Cloaked Beauty

Walking into my room, I collapsed onto the soft duvet of my bed. I unbuttoned my cloak, and threw it onto the ground. The carpet was soft and fluffy against my legs. Gosh, why were my legs so thin? Well, I'm not exactly complaining about that. Well, actually I am. Who wants a pair of twigs to use for walking? I didn't want to be just skin and bones. My legs still had muscles though from all the morning runs I did –

A tap at my window woke me from my minute of conversation to myself. I stood up and glanced at my window. Sitting up, I waited. Another tap. Warily, I grabbed my cloak from the ground an pulled it on. Slowly, I reached under my pillow and took out a pocketknife I used for emergencies. I slipped it into the pocket of my cloak. Carefully walking to the door that led to my balcony, I peeked through the shades of the curtains that blocked the window. Nobody was there. Unlocking the door, I stepped outside.

Blasts of cold air quickly whipped into my face, trying to drag the hood around my face down, but I wouldn't let it. Walking to the edge of my balcony, I peered over the railing. I gasped.

"Prince Derek?" I asked astounded. And indeed, it was him. He stepped out from the shadows, and into the moonlight. The light glinted off his black hair and his eyes looked piercing in the night. He was – to put it simply - handsome. The pocketknife suddenly felt silly sitting inside my cloak. "What are you doing here?" I asked. He smiled.

"I heard that your mother threw a great party. Why wasn't I invited?" I rolled my eyes.

"Hello, you’re a prince. Princes don't go to normal parties, no matter how rich we are. You only go to royal ones," I said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, which it should have been.

"So? It would have been a nice change to the ones I have to go to all the time. At those parties I just get bombarded by princesses who are looking for a prince to sweep them off their feet. I never really got to talk to other guys, especially since there always throwing glares at me." I was pretty sure I heard a bit of sadness and wistfulness in his words. But wouldn't he like that? Being surrounded by a bunch of pretty girls in tight fitting dresses trying to impress him? "I'm kind of bored. How about you come down here and we can talk?" he asked. I raised my eyebrows.

"Um, hello, why would I want that?" I asked. He frowned, then grinned. He held out his arms.

"Jump down like Rapunzel. Except don't let down your long hair... if it is. Still don't know what it looks like." I smiled mischievously.

"Why would I be Rapunzel?"

Derek sighed. "Fine, we can be Romeo and Juliet."

I frowned and raised my eyebrows. "Um, Romeo and Juliet have a forbidden romance. Let me make something clear to you, I'm not in love with you."

He frowned. "Just jump down. I didn't get a chance to talk to you after you took off at the beach."

Oh right. "Fine, I'm coming down. But I'm not jumping into your arms."

"You'll use the stairs?" he asked. I shrugged, and he dropped his arms back to his sides. Then, to his astonishment, I pushed myself over the railing and jumped down. He was too late as he tried to catch me this time. Derek closed his eyes, probably waiting to hear the impact of the ground and my head. He didn't.

"What the-" He uncovered his eyes. And saw me kneeling on the grass, not looking an inch tired or injured. "How did you do that?"

I shrugged. "Come on. If you want to ask questions, let's go for a walk."

The only sign of life in the area was the thud of our footsteps on the sidewalk. Prince Derek had suggested we go to the marketplace, so we did.

It was strange, seeing the marketplace as how it was now. Usually crowded and crazy during the afternoons, the marketplace was now quiet and empty. So it was just him and me, alone.

"So, what is it that you wanted? It's got to be pretty important if you made me jump off my balcony, right?"

He shook his head, bewildered. "I was prepared to catch you, okay? And, how did you do that? Isn't that impossible? I didn't know that you could do that."