(Copyright) © 2011 Candle_Ice
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[A/N: Pic of Sherry Miller at the side, as Karin van Hastening]
Chapter 2
[2 weeks later]
“Are you sure you’re up to this? Meeting this Leo guy?” Tatiana asked her as they made their way into the university’s main entrance.
“I guess. But it’s too late to back out now, he already e-mailed and said he was coming to this afternoon’s meeting,” Elise told her friend.
That morning when she woke, she saw that Leo had messaged her and told her that he planned on coming to the meeting the club would be having, today. And without thinking about it, Elise had just replied and said okay. That’s exactly what she said too, ‘Okay, cool’
“Yeah, it would be rude to tell him not to show up,” She agreed.
“Are you sure you can’t make the meeting?”
“Sorry, babe, I can’t. If I had known he’d choose today to come, I’d surely asked Dad to postpone our visit with Aunt Kay, but it’s like you said, it’s too late to back out now,” Tatiana sympathized, “But I’ll be there in spirit!” She laughed and mock punched Elise.
The two friends laughed as they continued their walk down the university’s corridor.
“Ah, the two best friends!” Garson said cheerfully as he came up to them.
“Hey Garson, what’s up?” Elise replied.
“Yeah, Garson, what’s up? You look mighty cheerful this morning,” Tatiana commented.
“I’m always cheerful,” Garson said, a little perplexed by Tatiana’s comment.
“Agreed, you are, but today, it just seems more somehow. Like if you won the lottery or something… You didn’t win the lottery, did you?” she teased.
“Heavens, no,” he laughed, “I’m just in a good mood, I guess it shows.”
“It does, it really does” Elise added, with a smile of her own.
“Garson, guess what? Our club’s cyber member is finally putting in an appearance,” Tatiana ‘oh-so-casually’ said.
Elise wasn’t even allowed the time to glare at her friend, before Garson responded to this new development.
“Really? That’s awesome. The points he gave us, via Elise of course, was worth a lot of thought, and was excellently put together,” Garson recalled, “it’s nice that he finally decides to join us.”
“Yes, very nice of him. Especially since he’ll be meeting all of us in person,” Tatiana agreed, emphasizing on the ‘us’, “Someone will have to introduce us to him, and vice versa, eh Elise?”
‘Stop it’ Elise mouthed to her. Everyone in the club knew of Leo, but they thought of him as the ‘Cyber Member’ of the club, who communicated some ideas and points through her. They didn’t know that he and Elise were a little more than e-pals who met in a chat room, and that she that whilst talking to him, she realised that she may like him. The only one privy to that knowledge is Tatiana. She knew her friend would never actually spill her secrets, but Tatiana did enjoy making her squirm a little.
“Too bad you’ll miss him. He won’t be meeting all of us, then, since you’ll not be there,” Garson said to Tatiana.
Elise coughed to hide the smile threatening to break free. From the look on her face, it was clear that Tatiana had forgotten for a moment she wasn’t going to be there.
After chatting for a while, the girls bid Garson goodbye and made their way to their first class room.
The morning was just starting out, classes hadn’t even started yet, and Elise was anxious for the afternoon to arrive, so the meeting could start, and Leo could show up. They should have held the meetings in the mornings early, instead of afternoons late, she thought ruefully as the long day stretched out before her.
***
By the time the meeting was about to commence, Elise was fluttering around the edges. They were already set up, and Garson was chatting with a few other people before he officially called the meeting to a start. And still no sign of Leo.
She wished Tatiana was there. She was good in a crisis. Not that this was a crisis or anything, but she really needed her best friend.
Almost as if some cosmic energy was floating around, Elise’s phone vibrated and she saw that her friend was calling. Thanking the heavens for Tatiana’s sixth sense, she answered the phone.
“I really wished you were here. I could use a pep talk,” she greeted her friend.
“I don’t need to be there for a pep talk,” Tatiana replied, “That’s why there are cell phones. And FYI, if the line just goes dead all of a sudden, it’s because my battery finally died, and I forgot my charger, but don’t worry, I’ll be back tomorrow before school starts.”
“Okie, cool. But less informing, more pep talking,” Elise chided.
“Okay, Okay. Umm, you’re a great girl. Powerful mind set. You are woman! Hear you roar! You can do this! No need to be nervous, you’re every woman, it’s all in… you?” Tatiana advised awkwardly.
