Thank you, people who reviewed!
TieDieTruth: I like November, too. I actually tried to make her like me.
smhuynh32103: Yeah, I'm pretty sure even Keira Cass didn't assign flowers to all of the provinces. Thanks for the feedback! I'm planning on making this a pretty long story. Thanks for favoriting and following, too!
Yeah! Anyway, Chapter 8! Enjoy!
When we arrive at the airport in Angeles, I try to give November her book back, but she tells me to keep it. I slip it into my backpack, which I slide onto my shoulders.
Ember steps off the plane first. She ignores the huge crowd of people and simply walks to the other end of the airport and stands by the doors, scowling. I'm not sure she has any other facial expressions. Summer steps off after her and starts talking to people and shaking hands. I decide to adopt her strategy rather than Ember's. I walk down the line (there's literally a red carpet laid out for us), smiling, waving, shaking hands, and occasionally striking up conversations. November follows behind me, doing the same thing. I spot a girl who looks about 15 years old holding up a sign with my name on it. "Why?" I ask her.
"Huh?"
"Why me?" I say. "Why do you think I should win?"
"Actually, it was my little sister's idea,'"she explains. "She saw your picture on TV and wouldn't stop talking about 'the girl with the funny smile.' So, I wanted to make her happy by holding up a sign for you. Mom won't let her come to the airport."
"Why not?"
"Why do you care?" she asks me. But she's not being rude; I think she really wants to know the answer.
"I don't know," I say. "I just care about people, I guess."
She smiles. "Well, Mom's terrified that she'll get kidnapped or something."
"But she's not worried about you?"
She shrugs. "I guess 14 years old is old enough to take care of yourself in an airport."
"Hmm," I say. "Well, I have to go now, but it was nice meeting you, uh . . ."
"Claire," she finishes.
"Bye, Claire," I say. "Tell your sister I said hi!" She grins and waves at me as I turn to the next person.
When we reach the end of the line, I'm glowing. I loved meeting so many people who support me. Well, I'm glowing until Ember opens her mouth. "You know they don't really care about who you are, right?"
"What?" I say.
"They don't care about your values or your thoughts or your beliefs or your family. They just saw a pretty face on TV and decided to pull for that one. Doesn't it bother you at all that they know nothing about you? It's all just so superficial. This whole thing is stupid, shallow, fake bullcrap!"
I would argue with her, but I actually think she's right. None of those people know who I am. All they know is what I look like.
I can't argue with her, but I feel the need to say something, so I blurt out, "Why are you even here?"
Ember glares at me. "I can be in the Selection if I want to be in the Selection!"
"But you don't," I point out. "So why?"
"Listen, I don't know what it's like wherever you're from, but where I come from, we don't put up with nosy questions," she growls at me. "It's none of your business why I'm here, anyway!"
November tries to defend me. "Hey, she was just trying to-"
"No one asked you, you little booknerd!"
Summer jumps in now. "Don't talk to her like that!"
"Yeah?" Ember challenges, "What'cha gonna do about it?"
That's all it takes for a full-blown fight to erupt. The only one actually throwing punches is Ember. The rest of us don't want to break the rules. Well, okay, I don't want to get caught breaking the rules. I wouldn't mind punching Ember right now. But I don't. Instead, I focus on blocking her punches, because I'm pretty sure that doesn't count as "harming another Selected".
Fortunately, Ember doesn't really know how to punch properly. Unfortunately, November and Summer don't know how to block.
Ember directs most of her blows at me while Summer screams at her and November cowers at the edge of our group. The whole thing lasts approximately 23 seconds before a woman from the Palace comes over to break it up.
"Ladies!" she scolds. "What is going on here? You are supposed to be setting an example for the entire country!"
"But Ember was the one who-" Summer starts.
"I don't want to hear it," the lady says. "The Prince is the one who decides who stays and leaves. You can explain yourself to him when he finds out. Right now, you're going to get in the car. You don't want to be late for your makeovers."
