Archive of Our Own ^beta

Felice  

For three days, Felice had been certain that Wille had finally lost his mind. She went home over the weekend to celebrate her father’s birthday, and when she returned to school, Wille had lost his final shred of sanity. She was sure of it. He’d either gone completely insane or had lost every single brain cell he’d ever had.

For the last three months, Wille and Felice had been best friends. Since the video came out. She was the only one who knew the whole truth: his involvement, his relationship with Simon, Kristina’s influence to remain in the closet, his anxiety, what August had done. She was the only one who knew it all. Even after they’d gone public about August, and the video, and Wille’s sexuality. Despite all of it, Felice was the only person who knew the whole story.

Well, Felice and Simon . 

But Wille and Simon had been on odd terms for the last three months. They remained friends and had to work together on projects and on the rowing team, but it was still weird. 

Or Felice thought they were weird. 

Most people thought they were weird. 

They couldn’t be left alone for more than a few minutes without one of them having a panic attack, or crying, or falling into an unbreakable silence. They couldn’t look at each other for the few months that followed the leak. They didn’t sit near each other. One of them would usually leave the room during meals if they were both there. But that was steadily improving.

As a result, Felice and Wilhelm spent a considerable amount of time together. She knew that there was something different. Wilhelm had completely lost his damn mind.

Wille seemed distant when she returned from her parents’ house. They still spoke every day, sat next to one another in a few classes, sometimes ate dinner together, but Wille stopped reaching out.

He wasn’t at the stables with her whenever he had downtime. They didn’t text every minute of the day, and he didn’t call her to his room when he was anxious. This was a strange deviation from their usual routine. Every day was the same, and then suddenly everything became very, very different.

It made Felice worried about what the fuck was going on with him.

Despite all of that, Wille wasn’t angry at her. The first day, she thought she might have done something wrong. Wille’s distance was unfamiliar. They didn’t do this. Everyone knew the two of them were joined at the hip. Simon had even straight up asked her if they had been going out at one point, to which she laughed in his face and guaranteed him that Wille only ever had eyes for one person and it certainly wasn’t her.

Wille and Felice didn’t do this, so she was sure that she had pissed him off somehow. 

But he wasn’t pissed off. About anything.

If anything, he was giddy . When she got over her complete and utter fear that she’d destroyed their friendship, she came to the realization that he wasn’t just insane - he was also incredibly happy .

More than she’d ever seen him. 

August had been out of the country for nearly a month, which had been nice. Maybe it was that. Maybe it was finally dawning on Wille that he didn’t have to worry about his psychotic cousin anymore. Maybe it had absolutely nothing to do with Felice or life or the school.

Maybe Wille was just… free .

But that was just day one’s conclusion. 

Day two brought even more confusion. 

He wasn’t ignoring her. That much was apparent. He still walked with her to classes, asked about her parents, and studied with her in between lessons. He wasn’t eating with her, but he had an acceptable explanation that checked out.

They were normal. No one else seemed to notice the change between them.

It was only Felice. 

And Felice only noticed because she’d been clinging to Wille like a leech since the video leaked - per his request, she wasn’t just creepy.

Something was different.

Something was wrong. 

Wille had been smiling too much. Especially now, as he was speaking on the phone.

Wille hated making phone calls. Hated it . There had been a very small list of people with whom Wille felt comfortable speaking on the phone with. That list started with Felice and finished with Simon. Erik had been the third person on that list, and obviously, he wasn’t there now.

“Who were you talking to?” she asked. Her insatiable curiosity was killing her. Logically, she knew this was none of her business.

Who Wille was speaking to, or smiling about, was absolutely none of her concern.

She still needed to know. If someone else was going to hurt Wille, she was damn well going to be prepared with some kind of dirt to leak about them. Blackmail was not beneath her at all anymore. She’d not blackmailed August, and she deeply regretted it now. She wasn’t above this. Illegal shit wasn’t out of her comfort zone anymore.

Not when it came to Wille. 

“It was my mother, actually,” he said. 

She was certain he was lying to her. Kristina was embracing the idea of him being queer and had been publicly in support of his coming out and recanting the denial about the video, but she was still Kristina .

She didn’t make Wille smile.

She never made him smile.

“Do you want to spend the night with us tomorrow?” Felice asked rather than pressing the issue any further. She knew better than to ask more about his mother. “I feel like I haven’t seen you.” Wille froze for a moment, which she definitely made a point of noting. Maybe he was just mad at her. “It’s ok to say no if you don’t want to. Maddie will understand that spa night has to be held without you.” 

“No, no, no! I want to come,” he assured her. The panic in his voice actually made her feel a little better. Because that meant he wasn’t angry with her. He was terrified of her thinking that he was. That shouldn’t have made her feel better. Felice was competent enough to understand that Wille having anxiety was not a good thing. It shouldn’t have been a comfort to her, and yet it was. “I want to come, I just… I have plans.” 

Oh. 

He had plans . 

Plans that, apparently, made him giddy. Maybe she had unintentionally lied to Simon a few weeks ago. Maybe Wille did have eyes for someone other than Simon.

Unexpected turn of events . 

Day two’s conclusion: Wille had a date tomorrow night. 

Day three provided clarity.

She’d figured it out. He had no idea she’d figured it out, and it would take him a while to get the courage to actually say the words, but she knew. Felice had always been a smart young woman. She had no idea how it had taken her so long to figure this out.

Clarity came when Simon walked by.

Felice and Wille were eating breakfast outside. It was a lovely spring morning, and because they couldn’t spend the night together, they’d gotten up early to spend the morning together. Maddie was supposed to come, too, but then decided that six-thirty was far too early to wake up. So it was just the two of them eating on the bench.

In any case, they preferred it this way. Just the two of them. They understood each other in a way that other people simply couldn’t.

They were best friends.

Simon had come early for a private lesson. A private lesson that Wille’s family was now paying for as an apology. Felice thought that was the very least they could do.

Simon and Wille spotted one another instantly. No one at Hillerska acknowledged it as a habit. No one was brave enough to acknowledge it. Everyone was aware of it, and they discussed it behind closed doors, but the two boys were entirely oblivious to it. It wasn’t worth it to make them uncomfortable about it.

No one could imagine what they were going through. 

Their relationship had kind of gone up in flames. 

The boys exchanged gentle smiles. Cute smiles. Like they were still together. Grins that Felice hadn’t seen on either of their faces since the day Wille came out to the country. To the world .

On the day Wille came out, they smiled because they had finally confirmed that they had, at one point, been dating. That they were in a relationship before the video. That what people saw in the video wasn’t just a careless, drunken hookup.

The day Wille came out had earned one of these sweet smiles.

This day, the one where they were just passing each other on the Hillerska lawn, didn’t have quite the same emotional moment.

There wasn’t much of a reason for them to be smiling like this. Not to each other. Not when Wille had a date that night, which is why he was eating breakfast this early with Felice, and- 

Oh. My. God. 

It clicked. Everything in Felice’s brain clicked. It had taken her three fucking days, but her brain had finally figured it out.

They got back together. 

Felice noticed Simon’s gaze flick over to her. He gave Wille a modest nod before practically skipping inside. She’d been so worried about Wille going insane that she hadn’t taken the time to notice that Simon was also absolutely giddy.

Wille sat there, a nervous grin beginning to form on his lips as he watched Simon walk away. “I want to tell you something,” he finally said. Wille couldn’t look her in the eyes. Felice, while she’d never admit it, thought his nervousness was charming. It wasn’t like she was going to be against it. She was well aware of how much they cared for each other. She was honored, though, that Wille valued her opinion so highly. “But I’m not sure how to tell you.” 

He was still refusing to look her in the eyes. Felice scooped up Wille’s hand in her own and held it tightly. “So I’m going to guess, then. If I’m way off the mark, I’ll apologize, and move on. If I’m right, all you have to do is nod. Is that ok with you?” she asked. Wilhelm nodded, his hands literally shaking from anxiety. “Are you and Simon like… dating again?” 

Wille nearly collapsed onto her shoulder with a sigh. “Yes. Yes, we are. I wanted to tell you, but I got scared,” he confessed. 