“Seriously?” Elise asked, laughing, “That was your pep talk?”
“I’m sorry. It’s the phone. I’m no good at ‘pepping’ over the phone,” she said sheepishly.
“So you decided to rip off corny lines from old sayings?” she taunted, but was met with a dial tone, as Tatiana’s phone died.
Great! She was still wallowing in her friend’s advice when the meeting started, and just as Garson was about to make the first address, the door opened and in stepped- His Royal Highness, the Crown Prince.
Whoa! Talk about an unexpected visitor. Leo would get a kick out of this, she thought as she saw His Highness make his way further into the room.
He was as handsome in real life as he was in the pictures in the papers and online. His dark hair was straight and just a little rugged atop his head, while his hazel eyes just screamed dreamy and his smile was just a simple one, barely any teeth at all, but it something else. No wonder he was such a playboy, with looks like those and a title to match, girls must be clawing at each other to get at him.
That doesn’t mean he has to give into them. Elise tried to calm her dislike for the Crown Prince. She reminded herself that she didn’t know the guy personally and that tabloids were not a real good source for a character sketch.
“Your Highness,” Garson greeted, and bowed to him, as the others, including Elise, showed him respect also.
Getting up from her curtsy, Elise’s gaze went to his, and she saw that he was looking directly at her, and her heart began a rhythmic heavy beating to rival that of a rocker’s drum set.
“Has the palace taken an interest in our club’s cause? Is that why you have joined our meeting, Your Highness?” Garson asked again.
“The palace has always had an interest in your cause, my friend, and to answer your second question, I was invited.”
Invited? Invited by whom? Again his gaze travelled to Elise. Why is he staring at me? She wondered.
At everyone’s curious expression, he explained that Elise was the one who invited him.
“Oh! So His Highness is your friend? The one you were gushing about?” Liza, a member of the club asked her.
Elise was pole axed. No, it couldn’t be. NO!
‘prince_charming01’ is her e-pal. Leo is his name. Leo is short for Leonidas. Leonidas is His Royal Highness, the Crown Prince of Elyria.
“You were gushing about me, sweetheart?” The Crown Prince asked her as he made his way to stand next to her.
Elise didn’t remember gushing. She simply told them earlier that her friend, the so deemed ‘cyber-member’ was attending this afternoon’s meeting. This was nothing remotely resembling ‘gushing’ about that.
Looking around the room, Elise forced a smile on her face. There was no need to look like a fool in front of her friends.
“Yes, I wanted it to be a surprise,” she replied tightly, shooting His Highness a cold look, still trying to piece it together.
‘prince_charming01’ in cyber world is Prince Charming in real life! Yeah, right. More like Prince Choking, as she felt like strangling him right now.
Why the need to chat with her? What was his aim? Is he really Leo? She liked Leo; does that mean she liked him? All these thoughts and more swam around her head, as she processed one fact: The Crown Prince was her e-pal. The same Crown prince who she bad talked and expressed some very strong opinions about, was the same guy she talked to. Oh Boy!
She needed to talk to Tatiana, but her friend was unreachable until tomorrow, so she might as well just concentrate on the meeting. But try as she might she couldn’t keep her focus on anything Garson or anyone else said. The fact that Prince Choking was playing with her hand and hair wasn’t exactly helping the situation either.
Oh, Elise seriously disliked him! He was so calm, whilst she was in turmoil. He chatted away with everyone, offering input and suggestions. Everyone was smiling and interacting with him as if nothing was amiss, in complete contrast to her internal feelings. She had to get out of there.
Finally the meeting ended, and he turned to her, “I’ll give you a ride home and we can talk then. Meet you out front.”
With that he excused himself and left the room, all the while Elise was contemplating how her father could get her off a murder charge if she killed the Crown Prince.
But that thought was pushed aside as everyone crowded around her and started piling on the questions. Oh, yes, she seriously disliked the Crown Prince!
***
WHO THE HELL DOES HE THINK HE IS? King? ... Oh, right... He's future king, but still!
Elise rushed into her room and slammed the door. Tears of frustration burned in her eyes. She lay on her bed and tried to will away the tears. The crown prince of Elyria was one arrogant son of a -
"Ellie? Sweetie, is everything okay?" Her mother asked as she peeped in from the door way.
