“Someday, you'll look back on this school trip as the highlight of your college years,” Miss Forsythe lamented, nursing her third tiny bottle of Jack Daniels she’d bribed from the flight attendant on the plane. “You’ll end up in your forties, unmarried with no prospects, no kids, and only two old, grumpy cats to keep you company and you’ll think of me and how I graciously accompanied you on this trip and you’ll-”

Miss Forsythe burped, “You’ll thank me.”

Right now, Fable really doubted that.

Her teacher’s limbs spread across the two seats, the smell of her drunken burp still wafting into Fable’s face, and the fact that she got the only seat that did not have a tray on the whole goddamn plane.

Now, that. That she would remember.

As the worst plane ride in her life.

She’ll rant to her grand-nieces and nephews as they used future teleportation stations to travel about the first and worst plane ride she’d ever taken and they’ll be so sick of hearing it, they’ll write songs and poems about it just to make it more interesting.

But never, in a million years, would she ever thank Miss Forsythe for granting her the misery of this plane ride.

“Fable!”

Fable turned to her neighbor across the runway, eye twitching as her teacher used her arm as a pillow, drool pouring out of the corner of her mouth as she let out a huge snore. It’d only been two hours on the plane and already Fable was about to lose it.

Her neighbor, a girl with dark brown hair pulled up into a ponytail grinned at her. “Having fun?” She teased.

“Would you like to trade places, Kenzie?” Fable smiled, baring her teeth at her friend.

“No, jack…” Her teacher murmured, shifting in her sleep. “Bad kitty.”

Her stranglehold on her arm had numbed it completely and Fable was about to lose her shit.

Kenzie only grinned at her predicament.

“Don’t be mean, Kenzie,” Violet popped out from the seat beside her, sending Fable a pitying look.

“What do you want?” Fable snapped at them, losing her patience.

“Don’t get your panties in a twist, Miss,” Kenzie snorted, “There are only another six hours left. Here, look.”

Kenzie looked up and down the walkway and then casually threw a magazine. Fable fumbled to catch it with one arm, and she grabbed the front page, pulling it to her seat with the rest of the magazine.

Fable struggled to flip it over to see the front and grit her teeth as she heard her two friends giggling from across the walkway.

She sent them a glare but Kenzie only smiled in response. Violet sent her a sad look, eyes pitiful as if she’d somehow been the one wronged.

Having enough, Fable jerked her hand from her teacher’s icy grip and with the same hand, pushed her teacher by her forehead to her side of the seating arrangements. She must’ve used a bit too much force because Miss Forsythe’s forehead hit the window with a loud bang.

“Oof, that’s gotta hurt,” Kenzie winced but Miss Forsythe only let out another snore.

Released from the Kraken's grip, she attempted to rub the circulation back into her numb arm as she flipped over the magazine to read it.

“Turns out Telia isn’t as boring as I first thought,” Kenzie grinned, “They have a real-life prince.”

The headline screamed in red against the bright sunny yellow background, ‘EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH THE PRINCE OF BROKEN HEARTS, NIKOS ALTANA.’

On the front cover was a rather handsome man dressed in a very expensive suit, all the way down to his shiny brand new leather shoes. He smirked at the camera, hands in his pockets casually with his golden hair pushed messily out of his gorgeous face.

Fable snorted. She could just imagine what’d happen if someone like that showed up in her neighborhood. He’d take two steps down the street and be left with nothing but his underwear.

“He’s hot, right? Well, wait till you read the interview. It gets so much better,” Kenzie was grinning, delightedly. Like the way she had when they’d first met in middle school after Fable had kicked their teacher in the crotch for snapping the underage girl’s bras.

Fable had been suspended but it was so worth it.

Fable flipped through the book, finding the promised interview on Page 6 as it said in loud letters on the cover.

There were more photos of the guy on the pages, in various poses just like any supermodel or famous actor. As she read through the actual interview, though, Fable felt like any empathy she could’ve felt for this asshole vanished into thin air.

‘I: How do you feel about your nickname, The Prince of Broken Hearts?’

