𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫 - Book 1

~Chapter 2~

                                                                                          Leonor

     The banquet was just as boring as I had originally expected. Lots of unfamiliar faces grinned at me, and I tried my best to grin back at them politely. My parents were striking up conversations with random people, and my sister was gushing to a woman about who knows what. I looked like a loser standing all by myself, so I decided to join my sister.

     Immediately upon my entry to her conversation, the woman bowed and gracefully shook my hand, smoothing out her skirt afterwards.

     "What a pleasure to meet you, Leonor," the woman beamed from ear to ear, clasping my hands in hers. Sofia shot me an annoyed look out of the corner of her eye, hoping I wouldn't see.

     "The pleasure is mine," I smiled, looking to Sofia for help. I had no clue who this woman was.

     "Leonor, this is one of my former soccer coaches. The best in the league, I may add," Sofia laughed, pushing a piece of her hair out of her eyes shyly. The woman laughed and patted Sofia on the shoulder lovingly.

     "Ah yes, Sofia is quite the soccer star," I laughed, which broke a laugh from both Sofia and her former coach.

     "It was a pleasure to see you girls. The banquet is about to start, so I'm going to take my seat. See you around soon I hope," she crowed, dropping my hand and scurrying off. Me and Sofia were left standing in the open dining hall. People were gravitating towards their seats slowly but surely.

     "We should probably sit," I muttered to Sofia, nudging her shoulder for her to follow me.

     As we took our respective seats between our parents, a man in a navy blue suit, like my father's, took the stage. He tapped the microphone quickly to test it and plastered a smile onto his tanned face. He was handsome, and looked to be about 25.

     "It's my great pleasure to welcome you all here today for our annual banquet! We are so lucky to have all of you here today with us. Please, feel free to grab some food and gather amongst yourselves. That's what we're here to do after all," the man laughed, and a few stray audience members laughed along with him. He set the microphone down, and people began to mingle freely.

     I was starving. I hadn't eaten all day, because I had been in such a rush. Usually I ate a lavish breakfast every single morning, compliments to our private chef.

     Standing to my feet, I made my way over to the food table and started to help myself. I may be a princess, but I'm also starving.

     I took a styrofoam plate and loaded it with mashed potatoes and gravy. I plopped some fresh fruit and a bagel with cream cheese on also.

     As I was about to turn around, somebody slammed into me at full speed, knocking me into the table and causing me to stumble headfirst into the big bowl of punch. Red punch. I was fuming. Somebody seriously had the audacity to push their future queen into the food table. People these days.

     As I spun on my heel angrily, I spotted the culprit. A young man who was about my age. He was wearing a black suit and his hair was combed back out of his face. He had piercing blue eyes and freckles. I would have been taken aback if he hadn't just done what he had done.

     "I'm extremely sorry, Miss. Somebody pushed me, and I happened to stumble into you," he stuttered, looking sorry with his big blue eyes.

     "It's.....fine," I rambled, shooing him away with my hand. He sulked off, without another word. Men.