Chapter 1
“Brooke, it’s almost your 18th birthday. You have to pick a suitor.” Brooke’s mother, the queen, reminded her.
“It’s not my fault that all the princes I’ve met are boring.” She told her. Brooke’s been meeting with the same princes since she was 16, it gets old.
“Well good news sweetie, we are hosting a ball!”
“What?”
“Every royal born near your age will be coming to offer their hand in marriage.”
“Not just princes?”
“Well only the princes are allowed to offer their hand in marriage, but I don’t want to be unfair to the princesses so I invited them too.” The queen explained. Brooke wasn’t too excited about even more princes trying to marry her, but she was excited about meeting more princesses. “The ball’s tomorrow night so think about what to wear.”
The next day was filled with prepping. The servants were working more than they were paid for. Brooke wanted to help them. She knew how to cook, maybe she could help lighten the load in the kitchen, but her mother insisted that she stay tidy for tonight. Brooke picked her favorite yellow ball gown and put it on, just in time for guests to start arriving. Her mother and father sat in their thrones as she stood by their side, watching the first guest arrive.
“Why don’t you go talk to him, he seems nice.” Her father suggested. Brooke walked towards the prince, who was eating the appetizers her mother had put out.
“Hello.” she waved. He was wearing a dark blue long sleeved jacket that had a faint shimmer to it and had a black cape draped over one of his shoulders. His brown hair was pushed back, but Brooke could see it was becoming messier.
“Hey, I’m Jake.” He introduced.
“I’m Brooke.”
“I like your dress.”
“Thank you.” She smiled. Out of all the princes she's met, none ever completed her. “I suppose you want to offer your hand in marriage?”
“What? No.” Jake exclaimed.
“Really?”
“Did you want me to?”
“No, but I’m surprised.” She laughed. Before either of them could talk again, even more guests started to arrive. Another prince sneaked his way over to the table Brooke and Jake were at. Guards lined the walls, one of the royals own guards was allowed to come to the ball as long as they worked and watched over, but one guard was following the prince.
“You don’t mind if I stay back here do you?” He asked.
“I don’t mind.” Brooke told him. He was wearing a blue long sleeve jacket with a faint pattern on it with a white shirt on underneath. His light brown hair wasn't even styled. definitely the most basic of the people here.
“Yeah dude, you’re cool.” Jake added.
“I’m Jeremy.” He introduced. The guard who had followed him took off his helmet, revealing a boy around their age with glasses and dark brown hair, almost as messy as Jeremy's because of the helmet. “Oh, this is Michael.”
“Hey.” Michael greeted.
“I’m Brooke, and this is Jake.”
“Oh you’re the princess this ball is for.”
“Yep.” Brooke sighed, “You gonna purpose or something?” She asked him. Michael put his arm around Jeremy and pulled him closer, causing Jeremy to blush. “Oh my god you two are dating!”
"So there is no way he is proposing." Michael reminded him, although he was joking as they heard him laugh.
"I know Micha."
"How did you become a royal guard? You're our age." Jake asked.
"Oh I'm not a royal guard, I took the armor from my mom."
"And she let you?"
"No, but I needed to come."
"To make sure Jeremy didn't flirt with anyone?" Brooke teased.
"To make sure nobody flirts with him."
"Nobody's gonna flirt with me, if anything they'll flirt with Jake."
"So are you two dating?" Michael asked.
"Oh god no."
"I'm that bad?" She questioned.
"No I have a boyfriend."
"So we are all gay as fuck." Michael joked.
"Wait, if both of you are dating someone, why did you come here?" Brooke asked Jeremy and Jake.
"Well my dad told me I had to try to make friends that weren't Michael."
"The fact he said that while I was in the room." He remembered while Jeremy laughed at the memory.
"And my parents don't know I have a boyfriend."
"Well Jeremy has two friends that aren't Michael, so one person gained something from tonight." Brooke laughed.
"What about you?"
"What do you mean?"
"This entire thing is for you, you're getting something out of it, right?" Michael clarified.
"This is because my parents want me to pick a prince to marry."
"Sorry that the only princes you've talked to are taken." Jake laughed.
“Brooke!” A voice from behind whispered.
“Christine! You made it!” Brooke smiled, embracing her friend with a hug. “Oh, guys this is Christine.”
“Hi!”
“Are you royalty too?” Jeremy asked.
“Oh god no, I’m an actor in the local theater.”
“My family adores her, so she gets invited everywhere.” Brooke added. “Christine, this is Jake, Jeremy, and Michael.”
“So which one purposed?” Christine questioned.
“Not a prince.” Michael laughed.
“Have a boyfriend.” Jake and Jeremy said at the same time.
“Well, I just wanted to say hi-”
“You’re leaving already?”
“No, I just saw a cute princess walk in a few minutes ago and I’m gonna try and talk to her.”
“Fine, just don’t let my parents see you, you guys can always hide back here if you need to.” Brooke reminded her. Christine made her way through the crowd and up to the princess she was talking about.
