A/N: Sorry this took a bit longer than I wanted guys! This week has just been terrible for me. I won't go into details but let's just say I have been having very unfortunate events occurring and they have really been dragging me down. But I have been finding solace in writing and it has been a good distraction. So here is another chapter for you guys and I hope you enjoy. Also, please head on over to my YouTube Channel, "C.T. Fosmire, Author," and subscribe to hear my own original stories. The first chapter of my First Novel is almost complete and will be up soon. Thank you all very much!

Chapter 9

The trio of Royals were soon approaching the gates of Royal Prep. During the ride, Amber had been doing nothing else but thinking about her feelings for Sofia. Sofia had just confessed her own feelings for Amber and part of her was happy about it. But the rest of her was terrified. Amber didn't want anyone to know about her having feelings for a princess, let alone her sister. The very thought of everyone rejecting her and abandoning her was terrifying. It wasn't heard of for a princess to have feelings for another princess. Some countries have even outlawed same sex couples from marrying. A few even went as far as arresting them. What would other kingdoms say if a princess was a lesbian. Granted Amber still found men attractive. But her feelings weren't towards a man, and that was scaring her. Amber looked over at Sofia, who looked like her usual joyful self as she stared straight ahead, and wondered how she could be so calm despite what's at stake if their secret ever got out.

But then again, rarely anything bothered Sofia. She was the calmest and bravest person Amber had ever known. Sofia never let her fears get the better of her and powered on ahead, even when others stayed behind. If she knew something was wrong or unjust, Sofia wasn't afraid to speak up about it. But even when there were times when she would be afraid, she never let it show. The only times she was ever truly afraid is when someone else was in danger, but that did little to stop her and she would do anything she could to help. That's what made Sofia such an incredible person. These thoughts made Amber smile as she continued to stare at Sofia.

But the more Amber stared at Sofia, the more she noticed how beautiful she was. She began to notice how well Sofia's figure had developed over the years. How well placed the curves of Sofia's waist were. How her skin was so perfect that she didn't need to wear makeup. Amber even took notice of how perky Sofia's breasts were and found herself staring at them for a few moments longer than she intended. But her thoughts and stares were cut short as the carriage came to a stop at the Royal Prep gates. Realizing what she had just been doing, Amber averted her eyes from Sofia with a bright red face.

James was the first to exit the carriage, leaving both Sofia and Amber behind. Sofia stood up as well and was about to leave the carriage when she looked back and noticed that Amber was still sitting. Sofia looked concerned, worried that Amber was afraid to enter the school because of recent events. So to try to ease her mind, Sofia extended her left hand to Amber. Amber noticed the action and turned to look at Sofia to see that she was extending her hand to her. Amber looked at the hand then up at Sofia, who was smiling warmly at her. Unable to resist, Amber smiled back and took Sofia's hand in her own. Sofia smiled even more and led the way out of the carriage and towards the school gates. There they met up with James, Zandar, Hugo, Hildagard, Clio and Vivian. Upon seeing Sofia, they all ran over to her with excitement.

"Hey, Sofia," Zandar said. "James just told us about your anniversary Ball. Are we allowed to come?" Sofia couldn't help but giggle at Zandar's excitement.

"Of course you all can come," she said. "Everyone is invited."

"Oh, I can't wait to try on my newest gown," said Hildagard. "It'll be the best at the ball."

"Will there be music and dancing?" Clio asked. Sofia nodded.

"Of course."

"What about food?" Zandar asked. "Will there be lots of food?" Sofia giggled once more while Amber rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"You and James are too much alike," she said. James and Zandar gave each other a high five before placing an arm around the other's shoulder.

"Can't beat quality," they said in unison, causing everyone to laugh, except Amber, who just rolled her eyes once again. After everyone calmed down from laughing, Sofia felt a small tap on her left shoulder and turned to see Vivian standing by shyly.

"Sofia," Vivian said quietly. "Are you doing okay?" Sofia looked questioningly at her friend.

"What do you mean?" she asked. Vivian twiddled her fingers nervously.

"I mean," she began, "are you doing okay after your race? After what happened." Sofia put the pieces together and realized what Vivian was talking about. She smiled as she gently took one of Vivian's hands. This caused Vivian to look up at Sofia's warm smile.

"I'm perfectly fine now, Vivian. Everything is okay now." Vivian smiled back at Sofia as a small tear began to form in her eye. Fortunately she was able to blink it away before anyone noticed.

