The Inside Story

Chapter Two

  I hate mountains. 

As a city girl, I'm used to walking everywhere or riding a subway. I am not used to driving up hills of mountains in tiny yellow cars with luggage in the back seat. I frowned and reached for my phone.

  "Ari!" I groaned once she answered. 

  "Are you dying?" She asked. I sighed. 

  "I'm driving. Up a mountain. In a Fiat," I said. I heard talking on the other side of the line. 

  "Holden says you're an idiot for renting a Fiat," Ari told me. I sighed.

  "I know I am, it's just-" I started but then I stopped when I saw my gas gauge. 

  "Stella? You there?" Ari said. 

  "Ari. My car is out of gas," I said. 

  "Are you near your hotel?" Ari asked. 

  "I don't know there aren't any street signs here! I've just been driving around looking for the sign!" I exclaimed. I heard her talking to someone. 

  "Holden said that you should go to the nearest building, with your bags, and ask for help," Ari told me. 

  "Okay, I'll do that, I'll call you once I get to my hotel," I said, leaning back in my car seat.

  "Okay, don't die. If my best friend died in a small European country, I'd be very depressed," Ari said. I could almost hear the fake pout in her voice.

  "Bye, Ari," I said. 

  "Bye, Stella," she replied. I hung up and got out of the fiat. I got my bags out of the trunk and back seat, then went into the closest building. 

  It was warm and brick, and had an overall happy feeling. I walked up to a woman about my age sitting by a counter.

  "Hi, my car is messed up, I was wondering if I could get some help here," I said. 

  "Sure, my husband and Alex could probably help," she said. She ushered for me to follow her back into the building. As we walked down a hallway, I saw a sign that said Roquefort Orphanage. 

  "I'm Charlotte, but I go by Stella, my middle name, if I didn't say," I said awkwardly.

  "I'm Marie. It's nice to meet you," she said. We continued walking down the hallway until we stopped at a large door, and before she even opened it I could hear children screaming inside. 

  She gave me a smile that could only translate to 'I'm sorry if you get physically or mentally injured or die', and opened the door. There were kids everywhere. And they all started running towards us.

  "Hey, guys," Marie said, "have you seen John and Alex?" she asked. They all screamed that they were playing hide and seek, and they couldn't find them. "Oh, well I guess we'll just have to help you look," Marie said. 

  All the children and Marie began looking around the room. One little girl came up to me. 

  "Why aren't you looking for John and Alex?" she asked. 

  "I didn't know I was supposed to. Plus, I'm not very good at it," I said. She grabbed my hand.

  "I'll help you. I'm Cosette," she said. I smiled at her.

  "I'm Stella," I said. We were walking around by the windows, when Cosette tapped my arm. She pointed at the bottom of the curtains, where you could see shiny black shoes sticking out from underneath. I let go of her hand, and walked towards the curtain. I looked at her, and she nodded. I yanked the curtains away, to find a handsome man behind the curtain. He had brown hair, and a beard that very few could pull off,  and sparkling blue eyes. Although he was noticeably attractive, that wasn't the thing about him that caught me off guard. What did catch me off guard was the fact that I was looking at Prince Alexander.