The next night Laura heard a noise. She tried to go back to sleep. She supposed it was paranoia. The things she heard shouted between the master and lady of the house had made her quite disturbed. But she heard it again. Her eyes opened. It sounded as if someone was sneaking in the house! She got up and went into Wills's room.
She shook him (she was reminded of how she would shake Greg awake when she was scared but pushed it out of her mind).
"Muruph," Wills mumbled.
"Wills, wake up. There's someone snooping around the Palace."
"Huh?" Wills woke up not knowing where he was. He looked up at the face above his bed. "Ugh! Laura," he groaned. He blinked away his sleepiness. 'What is it?" he yawned.
"I'm hearing noises."
"You're dreaming," Wills patted her back. "Go back to sleep."
There came a sound.
"See!" Laura said. "There it is again!"
Wills listened. Hearing it too. "It's probably Harry going for a snack."
"Me?" Harry appeared beside Laura.
Laura almost screamed, thinking it was Jory.
"Okay," Wills analyzed. "It's not you," he pointed to Harry. "And it's not you." he pointed to Laura. " And its not me. " he pointed to his chest "so..."
They heard a crash.
Laura clung to Wills.
Wills moved to the closet and got a tennis racket.
"Why don't we just call the security?" Harry suggested.
"We do that and we get our names in the front page again." Wills said. He went outside.
Harry and Laura followed in step behind him.
"Don't make a sound," Wills instructed in a hush whisper.
Harry and Laura nodded.
The snuck around in the dark. They found thier culprit in the living room. He was bending over to retrieve the broken shards of a vase that had fallen.
"Freeze!" Wills called giving him one swift blow behind the knees with the racket.
"Owph!"
"What are you doing here?" Wills demanded of the man.
"Geez, son, I live here!"
Harry turned on the light.
They all gasped.
"Papa?" Laura asked. He was dressed to go out.
"Children it's three in the morning-" Diana came out of the bedroom . She fell silent at the sight of her husband.
Charles limped to the couch.
"We thought he was a burglar..." Harry mumbled to explain.
Diana looked at Charles. "I want to speak to your father privately." she told them.
"Yes, mum," the three mumbled. They retreated to Wills's room. They didn't have to listen through the door to hear what the grown-ups had to say.
"You've gone out to see her, haven't you?" Diana was accusing Charles.
The voices were more muffled so they suspected they had moved the argument to the bedroom.
"I'm tired Di."
"What do you see in that Rottwieller!"
"I like her. Is that so bad?" Charles cried out. There was a pause. "She understands me better than anyone. Better than you can."
"You're married," Diana reminded.
"Who are you to talk about marriage? Don't think I don't know about your little outings too because I do. Don't mistake me for a fool!"
"Wait! Wait! Wait! Your children - your children, Charles! - catch you sneaking into your house late at night and you have the gall to sermonize me!"
The kids couldn't understand the rest of the fight. The parents were talking over each other, not bothering to let the other one finish a sentence or allowed the other to defend him/herself. They were yelling so loud. The servants were sure to have heard.
Then there was a silence.
Wills, Harry and Laura looked at each other in the silence. After there was enough of it Wills went to his dresser and got a box of tissues. "Mum's going to need these." He said quietly. He took a deep breath and went off to give them to her.
Laura stopped him. "Let me do it," she offered quietly.
He didn't object.

Laura let the wine bottle transfer back and forth between her hands. The rest of the family had fallen asleep. Or that's what she assumed since it was so quiet.
A light flickered beside her.
"It's happening again," Laura said not looking up. She remembered Mum's (Diana's) tears stained face as she passed the tissues through the bathroom door.
Jory sat on the edge of the bed. "Wish yourself back Laura."
Laura turned to the side. "No."
"Laura," it was a sigh. "You can't change fate. Take it from someone who has watched wishes come and gone. This family" His gaze turned to the door. "It's going to - Well, there will be a fall. And it will rise again by a death of it's family member?"
"Who?" Laura wanted to know.
"That's for fate to decide." Jory said.
"Diana?"
Jory was silent.
In that Laura concluded the answer.
"Can you do me a favor though?" Jory asked after a while.
She looked at him. "What?"
"Your last wish," Jory said slowly. he gestured to the bottle. "Can you wish that I was human?"
Laura looked at wine container.
"You watched Aladdin. I'm sure I don't have to tell you what a drag it is to hear wish after wish after wish and then have a billion year sleep only to be waken up by another person demanding whatever his or her heart desires." He looked at her pleadingly. "Please?"
Laura took a deep breath. "Yeah." she said quietly." Yes." she nodded her head with more affirmation. "Yes. I will. Good-bye, Jory."
And he was gone.

