The Lonely King | Ongoing [New Edition]

03 | Full of Surprises

"I'll keep you my dirty little secret."

IT'S BEEN TWO weeks since I've arrived at Meilleur, and if I'm going to be completely honest, it was pretty boring. If you don't count unexpected encounters with the Royals and Bianca and her cronies on my first day, that is. Emily and I hit off right from the start, and now having lunch and dinner with her is practically a given.

Even though we've only been friends for half a month, it almost feels as if we've known each other for ages. By the third day of knowing her, we knew almost everything about each other, like how she tends to ramble when she's nervous and that her favourite colour's grey, because it reminds her of her first pet dog who had a coat of grey fur.

Emily also made sure to tell me all about the workings of Meilleur Academy, and what proper etiquette was around here. Of course, I never listened to her advice on how to act around her and always ended up getting stink-eyed by everyone around me. For some reason, I found it extremely amusing how easily offended these people were.

"Lexi, wait up!" Emily called out. I turned around and spotted my friend walking up to me. That's something else I've learned here at Meilleur, don't run unless you're in gym class. Even if you're late.

Why? Etiquette, Emily has so kindly explained. I will never understand rich people.

"You know it's much faster for you to just run, right?" I sighed when she finally caught up with me. Emily shot me a sheepish grin, tucking a strand of hair that had escaped her usual neat bun behind her ear.

"You know we're not supposed to do that," she said, hugging the textbooks in her arms close to her chest. "So, what's for lunch?"

"They're serving Japanese today," I told her, adjusting the strap of my knapsack that had gotten loose. "And we're late. Come on, let's go!"

"Alright, alright," Emily drawled, rolling her eyes playfully. "You and your darn Japanese food."

"You know it," I said, winking. As we made our way to the dining hall, Emily started up a conversation.

"So," she began, pausing. She glanced at me, making sure I was listening to her. "You heard about the Winter Semi-formal ball, right?"

"Yes," I answered casually, before stopping in my tracks and casting her a suspicious look. It wasn't like her to bring something up unless it was relevant. "Why do you ask?"

"I was just thinking that you should go. Since you're new to this place and this will be your first ball, no?" Emily asked. Tilting my head to one side, I contemplated going to the ball. It was on the second last Sunday of February, and I'd rather spend the weekend sleeping in instead of dressing up for a ball. Besides, going without a date would be pretty awkward.

"I don't have a dress, Em. Plus, I'm not very keen on attending alone," I sighed, biting my lip.

"You can borrow one of mine! I have way too many dresses," Emily offered, widening her eyes and casting me a pleading look.

"Still. The ball's this Sunday, and there's no way I'll be able to get a date by then. Besides, what's with the sudden interest in attending balls, Em? Two days ago, you were just talking about how annoying they were," I laughed, giving her a strange look. She was acting really strange, and now that I noticed it, she even looked a little strange today. She walked with a skip in her step and instead of her school blazer, which she never took off, she was wearing an over-sized grey sweater that didn't look her style at all. Then, just like magic, a lightbulb went off in my head.

"Oh my god. You have a date to the ball, don't you?" I gasped, my eyebrows shooting up in surprise. Just like I expected, Emily turned a vibrant shade of pink. There was no other explanation as to why she was acting so giddy and strange! It had to be a boy that's gotten her all hot and bothered.