Felice laughed as she stroked his hair. This boy . Anxiety always overcame him. It always got the better of him. It was only Felice. Honestly, if anyone was going to be against this relationship, it wasn’t her. “Who else knows?” she asked. 

Wille paused for a moment and sat up straight. “Uh… not very many people,” he said. “Simon wants to keep it kind of private for now, and I think… I think I understand. It would be more practical to keep the reporters away for a while. He said I could tell you since you’re like... my best friend. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to keep it from you.” 

Felice never imagined the day when Simon would wish to keep this relationship a secret, yet here they were. She couldn’t even begin to imagine what he was going through. Just being Wille’s friend drew her a lot of unwanted media attention. She didn’t want to know how it felt to be in the middle of a full-fledged sex scandal with him. It must have been hard for Simon. She could understand the need to keep some parts of his life to himself. Even if it meant doing the exact thing he didn’t want to do three months ago.

“Do your parents know?” she asked. Wille, once more, only nodded. “His parents know?” 

Wille nodded once again, bringing his hand up to his mouth to chew on his nail. “Yeah, and I think Sara knows, too. She keeps glaring at me.”

Felice let out a long sigh and drew Wille into another embrace. “She’ll come around,” she said. 

Sara would, indeed, come around. They’d all see to it. She didn’t have the right to be angry with him anymore. Not after she’d told them about August’s interactions with her. None of them had been capable of meeting her eyes for weeks.

They had hated her for weeks. 

“Thank you for telling me,” Felice finally said. The morning had been particularly beautiful, and she didn’t think either of them would ever forget it. “I love you.” 

“I love you, too.” More than anything, it was a sigh of relief.

Sara  

Sara had noticed, almost immediately, that there was something different with Simon. He was smiling at his phone more often. He was going to school earlier. He had stopped whining as much about things no one could control. Sara noticed almost instantaneously that Simon had become rather pleasant to be around.

And that made him insufferable. 

At first, she assumed it was Henry. In the last three months, he and Simon had built some kind of a friendship, and he was often staying at school later than he needed to. He’d even spent the night in Henry and Walter’s room a few times after movie nights. Especially if Sara had decided to stay with Felice.

“He treats me normally. He doesn’t mention the video much,” Simon had told her when their friendship had first begun.

Sara liked Henry. And she liked Walter. They seemed to be good friends to Simon, and they didn’t seem to treat her any differently from the rest of the Hillerska students. It was an odd, but good, friendship that was forming. So, for the first few days, she thought Henry was the one who was making Simon act so weird.

What she didn’t like about Henry was how quickly he’d turned against her when all of the August stories came out. She could understand Simon and Wille hating her, or even Felice, but she couldn’t understand Henry, or Walter, or even Maddie hating her. It didn’t have anything to do with them. They didn’t have the right to have an opinion on what happened just because they knew about it.

They didn’t have any right to judge her just because they would have made a different choice. Plus, it wasn’t like she didn’t feel bad about it.

It had been a month since all of that had surfaced. Simon and Wille could finally look at her again, despite the fact that they wanted to scream at her every time she opened her mouth. Felice had warmed up quicker, but she was clinging to Wille like a lifeline. Wherever she was, Wille was sure to be nearby.

Wille , who couldn’t stand to look at her for more than a few minutes at a time.

And Simon had been worse. 

She should have expected that.

Simon was so angry that he couldn’t even talk to her anymore. He could barely say her name. He spoke to Linda in hushed whispers, spent most of his time at Hillerska with his new friends, and had even started talking with Wille again purely to avoid her. Sara never imagined Simon could hate her, yet here they were.

He undoubtedly had a hatred living in his heart that wasn’t going to just go away so easily. It was fading, and she was regaining his trust, but it was more difficult than she had expected.

So, now that Simon was acting like the world was full of sunshine and roses, and sometimes even offering her kisses on the cheek in the morning once more, she found it perplexing.

She thought it was wrong . 

The lack of explanation irritated her to no end. 

It has to have something to do with Henry, she reasoned. Who else could it possibly be? He wasn’t particularly close to either Felice or Maddie because they had called a truce with Sara. Walter was mostly around just because Henry was there, and Simon’s friendship with Wille was rocky , to say the least.

Henry, by a process of elimination, was the only person Sara could think of.

“Is there something going on with Henry?” she asked one morning on the bus. Simon hummed in question but remained focused on his phone. He was clearly engrossed in a fascinating conversation. So much so that he couldn’t even look up at her when she spoke. Irritating. “You just spend a lot of time staring at your phone. I’ve never seen you text Ayub like that before.” 

She hadn’t been insinuating that anything was going on with Henry. Just that they had been getting closer. She had given little thought to the possibility that she sounded as though she thought there was a budding relationship there. It wasn’t her intention at all.

Unfortunately, communication between the siblings had proven to be a lackluster skill at best.

“No! What the hell is your problem?” Simon exclaimed. Maybe having this potentially heated conversation on a crowded city bus wasn’t the smartest decision. People knew who they were now. They knew Simon had been involved with Wille at some point. People already stared at him before he was getting upset with her, but especially after. “I wouldn’t tell you even if there was, Sara. You’ve made it quite clear that you cannot be trusted.” 

They spent the rest of the ride in silence, and Simon had virtually leaped off the bus when they pulled up to their stop. Henry and Walter were waiting for him, and he joined them in a huff. Simon sent a scowl back at his sister and muttered something under his breath to the boys, who also glared back at her.

So it wasn’t Henry. 

Or at the very least, it wasn’t something about Henry that Simon was willing to talk about. 

Still, she knew something was going on. 

She let him simmer in his anger at her for another few days before she tried again. She took the opportunity to consider other possibilities.

Maybe it wasn’t Henry, after all. Maybe it was Felice and Maddie. They, too, had started to act a little strangely. Felice had, at the very least. Especially in these last few days.

Wille didn’t spend as much time with her as he used to. He didn’t stop by the stables very often anymore. He’d stopped coming by after the thing about August came out. He’d come back for a week, but then he was gone again.

Sara didn’t think she’d done anything to him. Apart from the previous incident, of course. Maybe Simon had said something about how irritated he was. She was sure he would do anything to get back into Simon’s good graces - even ignore Sara. Maybe especially that.

But Felice was acting weird. Maybe she was the person Simon was spending so much time talking to. Maybe that’s why Felice had been ignoring her.

Everybody seemed to ignore her.

She found herself glaring at Wille a lot. 

It was his fault.  

None of this would have happened if he had just kept his fucking hands to himself and left Simon alone.

It was Wille’s fault. 

Sara tried again three days after the bus incident. This time, it was after hours in Hillerska’s hallways. “Is it something with Felice? Is that what’s going on?” she asked him. Her books were clutched in her hands tightly. They were collecting the last of his things from his locker before heading home for the evening. It was almost the weekend, and she was looking forward to being free of her friends’ judgmental glances for a few days.

She never would understand why everyone seemed to hate her so much. It wasn’t like she was the one who made or leaked the video. She’d just known it had happened. She’d just opted not to say anything. She didn’t quite understand why that made her the villain.

“No, Sara. Drop it,” he snapped. 

Sara grumbled under her breath and rolled her eyes. He was lying. He was keeping secrets. “You’re acting differently. You’re lying more,” she pointed out. Simon bit his lower lip and slammed his locker door shut. He wanted to escape this conversation. He wanted to escape her . “It’s just like last term all over again! You’re acting like-” 

Simon took a step back and turned on his heel. He just wanted some goddamn peace. One second away from her.

“Acting like what, Sara?” he shouted. They were both suddenly grateful that there weren’t all that many people around. There were just a few older boys on their way to their rooms. “I don’t know how much more I can say this: I don’t want to talk to you. I don’t want to see you. I’m not going to tell you anything about my life. Just. leave. me. alone .” 

Simon stormed off, but didn’t go home. Sara took the bus alone. She ate her dinner in silence with her mother. Linda received a text from Simon telling her that he would not be home. He planned to stay overnight at school. He’d borrow clothes from one of the boys in the morning.

His explanation, according to Linda, had been that he didn’t want to see Sara. 

