𝐀𝐍 𝐔𝐍𝐅𝐈𝐍𝐈𝐒𝐇𝐄𝐃 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘, 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐨𝐲𝐚𝐥𝐬

xɪᴠ || ᴛʜᴇ ᴄʀᴇᴀᴛɪᴏɴ ᴏꜰ ᴀ ɴᴇᴡ ᴘʟᴀɴ (ʙᴇᴄᴀᴜꜱᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴏᴛʜᴇʀ ᴏɴᴇ ꜱᴜᴄᴋᴇᴅ)

With their group increasing from three members to six, Felice and Madison's shared dorm room was extremely crowded. Madison and Felice had settled themselves on Madison's bed, Jasmine was leaning against Astrid as the two lent against Felice's bed frame, while Wilhelm and Simon sat on the floor, their fingers entwined, Wilhelm's head resting against Simon's shoulder.

"So. When are we going to start Operation Spotlight?" Felice asked, looking to Astrid.

"Alright, first of all, we are not calling it that," She exclaimed, "And secondly, we need a new plan. The sex tape was an dumb idea, it's never going to work".

"Sex tape?" Wilhelm, Simon and Jasmine asked in unison. Jasmine sat up, looking curiously at Astrid, while Wilhelm and Simon sat in shock and confusion.

"You were going to make a sex tape? With who?" Jasmine demanded.

"Okay, can we cut down on the defensive Miss America, considering I didn't even know where you were in the world when we came up with this plan," Astrid replied, "And secondly, like I just said, we aren't doing it. It was a stupid plan".

"I must agree with that," Felice said.

Madison piped up, "Same here".

"Hey, you thought it was a good plan!" Astrid exclaimed, turning to Madison.

Before Madison could reply, Wilhelm interrupted the girls' banter. "Can we please get back on track? August is still walking around out there untouched, and if we don't do something soon, I'm just going to beat the shit out of him".

"Would you?" Simon asked curiously, as Astrid said, "Wille, you can't fight for shit".

Wilhelm glared at her. "You were going to help".

"Ah, makes sense now".

"Wilhelm's right, we need to get back on track," Felice said, "So no new sex tape. What's our next port of call?"

"What if we don't need a new sex tape?" Jasmine asked suddenly, looking to AStrid. The Princess narrowed her eyes, prompting Jasmine to continue. "Remember at the beginning of last year, at Pine Hill? One of the girl's in our year, her tape was released but like nobody saw it for some reason. What if we manipulated the clips to make it look like it was Asher in the video? And then release that? Could that work?"

"Mandy McKinnon, I remember," Astrid said nodding, "Her parents paid the school a massive check, the cops somehow removed it from all social media sites. People still have the video," As she spoke, Jasmine fumbled around with her phone, pulling up her contacts list.

"I don't like the idea of Astrid being in a sex tape," Wilhelm said solemnly, "Especially if this-" He gestured between Jasmine and Astrid, "hits the media. It wouldn't only ruin Astrid, but also you Jasmine".

Jasmine looked up from her phone, "I'm okay with that," she said, "I'll go down if it means getting that douche bag arrested and put away". She looked to Astrid, "what'd you say? Am I calling Lachlan Johnson or not?"

"Who's Lachlan Johnson? And wait, can we take a vote on this?" Madison asked, "I think we all need to be on the same page for this to work".

"Lachie is a guy from Pine Hill, knows everyone's shit. He'll have the video," Jasmine explained, "Everyone raised your hands if you're in favor of this plan". She raised her hand.

Astrid raised her at the same time. Felice looked to Madison, and both girls raised their hands in unison. Wilhelm looked to Simon, to see his stance on the whole situation. Slowly, he raised his hand.

"Wille?" Astrid asked, seeing the hesitation on her friend's face. "It's a good plan".

"I don't want you going down for something that I did," Wilhelm said, "It isn't fair".

"We're killing two birds with one stone. Or maybe three," Astrid said, slightly uncertain, "One; we anger the Queen and get the wedding called off. Two; we take the spotlight of you two, and give you guys a chance to have a semi normal relationship-"

"Why semi normal?" Madison asked, "With you in the spotlight they could just be together, no questions asked.

"We're royalty, questions are always asked," Wilhelm corrected.

"And three," Astrid said loudly, bringing the conversation back to her, "August gets arrested for two counts of possession and distribution of child pornography".

"What?!" Simon exclaimed, "Explain that last one, please".

"You both are underage, and when people ask about Jasmine and I, we can both say we were underage when the video was made," Astrid explained, "Even though that second part is technically a lie, considering it isn't out sex tape".

"Alright," Wilhelm said, raising his hand, "I'm in".

"I'll go call Lachie," Jasmine said, jumping up from the bed and heading to the door, phone in hand. Malin stood at the threshold as she opened the door, Jasmine leaping backwards in surprise.

"Everything alright, Malin?" Astrid asked, upon seeing Jasmine's reaction.

"The Queen is making a visit, and is arriving soon," Malin said, eyeing Jasmine, and then Simon and Wilhelm sitting together, "I suggest you spread out. Questions will be asked otherwise".

"You won't say anything?" Wilhelm asked, as everyone raced to their feet. Malin shook her head silently. Wilhelm nodded, ending the silent conversation. Malin closed the door and resumed her post, as Jasmine turned back into the room.

"You two have to split," Astrid said, gesturing to Simon and Wilhelm. "And we have to do something about you".

"The Queen doesn't know about us?" Jasmine asked, "You give me shit for not telling people and you can't even tell your own mother about our relationship?"

"First off, you had disappeared by the time I saw her next, and secondly, she is not my mother, she is a woman who took me in when I was young and is a traditional, judgmental woman who doesn't understand nor accept the concept of homosexual relationship," Astrid said in one breath, "You wanna argue about this or are we going to save ourselves a whole lot of shit and split up?"

"Jasmine can stay here, we'll make up some excuse," Felice suggested, "If you, Simon and Ash head out the window, you guys can probably get to your dorms before the Queen figures out anything," She added, talking to Wilhelm.

"Yeah, that could work," Simon said. The guys disappeared out the window, splitting up and sprinting to their respective dorms. Astrid gave Jasmine a quick kiss, before turning to Felice and Madison.

"You'll need a decent excuse if the Queen starts asking questions," She said.

"We can say she's my distant, American cousin," Felice suggested, but Astrid shook her head.

"The Queen knows all your family".

"She can be my American cousin," Madison piped up, "The Queen doesn't know my family".

"Yup, that works. Behave," Astrid said to Jasmine, "I'll be back soon".

Nodding, Astrid climbed out the opened window and headed back to her own dorm. The plan was set; now all they had to do was get it to August. A certain new Hillerska resident should do the trick. 

*           *           *

(1170 words)

Bonus chapter for 2k reads!!

I cannot express how happy it makes me to know you guys are loving the story. Thank you for the unbelievable support this book has received, I love reading everyone's comments, along with some theories which people have shared with me. 

I hope you enjoy the chapter!