"I'm sorry," she said. "But when I saw you falling from the steeple, I was so sure of the worst. I don't know what I'd do if anything ever happened to you. I couldn't bear the thought of losing you. You mean more to me than you'll ever know." Sofia was touched by what Vivian had said that she let go of Amber's hand, which she had been holding this whole time, to hug Vivian tightly, much to Amber's dismay. Sofia held onto Vivian a few moments longer before pulling back to look her in the eyes, taking her hands in her own.

"Vivian," Sofia began, "I'm really thankful that you care for me so much. But you don't have to worry about me. I'm fine." Vivian's smile widened as she nodded her head.

"I know," she said. "But I just can't help it sometimes. You were my first friend after all." Sofia's smile widened as she squeezed Vivian's hand in a comforting manner. At that moment, the school bell suddenly rang, signaling for classes to start.

"Come on, Zandar!" James shouted as he ran towards the school. "Race you to class!"

"You're on!" Zandar shouted as he ran off to catch up with James, leaving the other Royals behind as they all made their way towards the entrance of the school. But as everyone made their way towards the school, Amber lingered behind and everyone else went on ahead. Amber watched on as Sofia and Vivian walked together, still holding hands. This made Amber glare at Vivian for some reason. Was it jealousy? Amber didn't know, but she didn't like it. And even worse, Sofia and Vivian had first class together, and she wasn't in their class.

This is most certainly going to be a long week.

Sofia and Vivian had separated from the rest of their friends, due to them all having different classes, and were walking down the halls towards their first class. Sofia had hardly noticed that they had left the others, she was just having such a good time with Vivian. She even hardly noticed Amber trying to say goodbye to her before she went on her way. Sofia was just so touched by what Vivian had said that she suddenly wanted to spend more time with her. Sofia had never realized just how much Vivian cared for her. It made her feel good. But as they made their way through the school, there was something bothering Sofia, something that made her feel as if she had forgotten, but she couldn't quite place it. However, she had no time to dwell about it as her thoughts were unpleasantly interrupted.

"Good morning, Princess Sofia," said an unwelcoming voice as Prince Marcus stepped in front of Sofia and Vivian. Sofia stared up at the new arrival.

"Good morning, Marcus," she said plainly. Marcus gave a slight bow of his head to both ladies. Vivian, however, hid behind Sofia.

"I never got the chance to congratulate you on your wondrous victory in the Derby race." His voice sounded as if he was almost sincere about it. Sofia was unsure of what to make of this. But, nevertheless, she curtsied to Marcus politely.

"Thank you very much, Marcus," she said before standing straight. "I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed it." Marcus smiled at the purple dressed princess.

"It was a sight to behold," he said. "I was truly filled with tremendous emotion by the end of it all." Sofia nodded in acknowledgement and gave her best polite smile.

"Yes, it was rather exciting, a little too much for my taste." Marcus's face then fell to a sad frown and lowered his eyes.

"Yes but I have something I wish to tell you, princess," he said. Sofia raised an eyebrow at the taller prince, but let him continue. Marcus took a deep breath before he spoke. "I have been doing a lot of thinking and I wish to apologize for my atrocious behavior. I now realize my actions were reprehensible and you were indeed right to reject my advances. I was truly the unworthy one, never you, Princess. I have been so rude and appalling towards you. And when I saw you fall from the steeple, I now see that I should have done things differently. I never behaved in such a way. I only hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me, Princess Sofia."

Sofia listened to every word he said. She wasn't expecting him to be so humble. Every encounter she had with him since his arrival was unpleasant at best. Whenever he was around, he would make subtle remarks about her commoner bloodline, how she would never be a true royal. But now here he was, asking her for forgiveness. To say she was taken aback was an understatement. She was truly surprised by his words. Sofia was quite unsure how to go about this. She wasn't sure that she was ready to forgive his past behaviors, but maybe this was a chance to make peace and move forward. Sofia smiled and nodded her head at Marcus.

"I appreciate that, Marcus," she said. "And I'm very glad to hear that from you. I might not be ready to forgive you just yet. But I do hope we can be friends in the near future. But if you'll excuse me, we have class to attend before the bell rings." Marcus gently smiled and nodded.

"Of course, Princess" Marcus said as he stepped aside with a bow. "And again, congratulations on your victory. I look forward to the championship race."

"Thank you," Sofia said as she walked past Marcus with Vivian following close behind. Marcus watched as the two princesses made their way towards their classroom, smiling all the while. As soon as they had rounded a corner out of sight, Marcus' smile slowly turned into a wicked smirk.

"One of these days princess," he said quietly. "One of these days."

When Sofia and Vivian had rounded the corner, Sofia couldn't be more happy than to be away from Marcus. Vivian couldn't help but look back, as if Marcus would suddenly be standing behind them once again, before looking back at Sofia.

