"Today is a momentous occasion."
Julia stood on the side with the rest of her family, watching Alexander on that balcony once again. This time, Alexei was there, scanning the crowd with his eyes, so Julia relaxed just a bit more.
A crowd of thousands stood before them, waiting anxiously to hear the name of the future princess. It didn't take a few braincells to figure out that this would be the first, not the last, time the future princess', whoever it may be, name be uttered.
And, of course, a group of about fifty writers, sat in an enclosed area, scribbling every word the Prince spoke. Thank goodness this time they sat far, far away from Julia so that she didn't need to hear constant writing sounds.
"Today, I will be announcing the thirty-five girls who might be our future princess... and Queen, of course."
Ah, classic Alex. He couldn't go another minute without mentioning that he would be King one day, right?
A cheer rose up in the crowd, and everyone else confusedly followed, though no one but the first person who cheered really understood why.
"Eva Paula Schmidt."
The door burst open.
"Eva!" her mother shouted. Eva Paula Schmidt looked up from her desk to see her mother frantically waving a piece of paper.
"It's come!" she cried, tears of joy in her eyes. "Eva, it's come!"
"What's come?" Eva asked, though she had a slight idea of what it was.
"Eva-" A tear streaked down her mother's cheek. "Eva, you've been selected!"
"What?!" her father looked up immediately, dropping the broom he was just holding. A pile of dust swept from the dustpan and blew quite comically into his face. He yelped and coughed.
"Eva, my darling-" her mother slapped the letter down onto her desk. Eva leaned over to read it. It was marked with some fancy blue seal and had only eleven words on it.
Eva Paula Schmidt has been selected. Please report to the palace immediately.
She was going to the palace. She was really going to the palace.
"Listen!" her mother shook her muscular shoulders. "This is our- uh, YOUR chance! You MUST capture the heart of the Prince and become Queen!"
Eva nodded. "I know."
"You MUST not ruin this opportunity," she said frantically. "You hear me?"
"Yes, mom."
"Good!" she clapped her hands, her smile returning to her face. "Now pack! We don't want to be late to our future home!"
Eva stood up, giving her mother a determined smile, before running off to her room.
The applause faded as soon as it started. Of course. No one cared about anyone else — they only cared if THEY had been selected, not some random girl on the other side of the Kingdom.
Julia fidgeted, wondering when he would call her name.
Alexander looked down on the sheet of paper that contained all of the names of the Selected. He read the next one rather slowly, though the name wasn't even that hard to pronounce. Perhaps he was just tired.
"Natasha Lopez-Kim."
The sisters crowded over the letter excitedly.
Natasha Lopez-Kim has been selected. Please report to the palace immediately.
They went silent for a moment, registering the truth, before squealing.
"NAT!" Mercedes almost screamed.
Jack only frowned a bit as his sisters formed what resembled a circle around Natasha.
"Oh…" Betty seemed almost disappointed. "Congratulations!"
"You're going to meet royalty!" Jane exclaimed, engulfing her sister in a hug. She seemed very relieved that it was her sister and not her that was Selected, which wasn't much of a surprise.
"And we're going to be rich!" Mercedes cried. They all laughed.
"... And we're going to be in a lot of trouble." For a moment, Natasha almost seemed like Betty, her head in the clouds, dreaming of someplace elsewhere. Then she snapped back to her senses. "I need to pack."
"What are you waiting for?" Jane nudged her playfully. "Go!"
Natasha smiled to herself and scrambled to her closet, making sure to take her time to pick out what she wanted to bring to the palace.
She had to report to the palace immediately? Oh, perhaps the letter was just a little late to arrive. No big deal.
After all, a little solidarity couldn't hurt anyone.
The applause was even more boring and deathlike than the last one, which was a surprise, because Julia didn't think the crowd could've become even MORE disappointed.
The Prince read the next name and he frowned. "Mercedes Kim."
"NATASHA! MERCEDES!"
Susanne Lopez-Kim came running into the Lopez-Kim home, waving a newspaper at her family. She looked breathless, overjoyed, ecstatic.
"What?" Mary asked.
"Both of you-" Mary's stepmother demanded, though it wasn't as cold as her usual orders. "To the bathroom."
Natasha looked confused, but she left her closet, putting down a nice black gown on the floor, following Mercedes into the bathroom with her mother.
"You both were Selected," said Susanne. She stared at her daughter and her step-daughter with a strict yet approving expression.
"What?!" Mary's eyes widened.
"It says here," Susanne showed her the headline of the newspaper. Mary couldn't help but stare at the big price tag on the side. That was an entire day's worth of money her stepmother had spent for this piece of paper.
"Lucky Two: Stepsisters Selected to Vy for The Crown Prince's Hand," Natasha read out loud. She fell silent.
"This morning, His Royal Highness Prince Alexander announced the lucky girls chosen to vy for the crown," Mary read. "Stepsisters Mercedes Kim and Natasha Lopez-Kim were both Selected."
Natasha fell silent. Susanne's eyes only lit up.
"With not one but two girls in the running for our Crown Prince's hand, will the Lopez-Kim family become royalty?" Mary continued. "Or will they crumble under the competition?"
