Chapter 13 – Moments

With this Selection going on, Charlie had kind of stopped to run in the morning. This was the thirteenth day of the Selection, and he needed to run. It was a physical ache in his bones, something he needed to do to survive the rest of the Selection. He wasn't the Selectee, but he was exhausted already. Not physically, his body needed to move, to do something! No, he was already mentally tired and his mother had warned him about this. It was one thing to organize events here and there, but it was a totally another thing to oversee a Selection that could last for months.

"It's just like running for a marathon," his mother had told him a couple of days before the Selection had actually started. "You want to start slowly and not give it your whole, because you'll need to survive until the end."

Charlie had totally understood the comparison, but somehow, he had sprinted like the hare in the story, when he should have gone slowly like the tortoise. He figured that now that the Selection was well on its way and that Willow had already gone on half the group dates, he could slow down a bit.

So, on Monday morning, to start the second full week of the Selection, Charlie had set his alarm clock to very early in the morning: 6 a.m. He easily rolled out of bed and put on his running clothes and shoes.

"Come on, Spotty," he said, patting his thigh. "Let's go for a run."

At the word run, Spotty stood from his bed on the floor and headed for the door. Charlie just had time to open it before his dog banged his nose against it. The halls were silent and only a few staff members here and there nodded as he passed. He went outside and before starting his run and heading for the track right away, he warmed up a little, turning his ankles, his knees, and his shoulders so he wouldn't strain any muscle. He hadn't gone running in days, and he could already feel the pain…

"'Mornin'," someone said, joining him, and also warming up a little.

Charlie looked up from his warm-ups to see Henry Laurier standing next to him, also in running clothes. "Good morning," he replied.

"I haven't seen you running before," Henry pointed out.

"Yes, well– I couldn't find the time until now." Charlie continued to warm up, waiting on Henry. Spotty was already trotting around the fountain, doing his own unofficial warm-up.

"Mind if I join you?"

Charlie shook his head. "No, unless you mind a slow runner. I'm a little bit out of shape."

The baker from Hansport chuckled. "When was the last time you went running?"

"Uuuh, probably the weekend before you guys arrived." Charlie made a face and ran his fingers in his blond hair. He also noticed how he and Henry were kind of opposites of each other, physically. Where Charles was shorter, Caucasian with freckles, blond hair, and blue eyes and quite lean, Henry was taller, of mixed heritage with medium brown skin, black hair and dark brown eyes, and much more muscular than him. Probably a gym nerd…

"Ouch. Two weeks. I can slow down a bit if you want."

Charlie nodded and they were off, jogging lightly so as not to dive in too quickly; they could pick up the pace later, once they were on the actual running track. At first, none of them talked, and Charlie was grateful for it: he could really feel he was out of shape and it would have been impossible to talk. He was breathless, and he didn't want Henry to notice it.

Spotty was trotting by his side, sometimes going a bit too fast so he had to come back on his tracks. But after a while, Charlie could breathe better, and he was ready to have a small conversation.

"Thanks for sticking to my rhythm," he managed to say.

"No worries," Henry replied. "It wouldn't have been cool of me to just leave you behind."

Another couple of minutes of silence followed that short exchange, but Charlie felt better and better. "Have you been running for a long time?"

Henry nodded. "Ever since I started playing football in high school."

Charlie snorted. "No wonder you're so buff," he muttered. "Football."

"You don't like football?"

"Not really my favorite sport," he said. He couldn't help the disdain in his voice: he had tried for football in high school, but the coach had said he was too skinny and breakable. It broke his self-esteem for a few years. "I was more of a tennis kinda guy." He paused. "Once upon a time– until I discovered running."

"I see. Do you work out?" Henry asked.

"Do I look like I work out?" Charlie snapped back. A twig. That's what his sports teachers had called him over the years. He could lift all he wanted, it never did anything. But running made him feel powerful. He could go on for miles and had even run the New York Marathon a few years back. He would have wanted to see his PE teachers' faces at that achievement.

"Why not?" Henry asked. "I mean– you run. You could also work out."

"I don't," Charlie snapped. They continued running side by side in silence, finishing the first lap of the track, arriving where they had started. Charlie didn't want to admit he was exhausted and that he couldn't run anymore, but since Henry didn't seem to want to stop, Charlie pushed on. No use having him think he was a twig, too. Charlie could run. He was just missing some training, that was all.

"You don't have to continue," Henry suggested. To Charlie's surprise, there was no mockery in his voice, just genuine concern. "You haven't run in two weeks, maybe you should start again slowly." He slowed down, encouraging Charlie to do so as well and they turned around, backtracking to the beginning of the track. Once there, they walked back to the Palace, cooling off a little.

