A Royal Adventure [Ongoing]

Twelve

'What are you doing this weekend?' Charlie was looking at Pen, but he kept glancing at me, his textbook, as always, in his hands.

Pen shrugged. 'Nothing. Why?'

Charlie stared at the table and then glanced at Saunders. 'I just – it's my birthday.'

Saunders sighed and cut in. 'What he's trying to do is invite you both over for tea, on Sunday.'

'I can do my own asking thank you,' Charlie said, picking up his textbook to bash his friend on the head. Saunders dodged away in time.

Penelope rolled her eyes. 'We'd love to come – wouldn't we Alex?'

'Sure,' I said, surprised at even being asked anywhere. It didn't matter that I had spent the last few weekends in the company of the group, I was still surprised that they really wanted to include me. 'That sounds great.'

'Excellent.' Charlie beamed.

Saunders, for some reason, smirked.

And that was that. It would be the first time that I had visited someone's home like this, and I was nervous. For one thing, without the strict structures and routines of the school, there would be no rules I could follow. And I was used to lots of rules.

Sunday rolled round, and Pen was excitedly getting ready,

Charlie's house was what I would have thought of if I had imagined a stereotypical English home. The feeling of stepping into a home made me yearn for my home – not that there was much home for me to go back to, but all the same, I longed for that feeling of being home – just for a little while. I shook the thoughts from my mind and pulled my jacket closer to my body.

I didn't know why I was so nervous. I supposed that I was just waiting for the moment that someone saw through me and realised the truth. Penelope had rung the doorbell and was chattering away all the time we walked from school to Charlie's house. It was the first time that I had left the school grounds in a while and it felt strange to be outside of it's boundaries. I hadn't realised that Charlie lived so close by.

I was conscious too of the fact that we weren't alone. I was well attuned to knowing when security were around, and I could see the black car in sight, Gustave's watching eyes always on me, all the time. Penelope, thankfully, didn't notice a thing. If you didn't know what to look for then I imagined that you wouldn't spot the signs.

A small woman with greying hair tied back and an apron on over her clothes answered the door.

'Mrs B,' exclaimed Penelope, who had told me that she had met Charlie's mum on a few occasions before.

'Penelope, how good to see you – come on in. And you must be Alex.' She looked at me and smiled.

I nodded, wanting to run away, but my upbringing kicked in and I found myself speaking words I thought I had forgotten. It didn't take long before I did begin to feel more relaxed. It helped that as soon as we were in the house, and Mrs B was telling us not to worry about taking our shoes off, and telling us where to leave our coats, we heard Saunders loud booming voice. 'Come on through,' Mrs B said, 'I hope you're hungry – we've got plenty of food.'

There were only a few people there besides us. The rest of Charlie's family were of course there, and there was a striking family resemblance. There were a couple of other boys there, who I soon discovered were in Charlie's physics class. Otherwise, that was it. It was intimate, and it was nice to be included. This was a real glimpse at English family life and I had never expected to get it.

Charlie's mum had been right about the food however. There was plenty of it and it was all very sweet. I was still getting used to English food – it was always either incredibly sweet or incredibly stodgy and heavy. Sometimes I missed the food from home. It was so different.

Later, when Charlie's family had dispersed – his sisters arguing about something – and the other boys playing an xbox game, I found myself sitting next to Charlie.

'Thanks for coming,' he said to me.

'Thanks for inviting me. It's been nice. My first ever English home.'

He laughed at that. 'Does Pen have lots of trips planned for you then?'

'She's got a whole schedule. But it's good, otherwise I'll never see anything.' I paused. 'Maybe you should come sometime. If you're not studying.'

'That would be nice.'

'Great.'

'Where's the next one?'

'I don't know yet. We're working our way round all the London sights.'

'Sounds exhausting.'

'I won't get another chance so,' I shrugged.

'Where is it that you're from again?'

'Tiny country in Europe. You won't have heard of it. It probably has the population of this village.' That was a tiny bit of an exaggeration, but still.

Charlie was about to continue, but Saunders yelled over, 'Charlie, mate, help me get through this stage yeah? I know you've completed the whole thing.'

And so Charlie, with a slightly regretful smile, headed over to help his friend. I wasn't' there alone for long before Pen came in and flopped on the sofa. 'I'm so full,' she groaned. 'Don't let me eat so much again.'

'I'll try not to.' I smiled.

'We should get back soon. It'll be sign in time before we know it. Can't have Cinderella out too late.'

I laughed. 'Come on then,' I said offering her my hand. 'Let's head back before it's too dark.'

Grumbling, she let me pull her up and we went over to the boys to say our goodbyes. And so that was the first afternoon I spent with Charlie. I hadn't realised then quite how I would fall for him in all his quiet, intense ways.