Word count: 4,958

There's an Author's Note at the end.

Jesus this is in present tense, bare with me.

The day starts the way it always does, with Ainsley banging on the door, yelling at Adele and Amberly to wake up and that they have a very, busy day, today. Adele would groan loudly before grabbing a pillow and throwing it on top of her head hoping to go back to sleep as Amberly rolls out of bed and heads into the bathroom, that she shares with Adele, and gets ready for the day. She takes a quick shower, brushes her teeth, dries her hair, before proceeding to get dress. Before she leaves the bathroom she applies a little makeup on, such as eyeliner and pale pink lipstick. Amberly then heads out the bathroom and grab the blankets and yanking them from Adele's body.

"Amberly!" Adele would yell, before attempting to curl up in a ball.

Amberly merely responds with grabbing the pillow that Adele is holding, and whacking her with it.

"Up! You've heard Ainsley. She'll have your head for sure." Amberly always warns.

"Suurree," Adele answers sarcastically, but she gets up anyway not wanting to push her luck.

While Adele gets ready for the day like she always does, Amberly's slipping on her socks and shoes before she's running downstairs, and out into the bakery where Aaron is unlocking the store and putting up the Open sign. Nikita and Derek are in the kitchen baking the bread, pies, cakes, and cookies, the aroma wafts towards Amberly's nose and makes her stomach growl. She's used that by now and knows that anything that's leftover was dinner. Amberly pulls her hair into a high ponytail before she heads towards to the back to receive the key to open the cash register.

Amberly ducks under the trays that are being put into the oven and the ones that being taken out. She reaches the 'office' room, which is nothing but a small space that held the safe and a single filing cabinet. She unlocks the entire things and then she opens the first drawer to get out the key. The metal is cold and she closes her hand around it before leaving the room. Once again she dodges the incoming trays and hurries back to the front of the shop. She unlocks the cash register and puts the small key into her back pocket.

The bell on top of the door rings, as a customer enters into the shop and Amberly looks up and gives a stunning smile that would render any unfortunate soul speechless. But this customer is a regular and he returns the smile, revealing twinset dimples. His blue eyes twinkle along with that smile that she loves so much.

"Welcome to the Stations' Bakery, what can I get you?" Amberly teases, already knowing what he's going to get.

"Hmm, I do not know what do you have?" He asks playing along.

"Well. . . " Amberly pauses and looks at the display case. "Bread, cookies, cakes, pies, and for a short time strawberry tarts."

"Strawberry tarts for a limited time? Well, I suppose I'll have two of those and four cookies." He answers. "Excuse me, two chocolate chip ones and two sugar."

"That would be $10.43."

At that moment Adele comes down from the little apartment upstairs, with her hair in a bun and she yawning behind her hand. She notices the customer and gives him a small wave with the hand that's not covering her mouth.

"Buenos días, Shalom."

"Buenos días, Adele," Shalom Singer says as he hands Amberly the money.

"What is he getting?" Adele asks as she pops open a bag.

"He's changing it up a bit," Amberly says scandalously, causing Shalom and Adele to chuckle. "Two strawberry tarts, two chocolate chip cookies, and two sugar ones."

"Ah, si, different indeed. Is the world ending?"

Shalom laughs again at the sisters' antics. "I don't think that the world is ending, just wanted to try something new."

Adele and Amberly exchanged looks before shrugging.

"Whatever you say, Chico Amante," Adele says shaking her head.

"Chico Amante?" Shalom asks, confused.

Amberly blushes and glares at her older sister, who is smiling at her mischievously.

"No es mi chico amante! Juegas demasiado." She says as she handed Shalom, his bag, and receipt.

Shalom always gave exact change.

"Um, what?" Shalom says, now completely lost.

Amberly gives him a kind smile and shakes her head. "Nothing, I see you during my lunch break?"

"Oh, no you don't," Adele says in a sing-along voice. "It's yours and Aaron's turn to work Lunch hour."

"Qué? But we did that last Saturday!"

"Me and Ainsley did Dinner rush yesterday so that you could go off with chico amante."

"No es mi chico amante!" Amberly says to Adele, before turning to Shalom. "Fine, I guess I see you after closing?"

Shalom looks down at his watch. "Twelve hours from now? How will I survive?"

