Hey, people of the world (waving :D)! This is my first fanfiction so please comment on how I should write, other things that I should improve on, etc. So without further ado… Btw this is rated T just to be safe! Plot: America Singer has super amazing icy power that she is still learning to control. Then, she is put in the selection. Oh crappers.

CHAPTER ONE

I see a shape crawling into the small wooden treehouse and before I leave I brush my teeth with the minty toothpaste, again. I'm shaking with nervousness, but I knew that I would have to tell him eventually. I put on a thin tan jacket before heading outside.

" So I'm here Mer. What was so important that it couldn't wait till our next meeting?" Aspen states confused.

"What? You didn't want to see me?" I reply jokingly.

He rolled his eyes in a somewhat what exasperated way. I put my hands up innocently with a sly grin painted onto my face.

"No, but something has definitely been bothering you lately."

He's right. I've been bother by something. That something is very, very big; something that cannot just be shrugged off. I take a deep breath trying to force the words out to form sentences. What if he runs away in horror or, even worse, he reports me to our Province Service Office. My stomach begins to turn at the thought of that, but quickly subsides at the thought that he doesn't care about it and we move on like nothing happened, being the happy secret couple that we were.

"Aspen, a few weeks ago I was practicing with my violin before a show with my mom and the weirdest thing happened… the strings of my violin were covered in a thin coat of ice. I tried it with my piano and the same thing happened. It was the strangest thing, the ice seemed to be coming out of me!" I say as nonchalantly as I can muster. His eyes telling of denial.

"Come on Mer, don't mess with me." He says in disbelieve. I sigh loudly. I just knew that he wouldn't believe me. I have to show him that I'm not lying. I put my hands out and feel a tugging inside of my stomach. Opening my eyes I see a swirling ball of ice forming in my hand. I pull my hands back with a shriek. Aspen is staring wide eyed at me with curiosity. It could be worse.

" How did you do that Mer?" He asks with wonder seeping into his voice.

" I don't know how, I just know that I can do it and that it is freaking me out!" I say with a bit of worry. I turn away in shame. He notices, taking this as his cue to comfort me.

"Hey, hey. Shhhhh it's going to be okay… Mer look at me." Aspen tells me. I turn back toward him with a single tear riding slowly down my cheek.

"I will love you no matter what and this ice thing isn't going to change that at all. Okay?" He tells me without a second thought. I cuddle up into him feeling his body heat keeping me warm.

"Okay" Then I realize that this is the first time that he has told me that he loves me. I cuddle a little closer, smiling. At around three A.M. we decide to head back our separate ways. I climb back through my small window and fall asleep even before my head hits the pillow of my lumpy bed.

1 YEAR LATER

I slide my fingers over the keys of the piano. With my eyes closed I begin letting the music come from me. I let myself forget everything and simply play my perfect notes. There is no more worry of food or warmth or anything at all, but then I open my eyes. I always have to open my eyes.

I see a thin layer of ice forming over the piano's keys. Sighing, I wipe the small amount of melting ice away with a bundled piece of my pale blue shirt.

"America? Come out and help me with dinner!" I hear my mom call faintly through the door.

"Coming mom!" I reply as I slide my thin, threadbare gloves onto my cold, light-colored hands. I take a deep breath before walking into the small kitchen with flowered wallpaper and very old appliances. My eyes fall onto my mother, who is stirring a mysterious soup on the dirty stove.

"Come and stir this soup for me!" She tells me with a tone that suggests that it is a command more than an actual question. I comply with a slight grunt. I stir and stir and stir. I stir till I think that my hand will fall off. Then, my mother come to inspect my work and deems the strange concoction to be done.

She sets the soup onto the flimsy, old table along with a few pieces of cheap, stale bread. As my family piles into the small turquoise colored diningroom I take my seat on the left of May, right of mom, and across from Gerad. We eat the strangely good tasting soup with the disgusting meager amount of bread that we have. I am still feeling hungry even after the meal, but I instead put part of the one piece of bread that I have on my plate onto Gerad's plate as if to say to my hunger 'Ha! What now stomach, what now? You cannot defeat me!'. I smile with amusement and a hint of sadness. 'Oh, stomach. You are truly the funniest thing!'

After dinner we all go into our livingroom for the announcements from The 'Illea Capital Report'. The living room has a blueish grayish comfy chair for dad to sit in, a lumpy orange couch with old-fashion stitched flowers on it for the rest of us to sit on, a ton of different mismatched pillows, a small tube T.V., a beautiful quilt on the wall, and a nice light yellow coat of paint on the walls that makes the room feel larger. The Report is starting. The T.V. shows us the flag of Illea while the sweet Illea anthem plays it's beautiful song. Then, we see the royal family; King Clarkson, Queen Amberly, and prince Maxon. The king is well… kingly, he radiates power which makes sense considering that he is king. Queen Amberly is a beautiful and smart person that seems very maternal and serene. Prince Maxon looks clean with his short cropped hair and his crisp suit. I cringe, he is too perfect and not my type. They give us an update on the war in New Asia, escalating as it seems to always do.

"Here is another matter to speak of… as you all know our son, Prince Maxon, has now come of age to being The Selection!" booms King Clarkson. Maxon shifts in his seat, is he nervous? My family goes rigid. Now I realize that I am of age for The Selection. I'm worried.

"All women between the age of 16 to 20 will be entered into The Selection for a chance to win the Prince's heart. If you are between the age of 16 to 20 you are required to submit." My heart stops beating. I'm 16 years old and am required to enter The Selection. The room is so silent that you could hear a pin drop. I told my family a while back about my powers, so they understand that if I am selected and that if I get too angry or anything, they will have my head. I gulp and run to my small room. I begin to cry. Tears flow out of me like a river and frost forms around me. I slip into sleep while I am thinking 'what if I don't get selected?', but then I think 'what if I do?'. I fall into unconsciousness and let sleep cradle me.