It was just like last term. Simon was staying out late, hiding things, acting over the moon one second and frustrated the next. He wasn’t speaking to Sara. He was staying over at the school, with the people he despised. He was staring at his phone at all hours of the day.

It was just like last term. Last term when he was dating Wille. 

She knew then. That they were back together. That’s why Wille wasn’t with Felice so often. Why Simon didn’t want to tell her anything. Why Felice was ignoring her. 

Because they were all hiding it from her . 

Another argument had developed on Friday night. Simon was on his way out the door for dinner. He refused to tell her where he was going, though. She assumed it was because he was going to dinner with Wille. Simon had no intention of telling her yet. He didn’t want her to know. He didn’t want to tell Sara anything at all these days.

Because of him . Because of the Crown Prince.

It was Wille’s fault. 

“Fuck off, Sara!” he’d shouted, pulling on his shoes. 

“Language, Simon,” their mother called from the kitchen. Sara and Linda planned on having chicken for dinner. Sara had no clue what Simon was eating or where he was going. The only thing she knew for sure was who he would be with. She had no idea where he’d go.

She also didn’t think Linda knew, so she turned to her to attempt to stop this from happening. “Do you even know where he’s going? Really going?” Sara asked her. She was angrily swinging her arms through the air. He had probably told her some half-baked excuse about going to get pizza with Rosh.

But Linda only smiled sweetly and nodded her head. “Yes, I do. He told me. I double-checked with the other people going,” she said.

As a family, they were experimenting with the concept of honesty. Simon told Linda the truth now. Sara didn’t.

Everybody was changing their viewpoints on the value.

Simon pulled Sara’s shoulder back, forcing her to look at him once again. “Yes, Sara, she does know. Because I actually fucking trust her,” he said. Simon snatched a coat he wouldn’t need, gave Sara one more glare, and then opened up the front door. “I’ll see you later, Mama.” 

She stayed up waiting for him that night. Until it was well past midnight. She sat in his room, long after Linda had gone to bed, and waited.

They were going to talk about this. No matter how much he loathed her, no matter what she had done to him in the past. She was not going to allow him to make the same mistake again. If he and Wille had gotten back together, she was going to put a stop to it.

She hated Wille. More than she hated anyone else.

Because he’d hurt Simon .

Wille was to blame for everything that had gone wrong. The video, August, her scholarship almost falling through, the excessive media attention Simon was bombarded with.

She wasn’t going to let him get away with it again.

Simon entered his room quickly and tossed his jacket on the chair. His eyes were drawn to Sara as soon as he stepped in. He didn’t say anything for a while. He watched her. He glared at her. He pondered every reason he couldn’t scream at her again: it was late, mama was sleeping, and their neighbors would undoubtedly call the cops because they were racist and homophobic.

So, he settled on “what do you want?” 

Sara took a deep breath, but remained still. “I know you’re seeing him again,” she whispered. Simon let out a disgruntled groan and flung his shoes into the laundry room. “I think it’s a bad idea.” 

Simon started laughing - genuinely laughing - at that. “You’re not allowed to have an opinion. It has nothing to do with you. It’s not your relationship. I’m hardly even your brother at this point. You made damn sure of that when you helped August.”

As far as Simon was concerned, Sara didn’t have a say in anything he did anymore. It was difficult for him to forgive her. It was significantly more difficult than he would admit to even himself. He felt like he was going to burst into tears every time he thought about what Sara had done. Half the time he was with her, he was resisting the urge to smack her over the head. He was struggling to find reasons to forgive her.

She’d known . She had known what August had done for months and had kept it a secret. She didn’t tell anyone. Not until August had told everyone . She knew, and she didn’t tell Simon, knowing how badly it would hurt him.

She knew .

“He hurt you before,” she tried again. Simon would come around , she thought. He had to. Because she couldn’t fathom Simon getting tossed aside by the fucking Crown Prince again.

“ You hurt me, too,” he pointed out. 

And she had. Sara had hurt him more than anyone. Maybe even more than Wille. Because he knew deep down that Wille wouldn’t be able to come out three months ago. He’d been astounded that Wille was able to come out two months ago. He didn’t think Wille would be capable of pulling all of it together in time.

But he had.

Deep down, he knew Wille wouldn’t be able to be with him three months ago. But he never expected Sara to betray him. 

Never . 

“He’ll do it again,” Sara said. 

“He won’t.” 

She leaned back against the wall with her arms folded across her chest. “You don’t know that!” she shouted. 

Simon gave her a stern shush. He walked out of the room to close the nearest door, then stormed back in furiously. Linda was asleep, and they were not going to wake her up with yet another argument, so help him god. “He came out to the entire country, Sara. He took the denial back. Tonight I had dinner with his parents . He’s not going to deny me again.”

Sara shook her head at her little brother. His heart was so big, but he was a fucking idiot. “Then why are you still hiding?” she asked. 

Simon locked his eyes on her for another minute before sighing and taking a seat beside her on the bed. “It was my choice. To keep us private. I didn’t want to be in the media again yet,” he confessed.

Sara didn’t want to admit it, but this made more sense than Wille being the one hiding them. Why would Felice know if Wille was trying to hide Simon? And why would Simon agree to be kept a secret when he’d ended their relationship because of just that three months ago?

But Simon had been rather uncomfortable with all the attention. Especially since Wille came out.

The days that followed the interview where Wille had retracted the denial had been so insane that Simon couldn’t walk out of the house. Malin and Angelica had to come to stay with them, and Simon was even reluctant to let them inside.

It made sense that Simon wished to keep this relationship private.

“Just… give him a chance,” Simon begged.

Something about the pleading in his eyes made Sara back down. She was still certain that Wille was the problem. She doubted she’d ever be able to trust him.

They did, however, bond over horses. Their interactions in the stables had been pleasant, and they were becoming more frequent. They both knew far too much about the creatures. To the point that it annoyed Felice.

It took about a year for Sara to start growing to like Wille, though. She adored Simon and was happy to see him happy with Wille, but she never really trusted the Crown Prince.

Not for a while, at least. 

Maddie  

Maddie figured it out two weeks ago. For two weeks, she’d been avoiding it because she thought they might tell her. They weren’t exactly being subtle around her. Felice and Sara, she was fairly certain, were both aware. They probably weren’t hiding it from Henry and Walter, but they definitely hadn’t told them. If they were hiding it, they were failing miserably.

Because Maddie had known for two weeks. And now she was only waiting for one of them to tell her.

She thought they’d tell her the second she’d figured it out. Because it was surely intentional that she had figured it out. They had absolutely made it obvious for her to work it out. They were sitting in the library, and Maddie was reading her tarot cards when Wille touched Simon’s hand for just a second too long.

Long enough for Maddie to notice. Long enough that Felice and Sara cleared their throats to break the boys out of their daze.

Surely it had been intentional. So, she thought they would tell her then. She even stopped what she was doing for a moment to watch them, signaling that she was listening if they had something they wanted to say to her. It wasn’t like it was a big deal.

They just had to give her one sentence: Maddie, we’re sleeping together again. 

She wasn’t going to film it or something. August was gone. They could do as they pleased now, with the added benefit of not having to worry about perverts outside their windows. They didn’t even have to tell anybody if they didn’t want to.

But Maddie was a friend. And it had all been so obvious. Surely , they were trying to tell her.

They said nothing. 

So maybe the library wasn’t the best location to disclose their situation. It probably wasn’t the most comfortable to announce their sex life in the library. Especially when everyone at this school had already been way too involved in their sex life. 

Two days after that, she thought they were going to tell her on their way to math class, but they never did.

Because their other friends had things to do before classes, the three of them made it a habit to walk to class together. Sara and Felice had to go to the stables, and Henry and Walter had private lessons. Simon had private lessons occasionally, but his were usually after school, not before, since he wasn’t a resident. So, the three of them spent most mornings walking together.

She thought they were going to tell her then. Because it was obvious that Simon had stayed at Hillerska the night before. They were both exceptionally happy, Simon was wearing clothes that were far too expensive to be his own, and they’d eaten breakfast together. Simon undoubtedly spent the night in Wille’s room. And now they kept brushing against one another.

She was confident that they were going to tell her then. They were alone. It was an easy and stress-free environment for them to tell her: Maddie, we’re sleeping together again. 

