The Prince's Wish

Chapter Three

THREE

I walked into school the next day feeling completely confident. My blonde hair was pulled into a loose ponytail on the left side of my head, and my school uniform was looking daggy as usual. Sure, I looked like a mess, but that cutie known as Danyl had told me I was beautiful. Score.

Strutting to my locker, I noticed the other students' eyes were glued to me. It was obvious why - I was smiling.

And I wasn't claiming to have a drop-dead gorgeous smile or anything like that, it was just that people at my school didn't see me smiling much. I had a wicked sense of humour and I laughed a heap with my friends, but the rest of the people at my school were mainstream idiots with no originality, so I never found anything about them funny. So this was definitely a sight to see.

"Hey, pretty girl," came a voice from beside me. "What are you doing after school today?"

I turned to the voice. Beside me, Timmy Jones was bright eyed and smiling. Timmy had had a crush on me since grade five, but I'd never liked him back. I mean, there was nothing wrong with him. At all. He was a great kid - smart, funny, and okay, his big, round glasses, button nose and braces were kind of cute sometimes - but I just wasn't the type of girl who got crushes.

"Oh hey Timmy, I'm actually pretty busy, sorry," I lied. 

I'd hung out with Timmy before, and he was fun to be with, he was a real challenge when it came to playing Need for Speed on the Playstation, but other than that I didn't enjoy his company all that much.

"Oh, really? What are you doing? Maybe I can join?"

Damn. 

"Just, uh," I said, "doing some chores around the house. I may or may not have had an incident with Mum's car yesterday. I need to work off money to fix it."

"That was you?"

"You heard about it?"

Timmy stepped closer to me. "Adara, my dear, you know I'm working with the local newspaper - I have to hear about everything." He chuckled and then nodded his head towards the direction my back was facing. "Your friends are coming." Then he sauntered back to his locker, many, many away from mine.

"What's up, D? Timmy still onto you?" My friend Clayton addressed as he pranced over to me.

I greeted Clayton with a fist-bump. He was my bro, and a typical surfer guy. He was excessively tan, had green eyes and a few freckles and his hair was curly and sun-bleached to light brown, from its original dark-chocolate colour. He was very attractive. But like I said, he was my bro.

"Leave Timmy alone," added in my best friend Joan, "he's kinda cute. In a dorky, clueless kind of way."

Joan was practically a real-life vampire. Her hair was dark brown, just like her eyes, but her skin was pale white. She looked like a piece of porcelain artwork that someone had gotten bored with and decided not paint. If I believed in vampires and all creatures mythical, Joan would be the first person I'd label as one. No doubt about it.

"Yeah," I agreed, sympathetically watching him as he neared his own locker. "Besides, everybody knows I'm not interested in him."

Joan and Clayton gave me a questioning look.

"What?" I shrieked. "I'm not!"

"Are you sure about that?" Joan supported. "You talk to him every morning."

I laughed. "For starters, he talks to me. And he's just a friend - like Clayton," I retorted.

"Whatever," Clayton grunted, "tell me about your weekend, D."

I steadied myself as I prepared to talk about my incident with the car, and meeting handsome Danyl. Tingling feelings swam through my body at the thought of him. What was it about him? I'd never had this ridiculous girly feeling before.

"Actually, it's something I should probably tell Joan about, instead," I said, trying to hide my goofy smile.

Joan's eyes lit up and she faced me with an excited expression on her face. It wasn't often that I got all girly about a guy. I knew Joan would be the person to talk to about it. That was, however, if she could contain herself and not die of excitement. "Oh my goodness. It happened, didn't it? Adara Shafton has a crush. No freaking way."

"Oh, D! That is not fair! You have to tell me, I'm your best friend, too!" Clayton complained.

The school bell rang, and my first class of the day didn't include poor, gossip-starved Clayton.

"Saved by the bell!" I exclaimed, linking arms with Joan and skipping off.

Inside the history classroom, Joan eyed me for the first ten minutes while our teacher waffled on about nonsense that no one listened to. She nudged me in the arm with an expectant look on her face. I gestured towards the teacher, and when she realised I wasn't going to risk getting into trouble with a teacher who actually liked me, she passed me a note with hasty handwriting.

So who's the guy? Does he go to our school - do I know him?

I rolled my eyes and sighed. I flipped the piece of paper over and took a pen from my back pocket. Fiddling with a necklace that hung around my neck everyday, a gold pendant with false diamonds my grandmother gave me, I tried to think of what to say. Maybe he did go to my school and I just hadn't noticed before? I'd thought. But I doubted it.

Calm down, J. Don't get too excited - I hardly know him. He's real cute though, and super sweet.

Expecting more from me, Joan quietly ripped a new piece of paper from her notebook and set her pen down once again. This time it was more lengthy.

Adara, seriously. You never like guys. How do you expect me not to get excited? This is like, news of the century. What's his name?

I ignored Joan's note, leaving it beside my book for the rest of the lesson. She kept elbowing me in the side, expecting an answer. I drew my finger across my lips, to indicate they were sealed until the class was over. By the time it ended, Joan looked like she was going to turn into a tomato - she was that red with suspense.

"Just tell me already!" She pleaded, with big, watery, puppy-dog eyes. "What's his name? You know I know everybody, I could hook you guys up easily!"

I sighed once again and took her by the shoulders. "I don't need you to 'hook us up', Joan. I appreciate it, but I want to try this out for myself. He's a really sweet guy."

"Okay, okay!" She agreed. "I, Joan Ogden, solemnly swear to not partake in any of the making of Adara's future relationship," she swore with a wink. "Now tell me his name!"

"Danyl," I uttered, his name forming perfectly off my lips, and sending butterflies throughout my body once again.