The Princess and the Principal Read online

  The Princess and the Principal

  The Rebel Royals Book 5

  Shanae Johnson

  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Epilogue

  Also by Shanae Johnson

  Prologue

  Molly Romano kicked the back of her Hush Puppies against the leg of the swivel chair. She’d chosen to sit in the grown-up chairs at the Principal’s desk rather than at the small table with the bright orange and red chairs that had the cutouts in the back. She’d never understood why elementary school chairs had the cutouts in the backs? Did teachers think kids needed the ventilation at their backs and bottoms?

  From her perch, she looked around the inner sanctum of the leader of her newest school. It was her fourth school in six years. That is if you count kindergarten. This would be her third principal’s office visit in that time.

  On the walls were, of course, pictures of the man in charge surrounded by kids. Like all the other pictures on the other principals’ walls, this one was dressed in a clean white shirt. He had graying hair, but a young face. A very young face. Just looking at his face, Molly would’ve guessed this man was her mom’s age.

  Another difference that this principal had over the other two was the kids around him. They were actually grinning, not smiling as though they were being forced. The kids looked like they were having a good time. A few of them were looking up at the principal as though they even liked him.

  On the desk was also a gold placard that proudly displayed the words Principal. There was an emphasis on the end of the word as PAL in red, capital letters. Molly supposed it was to indicate that the man wanted to be friends with the kids.

  There was also a picture of the same man dressed as Santa. Molly was old enough to know that Santa didn’t exist. Her father had told her so when she was five despite her mother’s protests. He did tell her that reindeer were real but didn’t fly. Rabbits didn’t lay eggs. There was also no Tooth Fairy.

  He’d promised there were no monsters in her closet. But she wasn’t so sure about that one. She was sure there hadn’t been any in her old home which had been an apartment. On the other side of the closet had been her parents’ bedroom. She’d heard them arguing loud enough to scare away any potential closet monsters.

  She now lived in an old house. It looked like a small castle. Because it had been a castle. But that was over a hundred years ago when one of her grandfather’s ancestors had built it as a summer castle. Though the rooms were small. Molly wasn’t sure what was on the other side of her new closet. But it was quiet in her grandparents’ old house. All so very quiet.

  Molly hated it.

  A knock sounded on the other side of the door. Molly wondered if she should say come in? But there was no need. The door swung open and in the frame stood the man that was in the picture frames.

  He didn’t bow at the waist. He didn’t bow his head either. Many of Cordoba’s citizens didn’t practice the old ways in this new age. Unless it was with King Leonidas or Prince Alexandar. Definitely not with a distant cousin who wasn’t close enough on the branches of the family tree to be given the title of princess.

  “Good afternoon, Molly.”

  The principal’s smile was big and bright. Molly was instantly suspicious. Instead of greeting him the way she was taught by her mother -with manners- she stared mutely; the way she’d observed her father do.

  “My name is Principal Kidd.”

  He stuck out his hand. Molly was already in enough trouble, she decided to show she did have some manners. She shook his hand. But lightly, and not firmly like her grandpa had taught her.

  “I hear you’ve been causing a bit of mischief in your class,” Principal Kidd said as he took his seat.

  Molly shrugged. “It was just a joke.”

  “Mrs. Steen didn’t think so. She didn’t think glitter on the whiteboard eraser was a laughing matter.”

  “I still say that it could’ve been a fairy come to brighten her dull lesson.”

  And that tall tale would’ve stuck. But the whole class had told on her. Every single head had turned to her, many fingers pointed, her name came out of the mouth of each kid in the classroom. What kind of kids didn’t appreciate a joke played on the teacher? Especially a lemon-pinched mouth, something-smells-bad nosed, beady-eyes-peering-over glasses teacher like Mrs. Steen.

  Since she’d been here the last two weeks, not a single person had missed a homework assignment. Every hand went up when the teacher asked a question. Molly was sure she was in the Upside Down version of schools and Mrs. Steen was a Demogorgon sucking the spirit out of these kids.

  But the principal didn’t try to abduct her into another realm. He leaned back in his own adult-sized swivel chair and chuckled softly. It wasn’t a monstrous, big belly laugh. He didn’t flash sharp teeth. It was almost a giggle, like when she and her mother used to have tickle wars.

  “Mrs. Steen said that the other day you erased the numbers on her ruler?”

  “We were talking about world leaders. I was trying to participate in the lesson with a utilitarian ruler.”

  Now the principal threw back his head and outright laughed. It surprised Molly. It had been so long since she’d heard an adult laugh, especially a man. Her father was always frowning, or upset, or just plain angry.

  “You’re a smart kid, Molly. You have a great imagination.”

  Molly couldn’t figure this guy out? “So, you’re not going to suspend me? Or give me after school detention?”

  The gray-haired man with the young man’s face tilted his head like Tweety Bird. “Why would I do that?”

  “Because what I did was… wrong.”

  Principal Kidd nodded.

