Tess's POV

"Alexa is what?!" I say, dropping Jane Eyre.

"She's pregnant, Tess," Riley says sitting next to me. Today was supposed to be a relaxed day in the Women's Room, but no. When Matt and I got home last night, everyone looked frazzled, but no one wanted to tell us just yet.

Riley spilled the beans a few minutes ago. "Wait, how?" I ask, then shake my head. "Actually, I know how. That's not the point. They broke the law?"

Riley nods. "Dad was furious last night. I could hear them, even through the supposedly soundproof doors. Tess," she says, grasping my hands. "My twin sister, who isn't even seventeen yet, is pregnant."

"I know, I know." I wish I didn't, though. I just can't think that this would happen. Matt and I have been very clear to each other that though we want all of each other, we'd wait for our wedding night.

"This is, like, an episode of 'Sixteen and Pregnant,'" Riley whines. "This is horrible! This is happening to my own sister! My twin sister, who is a genius and a prodigy and way too smart to let this happen."

That's right. It leads me to suspicion. Did Alexander...? "Riley," I say flatly. "What if Alex...forced himself upon her?"

I wait a little for the words to sink in, and when they finally do register in her brain, she gasps and stands up quickly, yanking me up with her. "Tess!" She grabs my shoulders and shakes me. "What if he did?!"

"Then we ask her!" I yell right back.

"Come on, we have to go see her."

As she pulls my by the hand, I ask, "Does Matthew know?"

She shakes her head. "We're waiting to light that bomb later on. Matt was really close to her. I don't think he'd handle it very well."

"Does Jerome know?" I ask.

"Does Jerome know what?" Jerome walk casually from around the corner and looks at both of us. We stop dead in our tracks, probably looking like deer caught in headlights.

"Um..." Riley says.

"Well, you'll find out soon, yeah?" I say. "Come on, Riley."

Jerome follows us in our stride, and it's easy for him since he's taller. He speaks in rapid Swendish to Riley, and the girl replies in the language almost angrily. I can't understand what they're saying. Swendish sounds like a guttural mix of German and French and vaguely Russian. I don't know what they're saying! Not knowing something bothers me so much my skin prickles and the hair on my arm stands.

We finally reach Alexa's room and Riley knocks. I don't think she notices how tightly she's holding my hand. "Alexa? It's Riley."

I vaguely hear a retch, and Riley must have heard it too. She opens the door and rushes to the bathroom, still dragging me with her. Her palm is so sweaty, and I can tell how scared she is. She's going to be an aunt. Matt will be an uncle. America and Maxon are going to be grandparents.

The thought of that actually nauseates me a little.

Alexander and Alexandra turn to us when we burst into the bathroom. Alex is holding Alexa's honey blond hair back as she throws up in the toilet. The French prince rubs her back comfortingly and speaks to her in French the whole time, saying things like "you'll be okay" and "I love you."

Riley, still holding my hand like we are handcuffed together, storms to Alex and yells angrily in French, "Did you get Alexandra pregnant?"

He frowns. "I'm not sure what you mean. Yes, I suppose, considering that we are engaged and that she is not with anyone else."

"I mean did you force yourself upon her?"

Alexa moans and walks to the sink to wash her face. "Riley," she says calmly, tiredly, "this isn't just Alex's fault. We both chose to do it that night."

"But why?" Riley says, finally letting go of my hand. I walk backwards a little and hide behind Jerome. "Alexandra, you're smart. How could you possibly do this so carelessly?"

Alexa shrugs and takes Alexander's hand. "When you're in love, you'd do anything for the other person. Sometimes the law is worth breaking."

"Alexa! I love Jerome, but I wouldn't break the law!"

"Then maybe you don't love him," Alexa says, her brown eyes hardened and narrowed.

Hurt flashes in the other twin's blue eyes. "Alexa—"

"Get out," she says fiercely. "All three of you. I'm so sick and tired of people judging my decisions. I don't care if you think it's wrong. I know what I believe in, and I know that this is right."

Tears run down Rilane's cheeks. "Alexandra, please—"

"I said out."

A hurt whimper comes from the blue-eyed twin, and she walks out with her shoulders shaking. I look at Jerome and we both follow, his closing the door silently seeming to echo in my head. Possibilities are ended when a certain event happens, but new ones always begin.

