Different

Chapter 4

Gracie It is the dreaded day of my oh so sweet date with the devil himself. Sorry, I mean Satan the king/prince of hell. He is taking me on a picnic in the gardens. He has the so-called perfect date planned. And it would be perfect in another life for the two of us, if none of what had happened, happened. Sometimes it is really hard not to like him. And I hate it, but I cannot dwell on that forever since you know I got work to get done. I decide to wear a sundress that has a floral pattern on it that goes really well for a garden picnic. I decide against my better judgment not to put my wig on. I just let my natural hair flow down my back. I also put light makeup on and wear white ballet flats. As I am finishing getting ready, with the help of my maid of course, there is a knock at the door. Naida opens the door to reveal Satan... I mean Nathan. No wonder I always get those mixed up, the names and personalities are very similar. Ashley then declares I am ready to go and pushes me towards Sat... Nathan. He gives me a bright smile and exclaims, "You look gorgeous, as always." Yep, that totally wasn't cheesy at all, I think while mentally shaking my head no. He takes my hand and places a delicate kiss on the top and I can just feel my eyes bug out of my head. I was not expecting him to act like that with me, especially since I am so openly hostile to him. And that just made him even more cheesy. "Thank you, and you look handsome." I say, and surprisingly I mean, though I really wish I didn't. His smile brightens even more as he holds out his arm for me and I put my hand in the crook of his elbow. He leads us to the gardens and we walk around them for a few minutes talking about the different flowers that he has no idea about any of them, except for the most basic flower of all time, roses. That's not surprising. We stop and sit under the same tree that I had sat under yesterday for our picnic. He packed us some of my favorites: barbeque chicken sandwiches, mash potatoes, corn on the cob, and potato salad. I don't know why we need two things with potatoes in it, but I'm not complaining. What is confusing is that all this food is what I would eat in America, not here. I wonder how he figured out what food I would... Oh, I guess the question from last night makes sense now, last night I had no idea why he asked it. He is so considerate and sweet... Stop it, Gracie. You can't think like this. THink snobby thoughts. I try to act as snobby as I can, but he seems oblivious. I know it is just an act, though. He also seems to know something that I don't and I can't figure it out; this is going to drive me absolutely insane. We start to eat the wonderful food and it is everything that I imagined it would be. When we finish, he pulls out a remote and presses a button that makes music start to play throughout the garden. He stands up and extends his hand for me. "May I have this dance, m'lady?" He asks in a fake British accent. "You may kind sir." I answer in an equally bad fake British accent. I take his hand and he helps me up. We dance until a few songs later and one of my favorite songs comes on. "I love this song!" I exclaim. "I know and I also know you have a dance routine for this song that you performed with a dance team." I blush. How in the world does he know that? "Can you show me the routine?" I nod my head and start to do the routine; there is nothing bad about my routine, I had created it when I was ten years old and added on it as I got older, I just had to clarify. I mess up a bit, but it isn't a big deal and I even work it to my advantage. Once I finish, I sit down with the prince, who had sat down when I started dancing, and Nathan and I just talk about random things; he is trying his hardest to reconnect with me after all these years and I am not having it. However, he is actually kind of interesting: he is sweet, funny, and passionate about what he loves. He keeps talking about how everyone should be treated equally and honestly I am taken back because most monarchs would not think like that. Normally I can tell when is lying to me or being fake, however, right now with him I cannot tell; I think I can tell he isn't lying, but I am letting my personal feelings get in the way. He keeps saying sweet things that really make me want to smile... No, Gracie. No, no, no! I should be thinking like this about him. You are falling for him, the voice in my head says. No, absolutely not, this cannot be happening. I am really starting to hate myself. After a while we go inside and head to one of the ballrooms. Why they need more than one is beyond me. Today for our "princess" lessons we are going to be learning how to ballroom dance. I have no idea what because I'm pretty sure the three of us here know how to, even I know how to. My dad had taught me when he was home from traveling, always telling me if I wanted to be friends with royalty I had to know how to dance at a ball. I really miss my dad and this is bringing back memories that I have been trying to suppress for a long time. The other two girls