It Never Rains in Colombia (25 page)

Turn the page for an excerpt from:

My Princess

By W.H. Benjamin

Out in June 2014

Chapter 1 - My Princess

Bern, Switzerland:

St Helena's Private Boarding School
              Sabrina broke into the boys' dormitory at 2am, Monday night, she knew she shouldn't be there but she was on a mission. She'd tied her hair back and hidden it under a cap, dressed in old smelly overalls and was running, lugging a mop, hoping that if the dormitory wardens or worse the prefects saw her she'd pass for the Janitor. A very sweaty janitor.
              As she neared the corner she looked swiftly left then right and seeing it was all clear she left the mop leaning against the wall walking away. When she heard the quiet whistling and jangling keys of the warden she made a run for Hayden's room. Knocking rapidly and insistently on her best friend's door looking around nervously.
              If they caught her she'd be suspended. It was way after lights off, 11pm, and she had no excuse for being there. Mobile phones weren't allowed at her boarding school so this was her only option. Her hands were shaking from the adrenaline. "Hayden," she hissed still knocking. She heard muffled footsteps behind the door. "Hayden, come on hurry up."

             
The warden's sharp footsteps turned the corner and Sabrina froze with her back towards the end of the hallway she knew she'd been caught but somehow she just stood there wishing she was invisible. Her insides turned to jelly.

Oh hell.
              But nothing happened. The footsteps seemed to be heading away then the sound stopped and started again like those of someone who'd changed direction.
              I've been seen it's all over.
              The door clicked open.
              Hayden stood there with his short blonde hair tousled by sleep, into a ridiculous farm animal looking shape, peering through slit eyes looking very sleep deprived. His eyes widened when he saw her face under the cap.
              Unmistakable, the same face he'd been looking at the whole of his childhood and the majority of his teenage years, yet, she never failed to surprise him.

