Season 3 Young Royals (Version 1)

17. August and Sara

Although it hadn't been easy, Simon was taking small steps and trying to make peace with his sister. They'd laid everything bare in one conversation and now they needed to take steps to be able to trust each other again.

Simon was still waiting to go to the police. He knew that once he went, everything would change and he wanted to enjoy the way his life was now for a while longer. He and his family were alright for now. His mom didn't know anything about his involvement with the pills. He and his sister were working on becoming close again. He'd caught people taking photos of him in public, which had been weird so far, but as he hadn't been off of school grounds with Wilhelm yet except for that first night, it hadn't been too much to handle. He supposed that would be different as soon as they were seen in public together, but for now the attention on him personally, was manageable.

They rode the bus together for Sara's first day back since she'd moved out of Hillerska's manor house. Simon could tell she was nervous to see her former friends and probably especially nervous that she might run into August. Apparently he'd been messaging her every day to see when she was coming back and asking for forgiveness. She hadn't answered him.

"Wille messaged me that he has to do an interview on Saturday. His mom wants him to say it's still possible he'll have a biological heir, with a woman I assume they mean." Simon smirked and raised an eyebrow at Sara.

"Are they really gonna make him say that?" Sara looked at Simon earnestly.

"Nej. He said he told his mom everything but she didn't listen to him so it's her problem. She'll figure it out, once he's on TV I guess. He admitted everything already, so he's not going to go back in the closet just because it's more convenient for them. It should be pretty entertaining. You should watch it this time, so you aren't confused for three days straight like you were after his speech." Simon laughed at her.

"Hey! I just wasn't that interested! I had other stuff going on obviously! I assumed it was gonna be some boring, fake celebration, and you weren't even singing your solo anyway, so why would I watch it?! Who knew your boyfriend was gonna out himself on national television?! Seriously!" Simon laughed harder, throwing his head back slightly as he closed his eyes.

The bus pulled up to their stop and they both quickly jumped out and headed up the hill. Simon noticed that Sara's demeanor suddenly changed and she started to walk more slowly. She was clearly not looking forward to this. It reminded him of how he felt going back to school after the tape was released.

"You know Sara, Felice is a good person. She'll forgive you. You just have to make an effort and be sincere about it. I'll put in a good word for you too. It'll get better."

Sara looked up at her brother, gave him a weak smile and nodded without saying a word.

They finally reached the top of the hill and made their way into the classroom. Simon had promised Sara he would sit with her and not leave her alone. When Wilhelm walked in he was confused that there was no seat for him next to Simon as usual but then he realised Sara was back, greeted both the siblings warmly, and continued to the back to sit with Felice and the other girls. Simon quickly texted Wilhelm asking him to please stick up for his sister if the girls were being mean about her. Wilhelm's response was of course "no problem. <3"

Wilhelm had his work cut out for him with Stella and Frederika. He'd had to speak up several times until they finally realised he wasn't the best audience for snide remarks about his boyfriend's sister. Madison and Felice were both silent on the subject, but he wasn't sure if that was indicative of a more positive or negative opinion of Sara.

Once classes let out at noon, Simon asked Sara what she planned to do for lunch. She'd packed herself something so she wouldn't have to go into the dining hall, but Simon said he could go eat with her if she liked.

"Nej, I'll just find a place to sit in the sun since it's not cold. Then I'll see you in class after lunch."
Simon looked worried but didn't know what else he could suggest that wouldn't embarrass his sister, so he let her be.

"Ok, message me if you need anything."

"Tack, Simon."

Sara walked around the campus a bit, avoiding the main paths, and settled on a picnic table near the lake where she could sit in the sun and watch the ducks on the water. It was directly next to a running path that went around the lake and normally should be deserted at lunchtime.

She took out her sandwich from her backpack and looked out at the water, zoning out for a minute. Suddenly she heard a familiar voice behind her.

"Hej! Sara!"

She was startled and turned to see August running up the path toward her, looking practically ecstatic to find her there. Sara felt mortified and she was sure it was visible on her face.

August looked gaunt and pale even compared to the last time she'd seen him. He looked exhausted and as if he'd lost even more weight. She also wondered why he would be running at lunch time rather than sitting down to eat, but she didn't say any of this to him.

"Hur mår du? I didn't know if you were coming back or not."

Sara didn't respond. She didn't like this surprise and she wanted him to leave.

"Kan vi snacka?"

"I don't want to talk to you, August."

"Snälla, Sara...."

"I have to go." She grabbed her lunch and quickly shoved it back into her bag, then slung the bag over her shoulder as she stood up and spun around to leave.

"Wait! Sara, I'm sorry! I wanted to do the right thing but I knew I'd lose everything if I did and I didn't want to go to prison!"

"Who said you'd go to prison?" She turned around to look back at him, confused.

"My stepfather is a lawyer. He told me it's considered child pornography, that I shouldn't admit to it and that I could go to prison for years if I did...I didn't realise how serious it was when I did it and I didn't mean to ruin anyone's life. I just didn't think. I was angry and I just wanted to hurt Wilhelm, but I know he didn't deserve it. Neither did Simon. I'm just scared of going to prison and losing everything but I don't know how to make it better."

Sara nodded at him. She hadn't realised he could go to prison. She knew it was serious but felt naive that she hadn't been aware of what she was asking him to do. It also struck her now that she would be helping put him in prison once Simon decided to report him.

"I have to go." Sara turned abruptly not wanting to be faced with that reality just now, but before she could move, he'd called out to her again.

"Wait! Sara, please! What can I do?"

She turned back again, getting irritated now, "What can you do?...Go to prison I guess. Maybe they'll be more lenient if you turn yourself in, but forget about Alexander taking the blame. You know the only reason my dad's drugs were found on him is because you dragged Simon into it knowing you had no money to pay him for the alcohol or the medication. You even tried to get medication from me. You thought we were easy targets because we've got no money and you took advantage of it. And then you exposed Simon in a sex tape because you wanted revenge on Wilhelm. You've been using us and acting like we are less than you since the beginning and it's like you still don't even realise it. It's like you're surprised that there might be consequences for what you did because you've never had consequences before. Take some responsibility without blaming other people....That's what you can do." She spun around and walked quickly back down the path toward school.

August looked down at the ground and hesitated a moment. He hung his shoulders, defeated. He hadn't expected to have everything laid out in the open that way...but he knew she was right. She'd always been transparent with him and that's why he'd fallen in love with her.

He turned and began slowly walking back to the manor house.