But once more, they said nothing. Even when she mentioned how close they were getting again. They just agreed with a nod and said that they were excellent friends .

At dinner, a week later, she thought they were, at last, going to come clean. It had now been a week and five days since she’d concluded they were sleeping together again, and they weren’t being subtle about it. Not around her. Not around anyone. She was starting to think that everyone would figure this out soon enough.

They had planned to have a group movie night. It was Friday night, and it was the night when boys and girls could mingle for meals and after-dinner activities. The night Sara and Simon could spend the night and have it not be against the rules. The Housemaster said the seven of them could order pizza for dinner. So they had.

Simon and Wille sat side by side all night, decided to share a box of pizza, and had been overly affectionate. Wille had offered Simon the spare bed in his room so that he wouldn’t have to sleep on the floor in Henry and Walter’s room, and Simon had happily accepted the invitation.

Maddie was sure now, more than ever, that they were sleeping with each other. No sex tape required to prove it. 

They kept whispering to each other and then glancing over at the rest of the group. She thought they were going to tell them all. 

They didn’t. 

So, finally, after two whole weeks of knowing and not having any proof, she was thoroughly annoyed. She knew where they’d be, and that they would be isolated, and she knew when she could catch them off guard.

Rowing Practice . 

Because the two of them had expressed, many times, that they couldn’t shower with the rest of the team in the locker room. It seemed too violating now, knowing that every boy in that room had watched them having sex. They were always the last to leave the locker room. She knew she’d be able to get them alone there. She could confront them there with no one else around to hear.

“I’ll see you tomorrow?” she heard Wille ask as she reached the old gym.

She walked around the corner to see them walking towards the bus stop, gym bags draped over their shoulders. Simon was carrying his backpack as well. So they weren’t going to spend the night together tonight, then.  

“Yeah,” Simon responded with a smile. Malin and Joakim walked a few paces ahead of them to give them some privacy. That was adequate proof that there was something going on between these two. “Don’t miss me too much.” Simon leaned up and kissed Wille on the cheek. 

Now that was damning . 

Maddie was unable to contain her excitement. “I fucking knew it!” she shouted. Both boys jumped at the sound of her voice and whirled around to look at her. “You two aren’t subtle at all, you know. Kissing each other on the cheek-” 

Simon waved his hands in front of him and shook his head rapidly back and forth. “No, no, no. It’s a popular hello and goodbye. It’s... um... well, it’s- it’s... Spanish. My neighbors told me about it. I was just telling Wille goodbye-” 

“‘ It’s Spanish ,’ my ass,” Maddie interrupted. They could try to lie all they wanted, but she was too clever for them. Even if they weren’t being this obvious about it, she could kind of feel it. Their energy seemed to have shifted in the last month or so. It was all around them - in the air. She knew it before she figured it out; she just didn’t realize what it was. “You two are fucking again, aren’t you?” 

Simon had gone a deep shade of pink all over and tried not to look back at Malin, who was laughing wildly at his ridiculous excuse.

Wille let out a deep sigh. “We’re not fucking, Maddie. We’re dating ,” he deadpanned. He ran his hand through his still-damp hair, trying his best not to seem embarrassed about their new relationship being exposed to their friend.

“Holy shit, that’s even better,” she laughed. 

Simon drew Wille’s hand close to him and turned to face their witchy friend. Maddie hadn’t noticed how anxious Simon seemed until this very moment. Sure, the excuse he’d given was pitiful, but she didn’t realize at first that it had been panic-driven. “Please… don’t- don’t tell anyone. Felice and Sara know, and our parents know, but no one else does.” 

Maddie shook her head at him, her face contorted into a frown. She had no intention of telling anyone. It wasn’t her place. It wasn’t her place when she thought they were just sleeping together, and now that she knew they were dating, it definitely wasn’t her place. She would never do something like that to them. They’d been through enough.

“Of course not,” she said. She took a step forward and extended her arms to the boys. They both gladly accepted the hug. “I wouldn’t tell anybody about this. I don’t even have to tell Felice I know if you don’t want me to. I just love you guys and want to be there for you.”

Wille, strangely, seemed to be more at ease with her knowledge than Simon. He was the one who did most of the talking. He was the one who looked confident about it. He hadn’t asked to be kept a secret. Simon had. 

Somehow, after Wille came out, their roles in this relationship had shifted. Wille had been more outspoken. Simon was becoming increasingly anxious. The gross invasion of their privacy had certainly changed them. Maddie noticed it a while ago, but she knew better than to talk to them about it.

“Thanks, Mads,” Wille whispered into her shoulder. 

Maddison kept their secret. She kept it well . Particularly from Walter and Henry.

She had an explanation for where they were at all times. She was always able to explain their appearance. She was always prepared with a quick comeback, or a fast joke, or an elaborate lie. They didn’t worry about people knowing when Maddie was around because she always knew how to get them out of awkward situations.

She made it seem like they were just “platonic best bros who used to date.” And, really, that made their life a whole lot easier.

Fredrika

Fredrika was fairly sure she had figured out what was going on between Wille and Simon. Stella had been pretty sure, too. They spoke a lot about it: the odd interactions the boys had, the looks that lingered a little too long, the way they kept disappearing for hours - or even days - at a time with no explanation.

It was as if talking about it had become a part of their nightly routine.

Shower, wash their face, brush their teeth, talk about Simon and Wille, drink water, and go to sleep. Like clockwork, every night. It was only fair, considering that the two of them kept the Hillerska gossip mill running. Specifically, among their year.

It had been a month and a half since Fredrika had noticed it. That’s when Felice, Sara, and Maddie started spending more time with the boys’ group almost exclusively. A group that Fredrika had failed to be welcomed into, though she thought that had more to do with her partner in crime than herself. Stella wasn’t the friendliest of people. That, though, had nothing to do with Fredrika. Just because they were roommates and best friends.

She’d noticed this thing between the boys when they began sitting next to each other in Political Science class. The Crown Prince and a socialist sitting next to one another during classroom debates was strange enough in and of itself, but it was much weirder when you considered their history. But every day, Simon and Wille sat together. They smiled at each other, and spoke with each other, and overall seemed to enjoy each other’s company.

That was nearly two months ago.

That was the first time Fredrika had noticed something changing. 

Then again, Wille had come out about three months ago, now. And August had been gone for quite some time, though Fredrika hadn’t actually known the date they had kicked him out.

There was nothing stopping them from developing a friendship. No matter what they were before the video, she supposed it must have been nice to have someone to understand what exactly you were going through.

“We could always just ask them,” Fredrika decided one night. She sat on her bed, brushing out her hair, while Stella prepared them hot chocolate. It was May, but they had extra instant packets from Christmas and an electric kettle, so they made the rich drink whenever it got a little too chilly. “If they’re actually back together, they’re probably not going to lie to us about it.”

Stella scoffed and passed the warm mug to her roommate. “You just want to ask them? Really?” she questioned. Stella had always been the more reserved of the two, but she also knew Fredrika better than anybody else did. “You don’t have the balls.” 

Fredrika resented this friendship sometimes. 

“I do too!” she shouted, throwing her hairbrush at her roommate. “I’ll ask them tomorrow!” 

And so, before she went to bed that night, she formed a plan. Fredrika would ask them the next day. If not for her own sanity, then to show Stella how wrong she was.

Of course, she wanted to know about the boys, but she also wanted to prove to Stella that she could keep up with the hottest gossip. It wasn’t only Stella who could strong-arm information from people. Fredrika was fully capable of keeping rumors alive in the absence of her bitchy blonde co-conspirator. She could do this without Stella.

She would ask them first thing in the morning. When they were on their way to class or when they first arrived at math before the teacher arrived. That would be the most convenient time. Early morning. Before all the other school things had been on their mind. It would be best for all of them to just get it over with.

She was their friend. They wouldn’t lie to her. 

But she chickened out. She saw them heading to math together, walked all the way up to them, opened her mouth to ask the question, even, and then couldn’t. She couldn’t ask. Fredrika had been the gossip mill’s main contributor, but she’d never broken a story before. This was the source material . She was going to ask them this question, and it was going to change things.

