Another Selected (Book 1 of Selection fanfics)

Chapter 20

Days had passed, and I still hadn't interacted with either Derek or Genevieve. I was fairly certain that Genevieve thought I was angry with her, while Derek and I just seemed to be avoiding each other. The incident with Harold felt old, but it seemed like neither of us felt like facing the other. At least, that's how I felt.

I hadn't told Liana about it either, and I didn't plan to. I'd pushed it to the back of my mind, hoping that Derek would too. Still, I hadn't seen him all week, and the second Report was in two days. I wondered if I'd even see him outside of meals until then.

"Knock knock! Open up!" Liana's voice suddenly called from outside my door.

Sighing, I stood up to open it. I'd asked Beth, Elisa, and Cora to leave, hoping I'd get some alone time. It looked like that would have to wait.

"What're you doing in here? You disappeared right after breakfast." Liana asked as she sat down on my bed.

"Trying to get some alone time." I rolled my eyes, nudging her over so there was more room for me to sit.

She frowned. "You did that yesterday."

"No. We had another lesson with Celia all day. Remember? I accidentally spilled tea all over Audrey."

She thought for a second before nodding. "Oh, yeah. Not sure that it was an accident though."

I laughed. "It honestly was. Although if it had to land on anyone, I'm glad it was Audrey."

She grinned. "I'm pretty sure she's in the Women's Room. Maybe you can 'accidentally' spill something on her again."

I chuckled and nodded, allowing her to pull me out into the hall. If anyone was going to get my mind off of Derek and Genevieve, it was Liana. And even though it sounded terrible, figuring out ways to make Audrey miserable was better than sitting in my room alone.

It was busy when we walked in, as nearly every remaining girl was in here. Most of the girls were grouped in one corner of the room, but a few were scattered throughout. Henley, January, and a few other girls were sitting in one corner, and waved us over when they saw us.

"Hi guys." January smiled warmly as she moved to make room for us on the couch.

"Hey." Liana and I smiled back as we sat down.

"We were wondering if you two would show up. It seemed like everyone was here except you." Henley remarked.

"It does seem like that, doesn't it?" Liana agreed, looking around the room.

"What're they talking about?" I asked, talking about the horde of girls gasping in the back corner of the room.

Cleo rolled her eyes. "Teegan's bragging about her latest date. Prince Derek took her on one right after breakfast."

"Oh." I pursed my lips, trying to hold in my disdain, but failing. I honestly didn't understand why Teegan, or Audrey were still here. They were brats, which meant that they'd been acting in front of Derek and he'd fallen for it.

Henley scoffed as she looked over at the group of girls listening to Teegan. "It's all a load of crap. She acts as if they've been dating for years when we've only been here a few weeks."

January nodded. "She even tried saying that he kissed her first. Too bad he already kissed Eveline."

My head whipped to face her. "He what?"

She nodded again, sighing. "She told us yesterday. They were in the art gallery, and when he walked her back to her room he kissed her."

"Oh." I could feel my heart sink in my chest. It was stupid, but I'd hoped that I might be his first kiss. I remembered seeing Eveline from time to time, but I'd never really spoken to her. She'd seemed nice, but I didn't know that Derek knew her well enough to kiss her. My stupid heart had led me to think that I might be his favorite, and the first one to get a kiss. Turned out it was wrong.

"Yeah. She's the only one besides Teegan that's said anything about a kiss. At least the Report won't be boring." January sighed again, leaning back against the couch.

Everyone stayed silent after that. It seemed none of us were in the mood to gossip, although I wasn't surprised. Liana, January, Cleo, and Henley had all been on dates earlier in the week, so there was nothing much to talk about. Gossiping about other girls only seemed to bring in jealousy.

Suddenly, the doors to the Women's Room opened to reveal a guard. By his side was Queen America, a somber look on her face.

"Excuse me ladies. May I speak with Lady Cleo Langston?" Queen America spoke quietly, the sad look never leaving her face.

Cleo stood up from our little group shakily, a scared look on her face. The Queen smiled at her sadly, before gently leading her out into the hallway. Taking her outside did nothing to stop us from hearing the wails that followed soon after.
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We learned later that Cleo's mother had been found dead. Even though the palace had yet to figure out the exact cause of her death, it brought back fear of what happened during the King and Queen's selection. Rumors of possible new rebel groups had started spreading, though the palace was quick to shut them down. As of right now, Cleo's mother was just an unfortunate accident.

Cleo went home immediately after the Queen told her. She didn't say goodbye to anyone, though I could hardly blame her. I couldn't begin to imagine what it would be like to lose my mother, and now Cleo was living proof of it's pain.

Even though the palace had dismissed the possibility of any rebel groups, I couldn't help but wonder if Cleo was somehow connected to the people I'd heard speaking in that room the other day. Was she the girl that they needed to get rid of? Was her mother's death part of their plan to get her out? And even if she was, why on earth would they have needed to get rid of her? On top of that, who even were these people?

I hadn't recognized the voice of the girl, so I wasn't sure if she was a selected or not. The man's voice had sounded fuzzy, like it was on a recording, so I hadn't been able to make out an accent. I had no idea what they even wanted, and I had no evidence that they were even there. Heck, I didn't even know who they were. If I tried to tell anyone about it, they'd think I was making ir up. For now, this was something I was just going to have to keep to myself.
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