Dark Night (23 page)

“So what do you think?” Anna startled me from
behind.

I swallowed. “Don’t you think this is a
little over the top?” I knew I did.

“You can always request to get your old room
back__”

“NO!“ I said too fast. “I mean no, I don’t
want to cause anymore drama, but this is way too much.” I lay back
on my soft comfortable bed.

“You are a Princess you know. Now it’s the
time to change.” When Anna said that, an idea came to mind.

“Anna? How do you feel about a makeover?” I
looked at her amused face.

“Humor me.” She rolled her eyes.

After checking out my bathroom which was one
of the doors in my room, and checking out my huge walk in closet
which was the second door, I was unpacking my things. I had also
found an envelope on my desk that had a catalogue where you could
order whatever you want. Anything from clothes, shoes, accessories,
to school supplies TV’s, furniture. It also had a credit card with
my name on it, and a letter from my parents. It said that I had
unlimited credit, and that if there was something I wanted
specifically, to just ask and I’ll get it. I was lightheaded, so I
had to sit down.

Then my cell phone rang.

I received a text that
said:
Meet @ end of hall… last
door. Robert
. I put my cell in my back
pocket and walked out of my room. The other suitcases and luggage
were still outside the doors. I passed a few doors, and slowly
opened the last door on the hall. When I walked in the room, it was
completely dark.

Someone flipped a switch on and the lights
turned on. I was standing in front of some familiar faces, and some
I didn’t recognize. Suddenly I wanted to cry when I saw Bonnie.
“Bonnie!” I ran to her and hugged her.

She hugged me back. “Chill girl.” I stepped
back to have a closer look at her. Her short curls were now long
and bouncy around her face. I glanced at the others that were
standing in a line beside her, everyone wore a burgundy cloak on
top of their clothes. I focused on their faces and my knees
wobbled. Bonnie caught me and led me to a chair that was behind
me.

“Mia.” Robert said. I was too busy staring at
the other people who were: Dana, Edgar, Chloe, Jewel, Cole, Eliza,
Leo and some others that I didn’t recognize. “Mia.” Robert said
again, getting my attention. “These are the new transfers who will
be living here too.” He started to introduce them. “This is
Bonnie, as you already know, Bonnie your room is across hers. Mia
do you mind showing her?”

“Of course not,” I said quickly.

He nodded, and continued. “This is Dana, who
I hear you also know. Here you go Dana.” He said handing her a key
also. “Your room is on the first floor.” He said dismissing her.
Dana looked so different I barely recognized her. She smiled, and
waved at me as she left the room. “Next is Edgar, Edgar this is
Mia. And you are also on the first floor.” He gave him a key and
Edgar smiled at me shyly and walked out the room. “Also on the
first floor is Chloe, Eliza and Cole.” He handed them all the keys,
“Everyone this is Mia, and Mia this is Chloe, Eliza, Cole, Jewel,
Leo, Matthew, Deyanara, Sebastian, Nina, Ivy, Augustine, Roman,
Jade, and Leticia.

“Hey.” They all said, and I nodded back.

“Moving on….” Robert continued assigning each
one their rooms and giving them directions while I was in shock
still staring at Bonnie who just smiled. She seemed taller, and
slender. Her skin was pale pink, and her eyes were the only ones
that remained the same.

“Gosh, you know you’ve been staring for a
while now. It’s getting weird.” She laughed and I joined in.

“Right, it’s just that I’ve missed you guys
so much, I thought the worse. But now here you are…”

“I know, we’re going to have so much fun! So
where’s Mereily? I know she’s here, I have so much to tell you
guys___”

“Wait, Mereily is… sick. She’s in a comma
right now… they don’t think she’s going to make it.” I whispered
close to her ear.

Bonnie’s face fell, and tears came to them.
“Oh my god,” She whispered. “I thought she was better. A couple of
months ago she told me that she was sick but that she was getting
treatment for it. Last time I checked in with her she told me that
she was as good as new. When did this happen?”

“A few days ago she just collapsed, I don’t
know why, they won’t say a word but I think something’s up.” I knew
something was up, but I didn’t know what that was. Though now I
definitely had to find out, there were a lot of unanswered
questions.