She chickened out that morning.

Stella had made fun of her. “I told you so,” she’d said. 

By lunchtime, Fredrika was even more eager to get this over with. Wille and Simon were sitting outside in the yard with Madison and Felice. Sara, Henry, and Walter were missing in action. That actually gave her more courage to ask them. They were just her friends.

Sara, she knew, didn’t really like her, and Henry and Walter had kept their distance. Fredrika and Walter had a brief fling, and she deeply cared for the boy, but they were just friends now. And Henry had always disliked her because of it. She didn’t understand why he was so protective of Walter, but she felt the same way about Stella, she guessed. Or, rather, Stella felt that way about her.

Felice and Maddie were good friends of Fredrika, though. This was a walk in the park. Especially since Stella wasn’t with her right now. 

She strolled up to the little group, slid her lunch plate onto the picnic table, and sat down among the laughing friends. “Hi!” she exclaimed. The smile on Fredrika’s face, no matter how fake it may have seemed, was always genuine. 

She liked these people. They were nice. They were fun. They were exactly what Fredrika was searching for in a group of friends. Everything she wanted in a group of friends. She’d gotten lucky to meet them.

“What are we talking about?” 

Simon gave her a wary glance. Fredrika began to wonder if she’d accidentally stumbled into something she wasn’t supposed to hear.

But Wille just smiled pleasantly at her and filled her in. “Madison is head over heels in love with one of Simon’s friends. We’re trying to make it happen,” he said, sending a wink to the others at the table.

Madison had been covering her face with her hands, cheeks flushing brightly. Fredrika took notice of the fact that Wille did not specify the name or gender of Simon’s friend, nor how any of them had known each other. Those were questions for another day, though. Maybe a day when Maddie was more outspoken about her sexuality. 

Fredrika was a gossip, but she drew the line at outing people. At least outing people herself. If someone else had outed somebody, she would, of course, talk about it. “Sounds like fun,” she said.

They chatted for another few minutes, catching up and moaning about their math homework. It was normal. Felice had mentioned the stables, but Fredrika didn’t have time to take it all in. She was far too preoccupied thinking about her schemes to ask the boys if they were an item.

But suddenly lunch came to an end. And she had to ask. “So I just wanted to ask you something…” she trailed off. All of them were looking at her, but Fredrika could only look at Wille.

He wouldn’t lie about his relationship with Simon again. They all knew how that played out the first time. Wille would be frank with her. He had to be. And to be perfectly honest, Fredrika thought he was the kindest of the group. She would have much rather spoken to him than anyone else.

Wille just gave her a kind smile. “What is it, Freddy?” he asked.

He called her by the same stupid nickname as the rest of them did. It had started as a joke between her and Stella. They called themselves Stan and Freddy. Then the joke had turned into a sign on their bedroom door, and most of the kids in their year used the nicknames for them now.

And now Wille was using it. 

And she remembered that, before the gossip, they were friends.

These were her friends.

They would tell her about the relationship when they were ready. “I was wondering if…” she couldn’t get the words out. “If you had the History worksheet done? I missed number twelve.” 

She chickened out. 

Worse than that , Wille had been more than happy to help. His favorite subject had always been history, and he excelled at it. He had little riddles and sayings to help everyone remember significant dates. Everyone always asked to borrow his notes, and his eyes just seemed to light up whenever anyone asked for help with the subject. Wille was kind. Wille had helped her with the question, gave her a playful song to help her remember the fact, and then sent her on her way, knowing more about him than his relationship.

Stella had made fun of her. Called her a coward. “I knew you’d never do it. I told you so,” Stella’s words repeated themselves over and over again. 

Throughout the remainder of class, Stella teased her. While riding, Stella teased her. While hanging out with their friends, Stella teased her. Throughout dinner, Stella teased her. On their way to workies, Stella teased her.

Stella just kept saying the same thing over and over again. 

“I knew you couldn’t do it.” 

And Fredrika snapped. 

For the last hour, they had been in a study group in one of the older classrooms. It was some kind of biology, she thought.

Stella must have called her a coward one too many times. Stella must have teased her for just a little too long. She just snapped . 

Fredrika pushed her chair away from the table and sprang to her feet. “I’ll be right back,” she mumbled. 

Fredrika marched directly to the library, knowing Wille and Simon would be studying there. They studied there every workie. Tonight had been no exception.

She marched over to their table, where they were sitting closer together than friends would, and sharing an orange. An orange . Fredrika may not have been the Prince’s best friend, but she knew enough about him to know that he hated the fruit. And he was eating it because Simon had offered it to him.

Something was going on .

Fredrika quickly leaned against the table, eliciting a jump from both boys. “Are you two like… a thing again?” she asked, loudly. 

Simon’s immediate response, out of sheer panic, had been: “No!” He glanced over at Wille, though, and then said, “yes?” Fredrika smiled despite the fact that his words had been much more of a question than an answer. Simon shook his head and hid his face in his hands. “Fuck.” That one was muffled. 

Three simple words. She had all the proof she needed. So much gossip to spread.

She did it. Stella had said she couldn’t, and she did.

Fredrika was over the moon. 

“I knew it!” she practically shouted. Wille shushed her harshly, but she was too excited to hear it. “I thought you two were acting unusual at first, but then Stella told me I couldn’t ask and-” 

She never got to finish her sentence. 

Because the Crown Prince - who was a full head and a half taller than her now - had risen to his feet and planted his hand over her mouth to shut her up. Fredrika ignored the voice in her head that was telling her that this action would have been incredibly arousing in any other context.

Simon ignored the fact that, even in this context, seeing Wille do that was incredibly arousing. 

“Shut up,” Wille demanded. Fredrika offered no response other than a nod, and Wille withdrew his hand from her still-parted lips. “We’re going to take this out into the hallway now.” 

The three of them very calmly gathered their belongings, gave the rest of the students in the library silencing glares, and then walked into the hallway for a little more privacy.

Fredrika was practically vibrating with excitement. She had finally proven herself. Like Stella had proven herself numerous times.

They explained to her briefly that they had been back together for a few months. How they’d been keeping it on the down-low. How, for the time being, they were trying hard to keep it out of the press as much as they could. They explained that they weren’t fully hiding it, and that there were people who knew, but that they didn’t want to tell everyone just yet.

“You could have told me,” Fredrika complained. They could have told her. She would have gladly listened to them talk about their relationship. Fredrika, more than anything else, wanted to believe in romance. She didn’t seem to really care about the sex stuff. It was just a side effect of romance to her. “I’m your friend.” 

“No, you’re not,” Simon said. His voice seemed tight, as if he was holding in a sob. She registered momentarily that it was the first time he’d actually spoken since she’d first bombarded them. Wille had been the one who had told her of everything. “You’ve never been our friend, Fredrika.” 

She resented that. “Yes, I have!” she argued. 

Simon shook his head immediately, a scowl on his face quickly forming. “You’re so fucking mean to us, Fredrika,” he pointed out. 

She remained mute, her eyes wide. Fredrika was not a mean person. She’d never been before. She adored Wille and Simon. Until this moment, she had thought they liked her too.

“He’s right,” Wille said. Fredrika’s gaze shifted to his. He was fixated on his feet. He couldn’t bring himself to look her in the eyes. “You never try to hang out with us for more than a few minutes at a time, and only ever when you need something. You have made it very clear, numerous times, that you’ve watched the video. Most people have the common courtesy of letting us be ignorant as to whether or not they’ve seen it. You didn’t even say ‘ congratulations ’ when I first came out. You asked if I was going to have kids or swallow them. You’ve been utterly insensitive to our entire situation - so insensitive that you just tried to out our relationship in front of the library - and you and Stella talk about us all the time. You’re probably going to tell Stella right now, and everyone will be talking about us again before morning. Let’s face it, Fredrika, you’re not our friend.” 

She stayed completely silent for a second. She stood there with nothing to say.

Sure, she knew she hadn’t been the most sensitive student when it all happened, but she certainly hadn’t been the worst either. August had literally leaked the video. Sara had been hiding it from them. When it first happened, some of the older boys were calling them some really horrific names. None of that was even close to what Fredrika had done.

