"Your highness?" A voice called through the door.
"Come in!" Clara quickly finished off writing a letter.
A servant came in followed by AJ and Kaylin.
"Lady Kaylin Enjolras and mademoiselle AJ Richardson to see you, your highness." The servant announced.
"Thank you Colin," Clara nodded.
The servant bowed and left, closing the room after her.
"Guess what?!" AJ grinned, making herself comfortable on the sofa.
"You finally told Courfeyrac you like him?" Clara guessed, grinning teasingly.
AJ blushed.
"Nope! She hasn't, don't know why though... I mean, she's had a crush on Courf ever since she set eyes on him which was around, four or five years ago." Kaylin said.
"Anyway," AJ interjected, changing the subject, "My family are holding a ball, and you're all invited!"
"When is it?" Clara asked.
"Tomorrow!" AJ said.
"Tomorrow?! But I don't have anything to wear!" Clara protested.
AJ and Kaylin looked at her.
"Clara, you're the Princess of France, you have a lot of gowns that you can wear," Kaylin rolled her eyes before grabbing the said girl's hand dragging her to the walk in wardrobe.
Flinging the doors wide open, Kaylin's jaw dropped. AJ gasped as she peered over her shoulder.
"What do you mean you have nothing to wear? You've got gowns in all styles and in all the colours under the sun!" AJ exclaimed.
"Fine, I may have exaggerated a little bit, but let's rephrase," Clara walked into her wardrobe with the other two trailing behind her, "I don't know what to wear."
"Red? It would certainly catch Enjolras' eyes," Kaylin teased, grinning.
Clara shot her a look.
"What is it with you trying to set me up with your brother?" Clara exclaimed, exasperated.
"You may not notice it, or know, but you have done something to Enjolras, even it is just getting him to say even a word to you!" Kaylin said.
"I know, I've heard the story millions of times," Clara sighed, "He doesn't talk to girls or takes any notice of them, but somehow, I intrigue him enough that he'll have a civil conversation with me."
"How about this gown?" AJ pulled out a gown and showed it to her friend.
"Too fancy, I don't want to be over-dressed," Clara said, "and then again, I don't want to be to underdress or else my mother will not be happy."
"Right, how about we choose a colour first? To narrow it down a little bit," AJ suggested, putting the gown back.
"Well, I can't wear white, that's more for weddings and Christmas. Blue, I already wore that for my birthday. I wore a green gown to the ball at the Enjolras Estate. Red is out of the question," Clara started listing off colours before she got interrupted.
"And why is red out of the question?" Kaylin asked, grinning.
"I'm planning on wearing red for the Christmas ball my father is hosting this year," Clara explained, "Adélaïde is going to be wearing green and my mother is thinking of wearing a silver or pale blue gown."
"Alright, a good enough excuse," AJ nodded, "I'm sure Enjolras will be looking forward to that ball when he hears what colour you're wearing!" She burst into giggles.
"AJ!" Clara turned to give her friend a look, For the last time, there is nothing going on between me and Enjolras! We're just... working together on this revolution of his."
"Right," Kaylin smirked.
"Anyway, back to choosing colours," Clara ignored the looks her friends wore on their faces, "Black is for serious occasions and funerals, silver and gold are to fancy, pink is an option, and so is lilac and purple."
"How about pink? I haven't seen you in that colour in a long time," AJ suggested, walking over to where the pink gowns were stored.
"Pink it is!" Kaylin announced, joining AJ to look through the gowns.
"I'm going to let you two pick, since you know what kind of ball this is going to be," Clara said, sitting down on a nearby lounger.
"Where's you're jewellery? I'll pick those out as well," Kaylin said.
"Oh! They're just over here," Clara rose to her feet and led Kaylin over to drawers, cases and boxes filled with jewellery.
"Wow, this is a lot!" Kaylin stood taking it all in.
"I know, birthday presents, Christmas presents, and goodness knows what other kind of presents over the years. This one," Clara pulled out a bracelet, "was from a prince in England when he came over to visit on time to further his education with my father, he was actually quite nice. Very polite, but also very fun."
"What happened?" Kaylin asked.
"He and I sneaked out of a ball once with both my brothers and went up onto the palace roof," Clara laughed.
"And what about - oh... Oh wow! This is so pretty! Who is this from?" Kaylin gently pulled out a simple necklace.
It was a pink gem in the shape of teardrop or a pear, about an inch long, and it was surrounded by tiny little diamonds. It hung from more diamonds in the shape of teardrops and circles.
Clara went quiet at the sight of the necklace.
Memories from years ago when she was 4 came flooding back.
Running. Running. Running.