‘N: It’s not accurate. I’m just a guy looking for his true love. Inevitably, most of my relationships don’t work out but that’s just part of the search, isn’t it? I’m just waiting on that one perfect girl for me.’

“Is this guy serious?” Fable stared at the page, incredulously.

“Yup!” Kenzie snickered, “He’s like the exact opposite of you. Like, he’s convinced there’s this perfect girl out there for him and he’s determined to go through every single one until he finds her.”

“That’s ridiculous!” Fable snapped.

“Oh, keep reading, it gets better.”

‘I: While certainly an admirable task, what do you have to say about the criticism you’ve received? You’ve dated a reported 6 girls in the past month and the longest relationship was only a week. Jumping from relationship to relationship doesn’t exactly spell out ‘True Love’, does it?’

‘N: My parent's love story is famous. All I want is a love like they have. And something I’ve learned from hearing their story growing up is that when you know, you just know. If I know right away that this girl isn’t the one for me, I don’t want to lead her on anymore. It’s better to break it off early before either of us gets too attached.’

“A week?” Fable nearly shrieked.

“Shh!” The man in front of her turned around in his seat.

“Sorry,” Fable mumbled, but turned to Kenzie, fuming.

“Apparently, a week is long for him,” Violet spoke up with a nervous smile. “I hear most don’t even last a day.”

“Are you kidding me?” Fable snarled, “He seduces these girls, then breaks up with them within a day? And then he has the nerve to claim it’s for true love? What the f-”

“Language,” Violet hissed, eyes flashing. Fable shut her mouth. The only time Violet was firm in her stance.

“I heard the other girls talking. Apparently, they all think they’re his one true love,” Kenzie clasped her hands together, batting her eyelashes playfully.

Fable felt like screaming but it was trapped n her throat. Anger swirled in her chest.

“Yeah, well he’s nothing but a pompous jerk who thinks he can play around with all the girls he wants without any consequences. He probably gets away with it too, being a prince and all that,” Fable muttered darkly.

“Oh, but he’s not actually a prince, you know?” Kenzie said, “Apparently, he’s a descendant of the royal family but they’re more of a parliamentary system now. His Mom’s the Prime Minister, though so he’s kinda like the big hotshot over there.”

“This country sounds terrible. Why are we going here?” Fable groaned.

Kenzie shrugged.

“Um,” Violet leaned over Kenzie to spy her, eyes guilty, “I overheard Miss Forsythe talking about it. They have one of the richest histories of love stories. She said their country was founded on one of the most famous love stories of all time.”

“Love.” Fable wrinkled her nose, scoffing at the very thought.

“Oh, I cannot wait for you to fall in love with somebody,” Kenzie snickered, “It is going to be the most hilarious thing to ever happen. Nothing will ever bring me greater joy than you fumbling over yourself trying to stop your impulsive brain from jumping some random guy.”

“I would rather burn the world into ashes,” Fable said darkly.

“And that’s exactly why it’s going to be so funny,” Kenzie grinned, “Who knows? Maybe, it’ll even be the this Prince of Broken Hearts?”

The magazine slapped her right in the middle of her smug face.

“Hey, rude!” Kenzie sputtered.

Fable growled, pissed off at their teasing as she spat out, “Over my dead body. Anyone who treats girls like that can deal with my foot up their-”

“Language,” Violet huffed, but looked thoughtfully up to the ceiling, “That would be rather entertaining to watch though.”

“Huh? What would?” Kenzie looked over at her, confused, the magazines rolled up in her outstretched hand, aimed directly at Fable’s head.

“The Prince of Broken Hearts and the Destroyer of Love. Unstoppable force meets an immovable object.”

“Yeah, right,” Kenzie snorted, “You really think the girl who compared The Little Mermaid to an allegory for syphilis will fall in love? Maybe in hell. When it’s snowing. During winter. And Satan becomes a gardener. and plants peonies. And-”

“You never know,” Violet said mysteriously, eyes lit with a strange glow as he looked at her fuming friend across the way. Fable leaned against the seat in the airplane, sulking as she refused to respond to the two girls.

“Love works in mysterious ways, after all.”