"I'm sure you'll figure it out-"

"Chico amante!" Adele cuts in laughing.

"Cállate, Adele! Go check on the food or something."

Adele giggles as she heads to the back and Amberly rolls her eyes. "She's so childish! I'll see you later, maybe you could even drop by during lunch hour?"

"Sure, Amber. Don't want you to be bored out your mind."

"I wouldn't say bored but less stressful," Amberly laughs.

Once Shalom leaves, Aaron says loudly, in the, for now, empty shop: "Definitivamente es el chico amante de Amberly."

Amberly's smile drops and glares at her older brother as everyone laughs, including serious Ainsley.

"He's not my boyfriend or lover boy! We're just friends!"

"Suuurrree. Amberly Singer does have a nice ring to it," Ainsley says, as she lightly tugs on Amberly's ponytail.

Amberly turns to her eldest sister, who's gray eyes are twinkling with amusement. "Ainsley, no tú también!"

The bell rings again, and everyone sinks back into the unchanging routine. After Shalom comes and goes, the elder women on the block come in to make small talk and order bread that will last them a week.

"Ah, Amberly, you and your sisters grow more beautiful, each day," They would always say.

"Gracias." They would always answer.

Then there was Mrs. Vazquez, who thought of the Station's siblings as her grandchildren, and also thought Shalom and Amberly belonged together. She ordered her bread and cookies and just before she left she would always say:

"Not married, I see."

Amberly chuckles, "I'm only fifteen. I'm too young to get married."

"Disparates! When I was your age I married Mr. Vazquez, and we've been together for fifty years," Mrs. Vazquez says. "It's time you settle down, niña and with that Jewish boy."

Amberly shakes her head and gives the old lady a smile. "I'll try."

"Yo tal vez viejo pero no soy estúpido. You say that every time I come in." Mrs. Vazquez says. "I do mean it, niña."

"Lo sé, Sra. Vázquez. See you next Saturday."

"And I better see a ring," Mrs. Vazquez shouts before she leaves.

"You heard Abuela Vázquez, there better be a ring," Adele teases before she gets hit on the arm.

After the elder women have come and gone, the cranky hardworking men with nasty attitudes and who were extremely impatient until they caught sight of Adele's impressive cleavage. Adele was a terrible flirt and always could manage to get those men to give tips. Once the rush of men is gone, Adele openly counts out what she's made in tips before smiling at Amberly.

"Cincuenta."

"Fifty?" Amberly asks in surprise, that's the more than Adele has ever managed to get.

"You do know where that's going?" Ainsley says.

"New shoes?"

"College."

Adele sighs dramatically but hands her older sister the money anyway. Then before lunch hour starts Nick Casey walks in and Ainsley rolls her eyes as Adele and Amberly smile at each other. While everyone wanted Amberly with Shalom, they especially wanted Nick Casey with Ainsley. Nick had light brown skin, green eyes, and a very good personality. He came by every day to either buy something or take Ainsley to her second job. When he wasn't doing that, he hung out with Aaron and sometimes even came around for dinner bringing food that wasn't bread or other bakery food.

"Si Shalom es mi novio que, Nick es el marido de Ainsley," Amberly laughs.

"Si!" Adele laughs too as Ainsley glares at the two girls.

"Hola, Nick. What can I get you?" Ainsley asks, even though it's Amberly job to ask.

"It's Ma birthday," Nick announces. "I would like vanilla flavor cake with butterscotch icing. But in blue and black icing, I want it to say: The Greatest Momma Ever. Happy 40th."

"It's Mrs. Casey's birthday?" Amberly says. "When's the party?"

"Are we invited?" Adele asks as Ainsley writes down what Nick wanted.

"Of course," Nick chuckles. "All of you are invited, even your little boyfriend, Shalom."

Amberly smile drops and she glares at Nick. "No, idiota de mierda. No estamos saliendo."

"I don't know what you just said, but I take that as a yes."

"I'll see," Amberly huffs.

"And then time is nine. Gives you time to close up and drop by."

"You're the best!" Adele exclaims.

"Oh, I know. See you guys later," Nick says.

"Wait! Nick, can you drop me off at Trina's house? I don't have to work the lunch hour," Adele shouts as she takes out her hair from its bun.

Her hair tumbles down onto her shoulders before she pushed her hair all to one side. Adele's hazel eyes looked at Nick, hopefully as she walks from behind the counter.

