The Elusive Prince

Chapter 2: Preparations

Merideth

As soon as we finished breakfast, I got into the car that will bring me to school. Hailey was beside me in the car, seeing as she was always with me, sort of guarding me while I was in school and anywhere really. She was also my classmate and basically she was hired to be my tail. Not that I am complaining seeing as that means I get to spend time with her all the time and Hailey is always fun to be around with. 

We talked a lot about the sudden ball and how absurd it was for a ball to happen with little to no preparation and also the oddness of the situation seeing as the King of Trost just suddenly decided to go to hold a ball with no apparent reason, that I can’t help but wonder if there was anything going on in their Kingdom. Whatever it was, I’m sure that we’ll figure it out later on tonight at this sudden ball.

As soon as we finished our conversation about the ball, we arrived at my school which was the most prestigious school in the whole continent where most of the royals from different kingdoms gather to seek education which just so happens to be located in Wiyelt, our kingdom. Our school was established by the group of kingdoms when they decided that since we are all friends and at peace, they signed that this school was going to be the place where their future generations will gather and mingle with other royals like them and establish relationships beforehand with it being a boarding school and all, we are forced to make relations in here if we want to survive. 

In my personal opinion, they probably just wanted us to be at the same place so they can introduce us to other royals which will be a potential partner to build relationships with other kingdoms, sort of like making this place a royal dating ground. Well it’s not like it’s a bad thing or anything, seeing as I would rather meet other royals on such a normal situation so I don’t feel different and out of place in school and also mixing royals into other royals as well as commoners will help strengthen relationships and help make us not stuck up. 

As soon as I got out of the car, I started walking into the main building from the school’s parking lot and was greeted by other students which is most likely one of the people in our kingdom seeing as this school is set in our territory. The school after all was not exclusive only to royals but also to those of lower status splendid enough to get a scholarship to enter this school. 

I greeted them back and answered some questions regarding the ball and that I only knew or well remembered the existence of earlier which would be happening tonight and also questions about my weekend visit to the palace was. Seeing as our school was a boarding school for royals and seeing as we also get a little homesick sometimes, we are granted one weekend to go back home to our respective kingdoms once a month especially before exam week rolls around, so of course they would ask about it as usual and it also seems that everyone is excited for the ball, after all it means a free day off school and there’s also free food so what’s not to like?

As I approached my classroom and parting ways with Hailey who was in another classroom specializing in being a royal aide or something, all the while stopping by every so often to talk to other people, I was welcomed in the classroom with a lot of noise. For a classroom full of royals, this room is rather rambunctious.

“Heya Mori, are you excited for the ball later tonight? You know when mom told me there was a ball today I was rather shocked seeing as it was only planned for a week! Can you believe that?” Sumire, one of the daughters of the Duchess of Lirch and my distant cousin, jumped at me as soon as I got into the door. 

“Well I was surprised too but well it’s happening so you better believe it.” She giggled as she bounced to her other friends on the other side of the room. I just shook my head as I went to sit into my seat beside Ava who was one of my close friends and also the daughter of my father’s royal adviser. 

“Hey sweet stuff, ready for the ball tonight?” Kairo replied, which is the Prince of Vian, and also my supposedly boyfriend, I say supposedly because I’m pretty sure our parents are pushing us to be together and really, its not much of a problem seeing as I also like Kairo and I like to believe he likes me too, especially with the way we act sometimes but we aren’t really official or anything, just flirty. 

“Hey to you too sour puss. Yeah I am plenty excited for tonight, although a little frazzled by the situation but nonetheless excited. How about you? Prepared your dress already?” I teasingly tell him as he gives me a small laugh and leaned in a bit more into my seat. 

“Of course, will I be able to dance with this lovely lady tonight?” he asked, clearly inviting me to dance later. I pretend to be thinking about it for a moment before answering.

“Hmm, I don’t know. It’s going to be a masquerade ball so everyone is a stranger. If you so happened to catch this lovely lady’s eye tonight, maybe you will.” I teased him as he let out a laugh again. 

“Then I will try my best to catch your interest tonight milady.” He said as he grabbed my hand and planted a gentle kiss on it. See I what mean by flirty.

I can hear some whistles and catcalls from around us, clearly having fun with our flirting, as always. It’s basically common occurrence in the classroom that had our classmates tease us to just get together already. 

Kairo just laughed and gave me one last gentle kiss on the cheek before heading to his table. That small gesture got more attention from the class as I shake my head pretending to be annoyed but smiling at the same time which got me nudged by Ava at my side as she threw me a teasing glance. I just rolled my eyes at her again as the class settled down by the appearance of our teacher, prompting the start of class for today.

Class went by faster than usual because the people were all buzzing with excitement, including the teachers, by the surprise ball later tonight. It also probably went by fast because of the fact that school was suspended for half the day to let other people prepare for tonight’s event.

