Hey! Sorry I have been sort of MIA for some time, but my half term mock exams have made me really busy but the good thing is that I only have one left on Tuesday. I haven't completely neglected the story either, so I finished this chapter on Thursday and started on chapter 22 so hopefully, that will be on time. I also have started a Pinterest page from this story so if you want to see pictures that I just have had on my computer and used for inspiration/ideas go check that out! So as the link won't show just google Pinterest and after entering the page just copy and paste this behind the Pinterest url.

/freeflyingwriter9646/

Hope you all like this chapter!

Friday 11th of January

"Taylor hang on a minute," Gabriella told her friend after class. A little reluctant Taylor stayed behind waiting.

"What?" she asked sounding slightly annoyed.

"We need to talk," Gabriella stated and Taylor huffed looking at her. "Obviously we do. How come you kept something like this a secret? I'm your best friend, or at least I thought I was," she said hurt.

"Taylor you are," Gabriella hurried to say. "Then why keep it a secret?" she fired back. "Let me explain," Gabriella said raising her voice slightly and this time Taylor didn't say anything.

"You remember back in October when Troy and I didn't speak and I refused to tell you why. We had been camping and on the way back he told me about who he was. He told me everything. What he has told all of us is true, except that he is the prince of Etrea," Gabriella explained her voice hushed so they wouldn't get overheard.

"Why keep it a secret from us when he told you?" Taylor frowned being more civil towards Gabriella.

"Because there was a reason for why he never told anyone of us." Gabriella started to reason. "He never shared with you how he was home-schooled for six years because no one saw him as just Troy. He never shared that he is always in the eye of the public and has his own bodyguard who have been following him since he was three years old. He never shared that he barely had any true friends beside his cousins and best friend. When his best friend moved away he was left alone again and he decided that going to school halfway across the earth was better than staying in Etrea," Gabriella finished and Taylor was stunned at this point.

"Troy has told me all of this and I experienced much of it when I celebrated Christmas with him," Gabriella shared with her friend who were trying to comprehend the load of new information. "I would never have guessed that it was like that…" Taylor trailed off still keeping her gaze at her friend. "If I promise I won't tell anyone, will you tell me? Everything?" she questioned and Gabriella felt herself smile.

"Yeah, after school? I don't want to be late for homeroom," Gabriella said and the two girls hurried off towards class both smiling.

"I saw you and Taylor come to class together. Did the two of you sort it out?" Troy questioned as they were walking home that day.

"Yeah we talked after class and sorted some things out. She's coming over tomorrow and we are going to work on some scholastic decathlon stuff. When we spoke after class I sort of told her some things that you have only shared with me. I hope that was okay," Gabriella told her boyfriend and he took her hand squeezing it gently.

"Of course. I knew you had to say something and I never wanted to ruin the friendship you and Taylor have because of my secret. Let me guess, Taylor wanted to know everything?" he questioned and Gabriella nodded slowly. "Yeah," she breathed out relieved that he didn't mind her sharing his story.

"You should tell her," he encouraged as she became quiet. "I talked with Chad but he didn't seem as hurt as Taylor luckily. I also told Martha and Kelsi as they were in the classroom and they were bound to know at some point. Chad and I also agreed to tell Zeke and Jason," Troy shared as they had now reached Gabriella's house.

"See you on Monday Troy, have a nice week-end." "See you Brie," Troy said and Gabriella walked up her driveway.

"So spill," Taylor said as the two girls were sitting on Gabriella's bed. Books and papers scattered around them. "How was it?" she questioned and Gabriella smiled giggling a little before looking up at her friend.

"Weird, exciting, educational, a little scary and really fun," Gabriella said trying to summarise her experience. "Oh wow. Elaborate," Taylor said crossing her legs.

