Chapter One
"I can't believe we made it"
"We always do."
"Kinda makes you wonder what we pay security for."
"Yeah, if we can sneak out someone's bound to be able to sneak in."
"Let's just shut up and eat!"
Prince Wills smiled. It was the Thursday night ritual of going down the block to McDonald's. There was a branch in Eton but it was the sneaking out (not to mention the thrill of getting caught) that was part of the fun.
He glanced back. Albert, his bodyguard, was dutifully following behind in the most subtle manner. Only Wills knew he was there. He felt as if he cheated his friends when he informed Albert about their secret outing. But he was a prince. He had to take precautions.
Already Wills could see what was going to happen. They were going to stuff themselves with food, talk about sports and complain like anything why there were no girls in their school!
Or so was the prediction.
But this night was different.
This night there was a girl there.
Silence reigned among them as they took notice of her.
C'mon. Male teenagers. Hormones. They're in an all-boys school most of the time. Don't tell me they didn't take notice.
"Hey, Prince that girl's in your chair," one poked him in the ribs.
He knew that. Did being royal make him blind for some reason?
Jenna Connors didn't look up from the notebook she was writing in. Her heart was thumping hard as she tapped her mouth with her pen. There were guys in front of her. Cute guys.
Someone shoved Wills forward. "Tell her to get off," they urged him.
He walked over to her and cleared his throat. He put on his most "macho" voice which was a cross between a bullfrog and a burp. "Excuse me, Miss?"
His friends nudged each other and laughed silently. Miss!
Wills shot them an I'll-get-you look which only caused them to laugh the more.
Jen looked up. "Yes?" her heart began pounding harder that it did before. Surely, the boy in front of her couldn't be Prince William! But then again, what other boy's eyes are that startling shade of blue... Jen felt faint. She had dreamt of this day. The day they were going to meet, look into each others' eyes, and fall instantly in love.
Wills licked his lips. How was he going to phrase this?
He was going to speak, Jen realized. What was he going to say? Jen, I adore you... Jen, I love you... Jen, will you marry me?..
"Can you get off my chair?"
Huh! Either he just asked her to elope with him or he just told her to get off his chair.
"Get off my chair," he said again in a slightly louder voice.
Jen was confused. She looked around. "I don't see your name on it."
"But everyone knows it's mine," he insisted.
She shrugged. "I didn't."
"Look there are other chairs, why don't you use-"
She looked at him evenly. "Why don't you?"
The boys behind him were snickering. She obviously didn't know who he was, they thought.
Wills walked away. It was just a chair, he thought. But the look the guys gave him said that defeat was not an option. Desperate not to lose face in front of his friends Wills used a line he hadn't used since he was a kid. "Do you know who I am?"
Jen nodded. "Yeah. You're the guy whose going to have to look for another chair because this one is taken."
"Look, I'm Prince Wills and I order you to get off that chair."
Jen looked at this snobbish brat in disbelief. This was not the Prince Charming the teen mags raved about. She leaned against the table imitating him. "Look, you might own the throne but this seat is public property. On a first come first serve basis. My butt's parked in it. It's my chair now."
Oh, she was treading on a fine line. Wills didn't like bringing his royal-ness in the picture. But a fair side reminded that he started it. "Shut up!" he told her.
Jen smiled. She knew as he knew that line was only used when one's stock of rebuttals and comebacks have been diminished. She leaned closer. They were nose to nose. "Make me!" she challenged.
"I would if I could but kissing you isn't all that appealing," he informed.
Coming from a guy she had been infatuated with till a few moments ago you better believe that hurt!
"But she would love to kiss you, prince," a voice made them look to the side.
Jen's eyes grew wide. They were rifling through her notebook! "Give me that!" she ordered, lunging for it.
The guy held it above his head out of her reach. He displayed a page with a big red heart. Inside the heart were the words Jen and Wills . "Check this out," he flipped a couple of pages. "Oh Wills ," he mock swooned. "My heart beats for you and only for you..."Jen punched the guy in the stomach but the book had flown into the hands of someone else.
Wills turned red. The teasing wasn't meant for him but he still didn't like being reminded that he was a heartthrob.
''Oh, and this one," someone called the others' attention after he caught it. "I really like the boys at Eton. Hey that's us! There's this cute one who's always behind William. He looks really good in his blue suit. George, she's talking about you!"
"Wills is everything all right?" the voice rang in his ear.
Wills was slightly shocked. He had forgotten about Albert. "Everything's fine," he spoke into the hidden mike. "We're just being silly." As he spectated the situation he realized they were. He caught the expression on the girl's face. Tears filled her eyes. We've gone too far, he realized. If they made her cry he'd feel like a rat.
She was not going to cry, Jen vowed. She wouldn't give them the satisfaction.
"Wills catch!" someone called.
Without thinking, he caught the notebook.
Jen looked up at him.
The look she gave him. She looked so betrayed. And he felt guilty. Mutely he handed her back the notebook. The boys groaned at him for ruining their fun. "Killjoy," was the chorused word. But he silenced them with a look.
Jen lifted her head defiantly and began gathering the loose leafs of her notebook that had scattered around the restaurant.
No one stopped her .
I hate London, Jen thought, sorry she came. I hate Eton. I hate Wills Windsor! She gathered the papers that the boys had mocked and made fun of. These were her dreams, her inner most thoughts, and they had mutilated its image. When it looked like she had everything she left. It was going to be a long night. Filled with mending torn pages with scotch tape and shattered fantasies with time.
"Jen!" Wills called, running after her.
Jen turned around.
He stopped. "I'm sorry," he apologized.
Men, she thought bitterly. "Say that in front of your friends and maybe I'll believe it!" she wiped the tears from her eyes and walked into the night.


