Warning- spilers for The Selection series ahead.
Chapter 1- A Stroll Down Memory Lane
It's a nice day- really, too nice to be spending down in the Man Cave. The sky is free of clouds, it's nice and warm but not too hot, and soon many people will be out doing whatever it is people do on the Friday night that the school year ends.
And yet, down in the Man Cave is exactly where Henry and Charlotte are. Charlotte is loading some files- more specifically, she told the computer to load some files, and it is moving oddly slowly, so she pulled out a book to read while she waited. She could've talked to to her best friend- and she would've had he already been done there. He came out of the elevator a couple minutes after she cracked open her book.
They're the best of friends, but that doesn't mean they have every little thing in common. For example: Henry is not a book person.
He's just not a reader. Mysteries and adventures don't thrill him- he's been through enough to write his own series, or even shoot a TV show. He never even into romances- his own love life hasn't been the most successful. And nonfiction was even worse- who wants to learn? Particularly when being a superhero leaves little town for learning, something Henry knows all too well.
Nonetheless, none of that stopped Henry from noticing that Charlotte had her nose in a book.
"What are you reading?" Henry turns his neck to get a better look at the cover.
"A book," says Charlotte as a little joke. Henry laughs a little. "It's called The Elite," said Charlotte, as an actual answer to Henry's inquire. "It's a sequel to that book my cousin recommended."
"I thought you said that book was- what were your exact words? Oh yeah- 'Too much princess stuff and not enough gore.'"
"Hey, I can like reading gore stuff. It's not a crime. I was just curious to see how it ended." She turns a page. "Plus, my cousin promised that there would be more gore later in the series."
"Wow, I might have to read that. What's it about again?"
"It's about some stupid contest to marry a prince."
"Okay, maybe I won't read it." Henry sits down on the Man Couch and gets on his phone.
The Man Cave is unusually quiet- Ray is out on a date (or so he said), Jasper is up in the store and Schwoz is giving his pig a bath. They sit in silence for a few more minutes, Charlotte reading and Henry checking various social media websites for what people were saying about Kid Danger.
"You know what I'm curious about?" Charlotte says, breaking the silence.
"What?" Henry sets his phone down and turns around.
"Do you know the phrase 'write what you know'?"
"Uh... yes."
Charlotte rolls her eyes. "So no. Anyway, the idea is that you channel your own experience into your writing." She holds up the book. "Do you really this the author experienced all this?"
"Probably not."
"Exactly. And yet she is able to write this."
"Maybe she did experience it," says Henry jokingly.
Charlotte playfully rolled her eyes. "Probably not."
They were quiet again for a moment. Then-
Henry stands and walks towards her. "Remember when we were little and you wanted to be a princess?"
Charlotte groans and buried her face into her hands. "Please don't bring that up."
Yep. Like a lot of little girls, Charlotte spent her childhood being shown princess movies. Barbie, Disney, that sort of stuff.
"Remember you begged your mom for weeks for that one dress-"
"Okay, okay!" Charlotte threw her hands up in surrender. "If we're going to take a stroll down memory lane," she puts her hands down and stands on tiptoe on the raised platform, making her eyes level with Henry's, "we're going to do it right." She playfully pushes Henry down into the chair, making him stumble a little on the platform. "Sorry," says Charlotte. She is now above him. "If you recall- I wanted to be a princess who goes on adventures- not the one who sits around waiting for her prince to do all the work."
"Yeah, I know. You gave me and Jasper a whole speech about wanting to be Tiana and not Lottie."
"What?"
"So it is possible for the great Charlotte Page to forget something! Remember?" Charlotte had a look on her face like she was thinking, but Henry could tell she didn't remember. "Our parents were having some get together, when we were five? They shut us in my room with a DVD player and we watched The Princess and the Frog. And remember there was a character named Charlotte and Jasper and I were teasing you saying that's who you grow up to be-"
"Oh!" All of a sudden she remembered. "Now I know what you're talking about!"
"Yeah! And then you got all mad and said you wanted to be Tiana because she was such a hard worker-"
"And Lottie was a spoiled rich brat!" They finish that last phrase in unison and laugh.
"Well, she was, in a way, but he's was also a very kind and generous person, and an amazing friend to Tiana-"
Henry groans over dramatically. "Please don't start analyzing the movie the way scientists analyze, I don't know, germs or whatever."
"I guess you wouldn't know what scientists analyze," Charlotte says, teasing him.
"I would not," Henry responds, owning it.
Charlotte throws a few more playful insults at Henry, and he owns up to every single one.
"Okay, I give up," says Charlotte, playfully "pushing" Henry out of her chair. "You have way too much self confidence, you know that?"
"Yes, yes I do." Once again, Henry owns it.
Laughing, Charlotte shows Henry a couple funny parts in her book while explaining a bit more of the plot. She was searching for another one when Henry says, "Would you do it?"
Charlotte looked up at him. "What?"
"Would you enter? The Selection?"
Charlotte looks at him like he's crazy. "Of course not! Why would I?"
Henry shrugged. "That's what America said, according to you."
"Well... yeah," Charlotte concedes. "But she only did it because she was pressured to, and because they needed the money. I don't need money, and why would I want to go live in some fancy castle when I can stay here, in my hometown, with my best friend?"
Henry grins at her. "Aw, thanks, Char. But would you do it? If you were in America's shoes?"
Charlotte thinks about that for a moment. "I don't know," she says. "Although to be in her shoes I'd have to have a secret love interest, which I don't have."
"But you do have a cute best friend." Charlotte rolls her eyes and looks away. Henry didn't know it, but she had always thought he was kinda cute. Wait. She looks back at him. "I never mentioned the best friend."
Henry has that look on his face that he gets when he knows he's messed something up. "Have you read this before?"
"... no."
"You hesitated."
"Okay, okay! Piper got into these books shortly before you did and made me read them with her."
Charlotte rolls her eyes. "You could've said that." She grins at him. "Did you like them?"
"... no."
"You hesitated!"
"Okay! I thought they were fine. I'm not a reader, Charlotte."
Charlotte just smiles at him more. "Well, I am. And while I'd probably pick The Hunger Games over this, I like reading in general. Plain and simple." Just then, the computer beeps; the files finally loaded. At the same time, Henry's watch beeps.
Charlotte turns back to the monitors as Henry opens up his watch. "What's up?"
"Hey Henry, are you in the Man Cave?" A tiny 3-d projection of Ray looks back at him.
"Yes."
"Who else is down there with you?"
"Uh, Charlotte is here, Jasper is upstairs and I do not know where Schwoz is."
"Okay, I'm coming down there in just a minute. And I'm bringing someone with me."
"What?" Charlotte exclaims, jumping in. "Who?"
"I'll explain when we get down there. Just trust me." He hangs up.
Henry and Charlotte exchange a look. They really were not sure whether or not to trust Ray.
*Steps through the curtain* Hey guys! I missed y'all!
So, I don't get to go to school at the moment, and for some reason I started thinking about Henry Danger (which is over now...), and this one idea I had for a fanfic wouldn't leave me alone, and I thought, "Well, I'm done with college auditions, and a lot of people- myself included- could really use something to look forward to"... so here we are!
I'm setting this story in Season 3, in between "The Trouble With Frittles" and "Hour of Power." As always, spoilers for ANY point in the show are possible, and reviews are always appreciated- constructive criticism is as welcome as praise. Also, this story is unrelated to my others and will be updated on Sundays as usual.
Happy Reading!