Page 13 of Role Model
I stop, frowning. “What?”
“You sound like you’re going to a funeral. Try and be happy.”
“I am trying.”
49“If that’s you trying, Aeriel, I’d hate to see you phoning it in.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means, not trying.”
It’s not fair. I am trying. They’re not inside of my head, they don’t know what I’m feeling. I know I’m not always great at showing what’s really going on inside, but it’s not fair of them to decide that they know.
“Go again. And smile!”
*
Mum is very nervous. When we arrive at the palace, we have to go through some security checks before being led to the reception area. A man in a fancy uniform tells us that there will be a lineup, and we have to say “your majesty” to the King and “ma’am” to the Queen, and that it’s “ma’am as in ham, not ma’am as in harm”.
“We’re Scottish,” Dad says happily. “We would never pronounce it ‘Marm’ anyway.”
I laugh, but Mum throws us both a look.
“And it’s Madam President,” Dad tells me. “Your Royal Highness to the royal kids, but I’m sure the50president’s daughter doesn’t mind you calling her Cassidy.”
“I don’t want to say ‘your royal highness’ to someone my age,” I say.
“It doesn’t matter what you want, you’re doing it,” Mum hisses as we wait to be announced. “You’re a role model now, remember? Act like it.”
As soon as we’re announced, Mum and Dad are swept away by people who don’t even see me. Mum is surrounded by people wanting to shake her hand. I start to wander, as none of the grownups here want to even notice a child, let alone speak to one. I slip into the corridor, though I don’t know if you can call it that. It’s a hallway that you could fit our first house in Scotland inside. I peer into an adjacent room and spot a boy a little older than me in a worn jumper and faded jeans. His trainers are scuffed. He’s sitting on one of two thrones, looking up at the ceiling with a bored expression.
“Are you meant to be at the party?” I ask him.
He starts at the sound of my voice and stares at me. I see recognition dawn on his face. “You’re Aeriel Sharpe.”
“Yes.”
“I’ve seen your videos. They’re everywhere.”
51I shrug. “Not my idea.”
“The grownups think you’re going to make all the children in the UK behave.”
I laugh at that. “Yes, it’s very stupid of them.”
“Has school been a nightmare?”
I’m surprised by his cleverness. “Yes, actually. But… it wasn’t great before.”
He glances about and gets up from the throne. “Are you bored of these stuffy things, too?”
I smile sheepishly. “Yes.”
“Did you know, the royal advisors have this trick that they do?”
I shake my head. “No, I didn’t know. What is it?”
“They like to get everyone huddled together before the King and Queen enter. At least thirty minutes before they arrive. They do it to get everyone nervous and panicky, so that when the royals come in–everyone turns into a simpering, fawning idiot.”
