Chapter 12-A Little Bit Of Freedom
I jerk awake to find myself laying in my satin sheets in my room. I run my hands through my hair, feeling each little strand of blonde hair, but it feels smoother and silkier than usual. I guess that's what royal shampoo and conditioner does to your hair. I am wearing a casual gown, or as casual as you can get in royalty. I look around the room while still trying to fully wake up. My eyes dart around and soak up everything in the room, but my green eyes land on an object on my bedside table.
The jewelry box.
I delicately open it, to find my necklace to remind me of Jasper. It isn't just a reminder of him, but of what could've been. I reach my hand out to touch the necklace, but I just cannot bring myself to do it. My hands begin to tremble. I hug my knees to my chest. I bring my knees so close to my body and grip my knees so tightly so my hands stop trembling.
Once I get myself together, I ease myself onto the ground. A second later, KC, Sasha, and Natisha burst in, along with the queen. Wonderful! The lady that has tried to murder me! Okay, maybe I'm taking it too far with murder me, but she has been at least a little cruel to me!
Something is way different from Queen Chelsea, she is wearing sweatpants and a tight short-sleeved shirt with tennis shoes. They're all the color yellow. Yellow. The color of the silk dress I was wearing when I was torn away from Jasper.
Jasper.
Why is that all I can think of today? It's like everything leads to him!
I focus back on the queen, "Um, what-"
She interrupts, "We are going out into the world today, dear! Another lesson for you, future princess." I flinch at the words 'future princess'. She continues, "Being a Royal, you go out twice a month and explore your kingdom's nature! We are going on a nice hike today."
I smile. Well, at least this will brighten my mood. I love hiking and exploring trails! Breathing in the fresh natural clean air into my lungs. Hearing the leaves rustle against each other. Seeing all the fascinating wildlife. It all seems amazing to me.
KC, Sasha, and Natisha do the daily routine. Give me a bath. Do my hair and makeup. [They went very light on the makeup today.] Choose my clothing. Dress me.
My hair was pulled up in a ponytail. I wore a violet tank top, khaki shorts, and bright violet tennis shoes.
The queen guides me out and down some staircases. I stare at the polished floors as I walk. When she stops, I don't notice and I run into Charlie, who is wearing a tight thin baby blue shirt and some basketball shorts. I stumble and cling to him so I don't fall.
"Whoa there, beautiful!" He says, jokingly. He steadies me.
"Thanks... I'm a klutz."
"Remember, I know." He points to his right shin and there is a purple bruise there.
"Heh, I'm still sorry about that." I apologize.
"Like I said, it's all good," he smiles at me.
I notice the queen looking at me expectantly, and Charlie glances at her. She gives a slight nod and he kisses my cheek. Oh, she wants us to act, now. We are supposed to act like we are a true couple, even in front of the people who know it's fake. I try my best to look at Charlie dreamily and I cling to his arm.
Bethany walks into the room. I finally decide to look around the room I am in. It seems like a sitting room. It has no LookingView, but there is a marble fireplace in the front with elegant paintings of previous Royals hung on the walls. The walls and floors are white, and I see several petite couches. There is a small wooden rocking chair beside the fire place, too, with a quilt draped over the arm of the chair. We stand on a hand-stitched carpet filled with swirls and curls.
"King Randolph will be down shortly," Bethany announces, and right on cue is the king. Charlie begins to bow, so I copy his movements.
King Randolph makes his way towards me. Charles has his hair and his eyes, but the features and facial structures of his cruel mother. King Randolph has a small beard, too, but Charlie has no facial hair.
"Thank you for joining us, Arizona," he says and then makes his way towards Queen Chelsea.
"Water, please! Before we leave!" The queen demands. Emerald pops out of nowhere with water bottles for each of us.
A group of servants are coming along with us to hike, because we have to be protected in case some lunatic attacks us or if we get injured.
***
When we get to the trail, it seems like it will be a fairly easy hike. Not too many steep hills. I breathe in and smell the moist dirt and the rest of nature. We begin to walk, and I look at all the blooming flowers and green trees. I begin to lead the group. My eyes wide and filled with fascination at all the vibrant colors. The reds. The oranges. The yellows. Yellow... No, don't let it ruin this moment.
All of a sudden, I see Charlie running past me, laughing.
"Wait up!" I order and I chase after him.
"Catch me if you can, princess!" He calls back.
I run faster, my feet racing across the dirt. I hear Charlie's light laugh slightly getting louder and a little bit more harder for him to get out. I catch up to him and nudge him with my elbow. He looks over at me and smirks, running quicker. That prince is testing me to the limit, but I'm going to pass him. I'm determined and competitive!
