Royal Performer - Chapter 16

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 16: Care Package

EVENTUALLY, I WAS able to have a quiet dinner with Madame Lavigne. Then I noted the texts from a name I barely recognized.

‘Hi, it’s Léa!’ I read.

‘Hi!’ I replied back.

‘How have you been?’ she asked me.

We started trading messages for about fifteen minutes before I read, ‘So, is it true you’re coming to school here next week?’

‘How does she know that already?!?’ I wondered.

I didn’t see any reason not to confirm, ‘Yes, I’m coming for the final few weeks of your summer term.’

‘Wow, I thought Lola was just making stuff up!’ Léa replied.

‘How did she find out?!?’ I was really annoyed,

‘Lola found out and was saying something?’

‘Yeah, I think she was in the office when a meeting happened?’

‘So much for student privacy…’ I replied back.

‘How long have you known?’ she asked me.

‘This afternoon?’

‘She was saying stuff this morning…’

I sat there stewing, but I decided this would be both a Grandma and Giuseppe issue, and I would have to do something. I knew from Ellie that surviving catty girls like Lola was only possible with allies! I opened my calendar for a second and decided to try to build some!

‘Say… I’ve been pretty lonely here and have nothing scheduled for tomorrow. Would you be up for coming over for a sleepover?’

I watched dots from the messaging going on for a few moments.

‘You’re serious?’

‘I only know a few people here. Maybe I’ll invite this girl I met shopping, Mélanie Lemieux, too?’

‘Mel’s a sweetheart! She’s one of my friends!’

‘Then how about your sister Louise too?’

‘Are you sure? She’s kind of a baby still…?’

‘She seemed sweet at her party. If you come and she doesn’t, she might be jealous?’

‘Of course she’d be jealous!’She included a laughing emoji.

‘So…?’

‘Sounds like fun! You want to get permission first, and then we’ll see if we can make it?’

‘Awesome, I’ll get back to you in a bit after I have dinner with my grandmother.’

She replied with a smile emoji, and I put my phone down.

I looked less put together at that point but still admired my outfit. Truthfully, it was one I would have chosen to be Ellie’s little sister out and about, and I didn’t think anyone would have thought I was fifteen. ‘I like this look better; is there any reason I can’t lean into my appearance?’ I thought as I stared in my vanity mirror momentarily before deciding to head to find Madame Lavigne or Grandma to ask permission to have my little sleepover.

I had just entered our shared receiving room when Grandma walked in from the main castle entrance with Geneva.

“Hi, Grandma. May I talk to you?” I asked her.

“About?” She asked.

“Umm… a couple things…?” I motioned towards Geneva with my eyes.

“Geneva, would you please wait here a moment while my granddaughter and I have a quick conversation?” She asked.

“Of course, Your Majesty,” Geneva responded.

Grandma opened the door to her chambers, and I followed her to her sitting room. “Yes, Allie?”

I debated where to begin. “Umm… Well, first, I believe there may be a bit of a confidentiality breach at the school,” I decided to say.

“Oh?”

“Apparently, Lola found out in the office that I’m enrolling on Monday and spread it around everywhere?”

Grandma smiled, “I guessed she would.”

“You’re not mad?” I asked.

“Allie, you need to understand few things will remain secret about you.”

I felt sick at that, “I know that… but she shouldn’t have known? Or… told anyone?”

“We’ll give her a pass this time,” Grandma said. “It probably did you a favor in that it won’t be a total surprise when you show up?”

Sighing, I said, “I guess you’re right.”

“Was there something else?”

“Yes?” I said, “There’s nothing going on tomorrow night, right?”

She pulled out her phone and looked at her calendar, “Somehow, we do seem to have a free Saturday night. That’s not something you should plan on being a normal occurrence?”

I nodded, “I get that. I was wondering if I could invite a few girls over for a sleepover?”

“A sleepover, huh?” She said, looking a little dubious. “Do you trust these girls? How do you even know them?”

“Well, Léa and Louise are the daughters of Fernando Teresi - he’s a security team member?” She nodded, “I met them when they came here for Louise’s tenth birthday party in the arcade and bowling alley?”

She nodded, “So you want to hang out with younger girls?”

“I just figured if I invited Léa, who’s my age, it would only be fair to invite Louise too?”

She sighed, “Okay, who else?”

“This girl I met shopping? She worked in one of the shops?”

Grandma had to be more convinced of her, but after a call to Giuseppe, who ran a background check, she agreed to do that, too. “You all can be in the pool, the gardens, the arcade area, or the cinema, but no fooling around in the tourist areas?”

“Can I show them the rooms if they want to see?” I asked.

“I suppose,” she told me. “Go ahead and invite them. Was this the outfit you wore for the magazine interview?”

I nodded, “It’s cute, isn’t it?”

She nodded, “It is. I’m just concerned you are back to looking like you are nine again.”

I blushed, “I don’t think that will ever be avoidable, even when I get on my medication fully?”

“We’ll see,” she said. Grandma gave me a hug, “Go invite them. I want you to have breakfast with me, and then we’ll be in the throne room for a ceremony in the morning. You’ll be done by lunch?”

“Thanks!” I told her, and I disappeared back to my chambers, telling Geneva she could go see her as I left.

I messaged Léa and confirmed I was able to have them over.

‘I think you’re going to regret inviting Louise! She’s bouncing off the walls right now!!!’

‘LOL!’ I replied.

I searched my contacts, found Mélanie’s number, and sent her a message. ‘Hi Mélanie, would you like to come to the Chateaux for a sleepover tomorrow night?’

