Chapter 20

Reenie and Kara left Kristy's and Michelle's household a little after five. They said that they both had to get home. Reenie knew that she would have to ask Serena about trying out for track and before she left, Kristy reminded her about the tryouts tomorrow. Reenie hoped that Serena said yes. She didn't mean to make her mother sound mean or anything, but truth was, Serena in the past was less strict than in the future.
"Did you meet Rodney?" Kara asked her older sister.

Reenie nodded. She had met Rodney. "You?" Reenie asked.

Kara shook her head. "I saw him come in, but me and Michelle were too busy playing. Besides, he seemed preoccupied with something else."

Reenie smiled. Kara had to be one of the few grade four's that knew what preoccupied meant. "I'm sure he was," Reenie said. Suddenly, she heard a familiar voice calling out their names. Both, Reenie and Kara turned and saw their guardians.

Kara sighed. She had thought that the guardians weren't going to bug them as much here in the past. Maybe she was wrong.
"Reenie!" Kirstein called out. "Kara!" Kirstein began to run up to them. "How did you enjoy playing with your friend?" Kirstein asked Kara.
"How did you know?" Kara asked.

Kirstein smiled. "I'm your guardian," she told the young princess. "I know where you are and what you're doing at all times. That's my job."

She looked up at Reenie. "Reenie, I am sorry about Friday but you'll have to bre..." Kirstein began, but Reenie stopped her. She knew what Kirstein was going to say.
"Break it off?" Reenie said, not bothering to mask her anger. "Forget it! At home I never got to see the guys I wanted to and you know why! Here I can and you won't let me? You're not my mother, and you do not have any power over me!" Reenie was almost shouting by now. People were staring at the trio.

Kirstein's face had not lost it's hardness or softness. "I am sorry, but you must."

Reenie let go of her little sister's hand, said that she would see Kara later at the house and ran off. Kara watched her sister run in confusion. What was going on? To Kirstein she asked, "Why is Reenie so upset? She broke it off with guys in the future."

Kirstein sighed. She had warned her majesties that Reenie might fall in love here in the past, and she was afraid that's what was happening. Otherwise, Kirstein could think of no other reason why Reenie would run off like that. To Kara, she replied, "She just thought that she would have more freedom from her duties here, but she has to know that she doesn't." Kirstein sighed and walked Kara the rest of the way home.

Reenie ran. She ran faster then she ever had before. She couldn't believe Kirstein. She had thought that she had been her friend, but maybe she was wrong. Kirsetin probably thought of her as something that "went with the job". The more Reenie thought about this, the more angrier she became. Did the other Younger Scouts think this way, too? Was she their friend or just "something that went with the job"? Lillian had always treated her as a friend. Lillian was the one who was the closest to her. Out of all of the Younger Scouts, Lillian was the one who she was closest to. But was Lillian really her friend or was she just being nice to "her charge"?

As she ran, Reenie couldn't get those thoughts out of her head. She had no idea who her real friends were. Only here in the past did she have any real friends. Sammy. Mika. Kristy. Melissa. Maybe Rodney. There were only two people from where she came from that she knew were her real friends. One: her little sister, Kara. Two: her cousin, Kenneth. She knew that Kenneth felt the same way about being royalty as she did. They both hated it. Never getting to do what the others did. Always having to be nice and proper. Calling her parents Queen, majesty, and highness. She bet that no one else had to do that at parties. She was the only one. She was an outcast.

Tears ran down Reenie's face as these thoughts entered her head. She had finally realized what she was. She didn't belong. She could run away. Serena had, after all. She would no longer have to worry about being the Queen of Crystal Tokyo. Kara would, but she wouldn't. That load would be lifted from her shoulders.

Even as she thought that, she knew she couldn't place all that responsibility on Kara. Reenie may have been able to carry that when she was eight years old, but she knew that there was no way that Kara could. She had had all those extra years to get prepared for it. All her life she knew that she was to become the Queen. She had been prepared. Kara hadn't. It wasn't fair to Kara. But then, a new thought flashed through Reenie's mind. Was it fair to her? She had never been given a choice. She knew that there were a lot of other girls in the future that would die to take her place and any second, any minute, any day she would have traded her life to be normal. But she knew that she couldn't. There was only one way that she could get out of being a princess and that was to dump the load on her little sister. She knew that she couldn't do that.

Suddenly Reenie stopped in tracks. Had she really just heard a voice mention the Scouts? Why? The only thing she knew for sure was that the voice wasn't familiar.