ROYALS

-6-

-Congrats to Edvin for graduating!-

Peter, Felle, and Antony instantly bombarded me as soon as I sat down at the breakfast hall. Their faces were ecstatic as Peter unfolded the crumpled paper sat in his hands, showing me bright words printed on the top of the paper saying, "BATTLE OF THE BANDS AUDITIONS!"

I rolled my eyes before picking up my fork and digging into some cold and disgusting eggs.

"Why the long face? Don't think we would win Willy?" Felle says brushing his hand through his hair.

"I don't know, there's just a lot going on that I don't want to mess up right now." I said putting my fork down and pushing my plate forward.

"This about a certain person?" Peter says leaning in closer, raising his eyebrows.

I sat before them, thinking of whether I should lie for the sake of Simon, or tell them the truth. I chose to do the right thing for once in my life.

"We kissed." I said quickly putting my head down in embarrassment.

Their eyes lit up, smirking. They all began to giggle and look at me like I was some lovestruck fool.

"Don't tell him I told you, please. I don't want to mess things up again, I want to do it right this time."

"Oh sweetie you will, we won't let you fuck up this time. Let's do the battle of the bands, we can do a soapy love song." Peter says basically pleading with me.

I sat in defeat. "Fine, but do you promise you won't tell him?"

"Tell who what?" Simon says, sitting down next to me. My face goes bright red and Antony quickly came to my rescue. it looked as good

"We were saying..." Antony began pausing as he tried to come up with anything for an excuse. Simon started to look at him weird. "Don't tell you about how we're auditioning for Battle of the Bands! We were gonna surprise you."

Simon started smiling and looking at Peter and then turning his head to me.

"Oh my god that's awesome! Have you guys picked out what we're singing yet? Any ideas?" He said looking to all of us.

Peter smiled, "Yeah, I think we got something figured out." He says, pulling Felle and Antony into a quick side hug. "We got this guys, we're the best band out there."

We all talked for half an hour about everything related to the band. It was actually fun, which was something I never really experienced with "friends". The closest friend I ever had stabbed me in the back and beforehand treated me like shit. It was nice to be happy.

As we finished eating the tables began to clear out, Peter, Felle, and Antony left to "get to class early," even though they had never done that in their lives. Peter gave me a wink before leaving, making it obvious what his intentions were.

Simon sat there in silence for a few seconds, silently gathering his books, and stacking each on top of the other. I began to clear my throat, and he turned to look at me.

"Can we talk about what happened last night?" I said solemnly, looking from my lap to his eyes.

Simon took a breath, as turned to look at me as well. "I don't know if this can even work Willie, with everything else going on."

My eyes fell down to my lap again, as his words stabbed through me. "Simon, please just give me a chance." I said, basically begging him. I would get down on my knees and plead for hours if it meant I could have another day with him by my side.

"Willie... do you remember what you said to me that night at the field?" Simon said, I ran my finger through my hair. I answered his question with silence. The night replayed in my mind painfully.

My headed lifted as the words began to softly fall out of my mouth. "All the people are fake... they're made out of medal... but I..." My eyes met his," ...I love you, and that, that is not fake."

His hand reached up to cup my cheek, and I began to freeze. I looked around to see no one left, everyone gone. I turned back to him, grabbing his face in my hands. His eyes look sad, and they were telling me something so clearly. I don't want to be your secret.

That's when I knew I would never be able to give him the one thing he wants, I can't be with him. I can't hold his hand in the corridors, I can't kiss him in the library, I can't even be seen with him.

I didn't want this life, I didn't want a border between my life and the one I so clearly longed for. But the thing was, I couldn't do anything about it. I couldn't ruin my family's reputation, I couldn't do it to them. But what did they ever really do for me? When did they ever really care for me?

That's when I said the words that could change my life. "I don't want you to be my secret anymore." I said, begging him with my eyes to not look away from me, to not leave me.

Simon grabbed him into a hug, brushing his finger through my hair as I felt a tear begin to fall out of my eyes. I wanted him to hold me like it'll be forever, and never let go. I wanted him, and it was know I knew being with him would never be the wrong choice, but the only one.

I pulled away and kissed him. It wasn't a passionate, and hunger filled kiss, more of a soft and sweet one. I liked these kisses, they were the ones I could keep in my memories forever. I reached up and kissed his forehead, before pulling him back into a hug.

I moved my mouth to his ear to whisper to him, "We should probably get to class before were late."

He nodded, before giving me a quick kiss and grabbing his things. Before he left I grabbed his hand.

"I'll see you later." I said grinning.

He smiled back, and left for class. I sat in the breakfast hall for just another second, reveling in my thoughts of Simon. I quickly came to realize that Peters look to me was right, I really did look like a lovestruck fool... but that was something I wouldn't change for the world.

Hey guys! Sorry I haven't been very active, but I have some good news. I got into a charter arts program for, Literary Arts! It was a long audition process that had me write many essays, but I'm proud. I also started a job so I've been working a lot and haven't had much time for anything really. I'm going to try to update more frequently, and try to write more for each chapter. I hope you guys enjoy and keep on reading :) From your lovely writer, have a wonderful day <3