are glaring at me as I enter the ballroom with the prince. I try my hardest to suppress an eye roll at them for how jealous they are of me when in reality they have nothing to worry about. That just reminds me that they also know how to ballroom dance considering they are of noble blood and go to all the royal events. So I really do not know why they are having to teach us. They are teaching us at the moment some dance that is their national dance or just a dance that everyone has to know. We all are going to take turns dancing with the prince... I mean Satan, I really need to start remembering his name better. When it is my turn, I am already on the verge of tears, remembering when my dad taught me this dance, and once the music starts to play for us to dance, I burst into tears and run out of the room. I run until I am outside in front of the palace. I take a deep breath in and exhale out, trying to calm myself down. A few minutes later Na... Satan shows up looking flustered. He must have ran out here after me. He sees me and immediately relaxes. "Gracie, are you okay? What happened in there?" He starts shooting questions at me. "All of it just reminded me too much of my dad." I take another deep breath because this is an extremely hard conversation. "You know my dad used to teach me ballroom dances when he was home and not traveling. Those are some of my favorite memories of him.""That's where you learned to dance so well?"I nod. He should have known that considering I remember having a conversation sort of like this when we were younger. "I'm sorry, if I would have known I wouldn't have made you do it. I do not like seeing you upset." "I know, however, it just took me by surprise; I thought I could handle it and not break down in tears like I always do." I really need to get away from him, I am opening up way too much because being around him makes me feel all gooey inside and I just feel like I have to spill my guts. "I think I should get myself cleaned up and rest a bit before dinner.""Okay. I can walk you up to your room if you need me to.""I'm fine, but thank you anyways." He walks away, looking defeated without saying goodbye or anything. Good, I do not want him to get any ideas. I wait a couple of minutes and then walk to my room. I go straight to my bathroom and take my makeup off, changing into some sweat pants and a tee shirt. I put my glasses on, grab one of my books and go onto my balcony. I read for about two hours before my maid come in to get me ready for dinner. When Nadia sees me, she shrieks, "What are you wearing?!""Sweatpants." I blankly state. She face palms and grabs my arm. She drags me into the bathroom and they start doing me up, which includes pulling on my hair way too hard and applying way too much makeup no matter how many times I tell them to stop it. They finish up and I look at myself in the mirror; I look like a fake person. I hate it. "Can I have some makeup wipes? Please." I ask politely. There is no way I will look like those two barbie wannabes because Nathan seems to like it. "Why?" Michelle, my other lady's maid, asks."Because there is no way I am wearing this much makeup anywhere, like I tried telling y'all." I answer and they start to help take the makeup off. Once all the makeup is off, they help me into a dress: it is a sweetheart cut neckline cocktail dress with white wedges. The dress is a blush pink and is flowy from the waist down. Ashley checks the time and her face goes pale. "You are fifteen minutes late for dinner." She yells and starts pushing me out of the room. I rush to the Great Hall, even though I do not care that I am late, take a deep breath, smooth my dress out and nod my head for the guards to open the door for me. The royal family and the two girls turn my way, this is the second time I have been late for a meal. I head to an empty seat as far away from everyone as possible after stopping by the end with the royals and giving them a proper greeting. I sit down and a plate is placed in front of me. I can still feel everyone's eyes on me and I just look down at my plate. Everyone finally looks away and I start eating. By the time I am finally finished, everyone is gone except for the prince, he is still sitting at the royal end of the table, seeming to be analyzing me. He really knows how to make a girl uncomfortable. I stand up and walk out of the Great Hall without his 'permission'. I go straight up to my room, however, before I get to my door someone grabs my arm. I turn around and come face to face with the prince of the underworld himself. If you haven't figured it out I am talking about Nathan. "What do you want?" I growl. He glares at me and looks pissed. "I do not like being disrespected like that." He growls back. I cannot believe this dude. He does not want us to be formal with each other and how he is getting mad at me because I 'disrespected' him. That's bs. "I did not disrespect you. That is complete bull and you know it. You said you do not like being formal with me and vice versa. Leave me alone if you have nothing else to talk to me