God Save the Queen (21 page)

             
“Yeah, I could see how that could get to you.” Kevin said softly as he too looked out the window.

             
I looked at him with the corners of my eyes. “At least I had you.” I saw him look at me too, raising his eyebrow. “Kevin, if I didn’t have you, honestly, I don’t know how I would have gotten through half the things that I did! Getting out of classes,
passing
my classes, sneaking food past Ms. Rontes, the whole sordid Michael-and-his-redheaded floozy saga … I mean, without you, I really don’t know what I would have done.” Then all of a sudden Kevin started chuckling. I turned and faced him again. “What?”

             
“Well, it’s just funny, because seven months ago you couldn’t stand the sight of me. We couldn’t enter a room without launching into an argument. It’s just funny, finding out you couldn’t have survived without me.”

             
I looked down and chuckled too. “Yeah, I guess it is. I mean, I don’t even know why I hated you so much. I think it was because you basically told me that I had to pack up and leave my friends and my happy, normal existence. Or maybe the fact that you were just as stubborn as I was and I hated that, probably because I hate it in myself. I don’t like when people can argue better than me and won’t let me win the argument. Or maybe I just wasn’t thinking.” I shrugged. “Or maybe I was still a stubborn kid.”

             
“Ah.” Kevin nodded, then took another step toward me. He was doing a mock strut, like a full-of-himself fashion model, and struck a cocky profile pose. “So what do you think of me now?”

             
He was just teasing me, but I wasn’t in a teasing mood, so I considered his question seriously. “I think …” I stopped to study his face, looking for any remnant of the man I’d hated, but I couldn’t find a trace of it. I moved closer without realizing it, and his cocky smile suddenly changed. His mouth opened as if mildly stupefied, and as I drew closer still I felt his hand graze my waist. Then the other softly brushed my face as he pushed back hair that must have escaped from a pearl-tipped bobby pin. “I think …” His face and mine were inches away now. I could smell his subtle but intoxicating cologne as we moved closer and closer. I took a deep breath. “I think we should head back.”

“Right.”

We both took a huge step backward and looked down awkwardly. “Um, because, you know, they might realize that we’re gone.”

             
Kevin was still staring at the stone floor. “Right! Um … we can take the other way out.”

             
“Other way?”

             
“Yeah, through the portrait.” He made his way over to a portrait I had never noticed until now. Some glum-looking Romanov, I presumed. He pulled the frame to the side and just like the portrait in my bedroom, there was a wooden door behind it, too. “It leads to the side staircase. We can just sneak back in.”

             
“Um, yeah, okay,” I said, still trying to shake off what just happened. “How … how about you go down there first, to check if it’s a bit dirty in there, ‘cause with this dress …”

“Got it,” he said,
and then disappeared. The moment he was gone I began pacing the room like a caged animal. How could I let it get that close? Was I stupid? I mean, we actually almost … and then he and I would have … Oh my God!

I was just about to slap myself in the head when I heard a
throat-clearing behind me.

             
“Ready to go?” Kevin asked, no doubt having just witnessed my demented pantomime.

             
“Yup, all set!” I said way too cheerfully.

             
It didn’t take us long to sneak back through the tunnel, which led to the side hallway where we started our secret getaway. Kevin poked his head out first to make sure the coast was clear, then we closed the secret doorway and hurried back to the ball. We went our separate ways--for a while, anyway.

             
About and hour and a half later, Kevin rescued me once again from yet another mind-numbing conversation with the ambassador of some place or other. The moment he grabbed my arm, I wondered if the earlier promise of the evening would be fulfilled; when he whispered, “Meet me in the garden in two minutes,” I was sure of it.

             
Once I managed to extricate myself from Sir Whatever, I found Barnes and Antonio and asked them to guard the garden entrance from any prying reporters. They nodded and followed me to the entrance. As they stood guard I slipped into the garden.

             
I was just about to call for Kevin when I suddenly saw him appear from the shadows. I silently laughed at his slyness, or lack thereof. He walked over, smooth as all get-out, put his hand in mine … and yanked me to our rendezvous. I was slightly alarmed by his abruptness, but then he whispered in a mock continental accent, “
Voilà, cheri!
Ze planets have aligned for you alone. All of nature is at your will.”

