edited and rewritten

Well, this was an awful week. I received that text message from. . .him on Wednesday and today's Saturday. The prince said that he'd be here today and oddly I'm looking forward to it. Hanging out with him gives me some form of peace and distracts me from the disaster that is my life.

As I unlock my phone I see the notification floating above my messages app. I simply scrolled away from the notification when I first saw it. I don't want to read it in the app, if I do, he'll know that I saw it and pester me more.

I deleted his number when I broke up with him but I spent two years of my life with that man, I know his number by heart. The beat of my heart intensifies so I turn off my phone. I won't be using it today anyway. The prince is to come over any moment now so I won't have any use for it.

This past week was something. It's only the first week of school but it's the worst week I've ever had. First I get attacked by a stupid vampire then I get into this contract with the Prince of ArchDale and the next thing I know I'm getting a text from my ex.

This is truthfully the worst thing week ever. I also started avoiding Via like the plague. I took another route to class so I wouldn't pass her in the halls. I know exactly what she'll be asking me and I don't want to lie to her. I've been lying to everyone in my life these past two years and I would like to stop but with this contract, it looks like I'll be doing a lot more than that.

Sleeping was also hell for me. It took me a while to fall asleep since I kept thinking that the vampire was going to come back and finish the job. It never came back thankfully but I am still paranoid.

My parents left for work an hour ago so being alone is definitely what I want to be right now. Knocks against my window shake me out of my thoughts and I turn my head toward it. The prince sits on the roof with his index finger lingering on my window. I let out a quiet breath of relief. A part of me thought that it was a vampire here to hurt me.

I open my window, letting him in. "You know the front door is easily accessible right?" I say as he climbs into my room.

He gives me a lopsided grin then he pushes his hair out from his face, "I know but I didn't know if your parents were home. I would like to face their wrath after the event." He states, brushing the wrinkles out of his regular shirt and jeans. Why is he dressed so regularly? I don't think I've ever seen the prince look this normal.

"Why aren't you dressed?" He asks, looking over my outfit. I look down at myself not understanding his question. I'm wearing sweatpants and a regular shirt. I'm wearing much more than I was when he rescued me from that vampire attack.

"What do you mean?"

He blinks at me, "We're going to dance class."

"What?" I ask as panic rushes through me.

He looks at me as if he doesn't know why I'm so nervous, "Yeah, we must dance at the event and there's a specific dance we must do. We will go to the royal dance choreographer and they will help us."

"Oh, when you said that someone was going to help me, I thought that they were just going to give me some rules to follow," I say.

He shakes his head as he places his hands in his pockets, "That's boring. No, we're going dancing, get dressed. I'll be downstairs."

He opens my room door and walks out. I lock the door behind him and I draw all my curtains. Alright, so we're going dancing so it's best if I wear a dress right? That's easy enough, my closet is filled with dresses.

I pick out a brown knee-lengthened pleated dress and I put it on. I give myself a once-over in the mirror then I put on my high-top shoes. I leave my room, noting that I left my phone on my bed. I don't want to bring it along, it'll remind me of that message I so want to forget about. I hop down the stairs to see the prince standing by the door, his head buried in his phone.

He looks up once I finish descending the stairs and he places his phone back into his pocket. "Let's go. It'll take around ten minutes to get there. What time do your parents come back home?"

I take the house key off the key rack. "Oh not for now. They come back at nine p.m."

"Alright. We'll be done way before then."

We leave the house and I make sure to lock up, I don't want the house to get robbed. My family isn't exactly the best-liked in this community. People are either scared of us or hate us because of our alignment with the royal family.

Now that we're outside I understand the reasoning for the prince wearing regular clothes. Since he doesn't want people to know that we're 'dating' until the event, the clothes help with concealing his identity. I'm not sure how much it helps conceal but in this world, if you're not dressed in some form of royal attire, no one will look at you. Hopefully, it's the same thing for him.

He unlocks his car and I get into the passenger side then he starts the car and we drive off to wherever this dance studio is. We drive for a little shorter than ten minutes thanks to the lack of traffic today. For it to be a Saturday, there are few cars on the road. It's usually packed with cars trying to get to stores. I guess today's a rarity.

He parks in a parking lot in front of a building named Miss Fuscia's Dance Studio. We get out of the car and a cool breeze greets us. This is one of the rare moments in which summer isn't so hot. I prefer it this way. I love how the cool air wraps around me and hugs my body like a blanket.

