Chapter 6: When The Cookie Crumbles Into Your Beard

                                    

                                          
Over the next few days Teddy didn't see Andrew and Andrew didn't see her.
                          
Teddy had become Theodora again.
                          
The Nerd. 
                          
The Loner.
                          
The person she wanted everyone to see, if they ever took notice that is. She purposefully avoided Andrew. She didn't want to see him. She couldn't see him. She couldn't let him learn more; about anything. He knew too much already. It wasn't much, but it was too much for him to know. 
                          
Andrew desperately wanted to talk to her.
                          
He needed to talk to her.
                          
He needed her on board with his plan.
                          
Andrew couldn't find her. Anywhere. At school? She wasn't there. The shop? Not there either. It was like she was avoiding him and he didn't like it. As much as he hated to admit he almost liked the girl. The girl who knew too much.
                          
Almost.
                          
When Andrew did find her, it was only for a second before she disappeared.
                          
'Where could she have gone?'
                          
'Why is she avoiding me?'
                          
'What did I do?'
                          
Andrew couldn't figure it out. There was too much that he couldn't figure out.
                          
"Theodora? Is there a Theodora Rose in this class?" 'Wait, what? She's in my class? Why did I not know that? Wait, no one knew that. Why is she being called now?' Andrew had so many thoughts before being interrupted again.
                          
"Theodora, there you are. The headmaster would like to see you. You can pick up your things and go."
                          
Andrew looked in her direction. 'That is not the girl I know. She doesn't even look remotely similar.' He thought back to the day they met, when she bumped into him, he knew it was probably his fault but he didn't care. He always got his way. He is the prince after all. He remembered her clothes and remembered that it is the same girl with similar clothing, but when they met she had more makeup on and at first was timid but had a fire in her that he quite liked.
                          
"Will someone please accompany Miss Rose to the office please? Ah, yes Andrew could you do it, he would like to see you as well." 'What? Why does the headmaster want to see both me and Teddy?'
                          
Once they had left the class room Andrew began to speak, "So, why have you been avoiding me? It's rude you know, to avoid someone. Especially someone who happens to be looking for you to ask you something."
                          
"Look, Sir, I am avoiding you for a reason and I have a feeling that you heard something you were not meant to, but you still are trying to find me anyway." And with that she walked away, leaving Andrew more frustrated then when he couldn't find her.
                          
Once they entered the headmaster's office, Teddy just walked straight in, acting like she own it and Andrew couldn't say he didn't enjoy it.
                          
"What do you want Paul. I am supposed to be hidden, yet you call for me from the classroom, and force me to walk with this idiot over there?"
                          
"Miss Rose, I have brought you here under the circumstances that you, yourself, have caused a problem that has put you in danger. And I made you walk with Mr Charles here as he is the reasoning for it and it's the same for you Mr Charles. You both have a secret that you cannot tell, yet you both have told each other." 
                          
"Paul, look...." Andrew was interrupted.
                          
"No. You have both violated the agreements that you have signed upon entering this school. I have let a lot pass and this is your final warning. I don't want to kick you out of this school, but I need you both to be safe. I am a carer to both of you while you are on these premises and I am not going to be responsible for any problems that you cause. You both may leave. Now." 
                          
Andrew and Teddy looked at each other and sighed as they left his office. They both knew they needed to work together, and Paul is not going to help either of them this time. They were screwed. 
                          
"Dora, look..."
                          
"Don't call me that. You have no right to call me that. I am not your Dora."
                          
"Okay. I'm sorry." Andrew says softly as she slowly strokes her arm. "I won't call you that again. I promise." 
                          
He was being too nice for her liking.
                          
"I've got to go." Teddy told him and walked away. 
                          
"She sure does like to walk away from me, doesn't she?" He whispered to himself. 
                          
"She sure does mate. She sure does." Andrew heard before he turned to see who it was, although he already had an idea.
                          
"Paul." Andrew wasn't in the mood to talk nor see to his bodyguard/Headmaster. 
                          
"I'm sorry son. I know this wasn't what you wanted when you came to school, but it's what you get."
                          
Andrew understood. But he didn't have to like it.
                          
"What do you know of Theodora, Andrew?" Paul was worried he knew too much. Not only is he there to protect Prince Andrew, but also to protect Theodora.
                          
"Not much. Except she speaks umm..... I don't know what language it is but she speaks 5 others too."
                          
"It was probably Russian." Paul whispered, glad that that is all he knew. But in reality Andrew knew so much more than that.
                          
"Huh? What, what was that Paul?" Andrew question, even though he heard. 'People need to get better at whispering around here.' Andrew then realised he was also in those 'people', as Paul heard him earlier. 'Or, we all have super hearing!' he added sarcastically. 
                          
"Nothing. I was just thinking out loud. Remember your mother wants to know of your choice soon." 
                          
"What the fuck is on your face Mason?" Teddy questioned as soon as she entered her office.
                          
She was annoyed to say the least. Paul was being an idiot if he thought she told him anything.
                          
"What? I'm growing out a beard. Do you like it?"
                          
"I don't know give me an hour. It might grow on me Mase."
                          
To be honest she thought he had actually missed his mouth, rather than start to grow a beard in the past few days which she hadn't seen him in.
                          
"Paul called me into the office today."
                          
"Why? Did he have any news?"
                          
"No Mase. Sorry, I wish he did, but it might be a while before he does." Mason's smile started to fade. "Come here." She opened her arms and he instantly hugged her.
                          
"Do you know why I called you Teddy growing up? And it's not just because of your name." She shook her head, hoping he could feel it in the hug, "It was because you gave the best hugs, especially when I was sad. God even when you were sad you did. You were like my personal teddy bear. You still are." 
                          
Teddy was touched. She loved her brother and her brother loved her, but it was moments like this that they only showed it. They were taught no emotion is the best emotion. The best defence. The only way to survive. To live.
                          
If only they went with their gut and not listened, like they almost did.
                          
Almost.
                          
"Mase, I think you've got crumbs in your 'beard'."