"Thanks," Charlie mumbled, keeping his eyes on the palace in the distance.

"Hey," Henry said. "Be careful, okay? If you need a running buddy to encourage you during the Selection – which I imagine being stressful – I'm your man." He flashed him a kind smile and Charlie nodded his thanks.

"I may take you up on that offer," he admitted. "But I don't want to slow you down."

"You won't slow me down," Henry assured. "I'll match your speed, and if you need some competition, then we'll speed things up. Sounds good?" he asked, holding out his hand to shake.

Charlie nodded, shaking his hand. "Sounds good."

/ / /

Willow had spent the whole morning in her office reading reports and signing papers and writing comments. Shortly before noon, she realized that she had been reading the same paragraph over and over again and that the lines were mixing up, the sentences not meaning anything anymore.

She stretched like a cat and sighed. If only she could have a real vacation one day, that would be great.

A soft knock on her door made her look up. "Yes?"

Annabeth poked her head into the door. "Hey," she said. "Can I come in?"

"Yes, please," Willow said, pushing her chair away from the desk. "Anything to distract me, right now."

"Oh no, what's wrong?"

"Nothing!" the Princess assured her. "I just needed a break."

Annie nodded and looked around her office. "I haven't been in here in ages, but nothing has changed."

Willow snorted and sat on the small couch against the wall, watching her cousin looking around the room. The pictures on the wall, the big 3D map of Illéa – her father had a much bigger one in his office, but she liked to see her country and what she was working for at all times –, the books on the shelves, and the bouquet of fresh flowers on the small coffee table.

"Oh gosh, that picture is old!" Annie said, laughing. "How old were we here?"

Willow joined her by the photograph on the wall and smiled. She remembered that Christmas, a long time ago. "Matty was probably three, so I was…" she trailed off, counting in her head, "ten maybe? You were eight years old?"

"The good old days," Annie said. "Before the big breakup."

"…yeah." Before Zeke betrayed them all and wished she had died.

"And this one?" Annie pointed to another one of Willow, Mikey, Charlie, and Cora.

"That was three years ago," Willow said.

Annabeth turned towards the princess. "Honestly, what the hell is he doing in your Selection? That's the most twisted thing ever."

"I know," Willow said, her shoulders slumping a little. "But it's maybe my fault– I asked him if he'd join a potential Selection of mine when I was eighteen. He didn't forget."

Annie laughed. "That is so Mikey," she said, going back to the couch where Willow joined her. "So, you're going on a group date this afternoon?"

Willow nodded, grabbing a pillow to put on her lap. She played with the little tassels in the corner. "I think I have one more or less planned for every afternoon."

"Nice! I don't know how you do it, though. I could never– way too many people and conversations to keep up with." Annabeth kicked her sandals off and tucked her feet under her.

"I'm not saying I can keep up with everything," Willow admitted, "but it gives me an overview of the Selected and I can eliminate one from each group by the end of the week."

"Smart," Annie said. "So what are you doing this afternoon?"

Willow just stared blankly at Annie's clear blue eyes. "I have absolutely no idea." She stood and looked for some papers on her messy desk, lifting some and pushing others. "I know Charlie wrote the list down for me with the activities and the dates, and all I had to do was write the names of the Selected on it and– ah, there it is." She pulled the paper from underneath another stack of folders and brought it to the couch. "Ooh, Amusement Park!"

"Oh, that's awesome!" Annabeth said. "I can't even remember the last time I went to one!"

"You wanna come?" Willow asked.

"What? No! It's your date!"

Willow shrugged. "It's a group date, and there's going to be only five of us. I think we can usually fit in six people on rides?"

Annie squealed. "Please don't make me say yes– okay Yes!" she clapped her hands really fast. "Who's coming along?"

"Uhm, let me see…" Willow searched the correct line on the page. "Mirion, Fredrik, Domenico, and Niall."

Annabeth burst out laughing. "From what I saw of the guys yesterday, Domenico and Frederic can't be more opposites."

The girls laughed and shared some more gossip about the boys. For now, Willow decided not to tell Annie about Fredrik being the Prince of Swendway. It wasn't that she didn't trust her cousin, on the contrary. But the least people who knew, the better. The princess thought she should have invited Lolly to the group date, instead of Annie, though, since Lorelei wanted to see if she could like Fred and take part in the big political game of alliances.

But then she remembered how Lolly hated these loud activities and how she'd be completely mortified at having to come and not being able to say no. No, Willow would rather she got to know Fredrik at home, in a relaxed environment.

Another knock sounded on her door, stopping the two girls in their giggles. "Come in?"

