Thank you so much to Grace and Pumpkinking5 for your lovely reviews on the last chapter! Grace I smiled so much reading your comment, and I did promise you all that updates would come, eventually. I really try to post twice a month on the Saturday. Often around midnight European time (my time zone is UTC +1) which equals to around six o'clock East American time. So THANK YOU for that encouragement and kind words!

Sadly, this chapter has not been edited as much as I would have liked to seeing as school have started again and I am reading theory for taking the theory test to get my driver's licence. I have approximately four weeks to do it! Ugh, wish me luck…

Troy's POV
Monday March 10th

"Happy birthday!" Gabriella hugged me as she meet me at my locker. "Thank you," I smiled taking out my Spanish books.

"How was the rest of your weekend?" she questioned me and I continued to smile. "Quiet but good. Marcus called me yesterday wishing me a happy birthday not quite having figured out the time differences."

"Really?" she looked at me arching her eyebrow.

"Mhm. He called just after noon Etrean time which meant that it was nine the previous day here in America. He meant it well," I told her sincerely but couldn't hold back the laugh.

"Be nice to him," she nudged me while I closed my locker.

"I am," I defended as we walked together towards class. "He's the brother I never had, or sibling for that matter, so that's what we do. He got plenty of stories on me though," I stated shaking my head.

"Really?"

She seemed surprised.

"Yes," I confirmed with a slight nod of my head. "Aren't royalty supposed to behave to perfection every time? At least that's what every tabloid is writing about whenever someone isn't," she shared quietly.

"Aha. Your answer in your question," I stated and she looked at me puzzled.

"Key word being tabloid and behaviour. There is a fine line to not get caught by the paparazzi, but I haven't always been that fortunate. If you google my name I am sure you will find plenty," I told her and she were just looking at me.

"To be honest," she started and I knew she were going to confess about having googled me. Why wouldn't she?

"I can't say I have. I think I did once but that was to show mom when we broke up…" she told me and I were slightly shocked.

"God I regret that."

"You haven't?" I questioned her and she shook her head. "I didn't see the need. Of course I won't lie and say I haven't been tempted to do it, but I never went through with it," she confessed as we entered the classroom. "That's why you really wanted to know my birthday amongst other things," I realised and she nodded.

"Yes," she nodded as we sat down in our seats. "We'll talk more later," Gabriella told me as she watched as more and more students entered the classroom.

"Lunch," I told her and she smiled nodding.

"Hey hoops you okay with training today?" Chad questioned me as we were walking out of our last class.

"Yeah wasn't it planned?" I questioned him a little confused and he looked at me funnily. "Well yeah but after what happened with your family I wasn't sure if you wanted to skip this one," he told me uncertainly and I frowned. Surely my mother would have called me or sent me a text?

"Wait, where did you hear this?" I frowned looking at him as Taylor and Gabriella were meeting up with us. "It was all over the news just a while ago," Chad stated finding his phone looking for the article.

"What's going on?" Taylor questioned having noticed our face expressions. A beep on my phone alerted me on a text and my heart started thumping inside my chest. Was this a text from my mother? I pulled up my phone and surprisingly enough it was from Marcus.

"Sorry to hear about your grandfather. Hope it's nothing too serious and wishing you all the best," it read and my heart dropped into my stomach.

"Here," Chad announced and showed me his phone.

Royalty rushed to hospital.
His royal highness king Alexander of Etrea were observed rushed to the hospital in the early morning hours. No comment has been given so far but an update is expected to come within the early morning hours.

"Thanks," I muttered handing him his phone back.

"Shit you didn't know did you?" Chad exclaimed as it dawned on him. "No," I shook my head swallowing hard.

"I am so sorry," he apologized profusely shoving his phone back into his pocket.

"You couldn't have known," I defended him shrugging my shoulders. "Stuff like this is bound to happen," I shrugged it off before turning to Taylor explaining.

"Chad just showed me an article about my grandfather. He was rushed to the hospital for some un-known reason. Marcus, my best friend, just sent me a text asking if everything was all right with him, but I haven't heard anything until just now," I told her and her eyes shot up in surprise.

"Oh wow," she stated astounded. "So if you want to join us we're alone in the gym today. Coach had some meeting so we're in charge today. I can handle it if don't want to that's cool," Chad rambled and I smiled.