Chapter Two
"Well, if it isn't Mr. I-Own-The-Throne Windsor," she drawled when she saw him approach. She sat at a bench next to park entrance. She was writing in her notebook. It had been a week since their unpleasant first meeting.
"Hi," Wills said. "I-uh- live there." he pointed to the building across the street.
"Gee, so that's why there's a fence. And guards. And girls outside screaming 'William! William!' all day . Not to mention the brass plaque that says St. James Palace." She slapped her cheek. "I never would've guessed. What? Is this park bench yours too?"
"Actually, only part of that bench is mine. Here." He sat beside her.
She inched from him.
He leaned over. "What are you writing? More Ode to Wills poems?"
Jen closed the book. She had mended it considerably well but it was different. She no longer looked at it and remembered the comforting nights she confided in it. She looked at it now and the jeering faces of the boys as they tossed it around the room filled her mind. The world is a cruel place out to destroy our dreams...Inspiration strike! The world is a cruel place out to destroy our dreams we find that princes and castles are not what they all seem... She better write that down later. Jen sat on the notebook firmly. She wasn't taking chances. "You wish," she seethed. "Because of some boys my poems now revolve around the words kill, death, and men."
Whoa, must've been her time of the month. Wills handed her an envelope.
"What is this? A bribe so I won't tell the world what a Neanderthal you are?"
"My friend made it. He-"
"Your friend," Jen cut him off. "Would that be the barbarian who said, 'Prince, get that girl out of your chair' or would that be the caveman who threw my notebook around?"
"How many times do I have to apologize on behalf of my gender?"
"When it stops hurting," Jen said matter-of factly.
He sighed. "Anyway, he said he couldn't stop thinking about you. I told him I see you come to the park everyday so he asked me to deliver this. I don't know. I guess he thinks you're pretty."
"Thanks for the compliment." she smirked. After a few seconds she looked back at him. "Are you still here?"
"I'm suppose to report back your reaction," he informed.
"Fine," anything to get rid of him. She tore the envelope open. What she saw made her hatred for the male race melt away. Almost. It was a small pencil caricature of her. No, it couldn't be her, she thought. The girl in the picture was beautiful. Each strand of hair was clearly defined. It even had her lips curve up in a slight smile. Whoever made it had put a lot of time, thought, and effort into it. "He only met me once," Jen said almost to herself. "He made all this from memory?"
Wills stood up. "Well my job is done. See ya." he strolled off for home.
Jen looked at Wills leaving then back at the small portrait in her hand. "Wait!" she called. She scribbled hastily on a notebook page and pressed it in his palm. "Don't read it. And tell your friend that if he can make the you do his legwork then he must be one heck of a guy."