I didn’t get an immediate response, so I chatted with Ellie briefly. She thought the romper dress looked adorable and agreed it made me look younger. When I told her about my thoughts that I should just lean into that, she didn’t have a lot of counterarguments. We’d been talking for an hour after my text when I received a reply from Mélanie.

‘Seriously?!?’

‘Serious ,’ I replied.

‘Let me see if I can switch shifts…’

‘If your manager says no, let me know!’ I smiled, thinking a call to them might be effective.

‘Give me a bit here,’ she said.

I changed into pajamas and was walking down to watch some TV when I found she’d replied, ‘I’m in! How do I get in?’

I laughed, gave her some instructions, and then sat down to cuddle Becky and watch TV when Anna entered.

“Your Highness, a package came for you today?” She held a large brown box that looked like it might have seen a lot of travel before it arrived.

“From who?” I asked.

“Your mom?”

I immediately stood up and crossed the short distance to grab the box. It was still taped shut, and I groaned as I didn’t know where to find scissors.

She smiled, “Would you like me to open it for you?”

A second later, she produced a small blade to cut the copious amounts of tape on the box. I sat it on top of the coffee table in the room and opened the box sides to reveal a pile of fabric!

Inside, I found three adorable fleece blankets! Two were Disney Princess-themed, and the third was Hello Kitty. “Yay!!!” I almost bounced up and down.

“Your Highness?” She asked.

“You have no idea how much I’ve wanted cute fuzzy blankies!” I had to say blankies in English because I still hadn’t asked about the French equivalent.

She shook her head, “What else is in there?”

I was happy to see more comfy pajamas, fuzzy socks, shorts, and a Tupperware box of cookies!”

“Your Highness, may I see the cookies?” She asked.

“Why?”

“We need to check them; the blankets and clothes are fine,” she told me.

“Check them?” I asked.

“I’m ninety-nine-point-nine percent certain this package is legitimate, but food from outside the castle will always be checked for poison.”

“…What?!?”

“Give me ten minutes; I’ll be back with them,” she assured me.

“You won’t destroy them, right?”

“No, I would never do that,” she answered solemnly. “Curl up under your new blankies, and I’ll be back shortly.”

I sighed but pulled out the biggest fuzzy pink blanket covered with Aurora, Cinderella, and Rapunzel. I used the remote to turn on the TV and curled up on one of the ends of the couch. I quickly texted Mom a quick ‘Thank you!!!’ and had just settled on re-watching Tangled for the nth time when Anna returned with the Tupperware container.

“All good,” She told me, handing it over.

“What did you do with them?” I asked.

“We have a detector that we ran over the box, and then I tasted one to be sure.”

“You tas…”

“Your Highness, food tasters have been a thing for hundreds of years. It’s an effective way to ensure there’s no doubt of poisons.”

“Can I just say that’s horrible?”

She shrugged, “If I really was worried, we’d send it to a lab for more intrusive testing first. Enjoy your movie,” she said. “By the way, your mom is an excellent cook!”

I just shook my head and squeezed Becky tighter as the movie began.

The occasional cookie was consumed as I watched the pair rush through the kingdom in a blur of hair and frying pans. The end, as Rapunzel was reintroduced to her mom and dad, always made me tear up, and that day was no exception!

I stood at the end and noted it was nearly eleven, and I was certain Anna would be nagging me to go to sleep soon. I left the cookies on the dining room table and wished there was at least a microwave or kitchenette. From everything I had seen, I wouldn’t ever be able to cook for myself in the castle - and that just felt weird!

I was half-tempted to wander down to the downstairs kitchen, but instead, I walked down the hall to my room. I had spread my new blankies around my bed, brushed my teeth, and brushed out my hair when Anna came in.

“Ready for bed?” She asked me.

I shrugged, “I guess?”

“I hear you have some guests coming over tomorrow night?”

I looked at her curiously, “Yes?”

“Not your cousins?”

I smirked, “No, Monsieur Teresi and his daughters were here for a party on one of my first days, and I met his two oldest daughters. Léa is my age, but they were here for Louise’s birthday party. I didn’t think it would be fair to not invite her. Then there’s a girl Mélanie I met shopping with Madame Lavigne, who seemed nice. She’s the same age as me, too?”

“Regular kids, then?” She asked me appraisingly.

I shrugged, “They seem like it? I’ve texted Léa and Mélanie a few times since then. It would be nice to have friends that aren’t across the ocean?”

She nodded, “That it would.” She looked at the blankets I had spread about, “Are you sure you want to have such juvenile blankets when they come?”

I laughed, “My friend Ellie has plenty of blankets like this and gets a new one every Christmas. I don’t think any girl will see it as a problem?”

“You don’t think it reinforces you being young?”

I looked at her and shrugged, “I am young - and I am short! Unless you have some instant human stretching machine I don’t know about, it will probably be that way if I stay my mom’s height?”

She nodded, “You sure don’t seem to be taking after your Papa.”

I blushed, “You knew him?”

“Since I was a young girl,” she told me. “My maman worked on staff here when I was little. I was probably nine when he was born?”

“What did she do?”

“She was his nanny, actually,” she told me.

I wrinkled my nose slightly, “That seems so weird to me.”

“And a governess isn’t?”

“It is too,” I agreed.

“So anyway, I was often around your dad until he was about three or four when they moved my mom to another position and hired a governess for him. I even changed more than a few of his diapers, too!” She smirked.

“Sadly, you knew him better than me,” I told her.

“Yes, it’s a shame…” You could see a far-off look in her eyes, which she blinked away and said, “Anyway, let’s get you in bed, Your Highness. You’re going to have quite the day tomorrow.”

I nodded off to sleep that night, wondering again why fate had conspired against me to send me thousands of miles from my mom to the homeland of a father who never deigned to meet me!