"That was really weird," she said. "It's not like his to apologize like that." Sofia could only shrug.

"I know," Sofia replied. "But I think it's good that he's acknowledging his flaws and working to improve himself. Whether he succeeds or not is another question." She said the last statement with a slight whisper to herself, but still loud enough for Vivian to hear. Vivian looked down at the floor as they continued to walk.

"I don't know," she said. "He makes me very nervous. And he always has that look to him. Like he's going to bad or something." Sofia gave her dear friend a reassuring smile

"I don't think he's that bad," she said. "I mean, I'm not too fond of him myself. But I don't think that he'd actually do something bad to anyone. But he does seem to be trying to turn a new leaf. Maybe we should give him a chance." Sofia wasn't entirely sure that Marcus was really trying to be a better person, but she always tried to see the good in people. Vivian looked at Sofia for a moment before looking back down the hall behind them.

"If you say so." Sofia smiled at her shy friend as they finally made it to their classroom, where Mistress Flora was just about to start the class.

"Good morning, students!" Mistress Flora said joyfully.

"Good morning Mistress Flora!" the class said in unison, just as Sofia and Vivian had taken their seats next to one another and waited for Mistress flora to continue

"Now, class, today we will be learning about courtship." There were many groans heard throughout the classroom. Not many students were happy to hear that. But none were more troubled by this than Sofia. No doubt that this lesson was going to be about courtship between a man and a woman, half of which she had no interest in.

"Now, now, class," Mistress Flora said. " I know full well that many of you are not particularly interested in this subject. But I'm afraid that this is a subject that has to be taught. You are all at that age where you'll soon be engaged and unifying kingdoms. To bring joy and prosper to your kingdoms and to..."

Sofia was not at all anxious to hear this. She wasn't interested in marrying a prince at all. The very idea didn't sit right with her. Sofia leaned her head on her arms as Mistress Flora continued to rant on about the importance of courtship and marriage between different Kingdoms. Soon Sofia lost all interest in hearing the Fairy teacher's voice and began to let her mind wonder. She began to think of what it would be like to marry. To have the entire church pact with the people you love. To have a beautiful gown and to walk down the aisle towards the person you love most. It must be nice to have that. Then she began to think about what her wedding would be like. Part of her smiled as she thought of that. To have all those things and to have the person she loved most standing at the end of the aisle; Amber. She began to think of what Amber would be wearing if they were ever to get married. Would she be wearing a gown as well or wearing a suit like a prince. Sofia chuckled slightly at the thought of Amber wearing a suit. Then a thought struck her mind. She didn't remember seeing Amber off this morning before they went to their own classrooms. Her eyes suddenly widened as realization hit her like a bag of bricks.

She had just ditch Amber.

Realizing this, Sofia groaned and placed her face inside her arms. She felt so miserable at that moment. She had just ditched the girl of her dreams without even noticing. How she did it, she didn't know. But she did and now she felt horrible. Sofia felt so bad about it that she almost didn't hear mistress Flora speaking her name.

"Princess Sofia?" Sofia sat straight up in her seat at the mention of her name. "Are you alright dear? You don't seem like yourself." Sofia did her best to pull off a genuine smile.

"I'm sorry, Mistress Flora," she said sheepishly. "I'm just not feeling well, is all." The good fairy looked concernedly at the young princess.

"Do you need to go see the school nurse?" Sofia shook her head.

"No, Mistress Flora. I think I can manage." Mistress Flora still had a concerned look on her face, but nodded her head nonetheless.

"Alright then," she said. "But please pay attention. Your future may depend on this lesson."

Oh, let's hope not, Sofia thought to herself. She was just hoping that Amber was having a better time than she was.

Amber wasn't having much of a good time herself. Amber sat at her desk as she tried to listen to Mistress Merryweather give a lesson on kingdom finances. But as hard as she tried, her thoughts weren't focused on the lesson. Her thoughts were on Sofia. Amber was a little hurt that Sofia had just left her like that. She didn't even acknowledge her when Amber was trying to say goodbye to her. Sofia just kept on walking with Vivian hand-in-hand. Also, seeing Sofia holding Vivian's hand like that. It was almost like there was something going on between them. But Amber tried to shake that thought away. She and Sofia had just had a discussion about their potential feelings that morning. Sofia had told Amber that she did indeed have feelings for her. But that didn't mean that Sofia couldn't harbor feelings for another. Amber once again shook her head of these thoughts. She knew that Sofia wasn't like that, or at least that's what she told herself. She still didn't know where her feelings stood for Sofia. She was hoping to find out throughout the week and determine her feelings by the time the Ball had started. But so far, this was turning out to be a very rough start.

