Princess In Training (Book 1)

Chapter 9

I woke up this morning and walked over to my closet to see a few outfits pulled out. I grab my light blue knee length strapless dress and black blazer along with my black wedge heels and change into the new outfit before trying to find my way through the castle down to the dining room for breakfast. I get down to the main wing of the castle and get over to one set of double doors. I open the door and peak in and do a mini happy dance when I realize that I made it to the dining room.

"Good morning!" I say as I walk into the room.
"Good morning sweetheart!" My dad says looking up from the paper.

"Good morning Sami. Are you ready for a mini lesson before breakfast?" She asks.

"Sure!" I say smiling.
"Ok this lesson is on how to sit or stand properly." El tells me.

"Wait, I actually already know this. I learned how to do this in theater." I say smiling.

"Oh really? Can you show me what you learned?" She asks and I nod. I keep my posture straight as I walk over to my chair and pull it out a bit and I keep my posture while sitting down and once I am seated I cross my ankles. Then I uncross my ankles and without using the arms of the chair I stand up while keeping my back straight. I then walk over to Eleanor and smile. "I am impressed. Go ahead and take your seat and enjoy your breakfast. I also put some reading material in your study so that you can learn some of the basic royal family history that most Genovian's learn in elementary school. There is also some stuff in there to read about Genovian traditions." She says as she takes her seat at the breakfast table.

"I cannot wait to read it." I say with a smile.

"Oh Samantha, I spoke with your grandmother the other day." He says.

"Your mom or mom's mom?" I ask.
"Your mother's mom." He replied. "She asked if you could come home soon to catch up on your school work and finish out your school year." He says. "Now, I made arrangements for you to move into a room at the Genovian embassy. You can either stay there or you can stay at your grandmothers. But I want you nowhere near your mother's house." He says.

"The last time I saw my mom we fought. These last few weeks that I have been here Eleanor has been more of a mother to me than my own mother ever was." I tell him.
"Ok, I have made arrangements for you to fly home at the beginning of next month. Your siblings are returning home the week before you leave so you will get to meet them before you leave." He says with a smile.

"That sounds wonderful." I say smiling.

"And you will be finished with your princess training before you leave. My only request is please keep your wardrobe, posture and appearance up to royal standard. Once you are announced as a royal, every picture that has ever been taken of you will find its way in to the public eye. So just be careful." She says and I nod my head. We finish breakfast in silence and I head back to my wing in search of my study. Once I find it I open the door to see a stack of papers on my desk. I walk over and start reading through everything. It's kind of funny, my family history is actually the stuff that the Princess Diaries is based off of. The royal name changed the same generation that the marriage law was abolished. Most of the traditions are the same as American traditions. I basically only learned that the movie Princess Diaries is based off my family history. After reading through everything I cleaned up the papers and was getting ready to head back to my suite when I hear a knock on the door. I open the door to see Eleanor standing there.

"Did you finish the readings?" She asks with a smile.
"Yes, I learned that the family history is all in a movie that I thought could never be a true story, and that the traditions are not all that different." I say smiling.

"Yea, surprising how that movie is the actual truth." She says with a small smile.

"So was there something you needed me for?" I ask her and she nods her head.
"I figured that since the last two princess lessons are very easy we may as well take care of them now." She says.

"Oh, ok." I say smiling and I follow her out of the room.

"Now one of the lessons is just plain common sense and the other is a little bit more of a technique thing. So the first lesson is how to act like a princess. This is common sense, make sure you treat everyone with kindness, sympathy and respect. It is one of the easiest lessons to learn." She says as we reach what I think is the ballroom.
"What is the second lesson?" I ask her.

"How to enter a ball." She says. "This is very easy to do." She says and as she says this I notice my father standing at the bottom of the stairs. "Everyone has an escort or a date for the ball. In the case of you and your siblings your brothers are normally your escorts." She explains. "Now couples will walk down the stairs, but when it comes time to introduce the royal family the gentlemen will all go down at once and the ladies are introduced singularly. This is much like our lesson of how to walk down the stairs in heels. You may rest your hand on the railing, don't look down to see where you are stepping, keep your eye on the crowd and keep a steady pace." She says and gestures for me to start walking. "Keep a smile on your face and your head held high. Once you reach the bottom your escort will bow and hold out his hand." Eleanor says just as my father does it. "You place your hand from the railing in his gently and he will help you off that last step and into the ballroom. Now when it is your birthday ball your father will meet you at the bottom and will guide you out to the center of the floor and you will have your father daughter dance." She says with a smile and I pull my dad into a hug.

"Thank you both for everything. But dad I have one question for you." I say after we pull apart from the hug.
"Yes sweetheart?" He says.
"You mentioned something about me leaving but nothing about me coming back." I say and his eyes light up in realization.

"Oh sweetie. You will be coming back beginning of June. You will be here for a short while and that is when your life will get a little bit crazy." He explains.
"What do you mean?" I ask him and he guides me over to a couch in the ballroom.
"Well if you choose to acknowledge that you have royal blood and that you plan to take over the crown when you are 21, then you have your royal declarations that you have to do both here and in America, along with the few royal events you need to attend before you commit and you need to start college and move into the castle full time. There is a lot of stuff that will be happening for you and it will involve a lot of flying on your end unfortunately and we will have to begin finding you a security team." He says.

"Oh wow." I say looking down at my hands in my lap.
"Everything is going to change but we are going to do our best to help make it as easy as possible for you." He says smiling.