A/N:  Agh, long time no update! So here's a long-ish chapter :) Oh and sorry for pissing ya off with the stubborn horse Kaye and the fact that Roald and Reem hadn't kissed till..wow..chap 19 ;) I'll try and get in some more action…censored I'm hoping…oh and there might be a lot of swearing in this, so beware little children! (those of you who are that is)

Probably the weirdest conversation I've ever had was the one with the Stump, after I got busted kissing Roald in his room—which I'd been banned from of course.

It went somewhere along the lines of this:

'I'm disgusted,' the Stump declared gruffly, seating himself in his chair pompously as always and looking down at me with one twitching, raised eyebrow.

'So am I…Sir!' I chirped with a grin.

'You?! YOU'RE disgusted? YOU did not stumble upon a pupil who you'd BANNED from talking to or ever seeing the Prince and to your total shock and disgust, you find her KISSING the bloody Prince! Now THAT is disgusting!'

'Lord Wyldon!' I exclaimed. 'Just because you've never kissed a girl, doesn't mean its disgusting, in fact, try it some time! It's pretty—'

'EXCUSE ME!?!'

'Lord Wyldon, Sir, with all due res—'

'PAH!'

'—pect, I'm telling you, it's NOT that bad! Sure it doesn't LOOK too healthy, with all the, you know…umm, saliva swapping and all, but in the end…I mean, originally, we used to pick FLEAS off one another and eat them…how gross are we? So saliva swapping is NOTHING compared to th—'

'Would you mind getting to the point?' the Stump interrupted so rudely that I glared ferociously at him.

'What I was TRYING to say and was so very RUDELY interrupted, was that you shouldn't be so disgusted by something you've hardly experienced—'

I stopped and looked up at the Stump to see his fuming, frothing self, looking at me with such profound rage and bitterness that I actually shut up.

'You…don't get it, do you?' he finally struggled to say in the end, his voice coming in a slow puff.

My eyebrows mechanically rose. 'Get what, Sir?'

He sighed and slowly rubbed his temple with his thumb. 'Look, Reem. Tell me, with all honesty…are you going to keep on seeing Roald?'

This time only one eyebrow rose. 'I suppose, so long as we're in the same world.'

'What?!'

'Well,' I said, purposefully slowly, 'you see if we're in the same country, same building, there is a huge percentage of a chance of me actually bumping into or seeing the Prince—'

'DON'T get smart with me, young…girl!' Lord Wyldon barked madly.

'Wow, you noticed I'm a girl, I'm flattered!' I mock-gushed, twirling the end of my curls with fluttering eyes.

'Of course I noticed—' he stopped and realized he'd been "baited". 'Why can't you just be a nice and normal lady for a few moments!'

'Oh, but I can!' I squealed with mock-delight, nearly "jumping" at the idea.

He rolled his eyes. 'Of course you can, I never doubted it for a second.'

'No, probably doubted it for as long as you knew me.'

'True.'

'But, as a lady, I forgive you and offer my sincerest apologies for the trouble—'

'Chaos, suffering, anguish—'

'I get the point!' I snapped, glaring.

'ANYWAY, as I was saying—and you shouldn't have interrupted a nice, young lady like me—that I apologize and hence, I am forgiven, as a lady should be. Am I right, Sir?'

'Forgiven?' he softly murmured, staring at me blankly.

'Umm, yeah!'

'A real lady does not say, umm yeah, when addressing a gentleman, or anyone for that matter.'

I chuckled. 'Why sorry, dear Sir, I didn't realize how rude and insulting I could be when I let my tongue slip! I am upon my knees, grovelling for mercy! Do not beat me, I merely wanted to fit in so badly into this society, that I spoke like them!'

The Stump squinted his eyes at me, his patience spent.

'Be quiet.'

'Yes, Sir!'

'I said be quiet!'

'Immediately, Sir!'

'Get out!'

'Of course, Sir!'

'Would…you…get…OUT!' he screamed, taking deep breath in between words, trying his best to maintain his posture. Obviously he failed.