"Amber?" a voice said next to Amber, breaking her train of thought. Amber turned to her left to see Clio looking at her with concern. Amber smiled at her friend.

"Yes, Clio?" she said with a pleasant tone. Clio, however, was still looking concerned at the blonde princess.

"Are you okay?" she asked. "You've been frowning at your desk for a few minutes now. Is something wrong?" Amber did her best to give Clio her best smile.

"Oh, I'm perfectly fine, Clio," Amber said, a little too cheerfully. "I couldn't be better." Clio raised her eyebrow as she gave Amber a look, obviously not buying it.

"Amber, I've known you for years now. I know when something is bothering you. You're not very good at hiding it." Amber looked from side to side, as if trying to find some way out of this in her surroundings.

"I don't know what you mean." Clio leaned in a little closer to Amber.

"Then why won't you look me in the eye?" Amber could feel the sweat forming on her forehead. She rattled through her mind to try to figure out an excuse to give her. Then an idea struck in her brain.

"I-I'm just nervous about the Ball is all." she said finally. Clio gave Amber another look

"The Ball?" she said flatly. Amber nodded.

"That's right. I'm just not sure what I'm going to be wearing, is all. I don't want to embarrass Sofia on one of her big days." Amber calmed down a bit, thinking that this would be a pretty good excuse. However, Clio raised an eyebrow once more, still not buying it. She stared at Amber for a few moments longer, which was starting to make Amber nervous again. Finally, Clio leaned back away from Amber.

"You're not a very good liar, Amber," Clio said, then her face softened, almost as if she was sad. "But I won't press the matter any further. If you want to tell me what's really bothering you, then I'll be here whenever you're ready." Amber stared at Clio for a few moments. Clio really did care for her, enough to try to figure out what was bothering her. She had really matured over the years from being a follower of Hildagard's to being her own person. Amber was almost tempted to tell her what was going on until a stern voice stopped her.

"Is there a problem here, girls?" Mistress Merryweather asked sternly, looking at both Clio and Amber. Both girls sat straight in their seats.

"No, Mistress Merryweather," they said in unison. Mistress Merryweather continued to look at the both princesses with narrowed eyes before crossing her arms.

"I should hope not. Now please pay attention. This is important if you want to keep your kingdoms from going bankrupt."

"Yes, Mistress Merryweather," Clio and Amber said. The blue fairy nodded her head before turning around and floated back to the front of the class to continue the lesson. Both girls sat quietly and listened to what Mistress Merryweather was saying, or at least one of them was. Amber still had a lot on her mind. With everything that was going on, maybe it would be good to talk to a friend. Sure she could always talk to Baileywick, like she did the other day. But sometimes it's good to get another girl's opinion on the matter, without revealing too much. So Amber finally came to a decision. Amber took out a piece of paper and began to write down a few words.

Clio was listening in on what Mistress Merryweather was ranting on about when she suddenly felt a light tap on her right shoulder. She turned to see what Amber wanted but saw that Amber was staring at the front of the class. Clio furrowed her brows and was about to ask Amber what she wanted when she noticed a small piece of folded up paper right next to her. Clio looked forward at Mistress Merryweather, who had her back turned as she wrote something on the blackboard, before quickly taking the folded paper and carefully opening it up so as not to make any noise to attract unwanted attention. She silently read what was on note.

"You're right. Something else is bothering me. But I can't tell you about it now so please be patient with me. When the time is right I will tell you."

Clio smiled when she finished reading the note. Amber was willing to trust her with something that was obviously a big deal to her. She looked over at Amber, who was still staring at the front of the class, before taking out a pen and wrote down a reply. Amber had been waiting patiently for Clio to finish reading. She then noticed that Clio had written something down on the sheet and quickly folded it back up and slid it back to Amber. Checking to make sure Mistress wasn't looking, Amber slowly opened the note and silently read the content on the paper.

"Of course Amber. Whenever you are ready to talk, I'll be here."

Amber felt as if a bit of weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She looked up at Clio to see her giving a warm smile. Amber couldn't help but smile back before looking to the front of the class again. There was still a lot of thinking to do before the Ball. But for now, she was just glad to have a friend that was there for her. It almost made her feel better about this morning. Almost. Amber knew that in a couple hours, she would be seeing Sofia for lunch. She wasn't sure if she was going to be looking forward to that or not. Only time will tell. All she knew was that things were not coming to a good start.

A/N: Quite a chapter huh? I hope you all enjoyed. Please leave a review and let me know what you guys think. Thank you all very much for reading this chapter and I will see you all again very soon :)