Princess Adeline of Wales

Chapter Ten: Back to School

5th of January 1998 - St Andrew's School, Pangbourne

Adeline could not help but feel relieved when she stepped back into her dorm room at school, she was glad that the holidays were over and she could focus back on her school work; it had been hard to ignore the tension that had filled the last couple of days. 

She did not know what had happened between her father and uncle after she had left but whatever it was had lingered for the rest of the holidays. 

Andrew had even gone as far as to stop Eugenie and Beatrice from playing with them, something that had clearly caused further issues between the adults; even a stern warning from Queen Elizabeth had done nothing to deter what was happening. 

Adeline had tried not to let it bother her but she had found herself quickly bored of having to hang around with her brothers and older cousins; she did not seem to quite fit in with them and had truly little in common with them. 

However, now was the time to focus on her schooling and Adeline had been rather surprised when her father had insisted that he be the one to drop her off at school this time instead of her grandfather. 

Turning to look at her father, Adeline watched as he admired the room that she shared with her best friend; everything seemed to be where she had left it before the holidays. 

"It's rather quant," Charles mused, his eyes taking in the boring grey room and he had to admit that it was much nicer than his dorm accommodation from when he had been at boarding. 

His eyes taking in the pictures that were pinned to the corkboard of Adeline with who he assumed were her friends; he felt a pang in his chest at the fact he did not know who they were. 

There was so much that he had allowed to slip through the cracks and Charles was determined to make up for that now; he should not allow have things to be as they were with him being focused on the boys and Diana on Adeline. 

Tomorrow he would drop the boys off at school and he was determined to make more time for them now; he was the only parent that they had now and he owed it to them to step up.

"These are your friends," Charles mused taking one of the pictures from the corkboard, he stared down at the unknown people to him and hoped that he would get to meet them soon; he wanted to know everything about his children's lives. 

They were clearly good friends to Adeline and he was happy that she had found herself a core group of friends; he recalled how he had struggled to make friends at school because of who he was. 

"Yes... Melissa and Oliver," Adeline said smiling at the thought of her friends, she had missed them over the holidays and she was glad that she would see them again soon. 

It did not look like Melissa had arrived back yet and she was sure that it would not be long before she did; she could never remember a time that Melissa had been late for anything. 

Charles nodded at the names, they meant nothing to him but he could see from the many pictures that Adeline was very settled here at her school; he knew the plan was to have her move to another one day but he would wait to see how things went for her. 

"You'll have to invite them round for dinner one weekend," Charles insisted, it would be the perfect way to meet Adeline's friends should he miss the chance to do so now. 

He knew most of his sons' friends and he might not have been fond of some of Harry's but he knew for certain that he would be able to name them should they ever cross paths. 

Adeline looked surprised and nodded her head, she was going to be spending at least two weekends a month at home now; her father had insisted on seeing her and her brothers more.