He walked through the giant hallway looking at his watch. He was
supposed to meet with some friends for lunch and perhaps some sport. He
made his way to his dorm, the khakis and plaid shirt he was wearing
weren't going to do. A pretty brunette with long hair walked, almosr
running, through the hallway his way. She was in a summer dress and was
holding a pile of books. The girl stopped for a moment to hold her head,
she looked sick or unsteady in some way. As she passed him, she asked
hurriedly, "Excuse me, could you please direct me to the nearest medical
facility?"
He searched through the school's map in his head as fast as he could.
Cambridge was huge. Where was ther a clinic? "Uh, uh.." She looked like
she had an emergency and her eyes pleaded for a quick answer. She looked
pretty with her tosseled hair and a pile of books and the summer dress
of flowers.
He brought back his thoughts to her question. "It's uh, uh..."
Her eyes closed sleepily and lost her balance. She would have fainted
and fallen onto the floor, but she fell on his chest and grabbed his arm
for balance.
"Miss, are you alright?" he asked worriedly. He was beginning to be
really concerned for her.
"Oh, God, I'm sorry, sorry. Yea, I'm fine. I'm fine, I just, I'm a
little dizzy."
He searched her, not believing her words but not wanting to press on and
annoy her. " Do you know where there's a clinic?" she asked again.
"Yes, yes, but it is quite far, I don't suppose you--"
Just then, she covered her mouth. "Miss?"
She regurgitated on his shirt all of a sudden, her face flushed and
sick. The vomit covered his clothes and slipped down, dripping on the
floor. He stood speechless and disgusted, not knowing what to say or
even do. Both were silent for a few minutes. She was a bit bent over
clutching her stomach in pain. Suddenly realizing what she did, her eyes
opened wide and she covered he mouth, this time in an embarrased gasp.
"O my God! O my God! I am so sorry! I am SO SO sorry!" She covered her
face in her hands and through them repeated her apology over and over
again.
He was angry for being soiled like this and his body felt completely
disgusted. How did she do that? Didn't she have control over herself?
Didn't she know how to be more careful?
Gradually, at the sight of this embarased girl, who looked like she was
going to cry and couldn't stop apologozing, he calmed down a bit. He
could just wash it off, but he couldn't help smiling at her worried
face, so scared now of what he was going to say to her.
"O my God, o my God, o my God.." she said shaking her head.
"It's alright, I can just wash it off, I have plenty others. It's
alright, really."
Truthfully, he couldn't stand it on him one more second though, but for
the sake of this girl and not wanting to make her cry...
At that moment a woman in a dark jacket with a cambridge crest passed by
the two. "Prince William!" she exclaimed when she saw him standing there
with the vomit on his shirt. He lifted his hand to silence her before
she got a heartattack.
"What happened?" she asked, glancing at the girl, suspiciously and
dissapprovingly already. You would think the girl had scratched a golden
shrine.
"She was sick and she...she was trying to find the clinic and did not
find it in time."
The woman's eyes widened in complete amazement at the scene. "Why I
never...," she began. The girl lifted her eyes from her pained belly to fce this
woman. She was so humbled and felt so sorry, she barely raise her head,
not that her present health permited much anyhow.
The woman had no pity. "What do you have to say for yourself? Do you
know who this is? Do you?" Her raised eyebrows and hard eyes were
expectant and mean. The girl nodded weakly. "Yes, yes I do."
William stood rose faced and nervous. "There is really no need for
this..."
Without taking her eyes off the girl, she cut him off. "Yes, there is.
We teach our newcomers and especially those who are foreigners and
perhaps are unaware of the environment they are entering. Well, let me
make this very clear to you-," she directed at the girl, "learn to
control yourself, like an adult. You've created a fine mess here, you
know, a fine mess! Look at this! Look at this! It's extremely horrible
what you've done, but even worse with whom! Do you know who this is, do
you have any idea? This is His Royal Highness Prince William of Wales.
You owe him respect, miss, you've made quite a spectacle of yourself
here! And in front of royalty no less! What do you have to say for
yourself, I demand an apology for him at once!"
The girl has straightened herself up and looked calmly into the woman's
eyes as she yelled and criticized her. Now she spoke just as calmly
witha steady voice , clear and unafraid.