Charlie walked in, dressed in an impeccable suit. "Lunch is served, ladies," he said. "And you're late."

"Oops!" Willow said standing up. "We didn't see the time! We were discussing this afternoon's date– oh, and Annie will be coming along."

Charlie simply nodded and invited them to move out and get going with his arm and a simple look. The three young people walked together to the gardens, where lunch was served, again.

"Do you guys never eat inside?" Annabeth asked.

"It's too beautiful out to lock ourselves inside at lunch," Willow said. "It was my request that as much as we can, we'd be outside." They joined the Selected and the royal kids already at the table and lunch started. One of the cooks was grilling meat on the barbeque and a buffet of various salads and bread was set on the side. It was a lot of to-ing and fro-ing between the grill, the buffet, and the table, but everyone could hang out with everyone while waiting in line.

"So, what's the group date this afternoon?" Matty asked. "There's been lots of speculation over dinner– at least on my end of the table."

The Selected around him chuckled and everyone looked expectantly at her. So willow stood and announced the date and the chosen ones. "We are going to the Amusement Park in LA, this afternoon, and I have chosen Niall, Mirion, Frederic, and Domenico to come with me." She paused. "Oh, and Annabeth will be coming along as well."

"Yesss," Niall said, pumping his fist in the air. "I love Amusement parks!"

"Shouldn't you be happy to be spending an afternoon with the Princess instead of going to the Park?" Mike Berger-King said. "The activity shouldn't be that important, you know?"

"Mike, you're a sweetheart," Zeke said sarcastically. "But some of you here have little to no chance of ending up with my sister, so Niall's right in enjoying everything he can before being kicked out."

"Zeke!" Willow said, horrified. "They all have the same, fair chance."

"Yeah, keep telling that to yourself," he said, standing and downing his wine. "Anyway, have a great time and don't throw up on each other during rides." He winked at no one in particular and walked away.

"Is he always like that?" Jaylen asked once he was gone.

"No–Yes–Sometimes" came the replies all at the same time from his siblings, and everyone laughed.

"Okay, so please be ready in an hour in the Entrance Hall," Willow concluded her little speech before going back to her dessert.

~.~

Willow and the others stood at the amusement park's entrance, looking around.

"Are we really completely alone?" Niall asked.

"Yep," Willow said. "Charlie rented out the whole thing just for us."

"I love Charlie," Annie said. "Honestly, you couldn't have chosen a better Selection planner than him."

"I know."

"So... What are we waiting for?" Mirion asked. "There aren't any lines, we can go wherever we want."

"Then let's go," Domenico said. "Miladies?" He offered Willow and Annie his arms and the trio walked on, followed by the three others.

"Ooh, we should start with this one!" Niall said, pointing at the Haunted Train. "Unless you sissies are afraid," he snorted.

"Watch your mouth," Dom said, whacking him behind the head.

"Ow!"

"I'd rather not go there, first," Fredrik mumbled.

"I agree," Annabeth said. "Why don't we start with something more fun?"

"What?" Niall said. "The Sarge is afraid of a little haunted train?" he sniggered, following them to the Splash Mountain.

"Don't bite," Willow whispered to her cousin. But Annie had something to say.

"Your name's Niall, right?" she said.

"Yup."

"Well, you should know, Niall, that I've probably seen and been through much scarier stuff than this." Annie kept her smile on her face, but her voice was very cold and Willow didn't want to be on the other of the conversation. "So, I'll gladly hold your hand when we go, later."

"Ha!" Niall said. "This ain't the same kind of scary stuff as you're used to, sergeant. This is jump-scare material. Monsters, zombies, and all that."

"Honestly, Niall," Domenico said between clenched teeth. "Just shut up."

"Dom, it's fine," Annabeth said.

"No, it's not fine. Niall is totally disrespecting you and I won't have it." He turned to Willow. "May I please punch him in the face, Highness?"

Willow wanted to say yes because he totally deserved it, but she couldn't have some random ride clerk taking pictures of her Selected fighting in the middle of the amusement park, during a date. "No," she finally said. "But he'll be going home after this and won't even be waiting until Friday." She flashed Niall a smile and was very satisfied to see him pale.

"No, please! I'm sorry!"

"Too late," Willow said. "You already showed your true colors. In fact," she added to Salima Aziz who was hovering nearby, "can you please escort him back to the car? He'll wait out the date. I don't want his toxic attitude here with us."

"Right away, Highness." Salima grabbed an angry Niall by the arm and dragged him away, back to the car.

"Wow. You're savage," Annabeth said with a grin. "But that was nicely handled."

"Thank you," Willow said. "So. Splash Mountain?"

