The Appointed: A Selection Fanfiction

Chapter Sixteen

The chatter from the Women's Room could be heard miles away as I walked down the halls. Our group decided to work there instead of our own rooms like the other Selected. We thought the lighting might change our views on some parts of the float, since the windows in the Women's Room were very large.

"Sorry I'm late. I overslept." I confessed with a weak smile.

"It's fine!" Phryne exclaimed as the light reflected off her green eyes. "We only got started a few minutes ago, anyways."

I nodded and sat down beside Freesia and Limbelle, ready to discuss the project.

"Alright, so, we need to get an idea for our float." Harley stated. From the look of her stance, she seemed to be the leader so far. "If you have an idea, now is your time to shine."

Paige raised her hand. "I was thinking we could do the float all purple and sparkly. With, like, glitter and sequins. I think it could be really pretty."

Harley nodded with her eyebrows raised, skeptical of the idea.

"What if we did a floral theme?" I suggested. "With different flowers all around it. Kind of like a garden on a float."

"Ok, that could work." Harley rubbed her fingers across her chin, already imagining the float in her head. "Any other ideas?"

"What if we did pastels? Like, pink and purple. I think that could be really pretty." Everlyn suggested.

"I think that would look great as well." Harley nodded. "How about we take a vote. Whichever wins will be the one we do."

Everyone nodded their heads in agreement as Harley passed out sheets of paper for the voting.

"If you would like the purple idea, write a one on your paper. Floral? Put a two." Harley said while holding up two fingers. "And finally, if you would like the pastel idea, write a three."

Everyone scribbled down numbers onto their paper and folded them into little squares. I saw Ampra get out of her seat and grab a small basket. She began to walk along the row of girls, telling us to put our papers in. I could hear the sound of paper hitting paper as I dropped my slip in. She took the basket up to Harley and began sorting the papers.

"When is this going to be over?" Paige complained. "We've been sitting here forever."

Could she not tell time? It had only been a few minutes and it looked like the girls were almost done. We didn't even have that many girls in our group anyways.

"Alrighty," Harley piped up. "The votes are in."

Ampra started. "The Idea that got the most votes was..." The girls twisted in their seats, excited for the result. "The floral design! It came in with a whopping seven votes, with only two left over for the pastel design."

"WHAT! My design didn't get any votes! I. Am. Done." Paige finished as she slammed the door in our faces.

I wasn't really sure what just happened there. She didn't even vote for her own design?

"Well, that was rude." Sapphire remarked from the back of the room.

"Agreed." Harley said as she tried to focus back on the project. "Let's meet in here same time tomorrow to discuss the actual design, now that we have an idea. See you guys later!" She waved as she left the room, practically skipping.

"I think I'm going to go as well." I told Limbelle as I jumped up from my seat.

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"Oof!" I cried as I realized I had collided with something. Of course, that something had to be Ben, who was smiling down at me. "Sorry." I mumbled.

"It's fine." He waved off my previous comment. "I was actually just coming to get you from your room for our date."

Oh! I had forgotten we were supposed to go on a date today.

"Do you want to go now?" I questioned.

"If you say so..." He linked his arm through mine as we walked to the double doors that led to the gardens. The cool autumn air hit me like a wall, pushing the cold into me, threatening to freeze me over.

I shivered. "I'm just going to assume you know how to swim, considering our last date and how wrong it went."

"I didn't think it went wrong. I thought it was perfect." He smiled, his perfect teeth showing. Only, his teeth weren't as perfect as... Stop it, Grey! You are here for for Ben.

"It was, I guess." I smiled.

"There is really only one way to make this date better." He said while leaning closer. It looked like he was going to kiss me. I breathed in, not sure what to expect. I had never been kissed before, let alone have a boyfriend.

He stopped only millimeters away from my face as he said. "If I knew your middle name."

"What? What does that have to do with anything?" I laughed. One of those weird awkward laughs that just come out in odd situations. That's what happened there.

"I just want to know your middle name. Pretty simple question." He motioned for me to tell him.

"I'll tell you," I said while pointing my finger at him. "But on one condition."

"What?"

"You have to catch me." I didn't even finish my sentence before I started in a full out sprint across the gardens.

"No fair!" He called as he began to chase after me. Little did he know, I used to run home every day to make it home on time for dinner. My endurance slowly grew until I could run the whole way home.

I stopped at a small rose bush, waiting. I couldn't see him, but he probably was too slow to keep up. It seemed like forever, but was probably only twenty seconds.

"BOO!"

"Auughghghh!" I shrieked.

"What was that?" Ben laughed.

"You scared me." I explained, putting a hand over my heart.

"I'm sorry." He said, wrapping me in a hug, the sudden heat warming me from the inside out. "You have to admit it was funny, though."

"For you maybe." I said. "You nearly gave me a heart attack."

"I still need to know your middle name."

I sighed, not ready to let him know, and began to walk to the palace.

"You promised!" He reminded me.

"I know."

He jogged up beside me, awaiting an answer.

"India"

"What?"

"My middle name. It's India."

"Oh," he smiled. "That's actually very pretty. Grey India Harrick. Has a nice ring to it."

We made it inside just as it was turning dark. It almost felt as though I was an icicle left in a super cold freezer. He walked me up to my room to say goodbye.

"Farewell," he said after he kissed my hand. "Grey India Harrick.

"Farewell, Ben."