Prince of Gulbrania

by Lauren M. Flauding

  “Honey, I’m so sorry you had to go through that,” she said, putting her hand on my cheek. “I had no idea it was so severe, and I wish you would have told me sooner. I’m sorry I wasn’t more available.”

  “It’s okay, mom,” was all I was able to say in response. I had had plenty of opportunities to tell my mom about the issue. I had just chosen to keep it to myself.

  “Kayla,” my mom continued in a slightly more formal tone, “this needs to be reported. I’m going to contact the school about this, as well as Wyatt’s parents.”

  I nodded. It didn’t sound pleasant, but I knew it needed to be done. My mom gave me one more hug, then stepped away to get her phone. I took a deep breath. I had taken a big step towards my emotional recovery, but I knew I still had a long way to go. I also considered the fact that the only other person who knew about my experience was Frog. Maybe that was part of the reason why I missed him so much.

  Chapter Six

  Frog

  “There was a teenage girl snooping about the house, looking in the windows, and she seemed very suspicious. I told the king about it, but he didn’t think it was an issue! I don’t know why he won’t take these things more seriously!”

  I opened the door to the training room and saw a lady with her hair pulled back into a super tight bun talking animatedly to Alm. She stopped speaking as soon as she saw me.

  “I’m sorry, am I interrupting something?” I said, hesitating by the door.

  The lady lifted her chin and smiled. “Not at all, dear. We were just discussing national security.”

  I caught Alm rolling his eyes before he stepped forward. “Frederick, this is Tabitha Dahl, she’ll be your etiquette instructor,” he explained, clasping his hands behind his back.

  “Oh,” I replied, not even trying to hide my lack of enthusiasm.

  Tabitha flared her nostrils, but her smile remained intact. “I’ll be back in half an hour to begin your instruction,” she said pleasantly, then briskly walked out. Alm stared at her retreating figure, his eyes narrowed.

  “I’m guessing that lady isn’t your favorite person,” I ventured, stepping into the training room.

  Alm gave me a stern look. “On the contrary, I am in love with that woman.”

  He said it so matter-of-factly, and with such little emotion, that I was tempted to think he was joking. But if there was anything that I had learned about the intimidating, barrel-chested man in front of me, it was that he never joked around.

  “But on no condition will you repeat that fact to anyone,” he added. “Do you understand?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Good.” Alm glanced once more at the door, then straightened and turned toward the huge rack of weapons behind him. He removed two long swords, stopping to admire them before he handed one to me. “Today, we learn the noble art of fencing,” he said with the slightest trace of a smile. “First I’ll demonstrate, then you’ll follow.”

  He pulled over an upright mannequin that had seen better days and performed an intricate sequence around it, ending by slashing it across the thigh.

  “Now your turn,” Alm said, looking at me expectantly.

  I approached the mannequin and waved the sword around, not even attempting to do the moves that Alm had done.

  “That was a valiant effort,” Alm commented, his face devoid of expression. “I’ll demonstrate slower this time.”

  He went through the routine again, and I tried to pay attention. When it was my turn, I felt like I did a decent job, although I ended up cutting off the mannequin’s foot.

  “Perhaps you’ll perform better in a more practical situation,” Alm said, clearing his throat. He stood across from me and held his sword at the ready. For the next 15 minutes I got thrashed by the fencing skills of Sir Almighty Pants, and the only time I was able to gain the advantage was when he got distracted by Tabitha Dahl walking back into the room. Apparently my only hope of offense was to make sure there were a lot of diversions. Now that I knew about his feelings for her, I could detect a subtle brightening in his eyes as she came closer.

  “Please leave us, Sir Hetapats,” she said curtly. “We don’t have much time before the Prince’s next appointment.”

  Alm dutifully put away the equipment and left without a word. I couldn’t help but think that for an etiquette teacher, she had been pretty rude to him. As soon as the door closed behind Alm, Tabitha circled around me, looking me up and down and making me feel like I was an item to be auctioned.

