Chapter 1
Prologue
The past
My heart belongs to you Tyler.
"You have the key to my heart. I have told you this! Why won’t you listen to me?” At the top of my lungs, I shout. I still believe that I love him and I always will. He knows that what he's doing to me is killing me from the inside out, so how can he do this to me? Is this anger speaking? I put my confidence in him, and he deceived me, yet I can't just watch him leave without doing something about it. I have one chance to make this right and by time the sun rises tomorrow morning, I will be travelling back to the Palace.
Tyler is standing in a black suit, and I'm wearing a long, diamond-encrusted baby pink dress. We attended the prom, but I made a promise to return to Cinderedge directly after it. I'm not keen on going. Compared to the life I had with my parents back home, this one has been significantly better. I'm not the same girl I was on the very first day that I came here.
All of the football players from the boys' and girls' teams are gathered around us, waiting to see what happens. Standing behind Tyler with her arms crossed is my ex-best girlfriend. An ear-to-ear grin of arrogance spreads across her face. How did I see her in such a positive light? She struck me as being kind, trustworthy, and loyal. Not at all, no! She was cold-blooded and showed me little to no respect. I will always hold her responsible for what she did to me.
"Frenchie, stop lying to yourself! We are both aware that you intend to return to Cinderedge. Tyler shakes his head proudly in front of his friends. He always makes an effort to appear tougher than he really is.
"I have to go back! I made a promise to my parents that I would return.” He moves away from me as I step closer to him and cross my arms. The circle that surrounds us gets bigger. I shake my head in irritation. Tyler is making it impossible for me to act like an adult and solve my problems, despite my best efforts.
“The two of us could never be together there. Your the people’s princess and in a couple of years you will become Queen. You must marry a suitor from your village and he needs to meet your fathers high expectations. I do not, I’m nothing more than a outsider, your parents and the residents would never approve of us.” Tyler walks to me and for a moment, I believe that he will give us a chance. Blocking everyone out from around us, he places his hands on either side of my face and rests his forehead against mine. I close my eyes and sigh as my tears roll down my face, stopping where his thumbs rest on my warm cheeks.
I feel my heart breaking. My chest is tight restricting the airflow from entering my lungs. A lump is wedged in the back of my throat as my hands and feet turn to stone. I cannot move, my tears create a haze which reminds me of the night that me and Tyler swam in the ocean together. I could barely see then when my head raised up out of the cool salty water for that magical kiss of lust and wonder.
I look up into his eyes closely and I take note that no emotion shows. Is this a one way street where I’m the person getting hurt and he walks away laughing at me behind my back after pretending to care about me and my feelings? I find boys hard to understand; their species are impossible to figure out. At times, I’ve felt as if I needed a degree in the boy mind-set to know who he is and after three years, I don’t think that I do know him at all. That’s a lot of years of my life that I will never get back. Oh how stupid I was to think that I would be able to go back home and not have any issues. I was naive and thought that I was going to be attending class, not making friends that are there for life, a boyfriend who I know will forget about me in a couple of years and memories that I will cherish until the day that I die. My village no longer feels like home.
“We could try. I love you Tyler and I don’t want to let you go. We have a connection that I’ve never felt before. I told you all of my secrets, weaknesses and regrets. Please don’t make me add you to this list too.” My knees give in from beneath me and I crash to the floor. Tyler follows me down trying to catch me as I fall, my vision turns to black and the noise of cars and talking people turns to silence.
"I never loved you Frenchie. You was a one night stand and that is all you will be. Go home. Me and... are.. together now..." I'm blacking out. As the sound of his voice turns to mumbling, I clench my hands swaying from left to right.
“Frenchie!” is the last word that I hear Tyler say. I feel pain shoot up my thighs but I cannot catch myself.
“French,”
“Frenchie, can you hear me?” My friends ask. I can hear them but my body is numb, my mind is shutting down and my heart beats heavily inside my chest.
