Aspen Leger was standing right in front of me and he knew my father. That meant my father had to have come to the Illéa palace because it was rumored that Aspen never went anywhere that Queen America wasn't. Aspen could have some of the answers. Like who my father ran away with, if he had any idea why, and did my father talk about me? Obviously my father had to because Aspen knew I was his daughter.
I finally got my words to come out of my mouth, "Aspen, how did-" Seriously? Was I just never meant to finish a sentence anywhere I went? Right as I was about to start a conversation with the mysterious and wonderfully green eyed Aspen, Macey came up to my and grabbed my arm squeeling into my ear.
"Tonight is the night Prince Zander gets to find out who we are! Come on, Arista. It's time to guess what girls will be going home tomorrow!" She laughed at me and pulled me away from Aspen. I tried to dig my heels into the ground, but the small blue flats given to me by Lily and James didnot meant to have any traction to them. I turned my head back to sneak a glance at Aspen who laughed at me and waved goodbye.
"We'll talk later, Miss. Green." He nodded his head in a polite way and walked away from the scene.
"Aren't you so glad I saved you?" Macey whispered to me as we entered the Great Room, "I saw you bump into Aspen and I was so scared for you, so I had to hop in. And anyways, we were going to be late for the Report." Macey grabbed my arm, not waiting for a response from me, and pulled me into one of the large couches next to her. If I had to describe Macey in as few words as possible I would say: Full of energy. She bounced around from one topic to the next without even a moment for her brain to really switch gears. She must never sleep.
Ten couches and several love seats, all in a matching brown color, were set up around the television in a half circle. All 35 girls now sat, still in their new gorgeous clothes, anxiously awaiting the Report.
I sat thinking even as the show began, unlike all the other girls who sat forward watching as they came on television. Before photo, after photo, and interview. The times I would focus on the television I noticed that most of the girls seemed nervous on television or they seemed as natural as could be, nobody was really in between.
Except for Macey.
I didn't realize Macey looked so much different until her after photo appeared. I did a double take, staring at Macey sitting beside me. Her long rich auburn hair had been cut to her shoulders and given a few different layers, and thinned out. They also evened out her bangs, getting rid of the swoop which now I had, and decided to go with the very fashionable straight across bangs. They didn't touch her hair color because it matched her dark blue eyes so well, and with the straight across bangs they popped out even more.
Macey's interview was awkward but good. She wasn't a natural but she wasn't nervous. She was just Macey. Like I said before, she bounces from subject to subject.
My interview appeared last on the Report. It was simple, my transformation was kind of drastic. I went from blonde hair blued eyed normal girl to blond and blue haired girl with matching blue eyes. My interview wasn't bad, at least I didn't think so until I heard a bunch of collective gasps around the room when I mentioned I had never heard or seen of Prince Zander before.
After the broadcast we were all showed to our rooms. My room was next to Macey's and far down on the second floor. I mouthed, 'Goodnight' to her as I walked into the very large doors that led into my bedroom.
My house was almost the same size as my new bedroom. Giant walls, huge windows, and even a balcony. The room also held a bathroom off to the left, my own bathroom. The walls were painted in different shades of green, (I think somebody wanted to play off of my name), and a grand white piano sat waiting for someone to play in the left corner of the room. Leaning up against it was a very simple and elegant brown acoustic guitar. My bed was pressed against the wall right next to the door of the balcony. The bed itself had brown and green spreadsheets and many giant white pillows. Oak wood framed the bed and it even had those giant pillars that held curtains on the bed so I could sleep feeling like I was in a giant curtain box.
I wanted to play the instruments, go onto the balcony, and flop down on the bed all at the same time. But before I could decide what I wanted to do three girls entered my room from the private bathroom.
The first girl was abnormally tall, probably about 6'3", with frizzy honey blonde hair. The second girl was about Lily's height, very short, about 4' 10" at the most. She had smooth dark brown hair, borderline of black, which made her eyes look grey. And the last girl was almost as tall as the first, maybe a couple inches shorter, and she too had honey blonde hair, just not as frizzy as the first.
"May I help you?" I said suddenly, scocked that three girls just came out of my bathroom.
"I'm East," said the first tall girl, "and this is Joanie," East said while pointing at the short girl, "and finally my sister Esther." She pointed to the third girl, I should have guessed they would be sisters. "And we are your own personal maids, Miss Seve-" Joanie, the short one, elbowed her in the side and East corrected herself, "Miss Arista." All three curtsied a little for me and then quickly ran over to me to start to undress me for bed, or so I assumed as the three were pulling at my clothes.
"Wait? What? Undress me? Why? I can do that! It's just a simple dress!" I backed away from the three girls.
"I told you she would need no help. She's a seven after all. She's lower than us." Esther said in an oddly sweet voice, it hadn't been her intention to be mean at all.
"It's true. I'm not even wearing anything complicated, just a simple dress." I laughed nervously at them who backed a few steps away from me.
