Authors Note: Am I driving you all nuts with these authors notes? Just a short one to say: many of the reviews I got from the last chapter were of you guys telling me to continue the story, so I gratefully oblige and As always please review, I am open to suggestions.

PREVIOUSLY...

"Thank you America, I will cherish this, always. I hate to break up this moment, and I know we both tugged our ears at lunch but right now there is something else we are supposed to be doing." He offered me his hand and we walked together to whatever place he had in mind for us today.


Maxon's POV

When America and I walked into the dining hall for lunch I was upset to see that Kriss was sitting in the seat next to mine. I tried to hide the disappointment in my eyes as I pulled out the chair for Ame's and took my seat beside Kriss.

She wasted no time starting up a conversation with me, and I had to try really hard to focus on what she was saying. She asked to speak with me after lunch so I obliged and that was when I caught America's eyes locked on mine, and I couldn't help the faint smile that came to my face when I saw it. I tugged my ear and she tugged hers back that small gesture was all I needed to get through whatever conversation Kriss was planning on having with me.

I watched after lunch as everyone except Kriss left the dining hall, America, Celeste and Elise were walking together talking and laughing, that brought another small smile onto my face. I was glad they had become friends, it was important for the future queen to have people she could talk to and rely on around her.

When they were out of sight I stood and extended my arm to Kriss, wanting to get this whole conversation over with, and get on with the rest of my plans for the day. I escorted her outside and set down a blanket for us to sit on as we talked.

She didn't seem to have anything urgent to tell me but I stayed with her, listening to her talk about how fun yesterday had been and that she would love to have a rematch with me, then she did what I would never have expected Kriss to do, she kissed me. It wasn't just a little peck either, this was a full on French kiss, when her tongue entered my mouth I pulled away.

"Kriss, I…"

She started to cry, great. Was it in the rules somewhere that these girls had to cry in front of me at least three times a week? None the less I wrapped her into my arms and comforted her. When her sobbing stopped I pulled back to look at her. "Kriss, I'm sorry about before but I," she cut me off.

"You love America. We all know that Maxon, but there must be some reason that you haven't ended the selection yet Maxon, if love was enough for you then this would all be over already. So, I figured I must still have a shot in this."

I cut her off there, "Kriss, the only reason you're still here is because of my father, you're his favorite, but as far as you and I go I just don't have those kind of loving feelings towards you, I thought for a minute there that I could but there is no spark, Kriss. I love you, but I am not in love with you, and you deserve to have someone who loves you whole heartedly, because you deserve the best of life and Kriss I can't be that guy for you. I'm sorry."

She started to cry on my shoulder again and I just sat there with her letting her weep until no more tears flowed out of her eyes. "Kriss, you may not be the women I love but I do feel that we have a bond, you're like the little sister I never had." I hugged her again and then she stood up and I followed her. We walked back into the palace in silence and before I left her on the second floor as she was heading to her room and I headed towards America's. I was stopped on the way by Celeste who informed me America wasn't in her room. I never saw her outside in the gardens so where could she be? I looked in the library, my office, and the gardens again, I checked the women's room where my mother was sitting planning some event with some of her friends, no America though. I checked everywhere, even the room I had only showed her this morning, there was no sign of her anywhere. That was when I started to worry. My next thought was to find my father however he was in a meeting with some advisors and I knew she wasn't being held hostage by him. The rebels; please don't let it be rebels. I checked the infirmary just in case, a few of the safety rooms I knew she knew about and when I caught two of the higher level guards I started the search party. The guards were quickly onto their walkie-talkies alerting each other of what was happening. Soon Officer Leger was beside me with one of America's maids, Lucy. Leger started to tell some of the other guards to check areas of the palace that were relatively unused now.

It was several minutes later as I was standing in some hallway that a guard called down saying he had found her, and they were heading down off the roof. The roof? What the hell was she doing up there? I ran down the hallways until I saw a secret passage door open revealing the guard and America walking with her head down behind him.

"What on Earth were you doing up on the roof?"

She lifted her head and looked at me seeing the clear panic in my gaze "Maxon, I'm sorry. I never meant to frighten you, it's just, I was out in the gardens when I saw you were out there with Kriss," she looked away from my eyes and continued. "I wanted to give the two of you some privacy, so I came back inside looking for a quiet place to write and draw and this," I gestured around, "is where I ended up."

