The Selection of Prince Creed

CASEY

My mind spins all morning with Stevie's words. She was going to ask to be eliminated. So she can be with Sean.

I am so proud of her and sad at the same time. If she asks to be eliminated I'll be losing my best friend in the palace. No, not just in the palace. My best friend. I know, rationally, that we would keep in touch. That just because one of us leaves the palace that we won't still talk and be friends. But I would be left alone. And I would be left here with the competition.

The competition who undoubtedly belong here way more than me.

I sigh as I rearrange the finger sandwiches, again. They look fine but at this point I was just trying to occupy myself. Occupy my mind from the thoughts of my friend leaving soon, of Creed returning, of Parker, and of the other girls.

"What did the sandwiches do to you?" Mia jokes as she brings another centerpiece and placing it on this table. She tilts her head, evaluating whether it looks best here or on the side table where it was originally, nods her head and smiles at me. I offer her no response and she gives me a weird look before moving on to find a stray petal to clean up. She's such a perfectionist. And that's not necessarily a bad thing.

I wish I could talk to Stevie more about all of this but she's distracting Thea for us as we get the room ready. I glance around the room and watch Adeline and Mia and deflate a little. I know how I feel about Creed, mostly. And I know we have a connection. But does he have that with them too? He must. They're still here. And I pretty much know what's going on with Stevie... but still I can't help but feel so inadequate when held up against them.

"Casey dear, would you mind going to get Stevie?" Collette asks me and I nod. She smiles at me but when I look back to the table I notice she's rearranging the sandwiches. Again. I sigh. If I can't even properly lay out sandwiches, what good was I?

I wring my hands the whole walk to the parlour where Stevie said she'd try to distract Thea. Stevie is strong and smart. She can defend herself both physically and verbally. Adeline is poised and elegant. Mia is already an inspiration to so many little girls with her figure skating and is a true leader. All of them are true princess material and I... I'm just a part-time student, pizza shop girl who can't even get her associates degree. How do I even compare?

I knock on the large door and Thea and Stevie look up from their game of Uno. I try my best to smile, "Stevie can I talk to you before the tea?"

"Go ahead, I'll clean these up," Thea smiles as she starts pulling all the cards to her and reshuffling them before packing them back up.

"You sure?" Stevie asks, playing her part well.

"Of course, go talk with your friend," Thea waves her off with a smile and Stevie turns to me, linking our arms as we leave the parlour.

"Casey, are you okay?" Stevie asks as we make our way back to the sun room.

"I'm just going to miss you," I sigh, leaning my head against her shoulder.

Stevie hums, knowingly, "I'll miss you too. But you can still write and then call me when you win."I hip bump her and she laughs, "Fine. Whenever you choose, you can call me."

"But you belong here," I mumble, expressing my inner turmoil just a bit.

Stevie stops in her tracks, "Casey, what are you talking about?"

"I really don't want to get into it here, in the middle of the hallway," I complain, trying to move forward and pull her with me.

"Too bad," Stevie says rooted to the spot. "We have time. Spill."

"Stevie," I moan but her stubborn streak is showing and I know I have to give her something. I glance around and pull her off to the side, rolling my eyes. "Fine. Stevie, I don't belong here. It doesn't matter how I feel, I'm not... I'm not right. I can't be a princess. Or a queen. I can't do what Collette does, run the country, any of that. I'm not eloquent or poised or strong or brave. I'm not brave. When everything happened, I froze. You acted. Mia's a leader and Adeline just fits in with everyone else. I-"