I stood up when Robert walked towards us.
“How are you feeling?” His expression was of worry.

“I’m fine. I want to know why you chose to do
this here and why did they transfer?” I knew they would catch the
rest of the people hiding in that building but I didn’t think that
in a million years they would end up here, specially Cole, and
Jewel. That was really unexpected.

“Well, they were just sent by other
institutes no questions asked, that’s how that works. The reason
why I decided for you to be the first one to meet them was because
I knew of the history you had with some of them, I didn’t want for
you to be surprised when they introduce them at the ceremony
tonight. Wouldn’t want you to pass out or anything right?” He
cocked his head to the side and a cocky smile played on his
handsome, sarcastic face.

I rolled my eyes thinking that he cared about
me but he wasn’t about to admit it, because I wasn’t the only
princess on this campus and he knew it. So I let it pass for later
and instead focused on the situation. “Sure.”

“After the ceremony I need you both to be
here for a private meeting. Don’t ask questions now just be here as
fast as you can.” He instructed us as he walked us to the door.
“Get settled in. And I’ll come by your room to get you.” The second
part was strictly for me. Bonnie raised her eyebrows and smiled
knowingly. Robert didn’t seem to notice, he closed the door behind
us.

As I walked Bonnie to her room I noticed that
some suitcases were gone from their doors. Bonnie paused and took a
deep breath. “Here goes nothing.” She said as she pushed the door
open. She gasped at the sight of her room then she walked all the
way in and started looking around. Her room was like mine, except
her TV was smaller and she didn’t have a bay window.

I helped her with her suitcases we sat them
on her bed. “So tell me, how have you been? it’s been a while.” I
said as I sat on the chair that was by her bed.

“Oh, I’ve been great actually. The school I
was at was smaller, nothing like this. It’s like a castle here, and
I was impressed when they flew me here in a private plane. It has
definitely been a journey, but now that I’m here I see that they
are very serious, and organized. They don’t just let you run around
and do whatever you want, when I first arrived I was staying in a
five star hotel with the others, until this morning when they
picked us up and brought us over. We had been in the office the
whole morning until now, I am so glad to finally be here.” She said
excited.

“Why didn’t you return any of my emails? You
could have told me ahead of time you know?” I remembered the many
times I had tried to get in contact with her and Dana but
nothing.

“I never got an email from you, not even a
phone number. I didn’t even know you were here till Lord Robert
told us about all the drama going on with you, your sister and your
parents. I was totally in shock and so were a few others, I didn’t
know if he was talking about you at first. But then he showed us a
picture and it was you!” She jumped to her feet and crossed her
arms shaking her head while she laughed.

“Yeah didn’t Mereily give you my number or
something?” I asked confused.

“No. She never mentioned you, I think that
maybe she was told not to say anything, you know…. An oath,” She
whispered. And then I understood, my friends had said they were
under oath but I didn’t know if that applied to others, I guess it
did.

“Anyway, how about I leave
you alone for now so you can unpack, when you’re done come by my
room, its right across from yours. Then we’ll get ready together
for this ceremony.” She agreed and I left.

…
The dress I was wearing was not comfortable, it was actually
itchy and way too much for my taste. It was a Milan dress that had
a tight corset then it would poof out and had a tail on the back,
not only that it also had huge bow on the back. I was a fan of
Milan, but this dress was not pretty at all. The corset was gold
and the bottom half was a silky blue, the bow a deep red. I thought
I looked like a clown. Bonnie texted me:
Can’t make it, got a call from a God and have 2 meet @
audtrm, C u there!

My doorbell rang and I went to open it,
Robert was early. “Don’t laugh.” I warned him, but he simply
smiled. My hair was actually up in a bun, displaying my tiara that
was part of my outfit. “I feel ridiculous, how come I have to wear
this? Can I not wear just a regular formal dress with no crown?”
Irritated I turned to my mirror and put my earrings on.

Robert followed behind and leaned against the
wall. “No. You can’t, it’s your duty as a princess to look like one
too.” A laugh escaped from his mouth.

