"Order up!" I hear my older brother call from the kitchen. I grudgingly walk over to him and grab the trays. The grilled cheese sandwiches smell like heaven, and I turn quickly and try to walk back into the restaurant, but he grabs my elbow.
"Hey, Ell," he says quietly, trying to look me in the eye. "Are you good?"
I yank away from him. "I'm fine, Beckham."
He rolls his eyes and tugs on my apron. "It's crooked. Elliot, you only have another hour on your shift."
"Another hour of torture," I mutter under my breath, stalking back into the restaurant and plastering on a smile when I hand the customers their sandwiches. I notice my younger sister, Juliet, walking through the tables and chattering happily to customers. They're all laughing at her. I sigh. I find it impossible, how charming my twelve-year old sister was. I walk back into the kitchen and pull at my apron strings, throwing it in a ball onto the floor.
"Elliot, what are you doing?" Beckham says, exasperated. I roll my eyes at him.
"I'm done. Can't Juli cover the rest of my shift? The customers love her."
He laughs, which only irritates me more. "Ell, Juliet's twelve. She serves water. This is your job, hate it or not." He sneaks a look at me. "Besides, maybe the customers would like you more if you were more pleasant."
"I am pleasant!" I snap back. His laughter makes my cheeks redden. "Beck, stop it. I hate it here. Why do Mom and Dad make us work here?"
He flips a burger. "Because they own the place. Take this out to table seven?" He hands me a tray with a hamburger and a plate of French fries. I let out a dramatic sigh and take the tray to table seven, attempting to smile like Juliet does. From the way they look at me, I assume it's not working.
Back at home, I flop down on our old couch and pull my long, black curls out of their scalp-injuring ponytail, letting it fall loose over my shoulders. Juliet immediately follows me into the living room, blowing into her school recorder. The sound is loud and off-tune, and I smile slightly at the fact that Juli isn't perfect at everything like Beckham is.
"What's the matter, Elli?" Juliet asks me, startling me. I slap her playfully.
"Nothing's the matter. Just tired." I tell her. Juliet looks similar to me, with her black curls and naturally tan skin. She and Beck have my father's eyes, though – a dark blue colour. Mine are forest green.
Juliet nods. "Okay. Just make sure you feel better 'fore tonight."
"Why?" I ask curiously.
"Harlow's coming over." Juliet grins. She knows how much I dislike Beckham's equally perfect girlfriend. I groan. "Come on, Ell. She isn't that bad!"
I poke her stomach, and she giggles. "You don't like her either!"
"I know. But Beckham doesn't know that." She grins slyly at me. I roll my eyes at my sister.
"You're a piece of work." I tell her, laughing. She shrugs and blows loudly into her recorder, making me cringe. Juli smiles proudly.
A key twists in the lock, alerting us that our parents are home. "Hi, girls." My father greets us.
We look just like our parents. Both of them have black hair and naturally tan skin, but Juliet and Beckham have my father's dark blue eyes and I have my mom's forest green ones.
"Hi, Daddy!" Juli exclaims. "Listen to my song I learnt in music class!" She grabs her recorder and blows notes into it that sound nothing like a song of any kind. My father smiles at her anyway and compliments her on it.
"Harlow's coming over tonight." I tell them loudly when Juliet skips out of the room. They look pleased. My perfect brother having a perfect girlfriend would please them indefinitely. Me, not so much.
"Do you have a boyfriend yet, Elli Bean?" My dad tugs one of my curls. I laugh.
"Of course not. When I do, I'll let you know."
"It won't be for a long time!" Juliet calls from her bedroom.
"Shut up, Jules!" I shout back, but I can still hear her giggling loudly.
My mother pats my shoulder. "Don't listen to her. You're a beautiful, smart young girl, and one day some boy will be lucky to have you."
Some boy. I sigh. "What's for dinner?"
"Potatoes, I think. Maybe the with turkey stew, since Harlow's coming for dinner." My mother bites her lip and heads off towards the kitchen.
There's a knock on the door. I jump up from my seat in the living room and open the front door, where Beckham stands with his arm wrapped around Harlow's waist. I immediately grin, though it doesn't reach my eyes. Harlow smiles brightly.
"Hi, Elliot!" She chirps. Even though she's too cheery, I can't deny that she's stunning. She has paler skin than I, with dark auburn waves to her shoulders and bright brown eyes. Beckham looks at her like she's the only star in the sky. "Hi, Harlow."
