Upon filling his lunch tray with all the foods he found appealing, Prince Harold turned to look for a seat. Instead, his eyes were drawn to a beautiful young woman. She ate alone. The students were all ignoring her...and it was probably because of the crown on her head.
He almost dropped his tray. When he had regained composure he started with renewed purpose to the princess's place in the foodcourt; and she looked up at him in surprise when he put down his tray across hers. "Are you saving this seat?" he asked kindly.
"N-n-no," she stammered; and quickly turned her blue eyes down to her tray. Her blond hair was long, and she kept pushing it back behind her ears.
My mother could teach you how to pin it up, Prince Harold wanted to say. How he longed to reign with her at his side...
She looked up at him, studying him. He realized she was looking at him the way the students in his old school had always looked at him; but this time he didn't mind. He smiled at her and she looked back down at her tray, a pink blush flooding her cheeks with color.
"What's your name?"
"Lillian," she muttered, without looking at him.
He told himself she was just shy and began eating.
"I don't like you," she said quietly.
What? What kind of fairytale was this? He had found his perfect maiden, and she was telling him off?
"Please leave."
"I...I..."
"Go," she whispered, staring intently at her mashed potatoes.
He got up and grabbed his tray. "Well, since you were kind enough to say please," he snapped, and weaved through the maze of tables and chairs, leaving her to sit under her cloud of gloom.
Brokenhearted, he sat elsewhere, and not too long later another girl joined him. "She's like that with everyone," she told him. "It's probably because she's royal. Those people are always rude."
Having lost his appetite, Prince Harold took his tray to the garbage, dumped it inside and put his tray on the nearby counter before beating a hasty retreat.
_
With dirt on his hands and under his nails, he pushed the door open to the cafeteria and pushed his way back through the crowd. Seeing his fellow students back away, looking in obvious shock at his crown, he held it up so they could see it, and he once again approached Princess Lillian.
She jumped when he set the crown before her. She looked up at him again. "It's you," she murmured.
"I prefer to be called by name," he answered stubbornly.
"Which is?" she answered consideringly.
"Harold. Prince Harold," he answered, and they slowly shook hands.
"So that's why you wanted to eat with me," she murmured.
"Yes. Well, maybe tomorrow we can," he answered, and retrieving his crown he walked out of the cafeteria with a smile on his face.