Emily In The Selection (book 1)

Chapter 18

The rest of the night consisted of Tes settling into my room and spending time in the ladies room with Hannah, Amelia, and Kathleen.

I explained to Tes how I don't like anyone in my room while I sleep and that I would dismiss them until the morning. She understood my instructions and said her good night and then left.

I slept easily that night and woke up in the morning quite late. It was 10:00 and after I finished getting ready, it was almost 10:30. My maids gave me a dark purple/blue color dress to put on with black trim, lining the fabric and a black ribbon tied at the waist. I also put on some matching flats. They let my natural waves flow today, but added a few extra curls to make them stand out.

I walked quickly down to the dinning room for breakfast, but the same man who took my order yesterday stopped me and said, "I'm sorry, Lady Emily, but we are closing breakfast now. We can make you some oatmeal and deliver it to your room if you'd like."

"Oh, okay. That would be fine."

I sighed and started back to my room. I realized I was supposed to meet the selected in the lounge room at 11 so I knew I had to eat fast, if I got my food in time.

Surely enough, my oatmeal came within 10 minutes afterward and I sat down to eat it. I watched my maids clean up my room as I ate, and glanced over to the small drawer on the side table next to my bed. That was were I was hiding the textbook about the rebels. I am planning to read it at night when my maids go to bed, but I don't know how often I would get the chance to do so.

"Thank you, ladies," I smiled at them and began to walk out of the room.

"Good bye," they looked up.

I headed toward the lounge room when a man caught my attention.

"Lady Emily!" He shouted. "Here," he said, handing me an envelope, "this letter was addressed to you." He sounded out of breath like he had been running.

I accepted the letter and stared at him. He was about my age, or a little older. Looking at the clothes he had on I could figure that he was a guard. He had spiky blonde hair and green eyes. I have to admit that he was attractive, but I had to ignore that fact. I was fighting for Ryan, after all.

"Thank you," I nodded, "are you in a hurry? You sound out of breath."

"Oh, I was just out training. I'm a guard here. I was just told to deliver this to you."

"Alright," I couldn't help but stare at him.

"Yeah. Okay, I guess I'll see ya," he said tapping my shoulder and then turning away.

"Yeah," I sighed.

Wow.

I turned away, trying to pretend that I never saw him. I looked at the letter in my hands and opened it as soon as I got to the lounge room. We were still missing a few girls so I sat down and read it.

Dear Emily,
I saw you on the report last night, but you probably won't get this until tomorrow or the next day. You were so cute! I miss you beyond words! I'm glad to hear that things have been going well with you and Prince Ryan. I know I never would have done that well. I saw an article earlier today about the interviews and the rankings of the selected. I saw that the critics didn't have much positive thoughts to say about you, but that's okay. You're number one in my world! I'm still hoping you win this and I'm almost positive you will! I love you! Please write me back because I would love you hear from you. But if you don't, I understand. I get how busy you must be. Well, I hope all is going well.
Love,
Amity.

I almost wanted to burst out crying with happiness. She told me that she would continue to be thinking about me, but I was so surprised that she wrote to me. It means a lot.

I folded the paper back into the envelope, positive that I would hang this on the cork board along with the letter from my family.

"Alright, girls, it looks like we're all here," an official named Stacy said. "I have some announcements to make, so if I could have your attention. You girls will be assigned some tasks for the next few weeks and we will be discussing them today. If you do not complete these tasks, you will be eliminated."

I fidgeted.

"You're first task will be to attend a tea party with the queen tomorrow afternoon around this same time."

Some gasps came from the girls. Tomorrow seemed so soon, but at least we got some sort of notice.

"Your second task will be to go on a date with Prince Ryan the day after tomorrow. I realized some of you already went on some small dates with him, but this will allow all of us to get a chance to spend time with him."

I smiled and Kathleen started blushing. She sat right next to me.

"Next week we will be throwing a party for the elite and your family's will also be attending that. And also later on next week you will be presenting an idea to make the country better.
Let me explain this task more thoroughly. All of you will come up with some idea that could benefit the country in some way. For example, enforcing a law that guns are illegal. Obviously that is an awful and not very logical campaign, but I'm just giving you an example. You have all this week and most of next to think out your idea. You will then present your idea live on The Report to America. This is just to give America an idea of what you have in mind for the country. You must realize that if you marry Prince Ryan, you are also getting a job of being princess."

All these tasks were so much to take on. I would be seeing my family soon at a elite party and I was giving ideas to America.

Only one thing came to my mind when I heard about the presentation.

The rebels.