The Selection

Chapter 14

THAT PUSHED ME OVER THE EDGE. It was clear by my face how angry I looked. Maxon clearly picked up on it. That night he came by my room, I was in no mood to talk to him, no matter how much I wanted to. I told Grace not to let him in. But it didn't work. "Sorry." Grace mouthed at me as she opened the door wide for Maxon. I pretended to be asleep. "Florence I literally just saw you awake, I heard you tell them not to let me in." He says shaking me. "Your dismissed." I say to grace and she heads out. "Why are you so angry?" He says sitting on the bed. I get up, my leg was healing so I could finally move properly. "I'm not angry I have no idea where you got that assumption." I say walking over to my vanity where I start brushing my hair. "Oh Florence please don't be like this." He says coming over to me. I get up again and head to the wardrobe. "Be like what?" I say tugging at my ear. He goes silent. "Nothing more to say?" I say going to leave. "It doesn't concern you." He says and I ignore him. "Florence please!" He says blocking the door. "I thought you liked me." I say before moving past him and leaving.

I never thought I would be sitting there arguing with a prince but here I was. I went to the only person I could trust. Celeste. "Florence." She says as her maid lets me in. "Celeste!" I say sitting on her bed and taking one of her magazines. "What do you want?" She says still reading her magazine. "I may have just yelled at maxon and stormed out on him." I say and she laughs. "Wow. I thought I was going to have to screw it up for you. You done it yourself." She says still laughing. I trust her because she's not fake, she says it how it is. She would sabotage me, I would sabotage her it's how it works, at least we're honest. "No it was so embarrassing, it was over America. I hate her!" I say and she nods. "So do I." Celeste says as she pulls me up. "Let's go on a walk." She says and we head to the halls, where I see Maxon and America. My face showed everything. They were laughing and stuff. When he saw me he almost froze. "Ladies," Maxon said, and gave a small head nod. I was staring daggers, Celeste curtsied and I just kept walking. Trying to hide the jealously and anger radiating off me, never thought I would say this but I think I'm becoming toxic. "Slut." Celeste whispers and I see Americas ears twitch, she heard. "Shh!" I say as we continue our walk. We meet up with Bariel Emmica and Tiny. I'm not really friends with any of them, but their Celeste's minions and who am I to judge?

I hated Saturdays. There was no routine just requirements to stay in the woman's room. I can't stand it in there. The palace saw guests on Saturdays, and we had been warned that people might want to meet us. I wasn't too excited about it, today was not the day for people to meet me. I went downstairs slowly, a little tired from a late night. Before I even got to the Women's Room, I heard the buzz of talking girls, and when I walked in, Marlee grabbed me and pulled me toward two chairs in the back of the room. "There you are! I've been waiting for you," she said. "Sorry, Marlee. I had a long night and slept in." She turned to look at me,"Sorry to keep you waiting. What did you want to talk about?" Marlee hesitated. She bit her lip as we sat down. There was no one else around. She must have a secret. "Actually, now that I think of it, maybe I shouldn't tell you. Sometimes I forget that we're competing against each other." Oh. She had secrets of the Maxon variety. This I had to hear. "I know just how you feel, Marlee. I think we could become really close friends. I can't bring myself to think of you as an enemy, you know?" I say, I trust her and Celeste. I thought I could trust America but I can't. "Yeah. I think you're so sweet. And the people love you. I mean, you're probably going to win...." She seemed a little defeated at the idea. "You can tell me anything you want to. I'll keep your secrets if you keep mine. I'll pull for you, and if you want to, you can pull for me. It's nice to have friends here." I say trying to ignore the previous comment. There was nothing I could say back.She smiled, then looked around the room, checking to make sure no one could hear us.
"Maxon and I had our date," she whispered. "Yeah?" I asked. I knew I seemed overly eager, but I couldn't help it. I need to know what he said to her, I need to know if he says the same thing to everyone.

