and we fell

Chapter 18

SOFIA

There are times being royalty is amazing. Like now. Although I decided yesterday night that I'm leaving to Cordelia today, after calling my brother, he was still able to send our private jet over to pick me up. And not just me. Me, Darrel and Nini. Who luckily agreed to come with me.

The other girls still have work to do this week, so we found them a flight on the 2nd of October. They'll come then. Until the second, it's just me and Nini.

We're in the airplane and she's looking at me worried. She's been looking like this ever since last night.

"What?" I ask her slightly annoyed. I couldn't bear that look anymore.

She sighs and answers: "Are you sure you're okay, Soph? You don't seem fine."

"But I am," I lie. She notices.

"Look, this Alec thing hit you pretty hard. It's okay to be sad."

I know it is. And it did hit me pretty hard. Very hard. So hard, I still hate myself.

"I don't want to talk about it. Or about Alec. Let's just have fun," I say, pretty much exhausted. Feeling like shit is tiring.

"As you wish," she replies then looks out the window. She's been excited during the whole ride. That made me wonder if... "Is this your first plane ride?" I ask. She looks at me nervously. "Oh, come on, Nini. You can trust me."

She swallows hard then nods: "It is. It's also my first time outside of the States. I've never travelled before."

I don't know how to answer. She notices and continues: "I'll have hella of a good story to tell though. My first trip, in a private royal jet living at a palace. Sure sounds fancy."

I smile at her. Then freeze, thinking that I'll have to tell her the truth, since she'll stay with me and my family. I look questioning at Darrel, who understands what I want, and nods agreeing.

"Nini, about that, there's something you need to know..." I begin. My bestie worries. I continue: "Do you remember that article Tessa shared with the whole student body?"

She nods and comments: "I'm still killing that bitch for what she did."

I look at her thankfully then say: "The thing is, my parents aren't okay. And haven't been okay since that article. My Father brought that woman, Gillian, inside the palace to live with us. My Mother can't divorce him because of the titles they have, so she lives in another wing spending most of her time alone drawing dead flowers. My parents ignore each other inside the palace. Now, they'll might fake it in front of you too, but since I haven't officially announced my visit yet, Gillian might still be there. So I wanted you to know."

Nini looks at me frozen. She's shocked. Very shocked. I expect her to burst out in a question round, but instead, she just hugs me. Tight. "I'm so sorry, Soph," she whispers in my ear. "I really am. Thanks for telling me."

I swallow hard, surprised by her reaction: "Aren't you mad or so?"

"Mad?! At you? Never. What you just said can't make me mad at you. I'm mad at the ones who made you live through this. Very mad."

I look at her thankfully and pull her closer. That's when I notice something outside the small glass window.

"Nini, look!" I say, pointing to the now seeable Grace Tower, the tallest building in my hometown, Broix.

Nini bends over me and looks outside to where I was pointing to. As she sees the building, her eyes grow big.

"Welcome to Cordelia!" I say smiling.