But she hadn’t been very kind, either. She and Stella had said a lot of shit they didn’t really think through. To Simon’s face , nonetheless. She tried to pretend those things had never happened - like those words had never left her lips - but they had. Simon couldn’t forget her words as easily as she could.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered. 

“It’s fine,” Simon answered almost immediately. 

“No. It’s not,” Wille insisted. He firmly grasped Simon’s hand in his own and scowled at the girl. Fredrika felt three times smaller than she had before. “It wasn’t fine then, and it isn’t fine now. So, go. Tell Stella and tell all your other friends. Just tell the media, why don’t you? Fuck off.” 

Wille hurriedly dragged Simon back inside the library, muttering to his boyfriend about how he needed to stop taking people’s apologies so easily. Something about having to earn it.

Fredrika was doing all she could to hold back her tears.

Because they were right . 

She wasn’t a good person, and she hadn’t been a very good friend. Not to them, at least.

Maybe not to anyone. 

And the more she thought about it, the more she hated herself. What if it had been her in that video? What if she had been outed? What if it had been her and Stella? Or her and Walter? Or her and some other person she cared deeply about? What if it had been her ? 

And what if Wille and Simon had taken every opportunity to rub it in her face that it had happened? What if they laughed about it? What if they’d made insensitive jokes and whispered too loudly in class? 

What if it had been her? 

She returned to Stella in a fog. She’d gotten exactly what she’d wished for.

Why did she feel like shit?

“So, did they tell you?” Stella whispered as soon as Fredrika had sat down. 

“Huh?” she asked, looking over at her friend. 

You’re probably going to tell Stella right now, and everyone will be talking about us again before morning.

Wille’s words were like knives in her chest. 

So, go. Tell Stella and tell all your other friends. Just tell the media, why don’t you? Fuck off.

The blade twisted. 

She couldn’t hurt them like that. Not again. 

“Oh… uh, no. I- I didn’t ask,” she lied. It was the first time she’d ever lied to Stella. It was the first time she’d kept a secret from her. The first time she’d ever kept gossip to herself. “You were right. I was too much of a coward.” 

When nobody was talking about them the next morning, the boys were pleasantly surprised. Fredrika only nodded to them once with an uncomfortable grin as a form of communication.

She wouldn’t tell anyone.

It didn’t make things right between them, and it probably never would, but they appreciated her silence. She hadn’t earned their forgiveness, nor their trust, but they appreciated her peace offering.

Stella  

Stella was dead set on figuring this out. Fredrika may have failed to find out what was going on with these boys, but Stella was relentless. She’d acknowledged that about herself years ago, and she wasn’t going to stop now. This was the juiciest gossip that Hillerska had seen since the first time Wille and Simon were together, and she would be the one to break the story. This was her gossip. She would find out. 

Unfortunately, she had turned this investigation - this habit, really - into a bit of an obsession. Stella was constantly watching them, but she hadn’t yet caught them. In classes, in hallways, at dinners, hanging out after-hours. She watched them in workies, at rowing practice, walking towards the dorms. Stella observed them.

If no one else was going to figure this out, she was. And no one else had figured it out. Not that she was aware of, at least. Fredrika had been too scared to ask them about it. Felice and Maddie didn’t seem to notice the change between them. Henry and Walter were oblivious to most things. Sara was the only person she could think of that might know, but Sara didn’t talk to her. Someone had to find out what was going on.

She decided one day that she would just follow them after lessons. If she followed them long enough, one of them would eventually slip up.

Not that they didn’t slip up all the time in general. She frequently caught them reaching out to one another, playing footsie in class, or sitting just a little too close under blankets. But if she followed them, she might get some actual evidence. A hug, or a kiss, or whispered confessions. Anything .

They did not have rowing practice on Friday. The Third Years were going on a class trip starting Saturday, so Nils had given them the day off. She thought she had heard them mention Italy, but the third years were notorious for keeping the location of the class’s week-long trip a well-guarded secret. It was a Hillerska tradition to keep the rest of the student body in the dark about the trip. She’d been told that last year’s trip had been to Denmark.

All day long, Simon and Wille had been whispering to each other. Maddie, Felice, and Sara were also in on it, although not nearly as much. They both seemed a little too excited when class ended. It bothered Stella. Something was obviously going on, and she was annoyed that they hadn’t told her about the gossip. They knew how much she enjoyed talking about these things.

Stella said a quick goodbye to Fredrika, mumbling something about her stomach hurting, and then rushed out of the classroom. She needed to be as stealthy as possible if she was going to follow them, and Fredrika wasn’t exactly subtle .

As predicted, Simon and Wille were together as they walked through the hallways of Hillerska. Their arms dangled lazily in between them, like they wanted to hold hands but were stopping themselves. Stella noticed how Wille’s pinky shifted ever so slightly to brush up against Simon’s. She noticed that Simon never pulled his hand away. 

Stella kept a safe distance so the bodyguards wouldn’t notice her presence. They would undoubtedly inform Wille that she was there. Her plans would be foiled.

Again .

And she couldn’t take that chance. She was now wondering whether or not she should have bothered to learn their names. Maybe becoming friends with the Crown Prince’s bodyguards would have benefited her attempts.

Stella stayed almost a full hallway behind them at all times. Close enough that she could see them, but not close enough to listen to their entire whispered conversation. The fact that she couldn’t hear them irked her immensely , but she couldn’t do anything about it. Getting any closer would just expose her.

She followed them to the music room, where Simon picked up some sheet music to study over the weekend. That was another thing the boys had started doing together: music. Wille was teaching Simon how to play the piano or something.

She didn’t really pay close attention to those details. Stella was much more interested in the overall nature of their relationship than in their extracurricular activities.

The only reason she noticed the music thing was because Fredrika mentioned it. Fredrika had come up with most of their theories about the boys, and now that Stella really thought about it, the other girl had stopped talking about them recently.

Stella dismissed the thought and followed them to Simon’s locker. She watched Simon put his book away, looking extra smiley. She watched Wille scoop up a paper bag from inside the locker and hold it just out of the other boy’s reach. She watched Simon poke Wille’s side in order to get the bag back. She watched Simon grab a small piece of candy from the bag and hand it to Wille to eat. She watched as they laughed at each other.

They did all of this, and Stella watched, and they didn’t even notice her. It still wasn’t proof , though. She acted this way a lot with Fredrika.

Sure, she and Fredrika hadn’t had a sex scandal and weren’t really into each other that way, but it was still the same kind of flirty behavior. She couldn’t draw a conclusion just yet. It was entirely possible that the boys had just become extremely close friends recently.

Mutual public humiliation through a sex tape would do that, she guessed.

Stella followed them back to Forest Ridge. She followed them down three hallways, a left turn, and down two more hallways, all the way back to Wille’s room.

Well, almost all the way back to Wille’s room. She had to stop a hallway behind them because the female bodyguard stopped there, and she wasn’t willing to give up her cover yet. Stella wondered again if she should have learned this woman’s name. All she knew was that Simon had once called her “ scary lesbian lady, ” and that she’d been a good sport about it.

Alas, Simon entering Wille’s bedroom would be far too simple. The proof would have been too easily handed to her. While Wille stepped inside his dorm, Simon remained perfectly still in the hallway. He pulled out his phone, sent a few messages, and scrolled for a few minutes. Stella observed him intently, but nothing seemed afoot.

Everything was completely normal.

Wille went inside for three minutes before he returned to Simon. He’d changed out of the button-up he’d been wearing for lessons and into a more casual t-shirt. Stella immediately noticed that she’d never seen the Crown Prince dressed so casually in the middle of the day. At night, sure, but never in the middle of the day.

Simon completely, one thousand percent, without trying to hide it one bit, checked him out. Stella couldn’t possibly have missed it. He nearly exaggerated it for Wille’s benefit. And the Crown Prince blushed. “Come on, let’s go,” he said, trying hard - and failing harder - to hide his embarrassment. 

She was just now noticing that Wille was carrying a bag over his shoulder. And soon enough, Simon and Wille - as well as the bodyguards - were headed out of the dorms again.

So Stella decided to follow. She was too close to a revelation at this point. She couldn’t stop herself. 