  “There’s a lot of potential in there,” she said, seemingly to herself, “but right now it’s trapped in all that angst and insecurity.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “I’m being honest, and my honesty will benefit you if you pay attention to me.”

  “Uh...”

  “Close your mouth,” she commanded. “You should never leave it hanging open like that.” She took a step back. “Do you always wear pants like that?”

  “You mean, sweats?”

  Tabitha wrinkled her nose. “What an abominable term. You’ll need to be fitted for a completely new wardrobe. Your body is singularly stunning, and your clothing should accentuate those features, not hide them.”

  I felt my face go bright red. I didn’t know if I could handle much more of this lady’s comments, or her observations.

  “Now, show me how you shake hands,” she said, extending her hand to me. I shook it quickly and stepped back. “No, no, no,” she reprimanded. “You are the Prince of Gulbrania, you can’t shake someone’s hand as if you’re touching an eel! Come here.” She grabbed my hand. “Your grip should be firm and assuring. You need to communicate that you know who you are and that you are fully present for this interaction.” She broke her grip. “Try again.” I shook her hand again, making sure to put some strength in my grasp and hold on for a few seconds. “Look me in the eye,” Tabitha instructed, “and smile.” I obeyed, and she finally let my hand go.

  “Good,” she said. “Now I’ll inspect your walk. Please proceed to the opposite corner and then come back.”

  I swallowed. I really didn’t want my every move scrutinized, but I forced myself to walk forward. When I returned, Tabitha was frowning.

  “You need to put your head up and your shoulders back. You look as though the ceiling is going to fall in on you at any moment,” she observed. “You need to show forth some confidence, young man. Don’t you believe in yourself?”

  The question caught me off guard. If I had to be honest, I would say no, I didn’t believe in myself at all. I had only known I was a prince for a little over a month, and I was constantly filled with doubt about if I could really handle it all.

  Tabitha put her hand on my shoulder, and I was surprised to see kindness in her eyes. “You don’t need to answer that question now,” she said. “I know that you’ve been very busy, but perhaps you should take some time to reflect on exactly who you are.”

  I nodded. “I will.” Since she was being nice for the moment, I decided to ask her a question. “Ms. Dahl, I know these etiquette lessons are important, but they seem a little unnecessary considering everything that’s going on right now.”

  She raised her eyebrows. “Perhaps that’s true,” she responded. “But the way you present yourself is extremely important and can sometimes help you to avoid social and even political battles.”

  Before I could wrap my mind around what she was implying, her expression became stern and she straightened.

  “But enough of sentimentality,” she said, waving her hand in the air, “we need to move on to our next topic: courtship.”

  “Wait, what?”

  “Courtship,” she repeated. “Asking young women out on dates.”

  I winced. “I really don’t see how that’s relevant.”

  She raised an eyebrow. “Successful courtship is the means by which mankind continues and thrives. Come now, how do you think you came into existence?”

  “I really don’t want to go there,” I said, trying
not to think about my parents.

  “Regardless of where you do or do not want to go, you’ll have to start somewhere. You are required to have a date for your presentation gala, so we need to start working on this immediately.”

  I opened my mouth, but no words came out. Before I could form a coherent reply, I heard loud voices coming from behind the door.

  Tabitha frowned. “Oh dear. We didn’t cover how to remain calm and tactful in the face of rude questions.” She shrugged. “I suppose you’ll just have to do the best you can.”

  “What does that mean?”

  But just then the door burst open and about fifty people came rushing into the room with cameras, microphones, and maniacal expressions. They all swarmed around me while Tabitha winked at me and slipped out the door. It seemed as though everyone was talking at once. The questions came so quickly I could barely keep track of them.

  “Frederick! How do you like Gulbrania? Has it changed much since you were here last?”

  “Have you had any recent interaction with the Jumerum? What are you doing to combat their efforts?”

  “Prince Vonnegan, we understand you spent the last 12 years in the United States. Was it awful?”

