Choosing Family

Chapter Twenty Eight

Time trickled by, as time often did, and before the kingdom of Auradon knew it twenty years had passed since the creation of their kingdom. Honestly, the citizens didn't know what was harder to believe—that their kingdom was twenty years old or that their prince was now sixteen and of age to take the throne.

Said prince, though, wasn't curled up in bed or lounging as one might expect a prince to be at the early morning hours of six am. No, the prince had fallen asleep at his desk located in his office at Auradon Prep; piles of paperwork acting as his pillow.

Wake up Ben. Wake up Ben. Wake up Ben.

"I'll kill them, I'll kill them, I'll kill them," Ben muttered as he reached for his phone. He didn't know how or when but he knew his best friends had been the ones to set that alarm on his phone.

Granted their voices on the alarm were a dead giveaway but still.

"Seriously? You had to go off right when I was in the middle of that dream?" Ben sighed as he looked at his phone. He had been having the same dream since he was about fourteen or fifteen, about a beautiful purple haired girl with glowing green eyes on the Isle of the Lost. She never said her name but her voice...her voice was like a gift from the Gods.

Ben shook his head a little to clear it as he continued to wake up. He was spoken for. He shouldn't even be dreaming about other girls—even fictional ones. He had been 'off the market' so to speak ever since he was three and his parents signed the betrothal contract with the Roses.

Sure Audrey had been his best friend at the time and sure, sometimes it was better to not argue with Leah and just go along with what she wanted, but Ben had to admit it was a little...trying at times, being in the relationship. Of course it didn't help that all his friends seemed to hate Audrey, with maybe the exception of Chad. There wasn't a day that went by when Emir or Akiho weren't trying to get him to break the contract.

Quickly pulling his phone to him, he shot a quick text to Chip. Nothing major, but Ben figured he should know that he had the dream again considering he'd gone to his surrogate older brother the first time he'd had the dream.

He didn't expect a reply, after all it was six in the morning and if there was one thing Chip loved more than anything it was his sleep. Ben used to joke that maybe he was Akiho's long lost brother, the way he coveted sleep so much.

"Let's take a look at today's schedule," Ben muttered, pulling out his planner. Thankfully, it was a fairly light day being a Saturday. Not even a single council meeting, which Ben couldn't help but be surprised by. Then again, today was his suit fitting for coronation.

Dad probably thought it'd be more relaxing if I didn't have a lot of stuff today, Ben thought as he put his planner back in his desk drawer. But Ben was so used to a busy schedule that down time was pretty much a foreign concept to him. It happened so rarely after all. Tapping his fingers on his desk, Ben bit his lip as he tried to think of something to fill his time.

I could read...no I don't have anything new. Video games? Nah, that'd just make me risk being late for the fitting. Plus Emir and Akiho are visiting their parents today. All the best games I have are multiplayer anyway. Go for a run? My MP3 player's dead. Forgot to charge it last night. Go for a swim? No, same risks as with the video games. The last thing I need is to lose track of time and be late for the suit fitting.

Suddenly, an idea struck him like a bolt of lightning—he could finalize the kids for the VK initiative he was going to propose to his father later that day. It didn't make sense that they were trapped on an Isle all alone when they were Auradon citizens too. Shouldn't they have the same access everyone else had available to them? What right did Auradon have to forget them?