“Says the guy that only wears tuxedos, come
on let’s get this over with.” My dress dragged as I
walked.

We walked in silence down the hall until
Robert stopped in front of a door near the elevator, he knocked
once. The door opened and Genevieve walked out wearing the exact
same dress I was wearing. Genevieve glared at me and rolled eyes as
she closed the door behind her. “Robbie baby, where were you? I’ve
been looking for you___” She whined as she tried to get a hold of
his hand. Robert simply pulled away and gave her a dirty look.

“Not now Genevieve, we talked about this.” He
said in a low voice, I was walking behind them. Observing Robert
carefully, he was so handsome and adorable, and Genevieve was such
a conniving, manipulative, little brat who didn’t deserve him. But
I had no say in the matter, because I knew better I knew I had to
let him go.

She groaned. “This is bullshit! Why are you
doing this, you know we belong together, and sooner or later you’re
going to come crawling back to me, and when you do you’ll be
sorry.” She paused for a second and turned to me. “And so will
you.” She spat, before she stormed back the opposite way to take
the other elevator.

Robert sighed and
then we walked all the way to the back of the auditorium in
silence.

When we arrived at the auditorium, Robert led
me to the front row, where Genevieve was already sitting talking to
her friends. The curtains on the stage were closed and there were
only a few students wearing exquisite clothes, sitting on the first
two rows whispering to each other. It wasn’t until we were sitting
beside Genevieve that I realized that the rest of the royals
clothes weren‘t as over the top as ours. Genevieve and I were the
only two wearing the exact same dress, which I knew that was the
reason why they stared. When she looked over at me she rolled her
eyes, whispered something in the ear to a girl that was sitting
next to her (Denise), then they exchanged seats.

“Ignore her, she likes the attention.” Robert
whispered in my ear. He didn’t move for a second and as I looked up
at him he backed away slowly. Those lips were totally kissable, yet
we were surrounded by people, so I sighed and looked up to the
stage as Abi walked towards the podium.

Everyone fell silent.

“Hello, you were asked to meet early for a
simple rehearsal.” She paused for a second searching for someone
then she stopped when she spotted me, and smiled. “Princess Mia
Dawney, and Princess Genevieve Stuart, please stand up.” We stood.
“Both of you need to go around the curtains and seat in the middle
of the stage.” She nodded right to the direction we were supposed
to go, and we followed. I already knew which entrance to take, that
left Genevieve behind me, following which I knew she didn’t like.
After all the time she had been here, I wondered how she didn’t
know this.

We didn’t say a word until we were backstage.
“Well, this is new.” Genevieve said in a sour tone, to herself. We
stepped on stage and there were a few rows of fancy chairs around
two throne chairs, which I knew automatically who they were for our
parents.

The throne looked like it was made out of
gold and not comfortable at all. We took our seats while we heard
Abi giving directions to the rest of the students.

…When the ceremony actually began, I was
excited for once. I had been tired of hearing Genevieve blabbering
about herself nonstop, it was ridiculous how conceded she was.

I saw Abi pull the curtain up and when she
did, my excitement died. Staring back were hundreds of students
sitting quietly in the auditorium. The lights, lighting the stage
were almost blinding. I couldn’t see the faces clearly, while
Genevieve and I sat silently alone by the throne on stage. Then the
lights dimmed a little, a sound of someone playing a piano came
from the walls that surrounded us. It was a pretty, relaxing melody
that silenced every soul.

After a few minutes, the music stopped and
Illyanne walked to the single microphone that was standing in the
middle of the stage. She was wearing a long, maroon dress that
looked like a towel on her, but still dressed for the occasion,
with her white gold jewelry making it stand out.

Please stand.” She tried saying it in a kind
tone, which no one believed. It was more like an order. They
followed it.

“We welcome back to the throne King Gerard
Stuart and Queen Maryse Stuart.” She bowed at the sight of them,
which the whole student body followed. Genevieve stood gracefully
and bowed, and I followed not so gracefully. They acknowledged our
bows with one as well and they walked to their throne looking as
powerful as ever.