Beautiful Dreams

Chapter Eleven

When I wake up in the morning, I hear a knock on my bedroom door. I quickly sit up, wipe my eyes on my quilt and take a deep breath.

"Hey, can I come in?" my Mum says as she puts her head in the door.

"Yeah, come in," I say moving over to one side of the bed.

"I heard about last night," she says to me. "Steven, Justin and Claire told me last night after you went to bed." She tells me after I gave her a quizzical look.

"Mum, what's going to happen to Steven for what he did last night?" I ask worriedly about Steven.

"We meet with the principal at eleven and he asked for you to be there too," she tells me.

"I can handle it," I say more to convince myself than to convince my Mum.

"That's not all. We also have a meeting with the king to discuss the change that we will need to make for your crowning," she tells me looking worried about whether I can handle the meeting or not.

"I can handle it, Mum, it needs to be done so it'll be done," I tell her with as much confidence as I can manage.

"Well if you're sure we have to get ready quickly because the meet with the principal is in an hour," she tells me as she goes to leave. Just as she reaches the door, she stops and turns back and says "wear something nice for the meeting with the king."

I get up and pick out a nice full length white floral print dress and a matching pair of ballet flats. I go to the bathroom, race through my bathroom routine and get dressed before returning to my room. When I reach my room, I put my hair up in a plait down my back and place a flower clip on the end of the plait so that the hair tie wasn't showing. I quickly put on some lip gloss and perfume and head downstairs to meet my Mum and Steven.

"Are we ready to go?" Mum asks Steven and me.

"Could I drive please, Mum?" I ask politely.

"Yes," she says passing me my keys and heading out to the garage.

I quickly unlock the car and climb into the driver's seat. Once everyone is in the car and have their seatbelts buckled up, I back out of the garage and head the school, which is a fifteen minute drive from our house. When we arrive at the school, I look at the front gardens and fall in love with them all over again. There are small gardens dotted around the front of the school that are full of roses, multicoloured marigolds, snapdragons, pansies, ferns, Asiatic lilies, birds of paradise, anemone and orchids. There are trees around the grounds to provide shade for students to sit under at lunch and enjoy the nice weather. I look up at the buildings and see elegant old windows and classic style buildings that host the classrooms and the office, which is where we head.

When we enter the office building, Mum talks to the receptionist who leads us down the hall into a room. A middle-aged man sits in a leather swivel chair behind a large mahogany desk with neatly organized stacks of paper on it. Behind him is two large wooden bookshelves full of classic books. Against the side wall is a small cluster of filing cabinets. I sit down in the corner and quietly observe the meeting.

I sit at a long table with King Ian Villegas, Prince Zach Daltroy, Prince Joseph Villegas, Princess Maria Kamowitz and my mother. We discuss what is to be done for my crowning ceremony now that Michael is no longer in the picture. King Ian has grey hair, emerald green eyes, and a round face and is tall with a small build. Prince Joseph has blonde-brown hair, icy blue eyes, and a medium build and is very tall. Princess Maria is short with black hair in a short pixie cut, blue eyes so dark they could be black with a slender build.

"I have a nephew who Princess Kayla has meet. He is a sweet, gentle boy., He is more than willing to become friends with Princess Kayla and if necessary be her escort for her crowning," Prince Zach says after we've chased ideas around for the last several hours.

"If it's okay with Kayla then I have no objection to that idea especially since we haven't had any better ideas over the past couple of hours. Kayla, what do you say?" King Ian asks me earnestly.

"I'm willing to be his friend, but it isn't a guarantee of anything, I won't make any promises," I say politely.

"If you like I can take you to see him now," says Prince Zach.

"Sure," I reply standing up.

Prince Zach stands up and leads me out of the room through a series of halls down to a quiet corner of the courtyard. A young man sits there. He's wearing a cream coloured short sleeved men's V-neck shirt, a pair of pale brown khaki pants and oxford shoes. He sits on a bench reading a copy of The Giver and when he looks up I realize that it's Josh.