I'll Protect You (Original Version)

Introducing Park Sparrow, Princess of Cimeria

* * *

Park

Behind the iron gates that fenced in the academy, crowds and crowds of students were gathered in the front, chattering loudly in either large groups or seclusive clusters. It was one of the few times I actually saw the school gathered together in one place. An international academy was always crowded, but here, the biggest crowd was in classrooms. Because advanced students from around the world actually enjoy sitting in a classroom.

And then I remembered what today was.

Yes, today was that day. The spring finals had recently finished and today they would be posting the results up onto the bulletin board in the middle of Entrance Hall. Why? Because everyone needs to know if they're better than others.

Cross Academy was an international boarding school welcoming students of advanced education. In short, it was an a rich school filled with your day to day geniuses. It was located in Paradise, Montana, near the border of Canada. Cross Academy offers one of the most advanced curriculum, a seven story manor like building built almost two hundred years ago. It had top notch protection and security, and not to mention discipline was consistently demonstrated. We offer five-star breakfasts, lunches, and dinners, along with three-hundred dollar....everything.

In order to pass a year, one must pass four finals. Autumn finals, winter finals, spring finals, and summer finals. They were very complicated tests filled with questions that would probably never actually happen in a real-life situation (even though the academy swears that everything we do here is to prep the students for reality).

At the end of each final, the administrations post up four sheets of paper. There are twenty-five names on each paper. A hundred ranks total. Rank number one reserved for the smartest kid to have ever existed; rank one hundred means you just got super lucky. But hey, if you make it into the top hundred, congratulations, you just got a chance to talk to Logan Cross.

Seeing as how I'm part of a rather expensive school, I should be pretty smart. I was, but no one needed to know that. Never once had my name, Park Sparrow, been typed in Times New Roman font, and plastered onto white paper that was taped onto a white bulletin board that was drilled into the middle of the Entrance Hall.

Logan Cross' name was, however.

As I was pushed along with the wave of people to the very front of the crowd, I saw his name by the number one. Like usually. Nothing new, nothing spectacular. You'd think that after six years, people would stop fawning over him, but nooooo. Every darn day I had to spend seven hours watching his fan club trail him, asking him for help on last night's study work, or ask him what his favorite color was. I chuckled to myself at the thought; I knew exactly what it was like to be in the limelight, to have everyone trip over themselves just to have you smile at them. But, my dear readers, I do not bask in the glow of admiration unlike someone (and this is where I inadvertantly cought Logan Cross).

And speak of the devil, there he was. It was as if I had a sixth sense that could track down where Logan Cross was, so I could run away and be sane for just a while longer.

Logan Freaking Cross. His name could be a curse word. It is, actually, but only in my dictionary. I remembered the day when I first talked to him. I expected my name to flow from his lips smoothly and how my heart would be rapidly. I imagined it so many ways. I dreamed of being recognized by Logan Cross. Being his friend even.

I was an idiot back then.

The school was crowded like today. He was shorter back then, but first years are always short. Unfortunately, I was a bit extra short at that time. I still preferred the word "fun-sized." Anyway, fun or not, no one noticed me standing there and had kneed me in the leg causing me to stumble straight into my prince on a white horse.