Princess Adeline of Wales

Chapter Six: The Crossing of Paths

17th of September 1997 - St Andrew's School, Pangbourne

Staring down at her lunch, Adeline tried to ignore the stares and whispers that were directed her way; in the week since school had started up things had not calmed down and people only seemed to watch Adeline more closely as time passed. 

It was like they expected her to cry constantly and whispered when she showed the slightest bit of emotion that was not sad; she hated that they thought they could dictate how she should feel. 

Other students had approached her in the first few days expressing their condolences about the death of her mother; many having watched the funeral with their families. 

Picking at her food, Adeline turned her thoughts to her classes and she was glad that she had been able to keep up with her school work; she did not want to fall behind and let her father down. 

"And here I thought the new cook couldn't be any worse than the last," Melissa said snapping Adeline from her thoughts as she set down her tray on the table beside her friend feeling slightly joyous when people glared at her. 

She wrinkled her nose at the food as she took a seat, she offered a smile to Adeline as the rest of their friend group joined them; they had all done their best to help their friend adjust to school. 

Of course, it was not easy they could not imagine what it was like to lose a parents like Adeline had then be forced to pretend that everything was alright. 

"I think they share a cook book," Oliver Andrews murmured nibbling at his lunch, he doubted the food would ever be great here and he knew how much money people paid to have their children attend this school. 

He leant back in his chair glancing around the room, he could not help but notice that people were still staring at them; he hated that people were staring more than usual. 

It annoyed him that people stared especially after the summer that Adeline had; he could not imagine what his friend had been through and given that they were in school people could be more discrete.

"Can you believe how much homework they have given us? It's only the first week of school," Melissa complained, it was bad enough that they were here for weeks at a time but the amount of homework on the first week made her want to scream. 

The last thing she wanted to do was her homework, she wanted to be able to relax with her friends outside of class even if she had noticed that Adeline was still miserable. 

Adeline nodded her head in agreement, they had received quite a lot of homework since school had started and she was thankful again for the distraction; it took her mind off the fact that she was so far away from home. 

Her father had called the day before to make sure that she was doing well and Adeline was thankful that he had remembered to call her; she had talked to him for awhile as she did her homework. 

She was sure that he was going to be busy with engagements and such while she wrote to her brothers when she could since they went to different schools and could not always speak on the phone. 

"It's like they don't want us to have any fun," Melissa whined, she pouted at the thought of her bag filled with homework that was hidden away under the table while she had lunch. 

There was no way that she would finished it all in one night, it was the middle of the week and there was a chance that they would get even more before the weekend arrived. 

"I'm sure that you'll think of some way to entertain yourself," Adeline teased knowing her best friend all too well, she had no doubts that Melissa would find some way to avoid doing her work and then copy hers so that she could hand it in when it was due.