The Royal Scandal (editing)

Chapter 3 (edited)

Chapter 3 [Royal Ass]

The first time that I entered the school’s castle-like building was to retrieve my old bike stolen by the country’s crown prince. As I followed Ryui to ‘his majesty lounge’, I couldn’t help but feel all giddy and excited at the prospect of seeing the prince again.

I was after all still a sixteen year old teenage girl and I was on my way to meet a real life prince – who happened to be a cute one at that – so sue me. I couldn’t help but fantasize already; how the prince would be sorry for stealing my bike for whatever reason that had propelled him to do so. Perhaps he would, in order to correct his mistakes, invite me to some fabulous ball hosted at the palace… That would be a dream.

“Fantasizing already, are we?” Ryui teasing remark halted my day dreaming. I smiled sheepishly at him, caught red handed.

“I’m sixteen and on my way to meet the prince!” I exclaimed and before Ryui could laugh out loud, I remembered something important, along the lines of life and death kind of importance. I shrieked and that made Ryui jerk.

“What? What’s wrong?” he asked and I looked at him with horror reflected in my eyes.

“How’s my hair? Do I look okay?” I shrieked, fingers frantically fixing my hair that had been pulled into a tight bun. I had always worn my hair like that, a force of habit. I liked my hair to be neat all the time ever since I was little. I used to fuss about it so much so that my mom proposed that I should wear it up in a bun, that way it would never be messy. 

But all the compulsive need for neatness stopped there. Except for my hair issue, I was, and always would be, a total mess. I only ironed my uniform because it was punishable in school to show up in a wrinkled one and kept my room ‘liveable’ because I was afraid of reptiles and mammal infestation. And I made my bed every morning just to avoid my mum’s nagging.

Ryui barked a laugh and I stood there transfixed, looking up at him and watching his eyes sparkle as he guffawed. I should be nervous around him too, I noted. This guy, Ryui, was as good looking as the prince.

“You look fine, not a hair out of place.” He said finally after his laughter ceased. We resumed walking. As I tried to contain my girlish giddiness, I let my eyes roam, checking out the place now that I was in the school building.

It looked amazing though nothing like I had initially imagined. It was so much more fitting to the very definition of elite. No wonder the tuition for the school cost more than my entire life savings, per semester. It was really a castle with turrets, stained glass windows and flags on the outside with grey stone walls, looking very medieval in its entire splendor. However in the inside, though the architecture and some of its littering furniture and statues that decorated the hallways portrayed the olden century charm, the rest of the place was surprisingly modern.

My eyes were hungry and devouring everything – even the most mundane detail, excited and ready to be immersed in my new school.  The hallway that Ryui and I trotted on was surprisingly bright and open, punctured by foot to ceiling arches that led to an open square space. It was like an indoor garden with a couple of shady old looking trees and benches while green grass carpeted the whole area. There were beds of white roses planted at the edge of the bordering building, making the courtyard look like it was a square with white trimmings.

It was magnificent. Looking at the place from the outside, one would think it was such a gothic place, overbearing with its old walls but inside it was surprisingly open, bright and modern. I loved this school already. 

“This is so cool.” I muttered to myself and caught Ryui’s attention.

“What’s cool?” he asked. I sighed dramatically which caused a smile to tug at the corners of Ryui’s lips.

“This!” I exclaimed. “This school is so awesome!” And at that Ryui nodded in agreement. “Look at the statue!” I said, pointing toward a white washed statue of a knight brandishing his sword as we walked pass.  

Ryui smiled even more brightly. “You’re easily distracted as well, aren’t you?” I blinked and widened my eyes but I nodded anyway.

“I am.”

“You were excited to meet the prince a second ago before you started to embrace the school’s architecture.” He said and I blushed.

“I’m still excited to get my bike back but you cannot but be impressed with all of this!” I said, still looking around.

“I know, I used to go to school here.” At this, I took my eyes off the school walls and expensive looking draperies to look at Ryui who already had an amusing eye on me.

“You used to go here?” he nodded. 

“Apart from the impressive looking walls, this school also has the best art teacher and facilities in the country.” I nodded fervently.

“I know, I did a bit of a research before coming here. What did you study here? Fine arts? Fine metal? Film? Photography? Fashion? Music? Dance?” I was shooting out questions and had completely lost track of where we were heading. It was a good thing that Ryui was steering me with one hand and gripping my arm. 

He smiled and before I knew it, we’d halted. “That question will be answered later. Now we are going to meet his majesty.” He said, one free hand pointing toward a door which at either side was flanked with two men, dressed exactly like Ryui; black suit and dark aviator sunglasses.

“Welcome to His Majesty lounge or otherwise fondly referred to as The Hole.” Did he say the hole? Interesting choice for a name but what did I know of the prince eccentricity? He even stole my rusty old bike for crying out loud.

Ryui motioned me to the door as he had let go of my arm. The two men guarding the door nodded to Ryui and opened the door for the both of us.

The creak of the door revealed the room and as the door widened, I gasped, having the wind knocked out of me.

As I entered the room, my eyes quickly darted over the bar that stood at the corner, fully stacked with beverages of all sorts. The room was bright like the rest of the school building with tall arching windows and the morning sun streaming in. The lounge also hosted some comfortable looking chairs and tables, a pool table, a humongous plasma TV that hung on the wall, a laptop sitting on a chrome and glass table and a tall chrome and glass bookshelf.

“Curtsey.” Snapped an annoyed voice and I looked over to the tall, bored- looking boy that sat at the bar. 

“What?” On autopilot I questioned, unable to catch my tongue.

“Who is this?” The boy who I now realized to be no other but the crown prince himself, the one who had taken the liberty to take my bike from me, addressed Ryui who walked over to him. Ryui walked over and gestured for me to sit on one of the plush-looking chairs. I obeyed and said nothing. Ryui took a seat next to me.

“She’s the one whom you took the bike from.’ Said Ryui, quite casually. The prince rolled his eyes and got on his feet, abandoning a bubbly drink that I suspected to be champagne.

Underage drinking much?

“So,” the prince added as he edged near with his hands in his pocket. “That bike is yours?”

I nodded. Did the prince suffer from short term memory loss or something? He did after all pose to me the very same question before he had grabbed my bike.

“I think I’d broken the thing in half when I tossed it on the ground.” He then spun on his feet to get back to his drink and, without fail, added, “That thing should’ve been sent to the junkyard light years ago, stupid worthless piece of junk!” He then addressed Ryui. “Why did you bring her here while you could have helped me chase after Cloud?!” he exclaimed.

But I was preoccupied at the insult he had just carelessly thrown my way. What did he say, ‘piece of junk’?

Overly compulsive and irrational as I was, I quickly grabbed the stunned prince by his arm, which caused him to spin around, and without so much as a second of hesitation, I delivered the justly earned, royal slap to the face of the shocked crown prince.

In the end, I thought, I didn’t like the prince very much.

What a royal ass.