             
I looked at him in confusion, but then saw what he was yammering about. Before us in the vast garden of flowers and topiaries, were thousands of tiny lights. These lights, however, were not stationary as the Christmas lights in the Glass Room were, but impossibly seemed to flutter as the full moon shone around us. That was because they weren’t lights at all, but swarms of fireflies, lighting a dazzling path around the garden. I gasped in delight as Kevin took my hand again and we began our magically lit garden stroll. As we walked I remembered when I was young, Linda and I would run out in the middle of a summer night to see who could catch a firefly first. It would have been wonderful, I now reflected, to take of my shoes and just run around, trying to catch as many as I could.

              Then, as though reading my thoughts, Kevin asked, “Wanna catch some?”

             
I nodded, picked up the hem of my dress, and began to glide over to where I saw a glowing light. I soon remembered why it was so difficult to catch a firefly. They blink for only a moment before flying away in the dark. I stalked one and lost its trail, and then began searching for another. I glanced over my shoulder and saw that Kevin was having a harder time than I was, jumping up and down and just guessing where they might be next. Amateur! Finally, after what seemed like forever, a tell-tale glow peeked out from the crack of my covered hand. I shouted, “Kevin! I got one!”

             
He ran to my side to see for himself. I opened my hands a crack so he could see for himself, but he had a better idea. He cupped both my hands, top and bottom, and slowly kind of peeled off my right hand to get a better look.

There it was on the palm of my hand, and it just stayed there for a few precious seconds
 … until it flew off and Kevin clapped our hands together only too late. It lit its way past my face, then Kevin’s, and then flew into the night. But the moment it passed Kevin’s face, I stopped following its glow and continued to look into the green eyes that were staring straight back at me. We stayed like that, holding each other’s hands and gazing for a while longer, until we were interrupted by a familiar voice: “Kevin? Are you out here?”

             
The spell broken, he dropped my hands and turned away. “ I’m out here.” he shouted back, annoyance clear as day in his tone.

             
The voice, which I recognized as Mari’s, then responded, “LaGard’s been looking for you.”

             
“All right. I’ll be right in.”

             
A moment of silence then: “Anya? Are you there too?”

             
I also then looked at the ground and then at the clear sky. “Yes, I’m out here too.”

             
“Okay, just wondering.” Then it was quiet again as Mari disappeared back to the party.

             
Kevin and I only stood for a few more minutes before he finally said, “Well, I’d better … I’d better head on in. Don’t want to make LaGard mad.” I nodded and he began to walk toward the garden door, then stopped when he realized I wasn’t following. “Aren’t you coming in?”

             
I looked at him behind my shoulder and smiled. “Oh, I think I’ll stay out here for a while longer. Besides, it might look a little suspicious if we both walked in together, don’t you think?”

             
He nodded. Then he walked back to me, more quickly this time, and it was only when he was inches away that I could see the look of determination in his face, the set of his jaw …

Suddenly,
he held me in his arms. I felt the burn return as he embraced me. But instead of pushing him away this time, I complied to his hold and let it sink in. He let go and said. “You did it An. Congratulations.”

             
Then he walked away leaving me in the dark. I looked back twice and began to blush when I caught him looking back at me too. Kevin disappeared into the palace, leaving me alone. I sighed and looked up at the night sky, as if expecting some clarification. I did
what,
exactly? What did I
do?

Chapter 30

Catching Up

             
“Oh honey, you’ve been doing wonderfully!” Linda pretty much yelled into my ear, when I called her. “I’ve been reading your rave reviews!”

             
“Thanks, Linda, but I’ve only been ruling for a week. That really doesn’t give me much time to screw up.”

             
“Darling, you’d be surprised how many people would be able to achieve that.” She added with a laugh, “In less than a week.”

             
“Thanks, but you’re giving me way too much credit.”
              We were pretty much talked out about my coronation, I thought, so Linda moved on to the local news. “Oh, I forgot to tell you that Sadie and Maggie say hi. They were here the other day.…”

             
“Did they get my invites to the ball?” I asked, hoping that they did. I didn’t want them to think that I was now going to be one of those people who forget where they came from.

             
“Oh yes, they did. But their parents didn’t want them going. Something about flying out the day after the prom. But really sweetheart the flight fare might’ve had something more to do with it too.”

             
“But I told them I’d send planes! I even offered to lend them dresses for the occasion. I’ve got a million of ‘em.” It was maybe too generous of me, but I’d been a little worried my long-distance friendships were in danger from neglect.

             
“Well, Anya, they had prom, which is like a normal person coronation. You should know by now, that alone is a totally exhausting experience. It probably seemed too much at the same time. If you were there, you’d be in the same situation.”

             
“What, are you saying you wouldn’t allow me to go to a royal ball because of prom? That’s a little extreme.”

