Oh my god, we're finally here.

While I was rereading The Selection over the quarantine summer of 2020, it was the start of the book where America was new to the castle and adjusting to her bedroom. I started listening to the Belle Reprise from Beauty and the Beast and I put two and two together to make a new Selection one-shot that will be revealed below.

It's been quite the journey and I will say more at the end but for now, enjoy.


Photo #135: America's Reprise

Eadlyn knows her mother's life was nothing like hers. From the moment her mother's pregnancy was revealed, everyone was watching her. Illéa watched her be born, grow up, and now find a husband. Her mother, on the other hand, went from a lifestyle of be heard and not seen to all eyes and ears are on you the moment her name was picked for The Selection. The moment she was announced as the one, the country was already in shock and this revelation added to it. People who hated her mother were enraged but those who loved her were thrilled.

Eadlyn sees the next photo and it's her mother sitting at a vanity wearing a big blue ballgown. She's leaning forwards in her chair, looking at her reflection in the mirror. Off to the forefront were lights pointed at her and a camera crew. There are photographers taking her photo while a makeup crew was cleaning their stations. Despite being busy, all eyes are on her mother, looking as young and radiant as ever.

Eadlyn remembers hearing stories of that day. It was the day that led up to something Illéa was waiting for ever since her father announced his future bride and the country's queen.

The queen's first official tell-all photoshoot as their new monarch.

-o-

A year ago, America Singer became Queen America Schreave, wife of King Maxon Schreave and the Queen of Illéa. She married into the royal family under extreme and tragic circumstances. People didn't think she was ever going to reach the late Queen Amberly's status or be capable of helping Maxon fix the country. Others saw her as a fresh face to the monarchy, bringing new light to it with her seemingly radical ideas and proposals. And then some just saw her as a beautiful face.

Even America herself didn't think her life would change this much in a year. She looks at herself in the mirror, a vanity in the room she lived in a little over a year ago. At that time, she was a Five who barely wanted to be in the palace and The Selection. Then she became a Three who believed she might actually have a chance at Maxon's heart. He did tell her that if her heart wasn't elsewhere, he would've picked her before the mass elimination before she became an Elite.

And now she's here again, smiling in front of that vanity in that room. A room that's now a guest room for when her family visits.

It was where they wanted to do the photoshoot and the interview. A Year As The Queen, exposé. A tell-all where America would be interviewed and give a narrative on how the transition to royalty was like to her. A reprise for the commoner turned queen.

Did she think she would be here? No. Is she still in disbelief? A little.

At least with The Selection, it was like a process preparing her for this day. That was the whole point. At least it made being the queen not that much of a surprise. Being a queen was still a dream she was expecting to wake up from. The lifestyle was still a major change for her but it wasn't completely new. And she had Maxon by her side to keep her afloat. Many people think she was keeping him sane during all this royal chaos and she has but they didn't think she would be having such a hard time.

If someone asked her last year if she'd be here, she would've said no. She couldn't even afford to dream about herself wearing a sleeveless light-blue ballgown that has a tulle skirt so big that it hides the chair she's sitting in, let alone believe that this is her life now.

She had a camera pointed at her and while she did smile at it, the most real and most genuine expression of joy and love was for her husband's camera. She can't help but radiate true happiness when he's around and content. One of her favourite Maxons was the Maxon who would look at her with the most love in his eyes, the one whose adoration is ever so in love with the woman he married. That expression is amplified when she mirrors it in return.

She'd stare at him with awe. It wasn't the first time she'd look at him that way and it was far from the last. It's admiration, respect, undying love.

Maxon would do anything to keep her looking at him like that.

"And what would you tell the people who don't have faith in your ruling?" The interviewer asks her. "Those who believe that Illéa is too broken to be fixed."

America straightens her back from the pose she was made to do. She glances at Maxon who's waiting for her answer, giving her a supportive nod.

"You don't have to present perfection when it's not there," America responds, talking more to Maxon than the interviewer. "You just have to mend the broken. There are cracks in everything which is how the light gets in and that's where you find the solutions to the problems."

"And when people ask you how you manage to find that light, what would you say?"

"The most important ingredient in storytelling is cultivating knowledge and experience to draw from. My family is just as important as my country. They'll just have to get used to how I rule."

America glances at Maxon, watching him mouth an I love you. America smiles, almost forgetting the cameras and spotlights are there. She ignores her ballgown, thinking she was in a simple cardigan and jeans. There are no pins in her hair, securing it to her head so her red locks are falling free by her shoulders. She looks right into her husband's eyes and says it aloud for everyone to hear.

"I love you too."

-o-

Eadlyn wipes here eyes as she steps away from the photo wall. She pats down on her cheeks to hide any evidence of tears. As she straightens her dress and fixes her hair, she surveys all the photos she's looked at and remembered their stories. Years of her parents' lives and her siblings captured and put on display.

If Eadlyn's learned anything from looking at this extensive wall of photos, it's to just go through with the future pictures that will be taken. It's a captured second that will last forever. Is there a way to show more of themselves and their story? Or are they trapped in a single photograph that doesn't tell the whole story?

It doesn't matter since it's a photo. It's a moment captured in time. Nobody really knows what's happening behind a smile or a moment.

Her mother is too good to be true. She's a bright spark in what most would call a dull institution. She'll recover from her heart attack and live to not only see another day but take many, many more photos.


Does that dress sound familiar? Does it sound like the dress on the cover of the book? That was my goal. It's one of my favourite book covers to date.

This was the quickest chapter I've ever written and I love it so much. It's definitely my favourite chapter to date which makes it fitting for the final chapter.

And now, for the one-shot:

America's Reprise - America has just moved into the palace and is debating with herself on if a royal life is one she wants (OS)

And now for the final farewell.

I still remember publishing the first chapter but I don't remember if I already had chapters written on paper. It's a vivid memory. It was August 2016 and I just finished my final piano exam. My sister and I went to a Tim Hortons near one of the big malls and we were eating timbits. I'm pretty sure I had an ice capp since I mostly buy those after an event in which I think I deserve an award. That's where and when I published this story.

Now it's been over five years. (To date, this is the longest story I've written so far in terms of the amount of time it's been in-progress). For the sake for coming full circle, I would've gone to that exact Tim Hortons and sat at the same table to publish this final chapter but I'm no longer in that town and the pandemic is still happening.

Nevertheless, that doesn't diminish anything. This story is its own legacy. It was my first Selection story and one-shot compilation that inspired other stories. This story alone shows how I've grown as a writer and how my writing has improved. As of now, it's nearing the top to be my most-read and is one of my most reviewed stories, but none of that would've mattered without you. So, whether you've read this story from the start, joined somewhere along the way, or read everything now, thank you so much. If it wasn't for your reads and reviews, this story wouldn't be as it is now.

~ MysteryGal5

P.S. I have another separate Selection one-shot coming out at the end of the year.