Are you going to the student-teacher volleyball game?” Jasmine asks as I stand at my locker, staring at my things, trying to remember what books I need to bring home.
“I don’t think so,” I say. I’ve seen posters for it, but I don’t know the teachers or most of the students, and besides, it costs three dollars. “I don’t have any spending money,” I say and grab my math and Spanish books before shutting the locker.
“Is that the only reason? I’ll spot you the cash. You’re a princess, I’m sure you’re good for it.”
“Only if the coup doesn’t succeed,” I say with a sigh.
“Then consider it my contribution to the cause. Come on. It will be fun.”
I don’t exactly want to go back to the townhouse. All I have to look forward to is the claustrophobic feeling of not having anywhere else to go and the tension that comes from not knowing what is going on back home.
“I’ll have to let someone know I’m not going home,” I say. “Henri is probably waiting for me right now.”
“Sure,” Jasmine says. “I mean, if you’re going to live here, they have to expect you to get involved in the school and stuff, right?”
“I’m not going to live here,” I say. “We’re just here until everything gets straightened out at home.”
Jasmine doesn’t look bothered by that. “Whatever. You’re here now. You should be allowed to have fun.”
This is true. If we’ve been removed from Colsteinburg to get us away from the coup, it follows that we’re not expected simply to hunker down as if we were still home and in immediate danger. Why shouldn’t I go to an after-school activity?
Henri is out front waiting for me. I hand him my books. “I’m going to the student-teacher volleyball game,” I tell him.
Henri looks less than thrilled with my announcement. “Did you discuss this with your mother?”
I stand tall, trying to look regal like Mam or Georgie can do without even trying. “How could I? I only just found out about it.”
“Then I’ll have to insist you come home with me.”
“No. You all agreed I should go to school and get out of the house and have a normal routine. Well, this is part of the routine. I’ll be home later. You tell Mam for me.” I turn on my heel and walk beside Jasmine back toward the school, knowing that Henri is probably turning a hundred shades of red.
“You really told him!”
My hands are shaking. Yeah, I told him. And chances are, if Mam is feeling at all like herself, when I get home I’ll likely be grounded for life. It probably isn’t worth it just to watch a bunch of people I don’t know play volleyball, but whatever. I’m tired of being told I can’t do things. So I’m doing this.
In the gym, the bleachers have been pulled out, and people are crowding onto them, clumped together in friend groups. I follow Jasmine up to the top, where Marly and Jordan have saved us seats. On the way, we pass Bethany, Kim, and Miles, and I start to say hi, but Jasmine pulls me along, and Bethany turns away as if she doesn’t see me.
Perhaps I am not such an underdog after all, if Bethany has turned on me. But is that good or bad?
Jasmine pulls out her phone and takes a selfie of the two of us. “Princess Power!” she says as she uploads it. “You need to make another video, in English, and let me be in it.”
“I’m never sure what to say to Americans. My message has been for the people of my country.”
“Let me do the talking then,” Jasmine says.
“No,” I say. “Not unless I know what you are going to say. This is too important to take chances.”
Jasmine frowns, and I know I’ve annoyed her. “You don’t trust me?”
I give her my best regal look. “I barely know you, and not that long ago you dumped a tray of food on my head. Let’s say I’m being cautious.”
Slowly, Jasmine’s frown turns into a grin. “You’re not so stupid, you know that?”
“I do,” I answer, returning her grin.
“But I can be in the video, right?”
“Sure.” I don’t see a problem with that. I need a minute to think of a message—and one that is addressed to Americans.
A hundred conversations swirl around me, and I wonder if I will even be able to be heard in a video, but it’s worth a try. I pull out my phone and position it so that Jasmine and I can both be seen. “Hallo, America! I am Princess Fredericka!”
“Fritzi!” Jasmine hisses in my ear. “It sounds friendlier.”
Princess Fritzi? Well, why not.
“My friends call me Fritzi,” I say. “I am about to watch a student-teacher volleyball game and am wishing that differences could be solved by a simple game in my country.”
“Colsteinburg,” Jasmine pipes up. “You have to tell them that part.”
“Ja. Colsteinburg.” This video is already almost too long. Time to wrap it up. I can’t think of a snappy ending, so I finish with my traditional “Prost!”
“What’s that mean?” Jasmine asks, camera still running.
“Cheers,” I say.
“Then, cheers!” she says to the camera, and I stop filming. “Be sure to add the hashtag FeistyFritzi when you upload it. And maybe PrincessPower too.”
I nod and do as she says. It can’t hurt.
The teachers win the game handily. They win because they have more experience and are better organized and are stronger. If the two sides of the Colsteinburg coup were the teams, wouldn’t our side win? Aren’t we more experienced and better organized and stronger? But what if we’re not? That’s the thought that makes my stomach knot up.