"I know perfectly well who this is ma'am. I am fully aware. Now, I
believe you are the one making a spectacle with herself, and in front of
royalty no less, in making this a far greater issue than it is. Now, I
can assure you that I've already offered my apologies to His Royal
Highness , as much as I am willing to apologize, and any more would be a
step to degradation. And for the record, I am fully aware of the
environment I have entered in and if your hopes were set on impressing
me or teaching me anything, I am sorry to tell you you do not impress me
and before you hope to teach me anything, you must learn to control
yourself, ma'am and teach yourself how to behave in public, even with
simple little people like me."
The woman was shocked and aghast at this rebellion and an rude
behaviour. How dare she? How dare she? A young girl like she, a student,
a freshman who wasn't even English, embarrass her and question her
authority in front of the prince?
"You are an imprud ent...ill-mannered...young woman, if you can be
called such a name! How dare you speak to me this way! You Americans!
You are a simple student where as he is the Prince of Wales! You
apologize to him at this second!"
The girl smiled coolly. "With all due respect, I've apologized as much as
I am going to. And, just for the sake of clarity, he may be the Prince
of Wales but he is just as good or bad as anyone else and I am not going
to go on my hands and knees for him anymore than anyone else. And, I'm
not American."
The woman stood silent an angry. The girl's bravery and strength of
character surprised him. Before the two women got any further, which he
feared would result in physical assault, William spoke up.
"Ma'am, I don't need an apology. I am alright. The young lady however
is not, if you'll please escort her to the clinic? She needs to be seen
by someone."
The woman answered she had to see to important matter but that they
could see in the office and receive directions there. She left with a
quick and polite goodbye to William, nothign to girl. The girl who still
hadn't introduced herself properly to him stood and watched the woman
walk away in her stiff dark blue jacket and gray skirt. When she left
she let out a heavy sigh.
"I'm sorry..." he began.
She smiled. "It's okay, she just has her bolts too tight, that's all."
She looked at his shirt. "O God...o man, I'm so sorry."
He laughed. "I thought you said you weren't apologizing anymore."
"Yea, well. But you said you have more of those, right? Really?".
He answered yes. "What are you doing for lunch?" he asked nervously. His
hands fidgeted in his pockets. This was one girl who's answer wasn't
exactly predictable. She wasn't impressed by him and she wasn't like the
rest of them.
She looked down. She was busy and she was nervous and she had lots of
stuff to do and she didn't know what to say and...
"I don't know, um, I really shouldget some stuff done but then again it
can wait, I don't know. I think maybe later, some other time, I..." she
put her hand on her forehead. She was feeling dizzy again.
"I..." Slowly her eyes closed, everything went black and she fell.
At The Clinic...
She woke up with the feel of cold water in her hair. Someone was washing
her hair. She immediatly tried to get up but someone kept her head down.
"No, no. I have to get this out of your hair. Don't worry, it won't be
long. You fainted and when you when you did, you fell on Prince William
who you vominted on previously right? Well, you got your hair dirty from
his shirt."
"Oh...thanks then. Where is he?"
"O, he's sitting out there waiting for you. He carried you in here, you
know. Said you were very sick and needed to see a doctor."
"I'm okay though right?"
The young nurse stroked her hair softly."Yea, we got some pills for you
that will make you alright, you must have eaten something that got you
sick."
"I don't know what it could have been. Well, I had some mystery food
today at the Grab-A-Burger. That could be it."
"The Grab A Burger? O no, don't ever eat there, unless you fancy some
doctor and you want to be here that frequently."
She laughed. "No, that's okay."
She walked out of the room with loose wet hair tucked behind her ears.
He was sitting on a waiting room chair with her books next to him. He
looked up from one of her textbooks as she came in.
"You know these are really good." He said. She looked and saw she had
stuck some papers with poetry written on them in her textbook.
"Oh, thank you." She felt naked all of a sudden. Nobody read her poetry,
ever. Unless it was an assignment or someone she had known for a really
LONG time.
"Are you alright?" he asked, closing the book.
"Yea, they gave me some pill, said I must have eaten something from the
grab a burger down the street."
"You are not familiar with the area?"
"No." "I knew it. No one goes to the grab a burger. So...you never
answered my question. What are you doing for lunch?"
"Um, well, I just met you, William. And well, I don't know..."
"Oh, come on, I won't hurt you, I promise. Have lunch with me."