The next day Laura wandered around the house. She heard the TV on in one room and entered. "Mum?" she asked when she saw Diana on the couch.
The Princess of Wales looked back. "Oh, Hi honey."
"How do you feel?" Ouch! What made her say that?
"I've been better," Diana answered.
Laura looked at the TV. "What are you doing?"
Diana gestured with the remote. "Just-just some memories." She smoothed her skirt. "Sit with me," she invited.
Laura sat next to her and leaned her head on the princess' shoulder.
The TV screen showed Diana and Charles each holding a baby outside of the hospital.
An announcer's voice came on. "Today, September 15, 1984 the Prince and Princess of Wales brought into the world not one, but two more inheritors of the British throne..."
Diana kissed her on the forehead. "Papa was a little disappointed when he saw Harry. We weren't expecting twins. He said he wanted a girl. And then you came. It was a pleasant surprise."
And then I came, Laura thought allowing Diana to stroke her hair.
Another tape: "-the royal family is taking another trip to the mountains. A favorite occasion for the children-" and it showed a clip of her throwing snowballs at Wills and Harry. Diana and Charles were in the background looking at them with protective parents' eyes.
Another tape: "-Prince Wills is has been accepted into Eton. As he entered the school doors today, he wasn't the only one setting teenage hearts afire. Several of his new classmates have confessed to have a slight fancy towards his lively sister Laura-" On the screen, was Wills signing the Eton enrollment book. Diana, Charles, Harry and Laura were standing behind him.
Memories, Laura thought as she watched herself on the screen. This was supposed to be her life and her memories. But they weren't.
There was a private home video.
It showed a gift wrapper strewn room. The person using the camera was unprofessional evident by the shakey, jerky, movements and the blurriness on the screen.
"Oh, Charles," Diana covered the lense with her hand. "Stop playing with that thing."
An off camera kiss was heard.
The camera zoomed in to the little girl in the red and green dress.
"Papa!" the girl exclaimed, running to him.
The camera movement suggested a hug.
"What did Santa get you?" Charles voice came on.
She never got to answer since two boys came running. "Papa. Papa," they called.
"Okay, you three. Behave. Now do you want to sing your carols?"
"This isn't going to be shown in public, is it?" William at six asked.
"No, we're just going to send it to your aunt's and uncles."
Diana positioned them in front of the camera.
"... I saw mommy kissing Santa Claus..." the three royal chilkdren sang off-key. "underneath the mistletoe last night..."
"What's a mistletoe?" Harry asked.
Laura nudged him. "It doesn't matter... She didn't see me creep," she continued.
"But what is it?" Harry wanted to know.
"Down the stairs..."
Harry tugged on her skirt. "Laura!"
"You ruined the song!" Laura stopped singing.
William looked nervously at the camera.
Harry started crying.
Laura began crying.
William joined in.
The two parents came and gathered the children in thier arms. They hugged them, soothed them, bounced them on thier knees in effort to comfort them. Unknown to them at the time, but the camera had caught the whole touching scene on tape.
Diana switched off the VCR. "That's enough living in the past." She got up from the couch. "We better get lunch." she told Laura.
Laura cast one last look at the TV's dark screen. They weren't her memories. What she had seen wasn't her life. She got up and followed Diana out of the room. Now it was.

