The Girl : A Selection Fanfic

Chapter 9

"And then he took me to the kitchen, and we started to make a cake, but then before I knew it he had thrown flour at my face! And both of just kept throwing food at one another, laughing so hard we were practically on the ground. He is so romantic!" Maya Rose, one of the selected, said.

"Oh, isn't he?" Another selected, Asia Grey, I think, responded back, leaning forward. "Yesterday he took me to the movie theater, and he picked out a chick flick! The entire movie we just whispered to each other, neither of us even focusing on the movie at all!"

"And I just love the way that he focuses all his attention on me when I'm with him. He seems to just devote his whole self with me when we are together!" Shouted out another selected member I didn't know. I sighed, rolling my eyes, realizing just how long of a day it would be.

Every Saturday all of the selected are required to stay in the women's room all day. We have lessons in the morning with Silvia about how to be a proper princess and possibly future Queen, and then after her lesson we are left to go off and do whatever we wanted, as long as we stay in the Women's Room. So, I had to grudgingly sit in a room where I got to listen to 19 romantic dates with the guy who was also dating me. Fun.

"So how was your date with the prince?" One of the girls sneered at me. I don't understand why she chose to single out me since there were plenty of other girls who were sitting quietly as well.

"Um, well, we...we walked around the palace and he spoke with me at the gardens..." I said dully. I saw the girl, Tia I think, smile triumphantly and I realized that that was what she was waiting for me to say. They all smiled, some, Tia included, like they had already become queen and I knit my eyebrows together in anger. These memories of times I'd had with Devon had meant something to me, and here these girls were making me feel like what I had thought was romantic was really just boring.

"Oh, well that's um...fun..." A few girls giggled, and I felt my face burn bright red. I just ducked my head, trying to hide from them, so they couldn't see how hard they had hurt me. Wait a second, that's exactly what they wanted to do. Hurt me, make me feel stupid and unworthy because my date wasn't consumed by throwing food or a movie. And underneath all their plain desires for either the prince or the crown, they were jealous of me. So, I sat up straight, with my head held high, and smiled for all that I had in this, this beautiful place, that isn't yet my home. And then, half the girls, the real mean ones, promptly ignored me, finding that their attacks had no meaning to me whatsoever. I was no fun for them anymore.

"How did you do that?" Pieper DeFoe, a young, pretty girl, with beautiful dirty blonde hair, and dazzling blue eyes, asked me. I stared at her for a moment, noticing how we looked a little like each other, but then I realized, no we don't. Well, not in the physical sense anyways, but as I started talking to her and getting to know her, I realized our personalities were a lot alike.

"It was easy. Once I realized that they were just trying to get to me, to psych me out, because they were jealous, what they thought of me didn't matter to me anymore. Are they getting to you about your date with the prince as well?" She sighed, and looked down, a sad look on her face. When she didn't answer back another girl with jet black hair and an olive complexion, sitting next to her, spoke up.

"She hasn't been on a date with him yet. He's gone out with everyone but her, Nia Wesley," She nodded her head to a red headed girl reading a book in the corner of the room. "And Kylie Griger."

                  She said this while glancing at a dark brown haired girl, who seemed to be writing something down in a notebook. As I stared at each of these girls, I couldn't see anything wrong with them. They all seemed beautiful, unique, maybe a little lonely, but kind, from what I could tell. I looked over at the person who had spoken for Pieper, and saw that she was rubbing her back, murmuring kind words. At least some people in this competition were caring.

"Hey, Blake." I was torn from my thoughts as Josie came and sat by me.

"Hey." I smiled to her.

"So, how's life in the palace so far, Lady Blake?" She wiggled her eyebrows, and held out her hand as if she were holding a microphone, interviewing me for one of those talk shows. I laughed, rolling my eyes at her silliness.

"Why don't you ask yourself that question, Lady Josie? You'll probably have a better answer anyways." She sighed dramatically, and rolled her eyes.

"Well of course, but the people don't want to hear from me! They insist that you be the one to answer." She gave me a playful look, like, I know they're stupid, but just go with it. I laughed so hard I started snorting, which made her start to laugh, and it seemed like forever before we could stop. By the time we calmed down my chest was so sore, I felt like I could curl into a ball for months.

Josie and I continued to hang out throughout the day, while talking to some of the other girls. I learned that some of the girls really were nice, and Josie and I made a group of friends. We were basically the people who weren't apart of Tia's group, who we realized is the leader of that posse. Our "gang" consisted of Josie, me, Pieper, the girl I was talking to earlier, whose name I found out is Layla Michaelson, Nia Wesley, and Britani Fletcher. We sat together for a while, talking and laughing and having fun, and before we knew it, it was time to go and change into our evening gowns. We all stalled by walking together to the main hallway that holds all of the the selected rooms. Then we left to our own rooms to get ready.
As I was opening my door, I glanced back at my friends retreating figures, and realized that even if I didn't fall in love with the prince or if he didn't choose me, I was still going to be connected to 5 other amazing girls. I was still going to leave, no matter what, for the better.