The Rebel Royalties

Chapter 8

Derek's POV

I pulled into the driveway and Carla stopped on the side of the road, I got out of my car as Emily came out of the house, "Hey, Der," she called, I nodded at her.

"Hey, Em," I answered, grabbing the keys and tossing them to her.

"Where are you going," she asked, I nodded to Carla's truck.

"Going to hang out with Princess," I answered, she nodded and waved at Carla, I glanced back to see her wave back.

"Have fun and tell her happy birthday from me," she told me, I nodded.

"Got it," I agreed, and went over to Carla's truck and got in. "Emily says happy birthday," I told Carla, she smiled slightly and rolled down her window.

"Thanks," she called to Emily, Emily grinned.

"No problem, Princess," Emily answered, Carla snorted.

"Bye, Princess," she answered, shaking her head and rolling up her window, I started laughing.

Carla drove to her house and pulled into her driveway, I looked at her, "Feeling any better," I asked, she shrugged and rested her head on her steering wheel.

"A little, but I'm just tired and feel like I'm going insane," she mumbled, I looked at her.

"Princess, you aren't going insane," I said, she glanced at me and shook her head.

"Seriously, cause you're talking to the girl that just got locked out of a running truck with the keys inside of it," she answered, shaking her head. "I'm just an idiot," she said, sniffing and wiping at her face.

"Princess, c'mon, you aren't an idiot," I said, she scoffed. "No, no, no, we aren't doing this right now, sit up and look at me," I told her, she huffed and sat up, looking at me. "You are a straight A student, you care about everyone and pretend that you don't, and you don't need to pretend like nothing's wrong right now," I told her, she smiled a little.

"Thanks, Charming," she whispered, and I nodded.

"It's nothing, Princess," I answered, smiling back. I leaned back in my seat, "Alright, so, what should we do," I asked, she looked at me, confused.

"What are you talking about," she asked, I shrugged.

"It's your birthday, let's go do something," I told her, and she shook her head.

"I don't want to do anything," she said, wrapping her arms around herself. "I just wanna forget about all of it."

I sighed, "If I had a fake idea I'd get us some whiskey," I said, she laughed, closing her eyes. I glanced outside, getting an idea, "Hey, you remember when we were younger that we'd play out in the rain," I asked, she glanced at me.

"Yeah, so?"

"How bout we go back to when we go back to when we're kids," I asked, she let out a breath and shrugged.

"Why the hell not," she answered, I grinned as we got out of the truck and she grabbed her bag. We headed inside and Carla dropped her bag on the coffee table before taking off her boots and socks.

I slipped off my shoes and stuffed my socks into them, "C'mon," I said, grabbing her hand and pulling her to the back door. Carla opened the door and ran outside to see her spin in the rain, I grinned and ran out, grabbing her hand and spinning her. This got her to laugh, throwing her head back, I started laughing with her.

***

I was sitting on the couch after changing into dry clothes, waiting for Carla to come back downstairs. When she came downstairs, she grabbed the blanket from the recliner before sitting beside me. She wrapped it around herself as I noticed that she was shivering, "Princess, are you alright," I asked, she nodded.