The Converse Princess

9- Working

The dinning room was huge, so the next day at breakfast I felt lonely. My maids, and a butler stood in the room not saying or doing anything as I ate the breakfast I was made. It was much nicer than a bowl of fruit-loops and burnt toast.

Half way through the meal though the advisor came in, squeaking at my dead and tired, hunched form siting in such an elegant room. He scuffles over, placing folders of papers down beside me. I look up at him with a questionable look. "What's this?"

"Paper work. You will need to sign, adjust and agree to everyone of these, your highness." He bows and walks out, leaving me gobsmacked.

I turn to the three people in the room, jaw dropped and eyes wide. "I have to sign all this?" They nod, very hesitantly though. Groaning aloud I push my empty plate away and grab a stack, the red pen and start signing.

---

      Later, when lunch rolls around the stacks had dispersed little by little until I only had fifty more left. It wasn't an easy job, I had to read over everything, sign, seal it and re-read in case there was something I missed.

My hand was aching and sore, and I knew I needed a break; no one could finish this all in a day! Right? I turn to the butler, who was placing my food down and shifting the folders away. "Does this all have to be done in a day?"

"Of course not," I sigh in relief, sinking into my chair. "Until you are the queen, in which it must be completed in a day. And there is much more than this. The queen has the rest in her office." He talked so officially it actually was scaring me. There were more papers? My grandmother did all of them in a day? "And there are stacks to be completed daily,"

I groan loudly, falling to the floor in dismay, causing him to bend over and quirk a grey brow at me. I needed a nap.

---

The nap went out the window. Instead I went for a walk in the garden (I always went outside at home, it was my favourite place). I followed the path as much as I could before I saw something that caught my eye. It was a rose, a white one, surrounded by vines and nothing more, and it seemed the vines made an opening, an arch way almost.

      I walk over, looking around and nodding to myself when I see no one around, and that it was truly in the middle of nowhere. I turn to the vines once more, and duck under to get through. The rose was shimmering in the sun, little drops of dew hung to its petals. It was kind of strange- a simple white rose in the middle of a vine cage? Strange indeed.

The sun was shining down in it, making everything seem like a halo. I couldn't help it- I walked over and touched the petals, entranced almost. "It only blooms every hundred years." I whip around, coming face to face with a boy– maybe a few years older than me who is wearing gardening clothes.

"I-I'm sorry! It's not my place to wonder and–" I was stuttering, great. What kind of future queen stutters?

But he only shook his head. "It only blooms every hundred years when it knows something big is about to happen. And–" his green eyes flicker to the rose. "Usually no one can find it, unless you're special. I only know where it is because my family has always taken care of it- for generations. It's something we've always enjoyed doing."

I smile at him briefly, holding my hand out. "Kaylin Adams, future queen of England." His eyes widen and he drops to a bow quickly, muttering apologizes. I roll my eyes and tell him to stand, to which he does.

"Let me repeat myself. My name is Kaylin Adams and yes I'm the future queen, but I want to make friends, and you seem pretty cool so please no bowing and call me by my name." His green eyes smile as he nods frantically.

"Cool, I'm Derek, Derek Green. It's a pleasure to meet you Kaylin."

---

Someone was knocking on my back, trying to wake me up. Finally they yank my hair, successfully waking me. I snap up, eyes narrowing and turning to Derek, the smirking eighteen year-old boy I met last week.

"What?" I mutter, shuffling the files on the desk. I must have fallen asleep while working... I look outside, eyes wide when I see its dark out. "How long was I out for?" Instantly I rub my eyes, shaking my head out.

"Few hours. You were supposed to come visit the rose with me today so when you never showed up something must've been wrong. In the week I've known you, you've never wanted to work and always wanted to be outside or in the library."

Derek and I had daily get-togethers to the garden and sometimes I would invite him for tea in the library and go on about Harry Potter. I hadn't thought I would have made friends in England but I was clearly wrong. "Let me make it up to you! Tomorrow the Cursed Child play is on, I can see if we can get front seats and back stage passes! Oh, that'd be fuuunn." I wiggle my brows.

Derek starts laughing, agreeing. Apparently he was a huge Harry Potter fan as well. But his face fell. "The queens coming back tomorrow, Kaylin. You'll have to be there to welcome her back– it's your duty as crown-princess." I roll my eyes.

"We'll go to the play, and it'll end in time to see the queen back home. Promise. Let me make a few calls, then. It's all settled! Tomorrow we're seeing a play!"

--

      That night, one a.m. I couldn't sleep. I kept tossing and turning, rubbing my eyes and playing with my hair. Finally I turned to my nightstand, place the key in the whole of the music box and lay back down as the soft music plays.

      I turn to the ceiling, smiling softly as my eyes drop. "I love you, Isaac."