His Choice

⚜ NINETEEN ⚜

Edited

---(Name this line?)---

When the new day comes, I find myself feeling excited. A lightness lifts my spirit and I feel like I'm walking on air. Now that my mind is made, I'm going to try my hand at The Choosing, I feel like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders. I'm still a little wary of Jake, but the way he spoke and convinced me to stay won me over.

I make my way into the small events room, that I've learnt is the main gathering place for The Choosing talks, and take a seat next to Lola and Annie. They're about to announce the results of the event two days ago.

"Good morning, everyone," Miss Mint greets the room. "I hope you all enjoyed your day off yesterday and are well-rested and prepared to now move into the main swing of The Choosing." A buzz mills around the room as excitement taints the nervous air.

"Just so you're all aware," Miss Mint continues, "the Prince has requested that The Choosing not be broadcast to the nation continuously as it has been previously. The season will be observed by select, invited nobles and the media on select occasions."

My eyebrows knit together as I question his motives. Perhaps it's a bid for some privacy?

"Now, moving onto the results and our first elimination of The Choosing where we will go from sixty to fifty girls." She clears her throat as tension silences the room. "We'll start with our immunity candidate. During each round, the Prince will be able to choose one girl to be immune to the cut. If this is you, please make yourself known."

Silence rings in my ears as heat creeps into my cheeks. I rise from my seat, my immunity card in hand. I feel all eyes turn to me. A chill scrapes down my spine when the majority of the gazes are trying to kill me.

"Ah, Allenica," Miss Mint calls to me as I approach her. She takes my card and invites me to take a seat on the other side of the room where fifty chairs have been laid out in formation. "Well done, the Prince must have certainly been impressed with you since he's granting you immunity on the first night!"

She swiftly moves onto announcing the running order and small applauses accompany each girl as she is confirmed to have a place in the next round. As the other side depletes, more occasional sobs are heard from the remaining women.

Lydia glares daggers at me as she receives second place, muttering again about how I stole her spotlight. Then to her utter delight, and the disgust of the other high-classed girls, Lola manages to secure herself a place in the top ten - which has been labelled as the girls that showed the best social and hosting skills.

Lola grips my hand tightly as we pray that Annie has secured a spot also. I feel as though plastic has wrapped around me as I breathe through Miss Mint's extended dialogue until she finally moves onto the last acceptance.

"And in forty-ninth place, the last woman who will go through to the next round, we have," she pauses to send a kind smile to all the women's hearts who are about to be broken, "Sophia Whitchurch."

No!

As soon as Miss Mint announces that we are able to say our goodbyes, Lola and I race over to Annie and sweep her into a tight bear hug.

"I'm so sorry, Annie!" I mumble into her shoulder as she hugs us back.

"It's alright, really." She smiles and it's bright. "I've been accepted to work as a servant in one of the Sector III estates, so I won't be going back to The Factory at least!" she says and I can see that she's genuinely excited for the new opportunity. "I'm just happy I made it this far."

There's a pause as we all pull away. No one wants to say goodbye, because, for us, we know that it'll probably be the last time we see her. Forever.

"I'm so glad I met you," Lola says as she breaks into a fit of sobs as I steel myself, holding back the tears that sting my eyes. "Thanks for everything."

Annie nods and pries Lola off her. A guard has now walked over to loom over our goodbyes.

"Ally, be happy for me." Annie smiles, knowing what's on my mind. "It's a step up."

"No. It's terrible that you couldn't choose to be set free." I twist my face.

"Well, the way I see it, I had the freedom to choose which path I took." Annie pulls me into a hug. "They showed me photos at the networking event and the living and working conditions are pretty good for an unpaid worker."

"Stay safe and live a good life, Annie. You deserve it." I smile as she is forced to cut our last interaction short by the impatient guard, ready to take her away.

She gives us a small wave as she is led out of the room. I only let a single tear slide whilst I'm still out in the open, but I know the dam will break the moment I'm alone.

"Alright, Ladies." Miss Mint grabs our attention once the eliminated girls have left. "So from here on out, we'll continue with our series of challenges. There will be a new challenge every two days, so you have a day to prepare. You will be informed of the nature of the challenge or task at the results for the prior one. The number of eliminations will vary between events and will continue until five girls are remaining." A murmur breaks out throughout the room, everyone seems excited to get into the full swing of things. "The five finalists will have the opportunity to spend more one-on-one time with the Prince by taking him to their home Sector for the day. As you should all know, when it gets to the final five, it is down to the Prince to choose his princess and future queen."

I chew on my bottom lip as I listen to her explain the events and doubt seeps into my mind as I try and comprehend that I have to survive multiple rounds of eliminations before Jake's opinion matters. Especially since he can't grant me immunity again.

This is such a botched system, I think as I roll my eyes.

"Tomorrow you will have your first challenge; today is your preparation day." Miss Mint's eyes scan the room. "Throughout our history, swimming has been the chosen form of exercise and stress relief for many of our royal females. It goes without saying that a princess should look after herself and her body, so this challenge aims to look at your health and fitness."

Would it have been too much to ask for a running race like normal fitness tests? Well, I suppose they can't let out the secret that girls sweat. The media would have a field day. I'm sure swimming is the most graceful way they could test our fitness.

"The East Wing pool has been opened for you and will be available throughout the day and night. It will close tomorrow morning at eleven, an hour before the event starts."

Fate already seems to have it in for me. My shoulders slump as I deflate at the thought that I've only been saved for another two days. There's no way I can partake in the next challenge - I'll have to forfeit and that'll be the end of my time here.

Shaking the darkness of my thoughts, I square my shoulders with determination. I guess I'm just going to have to learn how to swim overnight. 

♕♛♕

Only a short one today! I hope you liked it though!

Out of curiosity, who do you guys picture as Jake?

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All my love,

Anneka Rose xxx

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