everything. But now I was aching for it, because there, I knew what to expect. I knew what I was doing and where my life was leading to: uni and adulthood. Whereas, in Tortall, I was lost; I didn't know what to think of people, what they thought of me, how I was going to end up. I was just another girl. I was supposed to grow up to be a gentle lady, get married and have kids.

I couldn't do that. There was no way I could live my life like that.

I had to go back, that was all I knew.

But that didn't mean I wanted to go back "home" and stay there.

I didn't want to, but I felt like I had to, if only to see what I left behind, if it was worth coming here—even though I had no choice.

Did anyone miss me?

Did anyone even realize I was gone?

Khalil's rowdy laughter snapped me back from my lost, forever circling thoughts, and I sighed as I looked out the window.

The world was grieving; the swirl of dark grey swamping the sky and drenching the earth with its sad tears, the wind blowing its sympathy carelessly, thunder shuddering its remorse and lightning bolting down its condolences.

Gloomy days equal moody Reem.

Sighing again, I got up and left the room silently.



Once I'd had a bit of lunch, I decided to go for a stroll through the Palace to clear my mind. I was too edgy for my own sake and I had to release the tension.

So there I was, walking away through a dim, cool corridor at the deep end of the Palace when I heard the shuffle of hurried footsteps, and upon instinct, jumped into a dark corner, opposite the person coming.

I watched intently as the shadowed figure stopped a few feet away from me all of a sudden and started mumbling to her/himself.

He/she was barely audible, all I could hear were snatches, so I probed gently with my "mind".

I received feelings of fear and anxiousness, with a few stumbles of words along the way: "assassination" "tomorrow".

Again.

I shook my head and tried the probing again, with the same outcome. I sighed and looked to see the person leave, so I waited a while before following him/her deeper into the corridor.

The man, I'd found out he was a man of middle-age and pale qualities, led me to a squared hallway. I crouched in the corner away from the squared hallway, but in plain sight of the person who stood in the middle of the four opposing doors.

He seemed confused, lost and frightened as he lifted one shaking hand that revealed a slender, golden key that he tested out on all of the doors.

I cursed to myself, wondering how I was going to be able to hear what was happening.

The man suddenly whirled around and looked somewhere close to where I was crouching. I took in a deep breath as he scanned the murky corridor, and relaxed when he turned back to trying to fit the key to the right door.

About to move in closer, a strong hand clasped my shoulder and jolted me to a stop. I was about to kick the person unconscious, but the familiar hiss stopped me. 'It's me!'

I let out my breath gratefully and turned to see Roald directing an angry frown at me.

'What?' I mouthed, frowning back.

He looked up to see the man closing and locking the door behind him, disrupting all my plans of finding him out and punching the life out of him until he stuttered the truth of his devious, murderous plotting.

Roald obviously had other plans as he grabbed hold of my arm and tried to lead me away, but I pushed him away gruffly and shook my head stubbornly.

'What the hell are you doing here?' I whispered angrily.

'I followed you in!' he snapped back. 'What are YOU doing here?'

'I followed him!'

'Why?' Roald asked with obvious suspicion.

'Because—'

Another two men shuffled over to the hallway and opened the right door, then as quietly as possible, closed it behind them.

I was about to say something when Roald stopped me, his hand flew to my mouth, disallowing me of blabbing 'OH MY GOD!'…

'Shh!' he hushed, concentrating hard as he stared at the closed door.

I tugged his hand off and frowned at him. 'Look, I got no time for this, I have to—'

'SHH!'

I sighed and sat back down against the wall and tugged up my legs, placing my head in the middle of my two joined knees.

After about ten minutes of silence, Roald grabbed my hand and dragged me off into a run back the way we'd come from, only this time he used one of those necessary palace secret-doors and such.

We ended up, somehow, in his room, panting from the run—well I was anyway.

'Why…the hell…did…we run?' I puffed, feeling rusty. I shouldn't have been breathing so hard; I'd probably got unfit here, I hadn't exercised or played any sport for ages.

'Because I heard what you wanted to hear,' Roald replied steadily, dumping himself gracefully (with Roald, anything's possible) onto a bed.

'Say what?' I asked dumbly.

'You went there to eavesdrop didn't you?'

I nodded shamelessly. Why should I feel ashamed? I wasn't the one holding an assassination tomorrow!

'Well, I eavesdropped for you, since you obviously couldn't just waltz into the room, declare your right as a woman to hear what they have to say and then bash the life out of them for not liking what you heard.'

I made a nasty face at him and then laughed. 'True…'

My curiosity got to me in the end of course. 'What did they say?'

Roald shrugged. 'Nothing you'd find interesting or worthwhile.'

Of course I didn't believe him, but I pretended to as I shrugged.

'Roald?'

'Hmm?'

'Why the hell were you ignoring me these past few weeks?'

His eyes quickly slid from the floor to my face, then back to the floor. 'Ignoring you?' he said slowly.

'Umm, yep… You know, not talking to me, not even looking at me, avoiding me…'

He sighed. 'It's…nothing.'

I fought hard not to get angry and tell him to LOOK AT ME DAMMIT!

'Alright…well look, I'd better go now before the Stump jumps down my throat for "invading" this room again.'

He looked up at me again and I swear I could see disappointment in his eyes. And I also "probed" a bit. Accidentally. Unintentionally. I'm a crap liar; I did it to prove to myself that he wasn't ignoring me because he hated me—as stupid and childish as that may sound—and had finally come to his senses and realized I was not someone he wanted to be seen with. Thank God that hadn't happened…yet.

'All right,' he finally said, getting up. 'But…when…when can I see you?'

It drained all my reserve of self-control not to scream, instead I squealed. 'Any…any time…'

Oh great, I just admitted I have no life.

'Ok…' he smiled and then kissed my cheek with uncertainty.

I couldn't care less who waltzed into the room at that moment, so I kissed him softly.

He was shocked at first and did nothing, but then he took both my hands in his and pulled me in closer…and kissed me back of course.

I was enjoying it; that much I admit. I was ecstatic actually. He was so sweet and gentle…it wasn't like he'd ever forced me into anything or ever went too far; he'd always done the right thing. The right thing being exactly what I want at the time.

Nothing could have dampened my mood…

Well, almost…

'Well, well, well…'

Roald and me jumped apart and then turned to see the Stump leaning against the door with a fuming look on his face.

'Bloody day…' I mumbled dryly, silently following him into his office…again.

The Stump's office was a second home to me now; a place of wonders and awaiting punishments and lectures. Home Sweet Home.