Chapter Eight
"He's sooooo cute!" Came the sigh from outside the hallway.
"He's so cute, " Laura mimicked as she flipped through her French book. The door to her room was but she could hear the girls' comments from the the hall. She new they were looking at the magazine where William was this month's coverboy. He was her brother. Did they have to remind her of his hottie status?
"Guess what I have!" Harriet called, thowing the magazine on the bed next to the princess.
Laura picked it up. From the glossy cover her brother smiled back at her. William had agreed to an exclusive interview with a teen magazine much to the objection of the people who ran the public relations of the Royal Family. Laura didn't know how he did it but she suspected Harry did. And that Diana had helped. He looks good, Laura thought. But that's all. Before it was He is SO fine! I want to marry him! No guy on Earth can compete with him. Now, all that was gone. Who thinks that way about her brother? It was weird.
"There's a little interesting piece on page 64," Harriet informed.
Laura flipped to it.
... When William was asked about love and royalty...
Shoot! he was going to tell them about Mum and Papa fighting.
... the prince laughed and said. "My sister seems to be lucky. An American guy has caught her eye and..."
Laura lept off the bed annd had herself immediately driven to Eton. She banged on a door. "William!"
He opened it.
She waved the magazine in his face. "Did you do this?"
He understood. "Yes."
Laura let out a breath. "Why?"
"The reporter was going to lead that question Mum and Papa," he explained. "I had to distract her with something!"
"The people are more interested in me going out with some shmuck than Mum and Papa fighting?"
"That's what I was counting on. And it worked, didn't it?"
"I guess it worked." She looked at the paper again. "Who's this American guy?"
William laughed. "No one. I made him up."
She scanned down the article. "Mr. No Name and I have a date this Friday?"
"Ask the next guy you meet." William said confidently. "He'll say yes."
"I can't fall in love just like that."
"Who said anything about love? Fake it!" William said.
"William..." Laura whined.
"Mum and Papa just need time to sort things out. The meanwhile we have to keep the tabloids occupied so the public doesn't know about their fights."
When the parents act like children; the kids have to be the adults. "Why couldn't you say you were in love with someone?"
"I'm the heir to the throne," he grinned. "Papa won't allow it"
Laura glared at him, and crossed her hands over her chest. "You know, Harry and I hate it when you do that."
There was a knock on the door. "Prince, can I borrow your calculator? Mine ran out of batteries." He noticed Laura. "Oh, I didn't know you had company-"
Laura gave him a once over. Not bad!
"Laura this is Robert Cassidy. Rob this is my sister Laura, England's Princess."
They shook hands.
"Robert's from America." William dropped the hint.
Laura picked up on it. "Rob, how would you like to go out with me two Friday's from now?"

"I can't wait for Friday night!" Laura announced excitedly to Jory."Rob and I had the sweetest talk over the phone."
"I take it you like ths guy?" Jory asked.
She stopped in mid-hug motion and blinked her eyes twice."Oh, yes!"
"I just realized something," she paced the room."I have this big news and im telling it to a genie."
"Flattered," Jory smiled.
Laura sat down on her bed. "Jory? Do I- Do I-?"
"Yes?"
"Do I have any friends?"
"There's Zara. And your dormmate Harriet."
Laura shook her head. "No I mean like REAL friends. Zara and Harriet have to be with me. Other girls just talk to me about how cute Wills is when they bother to talk to me at all. I mean friends like- girls I complain to when I have a bad grade. Girls who talk to me at night and ask how a party went. Girls I gush the latest movie star with,. Girls who I can plan what make-up I can wear on a date with." Laura looked at Jory who was silent. "No, huh?"
"A princess's life is very lonely," Jory said.
"Well, I guess Diana- I mean, Mum-," she corrected. "Can help me plan what to wear."
"I guess,"Jory said. But his tone was depressing.

I'm going on a date and Papa is still treating it as if it were a business meeting. Laura thought as she curled a hair strand around her finger. There were two guys she didn't know with clipboards who were there to check Robert's worthiness.
"Don't do that," Diana touched Laura's hand gently. "It'll mess up your do."
The doorbell rang.
Laura looked up expectantly from the couch she was sitting on.
Charles checked his watch. "He's punctual."
"I told you he's a nice guy, Papa," William reminded.
Two people excorted Robert in.
Laura felt odd when Robert bowed to her. She took his hand and presented him to the men. "Okay no devil's horns or tail. No pitchfork. We're going now..." She headed for the door.
"Not so fast." One of the men said. To robert he asked. "What are your parent's names."
"Martha and Hector, Sir," Robert answered.
"And where will you be going to college." the other one asked.
"Cambridge or Oxdford, Sir."
Seeing that this might take a while, Laura sat on the couch, between Harry and William, to wait.
The minute hand on the clock travelled thirty minutes across the clock.
Laura was curling her hair with here finger again. She would've slouched into the cushions too but Diana stopped her. She stifled a yawn. If Robert says Sir one more time I'm going to barf, she vowed. She looked to her left and right. William and Harry were just as bored she was certain.
The men checked their clipboards. "...I guess he passed." they said indifferently.
William nudged Laura.
"What? Over?" Laura asked amazed. And I thought Greg was tough on my boyfriends.
"You may go," the men gave their permission.
"You're so kind." Laura muttered under her breath. taking Robert's hand and going out the door where instantly photographers camera lights blinded her.
"Have fun," was Charles parting words to the two kids.

