The Prince and the Punk [EDITING]

Chapter 40

He pauses so the crowd can laugh politely and continues, "My family and I understand that the war's end has not come free of charge, and we recognize and appreciate the sacrifice of our fallen soldiers, for whom we will now have a moment of silence."

Immediately, the room falls silent. I can hear sniffles and quiet, whispered prayers. I frown, staring out at the scattered crowd. They've lost people, seen things I can't even fathom, and it occurs to me how detached my family is from them. They live in the real world, fighting wars, losing friends, and working jobs, while my family lives in the nicest neighborhood in the world, isolated in a massive castle and surrounded by reinforced walls. How is it fair that we govern these people if we treat mourning the dead as a photo op?

"Thank you," my father says, breaking the silence. "We are eternally grateful to those we've lost. Without them, we likely wouldn't be here today." A pause. "But despite our great losses, today is a day to celebrate! Our years-long conflict has finally come to an end, thanks to all of your efforts on Mars. We thank you and we salute you."

One by one, my father calls the former soldiers up. He drapes a medal around each one's neck, shakes their hands, and says, "Thank you for your service."

Most of the soldiers smile, but some give him death glares, presumably the ones who blame us for everything they went through.

When he calls Janice's name, she steps gingerly up to my father, who immediately scowls upon recognizing her.

I start to wonder how she was invited in the first place. Surely my father wouldn't have allowed it if he'd known, so did he know? Either he's testing me, or this is the world's greatest coincidence, facilitated by the fact that apparently my parents don't proofread their guest lists.

Janice holds her head up, maintaining a defiant sort of eye contact with my father. The entire scene plays out within a few seconds, probably going unnoticed by everyone but me. My father's eyes narrow only for a moment before he grins and, voice dripping with venom, says, "Thank you for your service."

Janice shakes his hand with a nod, and even from where I'm standing I can see how hard he squeezes her.

The instant the ceremony is over and the cameras are elsewhere, my father storms away, presumably to fire whoever it was that put Janice's name on the guest list. I smile to myself, enjoying the idea that he could be so upset at his own ignorance. I take his absence as an opportunity to stare some more at Janice during the dinner that follows the ceremony.

At one point, she walks right past my table and glances down at me, her eyes meeting mine for just an instant. I notice her limping, and my heart drops into my stomach. What happened to her?

She passes me again a moment later on her way back to her table, but this time I'm not the only one to notice her. Katie whips her head around, and before I can stop her, she's running at full speed to Janice's table. I stand up abruptly, banging my knees against the table and nearly tripping backwards over my chair.

"I'll—I'll get her. You guys stay here," I exclaim, holding my hands out like they can keep Desiree and my mother seated.

Katie has her arms wrapped around a surprised Janice, whose initial shock quickly morphs into joy.

"Uh—" I croak when I reach Janice's table. It feels so strange to be close to her again. She stares up at me, one arm still around Katie. Next to her sits a girl with a black pixie cut, her lips pressed together so tightly in an effort to repress a smile that her mouth becomes a single line. Both look up at me expectantly, and I realize I've been standing there gaping like a goldfish.

I clear my throat, reminding myself that most people use words to communicate. "Hi."

"Hey," Janice says with a smile.

There's an awkward pause, during which the girl with the pixie cut has to cover her mouth to contain her laugh. Janice gives her a death glare and mumbles something, and the girl nods but doesn't remove her hand.

"Xavier!" Katie exclaims, jumping up to pull on my arm. "Why didn't you tell me Janice was back?"

"I... didn't know."

She turns to Janice. "Where'd you go?"

"I, uh, went off-world for a while," she replies with a small smile.

"Was it fun?"

"No," she laughs.

Katie frowns. "Well... we can have fun now, right? You can come back and we can hang out again!"

Janice glances at me, and I remember that I probably owe her an explanation as to why I didn't talk to her for all those months.

"I don't know," she says.

"Please?" Katie begs. "Xavier's new girlfriend is so boring."

The girl next to Janice bursts out laughing, earning an elbow to the ribs.

"Shut the fuck up, Nita," Janice hisses.

Katie looks up at me, not distracted by the outburst. "She can come stay with us again, right?"

"We'll talk about it. Mom wants you right now, though, okay? Go see Mom," I deflect. "And, uh, if you could not mention that Janice is here, please?"

She nods and hugs Janice again before turning to walk back to our table.

"I missed Katie," Janice murmurs.

There's another moment of painful silence, and each second of it chips away at me.

"I... like your hair," I attempt.

"Thanks," she replies, tugging on a lock of her pink hair. "I've been growing it out."

This confuses me. Her hair is significantly shorter than it was last time I saw her.

The girls seem amused at this, and Nita starts to laugh again.

"Goddammit, Nita." Janice kicks her under the table.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. This is just too good. I mean, he's such a dork!" I raise an eyebrow at her, and she adds, "Uh, Your Highness. Sorry."

Janice snickers.

"It's fine," I dismiss, suppressing a smile of my own.

"Don't apologize for being right," Janice says with a smirk.

My mother calls my name from our table.

"I, uh, guess I should get back," I mumble. "Are you... still working at the café?"

Janice nods. "Almost every day. Come by next time you decide to slum it."

"Yeah... Well, it was good to see you." I turn to Nita. "And to sort of meet you."

I'm walking back to my table, contemplating the awkward conversation with Janice, when a gunshot rings out through the crowded room.

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Dun dun dun...

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