Ever After . . .

Chapter 5

~America~~after the ballet~

The ballet ends. Endless applause. The curtain closes, and everybody gets up and leaves. I stay behind so Marissa and Lucas have a ride home.

The curtain opens, and the crew is at work. Marissa and Lucas walk out. I give a small applause, and Marissa smiles a little. She gives a small bow.

"Are you ready to go?" I ask them.

"Almost. We need to go over a few things before we leave," Marissa said.

"Okay. Can I watch?"

"Sure."

Then their dance instructor comes on the stage.

"Okay, I say a few things that could use some work. Let's do the end of act two," she says.

Piano music starts, and Marissa and Lucas begin to dance. older woman comes on stage.

"Is that it?" The woman asks.

"Yes. I believe so. Thank you so much," Marissa said.

Marissa goes off stage and grabs a bag. She begins to take off her shoes, and she slips on some other shoes. She comes off the stage with her ankle wrapped. She starts to run towards me.

"Are you okay?" I ask.

"Yeah. I hurt my ankle. Nothing that an ice pack can't fix. I'll be fine mom," Marissa said.

Then Lucas comes down the aisle.

"How are you Lucas?" I ask.

"Good. How did you like it?"

"It was incredible. I'm so proud of both of you."

I takeMarissa's and Lucas's hand and we walk out of the theater together. The last rays of sun dance on Marissa's hair, making it look like her hair is on fire. We start to walk down the street to where we're staying for the time being. Then I see a palace car drive up. Maxon and Kriss must've been there tonight.

"Mom. Are you okay?" Lucas asks me.

"Yeah. Why?"

"Well you were just looking off into space. What is it?"

"The royal family was there tonight."

"What?" Marissa asks.

"Look."

Marissa turns her head and sees the palace car. She just smiles like crazy. I squeeze her hand.

"How about we go for ice cream?" I ask.

"That'd be great. Ruin like three hours of exercise with some ice cream" Lucas jokes.

"Okay then."

We turn, and walk into the ice cream parlor next to our place. I order two scoops of strawberry, Marissa and Lucas order two scoops of chocolate.

We sit and eat. We make small talk about the ballet. Once we were done, we threw away our dishes, and we left for our place.

We walk through the front door. Celeste moved here to Angeles when her modeling career took off after the Selection. I called up Celeste when we had to stay here for about a month, and she was happy to let us into her home.

"Good you're home. America, there's this guy here who won't leave. I need you to tell him that you're related to me so that he'll leave," Celeste says walking into the entryway.

She grabs my hand, and she drags me to her living room where there is a man that is sitting on the couch.

"Who is this?" The man asks.

"This is my cousin. She's here to stay for a while, and she hates it when I have men like you over," Celeste says in a stern voice.

"Well she's going to have to live with me."

"No I won't. My cousin is too good for you. You're treating her like crap, she deserves better," I say.

"You think so?" The man says standing up.

"I know so."

"Well then. I guess miss know it all here thinks you don't deserve me."

"It's true you're a lying backstabber. No one deserves you. Plus you've been stalking me, and you invited yourself into my home without any consent. Now get out!" Celeste yelled.

"What?"

"Get out now!"

"Why should I do that? You're obviously too weak for me."

"Yes I'm weak. But I have the authorities number on speed dial. So if you don't leave now, the authorities will be here quicker then you can bat an eye."

"Try me."

So Celeste dialed the number, and the authorities came. They carried the man away. Marissa got comfortable on the couch with her foot put up on a pillow and an ice pack on it.

"So that happened. How was the ballet? I want to know all about it," Celeste said.

"Well, it was beautiful I thought. A masterpiece. You should've been there," Marissa said.

"I wish I could've too. Now rumor has it that Maxon was there."

"He was I think. But I don't want to keep admitting it to myself," I say.

"America. Accept it, you have unfinished business with Maxon. Have you seen what he looks like on the Report. He looks tired and worn out. He looks like he loves Kriss."

"Marissa, Lucas, can you get yourselves to bed. I'm going to talk to Celeste for a little bit. I'll be up later."

So Lucas gets up from the floor, and helps Marissa out of the room. Once they're out of the room I say to Celeste, "There is no way Maxon still loves me. If he loves me, he would've chosen me not Kriss. We each made our decisions."

"Yes but have you seen him? He looks tired. The fire that you and him had, isn't there with him and Kriss. It's missing. You were the only person that made him truly happy."

"Then why did he choose Kriss? Explain that. If I made him truly happy, then why did he pick Kriss?"

"I don't know. Do you know?"

"I don't know. He caught me off guard. I was just talking to a guard from my home town, when Maxon came and took it the wrong way. He never gave me the chance to explain what was going on. He assumed and it was the end. I put on a smile for the cameras, then left after the broadcast. I haven't seen him since," I explain.

"Well. He still loves you. I can feel it," Celeste says.

"How?"

"I can just feel it."