I hate to admit it. Being in a competition scared me enough, but being in a competition as big as The Selection was terrifying. As long as I could remember, my mom always doted on me becoming the next princess of Illea, our next to nothing country. Ever since Queen Eadlyn passed away as well as her husband Kile, King Ahren had taken the throne. King Ahren and Queen Camille had three children: Dante, Logan, and Lionel. Lionel happened to be the oldest, meaning that I would be competing for his heart, but I wasn't doing this for love. So far, since I hadn't met the prince, I was entering The Selection for the weekly compensation your family would receive when you were Selected.

My brother called my name with a rather angry tone.

"Analeyah!" He coughed. "It's time for breakfast! Come down now or go hungry!"

I grunted and ran downstairs. As a Six, we didn't really have that much money at all, and went without breakfast most days since we couldn't afford it. When I got downstairs my mother was rubbing her temples, looking like she had just cried only minutes before I came down. I sat down at the table and ducked my head. I knew that she had been crying because of me. Guilt flooded my mind and body, and my hands began to shake, but I had to stay strong.

The night before, my mother and I had a rather heated conversation about The Selection. I didn't want to enter, but she was wanting me to so badly that I couldn't turn it down. I liked being a Six, as our job was to be simply hospitable to those who called for our help cleaning houses, babysitting, and sometimes even repairing certain appliances. Helping people was what I loved most, which is why my mother was determined that I would make a wonderful princess. I looked down on the idea as I had never worn a dress in my life other than when I was a baby, and I was in no way graceful.

Breakfast was quiet, as was lunch. Dinner was different. Dad, Lee, Tya, Naton, Mom and I sat at the table. At first we were quiet, but my mom pulled out an envelope and immediately smiled at me.

"Here it is, Analeyah." Mom cooed as she opened the envelope. Her eyes scanned the page, her smile growing with every word she engulfed. "To the house of Salome." She read aloud, glancing over at me to take in my saddened expression. Tya's face glowed, her bright blue eyes seeming both interested and excited at the same time. "His Royal Highness King Ahren has been informed that a young lady between the ages 16-20 resides in your house. Prince Lionel is coming of age this week and will be holding a Selection to choose his future wife, and the new Princess of Illea! 35 honored daughters of Illea will be chosen to compete for Prince Lionel's heart, and the young women's families will be extremely rewarded for sharing their wonderful, smart daughters with the royal family." She grinned and set the letter down in front of me. I sighed as she passed me a pen to fill out the form to enter me in. I sat staring for so long that I didn't notice everyone else getting up and going upstairs for bed.

The form was stupid. If it was a lottery, why did they need to know how many languages I spoke or what hobbies I had and what I was good at? It was rather alarming, but I listed that I knew Italian, English, French, Spanish and a small bit of German. By the time I was done filling it out, it was around midnight. I was exhausted. I set the form on the counter in the kitchen with a note telling my mom to take it to the Province Service Center in the morning, and to wake me up when she did so. I wasn't excited to enter this, but I was nervous for the results all the same.

Sleep. It seemed like a foreign word as I got little to nothing of it. My nerves were killing me. Why did I think that I possibly had a small chance of being chosen? Why would they choose a Six? It was obvious that this wasn't a lottery, because only the best of girls had been chosen in the past, and I was nowhere close to as perfect as Queen America was. She nearly got sent home three times, but somehow she survived long enough to marry King Maxon. The whole country grieved her death for so long that some even started riots. Queen Eadlyn, America's daughter, was killed in one of those riots that the Southern Rebels had composed on the palace, just because she was nothing like her gorgeous mother.

After about three hours of sleep, I woke to the sound of mom's soft knocking on my door.

"Analeyah?" She asked quietly, gently pushing the door open to see if I was awake or not. She smiled when she saw me sitting up and staring at her. "Go ahead and get ready, dove." She turned and began to walk back downstairs. I sighed and threw myself back on the bed. Oh, how I was not looking forward to this. I pulled on my best clothes—a black skirt and a purple T-shirt with black flats. I pulled my hair up into a messy bun and put on a small bit of makeup. I didn't want to look regal; I didn't even want to look serene. I just wanted to look like who I was. Analeyah Marne Salome.

When I got downstairs I noticed Lee and Tya playing on the carpet in front of the TV that we used only to watch the Illea Capital Report which came on every Friday with the same news every time. But, for the next few weeks, The Selection was going to be all over the news, magazines and in almost everybody's gossip. I ran a hand through Lee's messy curls just to annoy him, and he looked up at me and grinned.

"I think you're going to win, Analeyah. At least I hope you do." He said, his ten year old perky voice higher than usual. I chuckled.

"No, Lee, I'm not even Selected yet."

"But you will be. I know you will." Tya pulled on his arm in complaint and he rolled his eyes and continued playing with her.

I slowly walked into the kitchen to see if Naton was in there, because I knew if he was I wouldn't hear the end of how my decision to enter The Selection was so foolish. He opposed Ones and didn't want any of his family members to be acquainted with them. I respected that, but he had to learn that I could make my own decisions whether he agreed with them or not. Seeing that only Mom was in the kitchen and not Naton, I gave a sigh of relief. She turned and looked at me with her beautiful green eyes. I had gotten those from her. They for once looked happy and joyful, and that made me want to cry. I felt my eyes welling up, but I shook it away.

"Are you ready to go, dove?" Mom asked, flipping a light brown curl behind her back. I nodded.

"Don't really have a choice, do I?" I gave a nervous laugh. Mom looked at me with loving, sad eyes.

"It'll all be over soon, dove, just be patient." Mom assured. I nodded yet again.

"I'm not so good at that, am I?" I said humorously. She smiled warmly at me.

"No, I don't suppose you are."

.~.~.~.

When we got to the Service Center the lines were streaming into the streets. It was an array of color. Some were wearing dresses of bright colors like pink, blue and green. Others were wearing black, navy or purple. All of the girls were dressed as if they were going to the palace to have a meeting with King Ahren himself, except me and a few other girls who obviously hadn't gotten the memo to dress fancily. My mom could sense my nervousness and put her lips to my ear.

"It'll be fine, dove, don't worry about it." She murmured soothingly. I smiled. My mother was the best in the world. She reminded me of a superhero, always helping people when they were down.

"It's hard not to worry." I muttered. Mom rubbed my shoulder in reassurance. She knew very well what I was worried about and it was certainly not this. I didn't mind submitting my form and having a picture taken of me. I was just nervous to see if I was one of the 35 girls who were picked.

It took about an hour to get through the line, submit my form, and get that stupid little picture taken. I smiled largely in the picture as I was thinking about helping my family while they took it. I tried to imagine living in the palace, but I couldn't. It seemed like such a dream that it didn't seem like it could ever happen.

.~.~.~.

When I got home I sat on the couch with Dad as he was adding up the cost of the bills for this month. He looked over at me and smiled.

"Hey, princess, how was your day?" He asked, seeming genuinely interested. I shrugged.

"Interesting, I suppose. Nothing out of the ordinary, though. How was yours?" I smiled and rested my head on my father's shoulder. He was always so surprisingly warm. He shrugged his shoulders.

"Same answer that I give you every day. I'm alive, so I'm great." Dad chuckled and kissed my cheek, then went back to calculating numbers. Just watching him reminded me of how much I hated math.

Since I was under so much stress, my mom excused me for bed earlier than my brothers and sister. I threw myself on the bed and stared at the ceiling. I felt like crying. What if I'm Selected and I don't even like the prince? I asked myself. I groaned, as I didn't have an answer for myself. I rolled over to face the wall next to my bed and hugged a nearby pillow to my chest. I was terrified.