The Choosing

Chapter 8//: We're not all that bad

[E D I T E D]

♕✿~♕✿~Chapter 8//: We're not all that bad♕✿~♕✿~

The next day at breakfast, we were told that today would be a free day before we would have a strict schedule that we needed to follow every weekday. I groaned internally. They had all these lessons planned and it just seemed like school to me. A fancier version of school, though.

The table where we all sat was mostly silent, with some murmurs of conversation here and there. I took this as my time to silently watch all of the Silver competitors. They didn't look exactly dangerous right now. But what did I know about a Silver's mind? They all had abilities, some being deadly.

My eyes strayed to Alexis, who was eating her breakfast with careful movements, aware of what she was doing. I frowned a bit. To me, it seemed as if she was being too careful for it to be casual. It made me a bit unnerved yet curious.

Suddenly, Alexis' eyes moved up and met mine. My eyes widened as I quickly looked back down at my plate, busying myself with cutting up my pancake.

I felt something brush up against my mind. It was like having a feather brush against your skin. I jolted in my seat at the teasing touch to my mind. I heard laughter echo in my head and realized it was Alexis' laugh. My gut twisted as I felt my face pale. I looked across the table to Alexis, who stared back at me with a smirk. I looked away quickly, fearful that if I made eye contact with her again, she would invade my mind.

Unable to help myself, I continue to look around at the Silver girls but I avoid looking at Alexis again. But each time I looked at another girl, I couldn't help but feel like a prey surrounded by predators. I saw Emily manipulating the water in her cup, making the water ripple. Fiona was staring at the many metal utensils situated around the table. I knew she could control the knives, make them into things more sinister. Ingred, a girl from House Gliacon who could induce frost, was slowly freezing the orange juice in her cup.

These girls were all taught to want strength and power. It was the Silvers' motto. Strength and power. Two things revered by the Silvers. All they cared about was having power and being the most powerful. And it was sad, but Silvers were willing to do anything to get power and strength. It's all they cared about.

A wave of anger rushed through me. Silvers wanted strength and power, yet they already have god-like abilities. It was selfish that they would want more while Reds existed with nothing special about them.

These thoughts surrounded me as breakfast came to an end. I said my goodbyes to Rose and took my time. When I went out of the dining hall, almost everyone was gone, including Ahren.

I decide to go to my room. I'm pretty sure I'll need all the peace and quiet today to prepare for a month of drama and craziness that will surely come with this competition.

As I walk up the stairs to my room, I don't expect to run into anyone. But as I notice a person walking towards my direction, clearly not having noticed me yet, I slow down a bit.

Ahren sees me and a pleasant smile crosses his face. He changes his direction, heading towards me.

"Nice to run into you, Lady Madison," Ahren says as he comes to a stop in front of me.

Unfortunately for Ahren, I wasn't in the mood for any conversation. But he's the prince, so I drop into a quick, and terrible, curtsy. "Your Highness," I greet him.

His eyes are full of amusement. "I told you to call me Ahren," he says lightly.

I purse my lips, not sure if I should be respectful and call him his correct title or downright ignore a request of his. I decide it's safer to not ignore one of his requests.

"Right...Ahren." I mumble his name, not used to saying it. He smiles at my effort.

"Well, I'm just gonna go spend the day in my room. See you later," I tell him as I start to walk away from him and towards the direction of my room.

Ahren catches up to me quickly, his long legs helping him. His hands are in his pockets, trying to look casual. A small frown is on his face.

"You're spending your day in your room?" He asks me, confusion laced in his voice.

I look at him, a bit uncertain as I answer him. "Yeah, I am. Why?"

He shrugs. "I just thought you would be hanging out with the other girls in the Women's room, like the others are doing."

I can't help but scoff. "Trust me, I won't be hanging out with those girls of my own free will."

Ahren's frown deepens. "Why? Did you already get into a fight with one of the girls?" Ahren asks me with a teasing edge to his voice.

I feel the edges of my lips curving upwards. "No. It's just that they're Silver and I'm Red. Silvers and Reds don't usually hang out with each other," I tell Ahren.

Ahren stops walking, and I slow to a stop as well. He's looking at me with a strange look. Finally, he speaks. "But now that you're in this competition, it's your chance to get to know some Silvers."

I cross my arms across my chest. "It's not that simple to become friends with someone who thinks they're better than you. And I don't think many of the Silver girls here came to this competition to make friends with Reds," I explain to Ahren.

He stays silent for a moment, taking in my words. I start to shift from one foot to the other.

"But can you really just assume that about Silvers? Maybe if you got to know them, you would find some Silvers who would be willing to be friends with a Red." I open my mouth to respond to this, but Ahren speaks on.

"I know how Reds thinks of Silvers. I know they don't have a good judgement of us, and I can understand it. But we're not all that bad. It's like how Silvers think all Reds are incompetent villagers who are meant to serve us. You can't create one general judgement of someone just because of their blood color. You can't judge a person without knowing their whole story, you know?" Ahren looks at me.

His words bury deep within me. I had to admit, he was right. Completely right. It wasn't fair if I judged someone because of their blood color. At the end of the day, Silvers and Reds were still both humans.

So I nod at Ahren. "Yeah, I do know." I look at the door next to me, leading to my room. I put my hand on the knob. "Have a good rest of your day, Ahren."

He smiles at me calling him his name instead of his title. He starts to walk away from me. "Have a good rest of your day, Lady Madison," he calls out to me.

I pause in my movement, taking the time to call after him:

"Call me Madison."

♕✿~♕✿~♕✿~♕✿~♕✿~

So here is the next chapter! I will now try to upload every week or so. Thank you all for reading my story and voting/commenting! You all are awesome!

Glass_Sword