Chapter 14

Akio's POV

Akio was in the Men's Room with the other male Selected. Akio was talking to a boy named Spencer, and another named Nick. They were both very nice in Akio's opinion, and they had been talking all morning.

"So, Akio, remind me again why you joined the Selection?" Spencer asked, leaning forward in his chair.

Akio chuckled, and rubbed the back of his neck. "To come out to my family."

"And how did they take it?" Nick asked.

"My sister was supportive, and my parents were, I don't know how to explain it." Akio said, tapping his chin, "My father and mother are very traditional, and wanted to arrange a marriage for me, and since I came out, and with the Selection nonetheless it has kind of….thrown out their plans."

The other two nodded, following along with the story.

Akio shrugged, "They saw me off to the Selection, but I think they're still hoping I'm not gay."

Spencer nodded, "I joined to get a new perspective on life."

"Same here," Nick said, "I wanted to know more about life, and how others go through life."

"Exactly, all I've ever known is Likely, I wanted to get out and see something new." Spencer replied, glancing around the room.

It was silent for a moment, before Akio asked, "How did your interviews with Prince Rayden go?"

"I think mine went fairly well," Spencer said, "We seemed to get along, so hopefully I won't be eliminated any time soon."

"The conversation was a little dry, but I don't think I did anything to warrant my elimination, so let's hope I can experience the Selection for a little longer." Nick said, smirking.

Akio laughed, and nodded, "Me too. I've had a crush on the prince for so long. Meeting him was like a dream come true, but I think I was over-thinking during our conversation."

"That's all right, I'm sure he won't hold it against you, after all, you're still here, so he must have liked you enough to keep you around." Nick pointed out.

Akio paused, thinking about it. He has a point, you're still here, others aren't. "You're right, I'm sure I'm just worried over nothing."

Spencer nodded, "There you go! Now, is anyone up for a game of pool?"

Nick nodded, and stood, making his way over to the pool table. Akio followed hesitantly, he'd never played pool before.

"So, how do you play?" Akio asked, observing the pool cues the other men were taking off the rack.

"It's simple. You try to hit the balls in the right order into any one of the pockets. Don't hit the 8-ball in at the beginning though, that would mean game-over." Spencer said, eyeing the pool table.

"And how do you hold the- the, uh-" Akio gestured to the pool cue.

"Cue, it's called a cue." Spencer said, handing one to Akio.

Akio nodded, taking the cue, and asked, "So how do you use it?"

"You hold it like this-" Spencer said, demonstrating. "No, you're hands go a little lower. There you go!"

Akio grinned, and as the boys began the game, Akio realized that he could easily consider these two friends.

Ray's POV

Ray sighed, running a hand through his hair. He'd just been on two awful dates in a row, and now he had to eliminate the two Selected. He didn't want to do it, but he had to, and it would make things easier in the long run. Ray took a deep breath, and pushed open the door to the sitting room where the two Selected were waiting, one female, and one male.

The Selected were both Threes, so no one could blame him for eliminating the lower castes, in fact, many lower caste Selected still remained.

Ray watched both of them, faces filled with hope. He took a careful breath, then said, "I'm sorry to inform you that our dates did not go as well as I'd hoped. I don't feel a connection between us, and I feel it would be best for us both if I eliminated you."

Both of their faces fell, and the man nodded silently while the woman began to cry. Ray cringed inwardly, and tried to offer comforting words, but then the girl started to get mad.

"But why?! What did I do wrong? Why do you hate me? Is it because I'm short?" The woman cried.

"What? No! It's just because I didn't like your personality-" Ray stopped himself, and his eyes widened as the girl scowled.

"How dare you?" She hissed. "You barely even know me. Are you really so lazy and inconsiderate to kick me out after one date? Are you really that mean?"

I'm the mean one? Have you met yourself? Ray tried to remain calm as best as he could, "Look, I'm sorry, but you're just not what I'm looking for, and I think it's time you left. I wish you the best of luck."

Ray turned on his heel and nodded to the guards outside the door who were assigned to lead the ex-Selected outside.

Ray could hear the girl shouting after him, "Some king you'll make! You don't even care about your own people!"

Ray winced, and shook his head. He tried to get rid of the cutting words, but they clung to him. Of course Ray cared about his people, he's always doing his best to help them. Or are you?