about." I fling my door open, nearly pulling it off its hinges and walkin. I go to shut the door, but he stops me. Great. He walks into my room and sits down at my desk, making himself right at home. I guess technically this is his home, but this is not his room. "What do you want Nathan?" I ask, aggravated. I'm so done with his crap. "I just wanted to let you know that I will be keeping you as long as I want and that there is no way that I am going to let you out of my sight. You are going to be my choice at the ball." He says, straightforward, shocking me. No, this cannot be happening. Why isn't the plan working? I'm freaking inside my head, but I keep my cool on the outside. "How come you have already made that decision?" I need to stay calm; I cannot let him know how I am feeling about his decision. "That's not really fair to the other girls. "You are exactly how I remember you: the girl that disappeared." It takes everything inside of me to not slap him or kick him or anything even though every fiber in my body is telling me to do otherwise. "I didn't disappear! You did!" I scream at him. He has no right to say that to me. "You and your parents just disappeared from my life without a word. I have always and still think that it is my fault." I start crying."No it was not your fault." That's some bull. I know he is lying. "I lost so many people that day. I lost my father and my second family..." He cuts me off."Hey, hey. We were just trying to keep you and your family safe." Some more lies. I guess today is just my day to break down and lose my mind. "Were you in that accident that killed you dad?" I nod my head 'yes' without thinking. Wait, why in the world does he need to know this right now or at all? "What happened?" Why does Satan need to know this information? I guess for some reason I am still going to tell him though. I start, "We were driving to my sister's house so I could stay the night because she had moved out when she got married, like normal people, if you didn't know that already. There was a gunshot and from what I remember I had started to scream without knowing what was really going on. The car went out of control. We hit something and the car flipped over so it was on it's top." I start to cry even more. "There was so much pain and that was all I could think about. But then there was another gunshot and I looked over to my dad. I knew he was gone but I could not accept it. I ended up slipping into a coma and I wanted to die. However, I would hear my mother's voice along with my sister's. It was the only thing that brought me out of it." He hugged me and I just accepted it because I really needed it. "I cannot believe I never knew any of this." He takes a deep breath. "I'm sorry that happened and sorry for bringing it up." I look in his eyes and can see more questions; automatically knowing he wants to ask about my sister. "I know you want to know what happened to my sister." I pull away from him and think about what to tell him because there are some things he cannot know. "We were at a mall here because we had moved here right before my dad died, my sister had been living here for years. I was with them, we were trying to find my mom a birthday present. Then, we started hearing gunshots." Most of that is true, we weren't getting my mom a birthday present. What really happened was my sister had just finished up a speech. However, we did end up going to go look for a present for her. "We started to run in the opposite direction of the gun shot, but then they stopped running. I automatically knew what she was thinking: she had to help the people. She always had to help. They made sure I was hidden until they found me and it was the police. They walked me out the opposite exit of where my sister had gone. I looked and looked for them amongst all the other survivors because about a quarter of the people that had been at the mall were killed and another quarter were injured because it was such a small mall. I could not find them for the life of me, however, I did not stop looking for them. Finally, after what felt like hours an officer came up to me and asked who I was looking for. I told him their names and he somehow knew exactly who I was talking about; he simply told me they were dead. The man did not have the best people skills and did not know the best way to handle a crying teenage girl. I couldn't stop crying that day, but then everything just kind of stopped. I sort of just stopped feeling. That phase lasted about three weeks, or that is at least what my mom said. Then, everything sunk in again and I cried and cried and cried. We moved into their farm house after the funeral." I start crying even more. I have lost so much and it was all in the span of two years. He sits down on the bed and pulls me down into his arms on his lap. I snuggle closer to him without even realizing what I am doing. "You guys were really close, weren't you?" He asks. "You have to remember that I was homeschooled and didn't leave the house very much. She had been my only real friend, my best friend even with the huge