"I don't see why not, it's on my way to the store," He shrugs.

"Thanks! See you guys later!" Adele shouts as she leaves with Nick.

"Don't you have something to do?" Aaron asks Ainsley, as he takes Adele's place.

"No, I'm actually going to go lay down," Ainsley says. "I feel a headache coming on."

The siblings don't tease her because she actually looks like she was in pain, instead, Aaron looks at his younger sister with concern.

"Dolores de cabeza se están poniendo mal?" He asks.

"Estaré bien," Ainsley reassures them before she goes up the stairs.

Nikita leans through the window and nudged Aaron in his back. "She says she's fine, you worry too much."

She ruffles up his hair and kisses his cheek, Amberly chuckles.

"Oh, dear sister-in-law. Aaron isn't him if he's not worried about us."

"True."

Nikita pulled Aaron into a backward hug, and he turned to kiss her. Amberly smiles softly

at the display of affection, before she heads outside to take a small break. Lunch hour didn't start until thirty minutes, and there rarely were 'early' birds that come on a Saturday the way they do in the week. She leans on the window and looks out onto the street, sighing loudly. Sunday couldn't come fast enough, she plans on sleeping in and skipping church. Then she would go and visit Shalom, maybe 'help' him with a painting or two. Amberly would then come back and she and Adele would spend the rest of the night watching movies that came on TV. Ainsley would be sleeping for the whole day since that was her only day off.

The routine has been this way for six years, the days so predictable that Amberly didn't dare to hope for something different. While other people would've thought of this boring, Amberly savor the constant familiarity of her life. Anything else would've worried Amberly too much.

She closes her eyes briefly as she takes in a deep breathe, taking in the rare air, feeling the wind in her hair, and the sun rays shining on her skin giving her warmth. Then she opens her eyes and heads back inside. Nikita is back in the kitchen baking with her brother, while Aaron cleans off the tables, counter, and display case. He looks up and gives her a half smile which she returns. Today was like any other.

The bell rings and Amberly turn around to face Shalom.

"You're early," Amberly notes as she sits on top of the counter.

"Am I? I thought I was right on time," Shalom says as he checks his watch.

"Lunch doesn't start until another twenty minutes," Amberly points out.

"Which gives you twenty minutes to relax."

"I suppose you're right. Oh! Before I forget, it's Nick's mamá birthday, he's inviting everyone. Want to come?"

"Sure, I have nothing else to do."

"Great," Amberly says giving him smile.

But it's at this moment that today's no longer a regular day, where it blends in with the others, because when Shalom returns the smile, Amberly's breath catches, and her heart skips a beat. And she can't figure out what changed from this morning until now. Was she so extremely tired that her mind was playing tricks on her? Or had watched the way Nick looked at Ainsley when he came into the shop made her long for that too? Watching the way Nikita graze at Aaron so loving that he return, made her want that too?

"Amberly?"

Amberly blinks once and blushes. Blushes! She hops down from the counter and walks around it. She makes several mistakes by looking back at Nikita and Derek and over at her brother, who all knew the look on her face. Aaron even laughs out loud.

"Bueno, yo estaré maldito. Ello finalmente sucede," He says.

"Adele será trastornado que ella extrañó esto," Nikita chuckles.

"Uh, yeah?"

"Are you okay, your face is turning really red."

"It is?" Amberly squeaks as she covers her face with both her hands.

By then the shop fills laughter, and Amberly never felt so embarrassed. She feels warm hands on her wrist, that gently tugs her hands from her face. Amberly looks up to meet Shalom's graze to realizes that he's laughing too.

"Shalom!" She whines.

"What? You're the one acting silly."

"Traitor!"

"How so?"

"Que son tan lindos," Nikita cooes.

Amberly wrenches her hands from Shalom's grasp but she points to the door. "Out!"

"What? But what did I do?" Shalom protests.

"Shalom Cohen Singer, leave!"

"Alright, alright, I'm going. I'll see you after the shop closes up."

"Whatever," Amberly mumbles as Shalom leaves.

She then turns to her in-laws and brother. "Not another word."

