Aligned (Book #2 in the Divided Series)

Chapter 1 - Off to England we go - Tara's POV

Waiting outside the school, ready to get onto the bus, I was really nervous. Izzy and I were the only ones to bring two suitcases, everyone else having been told to only bring one each. We got quizzed a bit about it, but I was too worried about what was at the other end of the plane flight to worry too much about now.

The wait felt agonising. I didn't even really notice what Izzy and Luke went through just before boarding the plane. I did laugh about it at the airport though. They were being so silly avoiding each other, and they kept looking at each other when they were sure the other wasn't looking. Walking around with Isaac, I felt pretty smug. It was the only thing that could distract me from being nervous.

Steve was going with us, and he had been introduced as our security, since everyone had pressed the principal to send some after what happened. I was glad he was coming, and with a reason most people wouldn't think it odd that he was randomly there on a plane that appeared to be absolutely full of school children, all talking excitedly about going. I was too nervous to pay them much attention.

Once we were on the plane, I felt better. I felt like there was nothing more I could do now, but wait. I hoped that the English books I had brought with me were going to be good enough to keep me distracted for the next few hours.

We were leaving in the late afternoon, and had a stop over at another airport, I hadn't paid much attention to which one, on our way over.

Izzy and I were making small talk, waiting for the plane to take off. I had managed to get myself squished between her and Isaac, who was on my right. Suddenly, we were taking off, and my nerves were pushed aside as I became excited with the sudden rush of speed.

"Who's ready for an adventure of a lifetime?" I shouted to my classmates, laughing, as the wheels of the plane left the ground. Beside me, Izzy was too busy looking nervous to answer back like some of the others did. Many just laughed.

We had a stopover in Dubai for a few hours, in which I went off and explored the airport, with Steve following slowly behind me, seeming to just be another passenger wandering around aimlessly. Most of the other students went back and stayed close to where we would be boarding after an hour of wandering, but I had never been outside of Australia before, and spent a lot of time gazing out of windows, and looking at things in stores, and wondering how much of it I could afford, and wishing I was able to spend some of the lovely money I had on my brand new international card, curtesy of my real parents, the King and Queen of England.

Maybe I should do some explaining, I'm a princess, and much like Hannah Montana from the kids show, I prefer not to let everyone know it's me. My friends, and even most of my siblings, have no idea what happens when I put on my wig and contacts, and ascend into the world of Royalty, which is mostly just being trained how to be a royal at the moment.

I was adopted out at the age of a month or something, I'm not really sure, but I went to live on the other side of the world from my birthplace in England; Australia. I'm not sure how my real parents did it, just like most of the world, and unlike most of the world, I have no intention of asking. I've only met my real parents once, and that was only for a few days, not spending much time in each other's company.

When I was 16, I found out that I had a twin sister, Isabella, or as she prefers to be called, Izzy. What was really cool was, she is completely identical to me! From facial structure to the colour of our hair, and the way that we move, we are almost the same person. No one can really tell us apart, which we both think is completely stupid, since we always wear our hair the same way; mine wrapped like a crown around my head, and Izzy in a waist length plait down her back. You'd have thought teachers could work that out?

Anyway, Izzy's parents were killed in an attempt on the royal couple, and she was found to have a sibling living in Australia, me, so she came to live with us. I mean, I already had six other siblings, what's one more? Izzy came from Spain, and was very nervous about coming here, mostly because she was an only child, and had never been to school before. But we're doing okay now.

A few weeks after Izzy moved here, I found out my neighbour was actually a bodyguard for me, and that Izzy and I were in line for the British Royal throne, hence the current trip to England. Izzy was really Princess Bella, the older one, and I was Princess Louise, the younger one. We have an older brother called Albert, who follows the classic bad boy prince image, and I'm pretty sure that every part of his body has been splashed across the front of the media headlines. And yes, I really do mean every part of him.

So, Izzy and I entered princess training, and have been training all year for this trip. I learned how to sit, stand, walk, smile, and wave like a princess. I'm still locked in a constant battle with my stylist to let me wear pants, but hey, I hate skirts. Izzy is okay with them, and I'm fine to let her wear mine.

At the end of this year, it's December, and we found out in March, there was a crazy gunman that came to our school, and entered our classroom, determined to find out if the missing princesses were in the school. Well, he didn't last very long, and last I heard, he was being sentenced to prison for life. He was the reason we're on this trip. My real parents felt it was a suitable reward for the students in the classroom that day, and chosen others, to come to England to be a part of the Welcome to the Princesses festivities over Christmas and new year's. I didn't even get to pull my gun on the guy that broke in. I was very disappointed by that.

Izzy and I each carry weapons on our person to help defend in an attack. We're popular targets right now, and the Royal family has been under near constant threat for the last 20 years, which was why Izzy and I, and our younger two siblings, were all adopted out. Albert was too, but his parents died in a car crash when he was seven, and he went to live back at the palace. I think my younger two siblings are girls, I'm not really sure, but their names seem female, Nancy and Rose. That's all anyone, including me, knows about them. No one even knows when they were born. But, we're each supposed to get told at the age of 16, and Izzy and I are the first, aside from Albert.

Anyway, enough of a history lesson. Off to exciting England we go!