Chapter 2

Lavender

Hansport has never seemed so, sizeable, I guess you could say. It's packed full of young female girls who want to get their Selection form in there before it's too late. I'm in line, sadly, with Kelly. She jumping up and down, holding both of our forms in her hands. She brushes a strand of her hair out of her face and looks at me, "Are you excited?"

"You know... not really," I say and she rolls her eyes and groans, "Come on Lav! Why do you hate the royal family so much?"

You know why I hate the royal family! I think, anger rising to the surface. Kelly's face instantly turns serious as she puts a hand on my shoulder. I could feel tears boiling in my eyes and I knew they all wanted out. Does she ever listen to me? Does she even know how hard it is? I think and start sobbing I my place. Kelly hugs me, I can feel the stares of strangers around us burn into my back. If I had the strength, I would snap at them, but I don't have the strength, all I can do is cry.

Well, that is until it's our turn to push through the crowd and take our pictures. Kelly carefully hands me my form and steps up to the cameraman, handing him the form that he just slips into a blue bin, a mailbox. Kelly takes a seat on the stool set out for her, fixing her hair and taking out red lipstick from her pocket, applying it onto her lips. I raise an eyebrow at her and she shrugs before putting it back and smiling at the camera.

While she's in the process of getting her picture taken, I search for Veronica, even though it's hard. I weave through the crowd, with my eyes of course since if I left my place a bunch of other girls would take it. She's supposed to be easy to pick out of a crowd with her stunning looks. Not a lot of the women here are as beautiful as Veronica.

I shade my eyes with my hand, wiping away the tears that were still left. Stop crying Lavender, I think to myself, noticing a strand of black hair in the crowd, thinking it's Veronica I call to her. She turns and I realize I've made a mistake. It's not Veronica, but some random person I've never seen in my life. And probably will never see again.

"Lavender! Come on it's your turn!" I hear Kelly squeal as she gets off of the stool and motions for me to get onto the wooden chair. I smile at her and think of how to say thank you to something so simple. I hand my form to the man and he just throws it into the mailbox with everyone else's. I roll my eyes, jeez, someone's in a bad mood; I'd love to sit on the other side of the camera like him.

"Smile," he says lazily and I give him my brightest, most fake, smile ever. There, I think, getting off of the stool and grinning to myself, that'll make sure that even if the prince considers me, he won't want me.

Kelly hops over to me and grabs my arm, pulling me out of the crowd. She seems to glow of happiness now, and I don't understand why. Why is she so happy, it's just a stupid Selection, for an even worse prince. Prince Xander. His name made me want to throw up my breakfast, which wasn't much since I only ate an apple. Prince Xander was the "perfect" prince. His amazingly "gorgeous" golden brown hair, he "beautiful" bright blue eyes, and don't forget his "handsome" tan. I mean gosh! It wasn't even handsome, it was obvious that he was usually a lot paler then that and he just accidently got a sun burn... all over his body. Whatever! It's not like I care, he's a brat, and I can feel my mind arguing to itself about filling out the form. Regret is already taking over and I'm not even five minutes past putting my form in.

Cali

I wake up to the sound of yelling coming from above me. I slept the night on that stupid old bench and here I was, once more in my life, waking up to the sound of screaming people. I stumble off of the bench, the owner of the store yelling at me. He's probably a middle aged man, a beard, but bald, and tan skin. Just to give you a good picture of the man who is spitting in my face. Gross.

I rush away from the bench and towards the road. Good, no cars are going by, now run Cali! I think to myself, launching across the street and to the other side, where a girl is screaming at her boyfriend because of a piece of paper in her hands. I frown as I look back at the owner; he's going inside, and getting something. Is that a phone? What does he think he's going to do, call the police? I'll be gone by the time they show up.

I stick my tongue out at him and turn around, bumping into the girl and her boyfriend. She yelps and her boyfriend catches her before she falls hard onto the ground. Nobody even bothers trying to help me. The girl looks at him for a second before whispering something like I'm sorry, and throwing the form into the trash bin next to them. I don't even glance at them as I look into the trash can and see a golden envelope that's opened and ripped. I reach in and pull it out, inside is the form, still in perfect condition. She didn't even fill it out.

I smile and look back at her and her boyfriend who are now hugging and I roll my eyes in disgust. Get a room! I think and race past someone to get to an alleyway. With nowhere to go, I sprint towards where a group of girls are standing, waiting to get their pictures taken for the Selection. I squeeze into the group, pretending to be one of them. I lean against a pole, trying to think of what to do next.

Should I fill out the form? I mean, I could be a Three; I could get money, right? I think but then I really want to punch myself afterwards.

You are so blind Cali! If you go into the Selection, you'll have to compete for the prince's love, not just get money and become a new caste! Another part of my mind yells at me. I stare at the form in my hands. Simple, all I had to do was fill it out and I'd have a chance at getting money, I'd have a chance at getting a new caste.

But if I filled out the form, that would also mean I'd have a chance of going to the castle, meeting the prince, and fighting for his heart. And I didn't want to do that. Not when I was thinking about joining the Red Winged Rebels, a group of people who want to change something about the country.

What do I do? I think trying to block out all of the girls around me. They all are talking and laughing and look like a bunch of ghosts with all of the makeup they put on their faces. I can't imagine waking up every day and having to do that. Part of me thinks that it'd be fun, or cool to try, at least for a day. And that settles it.

I look around, seeing that there's a pencil on a small table that's set up near the cameraman. I grab it and write down everything they need to know about me. An Eight, in the Selection. If my mother were here, she'd laugh. The royals would never allow it.

I pause before stepping into line, a bunch of girls staring at me. I'm about to question them, or say something about it, but a realize it's no use. These girls probably have a better chance at getting in then I do. They're all Twos or Threes, in fashionable dresses, and they all wanted to get into the Selection. I only filled the form out because I thought it'd be fun and at least I could change my life if I went through it.

My life was about to change.

In five. Four. Three. Two. One.

The camera snaps a picture of the girl in front of me, and it's my turn.

Thanks for reading! I hope you liked the second chapter!