It took Araminty 3 months to get a viable sample from Amistad to run against both Violetta, and Heath.
The results showed Amistad was 100 percent her father. She heaved a sigh of relief.
But Heath and Amistad were not related at all. What did that mean? She had no sample of king Taragons blood. So it wasn't like she could run the tests against her family. It would pretty much be impossible to get a sample of it anyway.
Violetta swore Araminty to secrecy. If anyone other than the two of them found out, Heath would not be able to stay with them.
She wouldn't let that happen.
This was a secret they needed to keep for a long, long time.
…
…
Violetta and Heath remained glued to each other's sides at school. Everyone assumed they were betrothed. It was rare that a betrothal could work out so well. Violetta was a major power in the school. She had Heath and his classmates, Victor and his classmates, and in her own class she was the top influencer. She had even managed to befriend the Smaldone twins. These girls were from a very powerful family. The Smaldone family was a noble Marquis house. There were rumors that it was a crime family. But there was never any evidence linking them to crimes in Amrica. The other students had thought Violetta would throw this friendship away when she found out what kind of family they were, but Violetta went against convention. Instead of ostracizing the twins, she kept their friendship, and involved the twins in a lot of the activities she did. The twins had even joined Violetta for lunch most of the time. The power in the school was in Violettas hands. Even kids who were older than them knew who Violetta was. Their younger siblings' praise for Violetta had grabbed their attention.
There were a few students who did not think Vioettal deserved this fame and praise. They thought that Ruby was the weak link in this group. They wanted to get in Ruby's good graces, and get information on Violetta.
Ruby also defied convention. She was a superficial girl, and when she had first met Violetta, her jealousy had made her Violetta's enemy. But then, she went into a truce with Violetta. This allowed her to spend time with Violetta. She genuinely grew to like Vioetta as a person. She thought some of Violetta's ideas of Noblesse Oblige were a little strange. But she still enjoyed listening to her speak. She was slowly but surely influenced by Violetta, and she had slowly changed on the inside without noticing it herself. There was no way she would ever betray Violetta.
…
…
Three years had passed since Meiri abandoned Heath. Heath had adjusted to living with the Noblis family very well. Laura had gotten closer to Heath, and treated him like an aunt would. She had even set up some social events for Heath to attend.
Laura saw how close Violetta and Heath were. She was fine with it when they were little, but now, Heath and Violetta were older. They were at the age where they could begin to think about dating. He was 15 and her daughter was now 14. In just six short years, her daughter would be an adult. With as close as the two of them were, there was no one coming to be a suitor to her daughter.
She knew Violetta was going to be separated from Heath this year in school. She thought this was a good thing. If they separated for a bit, maybe they would not be so reliant on each other. Laura began to wonder if she had made a mistake by allowing them to be so close to each other this whole time.
Laura made a decision. She spoke to Amistad about it, and he agreed. They would separate the kids for this year, and see how things worked out. Laura and Violetta would move into the second house again. Violetta would have to face 5th grade, her last year of primary school, without Heath.
Luckily, Violetta had made pretty good friends and was very popular. She had also figured out quite a few students who were hiding their status. She kept in mind these kids' circumstances, and helped them in keeping their identities hidden. She knew the danger of being the center of attention like she was. But as far as she was concerned Heath was the one who really had to worry. She had a feeling that the so-called king was not actually related to her father. This meant one of two things. Either her father was not the son of the Arbutus family, or her uncle Tarragon was not the son of the Arbutus family. But looking at Heath, he was definitely the son of Tarragon. He had Meiri's eyes and nose, but he did carry all of Tarragon's other features. If Heath didn't keep constant watch on his roots, he would easily be found out as the illegitimate son of the king.
…
…
The years passed slowly and relatively easily while the kids were in school. Violetta finally made it to her 18 year celebration. Heath was finally going for his apprenticeship. Once he passed the test, he would be able to secure his future and go to see the stars in person. Heath's test was in two months. Violetta was sure he would pass. Violetta was so proud of him.
She had also decided to take matters into her own hands and applied for the apprenticeship early. She applied at one of the shops in Technician Square.
She passed with flying colors. She would be able to work there after school getting an early apprenticeship was something that was to be praised.
…
…
Violetta not only worked at the Technician square after school, but would sometimes go in early before school too. One day pretty early on in Violetta's mechanical career, she had worked on a hoverbike, It was a beauty. But when it came time to collect the payment from the 20 year old man, he refused to pay.
"You scratched my bike," The man said trying to cause trouble. "That was an expensive paint job. You're lucky I'm not charging you money!"
"Sir…" Violetta said not taking any of this guys nonsense, "You haven't even looked at the bike yet. If there were a scratch on it, wouldn't you need to have seen it first?"
"There is a scratch on my bike," The man was sure of it. It was an old scratch and he had pulled this scam before. Most people were too scared of his ties to one of the street gangs to talk back to him. Even if he pointed out the scratch before he saw the bike, none of the mechanics could say anything.
Violetta had indeed seen the scratch, and when she saw it, she tested out her new invention. It repaired scratches in paint without any discrepancy in color. You couldn't even tell there was a scratch there at all. So there was no longer any scratch on this gangster's bike. There was no way he was getting out of paying her fee.
"I'm going to need you to look at your bike first sir, then I WILL collect my fee." Violetta was Firm. "If you still refuse to pay my fee, then I'm going to have to call the security force."
"What. did. you. Say?" He had never been treated this way by a mere mechanic. There was no way she would be brave enough to call the security force. She wasn't even a full fledged mechanic. She was just an apprentice.
Violetta smirked at the man and held out her hand for the fee. "Do you want your hoverbike? Or do you want a visit to the security station?"
The man grumbled to himself, but he knew that mechanics put a lock on the things they fixed to prevent others from stealing whatever it was they were working on. He needed her to take off the lock she had put on it. This was not the way this conversation normally went. Normally the mechanics that he spoke to backed down when he mentioned making them pay for the scratch. He had saved himself tons of money because of that scratch. The complex paint job prevented the scratch from being fixed. The only thing he could do to fix the scratch was to get it repainted. He didn't have that kind of money, so he started using the scratch to get away from paying his maintenance fees.