SOMEONE KNOCKED on Mae's bedroom door and as she opened it, she saw Henry standing outside her room. He smiled and showed her a box of pizza he had in his hands.
"I didn't know if you had time to buy something to eat for your brother so I was thinking we could have dinner together, if that's okay."
"You're cute." she smiled, grabbing his arm to pull him into the bedroom. "Elio is in the bathroom, he'll be there in a minute."
"Hey, I wanted to ask you, are you sure you're okay? You seemed a little off when you got back from the shooting range earlier." Henry said as she was closing the door.
She sighed. "Yeah, there were some... problems. I had a bit of an argument with Sara. I don't think we can fix it."
"I'm sorry." Henry put the pizza on the desk to put his arms around her. "Can't you guys have a talk about it?"
"It's not that simple. She crossed the line." Mae replied as she put her head on his shoulder.
"I'm sorry to hear that."
"I'll be okay. How was your day?" she asked.
He put a kiss on her forehead. "It was quite boring, nothing really happened. Me and Valter worked on that science project due next week, but I didn't really get it to be honest."
"Can't help you with that, I suck at science." she laughed.
"Another thing we have in common." he chuckled before putting a kiss on her lips.
She put her hands on his neck as she kissed him back and they pulled away when the bathroom door opened.
"Hey, so you met Henry." Mae told her brother.
"I did." the younger boy nodded.
"Are you hungry? He brought you some pizza."
A smile appeared on her brother's face. "Yay!"
They all spent the evening together, laughing and talking about everything while eating their pizza and Mae smiled as she looked at Henry and Elio playing together. Henry told her he had a younger sister so she supposed he was used to it but seeing them together still made her very happy.
★
Mae had accompanied Elio to their parents' house and had spoken at long time with them to explain to them how her brother was feeling. She wanted to be sure to protect him from the pressure their parents were capable of putting on them. They had listened to her, now she hoped they had heard her.
Dressed in her school uniform, she was hanging out with the girls while Wilhelm and his family were photographed by the paparazzi. Felice told them that she had wanted to switch rooms so that she no longer shared it with Sara but that Sara had left school that morning. On one hand Mae was very angry with Sara for lying and protecting August all this time, but on the other hand she had never meant to make her leave school.
Mae found Henry when everyone was settling down to listen to the speech and she sat between him and Felice. As the choir were singing, he took her hand and placed a kiss on her cheek as she smiled. The headmistress then walked up to the stage.
"Before we move on, I have to say, we have a minor change to the schedule. Crown Prince Wilhelm, who to our great delight, was supposed to give the welcome speech, will today be replaced by—"
She interrupted herself when Wilhelm stood up and walked past August. Everyone shared confused looks.
"Uh, I mean, let's give Your Royal Highness Crown Prince Wilhelm a heartfelt welcome to the stage." the principal corrected.
Everyone clapped as Wilhelm was standing in front of the mic. He stayed silent for several seconds before finally speaking. "Your Majesty, dear Mother and beloved Hillis alumni. It's an honor to stand in front of you today, not just as the Crown Prince, but also as your classmate. Hillerska is not just a place where we are trained to be good citizens, to be able to accept the responsabilities bestowed upon us in the future. It's also our home."
Mae put her head on Henry's shoulders and he put a hand on her thigh as he smiled.
"Hillerska has become a home for me, just like it was for my dear mother and my brother before me." Wilhelm continued. "The motto of the school is 'take responsability for the legacy and be proud of the history. Pass the traditions on to the next generation'." he stopped speaking and looked around him before shooking his head. "There's a problem with just passing the traditions on without pausing to think about which ones are good or bad. Then nothing changes. If you have to follow traditions, how can you evolve? We cannot even sing a new version of the school anthem without panic. We keep secrets from each other. We lie. We pretend to protect each other, because we're afraid if we don't. We're afraid of the consequences. Me too. I'm also scared. But I'm putting a stop to that now."
The paparazzi had a field day. Some students had started filming too. Mae was thinking Wilhelm was very brave for speaking out like that when the entire Royal family was staring at him.
"It was me in the video that was leaked last semester. The one with me and Simon. It was a private moment I didn't want to share, so I lied about it. But that was me."
There was a heavy silence for a while. The only things we could hear were the flashes of the cameras. Mae looked around at the other students and finally stood up. She clapped and put her hands into megaphones to shout. Felice imitated her. Then Stella, and Henry, and soon, several other students ended up getting up and clapping for them.
Mae met Simon's gaze. Despite the worry, she could see in his eyes that he was happy. And she smiled. Everything would be okay.
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