The next day the dates started and Daisy was gone with the prince by 9.
Then never said when they would return, but I assumed after dinner.
Yesterday all the girls had shared what number they had received in excitement, even though I didn't think Thomas meant for us to tell one another.
First was Daisy. Then Hadley. Lexi then Olive, Natasha then Lola, Harriet then me.
Throughout the day I had been in the training room, trying to improve my archery skills and working on my punching.
But it still didn't take my mind from the fact Prince Thomas was out on a date with Daisy, who was an amazing girl and could easily steal his heart.
After dinner, Lola had come to me, concerned what to do about her fling with Prince Archie.
She told me Archie had said to her the last time they spoke that he would support whatever decision she made.
Archie and his family had returned to their home, Kensington Palace, and that left her with time to think and make a decision.
They would return to celebrate Christmas and come to be at the Christmas Eve Ball Prince Thomas had announced.
"I just don't know what to do. I like Archie, but Thomas is a nice guy too. He's taken me to the Nobility. Do I just straight up tell him?" Lola asked, concern lacing her tone and her eyes trained on her nails which were tapping nervously on the table.
"You need to tell him as soon as you can. He needs to know your not interested in him." I say and she just nods, looking into her lap nervously.
Lola and I are sitting in the corner of the day room to talk. Even though the room is empty apart from us we just wanted to chat quietly.
"I know my parents aren't going to be happy. This is against the rules. I fell in love with the wrong prince." Lola wails, running her hands over her face.
My eyes widened, "You're in love?"
Her eyes widened too at the realisation of what she said and her cheeks went up in flames.
"I think I am." She admitted quietly.
I took her hand in mine, "I'm so happy for you. Your such a sweet girl and I'm sure Archie loves you too. Know that I'm your friend and you can trust me." I say kindly.
Lola gives me an appreciative smile, "Thank you, really, Isabelle. Your too nice for your own good. I seriously don't know why Thomas hasn't just proposed to you already."
I look at her a little shocked, "There's still 6 other girls he could choose." I say, "And he wouldn't proposed until we've fallen in love."
"Your trying to tell me your not in love with him?" Lola asks with an eyebrow raised.
I roll my eyes, "Of course I'm not."
"Keep telling yourself that." She says with a knowing look and I just brush her off.
An abrupt noise broke our conversation as Daisy entered the room.
She looked tired but still had an excited smile plastered on her face.
"Isabelle, Lola, hey."
She came over and sat opposite us, relaxing into our chair.
"Hey Daisy." Lola said and I gave her a polite smile in greeting.
"I just had the best day. We went sightseeing and looked all around London. He even set up a picnic for us at Hyde Park, it was so amazing." Daisy said and then continued to ramble, "Thomas was so sweet, he stopped to show me all the pretty places he knows in the city and..."
Then I tuned out, allowing Daisy to keep going on to Lola.
I liked talking to Lola especially now since I knew she didn't like the same guy as I did. But hearing Daisy gush about and the kiss they shared made me uneasy.
I decide I can't listen to her go on about the prince any longer.
"I've got a few things I want to do, see you guys later." I stand and Lola gives me a wave.
"Oh, ok." Daisy says but quickly goes back to her conversation about the prince.
The last thing I would want to do after a date would be telling the other selected girls all about it.
✿✿✿
I tied my hair up in a high pony, adjusting my leggings before grabbing my gloves.
I slipped them onto my hands and adjusted the Velcro.
The training room was empty, no one but me myself and I at 7:30pm.
I was in my workout gear, a set I'd brought from home, my favourite one from Kmart.
It was a tight cropped workout top and matching grey leopard pants.
My sneakers squeaked on the shiny floor as I bopped up and down before the bag, giving it a few initial hits.
I felt so out of shape. Back home I had a routine, something I had well and truely left behind.
I would do an early morning run and then a workout in the afternoon.
But since we weren't allowed to leave the palace for safety reasons, I had resulted to coming to the training room.
I punched the bag, swinging it back and then towards me when I hit it again.
I had my air pods in and the music was pissing me off. Romantic shit about love was annoying.
I switched to a different playlist before continuing to beat the crap out of the punishing bag.
After a while a guard came in, Officer Johnson, someone who I had seen around here regularly.
He gave me an acknowledging nod before going about his business on the other side of the gym.
I continued to punch the bag harder and harder until I was breathless.
I worked on getting a few high kicks in, still able to do the splits luckily.
I was gifted with flexibility, thankfully.
Once I finished I went and grabbed my phone off one of the benches.
A commotion of boisterous laughter made me look up to the entrance, but I quickly avoided my gaze when I saw a handful of guards enter, shirtless.
I felt all there eyes on me so I decided to exit as soon as possible.
