The Selection - KOTLC X THE SELECTION SERIES

Chapter 2

Ok, so I have gotten things together - Biana is with Tam. As for Kriss, you'd be somewhat surprised who she is ;)

I turn around and see Fitz settling into a corner of the tiny treehouse with a sly grin on his face. My face turned as red as a tomato.

He is exceptionally handsome, ever so attractive that Twos have flirted with him from time to time. He has windswept chocolate brown hair that stopped at the neck. Yes, Fitz was a skinny boy due to the lack of food, yet he seemed to have reasonably large muscles. He wore a worn out black t-shirt with his everyday jeans that had rips on his knees (that wasn't fashioned at the time). He wore a movie star smile that even the most handsome of Twos could not beat.

But it was his eyes that captured me the most. His oddly teal eyes that I would stare into forever with love. They had a way of conveying every emotion in his heart (not his head) without trying. With those eyes, he could be a One.

I sighed begging, "Please don't call me that, my mom has been calling me that, then my sister, and now you."

"Not my fault, one look at you and the words have already fallen out of my lips."

I wanted to silence him, to remind Fitz that we were out past curfew, breaking the law. It is illegal to date inter-caste or be out past curfew. So we were already in big trouble if he got caught.

The only way I could silence him was with my lips. The lips I've been craving to kiss for a week now. I ran my fingers through his dark hair, as his hands on my back pulled me closer. All too soon we broke apart.

I apologized for my awful mood and explained the letter situation.

"Ah yes, the letter. We got two." His sisters, twins, had just turned sixteen.

I didn't want to be in the Selection. I loved Fitz. I didn't want to love Prince Keefe. I didn't want to be part of the Selection. I didn't want people to judge the life Fitz, and I planned out, the growth of a married couple that was a Six.

It was unusual for a woman to marry down a caste. Yes, men offered their hand in marriage to upper women, but there was rarely a yes. And whenever someone married into a different rank, there were loads of paperwork. And they gave the couple ninety days to make sure they weren't making a "mistake."

As Fitz stroked my hair, I had to ask him, "How do you feel about the Selection?"

"Eh. The guy's gotta find a girl somehow," his voice dripping in sarcasm.

"Fitz."

"Thinking about it, it makes me sad. Doesn't the prince get to date? Can't they marry him to a princess or something? There's got to be a royal out there for him. "But then there's part of me that feels it's a good idea," his chest sighing. "It's exciting, falling in love in front of everyone. Someone's going to get a happily ever after and that stuff. A Seven could be our next queen. It's inspiring, makes me believe I could have a happily ever after too."

Fitz's growling stomach interrupts his speech, reminding me of something important.

"Oh yeah, I brought us a snack."

"A snack?" his teal eyes gleaming with excitement and hunger.

"You're going to love this mallowmelt; I made it myself!" I say proudly.

I watched him eat with satisfaction, Fitz mumbling things like "You're an amazing baker."

I blushed deeply and took a ripplepuff to make sure he didn't feel guilty about eating all.

He soon started to spill what he did this past week. It's how we do. One of us talks, the other either listens patiently or playfully argues.

We soon fell silent until he chirped my name.

"Sophie?"

"Yeah," I whispered.

"Are you going to enter the Selection?"

I was fuming and shocked as if I hadn't made myself clear enough earlier. "No! Of course not! I don't want anyone to think I'd even consider marrying some stranger. I love you."

There was a moment of silence, and I thought I had won this "debate" and was about to settle back into Fitz's loving arms when he spoke a genuinely pained question:

"You want to be a Six? Always hungry? Always worried?" he asked. The pain in his voice hurt my heart but also raised the question: should I live in the palace where people would wait on me or should I live in the three-room apartment with Fitz's family?

I had my answer decided in no time. "Fitz, we can do it. We're smart. We'll be fine." I was saying this to myself as much as I was telling it to him.

"You know that's not how it'll be, Soph. I'd still have to support my family; I'm not the abandoning type." He sighed. "And if we had kids-"

"When we have kids. And we'll be careful about it. Who says we have to have more than two?" I probably didn't say the right thing at the right time.

"You know that's not something we can control!" Fitz's voice a little too loud, any louder someone could hear and be suspicious. But the anger would keep building.

And we sat there in silence before he spoke.

"I think you should do it."

With a glare, I reply, "Are you out of your mind?"

"Soph, please listen to me!" Fitz's deep voice filled with despair. "If you had a chance for something better than this, and you didn't take it because of me, I'd never forgiven myself. I couldn't stand it."

I let out an irritated sigh. "It's ridiculous. There are so many girls entering; I'm not going to get picked!"

"So? You say you probably won't get picked; then it wouldn't matter. I want you to enter. Please. If you do, I won't have to beat myself up for holding you back."

"Fitz," I whispered. A moment of silence past before I whispered in his hear, "I don't love him. Let alone know him."

"Yes, but no one knows him. You could like him-" I place my finger on his soft lips.

"Fitz, stop. I. Love. You."

He kisses my nose lazily. "And I love you. I'll go crazy wondering what if, if you do this I will go crazy wondering what if."

When I just glared, he whispered in my ear, "Please?"

"You know what Fitz, I need you to respect my decisions. I. will. Not. Enter!"

"Well, you know what, Sophie, I'm sick of you always taking over. I'm sick of you making me a charity case. You bring treats and food to spoil me; I'm supposed to be the main provider. I'm supposed to spoil you. I can't do that because I'm a Six. We're done."

I slowly took in his words, they felt like freezing waters, the riptide taking me underwater. When I was able to register, Fitz was already crawling out.

"I-Fitz-what?"

He sighed sitting at the edge, foot on the ladder. "Sophie, I'm doing what's best for us. I'm sorry."

I sat there for an hour, crying my eyes swollen. I soon returned to my room, not quite as stealthy as I should have been, being a clutz already, I knocked over a trashcan, but I can blame that on a raccoon.

I laid in bed, dazed from all the weeping. I blissfully went to dreamless sleep, numbing myself from reality.

Then my mother woke me out of my dreams with a severe expression on her face. Uh-oh.

Gahhhh thank you so much for reading this!