Royal Performer - Chapter 12

Princess Alexandria Alessi’s life has turned upside down in the blink of an eye. Only a few days ago, she was enjoying a clandestine summer shopping with her best friend at the local mall. Coming home, she was alarmed to discover her mom was there, and her secret of being transgender was suddenly no longer secret! Within a few short hours, her life became like a movie as she discovered that her long-lost father was the Crown Prince of Osané, a small, secluded island nation. Alexandria was immediately thrust into the spotlight in a whirlwind weekend that led to a Monday press conference to announce her royal lineage. Royal Performer is the second Tiffany Shar's 'Suddenly Royal' series.

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Chapter 12: Nemesis

GRANDMA WAS ALREADY seated at a large round table with a center cutout for servers to serve the guests easily. “Alexandria, come and have a seat, please,” she told me. I was a little taken aback by the relative informality of this versus dinner with the other guests the other night.

To her left was an older man I was able to recognize from my earlier lesson as my second cousin, the Duke of Caserta, Mikael Montalvo. He was Lola and Anise’s father, and I’d found myself intently memorizing the details of my horrid cousins when Madame Lavigne presented me with the family tree. Beside him was a lady I knew must be his wife, Duchess Myriam Montalvo. Mikael was taller but had a very pompous and rotund figure. His hair had once been midnight black, but age had left it speckled with nearly as much white as black. His full facial beard must have been dyed darker or, for some reason, wasn’t graying as quickly.

His wife was brunette, and I remembered she was seven years younger than him. She was model thin, even after having had two kids, and her brunette hair was impeccably styled to match her classy blue suit dress and pearls that she wore. He was dressed in a formal suit and tie, with a golden watch that I was sure was a high-end piece.

An empty chair had been left next to Grandma, but to its right was Lola, and to her right was Anise. Lola looked to be dressed in an extravagant red strapless dress. The bust exposed the tops of her very developed bosom, and I could see from where I stood that a long slit in the skirt wandered practically up to her panties! No doubt it was a designer dress, but it also screamed… ‘slutty’ to me!

‘No way mom would let me wear that, even when I’m sixteen like her!’ I thought.

Her sister Anise was only eleven but was developing curves much faster than I was. She showed off those curves in a one-shoulder hot pink dress with sequined designs up and down it. A less daring slit than her sisters was present, and I couldn’t help but note their antagonistic bullying looks as I walked to my seat.

My dress was clearly more conservative and ‘less mature’ than theirs.

“Hi,” I said politely, “It’s nice to meet you, Your Grace,” I curtsied.

“The pleasure is all mine,” he said in a voice that seemed anything but sincere to me. “Elodie mentioned you had already met?”

I looked at Lola, and it took me a moment to realize her real name wasn’t Lola. “Yes, we did,” I refused to say more.

“You look nice, sweetheart,” Grandma said as I sat beside her.

“Thank you,” I told her.

I was stuck awkwardly sitting beside a girl who I already loathed. I didn’t know what else to do as she began asking questions but to try and respond politely. “So, you’re an American?”

I shrugged, “I’ve thought that my whole life, but apparently, I have citizenship here too.”

“But you probably didn’t even know Osané existed until a week ago?”

I shrugged, “Apparently, my parents wanted to preserve a normal life for me as long as they could. Being a spoiled brat wasn’t their goal for me.” I sent the small barb towards her and felt guiltily happy as her facial expression made me think it hit the mark with her.

“Well, maybe normal for an American. I can only imagine how many things you don’t know about, though?”

I shrugged, “I’m smart; I’ll learn just fine.”

Before any more sparring could occur, the first course arrived, and Grandma got my attention by placing a hand on my arm.

“Everything okay, dear?” She looked concerned, and I wondered how much she had paid attention.

“Everything is just fine; Lola was just asking me about my childhood?”

“Oh, I can definitely see the curiosity there. I’m certain Elodie’s not the only one curious about that,” their mother said. “It’s a bit of a fairytale here, right?”

I just politely nodded, “A bit more tragic than I would prefer,” I said quietly.

Grandma placed a hand on my shoulder, “I would say a lot more tragic.” She sighed, “But we’ll see things looking up in no time. Her mother is, thankfully, doing better back home. We hope she can join us here in six to eight weeks, depending on her physical therapy.”

“So, how are the renovations going on your estate on Trèfle?” Mikael changed topics somewhat awkwardly.

“Quite well, actually!” Grandma said. “I’m hopeful everything will be completed by Christmas, and we will still host our annual celebration there.”

I looked on, unknowingly, as they discussed some other estate in our holdings that sounded as impressive or more than the castle.

“So, do you miss your friends back home already?” Anisse asked over Lola.