"Sabrina?!" His mouth opened into an O as he saw the fake moustache then whispered and almost hissed, "What are you doing here?" Pulling her into his room by the forearm and shutting the door.
              "You took your time!" she said irritably.
              "You are unbelievable. Sorry if I kept you - I was sleeping - like all the other sane people."
              She gave him a disbelieving look "Hayden it's early. The night is young why are you sleeping? This isn't nap time. Anyway forget about that. I need to talk to you," she trudged over to his bed and flopped down.
              "Why are you dressed like that?" he asked.
              "It's a disguise, duh. Besides it was the only thing I could find in the cleaner's cupboard."
              "Smells kind of funky," he commented wrinkling his nose. He was half Dutch, half Canadian and though he had been at boarding school for many years he still had a mixed up accent. He threw her a spare rugby hoodie, "here wear this next time you decide to visit. That way you won't stink up my room."
              He went over to the far wall and opened the window overlooking the courtyard. Hayden was lucky, he had the best view that the school offered. From his room you could see the rolling green fields they used for football and rugby practice. The view of all the trees in the forest and the line of the mountains beyond.
              "You smell funky all the time." Sabrina shot back though she knew it wasn't true. She stuck her tongue out at him when he laughed.
              "I smell great, that doesn't," he said pulling at the flea bitten overalls, "just accept it. Are those sweat stains?" he asked examining the underarms of the overalls pulling her arm up by the wrist as though she were a marionette doll.
              She yanked her arm back, "ewww."
              He flicked at her cap as she bent to look and it toppled to the floor. "Just kidding. Now, what do you want?" He sat down on his computer desk chair and swung round slightly stopping to snatch the navy blue cap up off the floor and throw it Frisbee style onto his bed. He spun away from her closing his eyes as she shrugged out of the huge overalls.
              "Don't be such a prude. I'm not naked underneath, what do you take me for?" she joked.
              He looked back hesitantly with one green eye open then relaxed. "I always wanted a girl to strip off in my room but not like this and definitely not you. And not with this!" he moved forward towards her face and pulled at the thick black fake moustache he'd bought her as part of a set for her sixteenth birthday, last year.
              She yelped as it ripped off. She wasn't hurt just surprised. She began speaking as he shushed her and quieted down; remembering that it was way after ‘lights off.’
              "My uncle's dead!" she blurted out in a whisper "it's all over the radio." She paused uncertainly watching for Hayden's reaction.
              Hayden reclined in his chair saying delicately, "Sabrina, he's been missing for over a year now. There's no way he could have survived that plane crash. I thought you knew he was..." Hayden didn't have the heart to finish the sentence he was afraid she might cry the way she had when they'd first heard the news. He'd spent the whole day with her crying, then, cradling her bewildered face on his shoulder.
              He didn't want her to cry because when he'd first heard about her uncle Elliot his eyes had welled up with hot tears and they'd sat together on the floor of her room like two broken dolls. He had tried pathetically to calm her down and hide his grief at watching her being crushed under the weight of losing her favourite uncle. She'd lost more than a relative she'd lost the soul of the house she spent every summer at.
              For Sabrina the lazy summer days in the country; running through fields, climbing trees and racing Hayden, swimming in the lake near her uncle's house had been the sum of her childhood, the best part of her life. The part when she wasn't at school, when she was with her family, with everyone she loved. They had both been sent to boarding school at the age of eight so he knew how she felt; those small captured moments of happiness meant everything.
              She raised a shaky hand and he knew that she'd unwillingly recalled that day too, "you don't get it; Parliament has declared Uncle Elliot dead, he didn't have any children. Uncle James has turned down the Crown which means none of his children, if he ever has any, will be eligible for the throne. My father is going to be King."               Hayden sucked in his breath then let out a low whistle. He was probably the only one in the whole school who knew that as the heir apparent Sabrina's uncle James had been charged with acting as care taker of their country until the King was found or failing that until he, James, was crowned King of Hesperia.
              Hayden was genuinely shocked now.
No wonder she woke me up.
"Holy sh**! Holdenstaaf you're a Princess. My Princess." He tested out the words thoughtfully; carefully scrutinizing her face to see if the title fit. "Princess Sabrina Maria Elizabetta Van Holdenstaaf." Hayden called out regally.
              There was a loud knock at the door. They stared at each other wide eyed in horror and amazement. Both reeling from the knowledge that things were going to change fast. Another knock came this time more urgent, "Mr Blake open the door." the warden's voice boomed through the oak panels.
              Hayden looked at her with wide eyes and confessed, "I'm on disciplinary; someone snitched on me. They gave me a month’s probation for taking bets on the hockey game," he whispered in a panic.
              "What?" Sabrina whacked him lightly on the arm and he moved away just in time.
              Sabrina had heard that some kid lost 20,000 US dollars in a bet and then cried when he told his parents. She had no idea that Hayden was the bookmaker involved. If he'd told her she wouldn't have come.
              Sabrina ran to the window. They were both panicking.
              "Hold on," Hayden called to the door as she clambered out of the third floor window. "Where are you going? Just hide!"
              "Where? Hayden, you'll be expelled if they find me."
              He knew she was right there was nowhere to hide in the sparse dormitory rooms and Hayden kept his room threadbare with only a sheet over his bed and the wardrobe and desk as decoration.
              The rules at St. Helena's were strict; the school's reputation was everything. He gripped her arms dangling her down to the ledge below praying to God that she wouldn't slip. He held her tight. Sweat dripped off of his brow as she struggled to gain a footing against the bricks that jutted out below.
              She grabbed at a clump of ivy vines with her left hand reaching for the metal bars she knew were underneath, an old maintenance ladder, bolted to the face of the boys block. It was easy to reach from the second floor she'd learnt that from following Hayden on a few of his adventures. Hayden was halfway out of the window when the thundering knock came again.
              "Mr Blake open this door!" The warden was furious. Hayden heard the jingle of keys turning in the lock and straightened up closing the window.
              He held his breath. Tension lined his muscles as he watched Sabrina slide down the ladder using her hands and feet as brakes. She hit the ground with a jarring crunch then bolted away across the courtyard wearing his hoodie. The hood was up over her hair as she flit by, the janitor's overalls tucked underneath her arm. He turned round and found the warden and the head of year at the door and exhaled. Relief washed over him with the knowledge that she'd gotten away, safe.
              "Yes Sir?" he asked innocently playing at rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He felt more awake and alive than he'd ever felt before. Sabrina was like an electric shock to his system.

