FTRS Short Story

The Plan

Kayla's P.O.V.

"Alright, Maxine, it's time to work our magic! Go find Ollie, tell him the news, and get him back here. We're going to need all the hands we can get."

As Maxine dashes off, I begin to brainstorm. What would be the best way to get those two together without making it too planned? Call me a romantic, but I refuse to allow their... couple-get-together thing to be forced.

"What's up?" Ollie hollers cheerfully as he bounds over.

"Put your thinking cap on, we're planning a Jilly get-together," I reply.

"Nice! We get to play cupid!" Ollie grins.

"Alright now, ideas, ideas, ideas!"

"We could arrange to go somewhere, but all of us bail because we have things to do," Maxine suggests.

"We could set Gilly and Jocelyn against each other again and have Jax drag Gilly away before they do something stupid," Ollie says.

"You could get Jack in on the plan and make him pretend to have a crush on Gilly, then get Ollie to push Jax to confess his feelings before Jack makes a move." A new voice adds.

All three of us whip our heads around. Jocelyn is standing behind us, arms crossed and eyebrow raised.

"Oh my goodness!" I yelp, "Jocy, you're a genius! Why didn't any of us think of that?"

"Because I'm smarter than the rest of you?"Jocelyn suggests, "And don't call me that."

"Yes, yes, of course," I wave my hand absent-mindedly. "Ollie, do you happen to know where Jax is?"

Ollie looks at me, confused, "I think he's with his father for some political-princey things?"

Now it's my turn to look at him, confused, "Why would he be there?"

"I don't know, maybe because he's a prince?" 

"Huh? Since when is he a prince?" I exclaim.

"Kayla, are you ok? I think you hit your head," Ollie states bluntly.

"You said Jax instead of Jack, Kayla," Jocelyn clears things up.

Realization dawns on me, their names may very well be the end of me. "In that case, does anyone know where Jack is?"

"Probably in his room," Maxine says, shrugging, "But how exactly are we gonna do this?"

"We need to make it seem natural!" I exclaim, pacing back and forth, "We need to get Jack and Gilly to spend more time together first, then after a while, we plant the bomb, and let it explode."

I turn around eagerly to face the rest of them, only to be met with quizzical and confused faces. 

"Why do we need a bomb?" Ollie questions.

I blink at Ollie, "Umm, what? Never mind, moving on! Who's going to go find Jack? Actually, that's not even a question, Ollie, you go. The rest of us will stay and figure out the rest of the plan."

Ollie salutes before dashing off. I turn to the remainder of the group, "Alright! Details!"

Jax's P.O.V.

I stifle a yawn as the advisor continues to drone on about the issues with politics and money.

 Don't get me wrong, I do want to become a good ruler one day, and this is good practice, but it's really so dull. Besides, the only reason we're discussing this is because some nobles are starting to get greedy and want to take more money out of the commoners. 

If it were me, the solution would be simple: veto their idea. Sure, it'll probably anger some nobles, and I know I'm supposed to be viewing it from both sides, but they've got enough money already. I want to make the world a better place for everyone, not the minority who are already fairly privileged. 

Wow, Gilly would be proud of that line.

I really should be paying attention. Zoning back into the conversation, I focus on the files lying on Father's desk. It mostly consists of negotiations and deals across the empire, from Enchantasia to others beyond.

"That concludes my report," the advisor bows. 

Father gives him a sharp nod before thanking and dismissing him. "You can go too, Jax. We can discuss your thoughts and ideas later today."

"Alright, thank you." I say, trying to briskly leave the room without it being obvious.

Time to find Gilly and the others.

Sorry this chapter is kinda short, the next one will be longerrrrrr (I hope).