The Low-Class Prince Charming

Chapter 13

"This weather is ridiculous," Mason sighed as he looked out at the rain once again falling out of the heavens. It had stopped and started probably a dozen times already today, and had started again just as the bell for the end of the school day rang.

His new friend, Rhys, chuckled beside him as he followed Mason's line of sight. "That's England for you; the weather can never make up its mind."

Mason frowned as he thought about the umbrella in his bag. "Is it always this bad? I thought it looked bleak when I left the house, but I've never seen such inconsistent rain."

Rhys shrugged his shoulders. "I guess it is always this bad. But it is November now, so the weather will start to get more unsettled too."

"And I guess if it's like this, you just keep the umbrella up even when it stops raining?" Mason asked, turning to look at Rhys with eyebrows raised.

Rhys grinned. "That's right. It does look a bit silly when everyone's running around with an umbrella even though it's not raining in that moment. You have got an umbrella with you?" Mason nodded in response to Rhys's question. "Shall we head home then?"

Mason looked around for Sky then to ask if maybe they could walk back together, but realised she must have already left when his eyes couldn't locate her. He realised she must have already left with her friend when his eyes couldn't find Lily either; he turned back to Rhys and Mason nodded again. "Sure, let's go."

The rain had already stopped again by the time they reached the exit of the school building, but just to prepare in case of another downpour they already took their umbrellas out and carried them in their hands before they started their walk back home.

Indeed, they had only been walking a few minutes when another heavy downpour started and they both laughed as they put up their umbrellas and continued to chat on their way home.

It was five minutes later when Mason spotted a familiar red head of hair at a sheltered bus stop on a side street they walked past. As he looked over, he noticed that her hair was darker than usual because it was wet and she was hunched over; he was almost surprised to see how small Sky could look. Had she forgotten to take an umbrella?

"Ah," Mason said, coming to a sudden stop.

Rhys stopped beside him and shot him a curious look. "Everything alright?"

"Yeah... I just realised I forgot something at school. Go on ahead without me, I'll see you tomorrow," Mason grinned apologetically at Rhys. He couldn't help but feel like his grin looked fake but Rhys seemed to fall for it.

"Sure. See you tomorrow."

Mason made a point to walk back in the direction of the school, periodically checking over his shoulder to see whether Rhys was out of sight. As soon as he was, he started walking back in the same direction he'd just come from before turning down the side street and making his way over to Sky, who was sitting with her head facing down. She looked up at him in surprise when his shoes appeared in her sight and took out her earphones when she saw it was him.

"Did you forget to bring an umbrella?" he asked before she could say anything.

Sky shook her head slowly. "I looked for my umbrella but it was already gone," she said as her eyes moved up to look pointedly at the umbrella he was holding in his hand through her wet strands of hair.

He blinked dumbly at her, realising what she meant. "Oh... I just grabbed the first umbrella from the umbrella holder on my wait out of the door. I had no idea you had an umbrella just for you. I'm sorry." Now that he realised it, he noticed that the umbrella was the one with the unique pattern that she'd thrown around the other night after her mother appeared.