Sorry for the late update? I'm not dead and I didn't abandon the story again, I've just been really busy lately. I'll try to be better about staying on track with updates.

Flo

I'm trying really hard not hate Emani Jeffers. One of the things I pride myself in is being open minded and giving everyone a fair chance.

But, quite honestly, I'm not a fan of almost anyone in the upper castes (with Prince Elliot being a notable exception). They get everything handed to them from birth, and act like that somehow makes them better than the people who work every day just to keep their families alive. It infuriates me.

Still, I try to look for the best in everyone. But this girl walks in dressed like she's already Queen, and I'm tempted to see if I can switch to another Selected.

I don't, though. I remind myself that my job isn't to like her; it's to take care of her and do as she says until she's eliminated. I can do that.

Lydie

I think I do a decent job on my first day as a maid. Mostly I do what Floretta and Julia tell me to do, since they actually know what they're doing.

Lady Emani seems nice. Mother's always told me that you can never trust anyone in the upper castes, but Lady Emani truly doesn't seem like a bad person to me.

As I'm leaving Lady Emani's room for the night, I run into someone and stumble backwards. "Oh, I'm sorry," I say. Then I look up and see who I've run into: Prince Liam. "Oh! Your Highness!" I drop into a curtsy. I think about everything I've been taught about Prince Liam: he's a stuck-up royal who knows nothing about the lives of the common people; he's a willing agent in the oppressive system set up generations ago by Gregory Illea; he's evil. But looking at him now, smiling sheepishly and apologizing profusely, I have a hard time believing it. He's only a few months older than me, and honestly? He seems harmless.

"I'm so sorry," he's saying. "I should have been paying more attention. Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Your Highness," I say, curtsying again.

"Oh, don't," he says.

"I'm sorry?"

"With all the," he waves his hand in the air, "'Your Highness' and curtsying and everything. It makes me feel like I'm a public figure and not, like, a real person. And I mean I guess I technically am a public figure, but I'd like to be able to walk around in my own house without dealing with all that, you know?"

I don't know, but I nod.

He looks down and runs a hand through his hair. "Sorry, I'm rambling."

"You're fine, Your - " I cut myself off. "Sorry. Habit." In the brief training I received on becoming a maid, I was told to always refer to the royal family by their proper titles. And now, the first time I meet one, he tells me not to.

"I am, aren't I?" he responds, striking a pose and winking at me. I smile. He straightens and gives me a small bow. "I'll let you get going now, Miss . . .?"

It takes me a few seconds to register that he's asking for my name. "Lydie," I provide, then immediately remember I wasn't supposed to give him my real name. Well, too late now, I suppose.

"Goodnight, Lydie," he says to me. "And nice to meet you, by the way."

"You too," I say. "Goodnight."