"Special delivery," Wills said the next day, handing her a white rose. "From my friend."
A rose? Jen thought. This is my kind of guy. She took the flower from him and inhaled the fragrance. Sweet.
"Here," he handed her the folded paper back.
Jen read and smiled.
She had written. Give me one reason why I should give this romance a chance.
In an attached piece of paper was the sentence, "I love you. I love you. I love you." typed over and over again till it covered the page. Front and back. "Is that reason enough?"
Wills looked at her. "What?" he asked.
"Something between me and your friend," she answered. There was another piece of paper attached. We were reading this story in class today. This made me think of you: Why is it that words like these seem to me so dull and cold? Is it because there is no word tender enough to be your name? "James Joyce," Jen named the author who penned the words.
"You know Joyce?" At the look Jen gave him he looked sheepish. "I peeked."
"I studied him in an English course last year. I was about to take it's sister course this year but I thought: No, I'm going to London to see Prince William."
Wills wondered how he should take that last sentence.
Jen mused over the note. "The Dead. A wonderful short story. Epiphanies. Some of his narrative has the characteristic of poetry."
So girls really went for poetry.
"Tell me, what's your friend like?"
"What's he like?" Wills echoed. "Let's see. He goes to Eton. Um, he's the son of his parents. He's human. Sort of," he added. He took a moment.
"I know he breathes oxygen, has ten fingers and toes, and can construct a sentence," Jen said in case that was the info he was going to give out next.
"I don't know how too describe him. He's just there. How do you describe a pair of socks you put on?" he analyzed.
Jen wrote on a piece of a paper. "Here." she said handing it to him. She couldn't wait to see Wills the next day.

"Here you are," Wills greeted, handing the paper to her. "And this," he gave her a Hershey's kiss.
Jen took it from William. Poison? she wondered. Shrugging, Jen unwrapped it from the silver foil and popped the bittersweet confection into her mouth. It melted slowly and deliciously as she read.
The answers were.
likes: you and only you.
dislikes: that I can't reveal this in person
fave food: If it doesn't move eat it! that's what my cousin says.
Best friends: those people you call Neanderthals.
Ambition: to get you to fall hopelessly in love with me.
She almost choked. "Is this guy for real?"
"No. Yes." Wills said, not able to decide. "The guy was so desperate to make an impression on you that he asked his brother to help him. They got the answers off a fake quiz in soap opera digest some guest left at the house." Ooops! Revealed too much?
"A sense of humor. That's nice," Jen observed. She wrote on a piece of paper.
"I'm charging a kiss for delivery service," Wills informed.
"Do you charge this guy the same fee?" she wondered.
"No," Wills grinned. "I get his sister to kiss me."
Jen laughed, kissing him on the cheek. "You know what would be weird? If I fall in love with you because you're the one I see when I receive these notes. So my heart will associate the notes with you."
"Yeah, weird," Wills agreed.

Chapter Three
Harry looked up from the comicbook he was reading. "You've come to see her, haven't you?" Harry asked as Wills came into his bedroom. He didn't need an answer. It was the only reason why Wills came into his room. Why did his window have to overlook the park?
"Be quiet," Wills told him. He had just been to the park. He was holding the note Jen had given him. Wills looked out the window. There she was. She was sitting on the bench with that thoughtful look on her face and after a while her pen glided over that unmistakable notebook. What was she writing?
Man, what a royal mess he had gotten himself into. He couldn't stop thinking about her since that night. Guilt was the reason at first. When he realized she went to the park he'd wait at the window till it was the right moment to approach her and apologize again. But the moment wouldn't come and he'd just stand by the window and look at her. What was she thinking about? he wondered. Every once in awhile an amused smile would pass over his lips as he thought of that big heart she had drawn and placed both their names in.
Then there was a day when she had failed to come to the park. It had been raining. He was devastated. That's when he first felt that he had fallen (if just slightly) in love.
Then the day came when he was sure of it. He had been looking out the window as always. And then she looked up at him. Not at the building. Not at the London sky. But him. And she had smiled. Knowing Jen she had probably been thinking in amusement, So, Mr. I-Own-The-Throne Windsor, why are you looking at me? (which was in fact exactly what she had been thinking). But she had smiled at him. No one else. Him. Wills Windsor.
He had drawn the caricature himself. Made from nights of dreaming of her and thinking of that smile.
The day he handed it to her, he had hoped that the sour feelings between them had passed. But when he saw that familiar glare he knew she still hated him. So he made up his 'friend' to save face. When he saw her love-struck expression when she opened the envelope he had been so tempted to tell her. Fear stopped him.
So now here he was writing her notes and not being able to tell her it was he who was sending them.
"Some free younger brotherly advice," Harry called from the bed, cutting into his thoughts. "Get over her!" Harry shook his head. Heaven strike him if ever he was that nuts over a girl.
Wills glared at him as he let the curtain fall back into place.
Harry laughed returning back to his comicbook. He knew Wills wasn't angry at him. He couldn't afford to be. Wills needed his window.

