Different Worlds // n.h.

chapter twenty-three // the christmas ball.

Gracey's POV

It was the sweet smell of cinnamon that woke me up on the snowy day of December 24th; the outside world seemed sunny and peaceful, opposite to the hustle and bustle of everyone getting ready for the exciting event taking place tonight.

Today was the day; the day I had dreamt of since I was a child; the day I never thought would come.

I slowly made my way downstairs for breakfast, the smell of cinnamon growing stronger with each step.

"Gracey!" said Niall as he tapped on my shoulder, causing me to jump. "We're eating with my family today, care to join us?"

He offered to take my hand and led me to the dining room, where Reeja, Chana, Brooke, Joy, The Royal Family, and the rest of my recently-made friends sat. I took a seat in-between Niall and Reeja, being sure to keep good posture since I was sitting with royalty.

I looked around the room. It was quite warm and inviting, with old fantasy-like paintings, and vases — that were filled with wildflowers — on the shelves. There was an enormous window on one of the walls, overlooking what looked like what used to be a garden, that was now covered in sparkling snow.

The next moment, many servants came bursting through the doors, all holding covered shiny silver platters and glass pitchers filled with orange juice.

The servants set down the platters and uncovered them to reveal cinnamon rolls the size of dinner plates.

I looked to my right to see Reeja already digging into her cinnamon roll, not even bothering to have good manners. Melody, who was sitting across from Reeja, eyed her with great disgust. Everyone else, however, followed suit and dug in as well.

As I ate, I couldn't help but notice Melody and Greg glancing at each other constantly throughout our meal. Each time one caught the other looking, they would both smile brightly and quickly look away. Something was obviously going on between the two. . . .

Melody and Greg weren't the only ones catching a glimpse of one another, Louis and Reeja were doing exactly the same thing. They didn't talk much, however, until finally, Louis decided to break their silence.

"Sreeja — er — Reeja," He began, fumbling his fingers as Reeja looked over at him. "Would you like to — er — go to the dance with me?"

She automatically stopped eating and dropped her fork onto the ground, staring at Louis with widened eyes. She seemed to be at a complete loss for words. I gave her a hard nudge, causing her to snap out of her trance.

She looked back to Louis, who was shaking slightly and shifting uncomfortably in his seat, and finally gave him an answer.

"Well duh, took you long enough,"

Louis let out a big laugh to calm his nerves. "You got me for a second, I thought you didn't want to go with me,"

"Louis wanted to ask you in front of everyone since he was afraid of being rejected, isn't that right Louis?" Harry teased.

"Oh shut up, that's not even true in the slightest." Louis denied, however, I noticed a blush creeping upon his face.

Soon enough later, we finished eating. Instead of leaving the dining room, however, we stayed and chatted for a long while. I quite enjoyed the family dynamics, it wasn't something you'd expect from a Royal family; they would laugh and make fun of each other, rather than act like they were better than everyone else.

They were just normal people.

~ ~ ~

"Oh no!" Reeja screeched, the noise stretching all the way throughout the palace.