Shortly after the lunch bell rang, Ciela was skipping across the room to my desk. “Hi Gwen.” She greeted with a wide grin. “Can I eat lunch with you?”
“Sure.” I said, a little stunned. It wasn’t all that common for someone other than Dawn to ask me that. “Pull up a chair.”
She grabbed a nearby chair and dragged it over. Dawn turned around and unpacked her own lunch on my desk. “Look at you, making friends.”
I blushed. “Dawn, this is Ciela. Ciela, my best friend Dawn.”
“Hey.” Ciela said warmly, pulling two sandwiches, an apple, a juice box, three cookies and a chocolate bar from her bag. “Sorry to intrude. I couldn’t stay in my class.”
Dawn looked between Ciela and her lunch. “You eat all that? Like, every day?”
“Yeah.” Ciela’s voice took on a guarded tone. “I eat a lot.”
Whatever reaction Ciela was expecting, Dawn’s was certainly not it. She turned and jabbed a finger at me. “You should take a page from her book, Gwen. Lunch should be more than half a sandwich.”
“I eat more than half a sandwich.” I countered, producing said sandwich and a plum.
Ciela started laughing and slid her chocolate bar in my direction. “You guys are awesome. I haven’t had this much fun at lunch since I was ten.”
“So, last year?” Aiden said, coming up behind her. He shot me a quick questioning look before turning a smile to Ciela.
“Hey, I’m 14.” She insisted. “I just have a short stature and a fast metabolism.”
“And a fast wit.” Aiden held out his hand. “I’m Aiden, by the way.”
“Ciela.” She shook his hand.
When their hands separated, Aiden was holding a little lollipop. “Where did this come from.”
“Magic.” She looked at Dawn and grinned. “I have one for miss princess, too.”
Aiden and Dawn looked at each other, fear and worry covering their faces.
“She saw the tiara.” I told them about what happened. “Now she’s convinced I’m a banished princess or something.”
“Daren.” Aiden growled. “I had a feeling he wasn’t acting alone.”
“Daren warned me.” I corrected.
“They were like, rogue FBI or something.” Ciela said jokingly. “Secret agents working for bad.” She met the wary look Aiden was giving her. “Relax dad, I’m not going to tell.”
Aiden was physically taken aback. “Dad?”
“You do kinda act like one.” Dawn agreed.
He looked to me, pleading. “Gwyneira, you don’t think I’m a dad, do you?”
“You are the only one who still calls me ‘Gwyneira’.” I pointed out, making Ciela snicker.
He frowned and squared his shoulders. “I’m not a dad.”
Dawn held up her phone, revealing a text conversation. “Lilli agrees. Sorry, dad.”
An annoyed growl rumbled in Aiden’s throat. It was the first time I’d seen him truly angry. “Gwen.” He seemed almost pained not saying my full name. “If you trust Ciela, I’ll tell her the truth.”
“Talk about a knight in shining armor.” Ciela leaned back and dragged over the chair from Daren’s desk. “This is like a fantasy novel.”
“It is, in deed, fantastical.” Aiden agreed, taking a seat. I gave him a nod and he told Ciela about the Ice Princess. “Those people you saw yesterday are trying to stop the guardians from assembling.”
Ciela sat silently looking at her hands for a while. Eventually, she looked up at me. “Could I see the tiara again?”
I opened my bag, but didn’t take it out. Anyone could walk in and see it. Ciela studied it intently. Eventually, she nodded decisively.
“I’ve seen a stone like these before.” She stated. “When I was little, I found a pale blue stone on the beach. I kept it in a box for a few years before setting it into a necklace for my mom.”
Aiden stared at her for a while, then turned to me. “That’s amazing.” He finally said. “I’ve spent years looking for the stones, and you find almost all of them in just over a week.”
“She is the princess.” Dawn reminded him. “She has a sixth sense for them.” She turned to Ciela, a wide grin on her face. “Can you bring it tomorrow?”
“No.” Her response was fast. She cast down her eyes and grimaced. “Our house was robbed last year. They took my mom’s jewelry box.” She tried to give us a smile, but it was forced. “The police don’t even have any clues.”
We sat in silence until Aiden pointed out the time. Ciela gave a quick apology as she pushed her leftover lunch back into her bag. She ran from the room and I was worried she might be crying.
“Now what?” I asked, pulling out the books for next period.
Aiden put a hand on my shoulder. “Like Dawn said, you have a sixth sense.”
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