Chapter 2 - Meet Napoleon
              In the Morning, just after Chapel, Sabrina was called to the Headmaster's office. She'd been at St. Helena's for nine years and in all that time she had never been called to the Headmaster's office. Her friends Holly and Alessia showered her with questions and speculation when she was summoned. She left them at the breakfast table and was escorted away by a silent, grim faced, teacher down the winding hallways with a heavy heart.
              Rumour had it that pupils were only called to the Headmaster's office for two reasons; to be expelled or to be suspended.
              The Headmaster was not known for his patience. He had a short fuse and even the teachers jumped at the sight of him. It took a very hard person to control and instil discipline in children who had been spoiled and had their every whim catered to since birth. The Headmaster had met the challenge of upholding law and order in St.Helena's with vindictive glee whenever the school rules had been broken.
              When the door to the Headmaster's office opened Sabrina's hands were trembling. She glimpsed the Headmaster twisting his moustache and admiring an old oil painting near his desk through a crack in the doorway as the secretary announced her. Sabrina decided that the Headmaster bore a striking resemblance to Napoleon Bonaparte. He even held one hand in his waistcoat just as Napoleon had. Apart from the moustache he could have been Napoleon's twin.
              The Headmaster rose when Sabrina entered the oak panelled room, "Good Morning Sabrina. Please have a seat." He gestured toward the plush old leather armchair across from him and sat back down placing his coffee cup next to the morning's newspaper; still in its wrapper, unread. The hazy morning sunlight poured onto his desk from the window behind him. Light fell on his stern face.
              The Headmaster said, "I had the pleasure of speaking with your parents this morning."
              Sabrina raised her eyebrows.
Wow I didn't know it was that bad,
she thought,
this guy moves fast.
              "You will be leaving this morning,” the Headmaster announced matter-of-factly.
              Sabrina's mouth dropped open. "Why? I...," she was so flustered that she couldn't speak. "I'm being expelled?"
              "What? No, of course not. We would be doing a disservice to the school if we were to lose the patronage of your illustrious father," he said.
              "I don't understand," Sabrina paused as she scrambled through thoughts of what might have happened to Hayden after she left.
              A gurgling sound, like a drain being unblocked, erupted from across the desk as the Headmaster cleared his throat leaning on the huge antique desk. "Excuse me," he mumbled apologetically, clearing his throat. "Well, uh, due to the extenuating circumstances your parents have requested that you be released from school for the next few days." He paused. "To attend his Majesty's Coronation." The whiskers of his grey moustache bristled as he watched her face. "The car will come for you at 11:30. Please make yourself ready."                                                                       The Headmaster got up and Sabrina copied him.
              The Headmaster said, "I'll leave you alone to confer with your mother." He pressed a button on the black conference phone in the centre of the desk and pointed to one of the paintings on the left wall. The carefully crafted oil painting of Geneva disintegrated into a blank screen. The words
'Video Call: Dialling'
appeared inside the gold picture frame.
              Sabrina's mother appeared on the screen. "Hello darling, how are you?" her mother asked.
              The Headmaster shut the door.
              Sabrina got up moving around the desk to get closer to her. She hadn't seen her mother in months. "I'm fine mummy." The sight of her was wonderful. As Sabrina moved over something on the desk caught her eye, it looked like a photo, an upside down view of the school and the headline: 'Princess.' She edged the paper closer to her as her mother spoke.
              Sabrina had the most terrible feeling that the article was about her.
             
In my life there are no coincidences,
she mused.
              She hardly heard what her mother had to say and asked three times how she was and then repeatedly asked, "do I need to pack?"
              "Darling I've told you already, no. Are you feeling alright you look a tad grey, very washed out. Did you have breakfast?"
              Sabrina nodded numbly, "Yes I'm fine." After the call was over she hid the newspaper inside her blazer and rushed out whilst the Headmaster was speaking to his secretary. She wondered what had happened to Hayden, if he was alright. She hadn't seen him at breakfast. She decided to look for him the first opportunity she got.
              Unfortunately, she didn't get a chance to look for Hayden. Sabrina was escorted back to class by a teacher as soon as she left the office.
              Sabrina took her seat at the back of the class opening her textbook. She slid the newspaper carefully out of her blazer and onto the desk unwrapping it quietly as the teacher spoke. She obscured the paper with her textbook and various handouts unfolding it slowly. It was all for nothing. She screamed when she saw the front page.
              She'd been photographed sneaking out of the boys' quarters’ window in the middle of the night with what looked like a cigarette in her mouth. And her skirt flying up unpleasantly around her ears like some hideous cape with only her huge underwear caught in the moonlight as she slid down the ladder. Sabrina was furious, "It’s obviously been photo-shopped," she half shouted then remembered where she was.
              Everyone in the class turned to look at her.
              "Princess?" The teacher cleared his throat.
              Great. Now, even he's afraid to tell me off.
              Normally, Mr Fray would send his pupils outside immediately for such interruptions; she watched the vein in the side of his head throb and his jaw work as he tried to restrain himself from saying more. He usually delighted in squashing the temper tantrums of his students. Children who were given more pocket money a week than he earned a year but somehow always seemed dissatisfied.

