CHAPTER 17

Over the last couple of days I had gotten used to Mary every morning she would come to my door knock three times and then open it, say "Get up Jess, the children are waiting." Then leave. It was like that every morning. I would stumble out of bed still half asleep and make my way down to the courtyard where the children would be running around I began thinking that maybe they didn't sleep or run out of energy.

My whole body hadn't adjusted yet and I still felt half asleep.

"What's wrong Jess? You're usually so talkative." Mary said enthusiastically clapping me on the back.

"The verbal thing comes and goes." I answered rubbing my eyes, her enthusiasm so early in the morning made me sick.

Lancelot came over and sat next to me on the bench we watched as Mary talked to the children, they were all jumping up and down each telling her at the same time about their part in the play.

"Why am I doing this?" I asked Lancelot putting my head in my hands.

He laughed and put his arm around me. "It was Tristan's idea to keep your mind of..." he started but trailed of.

"Noah?" I asked feeling a wave of sadness shoot through my body at the sound of his name.

"I miss him." Lancelot said giving my arm a comforting squeeze.

"I didn't know you two were close."

"I could talk to him effortless…easier than I could with the knights or you" He answered. I could see him give a small smile as he remembered a conversation he had with Noah, maybe Lancelot used the same technique as Arthur when it came to grieving.

"Like what?" I asked curiously

"Well…like the annoying things you do." He said smiling and moving back out of arms reach.

I moved forward and hit him in the shoulder. He laughed and grabbed my arm.

"See, I can't talk to you." He said holding my arms as I tried to hit him again. He was to strong so I started kicking his legs. I was laughing too much our would have told him to let go. I heard a loud "Ahem." And looked up to see Mary standing watching us Lancelot let go and I straightened up.

The kids had written a play about a prince who goes on a journey across the country to find his bride. I was impressed when Mary told me this; it was very mature for them, even though the story did have lots of fantasy creatures in it.

"Ok in this scene the prince has to fight the dragon so James…Where's James?" I asked looking up from the script Mary had roughly written.

James was a 9 year old boy with straight blonde hair and light skin; he had the main part in the play of the Prince. He raised his hand and stepped forward.

"You ready?" I asked knelling down in front of him. Even though the 'dragon' was just two kids in a costume I had to ask.

James shook his head and looked a little nervous.

"You'll be fine, just act tough." I told him

"I'm not tough." He answered looking at the ground.

"That's why I said 'act'."

He smiled and nodded, I watched as the kids acted out the scene, I wasn't expecting it to be good but I didn't expect it to be this bad. An hour later I told the kids they can have a break. I didn't think they needed one it was more for me. I walked to the bar while the kids kept practicing. Galahad and Arthur were sitting at a table; Arthur looked like he was trying to calm Galahad down.

I walked over to them Galahad had clearly had too much to drink.

"Galahad its 2:00pm." I told him sitting down next to Arthur.

"He likes Alex, and is working up the courage to go talk to her." Arthur said trying to take away Galahad half full drink..

"I wish there was a way I could give her a thing, not like a ring. You know?" Galahad spluttered "Like a test gift just to see what she'd say, and if it went bad I could just walk away…Hey, am I talking in rhyme? I wish I could do that all the time. He said laughing.

"Maybe you should talk to her when you've sobered up." I said looking back to check on the kids.

"Yes Jess that's a good idea, yes Jess." He said laughing again.

I sighed and stood up Mary was looking tired and I wanted to get back to her.

"What? It's not my fault yes and Jess rhyme." I heard Galahad shout.

I stood next to Mary, Lancelot and Bors and watched as the children rehearsed when something in my head clicked.

"Alex?" I said out loud.

"What?" Mary asked turning to me.

"Cook Alex?" I said looking back at Galahad.

I started to turn when Mary grabbed my arm and pulled me back.

"Breaks over, help the kids." She said pushing me forward a bit.

"What…oh yeah alright." I said turning back to the kids.

"What scene are we doing?" I asked them.

"The last one." a chorus of voices yelled out.

"Ok start from the start of the last scene."

The last scene was the one were the prince found the princess she was badly injured though and ended up dying, I didn't know when the play turned into a tragedy but that's how the kids wanted it.

James was acting out the last part when he had to kiss Natalie, a pretty red headed 8 year old girl. Every time he would go to do it, the other kids would start laughing.

"Just a quick tiny little kiss." I told him

"But she's a girl." He said looking at her

"We'll come back to it." I sighed

They rehearsed for the rest of the day when Mary sent them home to get dinner. I was picking up all the props and costumes they had made.

"I'll see you tomorrow." Mary called over her shoulder as she headed of home.

I walked over to the pub to find all of the knights there, I was eager to ask Galahad if he was talking about the Alex that Noah had been with. Alex was sitting with them next to Arthur. I was a little disappointed I wasn't going to ask him in front of her. But she kept looking over at Galahad, they must be together. I felt a run of anger flow through me I didn't know why.

I sat down between Lancelot and Tristan I was avoiding looking at Alex just in case she saw how angry I was at her.

"Jess what's up? Tristan asked

"Huh?" I answered trying not to look at Alex.

"Is something wrong?" Tristan said taking a sip of his drink.

"No." I said simply.

"How was rehearsal?"

"What?" I asked looking into my drink.

Lancelot started to laugh and I looked up at him.

"Are you always this articulate?" He asked smiling.

Alex was talking with Arthur and there was quite a bit of noise in the pub, so I thought I could talk without her hearing me.

"Are Alex and Galahad together?" I asked Tristan and Lancelot.

"What? I don't know." Tristan answered looking over at her.

"I'm going to get her to tell me." I said

"How are you going to do that?" Tristan asked.

"By outwitting her conversationally?" Lancelot asked smiling

I ignored him and tried to think of a way, just asking her was never really an option in my head.

"Why?" Lancelot asked. Snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Why what?" I asked looking up at him.

"Well why does it matter? Do you like Galahad?"

"What? No, that would be like looking at my dad and thinking, 'hey baby. How'-I'm just going to stop right there." I said taking a drink.

After a while I had had a few drinks to many and was getting a bit paranoid.

"That Alex is shady, have you ever noticed she never says what county she's from?" I asked Tristan and Lancelot.

"What country are you from?" Tristan asked while Lancelot laughed. They had noticed I had too much to drink.

"What country are YOU from?" I asked them ignoring the laughing.

"Rome." They both said at the same time

"Fine, mystery solved." I said taking another drink.

They had started asking me lots of questions trying to get me rattled.

The knights had quieted down and were all listening to Gawain tell a story.

"Another round?" Bors asked the barmaid.

"Can you afford it honey?" She asked, they had already ordered a few rounds.

Bors put his hand on his pocket and swore silently to himself. The knights all chipped as the barmaid brought over some drinks.

"Nothing in this pub is cheap." Galahad said taking a drink.

"Except for Alex." I said accidentally. She looked up at me.

"I am not cheap." She said giving me a puzzled look.

"Free, whatever." I said unable to stop myself.

The knights stopped talking and looked at Alex to see what she would do.

REVIEW PLS ANY CRITISISM OR WHAT I COULD DO BETTER?