Alison's POV
Every morning I wake up and call for Danielle. She will force me to leave the warm embrace of my bed, and we will chose my outfit for the day. I love wearing dresses, however, some days it is more appropriate to wear tops. As a fashion icon for the whole of America, I take this in my stride- only complaining about the atrociousness of it all once I am behind closed doors. That way, nobody can hear me and report back to the media, without being whipped. They say that I must stay in perfect shape for the choosing ceremony, so I make good use of the gym before brunch. Apparently Prince Ezra likes that kind of thing. Ooh well, he's rich. What do I care? The choosing ceremony is in two days, but it is the penultimate one. They always do the rich girls last- better entertainment. Today, the province hosting the ceremony is Rosewood. I used to live there, but moved when Daddy got a promotion. It's better to live in Washington than anywhere else, but New York is still very high up. It is a privilege to live here.
"Alison?" Daddy calls to me.
"Yes Daddy?" I question.
"We need to leave now my love. The ceremony starts in five hours, the party in eight, and we need to be heading to California at one in the morning." Daddy is the head of the choosing committee so I get to travel all over the country in the space of three weeks. Almost all of the girls have been chosen. There are three more spots left. One of them will be mine. In our country, we have a tradition. Every time a prince, no matter how far down the line to the throne, turns seventeen- every single girl aged 13 to 18 is entered into a choosing ceremony, where the winners will go to Washington and compete for the Prince's heart. After four months of luxury and challenges, the Prince will choose a bride. This year is particularly exciting- as for some strange reason, the Prince that the girls will be competing for is next in line to the throne. This is a rare event indeed.
They all know that Prince Ezra will pick me. He too, must travel from venue to venue to meet his possible brides, so we have already held lengthy conversations at the endless parties. However, we would always be interrupted by his first dance with whatever stupid girl had been chosen. There was one stupid slip a few days ago, in Alabama, where the blonde haired beauty that is Hanna Marin almost completely swept him off his feet. She was throwing herself at him. I was disgusted.
We arrived in Rosewood three hours later, just before Ezra. His carriage pulls up not long after mine. "Ezra!" I squeal excitedly, running up to him and hugging him tightly. To my surprise, he does not return my affection. Instead he brushes me aside. "Miss Smith, I would appreciate it if you didn't address me in such an informal manner, or display so much affection for me, as your name has not even been named as one of the young ladies who I will be dating." He reprimands me coldly. Maybe he is having a bad day. That must be it. There is no other reason why he would have brushed me off so callously. Ezra is a gentleman. He will apologise at some point. Maybe even with flowers. Or when I get chosen to be his possible bride. After two days of silence and cold looks, he will realise how desperately he needs me and how much he loves me. After our fairytale wedding we will move into the palace and live happily.
Aria's POV
The room is very crowded. I feel so claustrophobic right now I might die. Despite the cramped conditions this is one of the nicest rooms I have ever been in. At least twenty chandeliers hang from the ceiling, and everything in the room is blue and gold, including this one girl. In all of my thirteen tears of life, I have never seen someone look so beautiful. Her long blonde hair is twisted into loose ringlets, and her light blue ballgown stood perfectly and shimmered as she moved. I look down at my dark blue dress sadly. It was momma's choosing dress, and Hyla's, and Ola's. My feet are in a pair of slip on blue pumps that Daddy got from the market for three ksemeti. The only good thing about my appearance is my hair. Ola twisted and braided it up on the top of my head, before pulling it and letting the curls cascade down my back.
"Ladies and gentleman, I give you His Royal Highness, Prince Ezra Michael Robert Fitzgerald of America." The self- righteous guard announces, and everyone claps. Prince Ezra walks up the stairs and turns to face all of us. "Please could all of the possible candidates for the choosing come up on to the stage please?" His voice is soft and gentle. Suddenly, I really want to go to the palace. His blue eyes sparkle as they dance over the crowd. Daddy pushes me forwards, and I move forwards, and ascend the steps next to my best friend Spencer Hastings. We hold hands and stand in a line with the rest of the girls from Rosewood. There are roughly eighty of us. I know that it won't be me. The girls have already been chosen, but only Kenneth Dilaurentis knows who the winner is. Apparently his daughter chose the girls, but that is a rumour. Everyone knows that Prince Ezra and the King and Queen do the choosing. Kenneth only knows as he is the royal advisor based in New York, the highest city, aside from Washington.
The blonde girl with the pretty dress steps towards Prince Ezra. Her eyes are glazed over as she looked around, coldly, until her gaze rested on me. I hold her stare. Nobody can intimidate me while I am in public. When I am at home, however, it is a completely different story. The glare in her eyes could cause anything from a small panic attack, to me passing out on the sofa from fear. Spencer sees the uncertainty in my eyes, and grasped my hand. The blonde smirks, and hands Prince Ezra an envelope. He takes it from her, and opens it. "The young lady from the lovely Rosewood sector is…" My heart thuds in my chest, please be me. Please be me.
