Riches to Royalty

Chapter 3: Don't look back

Chapter 3: Don't look back

     ~Heath~

     It was the second 'family meeting' for the month. It wasn't actually a family meeting because the coucil would be present too and there was no smiles on their faces at all. If there wasn't an angry face, then it would be expressionless and emotionless. It's creepy because their eyes would always follow you around and it's even worse when you're the main topic for the 'family meeting'. 

     "Heath, say something." My mother used her eyes to glare at me, urging me to defend myself from the Council's statement. 

     "What?" I hadn't been listening. My mind was somewhere else, I didn't want to get married to a stranger.

     My mother looked at me disapprovingly. 

     One of the council members stood up, holding a paper. "It's been decided. The young prince shall marry a maiden of our choice by tomorrow." He announced, and completely draining out the colors from my face. Even though I tried to keep my face neutral and expressionless, the man saw through my fakeness and a small twisted smirk formed on his face. My mother just walked out of the room without a single word and so did my father. The council took this as a sign of surrender and left the room without even a single glance at me. 

     ~Rose~

     It was already ten at night and I was waiting in Heath's room for him. I was going to have a surprise sleepover for him and I've been waiting in the same room for almost two hours. 

     Still no sign of Heath.

     I sighed and went to Heath's royal bathroom to change my clothes. His bathroom was white and blue in color and had the smell of lavender. Not something you'd always find in a boy's bathroom, but seriously, it smelled good. 

     I changed into a pair of his huge sweat pants and one of my oversized shirt that used to belong to my dad. My mom kept it in one of her drawers, so when I went through her stuff to find any old clothing of hers that I could claim as my own, I found that particular shirt. And I've been keeping it with me since then. 

     Ignoring the cold air that greeted me when I exited the bathroom, I quickly dived beneath the covers. It was so warm, and it smelled like Heath. I kept my eyes shut and decided to keep my ears alert so I would know if Heath came into the room. 

     But sadly, I couldn't stay awake and soon sleep enveloped me into it's never-ending darkness. 

     ~~~

     Rose. Rose. Rose!

     Someone was calling me, I had to wake up. 

     Someone was shaking me, I had to open my eyes. 

     Heath's face greeted me and I flinched a bit. "Whut?" I blinked. 

     "Pack your stuff." He answered me. I groaned and slowly dragged myself off the bed and across the room to where my backpack was lying. I started stuffing all my clothes into it and even the water bottle that was sitting on top of the dresser. I was still tired and kinda blurr so I stumbled on my own feet a few times before actually walking straight. 

     "Rose." 

     "Hmm?"

     "If I did something stupid and really unprince-like, would you still follow me?" There was a hint of fear in his voice. A confused expression crossed my face and I slowly walked towards him. 

     "Are you okay?"

     "Just answer the question." 

     I didn't answer him at first. When I heard him sigh, I blurted, "Of course! You're my best friend!" 

     "I have a selfish favor." 

     "What?"

     "I'm running away, could you follow me?" 

     ~Heath~

     It was really selfish of me to ask her that. She stared at me with wide eyes. Shock was in her eyes as her mouth opened and closed and opened and closed like she had no idea what to answer. I shouldn't have mentioned it anyways. But truthfully, I needed her. I wanted my best friend to run away with me from this prince duties that I never even signed up for. Rose finally stopped opening and closing her mouth and stared at me, shock still in her eyes.

     "Why?" Her voice came out as a whisper. 

     "I don't want to get married at such a young age and I don't want to be a prince. Simple." 

     Shut up, Heath. Now wasn't the time to get mad at Rose! 

     She narrowed her eyes at me and grabbed my hand. "Heath, you're my best friend. If you wanna run away, I'm coming too. I brought enough clothes to last a week." She held up her backpack. 

     "And I have more money than we need." I held out a suitcase which was filled with money. And trust me, that wasn't even half of what my family own. 

     "You sure you wanna run? I mean, you never broke a rule before, you're kinda like the obedient child." 

     "Well, I don't anymore." 

     ~Rose~

     He was so different...he never raise his voice at me before. Sure, we had our fights but he never actually got that angry at me. As we slowly tip-toed our way out of the castle, I realized a huge problem that we would need to face. The usual bodyguards were guarding tonight and they would surely realize something's up if they saw Heath walking around outside the castle when it's midnight. 

     "I drugged them earlier." I jumped at the sound of Heath's voice. 

     "You what?"

     "I drugged them. They wouldn't even realize we walk them by." He kept his voice down anyways so the other guards wouldn't hear us and thought we were some idiots trying to rob the royal family. Heath grabbed me by the wrist and together, we ran passed the guards and into town. 

     With Heath's newly dyed dirty blonde hair.