Chapter Text
I was, once again, woken up by a knocking on the door. This time it was Zayn's voice yelling at me to wake up from the other side. I really needed to invest in an alarm clock. I didn't think to bring one with me when I came out here.
I went to the bathroom and went through my morning routine. I threw on a pair of jeans and an old band T-shirt and walked out the door. I let Zayn lead me to the kitchen, since I still had no navigational skills. We had to grab a quick breakfast since I was running late.
I followed Zayn to this mini library. It had a long wooden table and a series of bookshelves around the walls. The chairs were hard wood that would probably make my ass hurt after a half an hour.
An older looking man walked in. He had salt and pepper, short-cropped hair and a goatee. He had on a full suit like he was attending a formal event, not tutoring a teenager. I think he even had a monocle in the breast pocket of his suit.
"Good day, Prince Harold. I shall be your tutor, Mr. Peabody."
"Nice to meet you, Mr. Peabody. You can just call me Harry."
"I think not, Prince Harold. Now we shall start with the History of the country today and basic protocol. In your free time, you shall start memorizing members of the royal family tree."
He lectured for the full four hours in his posh monotone. I would've fallen asleep if I could've gotten comfortable. But there was no hope with the hard wood rails pressing uncomfortably on my spine every time I leaned back and the hard seat that provided no cushion for my scrawny ass. To sum it up, it was four hours of torture.
I was glad when he finally excused me and let Zayn lead me back to the kitchen for lunch. Afterward, I grabbed my books and found a place outside to sit and study. It probably wasn't very prince-like to lay out in the grass and read, but that's what I did.
I alternated between my homework and reading one of the books I had brought from home. I also remembered, I can use my cell phone as an alarm, so I don't have to worry about oversleeping. All-in-all it wasn't too bad for a Monday.
The next day was pretty similar, except I was tested on the family tree as soon as I walked in. I got a ninety, which I thought was pretty good considering I had one day to learn it. He didn't seem to think so. That day he assigned me new history homework in addition to memorizing the family tree with added family members.
Wednesday brought the same-testing and not meeting his standards, leading to more homework and even more time spent studying. By Thursday, the only thing I was doing with my time was working. I was even studying through my meals.
I wasn't sure what he was trying to get from me. Was he trying to test my work ethic? Was he trying to teach humility by giving me an impossible amount of work with more work on top? Was he just testing me?
I could understand his motivation. I mean I could be potentially running his country. It makes sense that he would be putting me through the paces. It was his country. Our country sounded wrong. This place doesn't feel like my country.
I was just glad when noon on Friday rolled around so I could be free from his monotone and scrutinizing gaze for a while. I was finally capable of navigating from the tutor room to the kitchen. Liam was on duty and we ran into Louis and Zayn eating in the kitchen. They introduced me to a few of the kitchen staff they had been talking to.
I entertained them with stories about Niall's insane love of food. I told them about this one time when we were going to go out of town for the weekend and Grimmy and I made the mistake of letting Niall pick up the groceries. I swear he got at least five different kind of chips, three boxes of cereal, four different types of wheat bread, two brands of peanut butter, and who knows how many types of drinks. Luckily, Nutella only had one brand. Needless to say, he is no longer allowed out with grocery money.
