The supermarket was much less scary once Ellie realized they spent most of their time slowly gliding down dozens of near empty aisles, and anyone they did come across on their journey was polite and kind, allowing them to shop just like normal people. Some were too busy to even notice them, and even though Ellie enjoyed this feeling, not being instantly recognized was still a very strange experience indeed.
She still didn't feel like she could ease up and fully enjoy herself, but she was getting closer to that point. However, with her mother literally looming over her, she wasn't going to be doing anything too exciting any time soon.
Her mother was an incredibly slow shopper, keen on examining almost every product that they passed by on the shelves before making a selection. She tried to keep Ellie entertained with small talk and the occasional tickle, but after hours of standing on a slow moving trolley and listening to the bland melody that was playing in the supermarket, she was now absolutely bored out of her mind.
They picked up a dozen things from the frozen foods section and by then the trolley was practically overflowing with goods, piled high enough for Ellie to use as a freezing cold pillow. She fell asleep multiple times only to be woken up by announcements blurting out from speakers above them, or by the rattle of another trolley approaching them.
"Are we done yet?" she asked tiredly, feeling completely drained of energy.
Her mother leaned down and rested her chin on Ellie's shoulder, sensing Ellie's pain "Almost done sweetheart"
"But what's left? We picked up everything in the store!" Ellie complained.
"Your Dad asked me to pick up today's paper, and I wanted to take a look at some magazines. It's just one more aisle, I promise!" Kate gently rubbed Ellie's arm to reassure her as they turned into the last aisle in the supermarket.
"One more aisle. That's what you said last time" she replied, remembering the ten or so times her mother had said 'One more aisle' over and over again.
"I promise this is the last aisle. Look, it's the wall of the supermarket. We're almost at the end poppet" her mother encouraged her. The way she spoke of the end made it sound like a fantasy, a mythical land that no person had ever seen before, but yet here they were staring at it. Ellie never imagined she'd be so happy to see a wall.
"We can see if Louise's interview has been published yet" Ellie lit up as she spoke, remembering that the last time she had seen her cousin, Louise had just come from her first ever interview. She just hoped that Tesco had the latest issue of Tatler.
"That's the spirit. Now you're enjoying yourself huh?" Her mother asked hopefully.
"Almost Mum, I'm almost enjoying myself" Ellie answered, thinking she would wait until after she'd read her magazine and got home before deciding on whether it had been an enjoyable trip.
Once they entered the magazine and newspaper aisle, which was much shorter than every other aisle, Ellie finally had something to concentrate on. Her mother had been analysing every single product in the previous aisles, but now she casually scanned the odd magazine cover hoping to find something interesting to read. It was now Ellie's turn to work, keeping a keen eye out for Louise's face on one of the covers that they slowly passed by.
Excluding the articles about her that she sometimes couldn't help but read, the only reasons she had to read things like glossy high class magazines or high-brow newspapers were the interviews that members of her family sometimes gave to the media. She enjoyed the different perspective of her family that the world's media offered, as it helped her to understand how the world saw her family and how the world saw herself.
Ellie knew that there would be interviews in her future, but not for a long time yet. From conversations that she'd overheard, she knew that her parents had refused to allow any interviews with her and Alex until they were older. She felt reassured, but each fresh refusal meant that the request would just come all over again when she was old enough. Reading the words of those who had sat down and answered questions in a completely official manner helped prepare her for when it was her turn in the hot seat.
"Stop stop stop! There she is!" Ellie squealed excitedly, hopping off the trolley's axel to make sure her mother stopped it from rolling onwards.
She wormed her way out of her mother's protective grasp and set her sights on a section of the aisle that was filled with pictures of her family, feeling a comforting warmth wash over her as she stared at each of her relatives faces. There was an article to go with each picture, with outrageous titles that told her it probably wasn't worth reading. Under her parent's guidance, she had quickly figured out which publications actually wrote anything believable, if any.
Louise's face dominated the middle shelf, glamorously dolled up and with a smile that practically shined its way out of the magazine. She looked happy to be there standing proudly as a confident young woman, which was a far cry from the pictures of her as a little nine year old that were displayed on the bottom of the magazine.
"I'll be just behind you Ellie" she half heard her mother say as she flipped through the pages of her magazine, searching for the article whilst old pictures of her cousin flashed through her mind. So much of the young Louise reminded Ellie of herself, and the inspiring idea that she could be as beautiful and confident by the time she turned twenty was making her want to read the article more and more.
