It has been awhile, and for that I apologize. But I am back with another chapter. Evie and Ali have a little friendship moment here because I realized I haven't written one for them and I love the idea of them being friends. So, I fixed it. Anyways, I hope you enjoy!

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing, except Ali and the plot.

CARLOS

I pulled Ali close to me, wrapping my arms around her waist as I felt hers go around my neck and her hands go into my hair.

"I missed you," She whispered to me.

I pulled her closer, "I missed you too."

She pulled away slightly and I closed the distance between us. I haven't kissed her in a week and I missed the feeling of her lips moving against mine. Someone cleared their throat and I was reminded that we had an audience. Reluctantly, we parted, and I had to let go of Ali. I smiled at the sight of her cheeks flushed slightly red as she smiled and greeted the rest of our friends.

"So, when's the grand tour?" Jay joked as he looked around the room.

Ali laughed at him, "Well the grand tour would take a long time to give. How about I just take you guys to my room for now?" She turned and started walking back up the stairs.

Doug laughed, "Trust me, the tour would probably take up the whole day."

"Wow, Ali," Evie walked next to her, "I didn't think you would be so okay with living in a castle."

I heard a heavy sigh from Ali and I grabbed her hand before she spoke, "I'm really okay with it, because my parents let me have my own space and do with it what I want. I think they realized that was only way I'd be happy with it."

She stopped in front of a large door before she turned to us, "I told you that I have a dog, right?" She was mainly talking to me.

I shook my head, "No, actually that never came up."

She gave an apprehensive smile, "Well, her name is Penny, and she's a dalmatian," She finished her sentence slowly.

Wow. I did not expect that. I didn't really know what to think so I just nodded, "Okay," I think she, and everyone could tell that I was just a tad nervous.

She turned back to open the door. I knew she told us her room was as least princess like as she could have it; but I still didn't know what to expect. Her room was large and painted a bright shade of teal. She had black and white furniture, with a large bed that had a gray and black comforter on it. There were several large gray rugs on the floor, and there was a dog lying on top of one of them.

Ali walked over to the dog, "Penny," She called.

The dog slowly opened her eyes and got up. Okay, this dog was huge. I immediately knew that my mother would all over her. The thought of that scared me more than the dog. Penny must have realized that Doug was here because she ran up to him as fast as she could. Doug smiled and knelt down, and Penny licked his face. Penny then went to greet Ben and Lonnie, before trotting over to me.

Ali showed up next to me, "She can probably sense Dude on you. She's just going to sniff you, she won't jump or lick you until she's used to you."

I held my palm out so Penny could sniff me, her black nose tickled a little bit. She went and did the same thing to Jay, Evie and finally Mal before jumping on Ali's bed and seemingly staring at her.

"Alright you big furball," Ali laughed and sat down on her bed and started rub Penny behind her ears.

The dog laid down and rested her head in Ali's lap as I walked over and sat with her on the bed. Jay walked over to a chair that hung from ceiling and struggled getting into it.

ALI

"Jay, do you need help?" I laughed as I watched Jay attempt to get into my hanging chair.

It was a wicker chair that I painted white with a black seat cushion and a fluffy gray blanket in it. Jay couldn't get it to stay still long enough for him to sit in it. It was quite a sight to see.

"Nope," he reasoned, "I almost got it."

Finally, Jay was able to get into the chair, "This chair is comfy," he leaned his head back and closed his eyes.

I laugh at him, "How was school this past week?"

Mal shrugged, "The same as usual. Audrey has been hanging out with us."

"Still weird without you being there though," Lonnie looked at me.

Everyone else nodded and mumble sounds of agreement. I gave them all a sympathetic look and excused myself to get changed in my closet. Giving Carlos a kiss on the cheek and Penny a pat on the head I hopped off my bed and walked across my room into my closet. I picked out a 'mother approved' dress and changed quickly, sitting back down at my vanity was how I realized that Evie had wandered into my closet.

"Your closet is huge," She was looking though all my gowns hanging on one side of the closet.

I chuckled at her response, "Yeah I know," I took my hair down and shook it out, "Honestly, I wish I didn't need all this space."

She turned around and walked up behind me, grabbing a hairbrush and smoothing out my hair, "You always talk about not liking the princess life and not wanting to be a queen. But you've never truly explained why, at least not to me. Being a princess and living in a castle is something I have dreamed about all my life. I'm sorry, but it's hard for me to imagine having it and not wanting it."

"I can understand where you're coming from. It's not something I explain very often because I don't like going into it. But, as one of my best friends, you have a right to know. When I was younger I would always see my grandparents and my parents stressing about royal duties and freaking out about it. I never wanted to be like that. When Audrey and I were growing up, we were put through countless classes. Etiquette classes, ballet classes, voice coaching, horseback riding, princess lessons, you name it we took it. While I'm not going to lie and say I hated all of it, obviously I loved the dancing and gymnastics classes, but I loved them because I could be free in them. I hated the regimen, the rules, the rigidity of everything."

Evie sat next to me on the small bench as I continued the story, "Both of my parents tried to get me to more into it than I was, as first born I'm next in line as queen, and they both wanted me to take the throne. My father realized earlier that I wasn't going to change my mind, and while he still expects certain things from me, he respects that I don't want to be in this life forever. My mother, while she does respect my choices, doesn't agree with them. We've always butted heads over this topic. She still wants me to take the throne. I just can't imagine making my entire life fit into this little box of rules and responsibilities."

Evie nodded, "Thank you for explaining that to me, I can see where you're coming from, but I have one other question. Why are you going along with your mother now?"

I smiled and pulled my crown out of the drawer, "Well, I'm hoping that if I go with everything long enough and act the way my mother wants. Maybe I can convince them to let me go back to school."

Evie laughed, "Ulterior motives, I should have known," she stood behind me again and helped bobby pin the crown in place and placing a few strands of hair around it.

"Did you girls get lost in there or something?" Ben joked as Evie and I walked back into the room.

I looked at him, "Did you get my sass when I left?"

He shrugged, "Maybe."

I rolled my eyes and sat on my bed next to Carlos. Penny was still lying on the foot of my bed, "You guys want to see a trick?"

"Yes!" Jay shouted, without a moment of hesitation.

I laughed, "Penny!" She picked her head up and started to wag her tail at the sound of my voice, "Where's Ben? Go get Ben!"

Penny jumped off my bed and ran straight for our lovely King, "Mal you might want move!" Doug grabbed her wrist and pulled her away from Penny's target.

"No! Ali, why?" Ben shouted as he curled into a ball on my couch. Penny jumped on him just as he covered his head with arms, but that didn't stop her from licking him to death. "Okay, okay, okay! Penny you found me! You win! Heal, girl!" Penny eventually stopped and sat down in front of him. Expecting to be pet by her victim. Everyone else in the room was laughing hysterically, even Mal.

"That. Was. The. Best. Thing," Jay managed to wheeze out.

Ben stared daggers at me as he reluctantly pet Penny on her head. It was good to be with all my friends again.