Surprisingly Royal

👸Chapter 20: Praises

We decide to drop Emily off first before heading to our neighborhood.

"We're still meeting up later, right?" Emily asks as we near her place.

"Of course!" I reply, a little too excitedly.

"Good. I don't ever want to stay away from you again," she says, slipping her hand into mine.

"Same here," I say with a smile.

"Wait—what about your stuff at my house?" I ask suddenly.

"It's not like they'll vanish or anything," she laughs. "I'll come get them later."

"If you say so."

"It was nice meeting you guys," Emily says, turning to the others with a smile.

"It was nice talking to you too. Let's hang out again sometime," Matilda says kindly.

"Yeah! We should totally have a slumber party, all four of us!" Rebecca adds with excitement.

"Absolutely! I'm so down for that," Emily beams.

"Thanks for the ride. See you all later!" she waves as she gets out.

We all wave back. Even Fynn and Carlos give her a nod. At least Carlos didn't completely ignore her this time.

We continue driving toward our neighborhood.

"She's really cool," Fynn says.

"Yeah, super fun to be around," Matilda agrees.

"That's Emily for you," I chime in. "She's amazing and kind of persuasive when she wants to be."

If Emily were here right now, she'd be squealing "aww" non-stop.

I chuckle a bit to myself. Seriously, how do I even deal with her cheesiness?

"You girls seem pretty close, huh?" Fynn asks.

"Yeah, I've known her pretty much my whole life."

"What happened between you two?" Matilda asks, tilting her head.

"Why are you asking?"

"She mentioned not wanting to stay away from you again," Matilda explains.

"Oh, that."

"Yeah what happened?" Rebecca presses eagerly.

"It's kind of a long story..."

"Oh come on, Ciara. Just tell us!" Matilda insists.

"You guys should let her be," Carlos says, surprising all of us. "Clearly, she doesn't feel like talking about it."

Honestly, I didn't even realize he was paying attention. He seemed too absorbed in that gadget of his. I think I've seen something like that in one of our school books... Can't remember the name though. I'll just ask Matilda later.

"Sorry for pushing, Ciara," Matilda says, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Yeah, we didn't mean to," Rebecca adds.

"It's fine. I just don't feel like getting into it right now," I tell them.

"So... later?" Matilda grins, clearly still curious.

This girl really is always hungry for information. I laugh quietly to myself.

"Yeah, sure."

"Great!" she says, satisfied.

I just shake my head at her, and Carlos rolls his eyes.

"Got any plans today?" Matilda asks.

"Other than meeting Emily? I'm kinda free."

"How about you girls come over to my place? We could hang out, maybe even have a sleepover," she suggests, excited.

"Oh my gosh, that sounds so fun! Please say yes, Ciara. You won't regret it," Rebecca pleads.

"Will your parents be okay with that?"

"Totally. My mum loves you .she won't mind."

"Alright then. I'll just check in with Em, but I doubt she'll have a problem."

"Awesome."

"What time should we come over?"

"Let's say around noon. We all deserve our beauty sleep since it's almost 2am"

"Sounds good."

We spend the rest of the ride gushing over what we're going to do today.

I'm pretty sure the boys are tired of all our girly chatter, but I'm too busy wondering what they're up to. I hear Carlos mention something about a camera so I'm guessing that's what his gadget is.

Sounds like they're going through pictures from the ball... Honestly, I wish they'd just tell us to shut up and let us look too. I'll definitely see those photos later just not from him. I'll ask Fynn. He's way more approachable than Carlos anyway.

We finally get to my house and I hop out, saying my goodbyes. The girls keep reminding me about the sleepover and I'm already starting to regret agreeing.

Oh well... no turning back now.

When I walk into the house, it's pitch dark. Would it have hurt Mum to leave at least one light on? Maybe the kitchen or the living room?

It's kinda creepy.

I manage to find the switch, then head straight to my room to change into something more comfy. I grab a glass of water and knock out on my bed soon after.