Once she reached the four page spread that the magazine had dedicated to Louise, Ellie relaxed as she diverted all of her attention to the words in front of her. All the anxiety and crippling fear she had felt as they made their way around the supermarket was quickly fading away, fought off by her newfound focus and concentration.
She went from being aware and watchful of her surroundings to completely clueless and unaware, so much so that she didn't even notice the girl slowly but surely approaching her. Ellie was reading intently, allowing the article to suck her in and make her feel like she was more in the room with Louise rather than at the supermarket with her mother.
And then it all started to come back, terror surging through her entire body. At first it was tiny, brought on by the footsteps of the girl as she came closer, but it was enough to pull her out of the daydream that the article had put her in. She had spent hours with her mother, and by then she knew the exact sound that Kate's low heels made on the solid supermarket floor.
But these footsteps aren't Mums, she realised.Just like that, she was back in the room.
She turned her head slightly to get a better look at the girl, and realised that her gaze was thankfully more towards the magazines on the shelf than at Ellie herself.
Her instinct was to hide, but in that moment she forgot that her mother was right behind her. Her mother had even reminded her of where she was standing, as if Kate had known that something like this would happen.
The girl kept moving calmly and confidently, making Ellie think that she hadn't been recognised yet. She didn't want to risk the girl seeing her face, so she raised the magazine in front of her eyes, building herself her own little fortress of solitude to hide in. Her nose was almost touching the page, while her eyes tried to distract her by focusing back on the article, but her mind couldn't think of anything other than the hostile that was fast approaching her on the right flank.
She couldn't see how close the girl was, her vision inadvertently blocked by the magazine, but her ears said everything. The footsteps had stopped and the jingling of jewellery sounded like the girl was standing right in front of her.
She was trembling in the remote darkness, the only light coming from small gaps around the edges of the magazine. Her hands tightened their grip on the pages as she heard the jingling of jewellery coming closer, thinking that the girl was going to pull her hiding place out of the way.
Instead, the jingling sound passed by her head and towards the shelves. In the corner of her eye she was able to see a pale hand reach up and grab another issue of Tatler, the jingling coming from a silver charm bracelet that dangled from the girl's wrist. Another image of Louise passed by her narrowed vision and just like that the girl's hand was gone, and all Ellie could do was hope that the girl took the magazine to check out immediately.
The footsteps remained silent, and the sound of the girl's jingling bracelet combined with that of her flipping through the pages of the magazine, telling Ellie all she needed to know. The girl was staying, happily reading her magazine alongside another girl who she thought was just extremely interested in royalty, but in reality was just desperately hiding her identity.
Keeping the magazine held up tightly in front of her, she slowly turned her head away in the hopes of seeing her mother waiting right behind her and waiting to whisk them away. Instead she saw that her mother was leaning casually against the trolley, intently reading another article in another magazine, unaware of the danger that was lurking nearby just as Ellie had been only moments before.
Why didn't she warn me? Did she even see the girl coming? Ellie asked herself, for once questioning how protective her parents actually were. She knew that they were always on the lookout, watching her and her sister's backs just as much, if not more than their protection officers do, but never once had either of them been distracted by anything, let alone a glossy magazine.
"So you like the royal family too huh?" asked an innocent voice coming from right beside her.
She turned her head back towards her magazine, cautious not to make any sudden moves, as if the girl was some predator prowling nearby. Twelve years of being raised as a royal, of being a public figure, all the lessons that told her how to act in front of people, everything seemed to vanish in an instant. The only thing that seemed to make sense was the article in front of her and the words right in front of her eyes.
"Sure" she replied, desperately searching for more words to use but in the end saying nothing more, which led to an incredibly uncomfortable silence between them.
The magazine blocked any view of the girl, preventing her from seeing how she reacted to Ellie's response.
"Been following them for a couple of years. I fell in love with them after Prince Harry married my favourite actress, how about you?" the girl asked, giggling a little as she mentioned Harry.
"Oh I've been following them pretty closely for most of my life" Ellie replied, more confidently now that she had managed one word, but careful not to say too much.
"Who's your favourite?" the girl questioned in a friendly tone.
I wonder how long she'll stay friendly with me hiding from her like this.
