The Selection (YouTube edition)

Chapter 24

Everyone was mostly silent as we waited for the rebels to get defeated by the palace guards. I had isolated myself to a corner, not wanting anymore attention drawn to me. Alesa was making rounds, comforting everyone and soothing fears. A bunch of guys were asking if they could go home. I assumed they'd change their minds when this is all over. Alesa finally came to me. "You okay?" She whispered. I looked up at her. "I'm good, but I have a question for you." "After all of that, if you only have one you're doing pretty good." She weakly laughed. "Shoot it at me." "Who are the rebels, and what do they want?" "Depends on who you're talking about." She relied. "There are two groups, northern rebels and southern rebels." I blinked. There were two groups? To me, rebels were just rebels. "The southern rebels seemed to just want us all demolished." She continued. "The northern rebels are more of a mystery, they seem to be looking for something. I can't tell what though." I nodded. "Thanks for the explanation." I said. "So I'm assuming these are northern rebels?" "Bingo." Alesa replied. She hesitated for a second. "Adam, be honest with me, do you want to go home?" I looked up at her. "If you're not kicking me out, I'm not going anywhere." I said. She smiled. "Between you and me, my mom likes you." She whispered. (A/N wow they sound like those people who send their friends to go tell their crush they like them lololol) "Hah, you're joking right?" I said. "Nope." "But, why?" "Let's see, for starters you saved her favorite daughter's life." "You're her only daughter." I pointed out. "Exactly." Alesa said grinning. I snorted. "Second, instead of cowering in front of my dad, you stood up for yourself. That takes courage. Honestly, my dad's not a bad person, but he's just overprotective, and doesn't want me to get hurt." I nodded. "That makes sense." "Yeah, he's just a little extreme about it though. By the way Alesa, go ahead and check on everyone else. I'm all good." "Alright Adam, try and take a nap or something alright?" "Kay." I said, closing my eyes. Alesa goes over to Ty next. "Hey Ty, I know this is a weird time, but before I forget, are you free tomorrow evening?" I tried to ignore the weird feeling in my gut. I wasn't exactly in love with Alesa, but why did I feel a bit of jealousy?
• • •
I woke up to the sound of doors opening. I must've dozed off for a bit. A single guard came through the door. "The rebels have left, you are all free to go to your room. Stay there until it is time for dinner. Lunch will be brought to you all. Everyone understand?" Everyone nodded, relieved to be able to get out of here. Tonight was the night of the pizza dinner that Alesa promised me, even though she won our bet. We all wearily went to our rooms. My maids were safe, thankfully. I was actually kinda worried about them. Besides Mitch, Alesa, and maybe Ty, they genuinely cared for me, and I didn't want to lose them. They all assured me that this attack wasn't bad, the rebels didn't get inside. They only got onto the palace grounds. Ashley seemed to be shaken up the most. She was still trembling because of it. I sat on my bed and sighed. "What's wrong sir Adam?" Mango asked me. "Well, we have to stay up here for the rest of the day, and I really don't have anything to do." Natalie smiled at me. "Wanna play poker with us?" Mango slapped Natalie. "You idiot! You're not supposed to tell people we play poker!" I tried to cover up a laugh, but it ended up coming out. Ashley pulled out a deck of cards, smiling mischievously. "I don't have anything better to do." I shrugged, as I sat down. We ended up playing for the rest of the day, talking about random things. Then, it was time for the pizza dinner.