The Elite (Where the King is Nice)

Chapter 5

(America's POV)
I sat in the queen's room with the other girls as Queen Amberly told stories of Maxon in his childhood. After Marlee had found me at the hospital, we had gone to the dining room where the queen had insisted she got to know us better.
"So, girls, what do you think of-" But she's cut off as the door creaks open. Maxon stands there with a shocked look on his face.
"Umm..." He turns bright red and starts to leave when his mother says,
"Hey! Maxon! Why don't you join us?" I could hear him groan quietly to himself.
"I'll, uh-"
"Come on, Maxon!" His mom whined. I held back a giggle. He must be overwhelmed by all the girls in here. Maxon sighs and comes and sits on the bed with us.
"So, what were we talking about?" Suddenly, my head starts to throb extremely painfully. I remember what the nurses had said earlier.
Everything is fine, except for one thing. You'll be prone to extreme migraines for most of your life unless we can find a cure.
I sigh and my face contorts in pain. Hopefully, nobody notices. Unfortunately, my wish doesn't come true. Marlee looks over and says,
"Are you OK, America? You look like you're in pain." Of course, everybody looks over.
"I'm fine... Just a small headache, that's all." I give them my most convincing smile. Luckily, the queen continues talking and the attention is taken off of me. The queen keeps talking, but I don't really pay attention to what she's saying. I'm trying to keep my face from contorting in pain. Maxon notices and mouths,
Are you ok?
I nod and mouth back,
I'll be fine.
After while, the queen finishes talking and dismisses us so she can talk to Maxon about some things. Marlee comes over to me and says,
"I'm going to bring you to the hospital for a painkiller. You don't look too good." I nod painfully as she guides me to the hospital.
"So I heard Silvia assigned us a new project today," I say to Marlee. She groans and says,
"Yeah, we have a week to make up an idea that will make the country a better place." It takes my brain a little while to process this because it's still throbbing. But when I finally process it, my jaw drops.
"No. Way. That's insane!" I nearly yell out.
"Yes way. And I know. After we announce our idea on the Report next week, Maxon is going to eliminate 2 girls." My throat clenches painfully.
What if he eliminates me? What if I can't come up with an idea that will please both the country and the royal family? What if????
My train of thought is cut off when Marlee announces,
"We're here!" When the nurses see me, they immediately run over to get a painkiller and some water to gulp it down. After I take the medicine, Marlee suggests that we go down to the library to try to get some inspiration for the project. I agree and we head down. When we get there, the place is almost empty except for a person or two.
"Ummm, Marlee-"
"No. This is good. The less people here, the better," she whispers to me. I nod, not bothering to question her. Once she has her heart set on something, she usually doesn't back down until she reaches her goal.

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(1.5 Hours Later)
"America, I'm leaving. I think I have a vague idea of what I'm going to do," Marlee announces to me. I just nod and continue reading the book that's in my hand.
"I'll stay here," I tell her.
"Ok, see ya America!" She responds. After she leaves, I sigh in frustration. Even after reading like, 12 books on Illéa, I still have no idea what I'm doing.
"Frustrated much?" A voice says behind me. I jump up from my chair in shock. Since the library was empty besides me (or so I thought) I hadn't really been expecting anyone. This person grabs me by the waist and pulls me close. Only one person would do that.
Maxon.
"Maxon! Way to scare the crap out of me!" He snickers and says,
"I couldn't help it. You were looking so beautiful and innocent." I blush my trademark blush and he spins me around so I'm facing him.
"You know, I actually did come here to tell you something. I didn't come just to scare you," he whispers. When he talked, our lips were so close that they touched with almost every word. His breath tickled my skin as he breathed.
"But I think it can wait," he murmured against my lips. Before I can respond, he presses our lips together. I wrap my arms around his neck and he pulls me closer, putting his hands on my waist. We kiss passionately for about 2 minutes until a shrill voice interrupts us.
"Maxon!" Someone gasps. I groan quietly and pull away. My back is towards the voice so I have no idea who's speaking. Maxon, however, can see this person and his eyes widen. I hear a sniffle and mutter ever so quietly to Maxon,
"I'll be in the adults' section." Then I run over to the adults' section in the library and pretend to look at the books. But really, I'm eavesdropping on Maxon and the other person's conversation.
"Maxon? I thought we were supposed to be on a date?" The person sniffs. It's obviously a Selected girl, because those are the only girls that he would be taking on dates.
"I'm sorry, Natalie, I just got, um, caught up in something." I press my hand to my mouth to try to mute my snort.
"I can tell you don't love me. You'd rather ditch me and our date to be with America!" She yells. I can almost imagine Maxon cringing.
"Natalie, wait!" But based on the pounding of the footsteps that I heard, I don't think she waited. I step out of the adults' section and say,
"Maxon?" He looks over at me and says,
"I just need to stay by myself for now." I open my mouth to object, but he cuts me off.
"Look, there's a lot on my mind right now, and I need to be left alone. Please." With that, I walk out, leaving him to himself. What is up with him today? One moment he's his smiley usual self, and the other he's pushing me away. To any other person, that would be normal. But Maxon never pushes me away. I wonder if there's more to him than he tells me...

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OKAY GUYS!
I need suggestions. For the project that America is doing, what do you guys suggest that she does? I don't know if I want to do the castes thing or not. Let me know what you guys think!!!:)