'What?! I don't get a punishment?' I gasped.

I saw him clench a paper tightly and scrunch it up with obvious exasperation. 'You haven't been getting any punishment, I have! Putting up with you has been the curse of my life! I've put up with boys all my life, but YOU…no; you are NOT even a BOY! What ARE you, pray tell me?!'

I smiled and shrugged as I got up to leave.

'I wish I knew, Sir,' I quietly said, closing the door behind me.

'KICK IT TO ME, KICK IT TO ME! Come on man! What the effin hell do you think you're doing?'

'HERE, OVER HERE! HELLO! I'M FREE DAMMIT! You friggin' bimbo!'

'ME, ME, ME, ME! EFFIN ME YOU IDIOT!'

'YOU MORON, I SAID KICK IT TO ME! YOU MADE US LOSE YOU SELFISH COW!'

I whistled as loudly as possible, bringing everyone's attention in the game to me; the referee.

'What the HELL are you guys DOING? This is a soccer match, NOT a friggin' swearing comp, all right? Get back in the field, to your right positions and PLAY and please…do not BITCH!' I snarled angrily, throwing the ball to the goalie.

I whistled again and the game restarted.

And this time, there was no name-calling or childish comments—much to my delight—and everyone had fun, blah, blah, blah…

As I watched the ball get kicked into the goal, (we'd just stuck two javelins into the ground a few metres apart and that was our goal, along with the fishnet) I noticed Khalil and Roald join the energetic, screaming crowd of fans who were impatiently waiting for half-time so they could go get the free food.

Jon had thought that the girls and guy from the "Other World" were getting too restless for any Tortallan's sanity, so he put Serena, Hayley and me in charge of a sort of fun day, with free food, sports games of any kind so long as we could organize and make the equipment and anything else needed.

At first Serena had babbled on about a modern-day ball, where we wear the clothes we first came in and try to make food that's more the future-ish than Tortall-ish. Serena and me refused vigorously, wanting an up-beat, actually exciting event where everyone could get involved and not have to worry about make-up, clothes and if guys were gonna be there.

Of course we had to have boys, we couldn't exclude them, but most of the sports games we played were just us girls. We'd even made trials for the different teams that were to play. We had soccer, basketball, volleyball, tennis, badminton, rugby, league, football the Aussie way and cricket for the young Aussies and Brits there.

Let me tell you we kicked ass when we played against the Tortallans (soccer that is), who'd gotten just the same amount of practice and perseverance from their devoted Other World coaches as any other Other World-er. So their complaints of (especially that they were guys and their "egos" were something too precious to break and I admit, I enjoyed stomping all over them) "but you're from the Other World, you've played it so many times" fell on triumphant, deaf ears.

Khalil had manly decided to play against the girls, saying he wasn't called my "burly man" for nothing and it was around time he proved who the man was. Pity he failed miserably.

As we were playing soccer, and when I'd had a break from refereeing the game and Serena had taken over, I'd played defence.

A street guy from the Market called Derjin was attacking with the ball, dribbling it amazingly for a guy who'd only learnt that a round ball could be scored with into a goal a few days ago. I tried sweeping it from under him, but he was too good and gently kicked the ball over my leg and commenced dribbling it over to the goal.

Jelena, from my team of course, finally got the ball off him and was running back with it when Khalil, at mid-field, broke her perfect run with a promising tackle and headed back towards me.

I set all my concentration on the next move, wanting to show my burly man—who'd gotten very pompous and egoistic the past few days, showing off to all how woggy and damn good he was at everything—just how small and tiny he was in this world.

'I hope you got a spare ass handy in there somewhere Khalil, coz I'm gonna kick it so hard, I'm gonna wipe it out of bloody existence!'

Khalil sneered and ignored me.

He was so damn good!

I guess that goes with him being a Lebo—as biased as that may sound.

But I knew a few tricks and intimidated him, getting up close and stepping my foot beside the ball, in between his two feet and in a flash kicking the ball gently away from him and in front of me.

