You'll be the Prince and I'll be the Princess - Chapters 26 to 28

Chapter 26

"...and that’s what really happened. Hannah put something in his drink that made his vision blur. He went to the CR in school and a blonde girl entered and he thought it was me. So they started kissing but nothing happened other than that. Then I came to school with everyone looking at me oddly. I talked to Mitchie and that’s when I got a clue of what’s going on. I went to the men’s room and saw them there. Zac was about to explain but I punched him on his mouth and kicked him in you-know-where," I explained to my parents.

Well, today’s already Monday. And my parents came because we’re going to Florida. Dad changed his mind about Australia because the company needs him. It might be impossible to stop my parents from leaving but I wanted to clear Zac’s name to my parents. Mom completely understood but dad was still doubtful about it. We came out of the house and started loading our things to the trunk of our car. We didn’t bring much because we can buy clothes and other stuff when we arrive in Florida.

We were about to get in the car when I saw Zac’s car. He got out of the car and walked toward me. "Are you guys going somewhere?"

"Um, yeah, and we’ll be gone for a long time," I said, keeping myself from crying.

"Where are you going? How long will you be gone?" He asked, definitely clueless. He looked so happy to see me because we already fixed things between us. We’re back together. And I think that telling him that we’re gonna leave is going to ruin his mood.

I stood on my tiptoes and placed my arms around his neck and kissed him. Then I pulled away and looked at him.

"Why did you do that?" He asked me, smiling.

"Zac, I hate to tell you this. But we’re leaving. We’re going to Florida so my parents could start a new life there-"

"No way, you’re not leaving me."

"Dad didn’t plan this because of the fight we had. But because he wanted to rest and has a normal life with us there in Australia."

"No, don’t leave me," he said, placing his hands on my arms, as if he could prevent me from leaving by doing that.

"I don’t want to do this, honestly. But I want you to understand. We’re not leaving because of you. It’s just because we wanted to live peacefully. I’m not saying this because you’re disturbing our peace. No, you didn’t, you never had. I had so much fun whenever I’m with you. I’m not going to forget about our memories together," I said. He just looked at me while stroking my hair.

I kissed him on the lips again, pulling back my tears. "Please tell me that you understand. Please tell me that you’re not going to forget about me. Zac?"

He just looked at me. But I can tell that he’s sad because of his expression.

I touched his hair and said, "I’m going to miss you." My voice cracked. Now I started crying.

Zac pulled back his lips and looked down then back at me.

"Goodbye, Zac," I said and ran to my parents’ car. I opened the door and before I went in, I mouthed the words, "I love you" to him. But he just looked at me while tears roll down my cheeks. I wiped my tears and went inside the car. Then dad drove off. I didn’t look at Zac again, it just makes me sadder. I rested my head on my brother’s shoulder then I fell asleep.
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Chapter 27

Juliana meets new friends and takes a special interest on Mr. HACK, whoever he was.
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"Juliana, wake up," I heard my mom’s familiar voice. Her voice sounds so warm as always. I missed her so much. Even though, we’ve been together since we arrived here in Florida and went to our house here. I missed her. Well, because, I just met my mom again a few months ago. And I barely see her before because she’s busy. She rarely visited us before. But now, I could see and talk to my mom everyday. I missed having a mom.

I opened my eyes and saw the white ceiling of my room, with a chandelier hanging from the middle of the ceiling. When someone opens the door and looks into my room, the first thing he or she will see is the balcony with glass doors and white curtains. Then in the left side of the room was my bed positioned horizontally. Near the door were my cabinets and closets. My mom insisted on putting a walk-in closet in my room, but I told her I don’t need it. I don’t have that much clothes. And it will take me more time if I have gone looking for my clothes. Unlike if it’s placed neatly in drawers or in the closet, I could easily identify where my shirts were. I looked at my mom, who was sitting on the side of my bed. The white wooden bedposts of my bed make me feel like a princess because of the blue curtains hanging from the side.

"Hey mom," I said, smiling at her like I always did when I was just a kid.

"Get up now, you’ll be late to school," she said.

"Mom, I wanted to stay with you," I said, placing my arms around her waist.

"I wanted too, Juliana. But you should go to school. It’s your first day in school here in Florida," she said, stroking my bird-nest of a hair.

