"What's bothering you Kaya?" asks Himani Bisoyi, my bestie. "You've been staring at your locker for more than 2 minutes now."

"Nothing," I say in a flat tone, blinking several times.

"Is it too personal and complicated that you can hide it from your only bestie?" She studies my expression and I don't dare to meet her eyes because she can already read me without uttering more than one word.

She sighs. "Do you know about the app, Lockers, where you can store your secrets?"

"Lockers? A mobile application?"

"Yes."

I shake my head. "Is it safe and secure? Won't it get our personal details and sell them to other organizations?"

"No. They will only ask for your name and email address. It's a trusted app with millions of users and consistently the number 1 app in Google Play and the App Store for 5 years."

"Have you used it before?" I ask, still being doubtful but I really need to get this secret out of my system. It's weighing me down.

"Yup. Been using it for two years now."

Wow. The bell rings and I quickly scramble through my stuff and grab my book.

"Think about it," Himani says before we run towards our classroom.

🤫

I arrive in school with renewed energy, feeling a bit lighter than the previous days. It's short-lived when goosebumps rise on my arms and I shiver when I take the sight in front of me — the school is in total chaos.

A couple of guys are fighting, with bloody faces and red knuckles. Some girls are running towards my direction or should I say the school's entrance gate, either crying or angry or simply hiding their faces.

What the hell happened?

I force my feet to move forward and I scan for Himani amidst the chaos but couldn't find her.

"Come back here you fucking snake! You slept with my boyfriend?! I'm going to kill you!"

I snap my head to the right to see Jena chasing her twin sister Jana. My hand covers my mouth, shocked to hear this revelation.

"Kaya!"

I turn my gaze in front to see Himani, rushing towards me.

"Himani, what's going on?"

"Did...did you use the Lockers?" She pants, her hands are on her knees.

"Yup! Thank you. I'm feeling a lot better now after pouring everything on the app," I give her a genuine smile but to my dismay, she gives me a shocked expression and teary eyes.

"No...no!" She cries. Owwkayyy.

"What? You're scaring me."

"Check your Lockers."

I open my iPhone 10 and launch the Lockers.

WE SINCERELY APOLOGIZE FOR THE GLITCH THAT LEAKS MILLIONS OF SECRETS, INCLUDING YOURS.

I feel a cold sweat running down my back. Uneasiness engulfs me. This. Is. Bad.

"Who  c-can s-see m-my s-secret?" I stammer, my lips are quivering.

"Anyone who visits your profile."

"What?! Did you check mine?"

"Of course not. I deleted my profile and you must do it as well...now."

Relief washes over me and I quickly open the app and do what she says. I just joined yesterday so I'm praying that no one knew I was there. Fingers crossed.

My heart is thumping against my chest. Nobody should get a hold on what I posted in Lockers...at least not for now, otherwise, it will create an uproar. No one knows it except my family.

"Come on Kaya. Time for our Calculus," says Himani, tugging my wrist towards the lecture building.

I glance around at the mess created by the Lockers' glitch. On the other hand, there are students who are kissing and hugging, emanating powerful emotions. Keeping a secret is really a double-edged sword.

As we enter the hallway, whispers and murmurs can be heard, while some are blatantly staring at us, others are giving us a quick glance. Himani's hold becomes tighter, letting me know that she also notices the unwanted attention.

"Any idea?" I ask her in a whisper.

"Either it's my secret or yours. Either way, this is not good."

I freeze from my tracks.

"Hey Kaya. Is it true?" Sheena, one of the journalists on our school paper, dares to ask me.

All the colors are draining from my body and I shiver for the nth time today.

"W-what do you mean?" I try to play the innocent, although I know what they are talking about.

"Oh come on, tell us the deets." She moves her eyebrow up and down.

"What de—"

Himani nudges my arm and I look at her side catching the all caps post on our school's Official Facebook Group.