I ran like hell, looking sideways and to my front, hoping to see at least one of my teammates concentrating on the game instead of gazing at the guys flex their pecks.

Leanne was there, waving her arms wildly and screaming her butt off for me, I kicked it to her, making sure the space was free.

As soon as the ball connected with her foot, she ran off with it herself, heading straight for goal and nothing else, passing it quickly to Danielle, who was then put up against a very tall guy called Fenil, who nearly tore the ball of her. But she passed it in between his legs to Caitlin, who took her chances and kicked it in fiery frenzy into the goal.

The goalkeeper jumped to the left corner of the goal, opposite to where Caitlin had kicked it and the ball crossed the badly-drawn line and into the fishing nets that had served so well as the goal-net.

All the girls screamed and I ran to Caitlin and jumped on her back, screaming how good the goal was and that she was "a bloody legend!" and then everyone came and started jumping around us in a mad frenzy of utter joy.

'I can't believe this!' Danielle screamed.

'I KNOW, THIS IS SO BLOODY MAD!'

'You're bloody good, ya know that Caitlin? You're bloody good!'

'THAT oughtta show those egoistic morons!'

'Come on girls, let's show them how good the next goal will be! They'll be crying for us to stop the torment! Their poor, poor egos! And in their own turf!'

I laughed and playfully slapped Danielle's shoulder before running back to my spot and felt my body relax as the crowd cheered with their boundless supply of excitement.

Again, an assault from Khalil followed, but this time he tactfully, as soon as he'd come a few inches to me, opened a space to pass the ball sideways to Derjin, who dribbled it to the goal.

I ran across to him, a three-on-one, with Hannah, Hayley and me defending as much as possible, but he was so irritatingly good and at-one with the ball that he got past all of us and continued on his way to the goal.

I panicked and to cover the distance between us, jumped in the air and flipped into a summersault, landing in front of him and swiping the ball unexpectedly clear of him, quickly making a run for it, then passing it to Jelena, who continued on her way.

The other team kicked out the ball and we got a corner.

'YOU CAN DO IT DANIELLE!' we all screamed, grinning encouragingly at her as she took the corner.

She took in a deep breath and looked at the possible passes, and in the end, threw it to the far side, where Caitlin stood alone, waving her arms. Caitlin made a quick short-pass to Jelena, who with a header, moved us on to the semi-finals with a 2-nil lead.

Again there was all the jumping and screaming and squealing, while the fans did their own thing, crying out a funny little song they'd made up with the riotous clapping and banging against metal-ish lids they'd dug up from somewhere.

The boys didn't end up even getting a goal, us girls got all the glory and signed all the autographs and a lot of Tortallans turned up and had screamed and jumped and cheered just as loudly as any Other World-er.

It was really one of the best days of my life—the girls playing and the people around me were wonderful, funny and the atmosphere was just exciting and amazing.

After the soccer we all went out for dinner and a few drinks (the underage guys were delighted at the fact that underageness wasn't a real problem to bars at Tortall. Either that or the bartenders saw the gold coins and suddenly obtained a loss of memory and couldn't remember any laws saying under eighteens couldn't drink).

We ate till they ran out of food and while some drank until their mouths couldn't open up for more grog, others preferred to drink one tankard (or even a half) and be done with it.

Of course, I was the very tiny minority of one person who didn't drink at all and walked out of the bar when everyone started to get drunk.

I just never felt comfortable around people who drank, especially after my mother's drinking problems. I felt suffocated and overwhelmed, sweat started to form all over my body and my mind swirled as my stomach cramped up.

It's just not worth sticking around and getting sick for, so I usually wait for everyone to get drunk outside, enjoy the few moments of solitude alone or with Khalil, since he's used to my ritual, and then head off home.

This time I was alone as I stood outside in the night, cold and shivering with my hands deep into the coat that I'd borrowed from Serena, watching the semi-moon shine dimly across the shadowed landscape.

I wondered what time it was back home, whether it was cold or hot, how the house felt so empty, with only one person—I'm hoping—living in it…did it feel the same? Or was it different?

