Thanks to my three reviewers, Belle Quest, fairypixie3, and ladeportista4 I now have at least one review and am confident to type another chapter. This time I am looking for at least five reviews. You will become famous because I will type your name on the next chapter after I get your review. Haha. Okay maybe not but I will still type your name. Okay and on to the chapter…

An Unexpected Friend

April 20th

This is the worst birthday ever so far, except maybe my eighth birthday. I have had to deal with that arrogant prince and now I will have to put up with him and his sister for the whole afternoon. I think I will take Sydney along…

Sydney's room is connected to Ria's. Ria went over there and asked her to come but she wasn't there. Go figure. There was a note. It said "Sorry, I can't stay. I had to go to meet my father about something. I will be back for the party. Bye."

Great now I have to meet Him alone.

I went back into my room and changed into my riding dress. When I went to open the door no one was there. Then I turned to walk down the hall and he was standing there leaning against the wall. He looked like he was thinking and I almost didn't want to disturb him. Then he looked up and said "I am not someone you want to make angry."

He really did look scary when he said that. I replied with my nose held slightly in the air, "Why, you can't do anything to me."

"I wouldn't be to sure about that." Oh no! Scary! HA!

"I don't think your mother would be happy with the way you have been acting, Your Highness."

He took a defeated look. "No I suppose not," he started to smirk, "but neither would yours."

Great, now I'm blushing again. "Uhh, aren't we supposed to find your sister?"

"Yes, but she is probably off looking for some guy to flirt with," he said with a roll of his eyes.

"No, I'm not! I came to find you guys. Mother told me I was to go horseback riding with you," came the voice of a girl from behind us.

"Paige! You know you aren't suppose to sneak up on me!" Paige is annoying the Prince. I think I am going to like her!

"My apologies, oh great brother o' mine. But this girl is right, mother would be upset with you."

"Fine, you win, just call me Derek okay," he said with a puppy look on his face. It was kind of cute. No I did not just think that! Eewww, gross!

It was starting to get boring fighting with him, I'm not one to hold grudges, so I decided to get along with him, and I wanted to find out more about Paige. She sounds so cool!

"Fine, Derek." He got a look in his eye so I'm guessing he got the hint.

"Okay, so where are the stables?" Paige asked.

"Don't be rude Paige!" Derek said loudly.

"Oh and it's not rude staring at someone for about five minutes?" she said. Derek started to go red. Paige and I snickered softly at it.

"Let's go," he said gruffly.

"Don't be rude Derek!" she said in the same tone of voice he just used. He stayed quiet. Oooooh the silent treatment. So scary! Not. We eventually got to the stables with Paige saying pretty rude things to Derek the whole time, if I do say so myself. Derek stayed silent the whole time. While I got the horses Derek pulled Paige aside and whispered something frantically into her ear. After that Paige didn't tease Derek, at least when she did he didn't hear.

I hopped onto my horse and the others followed suit. I was getting curious about what Derek said to Paige. I asked Paige but she just shook her head. Derek mouthed "blackmail".

We rode to the pond that was in the woods off of a path from the castle gardens. We cooled off and let the horses drink while we sat there and talked.

"So what is the blackmail about?" I asked.

Derek replied, "Oh, it's just something she doesn't want you to know. She really wants to be your friend. She was jabbering about meeting you the whole time here. Ow." Paige just elbowed him and it looked painful.

I looked at her and said, "Really?"

She got a shy look and tucked her hair behind her ears. "Yeah. Derek can we talk alone for a few minutes?"

"Sure I'll get the horses ready."

"What a gentleman!" I muttered loud enough for Paige to hear. We both giggled softly as he left. It was just a statement!

"I can't wait for you to come to our home! We will be such good friends! I can't wait for the party tonight!" she exclaimed.

"Okay, are you always this hyper?" I asked her.

"No, just excited."

"What is it you didn't want me to know?"

"Oh, I don't really care if you know. My brother thinks I do though. It's just that I am curs-ahh."

"What is it?"

"I'm not aloud to tell you. Ask my brother when we get back to our home."

"Okay," great now I have to talk to him. I do because I need to know what she is talking about.

"Hey girls, are you ready to go? You need to get ready for the party."

"Yes, Mother!" we said together.

"Haha, very funny."

"We know."

We went back to the castle and were all sent off in different directions to get ready. I got on my gown and jewelry with the help of Clara. She put my hair in an upside-down braid with curls spilling out the top.

When I walked down to meet my parents, Ella, Char, Paige, and Derek were waiting there as well. They came and told me Derek would be entering with me and we would share the first dance. Okay just because I was nice to him this afternoon doesn't mean I suddenly want to dance with him. I gave my mom a look. She looked back and took a step forward towards me. "Please do this for me. Give him a chance. You might like him," she said. I gave her a look that reluctantly said I would. I looked at Derek and he shrugged.

The page announced my Father and Mother then Ella and James then Paige and then Derek and me. Derek offered me his arm and I just barely touched it. He leaned over and said, "I don't have the Gray Sickness or anything. You can touch me." Ugh! What a jerk! I can't believe he said that! And of course I blushed!

