The Kropp Princes (Prequel to Warhol)

Chapter 2: Feel

Remington's POV

These days have been feeling like walking in a rut a hundred times over and over again with barely any shift in our direction. The only thing that made it any different was when I had school. Even though it was my second year in high school, I still felt like a newbie, and worse like an outcast, since I was good in all my classes and didn't have many friends. I was happy to make my parents proud of me, but it'd be nice if I didn't feel like such freak. The jerks in the halls that made me feel worse than I already did just gave me more reason to not end up like them, but that doesn't mean I have a bit of an angry streak building up inside of me.

It isn't all too bad, though. These two really nice kids named Harley and Nico sometimes let me sit with them during at lunch, and we talk about our obsession with Harry Potter and fantasy books. They have to be careful, though, because their parents are afraid that them associating with a prince will get them in trouble or something, but they do their best not to make me feel alone. My brothers try to help, but Sebastian is a senior and Emerson hasn't even started yet. When we're not at home though, Sebastian is like our father-figure in the sense that he looks out for us and makes sure we don't get into any trouble. I admire him for that, but sometimes it's a little annoying. Still, our father doesn't make much of an effort, so I can't complain.

As I counted the seconds until school was over, I had a feeling that today would be different than most days, which was weird. Like, something about today would change our lives and nothing would be there same again. As I walked out of my class, a few girls looked at me like I was a bug or something. I ignored them the best I could, but even as a prince, I couldn't get respect even if I tried. I dismissed the thought as I found my brothers, and we all got into our royal chariot. Our driver, Kellin, asked us how our day was. We each responded politely. "It was okay, Kellin. Thanks for asking." Then, he turned his attention away from steering to us for a minute and told us with a light mood in his tone, "The Queen would like to speak with you when you arrive back to the castle."

Sebastian's POV

I was a little nervous as we walked out of carriage and walked though the gates of the castle. What did our mother want to tell us? Hopefully, it had nothing to do with our father. I've noticed we've been a little unenthusiastic about our activities for the last few day, but it's hard to keep a smile on your face when you're stuck doing the same thing everyday of your life, thus making it seem lifeless. I really hoped that my brothers wouldn't get in trouble, either. I mean, we're not all perfect, but they really do their best to make our parents happy and we make sure none or all of us get in trouble so no one feels excluded or more privileged since we only have each other against everyone else who judges us because of our father or just for being ourselves.

When we got up to our parents throne room, we found our mother but our father was nowhere to be seen. "Where's father?", I asked. She was sitting on a sofa reading and looked up when she heard us. "He had some business to attend to in another kingdom. He probably won't be back until tomorrow." I looked at my brothers and them at me in surprise. Our father doesn't usually attend business outside of the kingdom or the castle at the very least. I decided to look at the positive side of this as our mother continued speaking. "I needed to speak with you boys because I know that it's been a little dull lately for you." Emerson spoke with a worried tone, "Oh, mother, we're not-" She cut him off, "Please, Emerson. I know you all very well and understand you were just trying to be polite for me and your father." I looked at my feet in hopes she wasn't too shameful. "And I appreciate you are just trying to be good boys, but I want to give you boys a little reward for not causing any trouble for us."

Remington asked her, "what do you mean, a reward?" She smiled as she got up from the sofa. "A few of my friend's daughters, Lizzie, Leigh, and Maddie, invited me to attend a music show and said I could invite others if I wanted to, and I thought you boys deserve some entertainment more than anything in the world." We ended up looking at her in disbelief. Our mother, the Queen, wanted to take her prince sons to a concert? I tried to convince myself she was joking, but our mother wasn't cruel, unlike our father. Then, she spoke again, breaking us out of our spell. "Well, if you don't want to go and prefer to continue your routines, I don't mind going myself", she said teasing us. "No, no!" We all exclaimed like little kids. "We want to go. If it's okay with you", I said to her. She smiled and invited us to a hug, and we joined in as she said, "I can't wait to have a wonderful time with my princes."

Emerson's POV

When we got to the concert hall with our mother, we met her friend named Doris, and her daughters Lizzie, Leigh and Maddie. They were all such kind and beautiful girls, and one of them was a bit starstruck to see us. Then their mother spoke to us, "It's such an honor to meet with the princes of the kingdom. You boys are a shining example of our future." Remington responded kindly, "Thank you so much. And thank you for inviting our mother. We're very grateful." "Oh, absolutely. Are you boys excited?" "Yes, only who are we seeing exactly?" "Why, we're seeing the boy band, Hanson!" We smiled politely, but we never of such a band. Our father believed that knowing only about classical and traditional music would make us smarter and less ignorant.

We went inside and found seats high above the stage, and we were able to get a perfect view. The hall was big and there were a lot of people here, mostly young people like us. They must be very famous to have a huge crowd like this. A few teens noticed us, and waved at us. We waved back, and they had the cutest smiles when we did. Then, it was time for the show to start. When the band came out, I noticed they were young boys like us and they looked like brothers like us. The show was something I would never forget about. I think our lives completely changed after that.

It was a few hours after our very first concert, and our minds were blown away. I remember we would not stop talking about the experience to our mother in the carriage, and I got worried she would pass out from us talking in her ear, but she was smiling and said she was beyond grateful she was able to make us happy. When we got back to the castle, we continued talking about it amongst ourselves until we passed out from exhaustion. When we woke up the next morning, our father still hadn't come back yet, so we took advantage and kept talking about the concert. Then I had a thought and spoke it out loud, "You guys. What if we started our band?" Then, my brothers stopped talking and looked at me. I started to regret what I had said. Then, Sebastian spoke, "Emerson, I'm honestly surprised you would suggest that." I looked at my feet avoiding eye contact. "I think it's a great idea!", Remington chimed in. I then looked up with expectancy. "Sebastian, we've been musically trained our whole lives, and if Hanson can do it, we can, too!"

Sebastian turned away from us, walking in circles as he was thinking. Me and Remington looked at each other and I told him, "I didn't think you'd go along with it." He responded, "I've been thinking that ever since the concert was finished. I can't help but believe it's the right thing to do for us, and we'd be great at it." I nodded. We do have an advantage, since we've been playing piano since I was 2 years old. We could learn a few other instruments to make the band amazing. I'm not sure why, but my heart was set on the drums. My thoughts got interrupted when Sebastian faced us. "Okay, if our mother supports this idea, I'll go with it, but if father says no, there's nothing we can do." I looked at Remington again, and then turned to Sebastian and we said, "Deal."

OMG! This chapter felt like it took forever to write, but I did my best. It's Valentine's Day today, so if you celebrate it, spend today with friends, family, and/or your significant other. If not, know you've got a Valentine wish from me and everyone else who cares about you. I love you all! 😚💕💕💕