Everyone nodded and they headed toward their first ride of the afternoon. Domenico suggested they tried each ride once before deciding which ones to do again and since that seemed very logical, the others agreed. Quickly, the group forgot about Niall and started to relax and have fun, laughing and screaming the afternoon away.

When they had gone through the rides twice, Willow's Belly grumbled. "I'd be down for some really greasy fast-food snack, right now."

"Oh, yeah," Annabeth and the others agreed at the same time. It took them another ten minutes to decide what they wanted to eat, but in the end, they went for churros in an ice cream cone.

"I have to admit I have never had this before," Fredrik said, eying the snack.

"Trust me," Mirion said, tapping his shoulder. "You'll always want to eat that and you'll wonder how you survived without this until now..."

Fredrik chuckled. "Okay, then." He bit into it and everyone watched him, curious to see his reaction. "Och!" he said in pure bliss. "This is fantastiske." Willow was pretty sure that was Swendish, but everyone understood.

"See? We told you!" Mirion said, laughing, and everyone laughed along. Willow then suggested they take a selfie with their snack as she had done with all her previous group dates. Niall wouldn't be on it, but that was his own doing.

After that, they continued to go to their favorite rides, until it was time to head back home.

Annabeth looped her arm in Willow's as they walked to the car and the three young men chatted loudly walking ahead of them, reliving some of their most epic rides and memories. "I have to admit that this afternoon was really fun," she said. "I don't know how you're going to pick one in the end, because they're all super sweet." She paused. "Well, not all of them, obviously, but you're taking those out."

"Yeah, I really don't want to waste my time and energy on idiots."

"Totally understandable," Annie said. "And between you and me, those three are sweethearts," she added, gesturing to the three boys in front of them. Willow nodded just as they joined them by the car.

/ / /

That same evening after dinner, Willow joined the Selected in the Men's Parlor to spend some time with all of them. She knew she was missing a lot of their time in the Selection, by not going to the Men's Parlor – which would have been renamed to Selected Parlor, since not all the Selected were men.

She stood on the threshold of the room. "May I come in?" she asked.

"Of course!" Mikey said. "Min– I mean, Your Royal Highness, you are always welcome among us here." He grinned at her. "Right guys?"

Yesses from all over the room agreed with him, and Willow walked in. Added to Willow and the Selected, there was also Charlie, Annabeth, Lolly, Matty… and Zeke, unfortunately. It was a little cramped, but not too much. Willow walked in and looked around. Matty was talking animatedly with Fredrik and Lolly in a corner, but Lolly quickly walked away from the small group to head to the door, but Domenico joined her. Charlie was talking with Mikey and some others around a small table while playing 7 Wonders, while Annabeth was watching, hovering behind her brother, and Zeke was conspiring – because Willow thought there was nothing else he could do, here – with Haakon and a few others. So the Princess decided to join a group of Selected in the sitting area.

"Ooh, please do come sit here," Abeigh Garcia said, scooting to the side of the couch and patting the empty spot next to him.

"Thank you," she said. Around the small coffee table were Blaze, Connor, Leonardo, Tristan, and a few others. "What were you guys talking about?" she asked.

The boys all looked at each other and burst out laughing. "You don't want to know, trust me," Leonardo said, rolling his eyes.

"Actually, I do," she said. "Otherwise, I wouldn't have joined your small group."

"Fine," Leo said. "Abeigh was telling us about a new fanfic idea he had about, uhm…"

"You," Abeigh said. "I'm gonna start writing it tonight, and I'm sure there will be lots of fans who will be happy to read this." He wiggled his eyebrows, but the other didn't take the bait now that the Princess was there. "Aw, come on, guys! It was funny!" He rested his arm on the backrest of the couch, just behind Willow.

"Not really, actually," Tristan said. "It's funny if we're talking about a fictional character, but we're talking about the Princess, here, so–"

"What exactly did you have in mind for your story?" Willow asked, looking at Abeigh who was just grinning like an idiot.

"I wanted to rewrite your Selection in a Persian setting, like 500 years BC," he said. "But instead of having a king and his harem of women, it'll be a queen with her harem of men." He chuckled and came closer to her, whispering in her ear. "And by harem, I mean the whole thing, smut and all."

"Ew!" Willow said. Okay, fine, she had expected something like that, but this was horrible! "Are you mad?" she asked.

"No, I prefer creative," he replied.

"See?" Leo said. "That's why we didn't want to tell you–"

"But you still encouraged him," Willow deadpanned. "You were laughing along, and encouraging him." She sighed and shook her head before standing. "Please don't write this," she said. "But if you do, do not use me as your queen. Or anyone else in my family." She paused. "Please excuse me." With that, she headed outside, through one of the open French doors that was letting in some air. She walked out on the terrace and leaned on the stone railing, breathing in some fresh air.

