Rarer Than Gems

Chapter 4 - The good, the crazy & the just plain obnoxious

It was an early afternoon- the eve of Prince Antoine's birthday, and the ten maidens were seated downstairs in the huge and elegant living room, excitedly waiting for Prince Antoine. He began to walk down the stairs.

'EEEEEEEEKKKKKKK!!!', they began to squeal.

Prince Antoine was very alarmed.
'What is wrong with them?!?', he thought to himself. 'I've never seen such...........', his stream of thought was interrupted by more screaming.

'OH MY GOSH!!! PRINCE ANTOINE, I LOVE YOU!!!!'

'I WOULD DIE FOR YOU!!!'

'OUR KIDS WOULD LOOK SO CUTE!!!!'

'Okay ladies, that's enough', Princess Amia said as politely as she could, forcing a smile on her face.

They didn't listen to her and continued screaming excitedly.

            'SHUT UP!!!!!!!!!!!!'
The noise immediately ceased.

'Finally. As you all know, this is Prince Antoine of France', she said, pointing towards him. 'He will be granting each of you an audience today. You will all wait here till you are called upon to meet with him in the palace library and one more thing, no funny business or you and your whole family will no longer have residence in France! Am I clearly understood?'

They all nodded in agreement, with fear clearly written all over their faces. 'Good then. Let's begin'. Her phone rang. 'I have a call. I'll check back later Antoine', she said as she left.

GIRL NO. 1
'Good day. What is your name?', Prince Antoine asked.

'Mmmmm me ma my name n n na name is umm yyyour n na name ah ah and I um', then she fainted.

GIRL NO. 2
'Oh, I see you have a basketball bracelet', he said; being very observant. 'Are you a fan of basketball?'

She replied, 'Yes........... I mean no...........well actually, that depends.................are you?'

GIRL NO. 3
After attempting to cut off a lock of his hair......................

'GUARDS!!!! GUARDS!!!!', Prince Antoine screamed frantically as he jumped up on the table, pushing her away with a one of the decorative shields.
        The guards rushed in and began to drag her away.
'PRINCE ANTOINE! WE'RE SOULMATES!!! I KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT YOU- YOUR BLOOD GROUP, YOUR GENOTYPE, YOUR HABITS, EVEN YOUR LIKES AND DISLIKES!!!!!!!!......................NO!!!!! PRINCE ANTOINE I LOVE YOU!!!!!!'

'Well thank you, that's very nice. Goodbye!', he said as a maid helped him off the table, his hair all ruffled up.

GIRL NO. 4
".........and when my ex boyfriend, Nick, broke up with me, I was like totally depressed but......", she continued to talk on and on and on.

"Uh-huh", Antoine said in agreement, as he thought, I just asked for her name!!!

GIRL NO. 5
Bonjour Monsieur!!! So, uh..........
..do you like croissants?

GIRL NO. 6
'SELFIE WITH THE PRINCE!!!!!', she said as she aimed her phone at him.

'NO!!!!!!!! THAT'S NOT EXACTLY ALLOWED!!!!!', he said as he used his hands to block the phone's camera and bent his head.

GIRL NO. 7
'I've always wondered what it'd be like to have a staring contest with a royal', she said.
                  (Awkward silence)

GIRL NO. 8
'Knock, knock', she said.

'Who's there', he replied.

'Princess'

'Princess who?'

'Princess me, your new wife!!!'

GIRL NO. 9
'I CAN'T DO THIS, I BELONG TO SOMEONE ELSE............', she said.

'Uhhhhhh...................what?!', he was dumbfounded.

'Goodbye my love, or should I say............farewell, Antoine dearest'

GIRL NO. 10
'This whole day has been a huge mistake', Prince Antoine said to himself, slouched back in his chair. 'Finally, the last girl, so this day can finally end. I just hope she's not...............', his sentence was cut short when a stunning, young girl in a short and simple dress with flats to match, walked into the room, and said, 'Good day, your highness. It's a pleasure to meet you'. He froze and his mouth was left slightly ajar for a few seconds, then he regained himself and immediately jumped up, as she shook his hand.

'The pleasure is all mine', he said, still very much astonished by her good looks. She had an enviable figure, Brown eyes, long, black hair and rosy cheeks.

'My name is pr...............um, pardon me, I mean Valerie. My name is Valerie', she said.

'So Valerie, what are your hobbies?', he asked.

'Oh, I absolutely adore horseback riding, cricket and crochet.'

'Um, okay', he said. 'I must say Valerie, you are the most coordinated girl I've met today.'

'Thank you, your highness', she said with a smile on her face.

          The conversation went on for quite sometime with both of them realizing they had alot in common.

'Ha ha ha ha! Oh Prince Antoine, you are so hilarious' she said.

'It's been a wonderful time with you Valerie. So, um..............', he became nervous. 'I was wondering...............'

'Yes, Prince Antoine'

'Would you,um, like to be in attendance of the royal ball?', he said, as shy as a teenager asking a girl to prom.

'I would love to', she said.

'Well, um', he cleared his throat. 'That would be wonderful', he said as they both stood up from their seats. 'I will see you then, Valerie.'

'Until then, Prince Antoine', she said with a giggle and a slight blush on her face, which made him to blush also. 'Goodbye.'

'Goodbye. I'll miss you', why did I just say that!?!?!, he thought to himself. 'Um, what I meant to say was I'll meet you at the ball, tomorrow, that is', he said, nervously.

'Yes indeed', she said and smiled, fully understanding what he actually meant.

   He walked her out of the palace then walked back in, lost in thought.

'Antoine, snap out of it!!!!', Princess Amia said. 'Don't you know that it's very weird to walk around smiling to yourself?!'

'Wait, what?! I was smiling?'

'Yes you were, a lot. What were you thinking of?'

'Oh, never mind sister.'

'So, how did everything go?', she asked.

'All I can say is that today has been a total disaster...........well, almost a total disaster', he said as he began to smile again, unknowingly .

'Antoine', his sister smiled also. 'What's that supposed to mean?'

'Well, one of the girls was quite.................remarkable, and everything went well, other than the fact that I embarrassed myself.'

'Any girl who can possibly make you embarass yourself MUST be special. So, what did you do???'

'I don't want to talk about it Amia.'

'Alright then, but did you invite her to the ball?'

'Yes, I did.'

'Fine. Now, you go get some rest and watch as the events unfold!', she sounded oddly excited. Beyond the shock, he simply replied,

'Yes sister, I will'