26

26.

“Whoa!” all of exclaimed together, as soon as we set our eyes upon the magnificent palace before us.
“Shh. Don’t act like you are seeing it for the first time,” Will hissed. He was the one who had picked us up from the airport. I was not going to lie; I was a bit sad that Noah was not there, mainly because I had not seen him for almost a month now. But, I couldn’t blame him...because, as Will had told me, he had responsibilities now.
“But, Willy,” Sophia started, removing her sunglasses from over her eyes, “we indeed have seen it for the first time.”
Liam face palmed, “Soph, he meant, keep up the pretence. We want to make a good first impression on the queen.”
“What pretence?” Mia asked in confusion, “we already rock. Why Will we need to put up an act?”
“Well, that’s the thing. Try not to rock,” Will said.
Caleb made a face at this, “You can take us out of the rock, but, you can’t take the rock out of us. It comes naturally, Willy boy.”
“What the heck are you guys going on about?” I frowned, “does rock even mean rock anymore, here?”
“You guys seriously need to stop confusing me with your words,” Will exclaimed, frustratingly, “I am lost in this conversation.”
“Ah, see, now, rock here means killing it. It means we are constantly killing it.” Sophia explained, reaching on her tiptoes and leaning her arm against Will’s shoulder. From the corner of my eye, I saw two bodyguards straightening up at this, but, Will very discreetly gestured them to back off.
So much for hating peasants…
“Well, I need you to stop killing it,” Will replied, rolling his eyes.
“What the heck? What are we even killing?” Caleb asked, “It better not be any kind of food.”
“You are the one to say, Mr. cereal killer,” I pointed out.
“oof, guys, killing it is just an expression,” Liam interjected, “it means…that we have a cool, or um, you can say, correct attitude, or approach towards anything…”
“Whatever,” Will interrupted, “you all better lose that cool attitude before entering those gates.”
“Why, Willy?” Sophia batted her eyelashes, “you like it hot?”
Holy…
If I thought I was flustered by this, then, Will’s face was a scene…poor guy’s cheeks were red now and he was at a loss for words.
“Ew,” Caleb scrunched up his nose, walking ahead of us, “shameless PDA!”
“Whipped, whipped, whipped,” Liam sang as he passed Will and Soph, waking further.
Sophia rolled her eyes, and straightened up. Then, she gave us an innocent look, “What? Jeez, it was a simple question. He said he wanted us to lose our cool attitude, so I asked him if he wanted us to keep up a hot attitude.” She shook her head. “I don’t know what you guys read into it.”
Will cleared his throat, looking at anyone but Soph, “Look, any kind of attitude is not appreciated here.”
“Soph, you liar,” Mia suddenly spoke up, “you were totally trying to flirt. I saw you batting your eyelashes.”
“What?” Soph said dumbly, “something went into my eye.”
“Sure, Soph, sure. We believe that,” I smirked at her, walking past.
***
There were numerous confusing conversations with one person saying something, other person always twisting it, Caleb always bringing food into it, and with Will always warning us about anything and everything; before we were finally ready to enter the palace.
“Okay, now. I need all of you to take off those sunglasses,” Will instructed, standing before us.
“Um…why?” Soph and I asked, together.
“Because this is not a beach.” Will deadpanned.
“Well, it’s common courtesy guys,” Liam said, “just take them off.”
“What do you mean take them off?” Caleb protested, “I compromised on one month of pizza to save for these Ray bans, just so I could show off. Now, when the time has come, you all want me to take it off?”
Will groaned at this point, “Impossible. You all are impossible.”
Finally, Will and Liam forcefully took off our sunglasses and handed them over to a guy in black uniform, who looked like he had not smiled since he was born.
“Jeez, you scary,” Soph told the guy. Mia went and patted his shoulder, “I know, it’s tough, but, it all works out in the end, big guy. Don’t stress over it.”
The man in black looked bewildered at this, looking at Will for help.
“Guys,” Will again deadpanned, “stop bothering Leo. He just had a surgery for his jaw. He can’t just open his mouth to show you his teeth.”
“Oh God, poor Leo,” Caleb pouted, “How do you eat? I mean, how do you live? Food is basically like oxygen. I bet they are keeping you-”
I exhaled loudly, cutting off Caleb mid sentence and gave them all a look, which hopefully spelled, ‘shut up!’ They all gave me a sheepish look in return, but, shut up, nevertheless.
“Yes, thank you, Chloe!” Will almost cried, then, composed himself, and cleared his throat, “now, remember, first impression on the queen is the only impression you get to make.”
As soon as those words were out of his mouth, the two security guards opened the palace gates, making our jaws drop to the floor.
“Whoa!” all of exclaimed again.
“Stop!” Will hissed, “Just keep your mouth shut and keep walking.”
There were two statues of soldiers on either side of the gate, and unfortunately, they caught Soph and Mia’s attention. Both of them started poking the statues.
“Hey-” Will started but was cut off.
“I think I saw its eye moving,” Soph mused, analyzing the statue thoroughly.
“Hey, listen-” Will started again, but was ignored again.
“I know, right, Soph?” Mia deliberated, “I felt this one breathing.”
Then, both of them started laughing. “We are seeing things, I am telling you,” Soph said, through her laughter.
“Exactly!” Mia laughed, leaning her body against the statue. Soph did the same with the other statue.
And, the next I know, both of them were falling along with the statues…turned out, the statues weren’t statues after all…
Will muttered something his breath, then, almost gasped, looking in the direction of the grand staircase. I looked up to see none other than the queen descending the stairs.
“Come on, get your acts together,” Will whispered at Soph and Mia, who were groaning along with the live statues on the floor.
Liam went to help them, while Caleb’s gaze fell on a bunch of grapes kept for decoration on a side table.
Shit, not now…
But, It was too late…Caleb had already started advancing towards the grapes, while I was half hyperventilating on the inside by the queen’s presence alone.
“Chloe! Stop your friend!” Will, who was helping Soph up, whisper-shouted at me, gesturing towards Caleb.
I took a deep breath, composing myself, did an internal chant of ignoring the queen for a moment, and put my foot forward.
But, what do you know next…my foot collided with the edge of the thick carpet on the floor, and I was falling face first.
The only difference was, I didn’t take the fall alone. I don’t know when he came, or from where he came, but, Noah was there to my side, grabbing my hand to keep me up on my feet.
But, just my luck, I ended up pulling him to the floor with me…just like the time we had first met in the mall.
“Damn, Chloe,” Noah grunted, “this is not how I was planning on meeting you again.”
Was he actually concerned about that…? Because, all my brain could focus on was the queen’s reaction.
I didn’t dare to look up. Instead, I groaned back in response, feeling pain shoot through my ankle. Noah was the first to get up and he pulled me up, keeping an arm around me so that I could regain my balance.
I finally looked up from my feet, to see…the queen’s shadow looming over me. Her head was held high, and her eyes were casted down, on all of us. Her expression was that of sheer disapproval.
All my friends could utter was ‘uh’, ‘um’ and ‘uhm’…
And, me?
I don’t know what came upon me, but, I let out a nervous laugh and held up my phone. “Can I get a selfie and an autograph?”
I heard the clatter of Noah’s jaw falling to the floor, for the second time in my life.
A/N: Eeh, that’s embarrassing, but, totally something I would do, tbh. Anyway, this chapter was so tough to write…I mean, I had no idea of what I had to write, until I started typing and words just started coming. I hope it turned out good and you all liked it!