Arkala's Princess

Chapter 29

Arkala's Princess

Chapter 29

"Oh my god." I laugh, clutching my stomach a little. Reece chuckles. "I didn't know you were such a funny guy."

"It's my specialty."

"Well I'm sure it is." I smile, licking my ice cream. After we went for a swim, we chilled at the beach for a bit, and came for ice cream.

"Hey, is that your boyfriend?" He asks, looking behind me. I turn around, and see Ashton standing in line for the ice cream. His eyes meet mine, and I give him a smile but he doesn't a show any emotion and looks back towards the cashier.

"He's not my boyfriend."

"I'm just teasing." He chuckles and I smile a little, but look back at Ashton, who's got his ice cream and is walking out of the store.

"Ashton, wait!" I call after him, standing up. But he either has really bad hearing, or he just ignored me. I'm hoping it's the former, but I have a feeling it's the latter. He just walks out of the store, walking away. I slump and sit back down on my seat.

"Huh. He must be really good at holding grudges." Reece says, and I slowly nod.

"But the thing is, I don't even know why he's mad at me so I don't know how I can fix it."

"Yeah.... Should I talk to him about that?"

"No, it's fine. Thanks, though."

"Okay." Reece says. "Well I better go, maybe we should hang again next time."

"Yeah, definitely." I say, giving him a hug and standing up.

***

"Um, grandmother? May I speak to you, for just one sec?" I ask, walking up to my grandmother.

"Sure, dear."

"Um, about me marrying Kyle, do I have to do that?"

"Sydney, you know-"

"If all the queens have to be married at the time, well then how come Aunt Gen ruled as queen even though she wasn't married?"

"Well, that was the past. It is now the present."

"But I don't want to be in a forced marriage. I really don't." I say, almost pleading.

"Sydney, sometimes, we have to do things that we don't want to do. And-"

"But that is any other thing. I want to marry someone I care about, someone I actually like, and maybe even love. I don't have any feelings like that at all towards Kyle. He told me he liked me but I said I didn't like him back that way. I just don't, grandma. And I, I don't want this. Do you want this for me?"

"Sydney. This is not something I wish to discuss right now." My grandmother says sternly. I sigh, and storm out of the room.

I turn around to the room, and tilt my head to the side. I debate whether or not to go back inside. In the end, I decide to go back inside.

"Grandmother?" I approach my grandmother, with a more, gentler side.

"Yes, dear?"

"Listen, please. I think the reason you are doing this is because I've been.... Kissing guys. Okay, I get it. It's not a princessy thing to do. I won't do it again, grandmother. I'll make a deal with you. If you cancel all this, I won't just go around kissing guys. Well, unless I'm in a serious relationship with them. But if I do kiss a guy I'm not in a relationship with, I will marry Kyle. Okay?"

"Sydney, I will take you up on that deal. But if you are going to have a relationship with someone, I want to meet this boy. Am I understood?"

"Yes. Thank you, grandma. I have the best grandma ever." I say, giving her a big hug.

***

"Everyone. I'm engaged." Kyle says, and my mouth hangs open. "This is Lyra, and I am engaged to this beautiful girl." Kyle kisses Lyra, my second cousin on the lips, and I make eye contact with Lyra and smile at her.

"And I have a game kind of thing planned for everyone. Y'know, since this is an engagement announcement, I wanted.... You know, more relationships to form." Lyra says. "So there will be a box in the corner, and I just want everyone to write their crush on a little piece of paper. Your crush won't know it's you. So put your honest opinion. And we'll also have no idea because you won't have your name on the piece of paper. So, the guys first. Go, guys!" All the guys walk over to the corner and start writing. I just stand there, wondering why in the world Lyra thought of this game. "So I will be calling out the names." Lyra says after all the boys have finished. She starts reading out a big list of names and I kind of zone out. "Sydney." My head snaps up and my eyes meet Lyra's, and she gives me a smile before continuing. Well this is kind of weird. Who would have a crush on me? I don't even know that much people here. The only people that I know quite well is Kyle, Trystan, and Ashton. But that doesn't make sense. Because Kyle is engaged and he was on stage the whole time so it definitely wasn't him. It wouldn't have been Trystan, he even said to my face that he didn't like me. It can't have been Ashton because I know he has absolutely no feelings like that to me at all. So this is probably some random who write my name, or Lyra just said my name even though it didn't say my name on the piece of paper. "Okay, now here's the catch. Girls don't write who they like." Lyra says and there are shouts from the guys. I smile, looking over at Ashton who was standing a few metres away from me. He was frowning, and looked pissed off.

"You okay?" I walk up to him. He stares at me.

"Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Um, I dunno. You seem....."

"Pissed off? Yeah I am. That is so unfair."

"Why? How?"

"Because...."

"Did you write your real crush on that piece of paper?" I ask.

"No." He says quickly. Maybe too quickly.

"You sure about that?"

"Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Oh, maybe the fact that you're trying to cover it up." I say. "I know you keep staring at her."

"Who?"

"Lyra." I say confidently, crossing my arms.

"N-no, no-"

"She's engaged, Ashton."

"I know,  I-"

"Ashton, she's engaged. Can't you just see that? I mean like-" I'm stopped mid sentence when I feel another pair of lips on mine. I stay motionless, but kiss Ashton back, my hands getting tangled in his hair. Then I pull back. "What was that for? I-"

"Sydney. I don't like Lyra. I like someone else." Ashton whispers, his breath fanning my face. "I like you."

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Hey!!! I'm so sorry for updatig late, again, oh god I've only just gotten back from my holiday yesterday, and yeah, I quickly wanted to post this for you guys! So this is the last chapter of Arkala's Princess, oh my god I can't believe it's over already! Please check out my new book, 'Around In A Circle' And also, there WILL be an epilogue after this, so don't delete this book from your library just yet! Please please please stick with me guys until the epilogue, and hopefully you'll stick with me with the other books I am and have written. Thanks! You guys are the best! xx