Chapter 2
Chapter Two
ALEXANDER
“Alexander, are you even listening?”
I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at him. “Yes, sir,” I lied as I continued to look out the window.
My father was in one of his usual ranting moods. The man said nothing of use, just too bad the rest of our country couldn’t see that. He had done a great job at raising a Prince. It was too bad that he didn’t care what he did to his son during it all.
I need to get out of here; the cage just seemed to get tighter. I wanted freedom. I wanted to be able to do my own thing and right now that wasn’t being here with him.
“What did I just say?”
I turned to look at my father and flashed him a smile. “I’m going to guess it was something about how you’re disappointed that your son after his gap year that you didn’t approve of in the first place has now chosen to go to a non-prestigious university,” I mocked.
“You mock Alexander, but this is years worth of history.” My father slammed his hand on the table. Once upon a time, that action alone would have frightened me. Now I just thought it was dramatic. “You are spitting on our traditions.”
I stood up because I’ve had enough of the lecture. “Some traditions are worth breaking.”
“Alexander.”
“Are we done here?” I asked, clearly expressing my boredom. “I have places to be.”
My father tapped his foot pressing his lips into a thin line.
Was I pushing my luck? Yes. Did I care? No.
“Alexander.”
“If we’re done here, I have an induction at university,” I said standing up from the seat.
That may have been a little white lie. My induction wasn’t until 3:00 p.m. I had chosen a quiet time to speak to my new course leaders, and the university eased my way into it.
I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep my identity a secret, but I could hope people would just ignore the fact I was a Prince and treat me like a normal person.
“I don’t approve, Alexander.”
“Father, you said that when I told you earlier in the summer, none of your lectures or ranting have changed my mind. I am being the leader I want to be. God forbid I ever have to take your position within the next few years. I want to be able to say I made a difference. I’m figuring out my path, please respect that,” I said. “Mother supports me.”
“That’s because you’re her favourite child,” my father muttered, rolling his eyes. “One step out of line and you will return home.”
“Yes sir.” I saluted him.
My father narrowed his eyes. “Alexander,” he said sharply. “I will have Penelope connected to your calendar. You must attend all our events.”
“Whatever you say.” I headed for the bedroom letting out a laugh as Elizabeth was riding our brother like a horse. “El, you do realise we have horses, right?” I asked my baby sister.
Her head spun around. “Ander!” She squealed excitedly, sliding off our brother Henry and jumping into my arms.
“Oh, thank God,” Henry muttered, standing up as he stretched his back out. “She is not as light as she used to be.”
I laughed. “You are dumb enough to let El do that to you, Henry.”
“It’s not my fault,” Henry grumbled out. “She just suckers you into agreeing with everything, my baby sister owns me.” He stumbled to the floor, landing on his knees and dramatically looking up at the white ceiling.
“I’m not a baby! I’m four!” Elizabeth shouted, slapping her hand on my chest. I put her back on the floor as she stamped over to Henry.
I couldn’t help but grin that my little four-year-old sister thought she was that intimidating.
“Oops, my bad,” Henry mocked her. “Alex, are you sure you can’t take me with you?”
“Henry, you’re ten, you aren’t ready for university.” I chuckled.
“Charles and Arthur, they gang up on me for everything. As soon as I haven’t done something they go straight to dad,” Henry complained. “I feel trapped. I can’t breathe without them reporting back.”
I felt pity for him. More than anything I could relate to him.
Charles and Arthur could be a nightmare when they were together.
Once they found a common target, everyone was fair game.
I’m talking from my own personal experience.
I couldn’t understand why I had managed to have a good relationship with Elizabeth and Henry.
We had never seen eye to eye with Arthur and Charles as our relationship was always strained.
“Just stay with Elizabeth and keep your head down,” I told him, patting his shoulder. “She’s crazy enough to distract them from you.”
“Why can’t I come with you?” Henry pouted.
“You aren’t old enough for university,” I told him pointedly. “Anyway, I really do have to go. I love you both.”
I headed to the front of the Palace and saw my bodyguard Jones waiting with some other men. “Are you ready, your highness?” Jones asked politely.
“Jones, please tell me those men are with you because you were having a nice catch up?” I asked, hopeful.
“King’s orders.”
I groaned, “the man really is ruining my life,” I grumbled opening the door.
“Sir, he is just trying to keep you safe,” Jones defended.
I rolled my eyes. I loved my bodyguard. I truly did, but when he defended my father, it made me want to punch him in the face.
“Keep me safe, I call bullshit on that,” I muttered to myself.
Jones led me towards the car. I huffed, sitting inside crossing my arms over my chest frowning.
“Sir, you’re acting like a child, if I didn’t know better I’d say I have Princess Elizabeth in the car,” Jones said.
I stuck my middle finger up at him.
“I rest my case.”
“Seriously, Jones, can we not leave them here? I’ll be safer with you,” I protested. “Nobody is going to attack me at the university. All the extra security is just going to bring more attention to the fact I’m there.”
