Author's note: Oh Edmund... I do not own Narnia in any way, shape, or form. Please enjoy! Let me know what you think

"me? Like Caspian? No, no way. He's my friend, that's weird!" I lied. He noticed, he just stopped our dance, crossed his arms over his chest, and looked at me.

"Fine! Maybe I think he's a little bit attractive! But that doesn't matter, because he likes Susan, so you should forget this and not bug me about it again."

"I think he fancies you too, you know," he ignored my attempt at ending the conversation.

"No, Ed, he doesn't. It's totally obvious how much he likes Susan, and it's obvious the she likes him back, so there's no point in getting my hopes up," I replied, putting my hands on my hips and looking around the room at the books.

"Well, then perhaps we should show him what he's missing," he stated, a mischievous smile lighting up his face.

"I don't like that look, Edmund."

"We're going to make him jealous," he decided.

I laughed, raising my eyebrows and crossing my arms. "Jealous? That's a teense bit…..obvious and stupid. It wouldn't work," I told him, hoping to shoot down his thoughts before they developed too far.

"Christina, you forget that he's from Narnia, he hasn't seen things in the cinema or on the television! He has no idea about the practices of my time or even your time," his smile grew bigger as he stepped closer to me.

"It's so cliché! It would never work on someone like Caspian."

"Oh, but it would!"

"What if he doesn't like me at all? What if he just thinks I'm some irritating girl from the 21st century that's intruding on his land and in his home? Then I get my hopes up for nothing and we would have wasted all that time."

He sighed and put a hand on my shoulder.

"That's not going to happen."

"I know, but I also know it won't work."

"Fine, then just amuse me, will you? Please, do this for me!" He gave me a puppy dog pout and put his other hand on my other shoulder, squeezing me tightly and shaking me just a tad. "That's not fair, you can't use that against me!" I whined.

"Is too! So you're going to do it?"

"no."

"Good, then I have a question to ask you."

I rolled my eyes, scoffed, and pushed his hands off of me. "What?" I snapped irritantly. "Will you be my escort to the ball tomorrow?" He asked, flashing me a handsome smile. "No." I answered again.

"Please?"

"Ed, even if I did agree to this, which I don't, it would be so weird! Pretending that I like you, or pretending that you like me! Besides you're two years younger than me…..it's awkward."

He chuckled and wrapped his arms around me tightly, hugging me. I sighed, but reluctantly hugged back. "Come on, Christina, don't be so boring, live a little, have fun. Even if this doesn't get Caspian, it'll be fun to see other peoples' reaction to it!"

"Edmund…." I groaned, knowing that I was giving in.

"Come on, Chris, please?"

I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose and closing my eyes, scared of what hell I was about to release with my next response.

"Fine."

Dinner that night was awkward to say the least.

After dance lessons, Edmund and I had spent a good majority of the afternoon planning out how we were going to act and what stories we would use and what we would say if anyone asked us any questions.

Well, he was planning. I was whining.

Finally it came time for dinner and Edmund insisted that we walk arm and arm down the staircase. I wouldn't have minded this, except for the fact that my dress was already pretty long on me. So I only had one arm to lift the skirt up high enough so as not to show off too much skin, but to keep from tripping.

When we arrived in the dining hall, Edmund pulled out the chair next to Peter for me, so of course I sat down. It was only after the meal had actually started that I realized Peter was on Caspian's left. So I sat there, staring at my plate, trying not to glance at Caspian, the entire night.

AWKWARD!

And what was even worse: Edmund was an amazing actor!

He seriously acted like he liked me (which embarrassed me quite a lot) and he kept doing tiny little things that were supposed to look like he was trying to make sure no one saw them, even though he was actually doing the exact opposite. Like at the beginning of the meal, he reached out to get the salt shaker, and purposefully brushed against my shoulder.

And Lucy, who oh so conveniently happened to notice, giggled, therefore causing everyone else (Susan, Peter, a few Telmarine nobles, and Caspian) to ask her what she found so amusing.

And later on he actually tucked my hair behind my ear. HE SERIOUSLY DID!

I had just finished spending a good portion of five minutes cutting up a piece of chicken and I had just skewered a piece of it on my fork and was lifting it up to my mouth when Edmund reached over and tucked a tiny little strand of hair behind my left ear.