Aaron raises his hands in defense as Nikita giggles behind her hand. Derek merely shakes his head with a smile on his lips. It's quiet for another five minutes before the lunch hour comes in keeps the Stations busy for an hour. Amberly switches with Aaron every few orders, while he's taking orders, she's handing out their food. Children are with their mothers, loud and destructive, running through the legs of strangers. Twice already Amberly had to stop a child crashing into her. Mothers apologize for their kids' behaviors as they take their order, and pay, scolding their children as they leave.

Teenage boys hold up the line as they attempt to flirt with Amberly, who turns them down with a smile before handing them their bags and telling them how much they owe. If they were still persisted Aaron would stop what he was doing to give them an overprotective brother glare, that leaves them scurrying to the door. Then the groups of girls came by ordering more cookies that were coming kept the girls by the tables, before returning to their other customers. The Strawberry tarts were the second ordered thing in the bakery, making Amberly glad that she came up with another pastry to sell.

Then lunch hour was over, and Amberly couldn't have been more relieved. She pulls her hair out of the ponytail and massages her scalp. She yawns loudly and stretches as she heads up to the apartment.

"Where are you going? You still have another hour before it's Adele's turn," Aaron calls after her.

"I have to pee, is there a problem with that?" Amberly says as she continues to run up the stairs.

Fifteen minutes later, Amberly creeps into Ainsley's room, to see how her older sister was faring. Amberly softly opens to see that the blackout curtains were drawn to prevent the sunlight from coming in. Ainsley was in a very uncomfortable position, she was curled into a ball with her forehead between her legs and her arms were wrapped under. The youngest Station girl winces at her older sister's expense. She walks towards her sister, and lightly shakes Ainsley, even though she should have just left the older girl alone.

"Yeah?" Ainsley groans as she stretches.

"You need a better position, just looking at you made me uncomfortable," Amberly says.

"I know, but it helps my headaches some."

"You're going to end up with a humpback or something."

"Alright, mom," Ainsley says rolling her eyes. "What time is it anyways?"

"It's 2 PM." Amberly answers preparing herself for Ainsley to freak out.

She's not disappointed. Ainsley jumps from the bed with a panic look on her face.

"I've been sleeping for three hours?! Why didn't anybody wake me up?"

"Because you need those three hours to sleep, I knew I shouldn't have check on you,"

"I'll be fine, kiddo," Ainsley ruffles up Amberly's hair before she heads downstairs.

"Aaron's going to kill me," Amberly groans.

Amberly slowly walks down the stairs and brace herself for whatever Aaron is going to give her. But instead, as she reaches the stop, hears arguing. Ainsley is angrily poking Aaron in his chest, and he looks frustrated. Amberly's brown eyes widen startled, surely they were fighting because Ainsley 'overslept'. Aaron mumbles something, and Ainsley shoves him.

"What?" She shouts

"You weren't supposed to see that," He says louder.

"And why not? It was in my apartment, let's not forget that you and Nikita live somewhere else."

"I help pay for this place too, you know."

"But it's under my name, why were you hiding this?"

"We don't need his help, not now, not ever!"

"We can't turn down help because of who he is-"

"Why are you so keen on asking for his help? Did you like being his little furcia?"

SMACK!

Amberly gasp as Ainsley slaps Aaron hard across the face, and when she and Nikita pull the siblings away, she surprises to see unshed tears in her eyes. Even Aaron is surprised to see them.

"Don't you dare call me that!" Ainsley yells.

It takes Aaron a moment to realize what he says before he turns pale and he reaches for her.

"Shit, Ainsley-"

"Get out," Ainsley says in a low voice.

"Ainsley-"

"Honey, she's right. You both need to calm down, and talk about this later." Nikita says looking at Amberly.

Aaron turns his gaze towards his baby sister and nods.

"You're right." He mumbles he shoots Ainsley one more look before he leaves the shop.

Ainsley takes a deep shaky breath and she turns to give Amberly a weak smile. Then she starts working as if she hadn't slapped Aaron, and as if Aaron didn't call her a whore. Who was this man and why did just the reference of him shakes the foundation of her happy family?

"He called her a whore?" Adele says her eyes wide as she looks for an outfit to the party.

The rest of day went uneventful and Ainsley wasn't in the mood to talk, the argument had left a rather sour mood in the shop that even the customers felt it. Amberly tried to bring up the mood throughout the day but it became so tiring that she gave up. Even Adele had felt it when she came through the doors, laughing and smiling.

