Romani Prince

Chapter 1 - Wow...

"You two are getting on my nerves about this guy!  A gypsy prince?  Seriously?  Here in Monterey?"  I shake my head.

Mina turns to me with a horrified look on her face.  

"Do NOT call him that!  He's a Romani prince, or you can even say, Traveler.  And it's also in my blood so, be nice!"

While I roll my eyes for the hundredth time, Miriam sighs with a dreamy look on her face.

"A real prince...  Wait!  How come you're not a princess?"  Miriam frowns at Mina.

"Because my father forfeited his right for my mother...  He fell in love with a rakli, a non-Roma girl.  His younger brother took his place as leader.  He's the Romani king and voivode of our clan. That means that he is the chieftain of all the Romani in North America that came from Romania."  Mina explains.

I click my tongue.  "Suuure... A king without a country..."

"And what's a country without people?  Uncle Rajko leads them, protects, advises, and punishes them, sometimes.  Also, because of our lineage, he's the US representative for the International Romani Union.  He helps Roma people all over the world."

"Okay!  I guess that sounds like a big enough job...  And what does the prince do?"  I tease while trying to sound bored but it's the first time that Mina has talked so much about her people. I'm actually very curious.

Mina wiggles her eyebrows and shoots me a mischievous grin.  

"Well... He's responsible for teaching the art of lovemaking to all the virgins in the clan.  It's a very exhausting job!"  She exaggerates.  And to infuriate me even more, Mina pokes me on the shoulder making me instantly blush.

"Right...  Prince or not, I'm pretty sure some father would cut his throat for that."  I quip back at my evil friend, hoping to shut her up.

But Mina and Miriam burst into another set of silly giggles, pissing me off even more.

It's not my fault that I'm the last standing virgin in this room... or even in the entire school.  I just haven't found the one, yet.  And I'm not the kind of girl that enjoys casual sex.

What if something goes wrong and I get pregnant from a guy that I barely know or like?

"I'm kidding, Gaby!  He wouldn't dare touch a Roma girl.  They must marry virgins.  But he sure drives all the rakli girls nuts!  You'll see why..."  Mina presents me with another one of her naughty smiles.

Miriam turns her attention from her outfit.  

"What does that mean again?  Rakli?"

"Not a Romani or Roma girl."  Mina clarifies, once more.

I huff at Mina's comments about the prince while slipping inside my costume.  

"Well...  He sounds like an entitled asshole, to me."

Zipping up her own costume, Mina chuckles at me.

"Yeah right... I'm just trying to prepare you because he'll rock your world!  Just don't get too attached, though.  He'll also break your heart."

Miriam giggles and I turn my frustration at her.  

"Miri! You haven't even met the guy! And he's only seventeen, for God's sake!  When we don't even bother with boys our own age!"

Miriam immediately stops with the annoying giggles and sighs, thinking hard about my words.

"He's only a month shy from eighteen and nothing like the immature boys we're surrounded by in school."  Mina gives me a malicious glare.  "He's nothing like your perfect and boring Carl, either."