"Bells?"
I looked up to the shirtless guards to see Thomas hidden in the back somewhere, a smile across his features.
Damn, I tried not to react but I felt my face heat. He was shirtless and his hair was scruffy, absolutely stunning.
He quickly made through the crowd and came to me. Damn my heart rate picked up so fast. I tried not to let my eyes drop to his bare chest, but it was a challenge.
"Good evening your highness." I say politely, giving him a curtsey in my workout gear but Thomas doesn't seem in such a happy mood anymore.
"Bells, what the hell are you wearing?" Thomas asks in a quiet, harsh tone, pointing to my cropped top. He comes up close to me and I feel his hands graze the waist band of my leggings that are tight to my skin.
"Seriously? It's workout gear. Better than what you're wearing, or should I say what you're not wearing?" I poke his chest annoyed, mostly just to touch his bare skin but I feel tingles shoot through me.
I blush when I hear a series of chuckles coming from behind the prince and I see the guards laughing at our interaction.
Thomas turns around and makes a face at them, which I can't see from my angle, but they all immediately stop laughing.
Thomas turned back to me, "This workout is over." He looked totally serious and intimidating.
I shrugged, "I was leaving anyway." I say and grab my stuff, heading towards the door away from Thomas.
"Next time wear something more appropriate." Thomas warns across the room and I see the guards are still watching us, a few chuckling.
"Uh, no, excuse me." I say, taking him by surprise at the way his eyebrows shoot up at my tone. But I was deadly serious, "No. I'm wearing perfectly suitable clothing for the gym. How about you put on a shirt?"
"It's not the same." He says back, clearly in front of the crowd of guards who are doing a terrible job of going about their own business. They're all blatantly watching and listening.
I wish I could hit Thomas or something, but I manage to restrain myself since he is actual royalty.
"I'm done here. I hope you lose the misogyny before the next time we speak." I say with a huff.
Thomas doesn't respond well, clearly insulted, but I didn't particularly care because I was annoyed. He called out, "I'm not sexist. I'm looking out for you."
As I walk out I flip him off, not giving a fuck if anyone sees. The prince actually deserved it after that conversation.
Something more appropriate my ass.
✿✿✿
Each day I'm listening to a new girls story after she returns from her day date with the prince. He seems to be going to the extreme to please all the girls.
By the time Lola's date rolls around I'm sick of sitting around and working out, and less girls means less commotion.
Princess Charlotte was good at filling in time, going riding with me or hanging out with Harriet and I.
But I eventually got bored, I started sleeping in and going to bed early.
It gave me more time to contact my family, which was good so I had time to FaceTime nearly daily.
Elizabeth was doing good and was heading back to Uni, with her boyfriend Noah. They were going good and she showed me him on FaceTime, he seemed like a nice guy.
Totally her type, nothing like mine. Dusty blonde, studious but relaxed. A bit reserved though, but he was nice enough.
Isla was so excited for Christmas and I knew she was finding it tough not to tell me she was coming to the palace, but luckily she held her tongue.
I was chatting with Hadley and Olive in one of the sitting rooms, the one with antique looking furniture and glass tables to place your cups of tea.
"Yeah I live in London, so it's much easier for me than it would be for you guys. I can't imagine coming to another country for so long." Olive said and Hadley nodded.
"It's so different compared to New Zealand. There's so many more people and I can't believe how good the internet reception is." Hadley says and we all laugh.
I nod, "Well life certainly is different here. I'm used to sunny beach holidays and hot weather."
"I wish I had that, it rains nearly all year round." Olive says with a bored expression.
"Isabelle?"
I turn around to see Lola by the doorway and her cheeks are tear stained.
I quickly get up and rush over to her, embracing her in a hug, "Are you alright?"
Lola nods slowly, "Yeah, I told Thomas." We both move out into the hall where Olive and Hadley can't hear our conversation.
I look at her questioningly, "And how did that go?"
She looks up at me, "Well I felt bad for ruining his date idea, he had a whole day set up. And when I told him he demanded we go and see Archie. So we went to their palace and Archie told me he loved me in front of his parents."
I'm still confused, "That's so good, then why were you crying?"
"I didn't want to leave Archie." She said with a laugh, wiping her cheeks and smiling.
I give her a smile, "So what's happening now?"
"Thomas said I'm not in the competition but I can stay here until Christmas when Archie comes, then I'll work out what to do from there." Lola explained while fiddling with her hair to take it out.
I nod and we walk together down the corridor, going no where in particular.
And we chat, because we are friends, and it feels so good to talk to someone normally again. It's hard to talk to the other selected because we are all trying to date the same guy.
I'm so glad Archie found someone to love, Lola seems so happy.