Her surroundings were blurred as the tears filled her eyes. She hadn't even noticed that it was pouring down in rain.
To say she was lost and scared was an understatement.
Today was supposed to be a happy event. But instead, here she was running to goodness knows where, in the dark streets of Paris.
She turned a corner and ran headlong into someone with full force, but she was knocked backwards.
"Well, well, well. What do we have 'ere?" A voice that sent chills down her spine said.
A woman towered over her, her hair sticking up on ends all over the place, as if she had tried to put her hair up, but failed and didn't bother to comb it down again. In the dim light that was available, she could see that half the woman's teeth were black and yellow and the others weren't even there at all. The woman was dressed in rags and the stench reached her nose that she nearly gagged.
"A little girl, lost me see," The woman continued to say, "Oh look 'ere! The pretty little girl is dressed up fancy. Belong to a noble family, now do ya? Can fetch a pretty penny you can. You're coming with me!" The woman bent down and yanked her up on her feet and started to drag her away.
"Let me go! Let me go!" She struggled against the woman's iron grip.
"No can do, little girl, you'll fetch a pretty penny when your family realises you're gone, they'll pay me a lot for finding you," The woman cackled.
"Let me go! She demanded again.
Having had enough, the woman rounded on her and gave her a slap right across her cheek. Startled, and never being hit before, she fell back, landing in a mud puddle.
"You will come with me!" The woman screamed, bending down to grab her again.
But before she could, another voice spoke up.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," It said calmly.
"Go before we get the police!" Another voice demanded in a commanding tone.
The woman screeched before running off, mumbling under her breath.
Someone kneeled down next to her.
She was still shaking, both from the experience and the cold.
"Hey, you're okay, don't worry. Are you hurt?" The voice, which was commanding before, now held a comforting and soft tone.
She turned her face to look at her rescuer.
It was two boys around her age.
"I-I'm fine. Just cold," She replied quietly.
"Come on, let's get out of here, it's not safe out here at night," One of them said, helping her up to her feet.
"Where we going?" She asked, clutching to one of them, as if her life depended on it.
"We're going to the nearest police station so that we can find your parents," The other one replied.
"Is that alright?" The first one asked.
She nodded, and allowed them to lead her away.
She trusted them. And right now, they were her only hope and her way home, even if they were strangers.
Reaching the police station, two police officers came running.
One of the boys immediately took control and started to tell them what happened, while another police officer came and gave her and the other boy towels and blankets and led them to the fireplace to warm up.
"Thank you, for saving me," She smiled at the boy sitting next to her.
"You're welcome, it's the least we could do," He replied.
"Your brother?" She asked, nodding to the other boy.
"Yeah, my older brother," The boy nodded.
"What's your name?" She looked at him as she sipped the hot drink the officer had just handed the both of them.
"I'm Hugo, and that's Felix," He introduced.
"I'm Clara," She smiled.
"You look pretty in pink," Hugo said, nodding at her gown, even though it was muddy and wet.
Clara smiled.
"It was a... present from someone who I owe my life to," Clara finally managed to answer, still looking at the necklace in her friend's hand.
After the boys' parents arrived to take them both away and her own parents took her away, she never saw the boys again.
The last time she ever heard from them, was a few days later when a police officer arrived at the palace with a present for her. When she opened it, it was a necklace and a note that said,
'Hope you got home safely to your family. We decided to give you a present. we left it at the same police station so that they could deliver it to you somehow. Hope you like it,'
- Felix and Hugo
"It looks really nice," Kaylin said, "You should wear it. You didn't want anything fancy anyway, so this is perfect! Plus it's pink!"
Clara slowly nodded, emotions still swirling in her mind.
"Are you alright? You seem a bit off," Kaylin look concerned.
"I'm good," Clara took in a deep breath, "just remembering some things from the past. But anyway, where were we?" She shook her head and smiled, fully getting into getting ready for the ball tomorrow.
~⚜~
"Mademoiselle Clara!" A voice exclaimed.
A small figure barrelled into the arms of the said lady.
"Why! Monsieur Gavroche, don't you look dashing tonight! A proper gentleman," Clara bent down to his height, giving him a smile.
"Thank yous, mademoiselle!" Gavroche beamed, before racing off to his next target, which was Courfeyrac.
"Look who's looking at you," AJ whispered, nudging her.
Clara straightened up and looked towards where AJ was gesturing to.
Enjolras stood with Combeferre and Courfeyrac, who now had Gavroche on his shoulders, by the champagne table. And further more, Enjolras was looking at her. But there was something odd about the way he was looking. It wasn't critical, it wasn't a scowl, or a frown either. Instead, it was pure confusion, as if he was seeing someone he hadn't seen in a long time and he didn't recognise them.
