The Selected

The Interview

When the sun rose so did the memory of everything that happened last night. I think of the way he looked at me, kissed my hand, and I can feel my cheeks burn.

I throw an arm over my eyes, partly trying to hid myself so I don't have to get up, and partly to block out the bright sun, but it's pointless. I roll over and look at the clock... 6:00am. As if on que my maids come scrambling in complaining about the mess that is my hair and the fact that I'm not wearing the proper night gown. I look down at my baggy T-shirt and for the first time can't wait to get out of it, even if it means getting into a dress.

I spend the next two hours showering, and allowing my maids to fix my hair and apply make up to my face. I'm some what relieved when they show me my dress for it doesn't look overly fancy. It's a black dress that's tight up top and flowy on the bottom, it goes down to about my knees and has two, small, triangular looking slits, one on each side of my rib cage. The one thing I try to fight them on is those two slits, but since their other dress option is a ball gown I decided to stick with the simple black one.

At exactly 8:00am I walk into the dining room to see I look totally out of place. Everyone is wearing different coloured ball gowns with fancy up-dues and loads of make up that make my black dress look like sweatpants compared to them. Not that I really care. The sooner the prince realizes I'm not "princess material" the sooner I get to go home.

I decide to take a seat beside this girl named rose, partly because her ball gown looks the simplest out of everyone, but mostly because it's the farthest seat from the Royal's. We all sit in silence until Queen America and King Maxon walk into the dining hall and take their seats. As if at once we all stand and give little curtsies before sitting back down again. It wasn't until I saw the frown on every girl's face and the empty chair that I realized Prince Damon wasn't joining us for breakfast.

King Maxon must have felt everyone's frustration for he announced "at this moment Prince Damon is sitting in the room to the left of us. Once we finish breakfast you will each get to meet him one at a time and have a few minutes to get to know each other. We will start with the girls on the end of the table closest to us and make our way down until every one of you has had your chance to meet Prince Damon. But lets enjoy our meal first."

Since I'm the furthest one from the King Maxon I know I'll be going last which is fine by me. He'll probably be so bored of meeting so many new girls that he won't keep me too long.

Once everyone was finished breakfast our plates were cleared and the interviews began. I watched as one by one, girls entered the room and based on how long they were in there determined whether they'd be staying or getting sent home tonight. To my misfortune the girl on the plane who thought nothing of me and who I just recently found out was named Serena Bason, was in her interview for over ten minutes where the next longest interview was only five minutes long. She'll definitely be staying.

After at least an hour of waiting my name is finally called and slowly walk towards the door. Once I'm right in front of the door I turn to the guard who's leading me in and say "actually, I'm not feeling very well. Maybe I can just do this another time or something". He completely ignored every word I said, opened the door and practically pushed me in the room before slamming the door in my face.

"HEYY!" I scream at the door that the guard is most likely still standing behind.

"I'm sorry, the maid's quarters are down the hall", I hear Damon say before turning around and glaring at him. He's sitting casually on his chair, leaning on his arm rest, smirking.

"You're hilarious", I reply unamused crossing my arms over my chest.

"Why don't you take a seat", he offers while sitting up a little straighter.

"I'd rather stand".

"It wasn't really a question".

Seeing as the door behind me is currently locked and I have no other way out of this interview I slowly walk over and plop down in the seat across from him, frowning. As I run mu hands through my hair I catch Damon staring at the small slits in my dress and instinctively cross my arms over my chest again.

"Im sitting. Now what?" I ask annoyed.

"You know I'm starting to get the feeling you don't really wanna be here". He replied.

"You're just catching onto that huh?

"If you don't wanna be here then why sign up?"

"My parents wanted me to. I only did it cause I never thought I'd actually get chosen."

"But here you are. How do you find the other girls?"

"Fine I guess. Too "perfect" for my liking."

"And the palace?"

"Still too perfect for my liking,"

"and me?"

"Still too perfect for...." I stopped myself in mid sentence. "I mean you're... you just...ugh. you're annoying me."

"No. Just toying with you." He says while leaning on the table that separates us.

"Were you toying with Serena? Is that what took so long during her interview?" I ask.

"You sound jealous"

"More like observant", I reply.

"Jealous." He says while standing up.

"Observant." I repeat while matching his stance. "I think we're done here" I say as turn to walk out. I'm about to open the door when Damon grabs my wrist and pulls me around to face him, our bodies basically touching and our faces inches apart. He towers over me, making me feel small.

"You realize you have to be dismissed right?" He asks

"You realize I don't care right?" I reply while pulling my wrist from his grasp. He replies to that by putting his hand on my waist, his thumb brushing my bare skin where the slit is. I stand there frozen. Unable to speak, move or even breath.

"I scare you, don't I?" He whispers.

"You... I... No. No, you don't actually" I say brushing his hand away. "You're just. Um. You're..." I stumble on my words while reaching for the door knob. "You don't scare me okay?!" I mostly tell myself, and as I run out the door I can hear him laughing behind me.