He walks up to the door and rings the doorbell, I follow behind him while my eyes take in everything that they can take. The beautiful sunflowers right beside the door turn to face the sun and my fingers itch as the urge to pluck one becomes enticing.

The door opens and a dark-skinned woman smiles at us. She smiles so wide I can almost see all of her white pearly straight teeth. "Your highness, it's a pleasure to see you here and you're right on time. I always adore your punctuality." She goes in for a hug and he welcomes it.

My eyes grow wide a little. I had no idea he could be hugged. Now I think that, it sounds a little weird but it's true. The prince is so. . .unapproachable it doesn't seem as if someone can go in for a hug without initial consent.

He smiles as he hugs her and she kisses him on his cheeks. Her head turns toward me and she hugs me too. I like this woman, she seems to be the type that's easily liked and sweet. "Surprised I can hug him without getting killed?" She asks me with a lilt in her voice.

I nod and she laughs, "Then you have quite a lot to know about him."

I stay silent and she lets us inside her dance studio. The prince walks in with both of his hands behind his back while I have mine clasped in front of me. I look around the studio with wide eyes. When the prince said that this was a studio, I thought it was a regular-sized studio, not a gigantic castle with a huge diamond chandelier. However, with the payments, the prince must be paying her it makes sense why this place is so grandiose.

"You have a wonderful studio," I say and she smiles at me and she gives me a small nod with her head.

"Thank you, darling. This way," she leads us into another room that's just like the one we were just in.

My goodness, how big is this building?

"Your highness, you already told me what kind of dance you two need to learn so don't worry. First off, change your shoes and put on those over there," she points to a rack in the corner with a bunch of dancing shoes. Most of them are black while others have lighter colors. I guess it's supposed to match your skin tone.

I like it.

The prince and I head over to the rack and we try on shoes in our skin tone to see if they fit. Once we find our match, we head back over to Miss Fuscia.

"Wonderful, you two are perfectly dressed so you don't need to change. Let's start."

The prince and I walk to the center of the room and she motions for us to place our hands on each other. I put my hand on his shoulder and I clasp the other in his. His arm goes around my waist and he brings me closer to him. I swallow and I find myself staring at the ground.

Miss Fuscia laughs and covers her mouth with her hand. "You chose the right girl, your highness. With her transparent feelings, it would be obvious to say you two are together."

My eyes grow wide and my cheeks flare up. "Let's start, shall we, Fuscia?" The prince says and she rolls her eyes.

"Alright, so the steps are: back, turn your bodies left, back, twirl then turn right and glide around the room and repeat," she says.

I blink a few times as I try to remember all the steps she just said. Okay, yay, hopefully, this isn't as difficult as I think it is. The prince tightens his hand around my waist and I force myself not to react but I jerk a little.

We start moving and in my mind, he repeats the steps. Turn your body to the left. I do as he says then we continue moving through the room. Once I get a hang of the steps Fuscia starts playing the song we're to dance to. It's a mixture of violins, trumpets, pianos, and cellos. It's a wonderful melody.

We continue dancing until my feet start hurting. By now, he no longer has to repeat the steps to me, my feet get the moves and they glide on their own. After a little while, a smile makes its way onto my face. I like this dance, it's nice.

The music stops and so do we. Fuscia claps as she stands from her sitting position. "You two dance well together. It will be wonderful to see you two blow everyone away at the ball."

My cheeks heat up once more and I make friends with the shiny floor. "Thanks," I mutter.

"I'll be back," the prince says to me then he walks out of the room and places his phone to his ear. The door closes behind him leaving only Fuscia and me.

I look at Fuscia to see her looking back at me. "You seem rather close with him," I observe.

Her purple-painted lips turn up into a warm smile, "Are you jealous, dear? You shouldn't be." My eyes grow wide and I shake my head as I take a step back.

"No, not at all. Does he have a name?" She doesn't look fazed by the question I ask her. She turns from me and picks up fabric from off a chair and folds it.

"He does."

Something perks up inside of me, "Do you know it?"

She nods, "I do, but I won't tell you. It's not my place."

The door opens and I turn around to see the prince shoving his phone in his pocket. "Ready?" I nod then we put on the shoes we came here with.

The car is silent as he carries me home. I look outside to see dark clouds approaching our city. I heard that there was a small storm that was to come soon but from the looks of these clouds, it doesn't seem small at all.

We arrive at my home and I open the door to get out but he stops me. "Adara," I turn around, "Next time you're trying to figure out my name, I'd appreciate it if you didn't ask people I entrusted it with."