A Previous Selection

Chapter Twenty-Nine

"Ugh! I literally hate paperwork!" I exclaim before slouching down in my chair. Addison looks up from her own pile of paperwork.

"I know. I can't understand any of it. The numbers are so confusing," she sighs and falls back on my bed.

"I can understand it just fine. There's just SO MUCH of it."

"I knew that being in the Elite meant that they really started hammering down on the whole training to be Queen thing, but I didn't know that meant that we would be sitting in our rooms for hours on end going over piles of boring reports."

"I didn't expect this either, but hey, at least I'm good at this part of it," I say. "I can handle the behind-the-scenes work. It's the publicity stuff that I'm not ready for."

"Which technically starts today."

I groan as I start flipping through the pages on my desk again.

"I know."

"I know planning and hosting a party for a foreign country that we need to really impress is stressful, but at least it sounds more fun than pouring over budget reports and province statistics and things like that."

"Maybe it sounds fun to you, but to me, that's just an anxiety attack waiting to happen. There's way too much that I can mess up."

"Well, hopefully, we'll be in the same group, so that way I can help you through it," she says.

"How many groups did Evelynn say there were going to be?"

"Just two, I think."

"So there's going to be five to a group then. That gives us a pretty good chance of being in the same group."

"I'm sure we will be."

"Let's hope so," I mutter before I start reading another budget report. I'm about halfway through it when Addison starts talking again.

"When do you think Cameron's going to make another cut?"

I look back up at her and shrug my shoulders.

"I don't know. I'm assuming that he'll make one after both of the groups host their parties. His advisors are probably going to have him evaluate how all of us girls not only work together but how well we research the culture and traditions of the country we're hosting for as well. Then we'll probably send home one of the weaker links in this project."

"Yeah, you're probably right," she says. "Do you think it'll be a one girl cut? Or will it be a couple girls that he sends home?"

"I honestly have no idea. We haven't talked much about his thought process for the eliminations, and I'm honestly okay with that. I don't think I want to know the reasons for why he's kept each of them here."

"You know he doesn't have feelings for them like he has for you, right? Because I thought that when you both spilled your hearts out on the rooftop in front of a gorgeous sunset, we established that the guy is in love with you and ONLY you."

"No, I know that," I say. "But I also know that some of the girls are here because he likes them as friends. And yes, I know that he only likes them as friends, but sometimes friends can lead to something more. And if there is a girl here that he sees as a friend, but could possibly become more over time, I'd rather not know about it. I'd honestly rather live in the little fantasy that the two of us have created right now."

"But it isn't a fantasy, Wren. I know it might feel like it because love makes you feel all warm and safe, like nothing can harm you as long as you have each other. But what you two have, what you two feel is real. And yes, it probably feels like a fairytale right now because you guys haven't faced any struggles since you've made your declarations of love, but when you two do come face to face with trouble, you'll get through it. You'll survive it. Because your love is strong. It's real. And no sugar-sweet, perfect little princess of a girl is going to destroy it."