Later that night in his own room Wills opened the note Jen wrote to 'his friend.' "You seem a little obsessed =)"
Wills wrote. "Obsessed is an understatement. I come home at night and find comfort in dreams of you." Boy, he was really turning into the poet.
He thought of the kiss she gave him on his cheek. It didn't leave a visible mark but he knew it was there. Oh, how he longed to tell this girl how he felt about her. He stood in front of his full-length mirror. He extended his hand as if to shake someone's hand. "Hi, I'm Prince William. I think I'm in love with you," he said. He groaned as he fell back in his bed. He never heard of anything so stupid!
Harry knocked on the doorframe. "Man, now look what's happened! You're talking to yourself." Harry said. "It's the girl isn't it?"
Wills nodded.
Harry made barfing sounds. He walked over and looked at the note on the desk. Wills slammed a hand over the signed, Your Mystery Guy portion but he wasn't quick enough.
"She still thinks your friend is the one after her?" Harry whined. "Blimey, Wills just tell the girl you like her!"
"Jen hates me."
"Bravo. Didn't you say you were sick of girls swooning over you?"
"I want this girl to swoon over me."
Harry looked at him oddly. "We must have a royal shrink somewhere. I'll tell dad to put in an appointment. Dad! Wills has gone crazy and..."
Wills threw a book at him which Harry dodged. He could hear Harry laughing all the way to his room. Wills went to his bed and tried to fall asleep so he can find comfort in dreams of Jen.

The exchange went on for a month. Sometimes Wills would come with flowers, or candy. Sometimes it was just little messages. Or bits of copied poetry. Elizabeth Barrett Browning (How do I love Thee?...), Shakespeare (Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?...), Lord Byron (She walks in beauty...). Finally Jen couldn't take it anymore.
"I want to meet this guy," Jen said with finality.
"Uh, you can't," Wills said. "He might not like that."
"I fall into comfort of dreams of you and he doesn't want to meet me?"
"He's very shy."
"He better get over his shyness or he can kiss me good-bye."
Gee, what now? He took a deep breath. "Okay, I'll call him." He took out his cell phone. He dialed Harry's number.
"Hello," Harry greeted.
"Hello," Wills replied.
"William? I can see you out the window. What's the big deal? You know dad doesn't like us playing with our phones."
"Friend," Wills stressed the word. "Jen wants to see you."
"It's the girl!" Harry said. He sighed. "I have a tip for you. Listen carefully. You might miss what I'm saying: get a life!"
"Oh you don't want to see her?" Wills cast a sympathetic look at Jen's direction.
Jen grabbed the phone out of his hand. "See me or this romance is over!"
Harry stared at the receiver. Out the window, Wills was jumping up and down making cutting motions with his throat.
"Hello?" Jen asked. Was the guy still there? And why was Wills doing jumping jacks at this time of the day?
"Ah... Ah..." Harry gulped. What was he suppose to say?
Wills took the phone. "See? You made him speechless."
Jen glared at him. "I can't get involved with a faceless, bodiless image anymore." Oh, inspiration strike!
"Just tell her it's you," Harry told his brother.
No, he couldn't do that. Wills thought. He was already in speaking terms with Jen. She'd hate him again. It wasn't the right time to tell her. He'll tell her later when the bond wasn't too weak. "Bye. Talk to you later." He said into the phone. To Jen he said. "He'll go out with you on Friday. At seven."
"Oh, William," Jen expressed, hugging him ecstatically.
Definitely. Now wasn't the right time to tell her.

First: Chapters 4-7