Casey Anderson isn't expecting much from her Mark - but when her soulmate turns out to be Prince August, the boy next in line for the throne, everything changes.
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In a world much like our own, Casey Anderson is trying to navigate her senior...
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I genuinely think Del's stopped breathing. "You're going to England?" she asks, coffee cup paused halfway to her mouth.
"Yep," I nod, trying not to show how weird it feels to be saying that. How surreal everything still feels, like I'm still not entirely sure I'm going to wake up at any second.
"When?" She asks. I do a bad job of not wincing.
"Tomorrow." I can't meet her eyes.
"Tomorrow?" She half-shouts, as I see a couple of customers around us shoot her dirty looks.
"Plane leaves at 7:00 am," I say.
Del puts her coffee down, rubs her hands over her face. "Casey, what in the hell happened," she says, but continues before I get a chance to answer. "You can't just - drop your entire life for this. What about school?"
I'm hearing the words that she's saying, but I know she's leaving just as much unsaid. I know that I'm leaving her behind as well.
It feels sort of awful.
"I'm bringing work," I say. "And you know most of the stuff we do is online now anyways."
"Seriously?" Del asks. "The school was just... okay with that?"
"It's in the rules," I say. "It only happened recently, but - Mark-related absences and withdrawals can be coordinated with the school board."
"And you did it that quickly?" Del asks.
I shrug. "Yeah. You have to prove it if it's like, a workplace thing, but because we're minors it's just a letter from your parents, a note from the Registry, and a couple of meetings."
Del still looks skeptical. I know how she feels; I keep having to pinch myself.
I take a deep breath, search for something else to say. "Hey, this is a good thing, right?" I say gently. "I mean, I'm going to meet him, Del."
"The crown prince of England," she says slowly, before seeming to snap out of it. "Yeah. Yes, Casey, it's really great. Sorry, I'm just..."
"Trying to wrap your head around it? Yeah." I take a sip of my hot chocolate, try to memorize how it feels to sit here in the Starbucks with her.
Del puts her coffee down, slides her hand into mine. "No matter what," she says, "I'm your best friend, okay? I don't care how cool Princess Leah is."
I laugh. "Deal."
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"Okay. Laptop?"
"Check," I say, double checking the zipper on the case. Del dutifully checks it off the list.
"Bathing suit even though it's November because who the heck knows?"
