As she slept through the night, all Aurora could think of was Prince Rory.
"Rory." She whispered, wanting to try out the name for herself.
Every time she thought about his frosty white hair and magnificent amber eyes she blushed deeply and felt a warm fuzzy feeling rush through her. On top of being so handsome, she knew that he was kind. Even though her present to him had been lacklustre, he had been so gracious about it. He hadn't laughed or sneered at her, he actually made a big fuss over it to let all the other nobles know that he liked her present so that they wouldn't look down on her. It made her heart so happy that she couldn't concentrate as thoughts of the prince flooded her mind. Which consequently meant that she ended up daydreaming about the prince a lot while her maids were trying to get her ready for the academy, which in turn meant that they got quite irritated with her.
Nevertheless, Aurora was soon dressed in her school uniform. Her mid-thigh dark blue and white striped skirt was fully ruffled and lint-free. The blouse that went underneath was perfectly crisp and the dark blue bow around her neck was flamboyantly tied. She flung her blazer with the academy's silver emblem around her shoulders. She checked her dark blue thigh-high socks for any ripping while Beth quickly whipped a speck of dust off her silver-buckled school shoes.
"You're all set Milady," Beth said as she straightened Aurora's blue bow and proudly looked down at Aurora.
"Thank you, Beth!" Aurora Called as she dashed out the room and grabbed her bag of books on the way out. The academy wasn't very far from her home so she always walked.
As she trotted along the pavement and admired the bright blue sky she smiled happily thinking that it would be a good day. She couldn't help wondering what Rory was doing right now. She wondered if he was still wearing her golden cloud pin.
It didn't take Aurora very long to reach the academy gates and then make her way up the academy building to her classroom.
The grande school was made up of white marble and stone, decorated with finishings in the Royal colours of blue and silver. The academy was split into two sections. The junior and senior sections. Currently Aurora, Sienna and Entellion were in the junior section of the academy. If they managed to graduate from the junior section, in a few years time they would become part of the Senior section.
As Aurora stepped in the classroom she got a huge fright from one the girls who bulldozed her way to Aurora's side.
"Aurora!" Squealed a girl with short sea blue hair and matching blue eyes.
"My mother told me everything about how the prince favoured your present above everyone else's presents!" She jumped up and down excitedly as a bright pink infiltrated her cheeks.
"How did you know?! How did you know the prince would be so happy with a simple pin?!?"
Her jumping and squealing got even faster and louder. Aurora wasn't used to this kind of lively greeting or someone paying so much attention to her. She was used to being ignored or hearing snide remarks from Sienna and her friends.
"Well... I-I... ah." She stuttered nervously. Before she could finish her sentence a lot of other boys and girls from the class rushed to Aurora's side, eager to hear her answer to the question. All of them dazzled by Aurora's newfound worth.
"I just tried to give him something personal..." Aurora murmured hoping that her answer would not disappoint them.
"Ahhhh!" They chimed in unison, nodding their heads as if they had gained some great kind of knowledge.
Aurora couldn't help but giggle at their reactions.
"You're a genius Aurora!" Squealed the first girl who had run up to her. Her name was Elsie Cuthbert, From the renowned Cuthbert family that managed Azlantean's treasury.
"Of course a personal gift from his betrothed would appeal to the prince the most. Furthermore after receiving so many lavish and expensive gifts, seeing you come up with a simple pin would have definitely stuck in the prince's mind. Of course you knew all this beforehand and planned to give him something simple so that he would remember you! It's genius! Absolutely genius I say!"
Elsie giddily shouted out her high-speed hypothesis while marvelling at Aurora. Aurora didn't have the heart to tell this girl that she had only given the prince a pin because she actually thought it would be a nice gift. She hadn't thought of any masterplan behind giving him that gift.
Suddenly Aurora was hit with a swarm of questions as all the other kids in the class wanted to know all the fine details about the prince. How his test went, what he looked like, even how he smelled. Aurora thought the questions were starting to get a bit weird when the sound of a pencil snapping caught her attention.
Aurora turned her head to where she heard a pencil snap to see Sienna sitting alone at her desk, two halves of a pencil lay in front of her. The expression on her face was fiercely bitter as she stared straight ahead to the teacher's desk, not looking up at all. Aurora shuddered knowing that Sienna's inner beast had been awoken.
Just then, Entellion opened the doors of the classroom, followed by the teacher who then instructed everybody to take their seats.
On a whim, Aurora decided to sit next to Entellion today. She thought that after he had been nice to her yesterday while she was worried about giving her present to the prince, and since they both sat alone, they could be sitting partners.
Although Entellion was from a very respected noble family and was on top of the grade in many schooling districts, the students tended to stay away from because of his cold demeanour and stern gaze. Not to mention the blood-red eyes that even intimidated some of the Senior students.
Even though Aurora felt a bit intimidated by him, she made up her mind that they would become friends. She really didn't know why she was so determined, maybe she just wanted to repay the kindness he had shown her.
"Good morning." She greeted him tentatively as she took her seat next to him as the teacher began to speak.
He nodded his head back to her in greeting.
"Sienna, Entellion and Aurora!" Called out the teacher, which made the three students snap their heads up to her.
"Why don't you begin by telling the class all about the prince's aptitude test?" Smiled the teacher excitedly.
The bitter expression vanished from Sienna who was suddenly feeling energized. She stood up from her seat and made her way to the front of the class and began to do a presentation on what had happened at the prince's aptitude tests.
"I doubt we will do any work today..." Aurora looked up surprised that Entellion had spoken to her.
"Huh, why?" She asked, still in shock from hearing his voice.
"Everybody is so excited about the arrival of the prince. All they want to do is hear about him. I was already stopped by a few upperclassmen on my way here."
A slight smile appeared on Entellion's lips which made Aurora's eyes pop out of her head. She had never seen him smile before.
"It's understandable I suppose. He is definitely extraordinary." An excited smile broke out onto Entellion's lips as he remembered the prince's tests he had witnessed. The prince was truly impressive and for the first time, Entellion hoped that he could make friends with someone.
Aurora nodded in agreement.
'Rory is amazing... ' she thought.