  Uh oh. Was this it? Had she slipped and fallen into his trap? Was he now going to tell her that she was doing what she did for attention? She’d watched a couple of episodes of the Dr. Phil show with her grandma. This was some of that reversal psychology.

  “I’ve read your file,” he said. “Before coming to Barton Elementary, you’ve been to three different schools in the past six years.”

  “My family moved around a lot.”

  “But you’ve always received high marks in your academics…and a lot of notes about your behavior.”

  Principal Kidd lifted his brow at her. But he didn’t roll his eyes like the last two principals did. Or like her father did when she tried to talk to him but he was too busy, always too busy.

  Principal Kidd didn’t look too busy at all. He didn’t frown or look upset, or angry. He was still smiling at her.

  It reminded her of how her mom smiled. In fact, his laugh had also reminded Molly of her mom. It had been so long since she’d heard her mom laugh.

  “I think you’re a special kid,” Principal Kidd was saying. “In fact, you’re my favorite kind of kid; smarts and imagination. I think you can fit in here if you give us a chance.”

  Molly felt something twitch in her chest. She gazed up at the principal and the sincerity in his gaze. He wasn’t playing any tricks. He meant it. Maybe he wasn’t like the rest? Maybe she could give him a chance?

  “I will have to call your parents.”

  And no
w she wanted to revoke that chance. Her shoulders slumped at the thought of her mother receiving yet another call from a school. “It’s just my mom.”

  “I’m guessing by your tone, she won’t think the fairy eraser was funny?”

  “She would’ve thought so. Before the divorce. Now she’s always so serious.”

  Instead of reaching for the phone, Principal Kidd leaned forward. “My parents are divorced too. They got divorced when I was your age.”

  Molly spied a picture at the corner of the principal’s desk. In it was a picture of an even younger version of the man, still with gray hair. He wore a square cap on his head and was dressed in a dark cape. Likely his graduation. He was standing between two smiling adults.

  “Yup, that’s them. Oh, they get along. They just weren’t right for each other. They’re both happily remarried to other people.”

  Molly knew her dad was seeing other women. He’d started while he and her mom were still married. Maybe that’s why they got divorced? Molly wasn’t sure. But her dad did seem happier now. The few times she’d seen him since the divorce.

  Her mom hadn’t dated any other man at all. Maybe her mom should start to date? Then maybe she’d laugh again.

  Just like the principal laughed…

  Molly looked up at Principal Kidd. He didn’t have a ring on his left hand. She hadn’t seen any pictures of him with women his own age. Just pictures of him with his parents and with kids.

  “What’s your mom’s name?” he asked. “Oh, I’ve got it here. Kylee...”

  “Kylee Romano,” Molly finished for him. “But she’s going by her original name, her maiden name.”

  “Kylee Bauer? Your mom is Kylee Bauer?”

  “Yes. Do you know her?”

  “Yeah,” said Principal Kidd. “Yeah, I know Princess Kylee Bauer.”

  Molly rarely heard her mom’s name spoken with the royal title. It was as though most of the country had forgotten who she was after her father ran off to marry a commoner. But Molly supposed these were different times. After all, both King Leo and Prince Alex had married commoners. And Queen Esme and Princess Jan weren’t even Cordovian. They were Americans.

  But Principal Kidd wasn’t looking as though he was disapproving of her family. His eyes got that gooey faraway look like a Looney Tunes cartoon character when they fell in love.

  Wait? So, Principal Kidd knew her mom. And he got the lovey-dovey look just at hearing her name. And he wasn’t married.

  A plan began to form in Molly’s brain. One that would require a bit of imagination and probably some fairy sparkles if it were to work.

  Chapter One

  “We can’t keep going over this again and again.”

  Kylee Bauer looked up at the kid looming over her. He couldn’t be more than twenty-two, fresh out of college, making more than she ever made in her twenty-nine years. But he was her supervisor.

  He was also shorter than her, which was why she was sitting. She’d dealt with boys like him her whole life. Short, insecure, little lordlings who would take credit for the work she did because they were threatened by her intelligence.

  But Kylee hadn’t had the use of her title in years. Anthony Sims wouldn’t know that he should bow to her rather than lord over her. It didn’t matter because it was Kylee who wasn’t on his level. Anthony knew more about AI-generated learning programs than she did.

  Just a decade ago, Kylee had been at the top of her high school classes. She’d earned a full scholarship partially based on her perfect SAT scores. She’d planned to major in Instructional Design. But that was all before she’d further disgraced her already disgraced family by getting pregnant in her sophomore year at university. She’d had to take a temporary leave from college that turned into two years.

  By the time she’d managed to finish her degree a few years later, everything in the academic testing world had changed. Gone were the personalized curriculum planning and lesson plans she’d been introduced to in her freshman year. Now everything was digital, and Kylee was still stuck in an analog world.