"He sent a letter to my maids and asked if he could see me on Thursday. I sent one back saying yes, of course, like I'd ever turn him down! He came to get me, and we walked around the palace. We got to talking about movies, and it turns out we like a bunch of the same ones. So we went downstairs to the basement. Have you seen the movie theater down there?" Marlee says smiling. "Yeah I went there for my date too! It's beautiful!" "Oh, it's perfect! The seats are wide and they recline and you can even pop some popcorn-they have a popper. Maxon stood there and made a batch just for us! It was so cute, Flo. He measured the oil wrong and the first batch burned. He had to call someone to come and clean it up and try again." I rolled my eyes. Smooth, Maxon, real smooth. At least Marlee seemed to think it was endearing and that annoyed me."So we watched the movie, and when we got to the romantic part at the end, he held my hand! I thought I'd faint. I mean, I'd taken his arm when we walked, but that's just what you're supposed to do. Here he was taking my hand...." She sighed and fell back into her chair. "I can't wait for him to visit me again. He's just so handsome, don't you think?" she asked. I paused. "Yeah, he's cute." "Come on, Flo! You have to have noticed those eyes and his voice...." "I like his arms." I say and marlees eye light up. "Yes! You can really feel them under those thick suits, can't you? He must be incredibly strong," Marlee gushed. "I wonder why. I mean, what's the point of him being that strong? He does deskwork. It's weird."  I say trying to put her off. "Maybe he likes to flex in front of the mirror," Marlee said, making a face and flexing her own tiny arms. "Ha, ha! I bet that's it. I dare you to ask him!" "No way!" It sounded like Marlee had had a great time. This must have happened after our argument and his walk with America.

I looked around the room and saw that more than half the girls seemed tense or unhappy. Janelle, Emmica, and Zoe were listening intently to something Kriss was saying. Kriss was smiling and animated, but Janelle's face was tight with worry, and Zoe was biting her nails. Emmica was absently kneading a spot just below her ear, as if she was in pain. Beside them the mismatched pair of Celeste and Anna sat having another intense discussion. True to her usual form, Celeste looked incredibly smug as she spoke. Marlee noted my staring and clarified what was happening. "The grumpy ones are the girls he hasn't been out with yet. He told me I was his second date on Thursday alone. He's trying to spend time with everyone." "He's had more than two dates. I don't think that's it." "Yeah. I mean, look at you and me. We're fine, and it's because he's seen us both one-on-one. We know he liked us enough to see us and not kick us out right afterward. It's getting around who he's spent time with and who he hasn't. They're worried he's waiting on them because he isn't interested, and that once he does see them, he'll just let He'd seen at least a dozen girls based on their smiles. I really was just a puzzle in his game.

Tuesday, who had been listening to Camille with an anxious expression on her face, got up from her seat and looked around the room. She found Marlee and me in the corner and quickly walked over. "What did you guys do on your date?" she asked abruptly. "Hi, Tuesday," Marlee said cheerfully. "Oh, hush!" she cried, and turned back to me. "Come on, Florence, spill." "I told you." "He's always in your room! It's completely unfair," Tuesday whined. "I haven't seen him outside of mealtimes, not even in passing. What in the world did you two do?" I sighed. "Tuesday I'm going to be honest with you, it's none of your buisness. Go bother someone else I'm not doing to give you and answers.Tuesday huffed and went to Kriss's table, urging her to tell her story over again, quite energetically. I, however, was stunned. "Are you okay, Flo?" Marlee asked, snapping me back into reality. "Yes. Why?" "You just look upset." Marlee's brow furrowed in concern. "Nope. Not upset. Everything's great." Suddenly, in a move so swift I would have missed it if they weren't so close, Anna Farmer-a Four who worked land for a living-reached up and slapped Celeste across the face. Several people gasped, including myself. Those who missed it turned around and asked what had happened, most notably Tiny, whose high voice pierced the quiet left in the room. "Oh, Anna, no," Emmica said with a sigh. The moment after it happened, Anna slowly comprehended what she'd just done. She would probably be sent home; we weren't supposed to physically assault another Selected. Emmica started tearing up while Anna sat in stunned silence. They were both farm girls and had bonded early on. I couldn't imagine how I'd feel if it was Marlee suddenly leaving. Anna, who I'd only met in passing, had always struck me as an effervescent creature. I knew there was nothing in her that would naturally seek to harm another person. During a large part of the rebel attack, she'd been on her knees in prayer.
Undoubtedly, she had been provoked, but no one was sitting within earshot to prove that. It would be Anna's word against Celeste's as far as any exchange of words went, but Celeste would have a roomful of people who could back up that she'd been hit. Maxon would presumably be urged to send Anna home as an example to the others.

I ran over to Celeste. She was smirking. "Oh Celeste what did you do!" I say and she whispers something into my ear. "Getting rid of dead weight." She says before getting up, whispering something in Anna's ear and leaving the room. Anna was gone before dinner.