Selected: Part 1 - Rags to Gowns

10. THE OTHERS

QUEEN CORDELIA WAS EVEN MORE beautiful in person, her skin tanned like Prince Ethan's, and her long brown hair cascading down her shoulders. King Theodore, on the other hand, seemed stoic and confident, and had Prince Ethan's dark brown hair. The dinner table, who had been full with girls yesterday, now had six empty chairs. One of those empty seats was beside me: Jade Eliott's seat. I also noticed that Violet and Harper were missing. Apparently, those six girls had been eliminated immediately after their first meeting with Prince Ethan. I assumed the prince saw Harper's shallowness right off the bat, and I didn't know Jade or any of the other girls well enough, but I couldn't understand why he'd eliminate Violet. She seemed so sweet.

Back in my room, I played games and chatted with my maids until it was time to get ready for bed. Tonight, it was Maya's turn to stay in my room. I fell asleep quickly, thinking of how close I'd been to the prince. I wished I could talk with him for hours.

The next morning, all of us in the Women's room noticed a girl with auburn hair, walking in the gardens with Prince Ethan. I felt a little tinge of sadness. Whoever that was, she had gotten the first date. "That's Agatha Rainor from Labrador, a Five." Taylor said, peeking out the window from beside me. "I wonder what she did to get the first date." Naomi wondered aloud, red lips pursed. From a nearby couch, a dirty-blonde haired girl I didn't know interjected. "Her daddy probably bribed him, whore." Hazel, true to her laid-back nature, laughed off the mean comment. "Oh Scarlett, you're so negative!" Scarlett was fuming. I stated the obvious: "If she is a Five, I doubt her family would have the means to bribe royalty. Plus, we don't even know what kind of girls the prince likes..." Taylor cut me off. "But she's so plain!" She moaned miserably. I decided not to say anything else, and instead choose to study.

Over the course of the week, the prince took around eleven girls on dates. Among them, only three girls hadn't been eliminated right afterwards: Agatha Rainor, Mai Jang and Alice Keen. Agatha was utterly beautiful, with bright green eyes, Mai was an Asian-looking beauty, with long, straight black hair and Alice was a pretty dark-skinned, sweet looking girl. Out of the three, I was drawn most to Alice. "How was your date with Prince Ethan?" I asked, wondering what she had done to stay in the competition. "Oh, it was wonderful!" She gushed. "We did some archery, and we talked a whole lot. I told him about my farm, and he seemed to enjoy that, especially when I talked about my chickens." Perhaps prince was an animal lover, I thought, and again found something we might have in common. "He really is so nice." She finished. With that information, I couldn't really pinpoint what I had to do if I was to get a date with Prince Ethan.

We were down to 21 girls already, and I thought that maybe it would be best if I didn't get a date with him at all. Maybe if I stayed quiet, he would forget about me and I'd make it to the top without him noticing. It was stupid though, so I wasn't seriously thinking of doing that. What was the point if we didn't get to know each other? While the prince was dating all the other girls, I busied myself designing dresses in my sketchbook. "Oh, that's gorgeous! Did you draw that?" Maya asked me. I blushed. "Yes, these are all my ideas and designs." I said, bashful. She ushered Grace and Piper over to look through my drawings. "You know..." Grace started. "We could actually make all of these for you. They're much better than anything we could come up with." I'm sure there were stars in my eyes then. "Really?" I asked, incredulous; I had never gotten to wear one of my designs. "Of course!" Piper pointed to a pastel pink, flounce-sleeved gown I had recently designed. "Oh, this one will be perfect for the Report in two days!" It really would be perfect. "Will you have time to finish it?" Maya gave me a sly grin. "Don't underestimate us."

I was so excited. I'd finally get to see my designs come to life. "You girls are the best!" I exclaimed, going for a group hug. As to not get discouraged that the prince did not ask me out on a date yet, I kept myself occupied. The next day, I studied proper etiquette all morning with Gwen, and I spent the rest of my day finishing up my best design yet. The evening gown was light blue, the top part made of lace, with off-shoulder lace bell sleeves and the bottom part made of layers and layers of lace-detailed tulle. Glowing with pride, I rushed over to Gwen's room to show her.

"Oh wow Luna, this is really amazing." I blushed. "You can look through my sketchbook and choose a design for your maids to make for you, if you want." I offered. Gwen's eyes lit up and she began looking through everything, until she settled on a blue split-front evening gown. "Definitely this one. Thank you so much, Luna." She hugged me. Having been here for over four years, I was well adjusted to living in the palace, even though my lifestyle was significantly more luxurious now. With all that, what was most new to me was actually having friends that I could get close to.

"How was your date?" I asked, knowing that she had had her first one this morning. "It was great actually. I'm glad I didn't get eliminated like all those other girls." She laughed nervously. "We went horseback riding. I think he's a bit guarded, but that's alright." I nodded; he did seem shy.

Back in my room, I showed my new design to my maids. They all agreed it was my best one yet. "Would you like us to get started on it?" Grace asked. "Oh I don't know... the only occasion that would be worth wearing this beautiful of a gown would be a date with the prince, but I have a feeling I won't be getting that any time soon." Piper interrupted me. "Nonsense! He's probably just getting to know every girl equally, and just doesn't know how great you are yet." I sighed. "I feel like I'm the only selected girl that hasn't been on a date yet. I just want a chance." I buried my face in my hands, trying to control my breathing. "Let's get you in the bath." Maya said, softly. I got a feeling these girls were starting to understand how anxious I got, and we're doing their best to be as calming as possible. I didn't sleep much that night, instead going over once again what I had said to the prince, trying to find something wrong in my words.