"Alright, Miss Arista. Sorry, we just got over excited. I mean, I'm excited. We maids don't get much excitement until The Selection. We design all your dresses and take care of you. And it's a lot of fun. For me at least. East and Joanie aren't that-" Esther was much like Macey, a talker. But what she was about to say was interrupted by Joanie who began to speak,
"What she means is that we want to help you. We aren't that excited to be serving a seven, to be honest with you. But we are at the same time; it means you might be a bit nicer to us." Joanie looked at me, her eyes looked sunken into her skull like she hadn't eaten in days or was malnourished in childhood.
"Oh. I'm sorry. I know it must be weird to be serving someone below you. But we can agree for now that I will treat you," I stopped for a second thinking about what I was about to say, "I heard a rumuour once that Queen America was very nice to her maids. She played games with them, laughed with them, and treated them like her friends and not maids. And hopefully we can see each other like that. I would love to be as kind as Queen America." I smiled the sweetest smile I could muster from the long day and the three seemed to accept it.
"Alright. If you want to be like the Queen then that means tonight you can undress yourself and you will be sleeping alone, correct? You wouldn't want to make one of us maids miss out on sleep to watch you like the other girls make their maids do? We will come and wake you in the morning and draw your bath. Goodnight." East's voice was as cold as Precious's, the girl from Carolina. It was obvious than that Esther liked me, Joanie was indecisive, and East was against me. Great, three different opinions. And East seemed to be the leader, because after she spoke all three left the room.
At least I was alone with my thoughts.
'What an interesting day: A cold goodbye from my mother, protestors, being called a seven numerous times, makeovers, spiteful and sweet maids, and Aspen.' Aspen was the most interesting part of my day. I wanted to get ready for bed, noticing the maids had left my sleeping outfit on the giant oak wardrobe, located on the other side of the room as my bed and next to a matching vanity.
"I'll get dressed later. First mission is to play that guitar." I spoke to myself, realizing I was probably the only person who wouldn't interrupt my sentences.
The guitar was gorgeous and I felt almost to lowly to be touching it. Not many families I worked for had one, so it had been four years since I played. I wasn't sure if I would interrupt anyone's sleeping by playing inside, and the balcony was calling my name. Taking off my blue flats to free my feet I steppe outside the rounded balcony with the guitar.
Two white wooden chairs with green seat comforters were on the balcony, both with no arm rests. This was perfect to play the acoustic guitar.
I started off rusty, for the first thirty minutes I messed around trying to remember different chords. Finally I started to get the hang of it and as I started to play slow songs my past came to me and overwhelmed me. I remembered the days spent with my dad playing different songs for him. He taught me different chords and different lullabies to sing. I used to have little concerts for my family when I was about ten, I would play them my guitar and sing the most ridiculous made up songs. Of course they would applaud and cheer for me like I was the best singer song writer in the world.
I almost started to cry over the memories and I strummed the guitar and sung some of the lullabies my father taught me. My favorite being the one he taught me literally a week before he ran away and we moved.
Someday, princess, you will find your true love.
You'll live happily ever after.
So go to sleep now,
Close your eyes.
Dream of his face
And his gentle hands.
You'll be a princess,
He'll be your prince.
Who cares if you live in a palace,
Or a cottage,
Or a shack in the desert.
You'll be his love,
And he'll be your prince
My father always taught me lullabies about princes and princesses, I always dreamed of falling in love and feeling like a princess.
The tears were held back because as I finished this song I heard a bunch of rustling and then someone began to clap. I looked to my right, where the sound was coming from, and saw a man in a guard's uniform sitting on the edge of the balcony clapping for me.
"Well that was pretty. Who taught you that, Seven?" The man spoke with a gentle tone and he swung his legs over the balcony and came to sit in the chair next to mine.
"I have a-" I just shook my head, not even wanting to correct him for the mispronunciation of my actual name, "My father taught me that song. How did you get up here, might I ask?"
The boy's eyes sparkled a brilliant shade of brown that kind of just sucked you in. His strawberry blonde hair, a little more red than most strawberry blonde's I knew, was not cut like a guard's hair cut. It was gelled in the front and pulled back in a men's fashionable way. What guard was fashionable?
"I heard you singing so I climbed all the way up those vines to romantically sweep you off your feet." He proclaimed to me and quickly got down on one knee next to, looking at me with his adorable eyes. Before I could respond he chuckled and got back into his seat, "I'm kidding. Your balcony is special, it's built with a ladder like thing underneath the green growth of weeds. It's meant to help as an escape incase of rebels. Nice to know, huh?" He winked at me at the end of his sentence.
"Alright then. Nice to know in case I want to escape to. Of course I shouldn't be telling you that, now should I? Or if I declare my own love for you and have to run away before I get my head chopped of for treason!" I got down in my white dress on one knee, copying his previous action. I laughed as he was taken by surprise. I don't think he expected me to play along.
