The Selection

Chapter Five

When we arrived at the airport  a mere hour later, only one other girl had been there. I instantly recognized her as Thea Harper, she was a Six. Thea had blonde hair and icy blue eyes, but she appeared kind in her photo and came off as shy when I peeked through the plane's door. I smile as I walk on, Miranda close on my heels, and I take the seat across the aisle from Thea. She smiles politely at me and I breathe out the sigh I've been holding in. I watched Miranda scurry off into the back of the plane behind a curtain, probably with Thea's aide.

I'd never had actual friends before, our neighbors were way too young and Dad taught me lessons because its not like we could ever afford to send me to school. Max and Trae. . . and Mikaylah, they were all I needed. But this was different, the Selection could go on for as long as Prince Jackson wanted it to and that means I'd have to at least try to get along with these girls. 

I had looked over all the girls in the Selection and mesmerized all the ones I thought looked genuine and kind. Ones who I thought would out beat me, which was basically all of them. There were no Eights and I was one of the three Sevens that were in the competition. And then there were only five Sixes, the rest were Fives and up. 

"Do you know who else is joining us?" Thea asks and I turn to her.

"I have no idea. I'm Sydney, by the way." I introduce myself.

"I know," She smiles. "I'm Thea."

"I knew that."

The two of us giggle but we stop immediately upon the sound of an upcoming car. An engine was cut off and we both looked out the windows that were on the sides of the plane. I was happy that I didn't have to fly alone and I noticed Thea had been twiddling her fingers in her lap, so I knew that I wasn't the only one nervous about flying for the first time. I knew neither of us had seen who got out of the car but we heard footsteps getting closer as the girl went up the steps into the plane. 

"Hey y'all! I'm Lily Roberts." A tall, dirty blonde, hazel eyed girl grins brightly as she walks onto the plane and plops down right in the seat in front of me. With just her presence a smile grew on my face, and I saw Thea was smiling too. Lily's aide rushed past us and into the back.

"Sydney Palmer." I say and she quickly shakes my hand.

"Nice to meet you." Lily grins.

"Thea Harper. Hey, aren't you a model? I feel like I've seen you somewhere before." She states and Lily shrugs.

"I'm a Two, modeling is basically all I found acceptable out of my choices. But what about you two, what do you guys do?" Lily asks. Well, she's not selfish or self-centered and she's got a beautiful smile. I like her, a chuckle grazes my lips.

"Well, my family is full of housekeepers but I'm a seamstress." Thea answers.

"Oh, yeah, I've heard about you. A friend of mine wore one of your dresses for a fashion show once, it was a light blue and it had these ruffles that looked to die for." Lily used her hands a lot when she spoke, she was very extravagant. 

"Thank you, I worked three weeks to buy that material and to get it just right. What about you Sydney, what do you do?"

"My entire family are tree workers. Except my Dad, he had an accident and can't work right now."

"What about your Mom, she cuts down trees too?" Lily questions.

"No, my Mom. . . she passed away when I was a little girl." I explain and Lily's face saddens as well as Thea's. Lily takes my hand and I had to keep myself from gasping or flinching away.

"I'm so sorry, I-I didn't know." She sounded so sincere I almost wanted to start crying, but then another engine got close and the three of us turned our heads to wait for the next and last girl to get onto the plane.