The Lordling

Teresa had been in classes for two weeks and was already caught up. Violet had been very helpful in making sure that Teresa stayed on top of current work in addition to catching up. Most of the teachers had been kind enough to reduce the amount of past assignments that had to be made but a few had insisted she do every assignment she had missed "to ensure that you can be sure you understand everything the class does now." Violet had helped her with some of these as the information was new and in some shocking cases new to both of them. It seemed like some of the teachers wanted her to quit instead of interrupting their classes. Teresa had decided the joke would be on them and completed everything as perfectly as she could, proving that her education in the palace had not slacked.

Another student had started at the same time as Teresa and for whatever reason everyone assumed that she was the princess and not Teresa. This worked fine for Teresa as she could keep her head down and not be bothered. The other new student didn't correct anyone and was clearly enjoying the fame so Teresa let her hog the spotlight.

It was on the way to class that Teresa ran into Pavlo (last name) again. He wore an eye patch to cover a hideous scar. The scar that Teresa remembered treating to the best of her ability.

She tried to turn around and avoid talking to him but it was too late, he saw her.

"Your Highness! Hello!" Pavlo waved at her.

Teresa cringed and looked around to see who saw him do that. Fortunately, there was no one else in the hallway.

Teresa took a deep breath before turning and forcing a smile, "Hello, Pavlo. How are you doing?"

Pavlo grinned wickedly, "I'm doing excellent, Your highness. How are you?"

"I am fine. I go by Teresa now, Pavlo. Please call me, Teresa." Teresa's eyes flitted as she looked for anyone watching.

"Why, Your Highness? Afraid someone will realize that you are the student princess and not the other girl?" Pavlo snickered.

Teresa started walking away from Pavlo, "No. It's just a useless title and we don't use titles here. No one calls you Lordling (last name)."

Pavlo walked faster and caught up to Teresa.

"Did you need something else?" Teresa asked.

"No I just wanted to walk with you. It's a little lonely with all my friends serving in the Queen's army."

Teresa looked at him, taking in his eye patch. "Why aren't you serving?"

"My father got me excused because of my wound. It is hard to wield a sword with only one eye."

Teresa snorted at this. "Oh please, I treated that wound myself. You didn't lose an eye."

"Of course I didn't. But my father doesn't want me fighting anymore and my eye is still healing. I was excused from service until I have regained full sight."

"Sure sure." Teresa tried to walk faster but Pavlo didn't take the hint.

He kept walking with her all the way to her class. Teresa smiled at him awkwardly before ducking inside and trying to shut the door. He stopped it and kept following her in. Teresa sat next to Violet and turned to talk to her while Pavlo sat across the room.

"I can't believe finals are almost here." Violet started talking, oblivious to Teresa trying not to look at Pavlo. "Why is that boy staring at you?"

"It's nothing. He's an old family friend. Now, you were talking about finals?" Teresa opened her notepad.

Violet looked at Pavlo for a second longer before her attention over and saying, "Yea. They're less than one week away. How is your studying going?"

Teresa shrugged, "It's fine. It's good that I'm finally caught up so I can focus on new material and reviewing old stuff instead of learning all of it."

"Ok. I've started a schedule for us to follow so we can both do amazing on our exams and pass with flying colors."

Teresa posed her pen over the paper and said, "Ok. What's the plan?"

Violet started listening off the times and subjects for their studying time and Teresa scribbled down the main points.

The class was over soon and Teresa hastily packed up her stuff and then grabbed Violet and rushed them out the classroom before Pavlo could latch onto her again. They hustled to the library.

Violet set her bag on a desk and pulled on Teresa's arm to stop her. In a whisper, she said, "Why are we in such a rush?"

Teresa looked around the library to make sure no one was peeking around corners before whispering back to Violet, "Pavlo knows who I am."

Violet looked perplexed, "What do you mean?"

"He knows I am Princess Teresa and not the other person. His family and mine were close when we were growing up and he knows I am the princess and not the other new student."

"Maybe we should stop calling her the other new girl?"

"Ok, Lydia. He knows I am the princess and not Lydia and I'm worried he's going to expose me."

Violet pursed her lips and shook her head, "I'm not sure why this is a problem."

"Because I like my quiet life now and if people find out, they will react in one of two ways. One, they will call me a liar or two, they will call Lydia a liar and neither situation is good. He keeps calling me princess and I can't get him to stop."

"People will think it's a nickname. Honestly if I heard someone call someone else Princess I would think it's a nickname. If someone was actually a princess, the other person would say `Your highness.'"

You are right, of course you are right. I just need to put it out of my mind but I can't."

"Let's try focusing on studying. Maybe that will help."