Why enter the selection? As a six, anyone would assume it was to climb castes. But that wasn't why Indie had entered. She had done it simply for the experience, such was the reason for many things she did. She wanted to live life to the fullest and try out everything before settling on one thing that she could be passionate about. Not only did this open many doors in the career department, but it also made it much easier to talk to people, to make friends. She had something in common with nearly everyone.

Indie walked into the kitchen, hoping for a snack (though there were low on food) and found Cecily instead. Her identical twin was slouched over their rickety table, a book open in front of her- fast asleep. Cecily was Indie's other half. Where Indie excelled at languages, literature, all things art- related and music, Cecily was fond of mathematics, science, history, and geography. They did each other's homework and got all A's due to this fact- all in an attempt to gain some attention from their father. Unfortunately, that dream had died a long time ago, though they kept doing each other's homework for the grades. Banishing thoughts of her father, Indie sat next to her twin on the bench and studied her.

Cecily was beautiful when she slept; for once there was no concerned look or thinking wrinkle. Her pale face was free of the usual tired lines, and she looked almost… at peace. Running her hands through her sister's moonlight- blonde hair, Indie smiled. She knew that peace was a rare thing for her sister; she always wanted to fix everything. She wanted to be remembered for doing something great long after her death, which Indie couldn't help but admire.

Despite having a sister who always made an effort to be friends with everyone, Cecily had always been rather reserved. She was always quiet and rather impatient with other people, whereas Indie could sit and listen attentively to other people's problems for hours- and had done so once before. The two girls really were opposites.

The Report would be on soon and, knowing that Cecily would want to see who got picked for the selection, seeing as she entered as well (though she pretended she didn't care about the outcome), Indie reluctantly awoke her and the two girls sat on their old sofa in front of their cruddy TV, Cecily still grumbling about not getting enough sleep. Indie decided to ignore her and instead focused on the Report.

An image of the princes flickered on the screen. Prince William was the youngest at 14 years old, then Aaron at 16, and then the prince who would be taking the throne- the one the Selection was being held for. Ethan. Oddly enough, though, he wasn't the oldest out of all the princes. Prince Jaxon was one year older than him- 19- but had stepped down from the throne. In addition to this, he refused to have a Selection held for him. His icy grey gaze sent a shiver down Indie's back.

For the most part, the princes looked relatively the same. William, Ethan and Jaxon all had dark brown hair in soft curls. Aaron was the only blonde and had eyes like prince Jaxon's. Ethan and William both had eye colors like a mix of hazel and gold. None of them looked like they wanted to be on stage.

The screen flickered and went black. Indie almost cried out in surprise and disappointment, but Cecily simply went back to reading her book, as if it made no difference to her.

Indie was in the middle of texting a friend who was a Two, called Sarah, to ask if she would tell her who got in when the TV came back to life. Indie smiled at this, and Cecily put her book away again. But she still sent the text. Just in case. Sarah had been an amazing friend to her for as long as she could remember. She'd always lend her supplies for her art, books for studying (most of which went to Cecily) and always let her play on her piano and her guitar. If Indie got into the Selection, she vowed she would make it up to her when she became a Three.

Four pictures of pretty girls and names Indie couldn't remember where presented before she saw Cecily. As usual, she had favored a long sleeved dark blue top instead of one of Indie's colorful- maybe a little paint-covered- T-shirts and plain black leggings. Her hair was down, covering her shoulders and almost white in the lights of the room she had been in. Her hands were folded respectfully in her lap and she was smiling if not happily at least politely into the camera.

Indie's phone buzzed as Sarah texted her the news. Five more girls were presented. More and more girl's pictures showed up on the close-to-failing screen and Indie was sure it was over when she saw her own picture. Her hair- not the moonlight color of her sister's, but closer to spun gold- was in it's usual braid, hanging over her shoulder. Her deep sea green eyes gleamed at the prospect of being in the Selection. Her head was slightly tilted.

Then she disappeared and an announcer took her place. "That's all of them-" Indie didn't hear the rest. She was just too shocked. Judging by the look on her face and the silence between them, Cecily felt the same way.

In the silence, her phone buzzed as Sarah texted her again. It was real. She was going to be part of the Selection.

A/N: This is my first Selection fanfic, so please don't be too harsh, but I'd love to hear what you think so far. This is a SYOC story. If I don't get two more characters to write about before next week, I will post a chapter in the prince's POV instead. Please review!

-M