When Laura came home it was announced by the front door slamming shut.
William was tthe only onme there to greet her. "How was the date?"
"You should know. You were there. Four tables northeast of us I think. With Harry."
William said nothing.
So it was him! She stomped up the stairs. "And don't think I didn't notice Mum on the east end. Or Papa on the west side of the restaurant. Let's see... A reporter for the Mirror was in front of us. And a reporter for Sunday People was at the table behind him. It wasn't a date. It was freaking peep show in the circus."
"You looked like you were having a good time."
"Give me an Oscar for best actress, Brother, because I was in hell." She faced him. "The guy was acting all that just because he was going out with a princess. He kept going on and on about how "my friends aren't going to believe this when I tell them'. I felt like a cheap trophy." She shivered. "On the way back he attempted to kiss me - in front of the photographers of course! he loved the media attention. But I told him I didn't kiss guys with bad breath."
William smiled at this.
"It's not funny," Laura told him."I thought he liked me for me."
"Sorry," William apologized.
"Well, the tabloids are going to have their headlines this week and it's not going to be about Mum and Papa. That's what's important, right?" She yawned. "I'm going to bed."
"Laura," William called before she shut her door.
"Yes?"
"If I wasn't your brother I'd go out with you." he told her.
Laura gave him a sad smile. "But who'd be royal and who'd be common?"
"Y-you'd be the royal," William stuttered. What a strange question to ask, he thought. "I guess..."
"Good-night, William," she sighed.
The door closed and William was left in the hallway with his confusion.

Jory was in her room.
"Go away," she groaned, taking off her coat.
"Wish it away," Jory advised.
"I won't."
"Why not?"
From outside the sound of a front door opening followed by a woman's laughter.
Harry's voice: "Mum's home!"
Laura stated, "Diana's alive."
"Is that going to be your excuse for everything?" Jory asked.
"Yes." Laura went out to meet the princess.

Details of the date were printed in several teen magazines.

Chapter Nine
"I hate it," Laura frowned at the dress she was forced to wear that night.
"But it's just like your mother's," the dress consultant objected.
"Which is why I hate it," Laura complained. When she looked back on all the major occassions she was forced to wear an exact duplicate of what Diana's dress. Her birthday, that gala... At first she thought it was cute. Now she found it plain annoying. She was fourteen! And she was still dressing like her mother? "I don't want to be a known as a 'little Diana'. No offense, Mum. I am your daughter but I'm not you."
Charles came in already dressed in his tux. "What's all this?"
"The princess is acting bratty," the dress consultant drawled.
"Insult my daughter again and you can pack your bags," Charles lashed out. "Laura what's wrong?"
"They want me to dress up like Mum again," Laura pouted.
"You used to like it..."
"When?" Laura snapped. "When I was six?"
"You look so cute-"
"We're not dolls, Papa!" Laura yelled.
"Don't use that tone of voice with me young lady. You are speaking to your father."
William and Harry entered the room.
"What's going on?"
Laura saw them. She apologized to Charles. "I'm sorry, Papa. I didn't mean to sound cross with you. But, to the world, I'm only known as Diana's daughter, or Charles' favorite, William's little sister, Harry's twin, England's Princess... Not that I'm not proud of it. It's just that I want to be known as an individual. Without a possessive before my status. Maybe dressing differently won't change that. But it'll mean something to me." She thought, every meal I have is planed for me. I have no say it which parties I want attend. For once can't I make a decision for myself? Even if it's just on what I wear? "Please, Papa."
Charles and Diana exchanged a look.
Teenagers and indivuality, what of it? thought the Prince of Wales. "What would you wish to wear?" Charles finally asked.
Laura's eyes flicked over her wardrobe. "This one." It was a shimmery bright blue with a moderately generous neckline. It was a little daring but the jacket which compelted the ensemble made up for it.
The dress consultant looked at a datebook. "But you've already worn it for-"
"This one!" Laura insisted, throwing it at her.
"If that's what she wants," Diana nodded.
Laura sat back in the chair so that the stylist could finish doing her hair.
The male family members left the room.
Later it was mentioned in an article that the princess was giving trouble to the staff...

Glass: Chapters 9-11