Jones shut the door, walking around the other side sitting next to me as another guard got in to drive, I looked back out the car to see at least two more cars full of security.
My father was a dickhead, going totally overboard as usual. This would bring more attention than anything, the press loved to see multiple cars leaving the premises because it meant one thing, a royal was on the move.
“Sir, your father would have never let you go to university if not for all the security,” Jones said.
“Jones, how am I meant to have a normal university experience with a squad of goons? Let’s face it, if I had gone to Cambridge or Oxford or whatever other elite university, he wouldn’t have done it. He’s done this because I went against what he wanted. A punishment.”
Jones smiled. “Well let me tell you, sir, the other guards are going to be at the entrance of the university. You will only have me inside.”
I stared at him with a surprised look on my face. “My father approved that?”
“Yes, sir, when I made the point of security attracting attention. Alexander—”
“Alex,” I grumbled.
“Alexander,” Jones said pointedly. “I know how important this is for you. I will always try and fight your side.”
“Thank you.”
Jones had been with me since I was ten. The poor man had been dealing with my shit for nine years.
He deserved a medal. I definitely didn’t make it easy on him during my early teenage years.
Although, I could blame that on Jeremy. What good was having a best friend if you couldn’t blame the dumb shit you did on them?
“Jones, can you make sure we don’t share my calendar with Penelope?” I asked. “I mean she can have the university schedule but I would rather she didn’t know about the personal part of university.”
“You’re expecting to have a personal life?” Jones chuckled.
“I could make friends,” I protested.
“Sure you could.” Jones shook his head.
I narrowed my eyes.
What a dickhead.
I turned my body to look out the window; this was going to be a long journey.
Was I ready to commit to a two hour and ten-minute trip from home to university?
I wonder if it was possible to get a place closer to university.
I shook my head. That was a silly idea, and I know my father would never go for it.
I wonder if I could persuade my mother. I can say my father was right about one thing.
She did have a soft spot for her first-born son.
I used to use this to my advantage a lot.
The car journey thankfully went smoothly with there being no accidents on the road or not much traffic either. As we arrived at the campus, I couldn’t be surprised how busy it seemed. Although, I guess I had arrived two hours before my appointment time.
We drove up the path and my eyes stayed glued to the window.
The campus looked stunning. It was clear that autumn had begun.
The leaves had begun to fall on the floor.
The campus was huge. I could see tennis courts, football pitches placed around the greens, and a diner straight next door to the campus.
“A twenty-four hour diner? I see that could cause some interesting experiences,” Jones muttered.
“You mean like a bar on campus?” I grinned. “I could technically do shots at the bar and head to a lecture.”
Jones let out a groan. “Am I going to be dragging you out of there drunk every day, Alexander?”
I grinned. “Is that disapproval I hear?”
“Yes,” he said flatly.
We drove up to right outside the university, there were three different bus stops outside, everybody seemed to be just going about doing their own thing. I just hoped with me on campus it would stay the same. I doubted it though, everybody always wanted something.
“Are you ready for this, sir?”
I looked at Jones biting my lip.
I could do this. It was only going to university. I had managed crowds of people before.
I nodded at him, and he got out the car coming around to my side of the car, he opened the door. I stepped out of the car, glancing at Jones as we headed inside the university.
People were starting to stare, but I pushed through and ignored the looks.
As I walked further into the atrium, a small shop was on the left and the library was further away on the right.
I don’t know what I expected but the whole campus looked very modern, floor length windows letting so much light into the building.
I walked up the ramp and saw a small coffee shop, a subway, and a Starbucks.
How much shit could they fit into this place?
Another set of lifts took my attention which was next to the student centre.
We spent the next hour walking around the campus inside and outside exploring what was around. Luckily, nobody had approached me yet. There have been small whispers and pointing. We headed back inside the campus as I made my way over to the east tower and hit the button on the lift.
Eventually, we arrived at E917. Jones peered through the window on the door and pushed it open.
I entered the room sitting at the table. It was at least another ten minutes before the meeting was due to start. I pulled out my phone, shooting a text to Jeremy about meeting up with him after.
The door opened once more, and two people piled in to join me at the table.
“Hi, my name is Julia. I will be your course leader.” She points to the guy sitting next to her. “This is George. He will be your university tutor and your point of contact if you need anything,” she said. “Prince Alexander, do you have any questions for us?”
“Please call me, Alexander,” I said. “I know as a university you can’t control the actions of your students, but all I ask is for your staff to treat the same as they do with everybody else. I do not want any favours.”
“Alexander, I assure you our staff will be professional in terms of your studies and everything else,” Julia said.
“Thank you, Julia,” I flashed her a smile. “I know I’ve missed the first two weeks of the course, is there a way for me to catch up?”
“In all honesty, Alexander, the first two weeks are just giving out the module handbooks discussing assignments,” George said.
“I have your module handbooks here.” He reached down, pulling them out and handing them over to me.
I opened them up and began to flip through them to see what my modules would entail.
“All of your courses are assignment-based. I’ll give you a chance to read through them if you have any questions. ”
“Thank you.”