"You guys, you won't believe-"

She trailed off and frown when she wasn't met with the same enthusiasm. "What's wrong?"

Ainsley gave Adele an unconvincing laugh, "What makes you think that something is wrong?"

Adele folded her arms with her eyes narrowed and an eyebrow raise, she opened her mouth to say something but Amberly shot her a look and discreetly shook her head.

"Nothing. I think I'm going to take a nap," Adele shrugged.

As Adele passed by Amberly whispered. "Later."

"Yeah, there's some guy that's been sending mail here, and Aaron doesn't want us associating with him."

"I wonder, who it is," Adele says, as she turns to Amberly. "What about this dress?"

It's black and short with see through, lace, long sleeves, and a deep neckline.

"It looks slutty."

"Prefect!"

Amberly rolls her eyes as Adele rushes into the bathroom to change into the dress. Adele was the Seductress and Diva of the family, never failing to miss a chance to dress like she was going to the club. She loved the attention of the opposite sex and she didn't have to do a lot to gain that attention. It was the only thing that got Aaron and Adele to argue, since he adored his sisters too much, most of the time. It was no secret to anybody that Adele used her body and beauty to get her way, wearing things dresses that were sometimes too short or too provocative fit her figure like second skin.

Though, Amberly had a feeling that there would be no fight about Adele's outfit. Adele exits the bathroom and twirls around once before smiling at Amberly.

"What do you think?" Adele asks.

"You look beautiful," Amberly admits. "You should wear your six-inch black heels."

"Not the black boots?"

"Eh, you could but you'll have to wear tights with it."

"Well, I don't want that. What are you wearing?"

Amberly thought for a moment before she got up from the bed to look through the closet. She pulled out black pants, a dark red tank top, and the black boots that Adele was talking about. Adele narrowed her eyes suspiciously as Amberly gave her an innocent smile. The boots were knee-high with a six-inch heel.

"You know it would have been better with my outfit," Amberly says as she headed to the bathroom.

"Hmph!"

Amberly laughs as she closes the door. Once she's dressed, she curled her hair and combed it to the side. She then applied dark red lipstick, eyeliner, and mascara on. She checked to her make-up once over, once she was pleased with her appearance she left the bathroom to find Adele heading out the door.

"Come on, slow ass, we got a party to go to," Adele says.

Amberly rolled her eyes, "You act like it's a May's party."

"But May will be there, so it might just be."

"Poor Nick's mom," Amberly teases.

Adele rolls her eyes and the two start to head downstairs before the were intersects by Ainsley, causing the girls to coo at their older sister who rolled her eyes. She was wearing a strapless blue dress that stopped at her knees and black flats. Her hair was in a loose bun, showing off the rose tattoo that she had gotten when she was younger.

"Getting all dolled up for Nick?" Adele teases as Amberly giggles.

"Oh shut up, and come on," Ainsley grumbles.

They laugh as they head down the stairs, and Ainsley stops by the kitchen to receive for the cake that Nick asked for.

"Hm, vanilla," Adele says. "I can't wait to eat it."

"With Butterscotch icing? I'm definitely getting seconds," Amberly adds.

"Greedy, the both of you," Ainsley tells them shaking her her head.

Adele and Amberly laugh as they leave the store heading down the street, to stop by the Singers' house to get Shalom along the way. Adele tells the story that she didn't get tell her sisters hours before, involving something ridiculous funny to Trina Miller. As they turned the corner Amberly had turned to Adele to admit her feelings about Shalom when she crashed into somebody. That somebody grabbed her wrist just before she could land on her ass. Her sisters gasps at the close call as the stranger pull Amberly right up.

"Are you alright?" He asks.

Amberly looks up and opens her mouth to respond but the words die on her lips. He's handsome with dirty blond hair and washes away blue eyes, and she's willing to bet he would be even more handsome if it didn't look like he always frowns. She blinks once before she realizes that she's staring, and then she blushes as she dusts herself and gives him smile.

"Fine, thank you."

"You should watch where you're going."

"Duly noted," Amberly says with a small laugh.

He gives her nod before excuses himself and continues to walk down the street. Once he's out earshot, Adele whispers to her sisters.

"Que es un chico blanco doing at this part of town?"

"Sh! As if I know," Ainsley shrugs.

