Young Royals Season 3 (Version 3)

8. Evidence

Sooner than she expected, August appeared from behind some trees up ahead as he came around a bend in the trail.

He seemed to be focussed on something else as he was running and didn't see her until he was quite close. He took his earbuds out and looked at her, bewildered.

"What are you doing here?" He asked, furrowing his brow.

"You were going to report Simon for the pills to stop him from reporting you for the video." she stated simply.

He looked at her in disbelief, holding his breath, but didn't say anything.

"You don't care that it would destroy my family."

"I do, but I didn't know what else to do." He answered her quietly.

Sara was matter-of-fact. "You don't care about anyone but yourself."

August looked down to his right, unable to meet Sara's eyes. He sighed and gritted his teeth but didn't reply.

"Where are my dad's pills?" Sara continued calmly, getting back to the matter at hand.

He looked up at her then, taken aback by her directness, and answered quietly. "Alexander has them."

"Why haven't you got them back from him yet?" Sara could tell that August was surprised she knew what was happening. August realised there was no point in pretending with her.

"When I got back on Saturday, Alexander was gone. Walter said he went home for the weekend. I sent him messages and he didn't answer. I went by his room yesterday and this morning, and he wasn't there."

"Does that not seem like something you should tell the Royal Court? That Alexander's disappeared...with my dad's pills..."

"I didn't know how they'd react...I thought I could figure it out first." He looked down then and heard Sara sigh loudly in frustration.

He decided to change the subject and looked up at her again. "They brought Rousseau back yesterday. He's in the stables if you want to see him."

Sara furrowed her brow for a moment, still frustrated at August's lack of understanding.

"Mm..." She turned to leave, then hesitated, and turned back to August. "Simon wasn't the one who reported you, just so you know."

August was confused as he recalled Jan Olof saying the same thing but he hadn't really believed it. He thought they'd just wanted to deflect August's anger from Simon.

Much later than it should have, it dawned on August what Sara was actually saying. He frowned as the realisation hit him.

Sara turned away again once she saw that he understood, and headed quickly back to the school building.

He stood there watching her go and knew that he was completely alone then.

_____________

Sara made her way back up from the lake and hurried into class. She arrived slightly late and got a pointed comment from Mrs. Ramirez about it, but she apologized and just managed to avoid punishment.

Simon watched her come in, concerned, and whispered to her as she passed him on her way to sit with Felice. "Where've you been?" She looked down at Simon as she went by but just shook her head at him and sat down next to Felice.

_______________

August pushed the door closed, sighed and shut his eyes as he stood in the middle of the room. He put his hands over his face then rubbed it for a moment before taking off his wet shirt. He draped it over the back of the chair and paused to look around the room.