Cream Puffs and Courtship

Chapter 35- The News

The bakery was having a quiet morning. A fact that did not go unnoticed by its employees. Kennedy and Evie sat on the barstools in the kitchen while they snacked on the extra pastries that were sitting on the counter.

"So," Kennedy started, taking a bite out of a cannoli. "How's life?"

Evie smiled at her friend and bit into a sugar cookie. "Pretty good."

"Are you over seeing Devon with Princess Elianna?"

"There wasn't anything to get over!"

Kennedy rolled her eyes and gave Evie a look.

"Fine!" Evie said. "Maybe it was a little bit weird but it's fine. I mean we were never even dating so what would I be angry about?"

"I didn't say that you were angry. I'm just saying that maybe you might've been a little jealous?"

"Kennedy! I told you that I'm fine!"

Kennedy just took a bite of her cannoli and changed the subject.

"How's Ella doing?" She asked.

"She's good. She got a B on her math test so we had a little celebration dinner yesterday."

"That's really good!" Kennedy exclaimed. "Wasn't she having trouble in algebra?"

"Yeah," Evie said with a smile. "And I wasn't much help. It's times like this that I wish Dad was still around."

"Oh Evie," Kennedy sighed, getting up to hug her friend.

"But, hey, I mean she got the B, right?"

"Yes. And she should be proud.  You should be proud."

Evie nodded and smiled.

"Come on, we've been back here for an hour. We should probably go help Carla."

~

"I'm home Ella!" Evie called later that night, as she set her bags down. The house was oddly quiet as Evie took off her sunglasses and made her way towards the couch.

"El?" She called, getting worried when she didn't hear any response. "Ella! El where are you?"

Evie frantically made her way around the small apartment and searched in every room. She finally made her way to Ella's room and breathed out a sigh of relief when she saw a lump under the bed covers.

She made her way over to the mattress and sat down, placing a hand on Ella's back.

"Ella? What's wrong? Why didn't you answer me when I came in?"

Ella poked her face out of the covers and looked at her sister. Her eyes were slightly red and her face looked pale.

"I don't feel so good," She whispered.

"Yeah, I gathered that," Evie said looking at her sister with raised eyebrows. "You look like death Ella what's wrong?"

"My throat hurts, my nose is running, my eyes are itchy and I feel really cold."

Evie nodded. "Alright well, I want you to take one allergy pill and then you can go back to sleep alright? I'll bring you dinner in a few hours."

Ella nodded her head and slipped back under the covers while Evie left the room to find the medicine. When she reentered the room, Ella was already sitting up.

"Here," Eve said, handing her sister a pill and a glass of water. "I want you to take this and drink the whole glass of water ok?"

Ella nodded slowly and then swallowed the pill.

"Can I go to bed now?" She whispered.

"Yeah and don't worry about your homework, ok? You're not going to school tomorrow."

Ella was already asleep.

Evie walked out of the room and sent a quick text to Kennedy and Carla to tell them that she wouldn't be able to go into work tomorrow since Ella was staying home. Luckily, she didn't have any classes that she had to attend. She also sent an email to the school so that they could mark Ella's absence.

Then, she sat down on the couch and propped her feet up on the coffee table. For one, it wasn't covered in Ella's homework and school supplies. Ella had come home and thrown herself right into bed.

Evie flicked through the channels for a little bit, however, nothing could really hold her attention. Eventually, she settled on watching the news but almost turned it off when a picture of Devon came onto the screen.

The reporter was standing in front of a castle that Evie hadn't seen before. The gates were just as big as the Lexian Palace's were, however, there were many more guards. Just as Evie finished taking in the scenery, the reporter started talking.

"Hi, Phil. Yes, I am standing right in front of the Grandway Palace where Crowned Prince Devon has spent the week. His Royal Highness is accompanied by his mother, Queen Meredith, and his sister, Princess Valentina is scheduled to join him in just a few days! HRH has been visiting many charities that are organized in Grandway as well as appearing with the Royal Family of Grandway on several occasions."

The screen flashed back to the in-studio coverage where a man sat.

"Ahh yes, I've heard of the lovely Princess Elianna. Seems like the two have been extremely close these last few days haven't they?"

"Yes, Phil. It makes me wonder if Prince Devon has finally entered a relationship."

"Wasn't he spotted just a couple months ago with another woman?"

Evie felt her stomach do a flip as she was forced to remember her relationship with the prince. She was quickly jogged out of her memories when the screen changed to show pictures of Devon and Elianna. In almost all the pictures, Devon and Elianna had their arms intertwined. To most, Evie guessed that it would look like they were enjoying themselves. But, having spent a lot of time around the prince she noticed the way that his smile was strained and forced. Elianna kept glancing over at Devon and to some, it may have looked like she was checking him out. However, every time she looked at him, her arm twitched as if she wanted to get away.

"Yes that's correct Phil," The reporter said as the screen showed more pictures of the two along with a few pictures of Evie and Devon. "But Prince Devon has clarified that she was in fact not his girlfriend."

A/N- Hi guys! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! The next few chapters are pretty intense compared to these last few! I'm really excited about it.