I turned to her and was greeted with a glare from her sister and a genuine look of curiosity on the younger girl’s face. I nodded, “I do. I miss my best friend Ellie a lot. I’m hoping she can come here sometime over the summer.”

“Summer holidays in a few weeks?” She asked.

“Umm…?” I started.

“Nisse, Americans have different summers, remember?” Lola stated authoritatively.

“Oh, that’s right. So, you weren’t even in school this week, were you?”

I intentionally gave them a surprised look, even though I’d already discussed this with Léa, “Oh, you guys are still in school right now?”

“Typical American,” Lola rolled her eyes, and I felt more of a wave of anger then.

“Not exactly my fault. But I wouldn’t say I’m completely not in school right now. Madame Lavigne has been drilling me harder than any teachers at my school ever have this past week.”

“Maybe, but that means you aren’t meeting anyone here?” Lola said, her eyes gleaming and making me nervous. “You should come try our schools for a few weeks until we have our summer holiday. It would give people a chance to get to know you.”

I felt an icy grip of nerves in my stomach as Grandma said, “We’ve thought about it, but with everything Alexandria is and has been going through, we felt she needed a little bit of a break to heal.”

“It probably wouldn’t do any harm for her to go, though, would it?” Myriam, her mother said. “I mean, surely the school could keep an eye on her well-being too?”

I sat there for the next ten minutes as people talked around me and made a plan to get me to the local public Lycée, which I was shocked Lola went to. Anisse was in a lower year that was more equivalent to middle school. The Lycée du Alessi was the equivalent of combining a middle school and my high school back home. It sounded like just a few such high schools spread about the main island and a single parochial school that few attended.

Finally, toward the end of the conversation, Grandma said, “Well, we’ll consider it after a little more time. Maybe Her Highness could go for the last few weeks before the break? Definitely not this week, but we must still decide where she’ll go to school next school year.”

“Not here?” Lola asked, curious.

“We haven’t decided, but I’ve been leaning towards her attending another school that will benefit her music studies more.”

“We have music at our school?” Lola said. “I play clarinet in the orchestra with my friend Léna, and my friend Lilou is very good at violin.” She looked at me with something appraising that made me want to gulp and get away from the bully even though I couldn’t figure it out from the awkward dinner. “What do you play?”

“I also play clarinet and piano,” I told her.

“Oh, you must have been in one of those marching bands back home?” Myriam asked, clearly curious.

“Yes, ma’am, we were pretty good too,” I told her. “You don’t have those here, though, right?”

Grandma laughed, “No reason to have that without that dreadful American Football you all play over there. We have the military band for parades and special events, but nothing like yours. Mostly just orchestras here in Osané schools like in most of Europe.”

“So, what do you think?” Lola pushed.

“We’ll discuss it,” I said, trying to stay polite. My grandmother seemed utterly clueless about how I felt right then, and I grew more perturbed as the meal went on. The last thing I wanted was more time to be around the witch!

Fortunately for me, the dinner ended before I was drafted to be in a new school during my summer vacation! Just as we were saying our cordial goodbyes, Lola got me to the side to speak where no one else could hear, “I sure hope you enjoy coming to school and being the little girl who no one likes,” she smirked. “I have big plans for you on your first day! Especially with such a little girl’s dress as you wore tonight and in the store. I’m sure everyone will quickly see we should probably have you back in primary school instead.”

I was still mouthing like a fish almost as she turned and left. My face was red, and I just wanted to slap the witch!

‘I’d need a chair to stand on though to reach,’ I fumed!

“So, your cousins are nice, non?” Grandma asked me.

I looked at her, “Do you want the truth?”

She looked a little surprised, “Always!”

“Lola is a witch,” I told her.

“Well, you have to give her time, Allie. Remember that until last week, she figured she would be named the Crowned Princess this summer.”

“She would have been horrible,” I said and turned to walk upstairs.

“Alexandria!?” She called after me.

I turned, “Yes, ma’am?”

“School might actually be a good idea…?”

“Madame Lavigne has things covered quite well with that,” I told her, “Good night.”

I stewed as I found myself in my room! I looked at my reflection in the mirror and was even more angry at Lola since I thought the dress was really pretty!!!!

I took a quick picture and sent it to Ellie, “Does this dress really make me look like a little kid?”

I curled onto the bed and cuddled my bear Becky tightly, ‘I wish Mom was here!’

Facetime began ringing, and I saw Ellie’s face on the notification. I smiled slightly and accepted her video call.

“Who told you that made you look like a little kid? It’s gorgeous!” Ellie sounded like she was ready to go and beat Lola up.

“My cousin Lola!” I told her.

“She’s just jealous,” Ellie said.

“Maybe, but you should have seen this sexy dress she was wearing. She probably would have been the envy of everyone at prom?”

“Who cares?” Ellie told me.