"Okay, just for you," I said, getting up and pulling my mom from my bed. I grabbed my bathrobe and we walked out of my room and I placed my arms around her neck from behind while we’re walking down the stairs. And my mom placed her hand on my arms.

"Hey dad," I said, smiling. I saw my brother and I stuck out my tongue at him. He just rolled his eyes at me.

Dad grinned at us. "Who’s that monkey behind you?" He asked my mom. My brother burst out laughing.

"I don’t know. But the monkey looks just like her dad," my mom said.

I smiled. I removed my arms from my mother’s neck and I went to the bathroom. "The monkey’s going to take a bath," I said before going inside.

When I’m finished, I went back to my room. I wore my jeans, a shirt and a sweater, just like I do back in America. I grabbed my bag and went downstairs. I placed my bag on the couch and went to have breakfast. I finished it in ten minutes. Then in just a few minutes, Justin and I arrived in the school. After going to the office and watching Justin’s expression change as he talked to the old woman behind the desk, I’m already with the guy who’ll give me a tour around the school.

"Hel-lo," my tour guide said, looking at me from head to toe.

"Hi," I said, clutching the strap of my bag.

"I am Mr. HACK," he said.

I grinned because of the name. "It’s nice to meet you, Mr. HACK. But what does ‘Mr. HACK’ means?"

"Mr. HACK wants to know your name first," he said, smiling a mischievous grin that reminded of something and sent chills down my spine.

"Well, I don’t feel like saying my name to Mr. HACK. How about Mr. HACK tells his real name to me first and I’ll tell him my name," I said.

"Mr. HACK said he’s an undercover agent for pretty girls and he doesn’t wish to tell a beautiful stranger about his real name," Mr. HACK said.

"No, really, what’s your name?" I said, now serious.

"It’s a secret. Tell me your name first," he said.

"Hmm, I guess we won’t be telling each other’s names, then," I said.

"Oh, so Ms. Tennessean isn’t nice as she looks like."

"Ms. Tennessean isn’t nice to Floridian guys named Mr. HACK."

"Huh, whatever," he said, meaning, I won.

While he was pointing to me which was what and who was who, he had been half-annoying and half-funny. He’s funny because whenever he tells me about a student, he tells me their name, their age, their level and how many guys/girls they have dated. He was annoying because he doesn’t answer me properly whenever I asked him about something.

"And that’s Lisa, the shopaholic. She’s 16 and a sophomore. She’s dated ten guys, more or less, and I’m glad I’m not one of those guys. But none of them lasted because whenever she’s on a date, she takes the whole time shopping. And she complains about her boyfriend’s clothes whenever she doesn’t like what her boyfriend’s wearing. She’s very annoying and irritating," HACK said.

"How do you know all of that?" I asked him.

"Mrs. Helmberg’s cooking for lunch today," he said, while walking.

I sighed exasperatedly and rolled my eyes at him.

He looked at me and said, "What? I just told you Mrs. Helmberg’s cooking for lunch so you know her name if she ever poisons you." He leaned and whispered, "Many kids don’t like Mrs. Helmberg cooking because it doesn’t taste good."

"No, I wasn’t asking about lunch. I asked you how you know about the girl ‘Lisa’," I said.

"She didn’t take shower today," he said, looking at the girl ‘Lisa’.

"What?" I said, laughing a little.

"Her hair’s not wet, which means she didn’t take shower."

"She might have dried her hair using a blower. She’s a girl, remember?"

"Your hair’s still wet," he said, looking at me.

"So? I don’t always use blowers, okay? It depends on the girl whether or not she wanted her hair dried already before she goes to school."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, let’s go to class," he said.

"But the bell-" I was just about to tell him that the bell hadn’t rang yet, but it did. I groaned and went to my first period. I said ‘bye’ to Mr. HACK before I went inside the classroom. I wonder what his real name is.
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Chapter 28

Juliana's first day of school in Florida.
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I went with my new friends to eat lunch. They’re fun. We’re in classes together. I can’t help to be reminded of my friends back home.

"We’re going to watch a movie tonight. Are you coming with us?" Lisa said.

"I’m not sure," I said.

"We’ll pick you up at seven," Lisa said.

"Juliana said ‘she’s not sure’," Allison told Lisa.

