School wasn't what I expected. It was worse.

There were too many humans cramped in the building, too much noise, too much socializing, too many eyes, and just too much of everything.

Dani and I spent most of our breaks either hiding in bathrooms - me battling anxiety attacks and her struggling with her inhaler, or under the trees outside - me flipping through my books and her grumbling at her gaming console.

Our first day passed in a blur. I didn't remember much of it except eyes, too many gazes following me around. It was intrusive. Their curiosity was understandable but that didn't make it any better.

So, I've decided that teenagers were my least favorite age group to be around.

When, a while later, whispers reached me about my true parentage, my indifferent demeanor with my classmates, and, according to them, my arrogance because, apparently, having social anxiety makes you a bad person, I decided that teenagers were the worst to interact with, to befriend.

Luckily for me, I had Danielle who seemed to be struggling as well but was doing much better. Her anxiety wasn't as crippling as mine, and her background wasn't as haunting as well.

I huffed at her, kicking her foot off my leg. "It's too humid for your sticky skin."

She rolled her eyes, making a show of having to move over, grunting and groaning while sitting up and never letting her gaze stray from the screen of her console.

My head tilted to the side, watching her facial expressions and feeling warmth blanketing my heart.

I would never discredit her past struggles because they were different than mine. Each one of us had ups and downs. I was maybe just a little bit jealous and a lot more proud of her. 

I always admired Dani and her mom. Losing a parent at a very young age, her mom had to work twice as much to fill the void, pay the bills, and raise her daughter while struggling to communicate with people who spoke a different language than hers.

Shuffling around to keep her white spandex short well hidden under her sky-blue denim dress, Dani kept mumbling her dissatisfaction at being disturbed under her breath. Her feet, clad in beige sneakers, were crossed at the ankle.

The lines blurred together and no matter how much I tried to reread the page, I couldn't. My attention kept drifting to the hem of her dress.

I was just jealous of every girl who was able to wear one. I couldn't. My legs had to be covered or my mind would go haywire and tap out. You must be wondering: hey Zee, what about long dresses or skirts? 

No. Never. Ew.

Sighing, I picked up my book, stopping my thoughts before reaching deeper and ruining my day.

However, my moments of inner peace were interrupted. Shrill giggles reached my ears, making me bury my nose between the pages.

Girls were scary. A lot more terrifying than boys.

This sound only meant one thing: our school's favorite jocks were passing by.

My eye twitched. Dani rolled hers again.

They were just humans like us, what was the point of worshipping the grounds beneath their feet? They weren't even interesting. Good looks didn't warrant a decent personality. Heck, most of them were too smug for their own good.

My mind flashed to a certain caramel-skinned boy and my cheeks flushed. It was a relief that he wasn't among the popular ones at school.

"You should go talk to him."

"Yeah, and say what?" I grumbled.

"That you have googly eyes for him." Dani snorted a laugh, pressing her palm to her mouth - a useless attempt to suppress her amusement.

"I don't!" My hand swatted at her shoulder.

"Yeah, yeah." She yelped when I threw my bag at her. "Okay, fine. Calm down, woman." I could still hear the mischief in her voice but ignored it. "Keep drooling and daydreaming until someone snatches him away."

"Shut up, D." 

"Ay, ay, captain." Her mock salute eased my annoyance and I handed her one of my homemade granola bars. "Thanks, you're the best."

I giggled when she blew me a kiss, but when I looked up, my eyes connected with bottomless chasms of darkness and I froze.

Ian Martinez, in all his glory, was looking my way. His cheeks were tinted a light pink as he shot me a dimpled grin and a small wave.

Crap, I needed to unfreeze myself.

Dani poked my side and I sprung into motion, returning his wave with a timid smile.

When he turned away to go back inside with his friend, my best friend, bless her heart, gagged. "So cute, makes me wanna vomit all over my sweet Nintendo."

I was still in shock. "D, he remembers me."

"Obviously. It's also obvious why but you're too blind ma chère."

"What?"

The bell rang, interrupting my question. Dani, as fast as she could, threw everything - mainly just her console but it was everything to her so there's that - inside her bag and jumped up, ignoring my open mouth and glowers.

"Hey!" I called after her but she was long gone.

My phone beeped.

ttyl, sleepover @ ur place this weekend ;)

"This girl..." I pinched the bridge of my nose before dragging myself to my next class.

Taking my seat by the window, my head resting on my palm, my mind already strayed from the lesson before it began and delved deeper into worlds of dragons, flying cats, and beautiful princesses.

Princesses always get the prince at the end of the story, or at least, some kind of a prince.

I wasn't a princess, no matter how many times William called me so. When I told him that, he scowled at me. "Kings and queens only have princes and princesses. So, you're a princess."

"You just want to call yourself a king, Will," Cathie remarked, rubbing her forehead behind him.

He smirked and crossed his arms over his chest. "A king doesn't call himself king. He knows it. Plus, one can't be a king without a queen." His smugness multiplied tenfolds when his wife started waving at her face in an attempt to cool off her flushed skin.

"You're so cheeky," she laughed, pressing a quick kiss to his mouth on her way to turn off the stove. "But, his point stands, Zia."

I rolled my eyes, used to their antics by now. "Which one?"

"You're our daughter. You're our princess."

I couldn't help the stretching of my lips. "Even if I was your princess that doesn't mean I'll be anyone else's as well."

"Only a blind fool won't consider you as his princess," Will scoffed and I choked on my saliva.

"Facts, honey." Cathie was quick to reinforce her husband's statement with quick nods and pursed lips.

"But, let's not talk about that now. You're our princess and we won't just hand you over to anyone. Princes are pricks."

"William!" She gasped.

"What? It's true!"

I couldn't help my giggles as the two of them started bickering over how Will was ruining my perception of guys and how Cathie was absurd for thinking he'd just let some featherless, arrogant rooster pop out of nowhere and claim his baby daughter.

I sighed in contentment, watching them glare into each other before we all burst into uncontrollable fits of laughter.

Ian's face flashed through my head and I wondered if he was my prince.

I wondered if he would ever consider me his princess.

I breathed out a soft sigh and shook my head. I didn't make it this far to be anyone's princess. I was going to be a queen, my own queen, and I'll make him king if he wishes to.

A/n: I'm so proud of Zia's progress and development. *sigh*