Scarlett Selected

FIVE

The dress was tight at my waist but flowed outwards like a rose. It was a bright shade of scarlet and surely would get me at least looked at. I examined the earrings dangling from my earlobes and looked back at where Bella had stood.

She wasn't there, I was on my own now. I grumble a curse and walk out of the room after slipping on some painful black sparkly heels that made me only slightly taller. I peer out of my room and decide to follow the elegant music, to find my way to the ballroom.

Upon reaching the doors it dawns on me that I'm actually pretty late. I gulp down humiliation that could possibly occur and push open the door only slightly enough for me to slip through. I push through the crowd of girls and maids and guards to try to blend in.

Every girl wore a different color, or different shade. 25 different shades in one room. I heave a shakey sigh and go to run a hand theough my hair stressed slightly but manage to stop myself before I can ruin the fresh curls. I drop my hand and clasp them together tightly.

God, I've never been so stress riden. Not even during ballet when I was being screamed at by my instructor. This was crazy terrifying!

The room was extremely tall and surprisingly large compared to most rooms, a large chandelier was in the center of the rosegold tinted room. Cream white couches lined the walls elegantly and marble tables with beautiful metal and cloth chairs at each of them.

I scoped the pretty room for Pearl and Skylar but found myself out of luck when someone walks up next to me.

"You seem intrigued." A voice chuckles. I let out a small, surprised scream and jump to the side. The guy next to me starts laughing and shaking his head with a big, goofy grin on his face. I recognized those blue eyes immediately and fell into a sloppy curtsy.

"Prince Eli-Um...hello." I stammer, my voice choking up slightly.

"Ack, don't um..." he pats my shoulder. "Stand...I'm not a formalities kinda guy." He inquires smiling weakly at me. "Call me Eli. You're Lady..." he trails off as if trying to think.

"Dajavona...I'm Dajavona." I tell him.

"Oh yeah, the girl with the fancy schmancy name." He teases, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. I could've fainted from anxiety, or maybe even laughed along. But nope.

I meeped.

He offers a hand and gestures to the dance floor in front of us.

"One dance, yeah?" He asks. I shuffle my foot and take his hand after a second of silence.

"Sure." I tell him before stumbling after him. I had

"Mind me, I'm kinnnnda clumsy, so you'll have to cut me some slack for it. Yeah?" He chuckles placing a hand on my waist and holding my other hand. I could feel the red on my face, and I was certain the Prince could hear my heartbeat.

"Its alright." I say finally. "I'm a dancer so I'm naturally kinda...skilled at this I guess. So if anyghing I should be able to make it easier for you."

"I am very thankful. The other Selected girls I've spoken to so far have all offered my dance lessons." He rolls his eyes. "Not used to the attention from so many girls. Usually thats Sebastian's thing, seeing as everyone wants to become a Queen, yeah? Josh and I are pretty much out of luck when it comes to that."

"I-I wouldn't say that Eli, there are plenty of girls here who will like you and your brother." I retaleate. "I have no interest in being Queen...actually..." Eli tilts his head a little, a small teasing smirk creeping across his face.

"Oh yeah?" He chuckles, lifting a brow. "Then this will be interesting hm?"

"Something like that." I stammer out. "So-how many Selected girls have you met so far?" I'm quick to change the subject, more so frantic to keep my face from getting any hotter.

"Hm..." Eli hums thinking, unseemingly bothered by the quick subject change. "4 or 5...I think. 2 of them ran off after they saw Sebastian, the other three annoyed me to the point where I geniuenly had to walk away."

I gulped a nervous lump in my throat and clear my throat.

"You okay there m'lady?" He frowns, lifting a brow.

"Well-um-nerves...lots of nerves." I blurt out, glancing to the side. He laughs a little and grins at me,

"Whats got your nerves wracked? Well...more so which part I guess?"

"Well, I'm dancing with a Prince who said there were three girls who annoyed him already, I'm in a ballroom thats bigger than three houses on my street combined, I was chosen for the Selection...what else-"

"You can calm down about annoying me if thats what you're worried about." He pats my head before returning his hand to my hip. "You seem like a really sweet girl so unless you do anything to tick off one of my brothers, you're not getting eliminated in the morning."

"Thats...actually a relief."

"So Lady Dajavona-"

"Just...Dajavona works, or DJ." I tell him.

"Oh...okay Dajavona, what do you do? For a living that is."

"Oh um, well! I'm a artist and author. Part time dancer, I do what I can to feed my foster family...and my cat." I ramble. "I do ballet. Its painful, but its fun at least." I chuckle.

"Ballet? Seriously? I never understood how they could do the..." he stands on his tip toes before retuning flatfooted. "The tippy-toes...the thing." He laughs.

"Going on point?" I giggle.

"Yeah!" He nods. "That thing!"

"Well, you have to have strong ankles and stuff. It takes a lot of long, hard practices and many years. I only recently got my point shoes."

"Wow, you ,ust be pretty good then?" He tilts his head.

"You could say that, I guess." I hum in return. Eli and I joked om for a few more dances before a girl with white blonde hair walked over and tapped on my shoulder.

"May I...?" She asks quietly, with her head down.

"Oh..." I blink for a second and lookat Eli who smiled childishly at the girl before lettimg go of me.

"Of course, sorry for the wait. Just a moment." Eli turns back to me and pats my head with a wink. "Youre cool DJ, hope to dance with you a bit more later tonight possibly."

"Would it be too corny for me to offer you dance lessons as payment for the two toes you likely broke by stepping on my feet?" I tease. He smirks a little and taps his chin with a small smile.

"Get back to me about that at the end of the night m'lady and I'll have an answer for ya."