age gap between us. Between that awful birthday and her death, she and my mom were the only ones I had." We sit in silence for a couple of minutes. "I want you to know that I have missed you so much." He says and I avoid eye contact as best as I can. "You know how we used to act like we were married and loved each other?" I nod my head yes, confused on where he is going with this. "I really fell in love with you and I did again all over when I saw that purple hair of yours." I gulp, not expecting him to go there and even to be that straightforward about his feelings. Of course, he doesn't have a subtle bone in his body. "You love me?" I ask shakeningly. "I have always loved you." I do not know what just happened, but something just clicked and I now realize that I am falling for him a lot harder than I thought. I can't do this; I cannot have feelings for him. I run out of my room with no sense of direction of where I am going, all I know is I need to get away from him. I find a dark room and just cry not caring who could be nearby. When I finally calm down, I walk out of the room just in time to see Nathan with one of the barbies and they seem to be having a grand ol' time. Guess he really was just making all that stuff up. I rush away hoping they do not see me. I walk in my bedroom and go straight to my bathroom. I take my wig off along with the little makeup I had on. I hop into the shower and make sure to get his stupid scent off of me. I wrap my towel around my body after I get out of the shower. I get to my dresser and pulled out a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt along with some undergarments. I change into my clothes, take my medicine and climb into bed. I toss and turn for a few hours and when I finally fall asleep it is filled with horrible nightmares. I slightly wake up to someone shaking me, however, I still think I am dreaming. Everything is so real in the dream/nightmare. I was reliving the accident. "Gracie! Gracie, Baby, please wake up!" Someone shouts. I shoot up from the bed, gasping for breath. I open my eyes to see a concerned looking Nathan and King. "Gracie, what happened? Are you okay?" Nathan, who I really do not want to see, asks. "He... was there... with me... but... but... then he just... di... dis... disappeared and then my... my sister and brother-in-law were there... and they disappeared too." I state gasping and stuttering between words. "Somehow my mom was just gone as well." I start sobbing and Nathan hugs me. He cradles me in his arms. I do not even struggle in his arms. "It's okay..." He starts, but I cut him off, furious that he would even go there. "No, it's not. My father is dead and my life will never be the same again. I then lost my best friend and second father/family without any warning whatsoever. All of this happened on my birthday. I was ten years old!" I look dead into the King's eyes, not caring that I am about to do something that could get me killed since there is no way that he would kill me anyways. "I hate you!" I turn to Nathan and he is giving me a pleading look, I do not know if I can do this. I look down at my feet, making the decision that I can't do it, and I can tell they are both staring holes into my head. "Please leave me alone. I want to be alone." They stay still for a while and don't make a move to leave. I look up at them and give them a pleading look. "Please." Nathan gives me a look that I cannot decipher and he follows his dad out of the room. I shut the door and lock it. I hope they make sure to keep everyone away from my room. I slide down my door and start sobbing some more. I cannot believe any of that just happened. I do not know why they were even in my room. Actually, maybe a maid summoned them if I had been screaming in my sleep, which I know happens all the time. Nathan I stand at Gracie's door after she kicked my father and I out of her room. My father got away from here as fast as he could after she kicked us out. I just want to be there with her knowing that she is hurting. But I know that it was my fault and that she would not be as emotional as she is right now if I had handled comforting her in a different manner. But something good did come out of it: she could not handle saying that she hated me, though she was really quick to say that to my father. I know that really hurt him because he sees Gracie as a daughter, but he knows that she has every right to feel that way. If only her mother would tell her everything, we would not have been put into this position. Though I know it is probably hard for her mom not to tell her because she knew it would hurt Gracie more in the end. It would also put Gracie in some serious danger, though she already is with all of her videos because plenty of people in the country strongly disagree with her videos or at least the people in high power. I do not know what I would do with myself if someone in power did something to Gracie. I think back to what happened just over an hour ago: I am doing some paperwork and one of the maids comes running in. "Sir, sir!" She yells. "I went