The Princess Divide

One

'I hope so.'

They got to the library's double doors. Elle hurried in and Caroline paused to let her dad catch up with her.

'She's nervous then,' Eddie said.

'Yeah. She's probably going to be fine though.'

They made their way through the tall, wooden bookshelves to where the queue of people whose last names began with 'W' was. There were a few eastern european girls there and they were quickly seen too and they equally quickly got out of the way of the King and Heir Apparent's protection detail.

'Morning,' Eddie said to the lady who was giving the results out and shook her hand.

She was Caroine's form tutor, Miss Al Anwaar. She curtsied. 'Your Majesty. Miss Windsor, I hope you're well.'

'Yeah, fine. You?'

'Yes, here you go, last one for me.'

Caroline took the envelope from her tutor and opened it. Eddie waited and watched in anticipation. His daughter's eyes swept over the page and lit up. Her lips pulled into a wide smile.

'I got three A stars,' she said. 'And the same for biology.'

'Caroline, that's amazing!' Eddie said and hugged her. 'Well done.'

She hugged him tightly and laughed. All the hard work, all the effort she'd put into studying and revising had paid off. And even though she hadn't been worried about what grades she'd get, she was excited at how good the results were.

'Thanks for all your help,' she said.

He kissed her head. 'I'm so proud of you.'

'Can we get milkshakes?'

'Sure.'

They let go of each other and Caroline turned to Miss Al Anwaar.

'Congratulations, Miss Windsor. Really well done.'

'Thank you. And thank you for keeping me sane at the end there.'

Miss Al Anwaar smiled. 'I'm well practiced at it, it was no problem.'

'Thank you.'

Eddie shook her hand and he and Caroline turned to leave the library. Near the doors, the headmistress, Mrs Stanton, came over to them. Her eyes were bright and she smiled.

'Your Majesty,' she curtsied. 'Miss Windsor, how did you do?'

'Straight A stars.'

'Oh, wow, that's amazing! Congratulations!'

'Thank you.'

'How are you going to celebrate?'

'Milkshakes. That is literally all I want right now.'

'Well, you know where McDonald's is.'

'That's where we're off to now.'

'After photos,' Eddie said.

'Oh, yeah.'

The palace photographer had arrived earlier and had set up a time for the photos to be taken. He gathered everyone now and took them all to the entrance hall where the school's crest hung on the wall. Various photos were taken, nearly all with certificates and it allowed Caroline to thank all her teachers. Eddie shook all their hands and when they were about to leave, they all heard an excited 'Caroline!'

It was Elle. She ran towards Caroline and hugged her.

'I got an A,' she said.

'Told you. Off to St. Andrew's then?'