Ellie peeked over the top of her magazine, conscious of her hiding crossing the line between cute and just plain rude. The girl was older than her by the looks of it, probably fourteen or fifteen because of how tall she was. Her hair was a mass of red curls that tumbled around her shoulders, just a little darker than her Uncle Harry's ginger hair. She gazed at Ellie with a friendly but curious expression, occasionally glancing down at the magazine and then back up at her.
"My favourite royal? I don't think I can pick a favourite out of all of them" Ellie answered truthfully whilst glancing back down at her magazine, trying to give the impression that she was reading and not hiding. There were more distant members that she didn't know as well as others, but the whole idea of picking a favourite out of all of them was probably much easier for someone who wasn't part of the family.
"You must have one" The girl insisted, still unaware of who she was actually asking "Maybe Prince James? He's adorable, everyone on my blog agrees"
Her guard came down with those words, a little laugh escaping her at the idea of Jimmy-Jam being adorable. She dearly hoped that the world didn't share the girl's opinion of her cousin, because he was far from adorable. Her new friend gave her a quizzical look, as if she didn't think James could be anything other than adorable.
"Oh you run a blog?" Ellie asked.
"Yeah, me and a load of other people. We call ourselves the Royal Fandom, you should check it out sometime!" the girl explained, her cheeks turning as red as tomatoes.
"Maybe I will" Ellie replied, knowing it might be fun to look at it with Alex. "So all your friends think James is adorable?"
"He was pretty cute when I met him" the girl added.
"You met Jimmy-" Ellie quickly corrected herself, "You met Prince James?"
"Yeah, my Mum took me to see Harry and Emma when they went to this charity event." The girl explained, thankfully not noticing Ellie's slip "They brought little James along, definitely just to make everyone in the crowd go 'ooooh' and 'ahhh'. They are such an adorable little family its almost unbearable!"
The girl tilted her head slightly and gazed past Ellie, roughly at an area of the magazine shelf where Ellie had seen several with Uncle Harry and Aunt Emma had been on the covers. She seemed to be daydreaming, casting her mind back to the day that she had mentioned whilst Ellie watched with amusement.
"Sorry" she blurted out, pulling herself from her memories "I'm Josie by the way"
Josie held her hand out towards her invitingly, and Ellie adjusted so she could hold the magazine with one hand and shake Josie's hand with the other without revealing her face. Josie's nails were painted in pastel blue, with long slender fingers that gently wrapped themselves around her hand. Ellie tried to give a gentle and comforting handshake, ladylike just as her mother always did, but the magazine made it hard to appear friendly.
"I'm Ellie" she answered, doing her best to be as smooth as possible as she took her hand back.
"Like Princess Eleanor?" Josie enquired excitedly. Ellie nodded, quickly explaining "Just Eleanor, just normal non-princess Eleanor"
"You actually look a bit like her" said Josie, examining her closely.
"I do?" Ellie replied, quickly hiding her eyes back behind the magazine.
"Yeah" Josie began, furiously turning the pages of her magazine "Page fifteen, you look just like her. Roughly the same age, height, eyes, hair. Basically everything"
Oh god. "It's just a coincidence really. Lots of people look alike" Ellie tried to explain, hoping to push away Josie's suspicions which were steadily growing.
"You could almost be twins..." Josie stated, her voice trailing off into silence.
Ellie peeked over her magazine once again, hoping not to see her new friend staring at her in shock. Hoping not to see the same surprised expression that was on almost every person's face when they had caught sight of Ellie and her mother.
Hiding her identity had allowed her to be treated as if she was nothing special, to feel completely normal. Josie thought she was just talking to another royally obsessed girl, and treating her like she was a regular eleven year old. Now that all that might be ending, Ellie realised she'd enjoyed being normal for a couple of minutes, even if she hid behind a magazine for the entirety of its duration.
Josie was indeed staring, practically frozen to the ground in shock and awe, but her gaze wasn't even looking at Ellie, instead following something or someone moving past Ellie's shoulder. The gleaming metal of a shopping trolley rolled up next to her, and the sound of the squeaking wheels halted just as Josie excitedly whispered "Kate Middleton..."
"Hey girls" her mother's cheery voice greeted them.
Ellie turned to look up at her mother, lowering her magazine as she lost concentration.
"Oh, hi Mum" Ellie smiled gladly.
"Wait, Mum?" Josie stared at her in astonishment, abruptly realising who she was really talking to.