Selected

Seventh

"I adore your dress, you must tell me who the designer is."

I smiled at the second girl to complement my dress. It was really a gorgeous dress. The floor length gown was a few shades off from being completely white, with a string of diamonds at the top of the bodice. I couldn't be sure if the diamonds were real or not, with how rich the Blys are I wouldn't be surprised if they were. The only thing I didn't like about it was the color. Especially when standing next to Vox, who was wearing a black tux. We looked like we were going to walk down the aisle in the nearest church after this. "Thank you. My soon to be sister-in-law bought it, but I'm not sure where."

The girl gave me a friendly grin, "And who is that?"

"Halston Bly."

Her face puckered like she had tasted something sour. "Oh." She then walked off without saying anything else.

"Okay." That was weird. I guess her and Hal weren't the best of friends. I stood by myself for a few minutes and admired the decorations in the room. It was a huge ballroom in another gorgeous building in the middle of the sector. A chandelier hung from the middle of the room with string of lights connecting to it from each wall. Tables littered around the space and in the center was a wooden floor that had people twirling about making a kaleidoscope of color.

"Here you go." Vox appeared at my side with another glass of golden champagne. I took the glass and thanked him. "Are you having a good time?"

I shrugged and took a sip of the drink. "It could be worse."

He smiled and nodded, "Yes it could."

"Voxie!" We both turned to see a girl in a black dress approach. Her brown hair shined against the lights as she walked.

Vox's face fell and he whispered in my ear, "I'm just going to apologize right now because Mal is bound to say several offensive things in the next few minutes." He smiled at the girl who approached as she wrapped her arms around him.

"Oh, I'm so glad to see you, Voxie." She let go of him. "But did you hear about Felicity? Completely awful. She's been matched up with some street rat from Sector 16. Honestly, you'd think your father could have pulled some strings to get her to stay." She spoke in a haughty tone that I disliked immediately. She stood so straight that I imagined she looked down her nose at everything.

Vox put his arm around my waist. "Maybe he did pull strings."

She rolled her eyes, "Oh Voxie, how I missed your sense of humor the past week. But really, a diplomat's daughter in a place like Sector 16? It's like your father is playing a cruel joke. Like he wanted her to be miserable the rest of her life. It must be torture to be in a dirty place like that. My heart really goes out to her."

I kept my mouth shut as she ranted on and on about how awful a place my sector was. She looked over at me, "Oh, I didn't see you standing there. Hi, my name is Mal. You are simply gorgeous, I love that dress. No doubt the handiwork of Halston. What sector are you from? You look like a 2. Are you from sector 2?"

Vox cleared his throat and finished off his drink. I gave the girl a smile, "No, Sector 16."

The girl's face was priceless. Her eyes were wide and her mouth hung open, I imagined the girl wasn't surprised that often. Vox took the drink from my hand and gave it to her, "Let's go dance, Emmary." He had one hand on the small of my back, leading me through the crowd of people to the dance floor.

"I don't know how to dance." Teyland had tried to teach Koontz and I once, but we just kept stepping on each other and falling over. I smiled at the memory.

Vox took my hand, "That's okay. I just wanted to get you away from Mal. Again I apologize. She doesn't have a filter."

"I don't think I like her much."