"Are you okay?" someone said, standing next to her. "That seemed pretty intense…"

Willow turned around to look at her companion because she didn't recognize his voice. It was Xander– she should have recognized his voice, though maybe singing and talking were two different things… "Yeah, I'm fine," she said. "People are weird, sometimes," she admitted.

Xander chuckled softly. "Yeah, Abeigh can be quite the handful," he said. "But he doesn't mean to be mean. It's just his mind is a little– twisted?"

"A little?" Willow snorted. "A lot, you mean."

The Akoustix singer nodded, chuckling. They stood there, enjoying the light evening breeze on their face for a while, not talking. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure," the princess said, focusing her attention on him.

"My mom's a huge fan of your mother," he said. "Even before she entered the Selection, 26 years ago, she was already wearing Rainha clothes."

"Woah. Really? That's so cool!"

"Yeah! She was so excited when I got Selected, maybe even more than me." He laughed and Willow joined him, too. "It's always been her dream to meet the Queen one day, but I said I would try to get her a picture or an autograph– do you think that would be possible?"

"Of course!" Willow said. "My mom loves to hear about women across the country, and I'm sure she'll love to hear about such an 'old' fan!"

Xander smiled. "Great! If I can at least do that before going home, I would be happy."

Willow raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean? You're not planning on staying?"

Xander shrugged and looked away. "I'm not really the 'Prince' type, am I?"

"Says who?"

"Me?"

"Well, that's wrong," Willow said. "And you know what? If I'm going to get you a picture and an autograph from my mother, I want a picture and an autograph from you, too. from your whole band!" she giggled. "Matty is such a huge fan of you guys– we all are! But he's the craziest about you guys, and he's always listening to your music."

"Really?" Xander said, genuinely surprised. "We didn't know the royal family was listening to our music…" His smile was endearing, and Willow just wanted to hug him, but she didn't. "But okay, you have yourself a deal," he said. "We were supposed to tour the country this summer, and they're going to do it without me…" he trailed off. "I don't remember exactly when they're coming to the West Coast, but we can definitely take a picture together."

"Ooooh, that would be super cool!" Willow said. "I'll hold you to that, then!"

Xander nodded and then suggested that they head back inside, which Willow accepted, though she stayed away from Abeigh and his smutty fanfiction ideas. She joined the group of people playing 7 Wonders and waited for them to finish their game so she could join in, but someone else suggested a game of poker, which lots of people agreed to play.

"What about strip poker?" Abeigh said.

"Shut up, Abeigh," four guys said at the same time, which made the whole group laugh. The ones who didn't join the game gathered around the coffee table to play a game of Clue, under Mikey's guidance. Another group gathered around another table to start a game of Monopoly, but of course, they knew they wouldn't be able to finish the game that evening.

All-in-all, it was a really good evening, and Willow was glad she had joined the Selected in the Men's Parlor for an impromptu game night. Around midnight, people started retiring for the night, and Willow joined them. The Amusement Park date had exhausted her, and she just wanted to sleep before starting a new day full of dates and work…

She walked up the stairs, slowly, one step at a time, when she heard running steps coming her way.

"Mina!" Mikey said, joining her. "How was the date this afternoon?" he asked.

"Great! Apart from the fact that I kicked Niall out of the date ten minutes in."

Mikey snorted. "Why am I not surprised," he said.

"Hey, we never talked about this," Willow started, changing the subject, "but where were you between the Callings and the first day of the Selection?"

Mikey sighed. "I went to see my grandfather," he replied. "In Carolina."

"You drove all the way there?" she asked. "Your Cadillac was gone."

"I did. I needed time to think and driving helps, and I needed to talk things through with him." He stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Do you really hate me for going AWOL like that?"

"At the time, yes," she said. "But I think it was good, and we both needed some time to think."

"…and it's almost been two weeks…" he said.

"Yeah, I know." They had just reached the second floor, where Mikey's room was. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Have you decided already?"

The princess shook her head. "There's no way I'm sending you home," she said softly. "I need you around. At least for the time being."

Mikey nodded and then leaned in to place a kiss on her cheek. "Good night, Princess," he said softly. He winked at her and walked away, leaving Willow with a heart beating faster than if she had run up the stairs. Her cheeks were flushed as well, and she hurried upstairs to hide in her room. What was wrong with her?

Heyoo! Thanks for reading and reviewing! hope you enjoyed that chapter ;) what do you think of Abeigh? And of the others? See you next week!