“Umm…”

“Seriously, Allie, you’ll have to get used to girls being catty and picking on you as much as guys did. Ultimately, you have to just be yourself and be proud of yourself. There’s only one Crown Princess of Osané, and that’s you, Allie.” She smiled as I wiped a tear from my eye, “And trust me, I think they got really lucky because I’m really jealous that they got my friend over there!”

I sat there for a moment before croaking out, “Thanks, Ellie, I don’t know what to do without you.”

“Well, it’s a good thing we have internet, and I’ll be over there to visit in a few weeks! Now tell me, what else is going on?” She asked.

Ellie spent the next hour listening as I told her about my day of intense schooling before dinner. After I told her about the day, she said, “I’m jealous, you know?”

“Why?”

“Have you googled Madame Lavigne?”

I shook my head at her, “No?”

“She’s like some fictional character Allie! Accomplished ballerina when she was younger, renowned teacher and headmistress later? Now the governess for a princess!”

“Really?”

“Seriously, go look her up later! You’re going to be working your butt off with her, but I have a feeling she’s going to be better than any teacher we’ve ever had!”

“I can see that part already… I just don’t know what to do after this? I’m thousands of miles from home, and it sounds like I can’t even go home now?”

“Sorry, Allie, I wish I could give you a hug right now.”

“You have no idea how much I wish I could have a lot of hugs right now,” I told her. I sighed, “So, enough about my crazy life; how’s it going back home?”

She shrugged, “Emily came over last night to go swimming.”

“She have anything to say?”

“Not really; she’s still in shock that you’re a princess now?”

“Nothing about the other part?”

“She really thinks it’s the coolest thing ever?” She told me. “How long do you think that will stay quiet though?”

“Not long,” I said sadly. “I’m actually shocked it hasn’t come out yet.”

“Are you just going to tell them the truth when it does?” Ellie asked curiously.

I shrugged, “Lies always catch up with you?”

She nodded.

Right then, I heard a knock on the door, and Anna came inside, “Your Highness, you probably should be going to bed here soon?”

I sighed, “Sorry, Ellie. It looks like I need to let you go. I’ll try to catch you tomorrow.”

“No worries, Allie. I know you’re a long way ahead of us time-wise! Talk to you later. Love ya.”

“Love you too,” I told her.

“Girlfriend?” Anna asked.

“Best friend,” I corrected her. “More like a sister.”

She seemed happier with that for some reason. “Good; I think you probably have enough problems without dating?”

I glared at her, “They would be my problems though.”

“Pardon, Your Highness, I was just thinking you have enough on your plate. I didn’t mean anything by that.”

“Apology accepted,” I told her.

“I can draw a bath for you if you would like?”

I debated telling her no, but the gigantic bathtub and a soak did sound good. “Bubbles?”

“There will be plenty of bubbles,” she assured me.

“Okay,” I told her.

I entered my bathroom a short while later. I discovered a pleasant floral scent, a bathtub filled with bubbles, and a pink tinge to the water. I closed the door behind me and pulled the beautiful dress off, carefully hanging it on a hook on the door before pulling my underwear off and submerging myself inside the tub. I nearly jumped a moment later when the door opened. Anna grabbed the dress and my discarded underwear and placed a set of my new pajamas and some underwear on the counter.

She left without a word, and I floated in the tub. It would still be a two-person bathtub with my giant father, but with my smaller body, it was practically a small pool. I found myself floating on my back as my hair loosely floated behind me. I closed my eyes momentarily, thinking about everything that had happened in less than two weeks!

I was so lost in my thoughts I missed the door opening and splashed awkwardly when Anna’s voice said, “Are you awake, Your Highness?”

I looked up at the giant, “Yes…?”

Fortunately, the bubbles still covered my body, so I wasn’t as mortified then. “Would you care for me to wash your hair?”

“Umm… this is a little embarrassing?” I told her.

She sighed, “Princess, this is a pretty normal thing? I guarantee your cousins have this same service?”

“That’s not helping?”

I saw a slight smile on her lips, “That I suppose I can understand. So…?”

I decided this was probably a case of giving in, “I guess, okay?”

“Very well, come sit on this side,” she told me, patting the wall.

Again, I was grateful for the bubbles as she pulled a sprayer from the wall and soon was washing my hair for me. I was embarrassed by how soothing the extensive washing of my hair was. She had washed and conditioned my hair before wrapping it in a towel. “Are you ready to get out?” she asked.

Seeing the bubbles and my modesty fading, I nodded, “Sure, would you please give me some privacy now, though?”

“Certainly, I’ll dry your hair in your room when you’re ready.”

A while later, I was in bed with hair she had dried with a blow dryer and braided in a loose braid. I hugged Becky, my bear, and drifted off to sleep.