Finding My True Self | Protector 5.1

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

       "So, did you talk to Zayden?" I asked Kingsley the next day after our psychology class while we were walking to our lockers. 

       "Yes," Kingsley said. "And may I just say that I am the best person ever?"

       "He's actually going to try with the duet?" I asked.

       "That's what he said," Kingsley said. "It wasn't that hard to get him to do it, anyway. I knew that he would have hated being taken off of the duet, so all I said was that if he missed one more practice, I was going to take his spot."

       "And that worked?"

       "Of course it did," Kingsley said. "He doesn't want to be the ones on the sidelines because of however big his ego is, so he said he'll be at the next rehearsal. I don't know if he'll actually try getting along with Echo, though. He didn't seem that up to rehearsing."

       "At least it's a start," I said as we got to our lockers. They were just three down from each other with Zayden and Cerise's lockers in between ours. They reorganize the lockers every year by last name, which always confused some of us. It would be more effective to organize by grade, but I guess not.

       So there was a huge row of lockers just for us Princes, and there were nine of us at the school; there was Gray, my aunt Lilac, Magnolia, me, Zayden, Cerise, Kingsley, Liberty, and Makenna.

       I felt bad that the school had to deal the Princes ever since my grandma and grandpa came here. The school had a bit of a break until my great-aunt Ginny came, then my dad a few years later.

       The Princes were well known by the time Zayden and I reached high school.

       "Speaking of the duet, I wouldn't let Zayden know that you've been helping Echo out if I were you," Kingsley said as we opened our lockers to put our binders and textbooks in. 

       "Why not?" I asked. "I mean, I wasn't going to anyway, but why not?"

       Kingsley sighed, closing his locker shut. "If Zayden is doing things just to spite you right now for whatever reason, imagine how he'll react if he found out you were helping Echo out."

       "I was only helping her out because, like you say all the time, I'm too nice," I said. "She needed to make sure her choreography was okay, and she was waiting for Zayden at the studio when I showed up to get the paper work. I couldn't just leave her staying there for no reason."

       "It's not just that," Kingsley said. "Did you not notice how well you two worked together? Not to mention you rarely talk to people outside of the family."

       "Probably because she has been part of D.A.N.C.E for years," I said. "I've known her for a while."

       "My god, do I have to spell everything out for you?" Kingsley said. "Y-O-U-L-I-K-E-E-C-H-O."

       Kingsley always took everything literally, especially those popular sayings, so when he asked if he needed to spell something out, he would actually spell it out. Nobody understood why.

       I then figured out exactly what he spelled out.

       "What?" I asked. "No, I don't. I'm just a nice person."

       "Nice, yes," Kingsley said. "But it's not just how well you're able to get along with her. Well, actually, it is. When I watched your duet yesterday, I could see and feel the chemistry. No one else on the team has chemistry that strong."