My Alternate Life As A Princess

Chapter 6: History Lesson

I didn’t see Leonard in today’s history class. I was a little relieved since I wasn’t sure how to act when I saw him. I am a little worried though, since we only have a few classes left before our midterms. Every class is important to ensure that we’ll pass the test. Maybe I can make a copy of my notes for him.

Wait a minute, what am I thinking? I want to stay away from him. Why would I plan on giving him a copy of my notes? Whatever his reason for not coming to class is, he’s old enough to be responsible for his own actions. He can study on his own, or ask one of his women to give him their notes.

I focused in class because I wanted to be ready for the exam myself. I don’t like cramming, so I make sure to be ready long before the exams. On the day of the exam, I want to be relaxed so I won’t forget what I’ve learned for the duration of the class.

Despite it not being a major subject for me, I’ve always been fascinated with history. I read a quote from Cornel West that I really agreed with. He said that ‘You can’t really move forward until you look back.’

Some people don’t care about what happened in the past, but I believe that only if we understand what happened in the past can we truly succeed in the future. We can learn from past events to make our future better.

As the professor told us about the country’s colonial past. It’s amazing to learn how we used to be ruled by a King and a Queen. There are still some countries who are ruled by royalty nowadays, and I wonder how different our lives and society would be if we are still ruled by them too.

As the class ended, we were reminded by the professor of the coverage of the exam, and that it will make up 30% of our grade. I fixed my things and got ready to walk to my next class.

Before I got out of the classroom, I saw the slinky armed woman (who’s name I’ve learned is Dianne) making her way towards me. I tried to avoid her, but one of her minions blocked my way.

Aubrey: “What is it this time?”

Dianne: “Where’s Leonard? Why isn’t he in class today?”

Aubrey: “How should I know? Isn’t he your boyfriend?”

She got tongue-tied and I took that opportunity to leave. Dianne’s not really that b*tchy and she usually doesn’t have a comeback whenever I clap back. Maybe she wasn’t expecting me to respond as aggressively as I do. She might really like Leonard, but he doesn’t seem to like her back as much. This might be the reason why she’s acting aggressively towards me, she’s just jealous.

The rest of my classes went smoothly and I headed to my library job. The librarian was seated promptly at her desk and she asked me to continue what I was doing previously. I was relieved, since I didn’t really like stacking the books on their shelves. Aside from it being physically taxing, some of the shelves scare me, especially the ones that the librarian told me not to go to.

The librarian asked me to take a 15-minutes break and I decided to spend it reading my history book while eating a cracker. I didn’t want to step too far away from her office since I didn’t want to be late coming back. The librarian left to take a break herself.

She came back in 10 minutes and  found me still reading my book. She looked at me momentarily and looked at the title of the book I was reading.

The Librarian: “Are you a history major?”

Aubrey: “Uhm, no ma’am. I’m pre-med.”

The Librarian: “You might like history. I’ve seen you reading that book a few times.”

Aubrey: “I do. I find it interesting.”

The Librarian: “It is interesting. It’s amazing how a hundred years ago we had kings, queens, princes and princesses ruling the government and society, isn’t it?”

Aubrey: “It is interesting.”

The Librarian: “Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live the life of a princess?”

I thought about it before answering promptly.

Aubrey: “When I was younger, I did think living the life of a princess would be cool, just because I watched those Disney movies. As I got older, I realized that life is not like those fairy tales. I stopped dreaming and never thought of living like a princess anymore.”

The Librarian: “Well, you’ll never know. You might meet your prince someday.”

Aubrey: “Maybe. But I don’t expect that to happen soon. I still have to finish my bachelor’s degree, then medical school, pass the boards and become a surgeon.”

The Librarian chuckled at what I said. It surprised me because I’ve barely even seen her smiling. I didn’t think she was capable of having any pleasant emotions.

The Librarian: “You’re too young to take life so seriously. You should enjoy it a little. Go out on a date or something.”

I smiled back at her. I didn’t want to tell her why I am the way I am. I didn’t want to dampen the mood. As she sat back at her desk, I resumed doing the task she asked me to do earlier.

An hour before the end of my shift, the librarian asked me to file some books on their shelves. The cart was not full, and I nodded and smiled as I pushed it towards the shelves.

I took my time in shelving the books. As I entered the shelf where Leonard and I had our make out session previously, I got goosebumps and I suddenly felt hot as I remembered what we did here a few days ago.

I shelved the books in this section as fast as I could. I only had a few books left on the cart when I heard someone calling my name softly.

Leonard: “Aubrey..”