"Well, it all started the day we left, which was the day after school was out. Or rather that night. Our flight left at four in the morning so we got picked up at three thirty in the morning and already from there it started getting weird. His bodyguard and a few other from the security team picked us up. I'm sorry I don't know how much of that I can share, it was rather intimidating seeing all of them, even though Troy's bodyguards were friendly enough…" Gabriella trailed off and Taylor raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"Anyways, we were driven towards the airport and the car stopped right next to the plane. It was so surreal stepping out of the car and walking 150ft before entering the small plane. It was like the one we see as business jets or private jets and we flew that to Los Angeles," Gabriella told her but stopped once she saw the look Taylor gave her.

"So you didn't fly with an airline? They had organised own flights?" Taylor questioned and Gabriella nodded.

"Yeah, besides the security and the two of us we were alone one the aircraft. It was rather surreal… Anyways, after landing in LA we got on board this huge two story aircraft and Troy shared that the plane belonged to the Etrean royal family and was used to transport them wherever they needed. I guess it is much like the president have Air Force one, but I mean that plane was massive and again it was just the two of us on board. We didn't even notice the security as they were upstairs," Gabriella trailed off looking at her friend who was eager for more information.

"So after a twelve-hour flight we landed in Etrea, and it was so beautiful looking at all the snow, but freezing. As we were driven to his home, I was just mesmerized as I looked outside of the window. I don't think I have ever seen so much snow before. His family started coming over the next couple of days and the day before Christmas eve he had to join his family to church. As he had left his cousins came and Makayla and I hit it off immediately. Her brother on the other hand didn't seem to like me…." Gabriella said before continuing.

"It was the morning of Christmas eve I believe that we were eating breakfast together and when his grandmother questioned what had happened to Troy's arm, he just said that it swelled during the night and Calvin came with this remark. I don't even know what he said because I believe he had switched to Japanese as it is their second language. I believe that they had a small argument, but Troy wouldn't tell me what it was…" she trailed off and Taylor looked at her shocked.

She shifted on the bed before looking at her friend puzzled.

"Why wouldn't he tell you if it concerned you?" she questioned baffled.

"I don't know. He said that I didn't have to think about it," Gabriella recalled before she suddenly remembered something. "I also got a gift from Makayla at Christmas eve," she mentioned and got up from the bed.

Walking over to the bookshelf where she had placed it, she retrieved the small object before walking back sitting down on the bed again. She gave it to Taylor who were studying the snow globe.

"Wow, that's beautiful," she commented and Gabriella smiled.

"Yeah, it was really thoughtful of her. The castle you see is the Etrean castle in Iwaki," Gabriella mentioned and something suddenly dawned on Taylor.

"You mean the one where the royal family live, and Troy?" she questioned and Gabriella nodded.

"Yup," Gabriella confirmed as Taylor studied the castle. "It just seems so weird. To look at this and know that he lives there," Taylor commented handing the snow globe back to Gabriella.

"Why didn't Calvin like you, you suspect?" Taylor questioned switching topic and Gabriella thought for a minute as she put the globe back on the shelf.

"I have actually been wondering about the same thing," she confessed turning back towards Taylor who nodded. "It was almost as if he was set on not liking me. I actually got lost one day as Troy was doing something with his two cousins. I headed in the wrong direction and I ended up having to call him. I was so lost," Gabriella stated sitting back down on the bed as Taylor were thinking.

"I know it probably sounds stupid, but could he have been jealous?"

"Maybe…" Gabriella reasoned. "But I don't understand why he could have been. I mean, it wasn't like he never was with them," she tried to reason.

"But he did walk away from whatever he was doing with them to find you." "I thought about that, but Makayla didn't say anything about that it was only Calvin who got angry," Gabriella reasoned. "I hope that wasn't the cause…" Gabriella tried off.

"We should get back to work," Gabriella stated and Taylor gave a smile before they continued with their work.

Monday, January 14th

"Settle down, settle down," Mr. Howie said trying to quiet the loud class that Monday afternoon.

"Now as our next chapter is the English speaking countries of the world, I have decided to make this chapter a project..." the rest of his sentence was drowned by majority of the class groaning.

