Fun in France- a Selection Story

Chapter One- America POV

Hello! This is my third fan fiction, and I will be mostly focusing on Welcome to Illéa University with a few chapters of The Red Dress here and there. Without further ado, here is the first chapter!

America POV

It's been a week since Maxon asked to me to stay in the Selection after his father tried to kick me out, and honestly, sometimes I wonder why he bothered.

Despite all the trouble he went through so I could remain at the panache, Maxon still takes Kriss on dates, still whispers things to Celeste, still has dinner with Elise. And I really don't know what to make of him. Like usual. 

Sure, since the Reportbdix days ago he's come to see me -albeit briefly- four times, half of which we'd kissed. But Maxon and Lriss are seen together every day. I wish on occasion I could escape the palace for a while and just have fun with the remaining Elite.   

"You're all done, miss," Lucy said then, interrupting my thoughts. She'd been taking all the pins out if my bright red hair, while Anne had slipped me out hog the confronting evening gown -today's was a royal blue and strapless- and Mary's nimble fingers had just finished massaging my tired hands. 

"Thank you girls," I told them, truly meaning it. My maids have become my sisters, and we grow closer each day. I don't know what I'd do without them. "Actually, I'm going to turn in for the night. I'll see you three in the morning."

We all smiled, and they hurried away with echoes of: "goodbye, miss!" Freer in the silk nightgown, I made my way over to the piano. On the way I spotted the little jar that used to hold hundreds of pennies. Now there is just one- and a bracelet I made of Aspen's golden button and a piece of ribbon.

When I'd been allowed to stay in the competition, I suddenly realised I didn't love Aspen anymore, and I wanted to be Maxon's alone. Before, as I prepared to leave Angeles, I'd told Aspen I wanted time to get over Maxon before we tried again.

While that had hurt him, it was better than telling him I loved him when my heart still longed for the prince. Obviously, the king relented and granted me permission to remain in the competition. 

Afterwards, I kept staring at the jar, and when I thought of Aspen my mind didn't stray to our hours of kissing or stolen moments in the treehouse; instead, I simply thought of how I had lied to Maxon, how we should be friends, how him and Lucy looked at each other that way we used to look each other. Since I didn't need his little bracelet the now as a momento of my secret love, I'd put it beside the lone penny because it get right there, and then moved my jar to half underneath my bed rather than on the bedside table. I think it was to stop me looking at it, stop Aspen seeing it, stop my maids spotting it.

My skilled hands ran up and down the Ivory keys, starting with scales and moving onto tunes. I began to play the introduction to a song I'd made over the past week, about how Maxon keeps ignoring me. I called it 'On My Own'. Soon, I was singing the words.

"On my own, pretending he's beside me. All alone, I walk with him 'til morning. Without him, I feel his arms around me. And when I lose my way I close my eyes and he has found me.

"In the rain, the pavement shines like silver. All the lights, are misty in the river. In the darkness, the trees are full of starlight. And all I see is him and me, forever and forever."

At this point, tears but at the corners of my eyes, but I fought them; I would not cry again over Maxon Schreave.

"But I know, it's only in my mind. That I'm talking to myself, and not to him. And though I know, that he is blind. Still I say, there's a way for us, to be...

"I love him, but when the night is over. He is gone, the river's just a river." A single tear rolls den my cheek, but I carry on with song, determined to finish. "Without him, the world around me changes. The trees are bare and everywhere the streets are full of strangers."

By now I'm crying freely, forgetting the promise I made to myself.

"I love him, but every day I'm learning. All my life, I've only been pretending! Without me, his world will go in turning. A world that's full of happiness, that I have never known."

My fingers stop, and I slide off the piano stool, hugging my knees to my chest. My breaths are shaky as I sing the last few lines: "I love him, I love him, I love him. But only in my own."

My voice cracks on the last word, and the tears continue to flow. It feels good to cry. Over the last few days I've been stubborn and tried so hard not to cry over Maxon. Over his time with Kriss; over how I'd barely seen him and when I did it was short; how despite all the walls I'd put up, this song is created revealed my true feelings- I loved him. Deeper than I could ever admit. But how he'd probably never love me back when he could have Kriss: perfect, loving Kriss.

Slow applause stopped the sons, and I wiped them away quickly, turning to the door where my true love stood.

"Maxon? What are you doing here? It's late," I exclaimed, trying to sound cheerful even though he's just seen me crying my eyes out while singing.

Without words or warning, he practically ran across the room and scooped me up easily. My arms went around his neck as he sat on my bed with me on his lap. He cradled me in his arms, and I realised that for all his recent distance, maybe Maxon did care for me after all.

"Darling, are you alright?" he murmured in my ear.

"I'm fine," I whispered back.

"Well, you were just crying your eyes out on the floor, singing about the one you love not loving you back. Sorry if I'm a little worried."

"Look, Maxon, I wrote that song about you. I mean, you've been avoiding-"

"So you love me?" The question, so sudden and abrupt, threw me off slightly. 

"Of course I do," I said, pulling back so I could see his eyes which were tender and yet happy. "I love you, Maxon Calix Schreave. With all that I am, I love you."

"And I you," he said so quietly I wonfered if he'd spoken at all.

Phew! That was a long chapter (eight pages in my notebook!) but with a bit of Maxerica at the end. By the way, the song 'On My Own' America sings is from Les Misérables, I didn't make it up. Until next time

lizzieartblossom12