“Too bad the students lost,” I say as we descend the bleachers.
Bethany, whom I wasn’t even talking to, is the one who answers.
“I suppose you think that if they had let the princess on the team they would have won, right? You think you’re so great.”
I’m so shocked I can barely think of a comeback, but this cannot go unanswered.
Jasmine springs to my defense. “She would have done a lot better than you. And you barely say boo to anyone. How come you’re heaping on the princess? You on the side of the rebels or something?”
“I just don’t like it when people put on airs,” Bethany says, shrinking a bit under Jasmine’s gaze.
“Well, when you see Fritzi putting on airs, you let us know. In the meantime, shut up.”
Bethany turns away, and there isn’t really anything for me to add, so I follow Jasmine off the bleachers and out of the gym.
“Thanks for that,” I say when we get outside.
“Oh, you hardly need me standing up for you,” Jasmine says. “I know you can hold your own. But she’s so easy to fluster, I can’t resist. Besides, she’s being unfair to you.”
She is being unfair to me, and I don’t like it. I know it shouldn’t matter, but somehow I have to convince Bethany that being a princess does not make me a bad person.
Outside, people are leaving for home or calling for rides. I half expect Henri to still be there waiting for me, but he’s not. No one is.
“Do you have to call your bodyguard or anything to have him come get you?” Jasmine asks.
“I do,” I say. “The only way I was allowed back at school was if Henri brought me back and forth. They are worried about security,” I say.
“I guess that makes sense,” Jasmine says.
I text Henri to let him know he can come get me.
“One more video while you wait,” Jasmine says.
Why not?
“Hallo! Princess Fritzi here,” I say, and Jasmine smiles approvingly. “With my friends Jasmine, Marly, and Jordan.” I make sure they each get seen. “The teachers won. The sun is shining. It is lovely here in America, but my heart yearns for Colsteinburg. For home. Prost!”
“Cheers!” Jasmine adds.
I post the video. “Thanks for your help,” I say.
“I hope it works,” Jasmine says. “I’d like to be able to say I helped save a kingdom.”
“You and me both,” I answer. I look in the direction of the townhouse to see if Henri is in sight yet. Maybe I should walk toward there. That couldn’t be any more dangerous than waiting here. I turn back toward the school to see if Jasmine wants to walk that way with me when I spot Felix coming up behind her.
Is he on our side or not? I can’t be sure. I do know I don’t want to deal with him on my own, or at all, if I can help it. He seems to have no such hesitancy about dealing with me. Before I can even formulate a plan, he’s by my side.
“Your Royal Highness,” he says, with all the proper deference I’m used to receiving when I’m home.
I nod my head in acknowledgment of the greeting but say nothing.
“I thought we had a deal,” he says.
“I made the video,” I say, taking a step back.
He takes a step closer, leaving the distance between us the same, and too close if you ask me. I can smell him. He smells like sweat and cologne and onions. It’s not a good combination.
“And you deleted it.”
“Ambassador Hart told me if the king leaves the kingdom, it’s as good as abdicating.”
His eyes narrow, and then he grins and makes a gesture with his hand as if to brush away that concern. “And you believe him?”
“Shouldn’t I?” I ask. Of course I trust Ambassador Hart. He’s letting us live in his house, after all. But what if that is a trap? How can we possibly know?
“You do know that he was quite tight with Francisco Orcutt when he was ambassador, don’t you?”
“Was he?” I ask, my knees starting to take on the consistency of wet noodles. It’s true his wife has been in touch with Mrs. Orcutt; she told us so. “But so were we all,” I point out.
“Ah.” Felix nods as if he understands. “It is difficult to know who to trust in a situation like this. But tell me, who brought you your teddy bear?”
“You did,” I say.
“And who wants to help King Frederick get back on the throne?”
I don’t know. God help me, I have no idea.
“You?” I say because it seems like the answer he wants.
“Of course, me. You need to convince Frederick to come here. Can you do that?”
“I don’t know,” I say. “I’m just a kid. No one listens to me.”
“He’ll listen,” Felix says and takes hold of my arm.
Jasmine and her friends are still here, and now she is by my side brandishing her phone as if it were a weapon.
“Is this guy bothering you?” Jasmine asks.
“This is private business,” Felix says.
“I want you to let go of me,” I say and try to jerk my arm free from his grasp, but he’s much stronger than I am.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” he says.
“She says to let go,” Jasmine says. “I’ve got 911 on speed dial. Let go of her, or the police will be here so fast your head will spin.”
He lets go of my arm. “I’ll speak to you later, Your Royal Highness,” he says and lopes off, not looking back at us. My heart is beating double-time.
“Who was that guy?” Jasmine asks, stepping close to me as if she might hold me up in case I start to fall.
“Some guy from back home.”
“Whose side is he on?”
“I’m not sure,” I answer. My breathing is starting to return to normal.