"Yeah no it's okay. I'll be there just have to make a call first," I told him and he nodded with a smile. "No problem hoops."

"Could we also come? To watch I mean," Taylor clarified and Gabriella laughed.

"Yeah sure no problem," Chad stated and Gabriella smiled. "We should get going," Chad stated noting the time and I sighed. I pulled out my own phone and the message from Marcus were still staring back at me.

"We could give you some privacy if you need," Gabriella told me thoughtfully and I gave her a small smile. "It's all right," I stated as students were walking past us. I found my mother's phone number and put the phone to my ear.

"Hello Troy," my mother's voice greeted me.

"Hey mother. I heard about grandfather from a friend. How is he doing?" I questioned her switching over to Japanese.

"We do not know yet. He was admitted for some different testing about twenty minutes ago. I am sorry I did not call you at once. It all happened so fast," mom explained regretfully.

"I understand. What happened? And how is sobo taking it?" I questioned and Gabriella looked at me at the mentioning of the word. She remembered the Japanese word for grandmother…

"She wasn't there. She is in Hiratsuto at a conference. Hopefully by the time she arrives we know more, but tell me, how did your friend hear about this?" "He saw it on the news and then I got a text from Marcus. School just finished so we are on our way to practice," I briefly explained as everyone passing us didn't seem to notice me speaking a completely different language.

"I will let you know once we hear anything. Hopefully it would be soon," mom told me and I nodded. "Thank you mom. Talk to you later." I told her as we bid our goodbyes.

"So you and Taylor seemed to have fun during practice," I teased her as we were walking together home.

"Yeah," she giggled. "We were actually finishing some stuff for our next scholastic decathlon meeting. We are only a month away from the final competition so we have lots of practice to do," Gabriella told me as I smiled. As I watched them they seemed to be talking quite a lot as they were sitting on the bleachers with a couple of books laying open beside them.

"When is your final match and do you know against who?" Gabriella questioned but at the same time my phone was buzzing in my pocket. Looking at the screen I read the letters MOM.

"It's mom," I apologized and accepted the call. "Hello," I answered a little anxious hoping she had good news.

"Hello Troy. I am sorry I don't have much information yet but your grandmother has arrived and the only thing they told us is that he is stable at the moment but they are still doing tests," mom informed me and I frowned.

"But what happened to him?" I questioned concerned. "He had been working in his office all night and he passed out when he stood up according to what we were told," mom explained and my heart sunk.

"So what does this mean for my studies?" I questioned and Gabriella looked at me worriedly.

"We just have to wait and see. I am sorry but that's all we know. Worst case, he has to step down which means that you will have more responsibilities. However, seeing as you have around three months left until the summer we should make it work," mom told me and I didn't know what I was going to say. I knew this day were going to come eventually but as I told Gabriella just a couple of days ago, I was not ready.

Now on the day I turn 18 I am faced with exactly that possibility.

"Don't stress yourself out with this Troy. For all we know it was nothing serious and he will be just fine," mom tried to reassure me as I got quiet.

"Thank you for the update, keep me informed will you?" I questioned. "Of course bye," mom said and I hung up. Gabriella didn't say anything, but her look said more than thousand words. She wrapped her arm around mine leaning closer.

"I am here for you Troy," were the only words she spoke.

I put my pencil down on top of my open notebook with a sigh. Ever since the news about my grandfather I were having a hard time concentrating. The lack of news was not helping either. I looked up, glancing at the clock hanging on the wall in the kitchen.

8:30

I looked at my phone once more and the same blanc screen were glowing back at me.

I turned my attention back to the English book trying to finish the homework, when I heard noises coming from the front door. It sounded like a lock being turned with a key, and I thought of Gabriella. I stood up and headed towards the entrance as the sound of a door opening and closing came.

"Troy?" Gabriella's uncertain voice were heard as she locked the door behind her.

"Hey Brie," I smiled as I saw her. "Hi," she answered as she put her backpack down on the floor. "I'm sorry for just entering but I thought you might need some company?" she questioned looking at me.

"Don't be sorry Brie. This is exactly why I gave you the key," I explained to her as she took off her jacket and shoes, following me into the kitchen. I started closing the books and gather the notes while she was looking at me.