They all fell silent, the realization of the gravity of the situation setting in.
"Mother…" Natasha started to say, but Susanne cut her off.
"No time!" Susanne grabbed the comb and started frantically brushing her stepdaughter's hair. "You two must be ready to travel to the palace as soon as you can! Oh, and here's your little letter, if you want, Mercedes." She threw Mercedes her own blue-stamped letter with the words: Mercedes Kim has been selected. Please report to the palace immediately.
This was real. This was it. She was going to the palace, and she was going to meet the Prince. She was going to meet new people, maybe even become a princess...
She looked at Natasha, who looked at her as Susanne finished Mercedes' hair and went on to hers.
They both nodded, Natasha narrowing her eyes, and Mercedes giving her sister a small smile.
They were going to be in the time of their lives.
The crowd was slightly more intrigued by this. After all, it wasn't every day that two related girls would be Selected… imagine the sheer chances!
Of course, Julia had a slight idea why. Someone must have picked the Selected. It wasn't going to be pure chance. And whoever that someone was surely had their own reasons.
Alexander gave no comment on this, however, and went on to the next name.
"Julia Ares."
Julia pretended to be surprised. She arched her eyebrows and gasped as a letter with a royal blue stamp was shoved into her hands.
Julia Ares has been selected. Please report to the palace immediately.
Honestly, she felt that she was a lot better at acting than Alexei, because no one seemed to noti-
"Hey, why isn't she surprised?!" some idiot in the crowd yelled.
"She rigged it!" another idiot shouted.
Actually, she was not very good at acting after all.
Julia plastered on a delighted smile, though in fact she was not delighted at all to have to… flirt with Alexander for the next month or two.
The crowd became louder and louder as they looked her way every so often. She pretended not to notice, instead scanning the rooftops for any signs of crime. Nothing. Of course not.
"This is outrageous!"
"Relax, it's probably a coincidence… right?"
"What are the chances?!"
Alexander frowned, looked at Julia, and raised his voice. "Attention?"
The crowd continued to chatter and gossip away.
"Attention, please," Alexander said, his voice growing a bit impatient. "We aren't done yet."
Julia looked at the place where the arrow had struck only a week ago. There was no sign of it, no impact, no dent at all.
Did she really imagine it?
Alexander clenched his teeth. He looked like he was about to execute about half of the crowd, but he glanced at the scribes and relented. He stood there, waiting as the crowd chattered on, gossiping about one thing after another, soon completely forgetting that they were in the presence of the Crown Prince.
Alexander sighed, then muttered something under his breath, and walked off the balcony.
This only made the crowd worse.
The scribes couldn't have been happier - their pens flew at the speed of light, each one writing ferociously to the point where one of their papers imploded, a titanic gap torn through the middle of it. Oops. Not that Julia cared.
Suddenly, a large object banged into her head, sending her flying off her chair. She tumbled to the floor, watching in horror as a shoe clattered next to her.
A shocked silence fell on the crowd, a select few whispering, all looking around to try and decipher who had thrown it.
She took a deep breath.
Julia forced an apathetic look on her face as she stood, dusting herself off. Then she turned to the crowd, hurling the shoe back towards them. It hit a random lady's face and she grimaced for her sake.
She walked to the center of the balcony and stared at the piece of paper that Alexander had left. She looked at Alexei, who raised his eyebrows at her as he sneaked back into the palace, probably to follow Alexander.
She looked at her father, whose fists were clenched. She looked at her mother, who looked bored, her eyes trained towards Queen Elaina, who was sitting across from her. She looked at Annalisa, who was the only one waving her on, chanting: "Julia! Julia!" excitedly.
She took a deep breath, and began.
She read each name, one by one, carefully and purposefully as Alexander had, making sure that the next Princess' name would not be mispronounced.
"Amaya Fiona Trenton."
The crowd grew increasingly quiet as she gathered their attention.
"Giavanna Rebecca Hu."
"Hey, that's my cousin!" a random guy yelled from the crowd. Julia had to stifle a laugh.
"Yekaterina Ivanov."
She glanced at Annalisa, who was beaming from ear to ear.
"Thalia White."
She droned on longer than she expected (who knew that thirty-one names would take so long to utter?) but when she finished, the crowd seemed generally at peace, though very disappointed that they or their daughters or sisters had not been Selected.
Well, sucks to be them.
Julia placed the piece of paper back on the pedestal, nodded to one of the guards standing at the side of the balcony, and strutted back into the palace, closing the door behind her.
It certainly was disappointing for those who had not been Selected… but those thirty-four girls had no idea what they were getting into.
A/N Hello, peeps! I know the story is kinda boring right now but now that the Selection is finally getting on with it, it probably will pick up soon! I'm kinda already writing chapter eight by now so... yeah it kinda picks up a bit more after this. I have so much planned!
The submission deadline is today! I realize that it was a bit short, so I'm going to extend it another few weeks and make it the Ides of March Because I just thought it was cool. But, if you submit your character after today, your character's plot relevance is going to drop a bit as I've pretty much already planned how Eva, Mary, and Natasha are going to go. Thanks for reading!