Truly Elected (Book Two of The Next Selection Series)

Chapter 10

I awoke to a peculiar, consistent ringing in my ears. I shot up, checking the unfamiliar settings all around me. I felt my heart beat faster and faster in panic until my eyes lay on the Daniel, groggily turning his alarm clock off. He chuckled as I rolled off of the bed, landing hard on my arse.

"Ugh," I groaned, rubbing my head as I rose to my feet. "What... what time is it?"

"Why do you look so surprised?" Daniel asked, ignoring my question.

"I'm used to sunlight waking me up." I said, my sarcasm nipping at him. "Alarms don't work well for me."

Daniel rolled his eyes. "Obviously they do. You're up, aren't you."

I flopped back onto Daniel's bed, closing my eyes and placing the back of my hand over them lightly. "No I'm not."

Daniel's laughter began to fade away as he walked toward his closet. "Well, you need to be up." He called over his shoulder. "I have a meeting in fifteen minutes and I need to get dressed, be ready, and look presentable. That means," Daniel faced me, pointing his thumb toward his open door and made a clicking sound with his tongue. "You've got to skedaddle."

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It was quiet in the stairwell. The windows offered me no light, it was to early for the palace to bask in the sun's warm golden glow. As I was descending the stairs to get to the Selected girls' floor, I could hear the loud creaking of the large front doors. Curiosity bloomed in me, taking over the little self control I had that morning. Listing to my body over my mind, I peeked over the rail of the stairs to see what was occurring.

Standing just inside the door was Prince Zack of Italy. Though I never really had a conversation with him before, I recognized him right away. His caramel skin was covered by a dark blue shirt and suit coat, and his very dark brown hair had drops of rain from this morning's shower in it. In Zack's hand was a rectangular shaped wooden box. From where I was standing, I could see letters engraved into the top face in cursive, but I was too far away to read it. My eyes turned up to his face; he looked very nervous. What he was nervous about, I had no clue, but it wasn't like I could ask him; for he had already left the spot he was standing in.

Sighing, I shook the suspicion I harbored about him out of my head and made my way toward my room.  As soon as I opened the door, my eardrums were invaded by the sound of wails. I covered them in a hurry, slumping against the wall; I had neither the energy nor the effort to put up with this nonsense.

"Why are you crying now?" I screeched out, my voice cracking. Cassia, Juliana, and Starlet immediately looked up at me, standing from the floor and running toward me. Juliana was the last of them to reach me, having wiped her eyes of the fresh tears she had shed.

"We thought something happened to you." she cried as she grabbed the three of us into a large group hug. I laughed uneasily, puling out of her grasp.

"No, I'm alright you guys. Really, there was no need to worry."

"No?" Cassia said, the next to pull away. A frown encompassed her face as she folded her arms across her chest. I gulped, knowing that look too well. "Then where were you?"

I sighed, staring at my feet as my cheeks heated up. "I spent the night in Daniel's room." I said bashfully, kicking my foot around. The three of them gasped and I heard Juliana squeal giddily.

"Did you... you know?" 

My head shot up immediately, my face flushing even more than it already had. "NO!" I said, covering my mouth. There was no need for me to be that loud. "I felt bad about last night, so I went to apologize to him."