For centuries, the royal family of Aridia has hosted The Choice, the competition where the eligible daughters of the Nobles of Aridia, come together to vie for the hand of the heir to the throne. This year, Prince Carlos is the heir to the throne a...
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"Great," Fiona muttered as we entered our tent. It wasn't anything too big, but it was definitely big enough for both of us and didn't look like it would get blown away in the wind like my tent back in Finishing School.
I was actually happy I was sharing a tent with Fiona. I missed her more than I expected and I really wanted to sort out our differences, explain to her that I did not, in fact, sleep with Carlos. The only problem was that Fiona seemed to want nothing to do with me anymore I guessed, by the way she moved her sleeping bag the furthest she could, to get away from me.
"Fiona, I think we need to talk," I sighed.
"What about Madeline?" She turned to me, folding her arms across her chest.
"I can understand why you would be angry-," I started.
"You can understand? Madeline, you knew how much I fancied Prince Carlos but you still met up with him behind my back. If it's not what we're all thinking, then why did you keep it a secret?" Fiona burst out. "I thought we were friends. Friends don't keep secrets from each other."
I sighed and ran my hand through my hair. "This was why I didn't want to tell you- or anyone. I knew you would overreact and get angry. Nothing is going on between Prince Carlos and I, I promise."
"Am I supposed to forgive you and move on like nothing ever happened?" Fiona raised an eyebrow.
"Yes?" I shrugged. I didn't have much experience on friendship troubles and reconciliation and it didn't look like I was making much progress.
"You clearly don't know how forgiveness works then," Fiona scoffed.
"What do you want me to do, Fiona?" I asked, exasperatedly.
"For starters, what were you doing with Prince Carlos?"
"We were reading," I admitted.
"Reading," Fiona echoed, an eyebrow raised.
"Yes," I shrugged.
Fiona stared at me in disbelief until her eyes softened and her mouth twisted into her infamous smile. In seconds, Fiona was laughing so hard tears were coming out of her eyes.
"What's so funny?" I asked.
Fiona threw her arms around me so hard, she knocked the breath out of me. "Oh, Madeline, I feel so awful. I acted like such a brat. You should be the one forgiving me. I'm an awful friend."
I hugged Fiona back tightly and breathed in her peaches-smelling scent. "We can now agree we'll never let the likes of Esme and Ashley get between us again."
"Agreed," Fiona grinned, finally releasing me from her death-like embrace. "Now that we're friends again, I have the funniest story to tell you."
I settled into my sleeping bag, excited to hear it even though Fiona's sense of humor was very different from mine.
