The secret princess of Genovia

Crystal runs away

The next day at school I finally work up the courage to go to Uncle David's office before classes start. I knock on his door and he opens it himself instead of one of the secretaries opening the door from the outside. "Hey sweetheart. You ok?" He asks me. "Yeah. Why?" I say to him. "Because you didn't answer my pink slip yesterday and I found it in the trash can when I went to look for you. Then I found you at cheerleading practice and you completely ignored me. What's going on?" He asks, pulling me into his office, sitting me down in the chair, shutting the door, going around behind his desk and sitting down. "My mom's dead, my future as princess of Genovia is on hold because grandmother had to go back home and yeah. Life sucks right now." I say to him. "Don't worry. As of today life no longer sucks for you. Your aunt Jamie is coming to do princess lessons so that Erin can keep her country in check for a while." He says. "Oh, cool." I say, looking at my watch. "What's up?" He asks. "Nothing. Just thinking that I might be a little late for English and that Jessica isn't going to like that because she'll have to spend the first five minutes of silent work time catching me up on the lesson instead of helping somebody who actually needs help." I say. "Whatever. Skip the first class. It's not like Daniel will mind. It actually helps the class limit distraction if you don't go in if you're late." He says. Two hours later, our principal, Daniel Carter, calls me to the office. Miss Adams is also there. They both have a concerned look on their faces when I walk in. "Why did you miss first period?" Daniel asks me, gesturing for me to sit down. "I came in late then was talking to my uncle and he said that it wasn't worth it to go in late and disturb the class so we sat and talked the entire period." I say to him. "Ok. Just don't miss another period." He says to me. "Is that all you have to say to me? No questions on why I came in late or what I was talking to Uncle David about? Next time I'll make sure to ignore all pink slips and summons." I say, storming out of there, mad as hell, and heading to my next class. I walk in and take my seat. I grab my notebook and textbook, open them and get right to today's lesson. After class is lunch. I'm out of the room first and heading back to the office to apologize to my godfather. I walk in, bypass the secretary, go straight to his office door and knock. "Come in Crystal." He says, knowing it's me because I'm the only one who has reason to come here twice. I walk in, close the door and sit down. "I'm sorry for getting irritated and yelling at you earlier." I say. "It's fine. I understand. I'm sorry for being a huge jerk." He says. "Why were you late today?" He asks me, standing up and walking with me to get our lunches before heading back to his office. "I woke up, ran to the bathroom and started throwing up. No, I'm not pregnant. In fact, if you must know, I'm having my period right now." I say to him. I finish before him then head back to his office. He gets there shortly after me and sits down in his desk chair. "What were you talking to David about?" He asks. "He asked me if I was ok and when I said yes and asked him why he said because I ignored his pink slip yesterday. I've been having mood swings lately, but I didn't tell him that, and I was in no mood to deal with him in counselor mode." I say. "You do know that your going to have to deal with his counselor mode sooner or later right?" He asks me. "Yeah." I say, getting up, walking out, walking to the cafeteria, going in, dumping my tray, walking back out then walking out the front doors of the school. Daniel's office gives him a perfect view of the front of the school and he notices me when he looks up. He also notices that the Ferrari's gone and that there's a black truck in it's place. The Ferrari wasn't really mine, it was my dad's and he let me borrow it. The truck is mine. He runs out behind me just as I'm getting in the truck. I buckle in, turn it on, put it in drive and pull out. He gets in his truck and pulls out after me. He's not going to let his goddaughter run away from her problems because then that will just hurt her more. He finds me at the park just down the road from the school. "Are you ok Crystal?" He asks me. "Yeah, fine." I say to him. "You know that I know when you're lying, right?" He asks. "Running away from your problems isn't going to solve anything." He explains, wrapping his arms around me. "Well, when your problem is your boyfriend then it's worth it." I say, standing up and walking towards the pond. I sit down on the bench next to the pond, tears running down my face and Daniel following me, when a car pulls up. The person shuts the car off, gets out, slams the door then starts walking over to us. I recognize the click-clack of high heels which is how I know it's one of the females in my family. "She's having a horrible week. She's having mood swings, she threw up this morning and her boyfriend broke up with her so, yeah, she just needs somebody to talk to. I think it's time we bring her grandfather, NYPD police commissioner Frank Reagan, into this." Daniel says. "Ok, I'll call him. You just tell her to go to his office and you follow her. She can get her stuff first but she's going to be excused for the rest of the day." My aunt says. I stand up, wipe the tears off my face, run to my truck, get in, buckle in, turn it on, pull out and head back to the school. I grab my stuff, get my homework in advance then go out, get in my truck, toss my bag in the passenger seat, buckle in, turn it on, pull out and head for my grandfather's office. I get there, grab my bag, shut the truck off, get out, go inside, run upstairs and stop at the reception desk where, unfortunately, my grandfather's media manager,Tom Morgan, is standing. "I'm here to see commissioner Reagan." I say to the receptionist. "Ah, you must be Crystal. He's had a heads up and he's waiting for you." She says. "Thanks." I say, going in and shutting the door. "Hey grandpa." I say, setting my stuff on the couch and going over to hug him. "Hey Crystal." He says, getting up from his chair, walking around his desk and hugging me. "Why aren't you in school?" He asks me. "My aunt and principal decided that it would be appropriate to excuse me from classes today since I was having some issues." I tell him. "Ok. Got any homework?" He asks. "Yeah. A massive pile of it." I tell him, digging out the stack of papers, putting it on the table, digging out my iPad, putting my headphones in, turning on Spotify and putting it on my Jason Derulo playlist. An hour later Tom comes in and asks if we want something to eat from the cafeteria. My grandfather politely declines, saying that he had planned to take me out to dinner. "Ok. I'll hold all calls for you and I'll cancel your afternoon meetings. You deserve to spend some time with your granddaughter so tomorrow is your day off. I'll push all of the meetings to Thursday that way you have tomorrow to go shopping and do everything that you guys do together. By the way, her birthday's in two days, she needs a suit for tomorrow's meetings and press conference because as of today, when she's not in school, she's officially part of your team." He says. "Ok. I'll take her shopping tomorrow. We need to go shopping anyway, she needs a red carpet worthy outfit for her birthday. Her birthday is a red carpet event and this time, Hollywood's coming to us." He says. "The Hollywood red carpet team is already here. They're setting up the carpet and the hotel's ballroom as we speak." Tom says. I stand up, walk out of the office while their still talking, walk down the stairs and hang out in the lobby for a while. Tom comes down a couple minutes later to check on me because my grandfather's on a video call with the mayor and can't. "You ok?" He asks me. "Yeah, I will be. I just needed some air and I didn't want to hear the rest of what you guys were talking about." I say, pacing back and forth across the room. Just then my grandfather pauses his video call, the mayor wants to talk to me, and comes down to get me. "Crystal, you can come back upstairs now. The mayor wants to talk to you about you birthday bash the day after tomorrow." He says. "Ok. Coming up now." I say, walking past them and running up the stairs. I get up there and un-pause the video call. "Hey Carl." I say to mayor Franklin. "Hey Crystal." He says