She followed them outside, through the woods, past the lake and the stables, and then all the way to the bus stop. Surely , Wille wasn’t taking the bus. He must have been dropping Simon off, she reasoned.

Sara was staying in Felice’s room that night. Stella knew this because they had invited her and Fredrika to their spa night.

Wille probably didn’t want Simon to have to walk all this way by himself. That’s all . The male bodyguard had vanished, probably to pull a car around for Wille.

Yeah, that made sense.

They were both leaving campus. Wille was dropping Simon off at the bus stop and getting into his fancy SUV to go home for the weekend.

Stella wasn’t exactly sure why she was attempting to convince herself that they weren’t dating now. She’d been certain only a few moments before.

But then a red car pulled up to the bus stop. Stella recognized the person inside the car, but not by name. She’d only seen this woman once or twice before. She assumed it must have been Simon and Sara’s mother. Stella must have seen her back in October at Parents’ Day. Maybe at Lucia or in articles a few times, too.

Stella knew who she was, but couldn’t recall her name.

Both boys gave her a sweet wave before picking up their backpacks. This was Simon’s ride, Stella thought to herself. Wille and his bodyguards, she assumed, would be driving to a different place in a different car. Because this car was definitely unsuitable for a future king, and Wille surely had no intention of getting inside it.

What would the Queen think?

But, to her utter horror, the boys looked at each other and then started to sprint for the front seat of the old, rundown, red car.

Simon got there first.

Wille got there stronger.

They wrestled for a minute, pushing and shoving each other out of the way until Wille could eventually manage to get his butt in the seat.

Simon let out a loud whine at this. Stella remained attentive in her observations. “Mama! Come on, I got here first,” he exclaimed. 

Stella noticed the female bodyguard beginning to laugh as she moved to the opposite side of the car. She was going with them, too. Stella was much more confused than she had been before.

“ Lo siento, cariño, Wille ya está sentado ,” the woman driving said. Stella had no clue what she’d said. Simon let out a loud grumble in response, voicing Stella’s frustration with her inability to understand.

Wille laughed. Genuinely laughed. Something Stella didn’t believe she’d actually ever heard before. “Yeah, I’m already sitting,” Wille teased.

Since when did Wille know Spanish? 

Simon begrudgingly snatched Wille’s bag from the front seat before approaching the back door. He seemed to have accepted defeat.

But they didn’t kiss.

They didn’t hug.

They’d wrestled and teased each other, and Wille had managed to pick up on Simon’s mother’s Spanish, but they hadn’t done anything inherently couple-like.

Henry and Walter were just friends, and they acted like this sometimes. Stella supposed it might have been the same for Simon and Wille. But it nagged at her all weekend.

Why were Wille and Simon going home together if they were just friends?  

The nagging in her head had gotten to be too much by Monday. She tracked them down at breakfast to ask about what she’d seen. Confrontation was the only solution to this problem, she’d decided. She wasn’t technically allowed to be here, but it was early and no one was going to notice. Stella was only going to be here for a minute.

The boys were sitting next to each other, which is what she should have guessed. They were virtually attached at the hip these days. Everyone knew it. No one discussed it. There was a silent agreement among the students that no one would get involved in this again, because the last time had been so horrifically bad.

Stella slid into the empty seat across from them. They were immediately aware of her presence, and it was made clear that they were uneasy.

Good, Stella thought. If they were already wary of her, it would be easier to get information out of them. “Why did you go home with Simon this weekend?” she asked. Stella was decent enough to ask in a low enough voice that no one else would hear her. If she had made a grave error in her assessment, she wouldn’t want the whole school to know. She was, indeed, a gossip, but she absolutely despised false rumors.

Wille sipped his coffee boredly. Simon scraped his fork against his plate.

So they were in different places about this information, then. One of them was calm. One of them was not. The opposite of what she assumed, though. Simon, she thought, would have been the calm one.

“We have a mutual friend in Bjärstad. I wanted to go to her football game on Friday,” Wille explained quickly.

Stella thought that was a plausible enough answer. They had gone to football matches together before. It had caused some controversy in Wille’s first couple of months at school. At least among the students, it had. August had put the Prince on dinner duty because of it. And it was very likely that the pair had mutual friends. They had dated at one point.

Stella thought this was a good explanation, except for one flaw. “You were gone all weekend, though. You stayed with him.” 

Wille set down his mug with a sigh. “Stella, I’m flattered that you seem to always know where I am, but you’re wrong,” he said. “On Friday, I went to the game, and then I went home for the weekend. To Drottningholm. I wanted to see my mother. I didn’t stay at Simon’s.”

This was the truth. He hadn’t lied. After the game, he went to Drottningholm for the weekend. The part he was choosing to leave out was that Simon had gone with him.

But Stella didn’t know - and didn’t need to know - any of that. She hung her head, letting out a pitiful, defeated sigh. Maybe she was mistaken. Maybe nothing was going on between them. “Right. Sorry.”

Stella left them after that, but she couldn’t stop thinking about it. She never stopped thinking about it. 

After that - frankly - too easy explanation from Wille, she couldn’t stop noticing the little things. Every glance at each other, every small touch, every whispered conversation. Stella noticed it all. And the questions in her head just kept adding up. 

And why wasn’t Fredrika pointing out anything anymore? Stella knew she couldn’t have been the only one noticing these things.

Her questions just became more and more incessant. And much more vocal. She was questioning the two boys almost every day at this point. More often than not, multiple times a day.

“Why do you spend so much time studying with Simon?” 

“He’s better at math than I am. I needed a tutor and I hate Mr. Englund.” 

Too easy.  

“Do you have any idea where Wille is?” 

“Given that it’s seven o’clock in the morning, my guess is breakfast, Stella. I’m not his keeper. You could just go look for him.” 

Not good enough.  

“Are you two coming to the party this weekend?” 

“I am, but I live here.” 

“I’m not. I have better things to do.” 

Fucking hell, they were making this difficult.

She wanted to know. She needed evidence. She knew exactly what was going on and they were driving her insane . They had to know they were driving her crazy. It had to be some kind of game for them. At this point, she’d asked them so many questions that they must have known she was on to them. They knew she knew.

They were deliberately driving her insane.

And then god answered her fucking prayers. 

She’d gone to the music room to look for Felice, actually, but she’d found something much better. Simon and Wille sitting at the piano.

Not just sitting. 

Kissing . 

They were kissing at the piano. 

They didn’t even seem to notice that a whole other person had walked into the room. For more than a few seconds, Stella didn’t actually know what to do. Did she go away as if she hadn’t seen it? Did she clear her throat and deal with the uncomfortable explanation they’d undoubtedly try to give? Did she react as if she believed their bullshit?

What. did. she. do?

What was she supposed to do?

Stella moved a step closer into the room and slammed the door shut behind her. The pair was so startled by the noise that they both tumbled off the bench. They were now both sitting on the ground, staring up at their friend.

“You should probably close this,” she deadpanned. 

The boys didn’t need to look at her for more than a second to comprehend the severity of their situation.

They had massively fucked up with her.

Simon scrambled to his feet and stretched his hands to her, as if to calm her down. She would absolutely not calm down. Weeks . They’d been making her feel crazy for weeks . “Stella, look-” 

“You should have told me!” she shouted. 

“We didn’t want you to tell everyone!” Simon seemed to be in full panic mode, and she wondered for a moment if it was all her doing. If she was the reason they’d been so secretive about this. If she had somehow compelled them to keep their relationship hidden from everyone. “We’re trying to keep it quiet for now. No one knows.” 

“That’s not true,” Stella argued.

Because people did know.

At least she thought people knew. They must have. Sara must have known. Felice must have known. That friend they had in Bjärstad from the football game must have known. Stella couldn’t have been the first one to notice.

“Look, Stella, only a few people know, and we don’t want everyone talking about it,” Wille said. The Crown Prince had regained his balance and was making a conscious effort not to reach out to his boyfriend. Stella tried not to notice how sweet that was: Wille wanting to comfort Simon. She made an effort not to notice because it would certainly dissolve her anger and she wanted to be angry. “You can… you can talk to them about it, but please don’t tell everyone yet. We want to be able to this time.” 