I run as fast as I can, until both of our legs ache and feel wobbly. He wipes the sweat from his brow and winks. I roll my eyes. Wow, maybe there is some flirtatiousness under all that charm. We gently shove each other and we look back, to see the others in the distance. They're a far off distance, but they can still see us.
I hear a light trickling of water in the distance as Charlie and I hike up a steeper terrain. There is a steep drop-off on my side of where I walk. I walk on the edge of the cliff. We keep elbowing each other and I see a river at the bottom of the cliff. A pretty good sized river, too. I look up to see how much further until we are at the top, and it isn't much.
"C'mon!" I say as I begin to jog to the top.
"What? No!" He whines.
"C'mon! We aren't far, you can push your legs to the limit."
He sighs and jogs after me. I get to the top and look down to find a gorgeous, huge waterfall. A tiny rainbow emerges from the crystal water. There is a big clean pond that the water flows into. It looks fairly deep, but from this high up, it is a little hard to tell.
Charlie comes up behind me and smiles, "Whoa! Well isn't that lovely!"
I nod and nudge him. "It's a very beautiful sight..."
I look straight down and we are above the gigantic pool of blue coolness. He nudges me, again. I stumble back a bit, not noticing that I'm getting closer to the edge. With my amazing clumsiness, I begin to lose my balance. My eyes widen and I wave my arms, trying to get away from the edge. A scream escapes my lips. A desperate scream. I feel my body slowly tilting backwards and Charlie grabs onto my arms to try and steady me.
Epic Fail.
He loses his balance while trying to gain my balance. We both fall off the edge, and I see the water getting closer and closer by the seconds. Charlie yells and I scream my head off. I shut my eyes, and then I feel the sudden coolness and wetness rush over my body. The pressure of me hitting the water, took my breath away.
I swim to the top of the water. Charlie pops up behind me.
"Arizona?!?! Charles?!?! Are you both alright?!?!" We hear the servants yelling. I hear a woman shrieking, which I'm guessing is Queen Chelsea.
"Yes! We are fine!" Charlie yells up to them.
"Yea, just a lil' wet." I call up.
Charlie and I swim over to the opposite side of the pond, and I slip my shoes off. Well, I'm already wet, why not swim? Charlie takes his shoes off, also. He dumps the water out of his tennis shoes. He slips his soaked shirt off and wrings it out.
I look up at all the layers of rock that the water trickles down. I make my way to the rocks and I grip an indention in the rocks. I pull my body up and climb.
"Be careful, Arizona!" King Randolph says from the cliff.
"Oh my! Oh, dear!" Queen Chelsea exclaims.
I look down and notice Charlie, looking impressed. He has the same expression on his face as he did when I first ate dinner improperly.
I climb halfway up to a ledge where I stand upon it. I reach my hand to feel the heaviness of the water passing. I stand inches away from the pounds of heavy water falling.
I undo my hair and let it down. I let it go in every direction. It's free. Like I wish I could be. My damp hair flows in the breeze. I prepare myself to jump.
I hear Queen Chelsea gasp, "Oh my! Oh, dear! Arizona, get down from there right now!"
I shrug. "Okay."
I bend my knees and pounce in front of the waterfall. Mist brushing against my face.
"Woohoo!" I yell.
Then, I'm in the water again. Bubbles floating to the surface, above me. For a moment, I forget about everything. Royalty. Charlie. Jasper. Miles. My engagement. Everything. I just stare up at the sun that glitters through the water. I surface and when I do, I feel so free. I feel like I can do anything, even though in the back of my mind, I know I can't. Or at least, I can't now.
Queen Chelsea is screaming in rage of my defiance towards her, but I just smile.
I get out and Charlie whispers to me, "Good job. Impressive."
"Thank you." I say as I comb my hair with my fingers.
The others find a way to get to Charlie and I, and the queen looks furious.
"Let's continue on our hike... And no more nonsense, hear me, Arizona?" She spits my name out like it tasted awful coming out of her mouth.
I ignore her. All I can think of is what I just did. It provided some needed adrenaline and freedom.
"Did you hear me, Arizona?!" She growls.
I nod, "Yes, your Majesty."
"You are so-"
She gets interrupted by her husband, "Chelsea, she just wanted to have a little fun. It's all fine."
She huffs, turning and starting back up another trail. Charlie puts his shirt back on along with his shoes. I shove my shoes onto my feet and we all follow the queen. All I can think about is how much fun that was. Man, if only I could feel that way all the time...
Charlie pops up beside me, grinning like a kid that just pulled a prank.
"What?" I ask.
He holds out a yellow flower to me and kisses my cheek, "Good job back there. If only I had the courage to do something like that."
I smile and take the flower.
Yellow.
Jasper.
One day, I'm going to be free and I'm going to come back to Jasper.