"There you two are! I've been looking all over for you," Kaylin appeared out of the blue, AJ's younger sister Nikki in tow.
"Bonjour Clara! Nice to see you again," Nikki said, doing a little curtsy.
"Bonjour! How are you? It seems like a long time since we've last seen each other," Clara pulled the girl into a small hug.
"I'm fine thank you! Oh here they come," Nikki nodded to the boys who were walking towards them, Grantaire having a glass in one hand and a bottle of wine in the other.
"The king of wine has arrived! No need to bow!" Grantaire grinned, taking a swig from the bottle instead of using the glass.
Everyone burst into laughter except for Enjolras, who was now looking at Clara with a scowl, before realisation crossed his eyes.
"I'll take my leave, I need to do something," Enjolras muttered, before disappearing into the crowd.
"What's wrong with the 'marble man'?" Nikki asked, looking confused.
Kaylin sighed. "You know, I've pretty much stopped asking myself that question. I have no idea," She said.
"So AJ, you and Courfeyrac together yet?" Nikki suddenly said, out of the blue.
"Nikki!" AJ blushed a dark pink and decided that the floor was more interesting than anything else at the moment.
Everyone else was deadly silent.
"Oops, sorry. I didn't realise or know that it was supposed to be a secret," Nikki bit her lip, looking a bit embarrassed that she just exposed her sister.
"AJ?" Courfeyrac ventured to say.
AJ refused to meet his eyes.
Clara looked back and forth, contemplating on what to do.
"I have half a mind to lock those two up in a room somewhere for the next couple of hours to see what happens. It's about time something happened," Kaylin whispered to Clara.
"I agree," Clara nodded, still not taking her eyes off AJ and Courfeyrac.
"AJ -" Courfeyrac tried again, but instead, AJ ran off, refusing to lift her head up.
"AJ! I'm sorry, wait!" Nikki was about to go after her sister when Clara stopped her.
"Let someone else go," Clara said, looking pointedly at Courfeyrac, who immediately nodded and rushed off in the same direction that AJ disappeared to.
Courfeyrac finally found AJ sitting on a stone bench in front of a fountain in the garden.
"AJ," Courfeyrac said, approaching her.
"Don't, I've embarrassed myself enough tonight already," AJ mumbled, turning her head away from him so that he couldn't see her face.
Courfeyrac was silent for a minute before he smiled. "You know," He started, sitting down beside her, "you look cute when you're embarrassed."
AJ's head snapped towards him, nearly giving herself a whiplash.
Courfeyrac smiled goofily at her. "At least I got your attention!" He chuckled.
"This is so messed up!" AJ groaned, dropping her head into her hands.
"May I ask in what way?" Courfeyrac raised an eyebrow.
"Do you think I planned for my sister to suddenly expose me in front of all my friends and you? This is the most embarrassing day of my life! That and I'm terrified," AJ said.
"Terrified? Of what? Me?" Courfeyrac looked confused.
"No it's just that, I was scared of telling you, your reaction and the aftermath." AJ explained.
She sighed. "I was afraid," She started singing, "afraid to look forward. Afraid that I'd miss the things that I love. And when you're afraid, things get disordered, and so I missed a thing that I loved."
Courfeyrac just watched her as she got up leaned over the fountain.
"I came to see that it's not all roses, but that doesn't mean that there aren't roses there," AJ sang, "suppose what I mean is you are the roses, and I can see you, and I care."
Courfeyrac stood up and walked towards her, hands in his pockets.
"I felt a million things when I first met you," AJ turned towards him, "I felt a million things when I let you go."
Courfeyrac immediately remembered the times he had asked AJ to dance or when he offered to walk her home, but she had rejected and run off.
"I swear in a million years I couldn't forget you," AJ looked at her reflection in the water, "I have a million things that I want you to know. A million things..."
AJ turned away from him and was about to walk away.
"Start with the first, I'm here to listen to each of the million things you have to say," Courfeyrac pulled her towards him and lifted her face up to look at her eyes with a mischievous glint. "And though you're the worst, it was me you were missing, I'm glad that you finally see it that way. But all jokes aside, you had me worried, that I couldn't give you the things that you need."
AJ's eyes were wide, her heart pounding loudly in her chest.
"I really tried not to make you feel hurried, and thankfully now it's seems you're agreed," Courfeyrac smiled softly, before he continued singing, "I felt a million things when I first met you. I felt a million things when you let me go. I swear in a million years I couldn't forget you. I'm here for the million things that you want me to know. A million things."
Courfeyrac leaned down and kissed her forehead softly.