Everywhere and everyone in the school were all talking about the ball that by the time that it was time to go back home I’m a little tired of hearing all about it. Hopefully I don’t hear about it until I start choosing my outfit because I swear, I might just buy earplugs if I hear all about it again. Maybe I should do just that but Mom will be mad if she saw me wearing earplugs for the rest of the day so maybe not. 

As soon as we arrived into the palace, me and Hailey were immediately escorted into the fitting room where I see Frida running about with a pink mask perched sloppily on her head as if she was trying to take it off but in her haste couldn’t. Frida bumped into me and I hoisted her up into my hip and planted a kiss on her cheek in which she rewarded me with a squeal. 

“Mori you’re back! Lira was trying to make me wear this hideous mask! I don’t want it!” Frida exclaimed as she finally tugged off the pink mask off her head completely and gave me a pout as I chuckled at her reaction. Lira, her aide, which is around the same age as me and Hailey but albeit a little younger, came rushing to me as she carried a variety of more masks, possibly for Frida to try on. 

“Your highness, please don’t throw that. Here you can try on more masks that goes well with your outfit tonight.” Lira said after greeting me and prying the mask away from Frida’s hands and proceeded to show her the other masks. 

“I don’t want that!!!!!” Frida exclaimed and Lira just about almost gave up that I felt a little sorry for her. Frida is a little spoiled and bratty, seeing as she was the youngest of us and poor Lira had to conform to her bratty attitude.

“It’s fine Lira I’ll take care of this little monster. Go along with Hailey. Hailey can you ask Miss Johnson to grab the designs that she had for me and bring them over here? Same for Lira, because I’ll help this little monster choose her robe for tonight.” I instructed to them all the while tickling Frida in my hip. Lira looked ready to bow down, relieved that she got a break from this tiny terror, and I just waved my hands at them and giving Hailey a look as she gave me a small smile and proceeded to almost drag Lira into the backroom to Miss Johnson, the royal tailor responsible for our fancy clothes. 

“Well little terror, let’s pick the right outfit for you tonight shall we?” and Frida just gave me a small giggle as we head to the fitting room.

It seems that choosing an outfit was a very hard task for Lira who tried on almost everything. She was now prancing around the room with the 15th dress she tried on for the past hour with the little mask that goes along with it perched on her little nose. She was wearing a pink dress with white accents and same goes for her mask which was a combination of pink and white all over and encrusted with small gems going around the ridges of the eyes. 

Seeing as Frida seems to like this outfit, I proceeded to look the designs for my dress now which was handed to my by Hailey in one of the Ipad’s used by the tailors. Unlike Frida that tried on everything, that was time consuming and really, I’d rather not try on 15 dresses in one hour thank you very much, so instead I settled on scrolling the pictures of the dresses on the Ipad. 

Hailey was also by my side scrolling for ball gowns for tonight in her own Ipad. She has the privilege in this sort of stuff seeing as I bring Hailey everywhere and thus she also gets to have her own dresses made by the royal tailor. I was scrolling about, wondering what I would be wearing tonight as Frida ran around that has Lira panicking in the background when I saw the dress that I was sure I would wear later tonight. 

It was a simple black off shoulder dress but what makes it stunning was that it was sparkling. It had a black rose design on the waistline that was studded with tiny diamonds to make it pop out. The dress itself was just plain black but with little sparkles that looks like as if you were looking at the starry dark sky. It was a simple dress but very stunning and really I want a minimalistic look tonight, with nothing too fancy. After all it was just any normal ball seeing as it wasn’t set on an important even so I don’t need to exert too much effort in my outfit and besides its not the dress that matters but who’s wearing it is what’s important.

I call on one of the designers and asked them to bring this one out. The designs of the dresses for today were already made so I just need to point it out and try it on. It seems that Hailey also picked her own dress which was a simple brown dress with nothing much to it besides the tiny flower patterns on the skirt. It seems she was going for the minimalistic look as well.

The dress was brought out by one of the helpers and I proceeded to try it on. Seeing as it was made specifically for me, it fit perfectly and I really liked how it turned out. Satisfied I stepped outside one of the rooms that have mirrors all over it making it the actual fitting room, to see Hailey already dressed in her chosen outfit too. As soon as I stepped out, the helper then brought me the selection of masks that will go well with my outfit tonight and I immediately chose the first mask I saw which I know would be perfect for my dress. It was yet another almost simple design but a little bit more complex. It was half white and half black. The black part was made out of leather with diamonds going around the eyelid and a couple placed all over that side of the mask while the white part was made out of pure silver outlined with little patterns here and there with it overlapping the black leather part and it was simply stunning. I also decided to wear my black long length gloves that had white trims coiling around the arms as an additional. I tried it on and looked at the mirror and concluded that I had already completed my outfit for tonight and I’m ready to get this show on the road.