I got back up onto my own chair, noticing my white dress now had some dirt on the knee. "I wouldn't want to escape, let me correct myself their and not joke around about that. I like it here." I smiled at him, sure the boy had scared the living daylights out of me, but he seemed pretty nice. And maybe it would be useful to know a guard around here.
"Oh, Madam. You don't even know what is outside of the palace. It's a magnificent forest down there. You would love it." He looked at me once more and took my guitar and started to strum on it.
"And how would you know I love it? You don't even know me. What if I'm allergic to trees?" I sat back in my chair as I listened to him strum my guitar. He seemed to know a few notes.
But as I listened I realized he began to copy my song. My father's lullaby to me. He began to hum and then sing it.
"Hey! What, how did you?" I sat up from my chair and stared at him with questioning eyes.
"Don't trust a stranger with your songs. You never know when they have a brilliant memory." He gave me another wink then handed back my guitar.
A part of me was slightly offended, and I wanted to punch him in the arm, but I realized that would be unlady like. And I was trying my best to appear as a perfect little "Mary Sue" like girl to him. Even though I was far from the perfect girl I wanted to see myself as.
"Shouldn't you be on guard?" I asked him plainly, almost trying to get rid of him.
"Nah, I'm on break to talk to a pretty girl." He smiled at me and slunk into his seat and I slunk into mine.
A moment of silence. But it wasn't an awkward silence, it was a peaceful silence.
I don't remember much else of this night. I believe we sat talking about the stars and different ways to escape rebel attacks. I'm sure I made a fool out of myself, I wasn't very good at talking to boys. I had no friends back in Clermont and found it shocking that I was able to talk so easily to a boy. He reminded me a lot of Stanton. The guard was slightly serious, on occasion, but all around a good guy and fun to talk to. Which was just like Stanton! Maybe that's why I could talk so easily to this guard. I basically just "friend zoned" this guard, which was probably a good thing, I couldn't go falling for a guard. The rules were clear, I was to not love anybody but the Prince.
I had fallen asleep and one point and woke up to feel a kiss on my forehead.
The next morning came by and I felt a hand shake me awake violently. "We thought you had died or run away!" Esther's voice was full of concern for me. Apparently my maids had been searching for me. They were a little disgusted that I had stayed in my nice white dress all night, so they made sure to draw an extra soapy bath and give me fresh clothes for the day.
Today I wore a white day dress with small green flowers accenting it. The maids dressed me and fixed up my hair, pulling all of it up into what they called a "messy" bun. It was spread throughout the top of my head and they lined it with little jewels. I looked pretty once again today, I wasn't sure if I would ever get used to this kind of treatment.
"Well that was easy to get you ready today, Miss Arista. Thank you!" Esther smiled at me and then escorted me to the dining hall where we would be having breakfast, my other maids left the moment I looked presentable. It was safe to say I liked Esther the best out of all my maids.
A few girls did a double take of me, they noticed I seemed to be fitting quite well into the clothes and appearance of someone higher than my actual caste. I sat down at the spot marked for me, once again far away from my only friend Macey. Before breakfast was served to us a small lady came walking into the room,
"Hello girls, I am Lady Odetta. Usually I would have introduced myself far before this point but I've been very busy. I will be your personal mentor this year at The Selections. Usually before you meet the royal family I would have gone over with all of you table manners. But I am afraid we are running on a schedule that I cannot control and therefore you will be meeting the royal family now. Please stand and curtsey for the King, Queen, and Prince of Illéa." And with that the small grey haired lady, Odetta, stepped aside and the doors behind her slowly opened to reveal the King and Queen, who walked arm in arm smiling from ear to ear. Beautiful Queen America had her striking red hair hung down and she glowed with true happiness from her lovely husband King Maxon.
I was stunned by America's grace and beauty, I heard she wasn't this wonderful at The Selections back in her time, and I didn't even notice the Prince enter until I heard some gasps and swoons coming from the other girls. I turned my focus to see Prince Zander.
Brown eyes and strawberry blonde hair, Prince Zander. The guy I had friend zoned last night on my balcony.
And surprisingly my first thought wasn't, 'The prince kissed my forehead!' or 'The prince sung to me with my guitar.' My first thought actually was, 'He lied to me!'
Author's Notes:
I love this chapter. I was really excited to introduce her maids and the Prince. Guest mih, (Yes this is a shoutout), in the reviews actually guessed what was going to happen with the prince. So that was exciting. I've been planning out this meeting for a long time. So hopefully you guys enjoy it as much as me! (My own heart skips a beat!)
Special shout out also to fantastic people like Jennifer1414, ilona18, Fluer Summer, Athena Child, and ABreathAwayFromWhereYouAre.Thank you guys for the reviews, favorites, watches, etc. It means a lot to know you guys are enjoying. Hopefully I don't disappoint!
Look forward to new updates. I try to update, at the minimum, once daily.