"Looking at you, and learning what love is, I can't help but think there's so much to be lost," AJ sang.
"Don't think about what could be lost," Courfeyrac grasped her hands.
"We could forever be perfect young lovers, if things fall apart, is our love worth the cost?" AJ looked down at the ground.
Using one hand, Courfeyrac gently lifted her head up again. "I'd still feel a million things just to have met you. I'd know most of the million things that you want to say."
"I have so much to say!" AJ sang.
"So let's share a million memories," Courfeyrac smiled, "Let's take a chance and let our feelings grow," They both sang together, "I promise that I'll spend every moment just letting you know..."
"That you mean a million things," AJ sang softly.
"I feel a million things," Courfeyrac sang, equally as soft.
"Let's make a million things..." They both sang, before their lips collided.
~⚜~
Clara wondered around the ballroom, champagne in hand, trying to avoid the noblemen, who were twice her age, that wanted to ask her to dance and to eventually ask to court her. And the last thing she wanted right now was to be caught up in all that stuffy nonsense. She wanted to join one evening without coming across a lord or duke who made her want to run off and throw up.
Without realising it, she had left the ballroom and now wondered the corridors, looking up at the portraits that hung on the walls.
She saw AJ and her siblings in some of them, as well as AJ's parents. AJ's father was in the National Guard, very high up in the ranks.
Key-word, was.
He died in action a few years back, leaving behind a widow and four children. The two eldest already left home, one was a soldier based far away from Paris, the other a nurse in a hospital in Lyons. Because of her husband's work in the National Guard, and because AJ and Clara were best friends, the king always helped and provided for the family, hence the reason why the Richardson's were like upper class nobles.
"Seems like I'm not the only one trying to evade suitors," A voice behind her made her jump.
She turned to find Enjolras leaning against the frame of a door, wine glass in hand.
"Let me guess, you've just run away from girls who were yapping on and on about dresses and hair ribbons. Correct?" Clara teased, raising one eyebrow.
Enjolras nodded slowly, "I do believe you are correct, your highness," He smirked.
"You know, I hardly ever see you not scowling, so when you do smirk, it's quite startling, your grace," Clara mocked back, knowing how they both hated being called by their titles.
"I'm sure I saw her highness coming this way. She can't have gotten far, she promised me a dance." A voice spoke up nearby.
"You mean she promised me a dance!" Another voice spoke.
The two voices immediately started arguing.
Enjolras' eyes widened and he grabbed Clara by the arm and dragged her into the nearest room.
Quietly shutting the door, he placed a hand over her mouth. The both of them barely breathed as the two men walked past the door, still arguing over who got to ask Clara to dance, as if she were a prize that everyone wanted.
"Can, can we have the lamps on please?" Clara whispered, clutching at his jacket with her hand.
"Are... are you afraid of the dark?" Enjolras asked quietly, after a minute of stunned silence.
"A little bit," Clara confessed.
"Wait here," Enjolras instructed, before he cautiously felt his way around the room.
After a few minutes, he managed to lit up a couple of lamps and started a fire in the fireplace.
It was then that Clara realised that they were in a library. It wasn't a very big one, but it was big enough.
Enjolras plucked a random book of the shelves and proceeded to read it and ignore Clara.
Clara, knowing when to stay quiet around this man, went to the furthest corner she could find and pretend to be looking through the books.
"That necklace must be very important you," Enjolras suddenly spoke up.
Startled, Clara spun to look at him.
He was still looking down at the book in his hand, only looking up briefly to glance at her.
"H-how do you know that?" Clara demanded to know.
"You've been clutching it now and then ever since you set foot in the ballroom, and you were clutching it again while you were wondering around the hallways. May I remind you, Princess Clara, that nothing escapes my notice," Enjolras finally looked up properly, putting the book down.
Clara was quiet for a moment.
She opened her mouth to explain when the library doors burst open and all their friends came in laughing at the fact that they managed to escape from the ball.
Kaylin stopped short, however, when she noticed her brother and Clara already there.
"Um, did we interrupt something?" She asked.
Clara looked nervously at Enjolras who looked unperturbed.
'This is going to be a long night,' Clara thought, sighing as all their friends stared first at one, then the other.
~|~*~|~⚜~|~*~|~
Here's chapter 13!!!! The song is 'A Million Things' by Caroline Kay ft. Fra Free.
I felt it was perfect!!!! WifeofCourfeyrac hope you liked it!!!
And I'm so sorry I haven't updated in such a long time!!!! I promise I'll try to get on with the next chapter!!! Cause trust me, next chapter escalates a LOT!!!!!
Hope you all enjoyed this chapter!!! And I'll see you all in the next chapter!!!!
Claire xxx