Jerome finds Riley in her room, and I offer a small smile to him before leaving him to comfort his...girlfriend? Yeah, they're not engaged yet.

I can't believe this is still happening. I heard America and Maxon were angry; what must be King Henry's reaction? He'd want to push the wedding even sooner. Alex and Alexa would get married before Matt and I would, securing their spot on the French throne. As soon as Henry dies, the Alex's will be ruling. That would probably be before Matt and I would get to rule. I remember what he said about Maxon abdicating to let Matthew and I rule before Matt passes, whenever that is.

I'm still so angry at the world. We walk through a sunny day, and the rays of light are hidden behind enormous mountains. The mountains threaten to hail down falling rocks, and it will laugh at us when we are buried under a boulder. It's just the way life is. Life is a player that will do anything to win. I think about what Matt said once. I asked why we couldn't simply exist without anything. He answered me, saying that existing isn't the same as living.

And he's right.

I look out the window looking out to the gardens. Matt, Xander, Maria, even Maxon, and a man who I don't know are playing football outside. Well, as best they can with five players. I've never played football. I watched once with Matt, and damn, it doesn't make a single drop of sense. All I see is pass, tackle, start over. Its staccato rhythm bothers me so much. Can't it just keep going in one fell swoop?

I decide to join them anyway, but I want to invite America. She sounds like she needs a break. I stop by her office after changing to pants and a loose sweater.

"America?" I say, knocking on her door.

"Come in!" I hear. I enter and she's frantically running around the office. Her red hair is wild and untamed as strands spring out of her already messy bun. Her blue eyes are bloodshot, and her fingers are quickly rifling through every paper in the room. "Oh, hi, Tess," she says, plopping down on her chair only to stand up again to find another paper.

"Mom, you okay?"

"Oh, I'm doing great. Just, you know, filing some things, and trying to distract myself."

I sit on the edge of her desk. "This is about Alexandra, isn't it?"

Suddenly, she throws all of the papers in the air. "I just don't understand!" she cries, burying her hands in her hair. "She's sixteen, and her birthday is next week, but it's also Rilane's because they're twins, duh. And there's just so much planning and it's so impossible and I just can't think of anything other than the fact that she's pregnant. She's pregnant, Tess! What teenager gets pregnant?! At least I was married when I had Michael." Her voice becomes strangled at the mention of her first child.

I walk to her and hug her. "Mom, you have to relax. You're going to have an aneurysm, I swear. Just...calm down."

She hugs me back tightly. "I'm going to be a grandmother. I'm not ready to be a grandmother!"

"I know. Think of it this way, though: you'd rather have there be a happy, healthy baby than a miscarried baby, right?"

I can feel her nod against head. "Yes, I guess so."

Pulling back, I say, "Do you want to play football? The boys are outside and so is Maria."

"I still don't understand it, but okay."

"Thank goodness, I thought I was the only one."

America laughs and we walk to the gardens together. "I'll plan the twins' party."

"Tess, no. I'm their mother and the queen—"

"Well, I'm your future daughter-in-law, their future sister-in-law, the princess of Italy, the future princess of—"

"Okay! I get it. No need to rub it in." She elbows me playfully, and I can't help but smile.

"I'm just saying. You have enough on your plate." I squint at the bright sun. "I'm guessing Alexa's wedding would be soon?"

"Yes, we'd need to pass the baby as premature. Then the country won't even know. She'll probably start to show in about a week, give or take a few days."

"Don't you think they would have used protection, though?" I say, feeling my ears warm at the thought. "I mean, they both seem smart."

"Yeah, I don't really want to know the details. Whatever happened, happened. No point in trying to elaborate on something you don't know."

"Yeah."

We meet the boys and Matt introduces me to the unknown man. I smile and hold out my hand. "Carter Woodwork," I say. "You're Marlee's husband."

Carter smiles and kisses the back of my hand respectfully. "A pleasure to meet you, princess."

"Please call me Tess," I say hurriedly. "Titles remind me of the many things I have to do."

Everyone laughs at that. "As you wish," he replies. "I have to go back to work. It was nice playing with you four," Carter says, gesturing to Matt, Maxon, Maria, and Xander. We wave goodbye as he heads back to the stables.

