The One

Summary:

There are only four girls left in the Selection. Soon, there will only be three, and then the Prince mist make his choice. The King is pushing fir Celeste, Kriss us getting closer to Maxon, and America is even more confused then she was at the beginning. As she struggles to cope with the stress of new-found dilemmas, she finds a friend in someone she never thought she could.

When Mary, Lucy, and Anna woke me up, I was as tired as a dog. I hadn't been able to get a single moment of sleep the night before.

Up until this point, I have been incredibly preoccupied with my life in Selection. Particularly, my life with Maxon. And Kriss, as it seemed she was now an unavoidable addition to the equation of figuring out my feelings. I still wasn't sitting quite right about that one. But that wasn't what kept me up. Well, at least not last night.

After things had somewhat calmed down in the past day or two, my raging thoughts had quieted enough that I could grasp the real horror of my current situation.

The rebels were becoming more persistent. They were coming.

And their soul goal was to bring the Selection into chaos.

At least for now. When they destroy the Selection, who knows what they'll do next? The books were a big clue, that was certain. Though Maxon was hesitant to adhere to the possibility that they could be looking for the diary. She couldn't shake the feeling that they needed it to succeed, though. Maybe it was just woman's intuition, or maybe it was the fact that she knew the kind of raw, disgusting, manipulative secret it held that could tear the country apart.

But what could they really do with it? No one in Illéa would believe them. They would claim that the diary was a fake, and no doubt the kid would go along with me. And no one had seen me hold it up on live television, either. I suddenly felt a very unwelcomed bout of gratitude towards the king, and smooshed it quickly.

"Lady America?" Called a soft voice from behind me. I snapped out of my thoughts.

"How do you like your dress?" Mary asked. The tone in her voice suggested she had probably asked me before, but I hadn't responded. I looked myself up and down in the mirror.

The maids had really out-done themselves. Again.

The top was fitted with cuffed sleeves, with some kind of soft material that felt like a worn-in T-shirt. It fanned out from my waist and went just bellow my knees, with a little bit of white fluff sticking out from the bottom. It was embroidered with a pink-ish floral pattern, which would normally make me cringe, but with the rest of the dress and my hair pulled back into a loose pony-tail, i found myself loving it.

"It's amazing, girls." I assured them. "What's the occasion?" Their had to be some sort of reason for such a beautiful dress as this for simply a normal day.

"Well, we've been noticing that you've... Had a lot on your mind lately, and we figured you could use a little something to help you feel special." Explained Anna, Lucy nodding vigorously behind her. I smiled at them. There was no possible way that her maids could be any more perfect.

"Thank you girls." I said, hoping my voice could truly convey my gratitude.

Mary waved her hand dismissively. "It's what we do."

I rolled my eyes and laughed a little.

"You better get to breakfast, though, Lady America. You don't want to be late!" Anna urged, nearly pushing me out the door. She was right, I couldn't risk looking improper in the slightest with the King breathing down my back, waiting for me to slip up.

I quickly waved goodbye and hurried down the steps to the dinning room.

There, I found the table we normally sat at was gone, and in it's place was a shortened table, about half it's size. There were three chair set up on one side, four on the other.

The other three girls had already arrived, Elise on the end, Celeste taking one of the middle chairs, and Kriss on the other end. It was clear by the way she looked down at her lap that she was feeling uncomfortable with being so near to Celeste. I wonder what happened between them.

I took my seat between them, giving Kriss a nod in greetings. She gave me a small wave and a gentle smile. I didn't even bother looking at Celeste.

Their was an awkward silence between us, that I hadn't noticed before. Now that we were down to four, things were getting more tense between us. You could almost feel it in the air.

Trying to break it up a little, I turned to Kriss, to say something. But nothing came out. I couldn't think of a single thing I could ask her about that wouldn't be uncomfortable for someone. We couldn't talk about Maxon, we couldn't talk about the King or Queen, we couldn't talk about the rebels, and we couldn't talk about a project or challenge or gossip because there was none.

I slumped in my chair, defeated.

Luckily, it was only about ten minutes more until the Queen and Maxon arrived, Silvia trailing behind them.

"Good morning, girls." The Queen greeted, and motioned for us to sit back down, as we had stood to curstey.

"I'm sorry to say the King is in a meeting, and unable to share breakfast with us today." The Queen said as she took a seat in the middle chair. I had to hold back a sigh of relief. The King was the last person I wanted to have breakfast with.

Maxon took the one on her right, across from Kriss and I. Kriss giggled and waved at him, and he beamed back at her. He gave the others at the table a quick smile, but looked at me with a curious expression. I wasn't quite sure what to make of it, so I mirrored his look back at him.

Kriss tapped his arm politely, and asked how he had been the night before, after their date. He quickly engaged in an apparently hilarious story about a guard who had tripped and spilled his drink all over him. Kriss wouldn't stop giggling.

I felt a kind of knot in my stumach. He had gone on yet another date with her, the fifth one just since I almost got sent home. He hadn't tried to talk to me since then. And goodness knows I wasn't about to tug my ear.

My mind drifted back to the rebels as I droned out their conversation. There had to be something that I was missing. What could they use the book for, if not show the public? It was an old diary-there wasn't anything there that could tell them battle plans or details to help them attack. Maybe Macon was right. Maybe they were looking for something else. But why books?

Kriss tapped her shoulder.

"Hm, what?" I asked, pulled from my thoughts yet again. Kriss shot a look at Maxon. I had to fight to not roll my eyes.

"Maxon asked you a question." She said quietly. I look up at him.

"I asked if you were okay, America."

I was caught off guard by the question. "Of course I'm okay." I insisted.

"Well, you've just been very quiet, that's all." He said, knitting his eyebrows.

"I was just-uh, thinking." I said. I hadn't realized till then that I hadn't said a single word sense I left my maid's room.

Maxon made eye contact with me and tugged on his ear. I hesitated for a moment, then tugged back. I wasn't really sure if I wanted to talk to him right now. I wasn't in the most flattering mood.

The Queen cleared her throat, and we all looked up at her.

"As you can see, girls, there are only four of you left. I think it is time that you all begin extensive training. On top of your current training, you'll also have pre-scheduled private lessons with miss Silvia." The Queen said, gesturing to Silvia, who bowed at the Queen.

Well, that wouldn't be too big of a change for me, considering I was already taking private lessons from her, though I don't know how she will react to my Caste rant. No doubt I was no longer her favorite student.

The rest of breakfast passed with out much interest, just light chatting and picking at our food.

As I stood up to be excused, my napkin fell onto the floor. Then, to my surprise, the ever-a-lady Celeste picked it up and placed it back on the table with out a sound, and went back to eating. I was definitely floored.

What happened to her?