Ember rolls her eyes but gets into the limo with the rest of us. We spend the whole ride in silence, all of us avoiding looking in each other's eyes. Ember sits with her arms crossed, a smug smirk on her face. I guess she does have more than one facial expression. Summer glares at her, and November looks terrified that Ember will explode on her at any second. Which actually has a decent chance of happening. I just stare out the window and try not to think.
When we arrive at the Palace, I don't get nearly enough time to admire its beauty before we're rushed in for our makeovers. Someone leads us to a room called the Woman's Room. Sounds like a fancy name for bathroom, but it's not. It's a huge room, currently filled with mirrors and stools and makeup artists scurrying around. A woman who introduces herself as Gina tells us that this is where we'll be spending most of our free time. "Now go get made over!" she says, pushing us inside.
The crazyness of it all overwhelms me. After I get a "before" picture done, someone leads me to a stool and mirror, I catch glimpses of conversations. I can hear maids yelling about dyes and makeup and water, Zayley Gardener insisting that her cat ears stay on, and Ember screaming, "I don't want a damn makeover!"
"Alright," the makeup artist in front of me says. "What kind of look are you going for?"
"Just . . . natural, I guess," I say. "Go light on the makeup, okay?"
First, some maids scrub every part of me. Then they rub lotions and oils all over me. After that, my nails are clipped, filed, buffed, and painted with a clear coat of polish. A woman does my hair. She asks if she can cut it, and I say no. I haven't cut it since the day Michael asked me out. I wanted something to mark the importance of the occasion. I'm not about to cut it now. I do let her trim it at the bottom to get rid of some split ends, but no more than an inch. She pulls it into a bun that manages to look elaborate and casual at the same time. It's beautiful, but I find myself missing the braids Melani did.
Finally, I end up back with the woman who first asked me what style I wanted. She puts makeup on me. I tell her to go light, and compared to the other girls, she did, but I still feel like I'm being smothered by layers of powder, cream, and perfume. When she finishes, she hands me a mirror. "Like it?' she asks. She tries to sound casual, but underneath it, there's an uncertainty, a fear I'll hate it.
"Wow," I say. "Yes, I like it." I do. I look beautiful, but still like me. "I like it a lot."
I am directed to a rack full of clothes and told to pick an outfit. To my surprise, there are pants and shirts there along with dresses. I guess I assumed there would only be dresses. I am pleasantly surprised. I pick a pair of silvery gray skinny jeans and a ruffled turquoise shirt.
A reporter comes up to me as soon as I am finally finished with my makeover. "Tell me, Lady Allysa, how are you feeling about your makeover?"
"I feel great," I say. "These people are talented; they're real artists."
"They really are, aren't they?" she agrees. "Now, what do you think of the other girls?"
"Well, I haven't met many of them yet," I remind her. "But the one thing I know about every single girl here is that she is unique. There are so many different personalities here, and I can't wait to get to know them."
"Excellent," she says. "That's all we need, thank you."
"Oh, okay," I say. I kind of expected the interview to be longer, but there are 35 girls here, so I guess it makes sense that it was so short.
I spend the next hour in the Woman's Room, watching the other girls get their makeovers finished and chatting with some of them. In those conversations, I learn that Zayley has been wearing the cat ears for 2 years and she only takes them off to sleep. I learn that Summer has a twin sister named Winter, and both of them used to get teased like crazy about it. I learn that Willow loves chocolate more than I thought was possible, Shiloh's little sister has depression, and Madison really likes Algebra. And I learn that trying to have a conversation with Ember is not really a good idea.
At 9 o' clock, Gina leads us all to our bedrooms. They're huge. Three maids introduce themselves to me. Kiana is tiny, with dark hair and eyes. Lily is pretty much the opposite; she's tall, blonde, and has blue eyes. Elaine has huge green eyes and red hair that's almost as long as mine. They all help me into bed, and they decide that Elaine will stay with me tonight. (We're all supposed to have a maid stay with us at night for safety.)
It takes me no longer than 2 minutes to drift off into a peaceful sleep. This has to have been the most interesting day of my life. Hopefully things won't be so crazy after today.