"Ame's, I'm just glad you're okay. I thought… I thought something had happened to you." I let out the breath that I had been holding since I found the guards and had them searching the grounds. The anger and fear I had been holding in evaporated in that moment and I couldn't resist pulling her into my arms letting out a deep sigh of relief.

When I stepped back from the hug I had given her she was looking slightly confused for a second before looking around and rummaging through her notebook. She must have found the page she was looking for, scribbled something quickly on the page and ripped it out of the look handing the page to me. I took it out of her hand and flipped the page around. When I saw the image on the page I couldn't stop the all-encompassing smile that came onto my face, she had drawn us from last night, we were nestled together in the blankets on her balcony looking out into the night sky which was several different colors of the rising sun. She had signed it and wrote me a little message 'I love you'. It captured the moment perfectly and I couldn't wait to get it framed and hang it on the wall in my room amongst the other images of her that have been slowly taking over the wall since the day we met.

Wordlessly I moved in closer to her and pulled her in for a heated kiss, "Thank you America, I will cherish this, always. As much as I hate to break up this moment, I know we both tugged our ears at lunch but since I spent that time searching for you right now there is something else we are supposed to be doing." I offered her my hand and we walked together towards my surprise.


America's POV

Maxon was being very secretive about the destination we were headed to and when we headed down to the basement I'm sure I was looking a little more than confused. He held my hand a little tighter, reaffirming me, when he opened the doors to another recreation type room my eyes went wide as we were cast into a dark room with walls that glowed around us. Black lights were on the ceiling and my dress also lit up under the light. I looked over to Maxon and saw his shirt was also a much brighter white.

We walked a little further into the room and that was when I saw the other girls. Celeste was wearing a pink dress that was glowing fluorescent, Elise was in yellow and Kriss was in a dress that looked lime green under the light, and I couldn't help but think of yesterday's hide and go seek game. Today was different though, in front of us was a mini golf course Maxon handed each of us a putter and a ball that matched the color of our outfits before taking a white ball for himself placing it on the starter and hitting it down the course.

We all followed his lead playing the 18 holes like pros. Celeste proved to be the best golfer out of us all, she had landed several hole in one's and came out with a grand score of 37, Maxon and I tied with a grand total of 41 points and Kriss and Elise rounded up the rear with totals of 46 and 48.

Maxon gave Celeste a small statue of someone with a golf club in there hand as an award for winning and we all laughed at her as she stood tall stepped onto a bench at the 18th hole, "First I would like to thank my parents for teaching me how to golf as a child, god, my fans and thank those of you who also were competing against me, unfortunately you all suck and I am the best." With that she leapt off the bench and we hugged her in turn, still laughing at her as she held the statue like an academy award.

We headed back upstairs and Maxon excused himself to go and do a little more work, since he was a little distracted with other things this morning. That made a small private smile come to my face as he gave me a quick kiss on the cheek sharing the private smile with me before he left us in the main hallway.

As soon as Maxon was out of sight Elise linked her arms through mine and Celeste's and I grabbed hold of Kriss' hand as we were being pulled up the stairs. Celeste pulled us into a room that was now vacant from one of the other girls who was already sent home, I think it was Anna's room.

I was glad that I had the chance to really become friends with these girls, I don't really know where I would be without them if we were all here and not talking, I'm so glad we have each other and have grown as close as we are.

Some of each of our maids entered the room and Celeste sent them all back to our rooms to collect dresses. It was fashion show time she said.


I have never in my life laughed as hard as I did as we all put on different dresses and walked a fake runway as Celeste coached us all on how to model. We did silly poses and Celeste had a maid taking our pictures as we moved from pose to pose. In the end we must have taken about a hundred photos and been in at least 6 different outfits each.

In the end Elise was dressed in a traditional evening kimono, Kriss was wearing a purple colored dress, Celeste was in a gold dress, and I was in an ice blue dress. Looking around the room individually our dresses wouldn't have made much sense but together we looked like Disney princesses. Elise was Mulan, Kriss was Rapunzel, Celeste was Belle and I was Cinderella. Trust me the irony of the situation was not lost on me. I wondered if our maids had selected the dresses in an order that left us in these dresses at the end but swiftly let the thought go as we were sat in chairs around the empty room and our maids did quick work touching up our hair and makeup, and then we headed downstairs together, arms linked and all.

These girls weren't just my friends, they had become my sisters, my family, and I hoped that the happiness we were all sharing now could last a lifetime.


I know I couldn't resist dressing them up as princesses, deal with it. :P

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