  With her Number 2 pencil in hand, she scratched out a circle on her notepad -the old fashion parchment, not a computer tablet. “I’m sorry, Anthony. Do you think you can explain the program to me one more time?”

  The co-ed sighed. His head fell to his chin, giving Kylee a glimpse of the back of the man bun on top of his head.

  “Actually, you know what,” she said. “I think I’ve got it now.”

  Kylee tapped a few keys and prayed. Someone up above was listening because the program beeped to life and began to run. She tried to hide the surprise from her face as she looked back up at Anthony.

  He eyed her skeptically. But luckily for her, he had a short attention span like many in this generation who spent their days staring at screens. Hardly anyone in the office of Thrive Learning Systems held a pencil. That was a shame because every standardized test from the SATs to the ACTs to the International Baccalaureate Exams all still required the use of pencil and paper.

  Kylee looked back to the test she was in the midst of preparing a preparatory course for. Her problem remained that she had no clue how she’d gotten it to work. She still didn’t fully understand the inner workings of the new system. What she did know was how to prepare lessons and assessments.

  She pulled out the sharpener for her pencil. There was something satisfying in watching the shavings fall off the lead. The pencil was being born anew as well as getting sharp for its new task.

  Much like Kylee.

  She’d shed her skin more than once before. First with her family moving from royalty to commoners. Next with transforming herself from the Student Most Likely to Succeed into the cliché good girl who ran off with the bad boy. Try as she might, she could never get that role to fit. But neither could she pull on her old skin of Girl at the Head of the Class. Now she had to forge a new identity in this company, and she was determined it wouldn’t be the Kid at the Back of the Class who didn’t know the material.

  Kylee rolled up her sleeves and prepared to get to work. Of course, her cell phone chose that moment to ring. She looked down at the number. It looked vaguely familiar.

  “Mrs. Romano?” said the voice on the other end.

  “No,” Kylee said, shaking her head for further emphasis even though the person on the other end of the receiver couldn’t see her. “I mean, yes. I was Kylee Romano. I go by Bauer now.”

  “Mrs. Bauer-”

  “No. I mean, yes. I’m no longer married. It’s Ms. Bauer.”

  There was a pregnant pause. “Ms. Bauer?”

  “Yes.”

  “This is Mrs. Ackerman from Barton Elementary School. I’m calling about your daughter.”

  Kylee didn’t panic. She didn’t immediately think the worst. She doubted that her child had fallen into danger and been harmed. Instead, Kylee sighed and caught her forehead in her palm. “What has Molly done now?”

  “She was sent to the principal’s office this afternoon. He’d like to have a word with you. Can you come in?”

  Kylee couldn’t leave work just now. She had to turn in this project. But first, she had to understand the software, get her test questions into the software, and figure out where the send button was so that she could submit it to her boss. “I’ll be by to pick her up after school.”

  “He’d like to meet with you before then, if possible.”

  “I’m sorry, I can’t leave work right now.”

  There was another pregnant pause. But Kylee was used to them. She was determined not to let that silence judge her. Unfortunately, the silence was louder than her resolve. “Fine. I’ll be there in an hour.”

  Molly acting up at yet another school was the last thing Kylee needed. The jokes her daughter liked to play and the mischief she liked to cause were all from her father’s side of the family, make no mistake about it. Kylee knew the divorce had been hard on Molly. But so had the years of moving around and not knowing where the next meal was coming from.
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  They were stable now. There would be no more moving now that she was back in her hometown of Adalia, which was just to the north of Cordoba’s capital city. Here, bike paths lined every two-lane street and recreational areas for the young and young at heart were at every corner. Kylee was determined to give Molly the same kind of upbringing that she’d had, right down to the small cottage sized castle fit for a disinherited prince. The two story house even had a couple of turrets atop the roof.

  Unlike her own parents, when Molly entered the dating years, Kylee was going to scrutinize every guy that came along. If he wore a motorcycle jacket, was in a band, or any other cliché that bad boys cloaked themselves in to trick good girls, Kylee was going to kick his little booty to the curb so fast.

  Molly would be a good girl. And there would be no James Dean wannabes hanging around her daughter. There would not be a repeat mistake of that. In fact, Kylee was certain she would never date again herself.

  Chapter Two

  The day had been cloudy, but as Ron stepped out of the cafeteria, the clouds broke, and the sun came out. A blue jay perched on the cherry blossom tree outside the doorway to the lunchroom and began a sweet tune. Ron hummed along, pursing his lips in time to the tweets.

  Kylee Bauer was back in town.

  “Principal Kidd, someone stuffed a Harry Potter book in the toilet in the bathroom in the upper hall. There’s water all over the place.”

  “Cool. That’s good,” Ron said patting the head janitor on his back.

  Not only was Kylee Bauer back in town, but she was minus a wannabe James Dean husband. Ron had never liked Jason Romano and his ultra gelled hair, and his misquoting of Lord Byron love poems, or his motorcycle jacket and motorcycle, and did he mention the gelled, black hair.