             
“It’s also the end of high school, remember, and kids don’t want to be away for those last few weeks. But don’t worry, I got the whole thing on the DVR. They came over the next day and watched it. They were very proud of you--did I mention?--and we all threw confetti and rice in the air when you were pronounced tsarina.”

             
I laughed, picturing them making a mess of the living room. It made me a little heartsick, too, that I couldn’t be there. “Well that was nice of you, Linda. Especially since you had to vacuum the mess afterwards.”

             
“No big deal. I’m still finding grains of rice here and there. Oh, while we were watching the ball, Sadie couldn’t help but notice that for about, oh I don’t know, two hours or so, you were nowhere to be seen.”

             
“Really?” There was a pause as I felt my heart pounding. “I must have … must have been in an interview or something.”

             
“Well, I thought that too, that is until I noticed that the boy that you danced with, Kevin? Is that his name? Well, he was missing too. It wasn’t like you were just lost in the crowd, because even the news commentators seemed to notice. They kept saying things like, “Can we get a shot of the Tsarina? What’s she up to?” And the other commentator said, “Jack, our camera crew is trying to track her down. But here’s a shot of her earlier this evening.…” Something like that.”

             
“Oh, really?” I said, leaving another lingering pause in the conversation.

“
Would you like to tell me where you were?”

             
“Linda, we stepped out because he had to show me a … it was just a birthday present.”

             
I could hear Linda snickering as she said, “Oh really? A birthday present? Is that what they’re calling it these days?”

             
“Yes, that’s all it was!
A birthday present.
He just showed me this room that I wanted to see.”

             
“A room!” Linda was snickering as she twisted my words.

             
“Linda, please,” I begged.

             
“Fine.” Then she put on her sweet voice, “So how long have you liked this boy, Anya?”

             
The question was so sudden and out of line I couldn’t help but be shocked. “How long have I … liked … I’ve never
liked
Kevin, not in the way you’re inferring … as more than a … a friend!”

             
“Anya. You’re stuttering. That means you’re lying to me.”

             
“I … am … I am not lying to you!” I tried, but my stuttering became worse.

             
“I mean I know that you can’t get out of your relationship with Michael, but you can at least be in a secret relationship with someone who actually cares about you.”

             
“You know I would never do that, Linda!” I exclaimed.

             
“Well, can you at least admit that you are attracted to Kevin?” she asked.

             
“No, because I am not. At all!” I said, slamming my fist on the table. Apparently Linda heard because she sighed again.

             
“Well, look, Anya, you don’t have to tell me what you feel, but at least admit that you’re only lying to yourself.”

             
I had to get out of this. She was driving me crazy with something that was none of her business to begin with. “Linda, I …” I placed my hand loosely over the receiver.
“What’s that?”
I called out to no one.
“Oh, okay! I’ll be right there!”
Then back to Linda o the phone: “Hey, Linda, the Prime Minister is here. I have to—
What? Oh! I’m coming!
—well I have to go.”

             
“The prime minister is not there, Anya.”

             
“Yes he is! I need to go. There is an important meeting that I need to attend.”

             
“The prime minister is in China, Anya.”

             
I groaned in frustration. “I have to go, Linda.”

             
Linda sighed and then chuckled. “All right, Anya, I’ll let you go. Talk to you later.”

             
Once the phone line went dead, I rested my face in my hands. This couldn’t get any worse. Then I heard the door click open as Michael walked in. He walked right over to where I was standing and rested his hand on my shoulder.

             
“You all right?” He actually sounded concerned.

             
“What?” I looked up, “Oh yeah, I’m fine. Just got off the phone with Linda.”

             
“Look, darling,” he said, putting his arms around me, “I know it’s been hard being apart from them for so long, but I’ll promise that it will get better.”

             
I took a deep breath. “So you’re heading out?”

             
Michael stood up and nodded. “Yes, Spain waits for no one. I’ll be back in two days.” He grabbed his suitcase and walked back over to where I was. “And when I come back I’ll bring you something special.” He smiled.

             
I rolled my eyes and sighed. “You always bring me back something nice.”

             
“Well, this time it’ll be really special. I mean it.”

             
“I know,” I said, focusing on the papers in front of me.

             
“Look, can you trust me?” he asked.

             
Are you serious?
I thought. But instead I just nodded.

             
“All right, I’ll be back in two days. I’ll miss you.” He leaned in and kissed me on the cheek. “Just try to be good, all right?”

             
I looked up and smiled. “I’ll try my best.”