Jaime Lorenzo

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"Hellooo?" A male voice called, and then there were footsteps as he kept calling. I wondered for a brief second if we were not present here, would he be still speaking like this?

Like a complete idiot?

However, the voice sounded familiar.

"Jaime?" Samuel whispered.

"What is he doing here? Does he know about this lair?" I whispered back.

"Guys?! 'Tis not funny, Samuel. Do not try and scare me off like you did when we were children." The voice - which I now recognized to be Jaime's- spoke. Once I realized who it was, my once frantically beating heart relaxed and was now beating at a fairly normal pace. For once, I thought about a lot of people suddenly breaking into the lair. However, not many people knew about this place. It was only I and Samuel.

And now- maybe Jaime, too.

"Get off me." Samuel pushed me as he staggered back on his feet. My head hit the table but I quickly recovered from the pain and joined Samuel to meet Jaime.

Jaime Lorenzo was Samuel's best friend. They had been best friends since we were kids and I met Jamie through Samuel. Jaime's father created an alliance with our kingdom with a condition that when Samuel turned twenty-five, he would marry Princess Darlene - younger sister of Jaime.

"Hey, Jaime!" Samuel dashed towards him and engulfed him in a bear hug. Jaime- stunned by the sudden appearance- stood there frozen for a few seconds before relaxing in his touch and hugging him back.

"Samuel. Francine. Nice meeting you two here." Jaime spoke with a grin after they pulled back.

"How do you know about this place, Jaime? And what are you doing here?" I inquired, crossing my arms.

He raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean, 'How do I know of this place?' Of course, I know of this place! It's Sam and my secret hideout!"

I shot Samuel a glare.

Samuel nervously laughed, rubbing the back of his neck."I may or may not have forgotten to mention this, princess beautiful."

Jaime laughed. "Never mind him, Francine. You've always known him to be forgetful."

"Hey!" Samuel whined.

"So what brings you here, Prince Jaime?" I asked.

"Well, I just came here to meet you two. At first, I went to your chambers' but when I could not find you, the next best place I thought about was our HQ."

Jaime was a blond with green eyes and a fair complexion. He wore black-rimmed glasses which he usually adjusted when he was slightly nervous.

"By the way, we renamed the HQ - it is the Lair, now." Samuel informed.

Jaime gasped, clutching his heart. "What?! It was supposed to be our sacred place!"

"Because the lady said so." I deadpanned, pointing at myself.

Jaime looked at me and then at Samuel who just simply shrugged. Jaime sighed, looking down while at the same time running his hand through his curly blond hair.

"Guess, we need to let go of it."

Samuel smiled, placing a hand on his shoulder. "We shall not let go of this place - let us think of it like we are adding a new member in the gang. Besides, we needed this place."

"For what reasons?"

"Reasons which include a crazy story of how I met Liz's doppelganger, how Liz wanted freedom for a year before taking over the throne and how we shall help her."

Jaime's eyes lit up, curiosity was written all over his face. "Do explain."

Samuel turned to me. "Explain it, princess, beautiful. After all, 'is your story."

I smiled.

"So, it happened as such..."

____

"Okay, 'is a lot to take in. So what you are trying to say is, you two shall convince Charlotte to play Francine for a year."

We nodded.

"What shall she get in return? Have you two thought about it?" He looked at us.

Samuel tapped his chin, thoughtfully. "Nay, we have not thought about it. What shall we give her?"

I thought too. If we were going to persuade her to help us, we were supposed to offer something in exchange. But what?

"Do you not know anything about her, Samuel? Given that you ran into her and gave her a gift?"

"No, but maybe I could figure something out from the tracker." He rushed towards the computer, furiously typing something on the computer and then clicking his mouse a couple of times.

He raised his hands in victory. "Done. I figured what we shall give her."

"What?" Jaime and I asked in unison.

He smirked. "Money."

Jaime and I raised an eyebrow. "That is a bribe. Nobody accepts it."

Samuel continued smirking. "What if she needed it??"

I thought for a second, maybe if she needed it, it would solve our problems. She would do this for money while I did this for a limited amount of freedom.

"Then maybe she'd agree." Jaime spoke.

"What if she doesn't?" I asked.

Samuel frowned. "Liz, you need to stop being so negative. You do not know anything for sure until you try. Besides, if something like this did happen, we shall always know it was worth a shot."

He was right. If I never tried it, I would never know. Maybe, if I did- chances are, she might agree. If she did not, we'd have to come up with a plan B.

"Okay. Let us do it." I declared, making up my mind.

"Aye, let's do it." Jaime stood up from his chair.

Samuel came towards us, his smile suddenly turning into a frown.

"What is the matter, Prince Charming?"

He looked at me, his eyes filled with concern.

"Can you promise me one thing, Princess Beautiful??"

"Of course, anything." I assured him.

He smiled, but his smile didn't reach his eyes.

"Don't do anything stupid when you switch places with Charlotte."

I smirked. "No promises, brother. No promises."

"Shall we?"