“We’ll walk you toward your house and meet Henri. How’s that sound? Besides, I kind of don’t want to run into him again anyway. He creeps me out. Maybe I can have my mom pick us up at your place?”
“Let me just check with my sister to see if it’s okay if you come over,” I say.
“Not your mom?” Marly asks.
“My mam is having a little trouble with everything,” I admit. I don’t want to say anything against Mam, but it’s the truth. “My sister has been taking care of things.”
“My mom was like that when my dad left,” Marly says, kicking a stone down the sidewalk. “Don’t worry, it will get better.”
It will get better, that’s what I need to hear. I take a deep breath. Everything will be okay. “Yes,” I say. “As soon as we’re back with my pap, I’m sure it will be much better.”
“Just give it time,” Jasmine advises.
“It’s hard,” I admit.
“I know,” Marly says. “But it’ll be okay.”
I really do have friends again. It feels good.
Regardless, I send a text to Georgie to let her know, to make sure Mam at least is not in her bathrobe or something. All I really want right now is to be safe behind locked doors.
“Ooh,” Jordan says with a little skip. “We’ll get to meet your sister and mother. I’ve never met a queen before. Do we have to bow or anything?”
“No bowing,” I say. “That’s only for the citizens of Colsteinburg. And …”
“I know,” Marly says, as if reading my mind. “Your mom might not be at her best. We get it.”
Henri meets us before we get to the first traffic light. “You should have stayed where you were,” he admonishes me.
“I couldn’t,” I say. “Felix was there.”
Henri’s eyebrows come together as his whole face transforms into a frown. “What did he want?”
“He says he really is Pap’s friend. What do you think?”
“Until you encountered him the other day, I had no reason to doubt his allegiance to the royal family.”
“So, you think he’s on our side?”
“It is not for me to say,” he says. Though truthfully, as head of security, saying who is and who is not on our side is kind of for him to say. We all get into his car, and he drives us to the condo.
Once we get there, Henri ushers us inside. He shuts the door behind us, and we are all safe. Georgie is sitting on the sofa. I don’t see Mam. Maybe she’s taking a nap. That might be for the best.
“Georgie, these are my friends.” Is it too soon to call them friends? “Jasmine, Jordan, and Marly.”
“Nice to meet you,” Georgie says.
“Jasmine’s mom is going to pick them up here. Felix was by the school, and he creeped us out,” I explain.
Georgie frowns at the mention of Felix. “Very prudent,” she says.
“Are you really going to be a queen some day?” Jordan asks.
“It’s looking less and less likely,” Georgie says with a hint of bitterness.
“Might as well sit down,” I say to the girls. “Where’s Mam?” I ask Georgie.
She lowers her voice before answering. “Upstairs. She wasn’t up for company. Thanks for the warning.”
“We’re not going to get to meet the queen?” Jordan asks, disappointed.
“Not this time,” Georgie says. She sits down, crossing her legs at the ankles, her hands folded primly in her lap, the model of the perfect princess. “Tell me, girls, what kinds of things should Fritzi get involved in around here? What is there to do?”
I lean against the doorjamb. “I thought we were moving.”
“But we will probably stay local,” Georgie says.
“Not much,” Jordan says. “It’s a lame neighborhood. Tell us what it’s like where you really live. What do you do there?”
“We go to balls all the time,” I say. “It’s like living in a movie.”
Georgie twists around in her chair so she can give me a withering look. “You’ve been to one ball, young lady. Why don’t you tell your friends what they really want to know?”
They want to know that my life is like a movie, but it really isn’t. Never has been. It would be easy to say that as the princesses, we can do whatever we want, but that isn’t true. Being in the royal family actually means there are a lot of restrictions on us. We always have to be thinking of appearances. And then again, when we are at school, there are gobs of rules.
“I played netball,” I answer.
“What’s that?” Jasmine asks.
“Kind of like basketball,” I say. She nods at this, as if things are starting to fit together in her mind.
“So, is there like a palace team or something?” Jordan asks.
I picture playing netball in the ballroom. The staff would have a conniption.
“I play it at school,” I say.
“She goes to boarding school in France,” Georgie explains.
“Don’t you?” Marly asks.
“I graduated in June. But at school, there are lots of clubs and things to be involved in.”
“Oh, we have clubs at our school,” Marly says, seeming surprised that she found something in common with royalty.
“Most of the clubs are lame,” Jasmine responds in a world-weary way.
“Well, yeah, that’s true,” Marly says. “But we do have them.”
Jasmine looks at her phone and then out the window. “My mom is here.” She stands up, and Marly and Jordan follow.
“Watch out for that guy,” she says. “I don’t trust him.”
“Me either,” I say. “I’ll be careful.”
They leave, and I lock the door behind them.
If only I knew whose side he was on. Life is so much easier if you know who to trust.