The Florist And The Prince (ON HOLD)

~ 11 ~

Avery's POV

The very next day, Avery and the rest of the town's young women all went back to the townhall to hand in the paper that they were given yesterday. Last night after she had a talk with her grandmother, she just filled in the paper like a normal paper that asked for your information. She didn't try to add any extra hidden talents or hobbies, so that she would likely get chosen. She met the Prince twice and he seemed like a decent person and was very handsome too but marriage was the last thing on her mind.

Walking into the townhall, she saw that there were twenty five cubicles lined up in front of the stage with some of the town's Committee members seated in them, receiving the papers from the girls, with a few palace guards standing nearby and Madam Eunice and the town's Mrs. Acaster standing on the stage and talking to each other, while they watched the lines of girls walking up to the cubicles to hand in their filled up papers.

About three minutes later, Avery finally reached the cubicle that she was in line for and handed the paper over to the woman behind it.

"Good luck Avery."

Avery gave the Indo-Northdenian a closed lip smile, to be polite. "Thank you, Ms. Singh."

Walking back out of the townhall and down the steps, she unintentionally bumped into a group of girls. Not realising that it was the "IT" girl group of the town.

"Sorry." Avery apologised and went to walk around them.

"Did you just hand in you paper?" She sucked in a deep breath and turned to face the leader of the group, Phoebe Miller. The local high school's  headmaster's daughter.

"Yes." She answered.

"Hmm, and here I was thinking that you wouldn't."

"Why is that?" Avery inquired, interested in her answer.

Phoebe chuckled like it was a funny thing. "Because your from England. You were born there and you live there, your not even a citizen of Northden. You only come here for the holidays, so why bother?"

Her friends around her began giggling and snickering. Trying to make Avery feel embarrassed, but it wasn't working.

"Trust me, I didn't want too but it said all the young women of the town." Avery replied calmly, not fazed by their mockery and she actually was already a citizen of Northden, but she wasn't going to tell them that. They didn't need to know.

"I know that, but don't you think that you are just wasting your time." Phoebe folded her arms, cocked her head to the side and her blue eyes down Avery's body with a raised eyebrow. Like no one was even going to give her a second glance.

"I assure you Phoebe, that I will be the last person they will pick, so you don't have to worry."

"Oh, I'm not worried. It was just a friendly reminder." Phoebe feigned kindness but Avery saw right though her act.

"Thank you but I'm fine." Avery replied with a sweet smile and walked away, ignoring the whispers and murmurs from Phoebe's friends.

Walking down the sidewalk back towards the flower shop, Avery felt her phone beginning to ring in the pocket of her dusty blue coloured shirtdress that she was wearing, so she stopped walking and moved to the side to check who the caller was and saw that it was her mother calling.

"Hi mom."

"Hi baby, how are you?"

Avery rolled her eyes yet smiled, at the nickname that her mother still to this day, embarrassingly called her by.

"I'm fine and how are you?" She answered, sitting down on a bench nearby.

"Tired. I just got back from Argentina half an hour ago." Her mother replied on the other end of the phone, with a light sigh. A sign of exhaustion.

"Then you should be resting. Not calling me." Avery scolded her.

"I know but I just miss you."

Avery smiled. "I miss you too. And my bookshelf. I miss all my books."

Her mother chuckled. "You've read all of them countless times."

"I know but I still miss them, they are all my favourites. Nan and papa have dad's books here but unfortunately, we don't have the same taste in them."

"That's true but you did get your love for books from him because I hate reading."

Avery laughed. "I know...umm, how are you and Martin?"

"We're alright." She could hear the hesitation in her mother's voice.

"What's wrong?..."

"Nothing, I'm just sorry. I should have told you about him earlier on. I-I just didn't know how too."

"It's okay mom. You deserve to be happy, it's been eighteen years since dad has died and I think that he would want you to move on and find happiness, and so do I."

"Thank you." Her mother said before letting out a yawn.

"Okay, I think you should get some rest."

"Yes, I think I'll do that."

"Alright. Bye."

"Bye, I love you."

"Love you too." Avery said then ended the call and looked back at the way she just came from, from the town's square.

She saw some of the young women walk to and from, some with thrilled expressions while others looked disappointed and she could only guess that it was due to the age requirements.

"You guys go ahead. I'll catch up." Avery heard a familiar voice followed by two others.

"Okay."

"Mate?"

"Shhh, just come."

"Hello Avery."

Avery looked up to see Lewis and his two best friends, Eddie and Julian. "Hello."

"Hi, did you go to the townhall?" Lewis asked, sitting down beside her as his friends walked away.

"Yes."

"Oh...so you've handed in the answer sheet?"

"Well yes I had too. It was for all the single, young women of the town." Avery lightly shrugged her shoulders .

Lewis pursed his lips. "I wonder why the King and Queen decided to do this? The last time a event like this happened was back in the nineteen hundreds."

Avery's eyebrows rose. "Really? Hmm, I didn't know that. Why?"

"If I recall correctly, it's because Princess Beatrice was in love with a commoner but her parents wanted her to marry a Prince from Belgium, so they hosted a contest."

Avery's now eyebrows dipped in interest and she turned around on the bench to face Lewis, better. "And what happened?"

"Well, she had no choice. She went through with it but ended up marrying a Duke from Wales instead." He answered with a shrug of his shoulders.

"That's so sad." Avery muttered, looking across the road.

Why would the King and Queen do this with a history like that. Its obvious that they and the entire country will expect the Prince to marry another royalty or a woman that comes from a family that holds a higher status in the land, than a mere commoner like her and all the other girls in the town.

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~Hey guys, I ɑm sorry for not posting ɑny chɑpter lɑst week, so here ɑre two to mɑke up for it. Hope you enjoy them.~