"You can finish if you were in the middle of something," she told me as I put them at one side of the table.

"No it's fine. I haven't really been able to concentrate much," I explained to her turning to face her.

"So you haven't heard anything?" she questioned stepping closer.

"No."

"So um," she stated a little nervous. "mom said that it was okay with you I could stay the night," she told me and I smiled.

"I would love for you to," I stated wrapping my arms gently around her waist, kissing the top of her head. She stood up on her toes giving me a proper kiss on the lips, while I brought her a little closer supporting her.

"Do you want to watch a movie or something?" I questioned her as we broke the kiss.

"I would love to," she grinned and we headed into the living room. "So I was meant to bring this for Kelsi tomorrow. Something about a project or inspiration," Gabriella stated as she pulled out a movie cover from her backpack.

"Um?" I questioned confused looking at the cartoon covered movie.

"Shh, give it a chance. It's a beautiful movie," she stated showing me the cover more closely. Looking at it, there were a deer, a rabbit, a skunk and a dark green forest with a much larger deer half lurking in the background. The title read Bambi in a quite bold font. This really gave me the same vibe as The Lion King but then again she was right about that movie. It was a great kid's movie, and I happened to like it too.

"I trust you," I told her as she started the movie. We both sat down on the couch and she snuggled into me as the movie started. I wrapped an arm around her playing with her hair as she rested her head on my shoulder relaxing.

I woke up by a sound and something vibrating. I looked around to see that it was my phone which I had placed on the coffee table earlier. Carefully I stretched for it as Gabriella had fallen asleep on top of me, her head resting on my chest.

"Hi mom," I greeted her quietly as I had somehow managed to answer it without disturbing Gabriella.

"Hello Troy. Sorry to call you this late but I have good news. Your grandfather was just discharged from the hospital. They found the reason for his blackout being due to stress. The doctors strongly advised him to reduce his schedule and we even briefly spoke about him stepping down which he refused to at the moment," mom stated and I smiled a little.

"Good luck getting him to ease his schedule," I laughed quietly as mom sighed. It was really no secret that grandpa loved what he was doing and all the traveling. He was just naturally engaged in events happening all over the country and meeting with the people, is something he loved doing.

"Thank you Troy I think we might need it," mom chuckled.

Monday March 17th

Easter break had finally arrived and I were happy about having a week long break from school. It defiantly gave me more time to practice basketball seeing as the doctor had approved me starting to play a little. This also meant that I had time to do my Japanese semester tasks which had to be finished before the summer. I knew for a fact that both Jason and Zeke were traveling somewhere to meet up with some relatives, which left only me and Chad from our group to meet up.

I had just finished cleaning up after breakfast when I could swear I heard a car pull up in the drive way… Maybe I were just imagining things? I knew for a fact that Chad had his licence and sometimes borrowed one of his parents' car but he, usually, called in advance. There were a knock on the door so I walked over and opened it not expecting the person that stood on the other side.

"Marcus?!" I questioned completely taken back.

"Hey long time no see," he stated and I were still shocked. "Yeah more than long enough. Come in," I said stepping aside letting him inside.

"What are you doing here?" I questioned frowning a little as we shared a hug. "It is Easter break and Flower blossom festival back home. A little planning with my parents and yours, and here I am," he laughed at my shock.

"This is awesome! How long are you staying?" I questioned him now grinning. "Until Sunday afternoon. Your school starts again Tuesday right?" he questioned and I nodded.

"Dude I can't believe you're here," I told him bewildered and he laughed. "Your mom said just about the same thing. Obviously our surprise worked," Marcus stated and I nodded.

"I can almost guarantee you will meet several of my friends during this week," I told him as he looked quite excited about the prospect.

"Yeah I were hoping too. I took a chance that you did not have any plans when I decided to come. Oh and maybe I can finally meet this girlfriend of yours who you loved enough to reveal the whole reason why you travelled here," he pointed out and I couldn't do anything else than to laugh at his description

"You will most defiantly meet her during the week and don't you worry, I plan on dragging you along," I stated and laughed at the expression on his face.

"Oh dear, what have I gotten myself into?"

So that was it! Did you see it coming with Marcus visiting? Please leave a review with your thoughts they are always appreciated!

-FreeFlyingWriter.