The Prince and I

Chapter 9

Isabella stepped into my room later that day dressed in her night gown. She was grinning and leaped over to my bed.

"Today was the best day of my life," she said dreamily. "No wait- scratch that. Everyday here is the best day of my life."

"Why is that? I asked. I was already in bed and I was reading a book. She sighed excitedly.

"Because Maximum is so hot." She said. I frowned.

"Is he just hot?" I snapped. She turned to me and gave me a blank stare.

"What do you mean?" She asked. I shrugged.

"Is that it? Do you think anything of him except that he's hot?" I asked harshly.

"Yeah. What else would I think?" She replied completely missing the point. I rubbed my temple.

"Bella, if you could leave, it would be really nice, because I'm really tired." I said as calmly as possible. She shrugged.

"Sure." She got up and left. As soon as she did, I laid back in my bed and thought about what I was doing.

Was it really fair that I was letting Isabella have Max because she likes him? It seemed like a good thing for me to do, but then I thought about what I was doing to Maximum .

Even if Isabella does win by default, it means she's going to be queen. Plus, I would be pushing Max to a self-centered person who doesn't really care about him except when it comes to his looks.

I suddenly felt in the pit of my stomach that I made the wrong choice. I'm not saying that Isabella was a bad person, but she wasn't the queen type. I'm also not saying that I'm fit to be a queen, but I can get better at it.

I sat up. I didn't know how I was going to get Max to talk to me again though. I'm pretty sure he hated me.

I stood up and slowly walked out into the hallway to the front of Matthew's door. The hallways were empty and I stood there for the longest time contemplating whether I should try talking to him now or not. I finally took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

I heard footsteps and waited until he opened the door. Max stood there looking half asleep. As soon as he saw me his eyes widened, but quickly narrowed.

"What is it?" He asked. He said it in a nice tone, but I knew he meant it harshly.

"Um... can I talk to you?" I asked softly. I looked at him with sincere eyes and I noticed his gaze soften. He opened his door wider and stepped to the side.

"So.... I saw you in the garden this morning." I said, making small talk as I walked into his room. He scoffed and closed the door.

"Yeah. I saw you freaking cuddling up to my cousin." He said. I thought for a second. Is that what it looked like to Max? No wonder he was stalking off... but wouldn't that mean he was jealous?

"Um... I've been thinking about it Max.... and I want to say I'm really sorry." I said. Not looking up. I was standing in the middle of his room with my hands behind my back.

All I heard was silence.

"No. It's me that should be sorry. I've been acting like a comple-"

"It's only because I drove you do it." I interrupted. I looked up to see Max looking confused.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"You haven't noticed? All the bullshit that I've been telling you about me not liking you. It was only because Isabella said she really like you and I didn't want to hurt her feeling or betray her or anything." I said. I watched Max. He was frowning.

"So in the end, you do like me?" He asked. I stood in thought until I began to slowly nod. "But why would you do that then? I thought you hated me."

"That was the whole point. I thought that it was the right thing to do at the moment. I believed it would force you to Isabella." I replied. Max looked me in the eyes and stepped closer to me.

"But what I do isn't your choice. Who I pick isn't your choice either." He said and continued to come closer.

"I know. That's why I'm apologizing." I said softly. He was right in front of me, so he was close enough to hear. I had to tilt my head back to look him in the eyes. I bit my lip nervously. He stood silently there watching me. He stepped as close to me as he could and rested his forehead down on mine.

"Tell you what. I'll forgive you this time, but please never do something like that again. It killed me," he whispered. My heart was beating so fast that I could feel it through out my whole body. I felt memorized by his eyes.

He leaned in close and kissed me lightly. I knew he was going to kiss me again, so I took a step back and he missed. He straightened out and looked at me.

"Are you still worried about Isabella?" He asked softly. I shook my head.

"That's not it. It's that it's only been a couple days and I barely know anything about you. Not that you might be a bad person, but it just feels wrong. I don't know though." I said. He nodded.

"Okay. So....why not learn now?" He suggested. He plopped down on his bed and patted the spot next to him. We
talked for hours about everything we liked, all our interests, and even what we've always wanted for the future. By the time we ran out of what to talk about I was sitting up with my back against his bed frame, and he was laying down sideways on his bed with his head in my lap and I was playing with his hair.

I didn't know how we got there, we just did. We stared at each other until he yawned. At that moment it occurred to me to check what time it was because I was completely exhausted. I glanced up at the clock and it read 3:56.

My eyes widened and I tried moving Max off of me quickly.  "Max get off! It's already four in the freaking morning!" I yelled in a hushed tone. Max slowly sat up and looked at his clock.

"Really? I never even noticed." He stated.

"See you tomorrow." I whispered. I rushed over to his door and ran across the hall to my room.

I leaped into my bed and laid there wide eyed as I went over the day's events.

I would have stayed up longer if it weren't for the fact that I was completely exhausted.

A/n: I was supposed to make it longer, and update it earlier, but I died in school.