to go check on Miss Gracie and she was thrashing around in her bed and screaming/sobbing." I admittedly bolt up from my desk just as my dad comes running in. "How did you already know to come here?" I question. Wait, why does it matter? "Nevermind, it doesn't matter. Let's go." We run to Gracie's room and I fling the door open to see exactly what the maid was talking about: Gracie appeared to be sleeping, but at the same time was thrashing around, sobbing. She must be having a terrible dream. We wait for her to somewhat calm down before we try to wake her so no one gets hurt. From there once she was awake you already know what happened. Now here I am still standing at her door like an idiot. I cannot seem to get myself to leave her room. I know I cannot do much to comfort her since I am just standing out here. I guess I should go tend to my other duties. I finally drag myself away from her room and head to my room. I wish I could just send the other two girls home and just go ahead and marry Gracie. Of course there is the problem that Gracie wants nothing to do with me. She would never go for marrying me. She wants to get as far away as possible from me. I luckily do not run into anyone as I get to my room and decide to work on some paperwork because I am really behind. I throw myself into my paperwork trying my hardest to not think about Gracie. I work until I hear a knock at my door. I wonder who that is, I think as I check the time on my watch. Shoot, it is time for lunch. I rush over to my door and fling it open to see my mother standing there. "I was wondering if you were ever going to show your face today." My mom states, chuckling. I roll my eyes at her and follow after her so we can go to the Great Hall to eat some lunch. We enter the Great Hall and I see everyone else is already in here, but no Gracie. My mother notices me looking around and gives me a sad smile. "I had lunch sent up to her room for her because no matter how bad she feels right now she still needs to eat." "Thank you, Mother." I wish I would have been the one that had thought of that, but at least I know she is going to eat something. We sit down at the table and join my family with Mackenzie and Addison. The two girls really are not terrible, kind of stuck up, but they do not seem to be terrible human beings or anything too bad. The only reason I really do not want to have to go through with this is because I know who I want and it is not either of them. Lunch is served and I can't stop myself from the seat where Gracie normally sits, trying to get far away from everyone else. So much has happened since they have been here and they have only really been here for a few days. Wow, only a few days. It feels like it has been weeks since they stepped foot into the palace. As we eat our lunch I make as much conversation as I am mentally am to with Mackenzie and Addison. However, I think they see right through me and can tell that I am not fully there because they just end up talking between themselves. I look towards Neal and we make eye contact. He gives me a look, silently asking me if I'm okay. I guess you can say that it is brother telepathy. I give him a quick nod and look away towards my father, which is a mistake. He seems to be seething with anger and I am not completely sure why. He had been fine after the whole Gracie incident earlier, a little hurt, but not mad. I turn to my mom to see if she has any idea what happened, but she just avoids eye contact as much as possible. "Ladies, can you please excuse my parents and I?" I ask politely as I stand up from the table. I give both of my parents a look. "Mother, Father can we please talk for a moment?" Making sure to punctuate each word, wanting to let them know that I am not up for games since I know for a fact that it has something to do with Gracie. I lead the way to the nearest sitting room and as soon as we are inside I turn to look at my parents. "Nathan..." My mom starts, but pauses taking a deep breath. "Gracie's mother called." "What? What did she say?" I question. This must be some big deal and something must be wrong because they are acting like she never calls us. "She wants you to send Gracie home." My father explains. What in the world? "Let me tell you what she said first before you overreact." He pauses, giving me a look telling me to keep my mouth shut. "She wants Gracie at home with her and though that is not really a part of this process, I think we should send her home. Gracie needs time to realize that we are back in her life for good and that you only have one choice. She also needs to be at home with her family helping raise her sister's kids and her own child. Not here." Man, I never thought of that and now I feel like a douchebag. "We will not send her home, but we will cut this shorter than it was supposed to be and the ball will be moved to the end of next week. Then, I will pick Gracie and she will go back home to prepare for the wedding and moving in." I know Gracie is going to hate this, but I am just going to have to get her to love me by the end of the night.