"Yeah, I know. I just told her in case she wants to come with us."

"Who else are coming?" I asked.

"Cloe, Macey, Seth and Drew," Allison said. Cloe and Macey were our friends also. People think that Cloe is a Goth because she usually wears black and pink. But she’s not. She’s just copying the style of the vocalist of her favorite band. Macey’s a shy girl but she’s a good singer. Drew is Lisa’s new boyfriend. I just hope Drew won’t get annoyed of Lisa. Lisa’s a nice girl, but she can be annoying when she insists what she wants. Whoa, how do I know all of that in just one day?

"Who’s Seth?"

"He’s our guy friend. How can’t you know him? He’s popular here in school. Too bad, he doesn’t notice me because I’m just a friend to him," Lisa said.

We went to the cafeteria together. We went to get our lunch trays and picked the table near the door. Allison told us that there were problems in the journalism club. The article one of the members passed to her was lost. And now that member left the club because she worked so hard for that article and now it was lost. Allison swore that she just placed it in a drawer but it’s not there when they went to look for it. Now, Allison’s looking for another member who can write another article.

"Is it okay if I join the journalism club and write the article? I’ve been writing poems. And I write articles for a website. Maybe I could give it a try?" Macey said.

"Sure. Why not? We can go to the journalism club later after last period," Allison said. Macey grinned at Allison.

"Hey, um, Lisa, do you know someone named Mr. HACK?" I asked her.

"I haven’t heard of that name before. Is he a teacher or something?" Lisa asked me.

I was about to answer when someone sat next to me and placed his arm around my shoulders. "Hey, what’s up?" He said.

"Speak of the devil, and the devil shall appear," I muttered. Lisa, Cloe, Macey and Allison laughed.

"So, you know each other?" Lisa asked.

"Why? Are you jealous? Sorry, but I don’t want to carry your bags every time you go shopping," Mr. HACK said.

"Well, he’s my tour guide," I said to Lisa.

"Why would I be jealous of a tour guide?" Lisa said to HACK.

"I don’t know. Maybe because he got good looks that make girls swoon," HACK said.

"Yeah, looks that makes girls faint because of ugliness."

"Those girls need glasses. They can’t see my face clearly."

"You’re the one who needs glasses. You thought you look good but you don’t."

"Well, mirrors don’t lie," HACK said, rubbing his jaw.

"Guys, stop it," Allison said, looking at Lisa, HACK and then at me.

HACK surely reminds me of someone. He likes to argue. He either kisses you on the cheek or places his arm around your shoulders without your permission. He thinks he’s very good-looking. He’s cocky. He’s just like someone I knew. He’s just like Zac.

Lisa sighed and continued eating. HACK turned and looked at me.

"Hey, Ms. Tennessean," HACK said.

"Hey, Floridian Mr. HACK," I said.

"He’s Mr. HACK?" Lisa asked me.

"Yeah, he said that’s his name. But I know it’s not. He won’t tell me," I said.

"What does Mr. HACK means?" I asked.

"It means Mister Hot and Cute Guy," Allison, the outgoing nerd, said.

"Hey, how do you know that? I didn’t even tell anyone about it!" Mister Hot and Cute Guy said.

"I figured it out. Of course, someone as cocky as you will name himself Mister Hot and Cute Guy or Mr. HACK for short. You only wanted Juliana to figure out what your real name is so she would ask people about you like she’s interested in you. But, Juliana’s not interested in anyone yet, right, Juliana?" Allison said.

"Yeah, right," I said.

"Okay, fine, you’re smart. You figured it out," HACK said.

"Does that mean you’re finally telling me what your real name is?" I said to him.

"No. You figure it out by yourself," he said.

"Oh well, I think Lisa can tell me your real name."

"Of course, I will. You will just have to wait for him to leave," Lisa told me.

"I think your plan isn’t going to work out because I’m going to blackmail you. I will show everyone a photo of you in seventh grade in Cloe’s party," he said.

Cloe, Allison and Macey started laughing and whispered to each other. Lisa looked at him with wide eyes.

"No way," Lisa said.

"I won’t, if you wouldn’t tell her my name," he said.

"Why is it a big deal to you? She’ll later hear your name somewhere else," Lisa said.

"Well, but not unless you and your friends keep your mouth shut," he said.

Lisa sighed.