It won't be me. I know it won't even though they are allowed to enter, thirteen year olds rarely get picked. The last girl was called Kaytlynn, and she competed against Ola for the heart of Prince Jyren. She was sent home within the first week. Ola made it to the final. But something bad happened on the day Prince Jyren was meant to announce his future bride. King Robert walked out, and announced that due to unforeseen circumstances, The Choosing was cancelled, and Prince Ezra would be the future king of America. Ola was heartbroken. She was so in love with the prince. He loved her too. Ola knows what happened, but she was sworn to secrecy. If she tells anyone, then both she and the person she told will be killed.
*Flashback*
Ola is coming home today! I'm so happy! Mommy says I must be extra nice to her tomorrow, but I don't know why. Ola got to stay in the castle, and eat yummy food and wear pretty dresses. I have to work for Mrs. Welsh 64 hours a week. I get Sundays off, and an hour on Saturdays as the report starts an hour earlier on that day.
I wander into Ola's room and tap her shoulder. "Hey Ola! I missed you so much! Did you like the palace? Did you bring back any food, or dresses? Larry said to tell you that you looked horgeous in those dresses, and the Prince would have to be mad not to pick you. Why didn't he? Was the queen nice? What about the King? The Prince didn't choose you! Does that mean he's mad?" I rambled. My words seemed to strike a chord in her as she began to yell. "For god's sake Aria! Shut up! You don't have a clue what happened! Just leave me alone you little brat!" Her words cause me to start crying. "O... Ola?" I sob, but she just pushes me away, lies on her bed and begins to sob quietly. It feels like the whole house is crying with us.
*End Flashback*
Spencer squeezes my hand gently. Prince Ezra opens his mouth, and the whole country holds their breath. "Aria Montgomery." His voice rings out. I stand there in shock. Me? It can't be! But it is! How? Don't they know how old I am? My legs move forward on their own, and the applause dies down. "Hello my darling." Prince Ezra says to me, kissing my cheek. The kiss leaves a warm tingly feeling to my cheek, and he pulls away in shock. I look at his eyes, and they are as wide as my own. "Come darling. We must make you look even more beautiful than you are now." He smiles at me, leading me off the stage. My cheeks burn red from the compliment.
Prince Ezra leads me into a large room full of dresses. "Pick one sweetheart, you will get plenty of chances to wear the others." He pushes me forward gently, and I shiver from where his hand touched my back. I wander around the room, stopping when I see a dress similar to that of the blonde's. The Prince seemed to like her, so maybe I should wear this dress. No. I want him to like me for me. I move on swiftly. Ezra seemed to know what I was thinking, and he held up a gorgeous white and green dress with a silver glittery cape. "I think you'd look gorgeous in this. Besides, green, silver and white are my favourite colours, not blue or gold. They're too frivolous." He laughs. "Green white and silver are my favourite colours too!" I smile at him, before taking the dress and walking to the dresssing room.
Oh my goodness! This dress is gorgeous! Prince Ezra has great taste. As I wander out, his draw drops. "Even more stunning than I imagined!" He murmurs. "Shall we?" I accept his arm, and we walk to thecarriage that will take us to the party.
*Line Break*
People keep coming over to me and congratulating me. They need to ease off a little. It's not like I've married him. However, I have recieved dozens of gifts, which I will open on the train to Washington tomorrow. Nobody is dancing yet. They're waiting. Waiting for me. Well Ezra and me. We start the dancing off with our first dance. I too am waiting. Prince Ezra needs to ask me. At the moment he is socialising with the blonde girl, who I learned is called Alison. Prince Ezra looks very uncomfortable.
Spencer is very excited for me. She has said 'Oh my gosh!' about a million times in the past hour. She is currently talking to Toby Cavanaugh, the son of the widowed carpenter. "Aria darling! Do you think you could do me the honour of giving me the first dance?" Ezra asks courteously.
"Of course your highness." I respond, as he takes my hand and leads me out onto the dance floor. The orchestra strike up a classical peice of music, and we begin to waltz around the room. "Please, call me Ezra." Ezra whispers in my ear.
"Of course, Ezra!" I whisper back.
l'm sorry I didn't ask you to dance earlier. I couldn't escape her." He nods his head at Alison. "That's quite alright Ezra." I giggle, as he spins me round and round. Ezra is a marvelous dancer. He leads me around the room with extreme confidence, and I find myself relaxing into his embrace. Ezra pulls me closer to him, and soon we are simply swaying on the spot, locked together. It feels so intimate. Dare I say, loving?
A/N hey, so this story is faintly based off 'The Selected'. I have been toying around with this idea since last week, and I've got it to a level where I'm happy with it. Do you think I should continue it? Let me know in the reviews! X