Freddie's POV

Girls were starting to pour into the ballroom. They were in fancy dresses that looked about the same when seen from afar. I was really tired from all the chasing in the morning and wanted to sit out on this ball, but father insisted that I attend it. I really don't understand him.

"Father," I called. "Do I really have to attend this?"

"Yes, my son. It's for your own good. You're already a big boy now. It's time you saw the world as it is supposed to be; full of fancy dresses and governmental issues, not hunting and shooting!" father exclaimed. "Your mother would have said the same words to you if she was around."

"Yes, father," I remember the time when mother took great care of me and never forgotten to give me the best I could have received from the palace. I used to be sick of her constant nagging, but now, I just miss her. "Where's Gibby?"

"Oh," the Grand Duke replied. "Gibby's in the bathroom."

I raced to the bathroom and knocked on the door. "Hey Gibson!"

"I'm done, Benson!" Gibby responded. "Why are we being so formal?"

"I don't know," I replied. "I guess it's kind of funny calling each other by our surnames? We've been best friends since preschool, fun is inevitable."

"True, true…" Gibby replied. "Hey, Freddie?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you mind if I borrow your suit? I soiled mine at the buffet," Gibby requested. "I'll return it to you after I wash it, I promise."

"Okay," I agreed. "You're lucky the tailor made one that was a size bigger!"

"Thanks!" Gibby thanked me. His face was bright with joy as he ran into my room and opened my closet. Typical Gibby…

As soon as Gibby was done changing, we headed down to the ballroom. It was interesting to find many girls in the ballroom, but since most of the guards were also invited, about one third of the girls were taken. I didn't mind though, I was even glad that they were occupied; I didn't like parties as much as they do.

After just fifteen minutes, the entire ballroom was almost flooded with people. Good thing the ballroom was designed to hold twenty thousand people, or we would have to open the concert hall for them too.

As we strolled across the room, a girl caught Gibby's eyes. She was a brunette who was wearing a colorful pinkish dress and a purple headband. As we approached her, I recognized her. She's Carly, the stepsister of the girl who helped me get the rings back from the robber that morning. If she finds out that I am royalty, she would definitely try to please me so that she would be princess or something.

"Gibby," I called. "Can you do me a favour?"

"Sure, man," he replied, and then I whispered the plan into his ear. "What? You want me to…"

"Shhh…" I cried. "Don't tell anyone about this. I just don't want them to find out."

"Okay," he said. "Leave this to me."

We approached the girl and she immediately recognized me. "You're Frederick, right?"

"No, he's Fredwa…" Gibby almost spilled the beans, but I stepped on his toes and managed to stop him before he told her about me.

"Where's Sam?" I asked, curious about the location of my savior; I wanted to thank her properly for helping me.

"She's somewhere around the ballroom," Carly replied. "You may be able to find her near a buffet table."

I raced there to search for her while Gibby continued with his 'mission'. As the ballroom was rather huge, we actually brought in close to about ten caterers to cater at the ball. But that's not the worst thing that could happen. The worst is the part that the ten caterers have stationed their buffet tables at the sides of the ballroom. This meant that I would have to run around the perimeter of the ballroom.

After searching through seven of the buffet tables, I finally found her. She was wearing a white dress with a black sash across the waist. Somehow, she looked different. "Sam!"

"You are…" she tried to remember.

"Frederick," I replied. "This morning… the robbers… you helped me?"

"Oh yeah," she remembered. "You're Freddie. What are you doing here anyway? You're one of the royal guards or something?"

I started to engage in my plan. "No, no, no, no, no… I am the prince's best pal."

"That means you've met the prince?" she asked. "You know, I may sound crazy but, a fortune teller once told me that I would marry your pal in the future. I don't really believe her because she said that my sister would be rich and wealthy in the future."

"Really?" I confirmed with her. I'm not superstitious or anything, but I think I liked the sound of that. "Have you met him?"

"No," she replied, disappointed. "But it would be cool to meet him. Do you think you can bring me to see him?"

"Well, sure." I replied, even though I don't feel very good about it. "He's right there with your sister."

"Stepsister," she corrected me, and we strolled as we went on a search for Carly and Gibby. While we were searching for them, we had a little chit-chat. The ballroom was huge, so it was natural that the chat had lasted for about fifteen minutes.

"So, your mother passed away when you were fifteen?" Sam asked.

"Yeah," I replied. "I miss her a lot."

"I wish my mother died when I was fifteen," she said. "And I'm sure that I wouldn't miss her at all."

"Believe me, you'll miss her."

Throughout the entire conversation, I tried very hard to evade the questions that she had about my family. I don't want her to find out that I was actually the prince. Then, we found the couple. They were having a slow dance with the music. Even though Sam thought that her husband-to-be was dancing with her stepsister, she didn't seem to mind. In fact, she was smiling.

"I'm sorry," I knew she was trying to hide her feelings.

"For what?" she asked. "You didn't do anything wrong."

"But Gibby…" I pointed to her.

"Don't worry, I'm fine," she breathed deeply. "If he's fated to be mine, he'll be. I guess we're not fated at all, and I guess the fortune teller was a phony anyway."

I felt something, something close to sympathy, but it wasn't. I felt sad with her. I felt something spark between us, but I guess she didn't feel it.

"Wanna dance?" I asked.

"Sure," she replied. "Thanks."

"Huh?" I was puzzled.

"For helping me wake up from my dream," she replied sadly. "I guess it's time I returned to reality."

I smiled. "Don't worry, your 'dream' may not be over yet."

Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews! You guys were awesome :D
If you guys want to know what Carly, Freddie and Sam were wearing for the ball, you can go to my profile page and find some links that will help you understand the clothes they were wearing.