“Why can’t your parents see?” Jeremy questioned.
“They are, like, super homophobic.”
“Isn’t every parent?” Jake joked, well half joked at least.
“My dads supportive.” Jeremy mumbled.
“I have two moms.” Michael added.
“Damn your kingdom sounds nice.” Jake smiled. As the four continued talking, Christine ran back with two new people.
"Brooke!"
"Oh, hey Crissy!" Brooke smiled at her friend.
"Your parents were looking at us weird, is it okay if we hang here for a bit?"
"Yeah that's fine."
"Oh, this is Jenna and her friend Chloe." Christine introduced. Jenna was wearing a long, puffy dark purple dress with a bit of her hair dyed bright purple. Her friend, Chloe was wearing a long black dress that shimmered in the light. She had long hair that was bleached except for a bit at the top where her hair was still brown.
"I-I am Brooke, this is Jeremy, Jake, and Michael." Brooke replied, blushing.
"So you're the princess this ball is for?" Jenna asked.
"Yep, that's me."
"So which of them proposed?" Chloe asked her.
"Oh they have boyfriends. And Michael's not royalty."
"So you're still single?"
"Um, yeah. I guess I am." Brooke answered Chloe.
“Good thing cutie.” Chloe smirked, which caused Brooke’s face to turn red.
The new group of friends talked longer, Chloe flirting with Brooke every now and again. Brooke got so flustered every time. Music started to fill the ballroom as pairs of princes and princesses danced together. "Anyone gonna dance?" Brooke asked the group.
"We gays cannot dance with the straights." Michael stated, which caused the group to laugh.
"I feel bad that Rich is missing this, he would like you guys.” Jake stated to the group, “And making fun of everyone here.”
“Rich?” Jeremy echoed.
“Oh Rich is my boyfriend.”
“Why couldn’t he come? If Michael could sneak in I’m sure he could.” Jenna asked.
“Let's just say he doesn't live in the palace.”
“What a shame, anyway,” Chloe turned to Brooke, “May I have this dance?”
Brooke let out a small gasp at the girls invitation. Her new found friends stood behind her, offering encouragement. "S-Sure." She managed to get out. Chloe took her hand and led her to the ballroom floor. "You're a good dancer."
"Thanks, you're pretty good too." Chloe smiled. The two dance around the room, oblivious to the others around them. "You look beautiful."
"Thanks." Brooke giggled. "So are your parents cool with...this?"
"Oh no, they're gonna hate me."
"Haha, same." Brooke laughed.
"It sucks that you're being forced into marriage to someone you don't know."
"Aren't you?"
"Yeah, but they aren't nearly as strict as yours."
"How are you so pretty? What power do you possess to be this beautiful?!" Brooke laughed. Chloe laughed along, only to be grabbed by the arm and pulled away from Brooke.
"May I steal my daughter for a bit?" Brooke's mother asked.
"Oh, um, sure?" Chloe responded, letting go of Brooke. Brooke's mother grabbed her arm and dragged her to the thrones.
"What were you thinking?"
"She asked me to dance, and she's really nice so I said yes."
"You aren't supposed to dance with her, why couldn't you dance with him?" Her mother asked, pointing to where Jeremy was standing, joking around with Michael.
"I've been told that Jeremy is an incredibly bad dancer."
"Well what about him?" She repeated, pointing to Jake this time.
"Oh it's obvious he doesn't see me in a romantic way."
"How do you know that?"
"He told me."
"Well there are plenty of other princes you could've danced with."
"But the only person who asked me was Chloe." Brooke stated. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Chloe walk towards the thrones. She grabbed Brooke and pulled her into a kiss, being watched by everyone since her mother's shouting already got some attention. "Hi."
"Hey."
"Brooke!" Her mother yelled. Brooke ignored her and saw Jeremy and Michael kissing in they're little corner and Jenna placed a small kiss on Christine’s cheek, though that wasn’t as noticeable unless you were looking. Brooke's mother saw Michael and Jeremy as well, "You are okay with that?" She questioned who must've been Jeremy's father.
"It was just a kiss?" He answered with a confused look. The recent show of affection from the royals caused quite a reaction out of most of the ballroom, most being by the queens and kings.
"We should get out of here." Chloe whispered. Brooke nodded and the two snuck away back to the table.
"Guys c'mon we need to leave." Brooke told them. The others didn't need anymore convincing and quickly snuck out of the palace.
"Where are we gonna go?" Christine asked.
"I have a place we can hang low for a bit, but we won't be able to stay there long." Jake assured his friends.
"Okay, but where after that?" Jenna questioned.
"My dad's pretty chill about a lot of things, you guys could live in my kingdom."
"It's true, me and Jeremy live in the same place, which goes about as well as you would think." Michael laughed, "And he rarely gets mad."
"So it's a plan, we go wherever Jake's taking us and then we'll all live with Jeremy." Christine recapped. The others agreed with her and so they went on their way.