I shrugged and breathed out a sigh, forming a foggy cloud in the process and laughing childishly as I created more.

'Do I miss out on all the fun!' a voice complained sarcastically from behind me.

I chuckled and turned around to face Roald.

'If you weren't so busy being so bloody nice, maybe you wouldn't!' I teased, grinning as I playfully punched his shoulder.

'Oh? Teach me the right path, O Nasty One!' Roald replied, smiling timidly.

I couldn't help it and burst into laughter. It hadn't been that funny, but I was so happy and enjoying myself so much at that time, I would have laughed if you'd told me a tadpole could swim.

'All you gotta do is…be bad I guess…'

Roald raised his eyebrows, as if to say "is that all?", when in fact, I had no idea and felt way too hyper for my own sake. I knew I was acting and talking like a complete idiot, but I couldn't stop myself.

'Look, just…alright, I'll give ya an example.'

I walked up to him and felt around his pockets, revealing lots of coins and a few things not worth mentioning. 'Can I keep?' I asked earnestly.

'Of course you can—'

'ROALD!' I screamed. 'You're not helping…how could you possibly just give this money to me?'

'Well,' Roald floundered. 'That was a bad example!' he shot back. 'Of course I'll give you my money after you friggin' felt me up!'

'What the—' I squealed. 'I did not feel you up!'

'Then what do you call—'

'I'm not hearing this!' I said, in utter shock. 'I did not feel you up, I went through your pockets!'

Roald frowned at me and grabbed me by the waist and pushed my jacket aside, really feeling me up.

'Now tell me that isn't feeling you up coz that's exactly what you did to me!' Roald declared firmly.

'I so did not do that!' I replied fiercely. 'I only put my hands down your pocket, and got out the crap you had in there! My hands didn't…linger enough to do anything else…'

'A moment of uncertainty there, Reem,' Roald taunted.

I rolled my eyes. 'Fine, if you really want it that bad, I felt you up. There, have your fun, do a little dance, run off and tell your mates a little freak felt me up!'

Roald merely laughed at my pouting, disgusted face.

After a short silence, Roald put his arm around my shoulder warmly and pulled me in towards his chest, my head contentedly lying against his perfectly built torso. (I really couldn't help not noticing that finer detail)

'Reem,' he whispered, his chin resting against my head.

'Mm?'

I was so happy at that moment, so content and mesmerized by the beautiful night that nothing anyone could say or do could change how heartracingly happy I was.

'The King's banned me from seeing you.'

I pushed him away, my mouth dropping open as shock overtook me. 'What!?!'

Roald shrugged and smiled grimly. 'This is the last official day that I'm allowed to see you publicly in.'

'Excuse me!? So His Majesty can cut into people's private lives and change it around to his own liking, can he?' I snapped.

The Prince winced at my angry tone and sighed as he spread his hands out helplessly. 'I'm sorry, I can't change his mind—I've been trying to for the past few weeks.'

'You're…you're going to listen to him?' I stuttered, hoping to death he'd say no, that he really does love me and wouldn't let a spoilt, selfish King (unfair and untrue, but I was too angry to care) spoil the possibility of relationship between us.

'I have to,' Roald whispered, pushing a strand of hair back away from my face.

I pushed his hand roughly away. 'Like hell you don't!' I shouted. 'You…you won't even bloody—I can't—' I took in a deep breath and squinted my eyes at him. 'Fine. Go to your fancy Palace and go marry a gorgeous Princess that you are allowed to see publicly, since I'm not worth being seen with! I really should have expected this! I really was stupid to think you would even—' I stopped there and felt like squealing and punching the life out of the perfectly calm-looking Prince.

'Man, I'm outta here!' I grumbled.

'Wait!' Roald shouted at my back, but I'd already turned around and stormed off. If I'd stayed any longer, I swear my anger would have just exploded and there would have been fists and knees flying around everywhere (mostly mine), and it really wouldn't have been pretty. Especially that I would have been hanged for kicking a Prince's butt (not that I could have, he was too fit for my own safety).