Complicated

Chapter 18: They Know

Chapter 18

"I never realized how boring it is here." Parker said to me as he sat down in his seat in front of me.

"I know. Whenever I spend an extended amount of time in Castello, it's always a culture shock being back here." I laughed, crossing my legs.

"It's weird. Like when we went out with Adeline, everybody knew who we were."

"Well duh, we're royalty." I laughed.

"No, exactly. And then here, I mean, I feel like I'm programmed to feel like everybody's paying attention to me." Parker said, looking around the room.

I frowned, knowing what he was talking about.

"You're right, I do kind of feel like people are looking at us..." I sighed. "Well I mean we did just miss an entire week of school."

"True, true." Parker nodded with a sigh. "Incoming." He whispered as Oliver walked over to us.

He sat down in his seat next to Parker, looking at us with a completely straight face.

"Hey!" I said happily, knowing I had to keep up the charade until Parker talked to him.

"You know, the two of you are really full of shit with all of these lies." Oliver said coldly.

"Excuse me?" I asked quickly, taken aback by his sudden anger.

Oliver handed a magazine to Parker.

I leaned forwards, my eyes widening when I saw the cover.

It was People magazine.

It was a picture of William, Kate, Charlotte, and George in our formal sitting room, with Parker and I standing next to our grandmother in the background, all of us smiling.

"Page forty eight." Oliver said quietly.

Parker flipped to the page and I felt my stomach sink.

"Holy shit." I whispered, reaching over to pull the magazine closer to me as I looked at the the news article.

"Meet the eighteen year old girl about to take the throne of a beautiful island in the pacific ocean, known as Castello. Princess Scarlett has been first in line to the throne since she was ten years old, and rumors have been spreading that her day to reign may be a lot closer than she planned." Parker read out loud.

I scanned down the article, my heart sinking.

One the second page, there was a picture of Parker and I with Charlotte and George, the two of us were laughing with the little kids as we sat on the couch.

I didn't even know that these pictures had been taken.

"Yea, the lies you two have been telling me? Save it. I'm done with your shit." Oliver said harshly.

But I couldn't be bothered with paying attention to him right now.

With shaky hands, I took the magazine from Parker.

"Parker." I whispered. "I think we need to leave."

"What?" He frowned, giving me a confused look.

"Look, this is one of the most popular magazines at cash registers and judging by the looks we're getting, everybody has seen it. I'm pretty sure this is a security issue." I whispered.

Parker looked around the room. One of the juniors in our class was taking a picture of us but quickly put her phone down when she saw Parker looking at her.