Ray scowled at the tiny voice that had piped up inside his mind. "Shut it." He scolded himself, bt the voice inside laughed, She's right you know. You hold this Selection, but who are you kidding? You'll never be a good king, even they can see it. Hell, you're not even a good prince.

Ray sighed, trying to ignore the voice as he made his way out to the jogging track to try and clear his mind.

Eva Ramirez, Two, Lakedon

Eva was sitting contentedly in the Women's Room, people watching. She had found many friendly girls in the Selection so far, and was excited to get to know more of them. She saw a pair of girls sitting on a sofa, and decided to join them.

"Hello, I don't think we've met yet, what are your names?" She asked.

The blonde haired girl turned to her and smiled politely, "I'm Camilla, this is Evie, and you are?"

"I'm Eva, actually. It's a bit funny that our names sound so similar Evie." Eva replied, smiling.

"Well, my real name is Eyvette, but everyone calls me Evie. But I guess it is kind of amusing." Evie said, smiling back at Eva.

"Mind if I join you two?" Eva asked, indicating the chair next to the sofa.

"Oh, not at all!" Evie said, nodding to the chair.

Eva smiled and sat, happy she'd found yet more kind girls to talk to. They chatted easily, laughing lightly, and the girls finally began to ask questions about each other's personal lives, when a ruckus sounded from across the room.

The three girls turned to see what the reason was for so much noise. A girl with red hair and freckles scattered across her face looked enraged, and was yelling at a girl with black hair and glasses. The second girl also looked angry, and seemed to be waiting for her turn to yell.

Eva and her new friends stood, and walked over to the argument, where by now a circle of girls had formed. Many of the girls looked worried, others merely curious. Eva fell into the aforementioned category.

"You disgusting little Five!" The red head yelled, her face now just as red as her hair. "Do you have any idea how long it took me to perfect this outfit?"

"I'm sure it took you too long, but don't worry. I'm sure your maids would be more than happy to be abused by you because you want a new dress for the next hour or so." The girl with glasses shot.

Eva's eyes widened, and she looked between the girls, who were nearly nose to nose.

"I could destroy your whole world." The red head said, scowling.

"Thanks, but upper caste people like you already have." The other girl shot back.

The red head shrieked in frustration, and turned on her heels, "You're not worth the dirt on my shoes."

"And you're not worth the money you dish into your pretty little boy-toys." The other girl snapped, crossing her arms.

The red head froze, and the air in the room went still. Eva held her breath as she watched the exchange. She'd never seen two girls fight so heatedly. How had it even gotten to this point? The red head turned slowly, glaring daggers at the Five.

"Honey, if I had boy-toys, I'd hide it too well for a stupid Five like you to notice."

The girl with glasses snapped, and took off her shoe, chucking it at the other girl's head. Gasps shot up from around the room. The red head dodged the shoe, and then leaped at the other girl.

The two girls clashed, and the rest of the Selected girls tried to pull them apart. Eventually the girls separated, both still seething.

"You keep your filthy, little, lower caste animals away from me." The red head spat.

"Gladly, as long as you keep your spoiled, bitchy, upper caste prom queens away from me and mine." The girl with glasses said.

There was a tense pause, as girls glanced warily at each other. Eva glanced at her new friends. She hadn't asked what castes they were.

"Good, so you keep Fours and below with you, and I'll keep the Threes and Twos from you."

"Fine. Come on, we don't need to stay where we're not wanted any longer." The girl with glasses said.

"Yes, go. If they don't care to be civilized like the rest of us, they can stay elsewhere." The redhead said as the door shut behind many of the Selected girls.

A few were left, and Eva turned to her friends. "Who's the red haired girl?"

"That's Joan Clark, a snotty Two. She was a problem for me too." Camilla replied.

Eva nodded, and glanced warily back towards the door the lower caste girls had left through. She looked around, and noticed that many of the girls were now silent, and looked anxious.

Silence had fallen, and there was hell to be explored.

Hello everyone! Thank you so much for all your patience! I was able to squeeze out a chapter! If you haven't read my profile yet, I will be taking finals next week, so I don't think I'll have much time to write, but I'll hopefully be able to over winter break.

Now for the content of the chapter! Yay! What do you think of the characters in the chapter? What about that fight? Will the Selected girls stay separated for long? How will it end? Will the boys be mixed up in the caste-ist split? Will the royals catch on? What do you guys think will happen next? Let me know!

See you in the next chapter!