Chapter 1
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I S A B E L L A
''RUN!'' I told Jason, my personal bodyguard as I saw some people who were wearing black coming at me. I don't think that I should tell him to run though, because he clearly has more common sense than I do. If I did have common sense, we wouldn't be in this position right now. We wouldn't be running away from the terrorists at 3:00PM, on a school day, in a mall, singlehanded.
''Yes, Your Highness.'' He joked as he took my hand and we started running. He knows that I hate being called Your Highness.
''How many times have I told you? Don't call me Your Highness. It makes me feel old. I'm just eighteen, like you!''
''I have been trained to call you Your Highness, Your Highness-''
''Now that's just repetitive, Jace.'' I teased him. Now you're probably thinking, they're running and they still have the decency to strike up a conversation? Let me tell you this, it's because everything about this- running away from the bad guys- it's normal. Well, as normal as it could be in my life. Sure, they're terrorists, but in my eighteen years of existence, they have never done anything to harm me. They show up from time to time at the places that I go to, but I'm not really bothered by it, to be honest. I was just trained to run whenever I see them. Never speak to them, never laugh at them, never look at them- just never associate myself with them. Ever.
I'm the Princess of the United Kingdom. I go to a private school- not an international school or not homeschooled, like most royals do. My parents, well my dad and my stepmom insisted that we should go to a school to be able to live a normal life.
''Your Highness, I think we lost them.'' He finally said after we ran for five minutes. I sighed in relief as I leaned to a wall. I was out of words. I couldn't speak as I kept panting. I looked at him and as usual, he was breathing calmly. How he does that, I have no idea. I mean, we ran like three miles! He was eighteen years old, like me. He was Asian. Chinese, to be exact. His parents and my mum were really close. I don't really remember much about my mum as she died when me and Kirstyn, my twin sister, were eight. However, Jason's parents abandoned him when he was three years old. I feel really bad for him. My mum abandoned me because she died, but his parents- they abandoned him. And they're somewhere in this planet. One day, his parents dropped him off at the Palace. His dad, Jake told my dad that they'd be getting him a few hours afterwards; they just had to do go somewhere. Hours, days, weeks, months, and years passed, yet his parents never claimed him. He doesn't really want to talk about it and he puts on this tough act by trying to be my bodyguard, even if really didn't have to, but I know that deep inside, it still hurts him up to this day.
''Belle? You okay?'' Ah, that was his nickname for me. See, we were really close. Like best friend close. From what I know, his family- well, his parents were poor. My mum was poor, too, and maybe that's how they became friends. My dad told me that when the Queen and the King of England- his parents met my mum, a girl who worked at a pub, they immediately didn't approve of her. My grandparents claimed that my mom just wanted my dad for wealth, position, and power. She proved them wrong, though. She proved all of them wrong. I don't know how she proved them wrong, because every time my dad gets to that part, he just tears up. It's obvious that he loves my mum so much, even when he married a new woman. My mum will always have a special place in his heart. That's all that I want. I didn't need him to not get married for the rest of his life to prove his loyalty to my mum. I just needed to know that he still loves her. That's all.
''Yeah, I was just thinking of the consequences that we're going to get when this news gets to my dad.'' Remember when I said that we wouldn't be in this position if it wasn't for me? Well, I have like five bodyguards with me, and they're supposed to be with me at all times. I convinced Jason to lose the bodyguards so I can have this afternoon off with my best friend.