As much as it pained her to say it, that made sense to her. Simon and Wille didn’t get the opportunity to be a proper couple the first time around. They’d been flung into the spotlight, set on fire, and then made to dance. They were headed back on the right track, but it couldn’t have been easy.

They must be so scared. 

That was her first real, coherent thought. 

“Who knows?” she heard herself asking. 

Simon sighed and brushed his curls back with his hand. “Uh… my Mama and Sara. Felice and Maddie, and two of my Bjärstad friends. The Queen and Prince Consort. Just about everyone who works in Drottningholm.” 

Stella unintentionally let out a laugh. “So no one knows ? Is it only me and roughly five hundred other people?” she asked. 

Wille laughed under his breath. It was as if this was the first time he realized how extensive their small list of people who knew was. “Uhm… Fredrika- she, uh, also… knows,” he whispered.

Stella froze. Fredrika knew. She’d stopped making so many observations because she knew . Because she knew and didn’t want to tell Stella. Because she knew and she was lying to Stella.

“It’s not her fault. We asked her not to say anything,” the Crown Prince said. It was as if Wille could read her mind.

“Freddy knew?” she asked. Her voice was weaker now than it usually was. It was like the wind had been knocked out of her.

Fredrika was her best friend. They shared everything with each other. Every piece of gossip was shared between them. They were able to talk about anything and everything. There was almost never a time when neither of them could think of something to say.

Fredrika knew and kept it from Stella. Fredrika had known. Probably for weeks. 

Honestly, Stella’s first and only best friend was Fredrika. Her whole life had been spent in boarding schools, and it had been difficult, and this was the first time she’d ever really opened up to another person. She’d opened up to Freddy . Because they were meant to find each other.

Soulmates had been the word Stella used to describe them on many occasions. 

“Stella,” Simon said softly, ripping her from her thoughts. His eyes were soft. “Please don’t tell people yet.” 

Stella could only muster a slight nod and a hum of agreement. She then practically sprinted out of the room.

She didn’t tell anyone about the boys, but it was more for her own benefit than for theirs. She couldn’t bear to watch Fredrika pretend as if she hadn’t known this whole time. She couldn’t stand seeing her best friend lie to her face any longer. Stella refused to make Freddy lie to her again. 

So she said nothing. Not to Fredrika. Not to Felice. Not to Sara or Maddie. She kept this information to herself. She didn’t even talk to Simon and Wille about it. As far as everyone was concerned, it was like Stella had never discovered the truth.

Because Freddy had lied to her. 

And she would not give her a reason to justify it. 

The Other Girls at Hillerska 

It was September now. They were two weeks into their second year at Hillerska, and Wille could confidently state that he was doing good . Really, really good.

Simon and he had had a great summer together. They hadn’t had to disclose anything about their relationship to the media. Even when Wille was irritated with his boyfriend or his parents, he was still better than he had been in a really long time.

Kristina was becoming much more of a mother for once and had been more than accepting of this relationship and the way Wille wanted to live. He was beginning to enjoy certain elements of his role as Crown Prince. Being a future King wasn’t as terrifying as it used to be. He visited Drottningholm often and always took Simon with him. He stayed at the Erikssons often, too.

He could confidently say that his life was going well. To be honest, he felt a bit guilty about that, but it was fine. He was fine.

He was on his way to meet Simon at the bus stop when he felt an arm drag him into the Manor House dining room. A place he absolutely was not supposed to be on a Wednesday morning.

What made matters worse was that he had no idea who this girl was. He knew most of the girls at this school and had been there on move-in day to meet the new first years. He knew most of the girls here. He even knew most of their names.

Not this one. 

“What are you-?” he was shoved towards the other side of the room. Malin walked in after him, but did nothing to stop the girl. He’d told her she didn’t have to protect him at school. At least not against his classmates. August was the only student she had ever been given permission to beat the shit out of. A permission she’d almost taken liberties with multiple times.

“Sit,” another girl demanded. 

For the first time, he looked around the room. Madison, Felice, and Sara sat with their arms crossed at the far end of the table. Simon took up a seat beside them. Wille’s first instinct, as it had been for the previous six months, was to go to him. It had been his instinct since the day they met, but he wouldn’t admit that. If he did, Simon would call him a sap.

So he made his way across the room, to the empty chair in between Felice and Simon, and took a seat.

“What’s going on?” he asked Simon. 

Simon shrugged his shoulders. He, too, had been forced to be here. He, too, was not supposed to have been in the girls’ dining room on a Wednesday morning. “I don’t know,” he answered. “They kidnapped me from the bus stop.” 

Wille reached out immediately. He moved Simon’s head from side to side, searching for any visible injuries. They really needed to get Simon a security team. They’d been talking about it all summer, but he hadn’t had to take further action since he’d spent the three months with Wille.

Angelica had started to take some responsibility, but nothing had been official yet. Christoffer was still on the fence about taking the job since he wouldn’t be able to explain to anyone why he was guarding the boy from the sex scandal.

But it shouldn’t have been that easy to kidnap the Crown Prince’s boyfriend from the bus station.

“Are you hurt?” Wille asked. 

Simon shook his head and shoved Wille’s hand away forcefully. “Just my ego,” he mumbled. “I got kidnapped by three girls.” 

The girls at the opposite end of the table were staring with their mouths agape. “Oh my god, they are dating,” the one who’d snatched Wille inside said.

Simon and Wille both turned to Stella immediately. “ You !” 

She held her hands up and shook her head from side to side rapidly. “It wasn’t me!” she shouted. Stella turned and glanced around the room as if to ask for help, but the truth was that no one was going to help her. No one had even realized she knew until this very moment, and now they were all going to be even angrier with her. This was how they all discovered out that she knew.

Fredrika was the first one to speak up. “You knew, too?” she asked her roommate.

Stella gave a defeated nod. They’d gone four months without speaking to one another about Stella’s discovery. After four months, Fredrika still had no idea that Stella was aware of her lying.

Well, that was shot to shit now . 

Madison and Sara remained oddly silent as they sipped their drinks. Everyone assumed they already knew, which was why they were isolated from the rest of the girls.

“To be completely fair,” Felice started, “you aren’t exactly subtle.” 

Wille and Simon made a nearly identical scoffing noise. It only made the whole thing worse. They were so close that they started to mimic each other’s mannerisms. All the girls picked up on it. They all pointed it out.

“You did go on vacation together for an entire month,” Sara added. 

Simon picked up a croissant from the center of the table and hurled it at his sister. “Not helping, Sara!” he scolded. 

“No, she’s right!” Madison came to her aid. She braced herself for a pastry to be hurled at her head, but Wille caught Simon’s wrist before he could grab one. “You two were all over the magazines this summer. They were all going to figure it out at some point.” 

“Wait so…” a third-year girl was standing at the end of the table. Wille still couldn’t remember her name. “All of them knew?” she asked, pointing at the row of girls sitting with Simon and Wille. The boys nodded their heads in unison. “Do any of the boys know?” 

Simon and Wille exchanged glances. Technically, no. None of the boys had any clue. They hadn’t been clever enough to figure it out just yet, and the couple wasn’t going to straight-up tell them. As far as the Forest Ridge boys were concerned, Simon and Wille were just really good pals .

And they liked it that way.

“No. They’re really dumb,” Simon concluded. 

“I bet they won’t figure it out until you two get fucking married or something,” Maddie said under her breath. 

But that was a terrible comment. One that would change the couple’s relationship with the Manor House Girls for the rest of time. 

Because that remark sparked a discussion among the girls about when the Forest Ridge boys would discover it. How much money would they bet on it. How often could they change their wager.  They bickered about timetables and how much money was too much to bet. The girls were asking Simon and Wille for their insight on just how fucking dumb the Forest Ridge boys really were, and if they thought it would be more or less than six months before they started figuring out the couple.

And then the game was made.

Every girl had placed a bet. Wille and Simon came up with a joint estimate. Felice and Stella had begun calculating the mathematical probability of just about everything. Fredrika and Sara had begun to discuss the boys’ earlier cluelessness. Maddie bet that either Simon or Wille would fuck up the game and ruin it for everyone else who played.

And the game was born.