31.

31.

“What the actual hell, beac- I mean, Alice?!” I hissed.
Alice, the beach ignored me and strutted forward, handing over her third shopping bag to her ‘waiting woman.’ I cursed under my breath, and followed after her, wondering under which unlucky star, I was condemned to shop with her.
It was later in the day, after Alice had dropped the crybaby- I mean, the Zain bomb on us. We couldn’t make a scene at the breakfast table, because of well…the queen (a very displeased queen, might I add, because come on, why would anyone want to tolerate an influx of unwanted guests, all at once?)
Now, here we were, shopping for tonight’s introductory ceremony of Noah. I didn’t want to shop because I had packed enough clothes for every kind of occasion, but, Quinn and Anna had insisted, and I had to eventually comply.
Mia and Sophia had ditched me (don’t even ask me how), Caleb and Liam had taken charge of Zain (thank God) and the three of them were off to the food court (Caleb alert!), Quinn and Anna were in disguise and I had lost them already and Noah and Will were going to join us all later. So, that left me, alone with Alice the beach.
“Were you stalking me? How do you even know about Zain?” I asked her exasperatedly.
Alice halted and turned around to face me. I narrowed my eyes at her.
“Look, unlike you, I have a life, a royal one. I don’t have time for measly activities like stalking someone.” She replied, examining her perfectly manicured nails.
I crossed my arms over my chest. “Oh, yeah? Then, enlighten me, as to how and why Zain is here?”
She let out a laugh and placed a hand on my shoulder. “You should be thankful to me, Chloe. I was looking out for you. I brought him so that you would have someone as a date to tonight’s party.”
Before I had time to even react, Soph’s voice travelled to us, “I think not, beach.”
I turned around to see Soph and Mia, making their way towards us. Mia flicked Alice’s hand off my shoulder, as soon as she reached me.
“Ew, don’t touch my friend, ever again.” Mia made a face at Alice.
“And, Chloe is going with Noah, tonight. You can take Zain if you want.” Soph deadpanned at Alice.
Alice threw her head back and let out an ugly laugh. “Me? And that commoner? You have lost your mind.”
“Noah is unavailable for tonight, and for every other night. He is Chloe’s.” Mia retorted.
I face palmed. This is the thing about my friends…sometimes they become so protective of me, that they don’t realize that they start fighting like elementary kids for me or anything related to me.
Alice let out an exaggerated sigh. “Look here, you wannabe royals, I suggest you to stop wasting your time here and enjoy the duration of your stay here, without creating any trouble. Noah and I are endgame. It was fixed ever since we were five.”
“He doesn’t like you though,” I pointed out, making a failed attempt at reasoning with her.
“Oh, that’s what he thinks, sweetie,” she replied with a sickly smile. “He doesn’t have a choice either way. He can’t be in a relationship with a commoner. Didn’t end well last time, did it?”
It took me a moment to process her words and when I did, I was shocked beyond measures. What did she mean, last time?
“Stop spewing lies, you beach!” Soph fumed.
“Oh, please! I have better things to do,” Alice replied, giving us a bored look. She then turned to me, “Why? Noah hasn’t told you yet?”
“Told me what?” I asked, keeping my voice steady.
“About his father?” she replied. “That man was a commoner.”
Oh…
I didn’t understand…he was a commoner, so what?
“And, what do you think? His marriage to a royal ended up well?” Alice laughed, “Look at where it brought him. He is dead today. Killed himself.”
My mind started reeling as soon as those words left Alice’s mouth. Noah’s dad…killed himself?
No! No! No! It couldn’t be true! She was lying. From what Noah had told me, his dad was such a nice and happy man. Why would he kill himself?
But, then, suddenly something struck me. Noah and his nightmares…
He had never really talked about them openly, but I had a hunch now, that it had something to do with this information related to his dad.
“Chloe! Chloe, look at me!” Soph shook my shoulders, “don’t listen to anything she says. She is a liar! She and her brother kidnapped you, remember?”
I looked at Soph. She was right. Alice was not to be trusted, until I heard everything from Noah himself.
“And, even if what she is saying is true, it has got nothing to do with you Chloe. Do you understand?” Mia spoke up, looking me directly in the eyes. “You are different. Noah is different. You two are not his dad and the queen.”
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa…!”
All of us turned around at the sound of Alice’s scream. She was jumping in fright, yelling constantly. I shifted my gaze to see Liam standing there, with a doll in his hands. A doll which was a look alike of Annabelle.
Caleb came up behind Liam, clutching his stomach and laughing uncontrollably at Alice’s reaction.
“Yo, Alice! Chill! I bought this for Annabelle.” Caleb laughed, then, morphed his features into seriousness for a second. “But, if you want it, I Will buy one for you and Charlie, too.”
Alice let out another high pitched scream and ran away from there.
I shook my head with a slight smile. Caleb and his Annabelle fetish.
As if on a cue, Quinn and Anna appeared with shopping bags in their hands. Anna’s face turned pale as soon as she saw that doll, and she dropped all her bags.
“Annabelle, meet Annabelle,” Caleb said to Anna, trying hard to control his laughter.
“T-this is not fu-funny!” Anna stuttered, backing away from Caleb and the doll.
“Ooh wow!” Quinn joined in, taking the doll from Liam’s hands. “Where did you find this? Do they have more?”
“Oh, it was Zain who…” Liam trailed off mid sentence, looking around. “Wait, where is Zain?”
Shit no…
“Oh crap! I thought he was with you.” Caleb muttered to Liam.
“No…I thought he was with you…you two were having some discussion about ‘zoe’ and ‘noe’” Liam replied.
“What?!” Soph exclaimed, turning to Caleb. “Cal, seriously?!”
Cal raised his hands up in surrender. “Hey, I was just trying to explain to that guy that zoe has sank.”
“Guys, we can have this discussion later. Find Zain, now!” I ordered them, exasperatedly.
“No need, he is here.” came a very grim voice.
We looked up to see Will, Noah and Zain making their way towards us. My eyes widened when they came closer and I took in the scene before me. Zain was tightly clutching the arms of a very pissed looking Will, and Noah was shaking beside them in amusement.
What even-
“We found Zainy, sitting outside a store, crying his eyes out. As soon as he saw us, he ran to us and embraced Will, and…” Noah took a deep breath, laughing, “Would you see that? Will let Zain wipe his tears and snot on his sleeve.”
“I did not! He-” Will was cut off mid protest, when the click of a camera went off.
“Ah, shit! That’s the paparazzi!” Quinn exclaimed, hiding her face.
I watched as they clicked pictures upon pictures of…Will and Zain
Well, damn!