The Selection of Prince Creed

STEVIE

Sometimes, there's a moment when you know you're in over your head, when you realize, all at once, that you're in far deeper shit than you ever imagined yourself getting into.

Those moments have been happening quite frequently lately. I entered the Selection for a little break, and some money to put toward paying back my student debt. I did not enter it expecting the palace to become its own war zone. I did not enter it expecting the reappearance of missing princes, or gunshots seeming to trail the Selected wherever we go, or the entire state of the world to seemingly crumble down upon us.

I did not enter it expecting Sean.

I knew, of course, that the world was not all daisies and sugar plums. The state of the country isn't exactly rosy at the moment. But I guess I never quite thought about the different world that the royals lived in, a world in which you recover from a betrayal by a trusted friend by throwing a ball. It's a different ballgame. I've known that since I arrived. And, maybe, that's what drew me here in the first place. To see how the other half lives, not just with their dresses and finery, but in the way they have learned to handle the world. It is calculated. It is learned. It is a subject ripe for exploration.

And so I study, and I write. Every moment I can possibly slip away from Selection duties--which is more often than you might think--I work on my little project. Sean has the first few chapters now, though I expect he hasn't had time to read them with everything going on. When I'm not learning dances for the ball, I'm in the library. I've fallen asleep there on more than one occasion now.

There's a part of me that knows that this will not, that this cannot last for too much longer. Soon enough, Creed is going to send me home. I do not know how I even made it to the Elite, but I know that things cannot be carried much further. He's a nice guy. Don't get me wrong. But I know we're not a match, and we never could be. Surely he has to know that by now, too...right?

But for now, I'm still here.

"Okay," Elle says as she gives a final sweep of blush across my cheeks. Usually, I insist on doing my own makeup, but I gave in this time, since it is a special occasion and all. A royal ball. Technically in my honor. Sort of. It's for all the Elite, and to be very real, I'm not sure that I exactly feel like one. To be even more real, I don't think I really belong as one. In a lot of ways, I feel like I've been kept around in the Selection because, well, I didn't ask to leave. That sounds awful to say it that way, I know. But surely Creed can't see any sparks where clearly there are none.

Right?

"Okay?" I repeat, and Elle laughs. She ushers me up from my chair and to the full-length mirror. I stare at my reflection for a moment. On my very first day at the palace, after getting ready for the sock hop, I looked at myself and still saw myself, just a whole lot fancier. I thought I cleaned up nice then, but if only the Stevie from that day could see me now. I look otherworldly, and yes, I still look like me. My dress is an olive-colored number, with a floor-length skirt that flares just a bit at the waist. The solid fabric ends up top with a simple spaghetti strap, but there's a sheer, similarly olive material that creates long, flowy sleeves and leads up to a higher neckline, embellished with neutral flowers and greenery. There's a thick, velvety green belt at my waist. My hair lies in soft curls down my back, and my makeup is simple, natural even, but there's an elevated air to it.

I am the same girl, and I am still proud of myself. But there is something a little different in my eyes now.

A lot has changed. I've witnessed, first hand, a lot of things I never imagined I would even live through indirectly. But I think it's more than that. I've changed in ways I do not think I was expecting. I've become more ingratiated in this world, within these new parameters of social norms, than I ever thought I would. My research of Selections past has led me to believe that no girl comes out of this experience unchanged. It is eye opening to see the country in this way, to experience life from this angle. The Selection is a transformation. You learn things about yourself you never quite realized.