"No, mom, everything is not okay." Elise said as the tears finally burst free.
"Oh honey," Her mother said as she crossed over to her and gather her into her arms, "What happened?"
"'prince_charming01' happened."
"Umm, should I know what that means? Is it something the all the cool moms know about?" her Mom jested.
Smiling a little, "No Mom, 'prince_charming01' is the screen name of the guy I was talking to for the past 2 months. Remember, I told you about a guy who understood my reason for being so proactive in getting youths involved in their role in the future?"
Seeing her mother nod, Elise continued, "Well I felt it was time he became an active member of the campaign at the University, and I kind of wanted to meet him in person, so I invited him to a meeting. I told everyone about him, you know, I praised him and got everyone in the committee excited to meet him--"
"Oh no, and he didn't show up? Now your friends think you made him up. Oh, sweetie, that's horrible, let's trash his facebook wall."
Elise had to laugh at that. Her mom was the editor of a popular local magazine, so she was more up to speed with teen trends than most moms.
"No, mom, he showed up alright--"
"And he was a middle aged pervert? ... I'll call 911! No worries Ellie belle, your daddy and I will handle this. You're just an innocent victim here." Elise grabbed her mom's hand as she made to get up and leave the room.
"Mom," Elise laughed, "Listen. No he wasn't a middle aged pervert. But compared to who he really was, I wished he was a middle aged pervert."
Sitting back on the bed, her mom gave her a perplexed look, "Alright, belle, why don't you tell me the whole story, so I can better understand."
"Well I was trying, but you keep interrupting."
"Okay, no more interruptions," Elise's mom zipped her mouth and listened to her daughter.
"He showed up, and he was none other than His Royal Highness, the Crown Prince Leonidas Erland De Van Wells. No wait!" Elise stopped her mother when she was about to say something, "He came in and Garson, thought that the Royal family had finally took an interest in the university's youth group. He was welcomed by everyone and I was a little shell shocked, waiting for Leo to show up and the real prince shows up. I thought when my Leo shows, we’d get a real laugh out of this. But then Prince Choking said that I invited him! I was stunned, thinking he lost his mind. Then Liza pieced it together for me, saying, so he's the guy I was gushing about. And he had the nerve to come up to me and said, 'you were gushing about me sweetheart?' I was so embarrassed. But instead of looking foolish, I pretended I knew it was him all along and wanted to surprise them. Oh and he sat next to me and was playing with my hair, holding my hands, you know, playful things couples do. Couples!"
Elise took a breather before continuing. SHe realised she was sounding like a whiny thirteen year old, but she couldn't help it. "Afterwards, when the meeting was over, he excused himself and said he'll be waiting on me in his limo and that he'll give me a ride home. Everyone came up to me when he hit the door: 'omigosh! you're dating the prince!' 'he's your mystery man?' 'are you two getting married?' I had to get away. I just smiled and not say a word and rushed out of there."
"Can I talk now?" Her mother asked.
"Yes, of course" she answered.
"So... What did you do? What did he say? Is he as handsome in person as from a far, you know, nice from far but far from nice?" Karin Van Hastening asked, sounding more excited than ever.
"Mom, I didn't talk to him. I used the teacher's exit to the parking lot, found my car and high tailed it home. He probably wants to lock me up after all the horrible things I said about him."
"Oh sweetie, he wouldn't come personally to arrest you, he has people for that." her mom said.
Fear suddenly gripped Elise, "Mom, he can't really arrest me for the things I said right; I mean they were mean, but I didn't know it was him. I was kidding when I said he wanted to send me to jail! What if I provoked him more by ditching him--"
"Calm down. He can't arrest you for what you said. If he did he would have to arrest almost every single journalist or bloggers, because everyone has said something bad about his life style. Besides, your daddy can get you off, even if he did," her mother winked.
Laughing, Elise hugged her mom. "Do you think he's mad about me leaving him at the university?"
Before her mom could answer, Jared, her youngest brother barged in her room.
"Jared... What have I told you about knocking?" Elise mockingly glared.
"Sorry! But I forgot in my excitement to tell you," He practically bounced up and down.
"Tell me what?"
"The Crown Prince is in the living room asking for you."