KAYA KALUZA IS ARRANGED TO MARRY PRINCE GEORGE OF ROUMPINI WHO HASN'T  SHOWN HIS FACE ON THE MEDIA

My legs weaken and I hold on to Himani's arm for support who in turn gives me a so-it's-true look.

"So what does he look like? Is he handsome, hot or ugly bulky?"

I remain silent. How could I answer her if I haven't met him yet. All I know is that I was chosen to be his wife and future princess of Roumpini. The weight on my shoulder which I carried for a few days prior to spilling it to Lockers came back, heavier than before.

"I don't know," I say softly.

"Liar. How could you agree to marry someone you haven't seen before?" Another student asks.

It's written in our stars since my great great great grandfather had the position in the royal family and the pact to include his lineages as a possible candidate for husband/wife of the royals. I won't even breathe a word about it, over my dead body.

"I just agreed. Period. Full stop." I am not in love with anyone right now and I will not marry him soon either. It's like a job. We have six months to exclusively date and fall in love. In other words, it's a partial arrangement in line with the modern world and the media will only know once it works between the prince and I.

The hallway has erupted with questions coming from the curious students and my anxiety kicks in. I feel like I am not surrounded by students but by aggressive reporters. I try to get away and thankfully Himani's with me to shoo them away.

"QUIET!" A loud booming voice cut the noise, making us snap our heads in the entrance of the building.

Harry Beckford, the smartest and hottest guy in our class strides towards us, followed by the other two equally famous boys. These three are a sight for sore eyes. Harry stops beside me while the other two are in Himani's right.

"What's going on here?" asks Harry. "You're making a scene."

"Haven't you read the latest? Kaya here is marrying the Prince of Roumpini," says Sheena, whose voice seems a little jealous.

"I know. So?" Harry replies, nonchalant as if it isn't a big deal.

I look up at his stoic face. Harry and I are not friends but we get along well in projects that we had teamed up before.

"Thanks Genius," I whisper and he winks at me before he looks at Sheena.

"Leave her alone. The fact that she posted it in Lockers means this situation is a burden for her. Who in her right mind agrees to marry someone she doesn't know? She may not be upset but it doesn't mean she's okay."

My jaw drops, eyes widening in surprise. How can he know my feelings? Is he a psychic too? My heart starts to beat loudly. He stands up for me and comes to my defense. Suddenly, I regret agreeing to the arranged marriage.

I clear my throat. "I'm no damsel in distress but thank you."

"You're not. Just a soon-to-be princess." His smirks and the warm cobalt eyes make my heart leap.

"Unbelievable! It's our chance to know the prince but you are silencing us," says another student.

"Harry is right," says Jarred, one of Harry's buddies.

"It's none of your goddamn business, so back off," Oliver seethes.

"Don't you dare corner her anywhere and force her to say something about the matter or else, you will face consequences," says Harry, his voice lacing with authority.

"Yes. We will tell the principal or worse the royal family, if you do that," says Himani and I want to laugh because she doesn't even know anyone from the royal family.

I jump when Harry holds my hand and lead me away. Himani and the two guys are behind us.

"I can't thank you enough Harry."

"It's the least I can do."

"You know, you don't have to."

He bends down so that his face levels to mine, his breath fanning my ear, making the hairs on my arms rise again. "George Harrison Beckford Theo, Prince George of Roumpini, nice to meet you, my princess." Before I could react, he briefly brushed his lips to my cheek.

Holy cow!

### Author's Notes ###
This was not a contest but since it was based on a prompt, I added it here. As of this writing, this story has a standalone book and you'll see it in my list of works. But, I will delete the standalone version in the future because I'm planning to expand the story into a novel or novella. No exact timeline yet.

I wrote this because I was having a writer's block for Miss Sponge, the second short story in Young But Real book.

A 9-year-old neighbor likes this story.

Also, limitlesssweetness chose the Himani name so I dedicate this story to her.

Thank you for reading.

Lovelots,
Alya Lorenz