Selina Rose leads a normal life as a princess: attending balls, tending to her garden, and going to school. But soon enough things start to fall apart.
Nothing makes sense in this princess's castle: the walls seem to hear secrets, the library seems...
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"What's your friend's name again? The black-haired boy?"
"Who?"
"Jim." Alyssa stopped again but did not turn around.
"A friend."
"Where did you meet him again?"
"School, last year."
"Right," Selina looked down at the carpet again.
Her sister finished school last year and decided to focus on her royal responsibilities, as she was the heir.
"Have you talked to him recently at all?"
"It's been a week or so. Why?" She finished folding the cotton and carried it over to her open wardrobe for storage.
"I think he's looking for you." Alyssa shut the doors and turned towards her. She let out a laugh.
"And why's that?"
"He was here." Alyssa finally flashed some concern towards her.
"Here?"
"Well, no, in the guest room."
"What did he want?"
"Answers, I think." Alyssa gave her a dismissal look and headed over to her bed.
"Of what?" She plopped down. Selina followed slowly towards her.
"Something about last night. In a library."
"Odd. It must be his father again."
"Sorry?"
"Oh, remember how his dad came to us that one time pleading that Jim was hurt?"
"Oh."
"He's a fraud! He must have sent Jim in here for some new trick."
"Why didn't he come himself?" Alyssa eyed her.
"Because we're onto him." Selina sighed.
And that was that. There was nothing else to plead with. Perhaps he was a trickster like his father. But he seemed in such a rush, in such a hurry.
Selina helped water the plants on Alyssa's windowsill. They bloomed a luscious green. They observed the clouds together.
"That's right, Theo!" Mr. Lawne's voice echoed through the big marble pillars of the lecture hall.
The lecture hall cascaded from the top down with plentiful stairs laid out as seats. In the nooks and crannies lay cushions and lanterns, where students with a lack of sleep dozed off.
Selina spun her ballpoint ink pen between her two fingers, unbothered by the scribbles on the blackboard and worksheets on her desk.
She could not seem to shake off Jim. Should she inquire if it was all a joke?
"Now, as we can see here, this reaches a perfect circle with all these points here.." The chalk battered against the board.
Selina had one class with him: Linguistics. A class that was fast approaching, as the 11:10 mark seemed to close by on the clock. Two more minutes left till then.
Her eyes focused back on the spinning of her pen.
She should not have been this unfocused early into the semester, but somehow, she always had work and fell behind. She could not seem to remember where all the time disappeared.
The clock tower rang.
That was what the school called the end or start of a class period.
Selina jolted out of her seat, stuffing her side bag with papers she had no intention of organizing. As she shoved her pen on top of her mess, she looked up at the board at unnecessarily complicated math symbols and sighed. She made her way down the stairs.
"..and don't forget 5.1 and 5.2 are due for homework by Wednesday afternoon!" Mr. Lawne desperately yelled over the tired and scrambling kids.
Her footsteps echoed against the marble floors as she scurried down a hallway deep in thought.
She must confront him, and he must confess and explain himself. Even apologize.
Her next classroom was a small, intimate one, the windows often left open to let wind into the old classroom. It had been getting colder, so the windows were closed more often.
Today, rain threw itself onto the room's floorboards through the windows. Her professor shuffled to close the windows against the wind of the storm. He turned around to take a breath and smile at her. He had glasses and was known as the professor who would keep to himself at all times.
He was often found by the students, having lunch by himself, away from the professors's lounge. He was, for this reason, ridiculed. Selina never joined the mockery, as she did not care enough.
As she settled into her usual spot in the classroom, she twiddled her thumbs, her anger with Jim dissipating. She watched the rain trickle down the windows and felt at peace. The school lawn would soon smell like a monsoon had swept by. Her umbrella would finally be put to good use after several weeks.
More of her classmates trickled in. She finally saw him walk through the front door. He had a scarf around his neck to protect him from the weather. She sat upright, taking in a huff of air. Would he look her in the eye?
He did. A small gathering was formed near the door as a student was trying to get settled into their seat, blocking the way for other peers. So Jim stood there helplessly as his eyes wandered off to Selina. He blinked.
She did not.
What did he want?
What did she want?
What was wrong with her?
She has been acting quite peculiarly around him since, well, that night. If she did not want to talk about it, neither did he. He had had enough of the royals pestering his family with their tomfoolery. He was quite done.
He finally found some leg way to walk past a few desks and onto his secluded place in the back of the classroom. Was he a good student?
From time to time, he could find himself indulging in books, getting some work done. However, his mind was always wandering off. A part of him was upset at the prospect of never being able to get back into the royal library. It was impossible enough to try to talk to Selina, but there was no way he could even get into the castle to chance a glance at Alyssa. Alyssa was a complicated person to him, and he could only best describe her as a dandelion. Easy to catch, but before you know it, the pappus is gone before the wind. A harsh wind that never seems to stop its winding.
The bell chimed, and so did the rain against the windows. Linguistics class had begun. The professor greeted the class and apologized about the water by the windows. Selina turned around to him, as she blinked.
