Princess Adeline of Wales

Chapter Thirty-Four: The Accident

5th of October 2004 - Marlborough College

Hearing the beep of a car horn, Adeline paused in her walking as she stuffed her books into her bag and prepared to walk across the campus to her school dorm. 

It was getting late and having spent most of the afternoon preparing for her mock exams in December, Adeline was more than ready to crawl into bed. 

Despite it only being the start of the week, Adeline was ready for the week to be over so that she could slip away from school and enjoy the home comforts of Clarence House to herself for the most part. 

Staring at the old car that slowed down to pull up beside her, Adeline furrowed her brow confused before she saw who was seated inside and a massive smile formed on her face.

"Are you serious? You passed," Adeline exclaimed grinning at her boyfriend as he rolled down the window to greet her, a smug look on his face and she stepped closer to the vehicle so that she wasn't blocking the pathway. 

Nick had been bragging for months since he had gotten his provisional that he'd pass his test in one go; it had been Adeline that had helped him study for his theory but everything else he had insisted on doing on his own. 

"Of course, I did," Nick teased, he was one of the first in their year to pass their test and his parents had kept their promise to get him a car, an old one at that, for passing. 

The look on his father's face had been worth it when he had told them, there had been very little to celebrate in the house especially with the news that Richard's condition was getting worse. 

"Get in, we'll go for a drive," Nick insisted, he wanted to show off and honour his girlfriend with the first trip in his new car before he got stuck on driver duty for all of his friends. 

Adeline opened her mouth to protest, it was getting late and there was a curfew for them; it just wasn't the right time for them to take a joyride even if she could see how happy he was. 

Perhaps they could go when their classes finished tomorrow, she would take a break from her homework and studying; they could slip away and drive around for hours without any worries or distractions.

"Come on... live a little, grumpy and bumpy won't notice," Nick coaxed her, his eyes moving away from Adeline and towards the two security men that were seated a distance away. 

They were her protection officers, situated at the school in case anyone decided that they were stupid enough or brave enough to try and get too close to Adeline. 

Nick disliked the both of them, despite their discreet nature; he was far from pleased to have them follow Adeline and him around when they were out on dates. 

His every move being watched and Nick couldn't help but think that they didn't like him, didn't think that he was good enough for Adeline even if she really liked him. 

Adeline sighed, offering a glance towards the protection officers, knowing that Nick's dislike for her protection officers was not a fight that she could win. 

Despite her pleas for him to understand and insistence that no matter what happened, they were really only there to keep her safe not to interfere it often fell on deaf ears. 

"Please... all we ever do is study and who knows how long it'll be before we really get some time together once school is over," Nick pouted reaching out of the car window to take her hand, giving her the puppy-dog eyes in hopes that she'd agree. 

It wasn't like he was asking her to go cliff-diving or anything dangerous, it was just a short driver around the area before they came back. 

Hell, he didn't even think Adeline would get into trouble especially given Harry's current antics that were being painted across every frontpage newspaper in the country if not the world.