"There there," Mr. Howie tried to explain, "this time you are going to choose your own groups and country. My two simple rules are no group can have the same country and the groups shouldn't be much bigger than four maybe five people. Understood? Great," Mr. Howie said walking over to the blackboard, grabbing the chalk before writing it up. "Now is there already someone who knows the group they want to work in?"

Troy had a really bad feeling about this assignment. What if someone choose Etrea, found out everything and presented it for the whole class? There were already rumours floating about him he did not need for them to escalate or confirmed.

"Yes Mr. Danforth?" their teacher said interrupting Troy's thoughts.

"Mr Howie, me, Taylor, Gabriella, and Troy," Chad started and Troy turned around at the sound of his best friend's voice. His previous panic level sinking a little but he mentally prayed that Chad did not screw up this one.

"We would like to have our presentation about Etrea," Chad told the teacher who nodded writing down something.

"Excellent. It has actually been years since someone last choose that country so I am looking forward to your presentation. Anyone else?" he said and Troy relaxed. Crisis most likely avoided. It was ok for his friends to know but he wouldn't want the whole school to know.

"All right if there are no other suggestions I have some groups for you," their teacher said after several minutes of small discussions and gesturing.

"Miss Evans, Miss Nielsen, Mr Evans and Mr Baylor you are one group. Feel free to choose your country. Mr Cross, Miss Cox, Miss Gold and Mr Zara, the same goes for you," Mr. Howie said and formed different groups. "Now as you go into groups I want to know which country you are choosing and I will cross them off the board. Also I believe you all should be finished within the next two weeks but we'll see if you perhaps need another week," he said and everyone moved into their groups.

"Thanks," Troy told Chad quietly as they sat together at a table. "Hey anytime," Chad said as the noise level visibly died down.

"So Troy since you are the most knowledge about the ruling system in Etrea would you like to take that section?" Taylor questioned her voice amused as she put her book down on the table. "I would love to do that," Troy said holding back a laugh.

"So should we divide what each of us should focus on?" Taylor questioned and Gabriella nodded agreeing. "Sounds good," Chad agreed and Taylor wrote something down in her notebook.

"So Troy you're doing the ruling system; Gabi do you know what you want to investigate?"

"I could do some historical aspects and such," she suggested and Taylor wrote that down. "Chad?"

"I have no idea yet. I am not entirely sure if I know exactly where Etrea is situated even," he said quietly to his group. "Then it's fitting that you do the geography part," Taylor concluded and both of the girls were laughing quietly.

"I could look at the average GDP, expected life age and such," Taylor said after scanning the sheet the teacher had just handed out to the different groups.

"Sounds great. If we find out there is something we are lacking we could just take something each," Troy said and everyone nodded, agreeing. "You guys could come over to my house after school on Wednesday and we could get some work done," Troy suggested and Gabriella smiled nodding.

"Sounds good," Taylor stated.

"Speak of getting an easy grade," Gabriella heard the cheerleaders say as she was collecting some books from her locker.

"I mean that is low even for her. They are all going to get a good grade, I mean even the teacher said he is looking forward to their presentation. Using her boyfriend like that…" the cheerleaders said and Gabriella closer her locker walking away.

She wasn't the one who asked to have the project about Etrea. Chad was the one who asked about the group and country! It wasn't like she was going to use Troy to do her research… She had been to Etrea experiencing the culture on her own, and reading books. After all she was going to use the library and other internet sources…

Hope you all liked it! Shout-out to Lia, Grace and for their review on the last chapter! Please feel free to check out my Pinterest page for pictures that I try to describe in the story, but also inspired me. /freeflyingwriter9646/

I am planning on incorporating more of that into some of the later chapters as there will be more twists, maybe some of you picked up on it in this chapter? I have a bad foreshadow here ;)

Grace as you probably have seen here, I didn't want Taylor and Gabriella to have a long fight, even though that is most like them if I were a hundred percent true to the movie. I didn't just for the sake of this story ;)

Lia, I am happy to answer questions in the reviews I receive and especially if they are guest reviews seeing as I can't send them a PM. Happy you liked the chapter and I hope you like where I am taking this story after some chapters.