  “Do you have a girlfriend? The young women of Gulbrania are dying to meet you.”

  “Have you spent much time with your father since you’ve come? Do you harbor any bitter feelings towards him for being away for so many years?”

  “What’s your favorite color?”

  I was starting to get dizzy with all the commotion and interrogation. I took a deep breath and attempted to answer their questions as quickly as I could. “Fine, I don’t remember, yes, I don’t know, no, no, no, yes, green,” I said hurriedly.

  Then I turned around and bolted out the door.

  Chapter Seven

  Kayla

  I found Milo Kowalski sitting alone at a table in the far corner of the cafeteria. He raised his eyebrows when I sat down.

  “You know you’re committing social suicide by sitting here,” he remarked with a small smile.

  I shrugged. “I think I already did that when I went psycho in the hallway the other day.”

  Milo’s eyes lit up. “That was seriously the coolest thing that has ever happened in this school.”

  I smiled, glad that at least one person didn’t think I was out of my mind. I glanced around the cafeteria, noticing several people staring or pointing at us and laughing. I didn’t care. I had felt a lot better ever since I told my mom about Wyatt, but I had also reached a point where I was done with it all. Done with the drama and the politics and the cruelty... done with high school, really. I was tempted to drop out and just go test for my GED. I could probably even do a year or two of community college before I applied for a larger university.

  “So that’s crazy about Frog, right?” Milo asked, taking a bite of his nondescript sandwich.

  I nodded, glad that he had been the first to bring it up. “Yeah, it’s like he just disappeared.”

  Milo furrowed his eyebrows. “Wait, you’ve heard from him, haven’t you?”

  I straightened in my chair. “No. Have you?”

  Milo looked surprised. “Really? I would have thought you would be the first person he would get in contact with.”

  I was starting to get agitated. “Well, he hasn’t. Have you heard from him?”

  “Yeah, he texted me a couple days ago.”

  Milo took another bite of his sandwich and I almost wanted to throttle him.

  “What did he say?” I asked with a hint of desperation.

  “Oh, he said he had to move to Gulbrania.”

  “Gulbrania?”

  “Yeah. His mom’s work transferred her there.”

  I blew out a breath. Gulbrania. That’s right. Frog said he had been born there. “Did he say anything else?”

  “He said he’d lost his phone and had just gotten it back.”

  “Okay.” This information made me relieved and frustrated at the same time. He wasn’t dead, he had just moved to a country far away. He’d been without his phone all this time, but now he had it back, so why hadn’t he responded to me? Maybe he’d been freaked out by all the messages I had left.

  “I still can’t believe he hasn’t texted you or anything,” Milo said, shaking his head.

  Before I could respond, I heard someone come up behind me. I turned around and saw a guy from the football team holding a tray piled high with green Jell-O.

  “Are you losers ready for dessert?” He asked, smiling mischievously.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Milo bracing for the inevitable, but I wasn’t about to lie down and take this. Years of playing volleyball had helped me develop great reflexes and a sense of defense. I snatched the tray and brought it down to the table, then grabbed the front of the guy’s shirt and pulled down, forcing his face into the tray of Jell-O.

  “We’re all full, but you let us know how it tastes,” I said, standing up and getting ready to go.

  Milo made a sound halfway in between a laugh and a gasp. “You are seriously so awesome!”

  *****

  The sky was dark when I pulled up to the diner. It seemed like the temperature had dropped about 20 degrees that evening and I rushed into the back entrance to get out of the cold. I stood in the kitchen for a moment to warm up and to let the coziness of the place wash over me. As outdated as I thought the diner was, there was something inviting about it, with its familiar aromas and homey atmosphere. I quickly changed into my sweat pants and old t-shirt and prepared to wash the dishes.

  After the Jell-O incident, the rest of the day had been pretty uneventful. For a little while I thought I might get disciplined from it, but I figured that football player wasn’t going to make a complaint about a girl shoving his face in the substance he was planning to pour on me and Milo. I actually kept finding myself thinking about Gulbrania all afternoon, and I had been tempted to ask Mr. Jacobs about it during world cultures class.

