Chapter 1- Forced Royal
I sit at detention. I look around anxiously. The walls are a dull brown, the desks creak and are old, the windows are filthy and covered in grime, the room smells of mold, and dust flies around everywhere occasionally, making me sneeze. I've never been in detention before, and I'm about to graduate high school since I'm seventeen, going to turn eighteen tomorrow. I guess you could consider me a "goody goody" but I'm not girly like some goody goodies. I look around at some of the other people here. The jocks... The gangsters... The gangsters' girlfriends, and the list goes on. There's about twenty other teenagers in the room. There's about five "jocks" or football [What Americans used to call "soccer"] players. There's sixteen gangsters and four of their girlfriends. And then, there's me. I sit alone in the back right corner of the room. I guess you could call me shy. I don't like talking to most people because I think they are mostly arrogant and selfish.
I go to a high class school in London, England. Honestly, I wasn't going to be able to afford it, but the government pays for my education, luckily. My brother and I both have part-time jobs. My brother is twenty-two years old, and he told me he faintly remembers our parents. See, I grew up without parents, and I was in foster care all my life. I've had a fairly alright life, but I have had to work harder than most teens my age, so I can help my brother put petrol in the car and put food on the table. My brother and I have stuck together throughout foster care, but once he legally became an adult, he didn't have to be in foster care anymore. He technically "adopted" me, and the government allowed him to since we were both teenagers and it was possible for us to take care of each other.
Anyways, him and I have lived together alone without foster parents since I was fourteen, four years to be exact. My brother said that our parents, Shelley and Zachary Touris, both died right after I was born and the king and queen declared that we go into foster care.
The government is run different here, in England, than it was centuries ago. The queen, king, princess, and prince used to be like "mascots" for the government a long time ago. I think that is rather funny now, because they went back to certain old times but still have our modern technology involved, too. The women in the castle wear Victorian-styled dresses, but the men wear regular tuxes. They eat off what seems like to be perfect china and they walk up beautiful elegant staircases that they had in the old times, but they have several Lookingviews, or what people used to call the old models of them, "Television sets". I studied in Social Studies that TVs were similar to Lookingviews, but less advanced. Lookingviews project 3D models of the people and surroundings that's in the film or the shows around the room, so it feels like you're actually in that spot with characters. You get the full experience, and you can touch the people and surroundings too, but they don't react to you, of course, or it would be a little distracting messing around with all the knick-knacks around you.
Anyways, I sat in the corner of the room, staring at a digital clock in the front of the room. I have been here for about an hour and fifty-five minutes.
Five more minutes...
Four more minutes...
Three more minutes...
Two more minutes...
A minute and a half...
One minute...
Do I even have a life?
Half a minute...
Almost... Almost...
When the numbers change to 5:00:00, I jump up out of my seat. Now, we tell time involved with the seconds, too. I grab my LivingSquare [What people used to call "Tablets" or "iPads"]. We call them LivingSquares because they are shaped like a square and they're part of our daily lives. They do everything for us. We pay for items using it, we check our medical things such as blood pressure, metabolism, et cetera. We do everything with them, but we still do get out. We exercise, go to actual stores, and other active activities.
Before the United States of America fell thousands and thousands of years ago, they went through this Technological Era where they did everything over their "Tablets" and "phones" and they surrounded their lives with technology. Americans became so indulged into their electronics that, over centuries, they became inactive. School was done over the internet [which had high percentages of drop-outs], talking was done over the internet at all times, and it slowly eliminated all human reaction in person. They isolated themselves from the world. England tried to communicate with them and do some business with them, but they had their noses stuck in their technology that they weren't willing to work with us at that time. Many British people now see them as lazy. (A/N: This isn't meant to offend anybody. I'm an American myself.)Laziness is a trait I hope to never have, and I despise it. They say that laziness took them over, and they aggravated us. England took control of the United States of America and we improved the people who were left there. We taught them that technology is fun, but you have to limit it. You have to live your life to the fullest, and cannot live your life staring at a screen. So now, the ruins of the once successful USA is now part of England. I don't live there, though. I like it here in London! With Big Ben, some lovely castles, and clothing boutiques everywhere! I enjoy it here, but you have to make sure you have an umbrella with you at all times.
I jumped up with my LivingSquare, and, with my head down, I exit the detention room and go straight to the front doors. One of the football players comes up, and tugs at my straight dirty blonde hair. I ignore him, and stare down at my black converse. I also wear a tight purple T-shirt and some dark blue bootcut jeans.
I look up to find my brother and his friend which is also my best friend, too, picking me up in my brother's small blue truck. I open the door to the electric-powered truck, and squeezed in the back. My brother, Miles, starts driving to our apartment.
"So how was detention?" He asks.
"Awful!" I exclaim.
"How'd ya actually get into detention?" Jasper asks.
"Someone was bullying this girl, and I stood up for her. The bully was a teacher's pet so he told a teacher I was picking on him, and Boom! Got detention! I was mad... But, oh well, couldn't do anything about it..." I say.
"Smooth," Jasper and Miles state.
"Oh please! Just take me home, okay?" I say while laughing.
"Okay then, Miss Troublemaker!" Jasper jokes.
I roll my eyes, "It's Arizona! Not 'Miss Troublemaker!'"
Miles drops Jasper off at his place, and I wave bye. I have known him since I was five. He is eighteen going onto nineteen. He hasn't gone to college, and he says he doesn't want to. He thinks he can get around fine without a college degree. I wouldn't necessarily call him the "bad boy" of the community but he's that boy that has a tiny edge to him. He doesn't smoke or do drugs or anything like that. He doesn't even swear. He just seems like he is a little "edgy" by his looks since he has messy black hair and black eyes that sparkle. He is really sweet and caring though. I just don't see how anybody could think of him as a "bad boy" when he is truly the sweetest person I know.
Miles and I both have the same straight blonde hair and the same electric green eyes.
Miles pulls up in our apartment parking section, and we get out. Our apartment is on the first floor. I unlock the door and go inside. I notice that Miles stays back by his car.
"Coming?" I ask.
"Yea, in just a bit. I'm just going to check something real quick!" He says.
"Okay," I say as I shut the door.
He was acting a lil funny, and I think I know why. I grin to myself as I go in my room, realizing my birthday is tomorrow. On March 8th, I will officially be an adult. I smile and change into some fuzzy pajama pants and a V-neck T-shirt. I rip my converse off and slip some fuzzy boots on my feet. I didn't wear makeup today, I rarely do. I pull my hair up in a bun, and enjoy my Friday night. I pop popcorn and put a chick flick in my LookingView. A really good Friday Night!
A/N: Thank you to @ML_Brooks for making this lovely cover. Please comment and let me know what you think of this! I came up with this idea a while back, and thought I'd give it a chance. If you do like it so far, please spread the word about it. Thank you, wonderful readers! THIS WILL GO UNDER SOME SERIOUS EDITING!
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Forced Royal
General FictionArizona Touris is content with her simple but beautiful life with her brother, Miles, and her best friend, Jasper. But when her eighteenth birthday comes around, Arizona is forced to marry the prince. While people tell the couple that they'll grow t...