A Previous Selection

Chapter Twelve

"Wren." 

Someone gently shakes my shoulder, and I let out a little groan before opening my eyes. I'm startled for a second when I see Cameron squatting down in front of me, but then I remember where I am and let myself relax again. 

"Hey," he says quietly with a smile. "The attack is over, and the rest of the girls have already gone up to their rooms to get ready for the day." 

I nod my head and look down to see that Oliver is still asleep in my lap. I ruffle his hair to try and wake him up. 

"Hey, Oliver. Time to wake up," I say, softly, and after a little more coaxing, he finally sits up with a yawn. "Did you sleep well?" 

He nods his head. 

"Yeah. And thanks, Wren, for singing to me," he says, and I smile at him. 

"Anytime." I look up to see King Harvey and Queen Kimberley standing at the bottom of the stairs. "You better run along. Your parents are waiting for you." 

He stands up and starts walking over to them, but before he gets to them, he turns around and runs back over to me. He gives me a big hug, and even though it shocks me, I hug him right back. 

"You can call me Oli now," he tells me, and my heart swells with happiness. 

"So I'm a friend now?" I ask him, and he smiles. 

"You are definitely a friend." 

And with that, he runs over to his parents, and the three of them walk up the stairs. Once they're gone, and it's just the two of us left in the room, Cameron sits down beside me on the cot. 

"So I was right," he says out of the blue, and I look over at him, confused. 

"About what?" 

"About your voice. You do sing like an angel." 

I can feel my cheeks heat up at his words. 

"I'm really not that good," I say, and he scoffs. 

"I heard you, Wren. You had all of us hanging onto your every word. For a few minutes, you made all of us forget what was happening. Seriously, you have the best voice I've ever heard," he says. 

"Well, thank you." 

There's a moment of silence between us. 

"It looks like my brother likes you." 

"Yeah. I like the little guy too," I reply. "He reminds me so much of my own brothers, so it's nice to have him around. And if I'm being honest, he's better company than some of the other girls here." 

"Yeah, I haven't gotten the chance to hang out with every girl yet, but I can already tell that some of them just aren't that interesting."

"That's definitely true. It's like some of them just don't have personalities," I tell him, and he lets out a laugh. 

"Right! I was with one of the girls yesterday, and I asked her to tell me some interesting story about herself. And she could not think of a single thing," he says, and that reminds me of what Oliver told me earlier. 

"Speaking of stories, Oliver told me a great story about you yesterday," I say, and he sighs. 

"Oh Lord. Which one?" 

"The one where you tripped and fell in front of his friends last week." 

He puts his head in his hands. 

"Why would he tell you about that?" 

I shrug my shoulders. 

"We were bonding," I say and can't help but laugh when he gives me a look. "What? You really think that I was going to tell him that I DIDN'T want to hear an embarrassing story about you?"