They continue to walk down the street, but Amberly has this nagging feeling that she should turn around but at the same time she doesn't want to. In the end, her instinct won out and she turns her head slightly to see that he did the same thing. She can't stop the smiling from forming on her face, as she turns back forward and tries to catch up in her sisters' conversation.

"What were you going to say, before you ran into that boy?" Adele asks.

"You guys missed it, and I've decided that I will endure the embarrassment, instead of letting Nikita or Aaron tell you," Amberly started, causing her sisters to become interested.

"What? What happened?"

"I really don't know, Shalom came to visit before the lunch hour and-"

"You can't be serious!" Adele practically screams. "It happened and I wasn't there?"

"What did Nikita and Aaron do?" Ainsley asks as she shakes her baby sister.

"They teased me in Spanish so that Shalom had no idea what was going on. I blushed! Can't you believe?"

"Yes!" Her sisters laugh before they walk into the Carolina Apartments.

They first headed to Shalom's house, which seemed to be having a party in there as well. Amberly knocked on the door and it took a moment for the door to open, it revealed Shalom's older brother, Paz, who was laughing at something that was being said. He turned to the Stations' Sisters and smiled at them.

"You look beautiful, Ainsley," Paz says, causing Ainsley to smile.

"Thanks, is Shalom here?" Ainsley ask.

"Yup, hey Shalom! They're here," Paz calls from behind him.

Shalom appears from behind his brother moments later, and he smiled at the girls before he said goodbye to his family. When the door closes, Shalom hugged each girl and when it came to Amberly's turn, she glares at her sisters as they quietly giggled and made faces.

"We're also dropping by Magda's house and the Stages' house," Adele says.

"Magda? I doubt she would come, hasn't she been ignoring us for some time." Shalom pointed out.

"She's got a scholarship for The Juilliard School, and she has to audition to get in," Amberly reminds him as they head down to Orders' home.

"She's taking college very seriously, unlike somebody I know," Ainsley says, looking at Adele pointedly.

"You, guys just had to remind her," Adele grumbled, glaring at the two of them.

Amberly and Shalom laugh as they walked up the stairs of another apartment. Before they could even knock on the door, it opened forcibly on its own.

"Of course, we'll be back before midnight!" May Stage yells. "America and I are little angels."

"Yeah right."

"Oh, shut up Gerad. Nobody asked you."

"Well, hello," Adele says, grinning at the two girls.

The nearly identical redhead girls turn their heads and beamed at the sight of their friends. Even though May and America were a year apart, they had been dubbed the Stage Twins. May was only tab bit shorter than America and as America put it, May was way prettier. America was the third oldest child, the eldest being Kenna, who was married to James Orders, and they lived in the Carolina Apartments with their two kids, Leo and Astra. The second oldest was Kota, who had became estranged with the family, after quickly becoming famous for one of his sculptures and he used the money for himself. Then May came after America, and then Gerad, who was ten.

"You guys came to pick us up! How nice of you!" May squeals as she hugs her best friend, Adele.

"Well, / would never think about not coming to get you when there is a party involve," Adele says.

"It was that one time, Adele, let it go," May says rolling her eyes.

"I don't see why should I. It was the party of the year."

"But you survive, did you not?"

"You can talk about this later, we do have a birthday party to attend to," America reminds them.

"Si, si, food!" Amberly says causing everyone to laugh.

A/N: I've finally made it over to the Selection Fandom after rereading it the second time and being half way through the Heir. As you can see and have read so far that this isn't your typical Selection fanfic and a strange AU. You will also notice that this is an Amberly/Shalom story. I do this a lot in the Harry Potter fandom, where I write about the parents when they were young and pair them with different people. I'm not sure that a small fling between Amberly and Shalom would have worked out in the world of the Selection, so I decided to make it modern day. You would also notice that instead of America and her siblings not existing, because of obvious reasons (Magda and Shalom are practically young adults and are not dating), they coexist with their parents. While I was writing this, I wonder where would I go from here and I thought it would be a little bit exciting if you still had characters you were familiar with in the story. So yes, get ready Celeste and May, and the rest of the Elite will in the story as well. Even Maxon! (Obviously, can't have America without him).

I plan on being fully invested in this (just like my other ten or more multi-chap I'm writing. Shh XD), and I hope you enjoy it as well!