"Don't want to get any food in such pretty hair," he muttered, going back to his food as everyone else just stared at me.

I had frozen. A dark blush was painted across my cheeks and my fork was frozen in mid air.

I would have stayed like that for a while if Ed hadn't elbowed me in the rib a second later, reminding me to play along. So I looked down and forced an embarrassed chuckle before putting the piece of chicken in my mouth and chewing, although I didn't really taste it.

The meal continued like this for another hour.

The second I had a chance to escape I did just that. The kings and queens and the prince were all deeply involved in some diplomatic conversation and I quickly stood up and pushed my seat back.

"What's wrong, Christina?" Lucy asked.

"Huh? Oh, nothing. I'm just a little tired. I think I'm going to go to bed," I lied, trying to avoid looking at Caspian. "I'll walk you to your chambers. Goodnight everyone," Edmund announced, standing up and giving everyone a good natured smile before holding his arm out for me, which I took hurriedly.

Once we were out of the dining hall I let go of him and continued on my way up the stairs.

"So how was that?" Edmund wondered as we reached the top of the grand staircase. I turned my head and cracked a small smile. "It was definitely awkward. Believable, certainly believable, but very awkward." He chuckled and swung his arm around my shoulders.

"Christina the awkwardness will be worth it in the end," he cheered as we finally reached my room. I opened the door then turned back to face him. "I don't think it will. Caspian didn't seem to care one way or the other about," I did air quotes, "'us'".

"You obviously weren't watching him the entire time, then."

I raised my eyebrows at him and crossed my arms. "What do you mean?"

He chuckled again and began backing away the way we had come. "He was practically oozing green out of his skin!" and with that he took off down the hall without a goodbye, leaving me to wonder what on earth he meant by that.

I sighed deeply and closed my door, heading out to sit on the balcony.

"Stupid boys," I muttered, "I should just forget boys entirely and become some creepy cat lady."

"Quit fidgeting so much!"

"Well what do you expect me to do? I'm not exactly enjoying this dance!" I hissed, glaring at him out of the corner of my eyes. "What do you mean you're not enjoying it?" His voice sounded hurt and I risked actually looking at him for the first time.

He was too close. Entirely too close.

"You mean, you don't enjoy," he tightened his grip on my waist and pulled me closer, smashing us together (closer than we had already been). His face was only inches from mine and there was a mischievous smile on his lips, "this?"

"Awkward, awkward, awkward!" I wailed, trying to get free from his grip.

"By Jove Christina, if we're going to pretend to be a couple you have to be more comfortable around me," he sighed, pulling me even closer to him. "It's just weird Ed, you're just my friend," I told him for what seemed like the billionth time.

"Yes, I know," he whispered, looking down at me with a warm smile on his face. I smiled back.

Then the door opened.

Susan and Lucy stood there, large smiles on their faces, giggling as I snapped away from Edmund and blushed. "Hey Su, hey Lu," Edmund greeted, not at all affected by their interruption.

"How're the lessons going so far?" Lucy asked, smiling sweetly.

"Meh," I responded.

"Chris has mastered the Narnian waltz, but is struggling with both the tango and the more traditional Narnian dances," Edmund informed her. All three beamed at me and I looked down, blushing again.

"That's wonderful. Unfortunately we're going to have to steal Christina away for most of the afternoon," Susan stated, not looking at me. "What? Why?" I questioned.

"It's a surprise!" They said as both girls grabbed my arms and basically dragged me away.

I was pulled through corridors and staircases that I had never seen before until we finally stopped outside a room that appeared to be in the servants' quarters. Lucy put her hands over my eyes while Susan knocked on the door.

I could hear a strange voice greet the queens when the door was opened, and then I was lead blindly into a room. My heart was racing. For all I knew they could be selling me into slavery right now and I wouldn't know it.

"Ok, Christina, keep your eyes closed for a second, please," Lucy instructed.

I replaced her hands with mine over my eyes because I didn't trust myself to not peek.

The women shuffled things around for a few moments, every single second adding to my nerves. "Okay, open your eyes," Susan and Lucy told me at the same time. Finally! I allowed my hands to fall to my sides and my eyes adjusted to the lighting in the room.

What I saw took my breath away.