The six of us are split up into teams, boys against girls. Maria, America, and I know we're going to lose, but that feminism in us makes us want to be on the opposite team. It's just fun.

Right?

Wrong.

Boys do not mess around when it comes to football. Their focused, competitive faces frown at us and squint against the sun. They're crushing us already, but they huddle around anyway. America smirks at us and gathers us in a huddle too.

"Okay, who else thinks that our men look so hot right now?"she says with a childlike tone.

Maria and I burst out laughing. "I know, right?" I say. "Look at them. They look either super focused, super constipated, or super sexually frustrated."

We sneak a look at them, and my words stand true. We girls giggle together and yell "Break!" as if we had something important to discuss. We took off our shoes a long time ago, and the grass feels so good beneath my toes.

It's like the three of us mentally conspired to start screwing around when the guys score another point. When Matt has the ball, I start waving my hands furiously in front of his face. "You can't get past me, Matthew." His concentration does not wither as he throws the ball to Xander. Maria tries the same tactic, jumping up and down resembling an angry flamingo trying to fly. When Xander passes the ball to his father, America pretends to faint.

"America!" Maxon says, throwing the ball up in the air. Luckily, I'm prepared. I run to the ball before it lands. I sprint to the other end as fun as I can. Matt catches me at the waist and carries me. He's laughing now, and so am I.

"Unhand me, you fiend!" I say.

He runs with me over his shoulder to his goal. I toss the ball to Maria, and she catches it. "I got it!" she yells. She runs to our end then fakes running to the left. Xander is running in stride with her and is ready to lunge to the left, but Maria is quite slippery as she jumps over his outstretched arm and runs to our end.

"I did it!" she says. America and I join her and hoist her on our shoulders. "We got a point! We got a point!" we chant.

"We still won! We still won!" they retort. Men.

"By, like, nine points," America yells at them.

That coaxes a laugh out of everybody, and I feel like I'm the one laughing at the heavy mountain of Life. I've lifted the boulder and I can see the sun again.

And of course, I'm buried and suffocating again when Matthew collapses to the ground.


Thanks for the reviews, guys! Question of the day: Favorite sport? Oh, and have any of you heard of Pentatonix? LOVE THEM.

LovableL101- Ignorance is one of my biggest pet peeves too :) And thank you so much!

ChatterboxChipmunk- I know it's you :) I remember. I totally get what you mean about people letting fame get to their heads. It's frustrating. Thanks so much!

agb1700- Haha thanks :P Lurve ya!

bubble4life- Ooh, hypocrites are so annoying. Like, hypocrisy is my thing. Get it? Lol I don't think I'm not such a hypocrite anymore. I used to be super bad with that, but I got more conscious :) Thanks so much!

ThisGirlActuallyReads- Oh shnap :P Thank you!

LittleMissTori- Yeah, it's super awk when someone just touches your hair. That's just weird. Thank you so much!

ilona18- Snappity snap snap. Thanks so much!

SJWrites2014- Haha amen, sista. Thank you so much!

Clara Harkness- Aww thank you! This made me happy! I'm so glad you're not getting bored! Omnipresent paranoia that people won't like my stories anymore just disappeared :) Thanks so much!

Guest- GASP! Haha thank you!

PokemonLuver151- What will happen? Thanks so much!

winterprincess- Haha "I know how." That's funny. Oh spoilers are the worst. I think my biggest pet peeve is someone who's close-minded. I like to think of myself as very imaginative and adventurous, so naturally I like people who are open to things. Get what I mean? Thank you so much!

prnamber3909- ...Haha...Thanks so much!...I think...

HikariTheNormaller- LOL literally :P Hahaha yes, it's going to be Romeo and Juliet. Tess and Matt are going to kill themselves for the sake of love :P Thanks soooooo much! AHHHHHH

dakotamo- Heehee fluff. It's not getting OD? Please tell me if it is :-/ Thank you so much!

CC- Ew, I know this guy who chews food with his mouth open *shudders* That's gross. And that last sentence of yours is scary. You'd have to kill me first to make me stop eating red velvet! Wait...I just got that. GASP! Thank you so much!

Love ya!- AcademicGirl