"How are you?" She asks happily, walking inside with Beck and sitting on the loveseat, letting Beckham take her coat. He joins her on the loveseat and I grimace slightly. All through dinner, she, Beck, and my parents chat about their 4.0 GPAs and their extracurricular activities and their jobs and blah blah blah. Juliet plays her adorable little sister card and makes Harlow fall head over heels for her. I twirl my fork around in my stew and say not a word.
I feel like I'm trapped in my own life.
OoO
I sigh and blow a curl out of my eyes, scrubbing the table ferociously. I dunk the sponge back into the bucket of soapy water and move to the next table, hating every second of working here. At my parents' restaurant. I hear the bell over the door ring and a crowd of girls prance in, taking up an entire booth. I can overhear them gossiping to one another.
"Did you hear?"
One scoffs. "Of course I heard. We all heard. Are you entering?"
"Yes! He's so cute!"
"Do you think you'll actually get Selected?"
The girl who scoffed rolls her eyes. "Of course. I'll be the one Selected from Carolina. Prince Adrian would love to have me as his princess."
Ah, yes. Dear Prince Adrian. The current prince of Illéa has finally come of age and he's having his Selection. To be honest, I think he's a real snobby brat. He's all ruffled blonde hair and rumpled clothes and too-cool attitude. But hearing those girls talk about applying to his Selection gives me an idea.
I quickly finish scrubbing the tables and put the sponge and the bucket of water in the back.
"Hey, Beck?" I call.
"What is it, Ell?" He yells back from the kitchen. I find him there and tug his hairnet over his eyes.
"I'm taking my break an hour early. I'll be back. Get Jules to cover me if you need to."
I dart out of the kitchen quickly before he can grab me like he did yesterday. He shouts after me about how I need to take my responsibilities more seriously, but I ignore him and hurry over to the booth of the giggly girls. They look surprised.
"Hi, I'm Elliot and I work here," I say rapidly. "Where can I get a form for the Selection?"
The main girl seems skeptical. "Here…have one. I have extras." I have to restrain from rolling my eyes, but I take the pale blue sheet of paper she withdraws from her purse.
"Thank you!" I thank her and rush out of the restaurant, but not before I hear her say to her friends, "She's hopeless. We have no competition with her."
I sigh and head home quickly. I go to my bedroom and lock to door behind me, scrambling around to find a pen. Once I do, I painstakingly begin filling out the form.
Full name. That's easy enough. Elliot Ivy Starling. Age? Seventeen. I scribble down all the answers to the questions. I'm a Four. I work at my parents' restaurant. I'm interested in the violin and science. My appearance is easy enough. Tan skin. Loose black curls that fall to my waist. Forest green eyes. Then what I dislike. What do I dislike?
Perfection.
Once I finish the form, I stick it in the back pocket of my work uniform. I go to hand it in before I head back to work, astounded at the amount of forms there were. There must have been thousands from girls from Carolina. I wouldn't stand a chance.
oOo
After I return to work and recover what's left of my shift from Juliet, I only need to work for another twenty minutes before Juliet, Beckham and I get to close up.
"Where did you go today, Ell?" Juliet calls to me as I lock the doors in the back. "I had to cover your shift for you! I almost spilled nachos on Ms. Berkman, but she laughed and gave me ten dollars!"
I shake my head. "I went nowhere, Juli. It doesn't matter."
I hear her padding footsteps coming from behind me. "If it doesn't matter, then what's this?" She giggles and tugs the Selection form out of my back pocket.
"Give it back, Juliet!" I shout as she darts away from me, ducking under my grasping hand.
"Never!" She cackles.
"Jules!" I plead, chasing her around. She locks herself in one of the storage closets and I pound my fists on the door, begging her not to read it, but I hear her gasp and unlock the door.
"The Selection?" She says dully, holding it up. "How could you?"
I immediately feel terrible. "Jules, wait. Let me explain."
She shakes her head, on the verge of tears. "I knew you hated it here, but I didn't think you'd ever leave. I didn't think you'd ever leave me." She crumples the form into a ball and throws it at me, storming out of the restaurant in tears.
I pick up the form and smooth it out. Beckham opens the kitchen door. "What's the matter?"
I sigh. "Juliet found out I was entering the Selection, and she totally overreacted, and"-
"You're entering the Selection?" Beckham says disbelievingly. "How could you, Ell?"
"You too? What are you talking about?" I exclaim, exasperated.
"Elliot, you can't leave us." Beckham tells me, his voice low.
"Why not? You know I hate it here. Besides, it's not like I'd ever get picked."
"You are the glue that holds our family together." He explains quietly. "We need you."
In reality, I'm the one tying them down from having a perfect life.