"You might not have the Gray Sickness, but I don't want to catch your…your…your…" Omigosh! I couldn't think of anything to say. So he said

"My smartness, handsomeness, friendliness, I could go on. Take your pick." What a pompous, arrogant, ogre! I told him that.

"I do not associate with pompous, arrogant, ogres. So I'm afraid you will have to leave."

"Oooohhh, right. I'm supposed to dance with you, remember? Oh yeah, I forgot that all the people of Gondola are stupid and have bad memory." Now that was uncalled for! I can't believe he acts like that around anyone. Fortunately we danced for a really short song. It was ironic about how the lyrics went.

Why do you have to go and make things so complicated?

I see the way your acting like somebody else gets me frustrated.

Life's like this you

And you fall and you crawl and you break

And you take what you get and you turn it into honesty and promise me

I'm never going to find you fake it

No, no, no

There is more but that's pretty much what it was about. It's true. He acts cool one minute than the next he says something rude and other things. He confuses me. I think I'll leave him alone for a while.

"I got to go see some people. Bye." I didn't stay to see what he had to say. It probably would have been something rude or conceited anyway. I went out onto the balcony for some air. I heard a rustling sound and I turned around and got into a defensive position. I might be locked inside a castle all the time but that doesn't mean I don't know some self defense!

It turned out to be Sydney. Thank goodness! I need a friend right about now.

"Hi."

"Hey."

"What do you think about the prince of Frell?"

"I think he is a rude, conceited, pompous, arrogant, ogre!" Yes. I added to my list.

"Oh?"

"You should have heard the way he was speaking to me. It wasn't very polite and gentlemanly."

"How did you act toward him?"

"I suppose I wasn't very kind to him either but what he said was way worse than what I said."

"I see…I think you should apologize."

"What!"

"You see, you usually underestimate the things you do sometimes. And from the sounds of it, the things you said were probably pretty awful as well."

"NO!"

"Alright but that was just my suggestion. I have to go and see if there is anyone to dance with. Bye."

"I better come too. I can't be away for too long."

We went back inside the ballroom. We saw my parents standing by the page. I guessed they were going to be announcing that Mother was pregnant. I was right.

"I have an announcement. King James and Queen Isabelle are expecting another child in several months. We would like to wish them all the best of luck." Everyone clapped and cheered. I was getting riled up as well. Champaign was brought out and I think that I had one too many glasses of it. I remember going to dance with Derek and apologizing then I blacked out. When I woke up I was in my room, in my night clothing, with my head pounding. Someone knocked on the door which made my head pound even worse. Clara came charging in after I gave a small grunt that I guess she heard.

She came over and shook me. "Get up! You shouldn't have drank some much! You knew you were going to be traveling this morning. Have some of this. If you don't you will be ill all morning." She shoved some soupy drink under my nose. It didn't smell horrible so I took a sip. Bad idea! Smell is nothing to go by! It tasted like mud. Unfortunately Clara made me drink it. When I was done the pounding near my ears slowly came to a stop.

"Come on! Get out of bed! I shouldn't have let you sleep this long. You are already late to start traveling. Ella's family has waited patiently for you. Move it!"

She tugged me toward the closet and pulled my traveling gown down from a hook. She threw it over my head and started ripping at my hair to get a comb through it. She eventually gave up and pulled it back with a ribbon instead. She had brought my breakfast up and I stuffed it down my throat during this whole process. By the end of about a half an hour I was ready to meet everyone downstairs. I was beginning to get nervous about how I acted last night. I mean, really, I wouldn't put it past Derek to tease me about how I behaved last night if I was foolish. Unless they drank too much as well…no I better not get my hopes up.

I wasn't! Yaaayyy! Derek wasn't down there either. Both of our Fathers were gone as well. I wonder…Nah. I saw my Mother and Ella talking. Paige was sitting by herself and embroidering. I went over by her. I decided that since I didn't know what I did last night maybe she could tell me.

"Hey,"

"Hi,"

"What did I act like last night?"

"Do you really want me to tell you?"

"Yes, was I really awful?"

"Umm…"

"Tell me!"

"Well, you made fun of every noble girl at the party, you kissed Derek, and now you are engaged to him."

"WHAT!"

Oooh, a cliffhanger! Hehe! Sorry so short! Well shorter than my last chapters. Been busy with play practice and homework and all that. If you are wondering about my summary I will be getting to that in a couple of chapters! I wanted to get this much up since I haven't been updating as regularly as I said I would. Sorry! (Looks around to make sure lightning doesn't strike her) I know it seems that Derek and Andrea are going back and forth between being enemies and friends. I think Derek should be her enemy because it would make my plot so much more interesting but I really want them to be friends as well! He is Ella and Char's son you know! I also can't make Andrea as rude as I would like her to be. I am not a rude person myself-well most of the time ;) So tell me what you think in a review! Enemies or friends, rude or polite. I am open to either suggestion. What you/I pick could change by the end of the story though! Please review! Oh and Ria might seem dense since she can't figure out… I'm not tellllling!