  I was about to reach for the water sprayer when I heard someone come in through the back door. I must have been so eager to get inside that I forgot to lock it. I turned around and felt my insides begin to churn. Wyatt Brooks was walking toward me.

  “I should have known you worked at some trash heap like this,” he said with an ugly sneer. “That’s about all you’re worth.”

  “What do you want, Wyatt?” I said with surprising force. Over the past few days, I’d felt some of my fear dissipate concerning him.

  “I want to know why my parents got a call from some whiny girl’s mom about how I hurt her feelings.” He stood too close to me and I took a necessary step back, trying not to remember what had happened the last time he had backed me up against a wall. “Are you really going to make a big deal out of a kiss?”

  “It was more than that, and you know it,” I spat.

  “Well, it should have been more,” Wyatt responded, giving me a hungry look with the eyes that I used to think were so dreamy.

  “Leave me alone, Wyatt,” I said evenly. “You don’t want to cause any more trouble for yourself.”

  He threw his head back and laughed. “Trouble? I doubt it. My parents have very good connections, and nothing’s going to happen to me.” He took a step closer and lowered his voice. “But you? You’ll just be the weak girl who can’t handle a little heat.” He smirked and I felt every muscle in my body tense up. “No one is going to believe you,” he whispered. “Not then, and not now. Let’s see how far we can get without your ugly friend to save you.”

  I should have been scared, but at the mention of Frog, I felt a surge of confidence. Even if Frog wasn’t talking to me now, he had been there for me before. He had cared enough to fight for me, and I was worth something. I was worth a lot.

  Now it was my turn to laugh. What Wyatt was trying to do was ridiculous. He was on my turf and I could handle myself.

  “Wyatt,” I said, straightening, “you really chose the wrong place to try and attack me.”r />
  I reached out and grabbed the water sprayer, then turned it on full force and hosed down every inch of Wyatt until he was drenched.

  “Frank!” I yelled out, and within seconds the burly fry cook appeared around the corner. “Will you please escort this young man outside, he needs to cool off.”

  Frank glared at Wyatt. “My pleasure, Ms. Morrison.” He grabbed Wyatt by the arm and dragged him toward the door. Wyatt struggled against his grip, but he was no match for the older, larger man.

  “This isn’t over, Kayla!” He shouted right before Frank shoved him outside and bolted the door behind him.

  I knew there would be repercussions, that Wyatt would try and get back at me, but at that moment, I just let myself enjoy a sense of satisfaction I hadn’t felt in weeks.

  Chapter Eight

  Frog

  “Frederick! Wake up!”

  I sat up so quickly that I fell completely off of my bed. After I stood up and got my bearings, I found myself face to face with my father.

  “Get ready, son, you’re going to tour the rest of the country.”

  “Right now?” I asked, looking out the windows at the dark night. It actually wasn’t too late, I had fallen asleep early that evening because I was exhausted from Alm’s rock throwing training, but I still didn’t think that seeing Gulbrania at 9 o’ clock at night would be very effective.

  “Am I going to be able to see anything?” I asked, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.

  My father chuckled. “Oh, you’ll see it,” he replied with a half smile. “Put some warm clothes on. Meet me downstairs where you’re ready.” Then he walked out the door without any more explanation.

  I sighed. I put on a sweater and a coat and tried to tell myself that this was a good thing. After all, I had been wanting to spend more time with my father, but honestly, I wasn’t really looking forward to it. My father had been absent from my life for over ten years, so every time I interacted with him it was kind of awkward. Plus, there was the fact that as king of Gulbrania, he expected so much from me even though I’d only known I was royalty for a little over a month. How was I supposed to know how to negotiate a trade deal? Or revise laws? Or navigate a code of ethics? For most of my existence my prime goal had been to avoid getting locked in a bathroom stall. I’d never imagined that one day I’d be responsible for a small country.