Lost (A Rosewood Chronicle fanfic)

16 | me too

Lottie yawned as Ms Kuma rambled on about Shakespeare. She loved literature, but something felt dry. Nothing felt like it was before. 

"Shakespeare wrote 150 sonnets in his life."

Lottie already knew this. She knew practically everything about Shakespeare's works. She knew that he wrote at least 37 plays in his life, 17 of them comedy, 10 of them historic plays. Among his most famous were Othello, Macbeth and King Lear. 

She knew more about Shakespeare than Jamie did, and that was saying something. He even admitted it. 

And besides, winter break was coming up in a couple of weeks. Then she and Ellie would be able to go home. 

Home...

Home?

Was the Maravish palace... really her home? She wasn't part of Maravish royal blood, but yet, she had been accepted as part of the pack. She absentmindedly reached up to finger her locket. She heard Ellie shift restlessly next to her. 

Gods.... Ellie was getting better. Lottie was thankful for that. She wouldn't want to future queen of Maradova to be unstable, would she? Neither would her family. 

Family?

"Miss Pumpkin." 

Mrs Kuma's concerned voice pulled her out of her thoughts. She looked up to see the colourful teacher standing over her, arms crossed. Lottie was well aware of the stifled giggles and stares sent her way. 

So immature. 

"Please name all of Shakespeare's siblings." she demanded. Immediately, Lottie answered. 

"Joan, Margaret, Gillbert, Joan, Edmund, Richard and Anne."

Mrs Kuma eyed her suspiciously, before returning to the front of the class to continue the lesson. Lottie sighed in relief, looking down at her nails. Something light hit her face, and a small paper ball landed on her desk. She looked up to see Ellie shooting her an urgent look. 

Lottie checked to see whether the teacher was looking, glad to see that she was writing something on the board. She opened the paper. 

Are you ok? it said in Ellie's messy handwriting. Lottie smiled at Ellie, nodding, passing the paper back. She took it and quickly scribbled onto it before passing it back. 

No you're not. I can tell, Little Princess. We'll talk after class.

Although it had been, now, three years of being Ellie's friend, Lottie still blushed at her nickname. She looked back up at Ellie, giving her a grateful smile, before turning back to class. 

🐺

Ellie knew something was off about Lottie ever since Lola attempted to kidnap her. Speaking of Lola, the group had agreed to keep a secret. Suppose that Raphael could keep secrets. They had never turned Lola in, and didn't plan to anytime soon. 

Back to Lottie. Ellie notice that Lottie started drifting off into space more than usual. She barely paid attention in class, and was slowly slipping her grades. Thank God they were doing Shakespeare in English. That was Lottie's strong point. 

After class, the two girls made their way to their dorm. Ellie looked shyly at Lottie, surprised to see the brooding expression on her face. Something definitely wasn't right. 

They reached their dorm and went their separate ways, Ellie to her bed and Lottie to the bathroom. Once Lottie was done, she sat down on her own bed, staring at Ellie. 

"Listen, Lottie. I'm getting better. I really am." Ellie said quietly. Lottie looked away and nodded. There was a closed, pained expression that reminded her so much of Jamie. Seeing her... not like the Lottie she knew stabbed her heart. 

"Ellie, I know not the best yet, but you need to get back to training." Lottie replied, leaning forward and examining her nails, messy hair around her face. Ellie took a breath. "I am going to get back to fencing, I promise." she said, feeling strength surge through her, "Dame Bolter just wants me to make sure I'm at my finest before coming back into the team."

And Ellie wanted to get better. She missed fencing very much, her fingers itched to hold her sabre. But when she had gone back to training a few days prior, her arms couldn't stop shaking, causing Dame Bolter to give her temporary leave from the team to get better. 

"I was thinking about home." Lottie finally said after a long pause. Ellie looked up at her, curious. 

"Where is my home? Cornwall, the palace, you?" Ellie watched Lottie curl up into a ball and hug her knees, almost as if she were hugging herself in comfort. She sighed, got up and sat down next to Lottie, pulling her into a side hug. She felt Lottie lean into her hug and couldn't help the smile creeping onto her face. 

"And you... I know you're getting better, but how do I know that you're not going to... leave me again." Ellie tensed, catching a glimpse of her scars underneath her sleeves. She unknowingly clutched Lottie tighter. 

"I won't, Lottie. I promise."

Lottie let out a little laugh. "You've been making a lot of promises, lately. When you promised that Jamie would be alright, turns out he's with them. When you promised you would never leave me, you almost did. How can I know you're going to keep your promises, Ellie?"

Ellie felt the guilt hit her stomach. 

Lottie hates you...

It's all your fault...

"You know, you had a choice." Ellie muttered. Lottie turned. "Huh?"

"You had a choice to be my Portman. You didn't have to be tied into this. We could've went our sepera-"

"No, Ellie." Ellie looked at Lottie, surprised at how cold and demanding her sounded. "I don't regret being your Portman. It makes me feel alive-" Lottie turned to Ellie, smiling. Ellie's heart skipped a beat, memories of their sugar-fuelled kiss flooding back- "and plus, I've found the bestest friend I could ever have found." 

"Oh, and you." 

Ellie frowned playfully, pulling away from Lottie and pouting indignantly. "What do mean, 'oh and you'?" she demanded, feigning offence. Lottie giggled. 

"I mean Mr Truffles! He's my favourite." she said, winking. Ellie laughed, grabbing the stuffed pig and placing it on top of Lottie's head. "He loves you too." she said. 

Lottie beamed and gently took Mr Truffles off her head, pulling Ellie into another hug. 

"I'm so glad I have you." she whispered. Ellie paused, then hugged her back. "Me too, Little Princess." she whispered back, holding her tighter, smelling her chocolate-vanilla scent. 

"Me too."

So here I am with the 'Little Princess' again. 

I ship Jottie, Jottie is what this book is about, but the 'Little Princess' thing is too cute to ignore. 

UWU

So... I've got some juicy fight scenes planned. 

What do y'all think is gonna happen?

Also, (because I'm a pathetic, desperate bean XD) give my art insta a follow! 

Link: https://www.instagram.com/pizz.brio/

~London