             
Sabrina whacked the newspaper against her head mumbling, "Sorry sir,” wanting to sink down into a deep, dark hole.
              She slid the paper under her textbook.
What are my parents going to think?
She wondered.
This is a disaster.
Sabrina knew that if Hayden's face hadn't been blurred out by pixels her parents would have recognised him from the photo and then realised that nothing was going on.
              Sabrina and Hayden had been best friends since before boarding school since they were in nursery school, age three. But Hayden was unrecognisable in it. Only Sabrina's face in profile and her big bum could be seen. The caption read: 'Princess sneaks out of mystery boy's room after late night rendezvous.'
              She imagined her mother laughing at her ungraceful pose mid scramble/ leap down the building. Or maybe her mother wouldn't laugh, maybe, she would be horrified. Maybe that's why she hadn't mentioned it. Sabrina thought of her Father, then, tearing up the paper and saying that it was an unmitigated, unflattering, PR disaster that made it look as if she were out of control. As if, he couldn't control his own family let alone a kingdom; as the headline read.
              A few hours, that was all it had taken for everyone to change towards her, for everything to change.
              After all their panic, luckily, Hayden had not been thrown out. Sabrina reasoned, she hadn't seen him outside of the Headmaster's office. Plus, if he had been expelled she would have heard by now. Gossip was the school's lifeblood. St. Helena's students fed on a strict diet of vitamins, omega 3 fatty oils and scandal. Nobody really gave much thought to whose bedroom Sabrina was clambering out of. At worst, it made her look like a floozy.
A Princess floozy
.
              'Princess gone wild,' Sabrina scribbled on her notebook, as another headline had said, she crossed it out trying to get her thoughts together.
              In a few minutes, she would be leaving school to attend her Father's Coronation. She was scared. She'd officially be a Princess and all eyes would forever be on her. It was her worst nightmare come true. If monarchy operated like a democracy and she had to vote for a Princess she wouldn't even choose herself. Sabrina chewed on the end of her pen. She remembered her fight with Jennifer Scottsdale; the loud, ditzy, girl they made a Prefect at the start of term. One of the most popular girls in school.
              Sabrina remembered that awful day, five years ago, when Jennifer had slapped twelve year old Hayden in front of everyone, in the canteen, to show off to her friends.
              Jennifer was Hayden's first girlfriend. The girl he'd had a crush on since starting school. His perfect girl. The girl he couldn't stop talking about. He did everything for her and she took advantage of it. Jennifer dumped Hayden in front of everyone. When Hayden asked why Jennifer wanted to break up she slapped him, slapped him, for absolutely no reason.
              Hayden wasn't cool then like he was now. Twelve year old Hayden had been skinny and geeky. All knees and elbows. He'd been in love with Mathematics and infatuated with Jennifer. The only thing Hayden had going for him then was that he was really nice and kind of cute with curly blonde hair.
              It was Hayden's first public humiliation. He just stood there rooted to the spot in shock. Jennifer and all her friends laughed. Sabrina had been pouring a drink from a jug in the lunch queue when it happened. Instinctively, she spun around and threw the entire contents of the jug of orange squash in Jennifer's face. Driven by anger; partly because she knew Hayden wouldn't have done anything. He would never hit a girl, no matter how mean she was. Sabrina knew how the school worked. She knew that from that moment on everybody would try to target Hayden thinking that he was a soft touch just because he had been brought up well. That day, Sabrina had kissed goodbye to her dreams of joining Jennifer's clique. Hayden had been angry at her for getting involved. She and Jennifer got detention. All in all, it had been a calamity.
             
Definitely, not diplomatic, not at all, no,
Sabrina considered. What qualified her to be a Princess?
Princesses are supposed to be diplomatic.
On top of that Sabrina was probably the least graceful girl in the room. She half remembered falling over another little girl in the ballet school's recital of Swan Lake when she was nine. She cringed at the memory, her cheeks burning at the thought. That moment was the exact reason she had shunned the spotlight ever since. She'd learned the hard way;
I'm not made for the limelight.
              Sabrina watched the second hand of the clock above Mr Fray's grey head tick away, counting down to 11:30, drawing her closer and closer to the Coronation, second by second. Counting down to the moment when she would officially become a Princess of the realm.

             
There's no turning back.