Ch. 19
Days past as they keep me rehearsing 'my songs' I'm going to sing.
"Ok once more please" the nice lady says.
"Really?" I moan.
"Yes, just to make sure you have it down." She answers sweetly.
"If you insist" I say shortly.
"Ok" she says pointing to the person controlling the music, who starts playing it again. "Go"
I sing the song and finish soon enough. When I do I say
"Can I be done yet?"
"Sure!" The sweet lady almost laughs.
"Yes!" I say setting his microphone back and running off stage
.
I run back to my room. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve-which means the ball is tomorrow. I hope I'll be able to perform alright.
"Oh gosh" I say looking at myself in the mirror.
Could I really not remember anything? Why did Maxon seem so familiar though? Out of everyone? Why do I like him but no Josh?
The questions ran through my head as I took my hair out of its tight braided bun. I let it fall down my back and feel the -now- wavy locks rest just below the middle of my back.
I let out a sigh and try to think of anything. But can't. All I can think of is Maxon.
'Why?" I groan
And as if on cue I hear a light knock on my door.
"Huh?" I say a little caught off guard.
"How are you?" I hear the bitter-sweet voice of Maxon's say.
"Fine, I guess" I answer
"Oh no' he says
"What?" I ask
"When a girl says fine that never means anything good" he says. I almost laugh.
"And how would you know that?" I ask.
"You can learn alot from the selection" he answers, sitting in a chair off to the side of my room.
'Im sure" I answer wisely
"I'm serious!' He says laughing.
"Mmhm" I say rolling my eyes.
"Oh come on" he says "you really don't believe I-a prince- am lying"
"I guess not. Aren't you taught not to lie?" I ask
"Yes, for most things" he answers
"Hmmm." I say thinking to myself "what kind of things" but must've end up saying it out loud, cause he says
"Ya I know. Nothing important. Most of the time family matters" he says with a distant look in his eyes, as if he's hurt.
"Oh no! What's wrong?" I ask
"Nothing" he says seeming to grow uncomfortable.
"Are you sure?" I ask
"Ya, you'll remember soon enough." He says.
"Oh come on!" I say pouting "I hate this! I knew things but then I get amnesia and someone will say something and I'll be stuck wondering what I once knew!" I says laughing by the end.
'I guess" he starts "that would indeed stink"
"Ya think?" I ask
"Well you will, I don't want to tell you and see your reaction again, so you'll just have to wait." He says sternly.
"Was it bad?' I ask.
"Ya, I guess we could say it is." He says. He then rises and walks towards the door.
"I'll see you later" he says walking out fully and closing the door all the way.
As he leaves I can only think about our conversation. And how he said
'Ya, I guess we could say it is'
Where's the was? Is it still happening?
The next morning I wake to the sun leaking through my window.
'Agh' I moan and try to cover my eyes with my hands.
I lay back down and sit there for a while. I have a quick check-up with the doctor today then rehearsal for like 4 hours. I have a long day ahead of me.
I roll out of bed eventually and put on a pair of light wash jeans with a few holes up and down my legs. I then slip on my bra and cami, and put on a cute (and simple) shirt. It's light maroon and has very light and sparkly white, 3 quarter length sleeves. I also slip on black heeled boots and a white infinity scarf.
When I finish dressing I call my maids to help me get my hair and makeup done. A skill I still cannot do.
"Hi" I say
"Hello America, you seem grumpy today, is everything okay?" Mary asks
"Yea, thanks for asking I just got a long day ahead" I enhance the word long making them giggle.
"Well then lets get started" Anne says
I'm glad there my maids there so nice. I'm also glad they filled me in with my amnesia and everything.
"Of course" I say before they scurry off and begin there work on me.
When they finish instead of looking tired, confused, and sick, I look happy, energetic, and healthy.
"Oh Gosh! Thank you!" I say standing up and giving them a giant group hug.
"Your very welcome!" They all laugh as if on cue.
"You should get going though!" Anne says
"Ya! Your better early then late!" Lucy says confirming I should leave.
"If you insist" I say stepping away and taking a final look in the mirror. My fire red hair was again down and curled but it was more bouncy today.
"Have fun" Mary chirps
"I'll try." I groan grabbing my tiny bag with my music, notes, and medical papers, before walking out the door.
"Hey! America! Wait up!" I hear a voice call
"Huh?" I say spinning to see who I think is called John or Jake or something.
"America." He says reaching me.
"Uh hi." I say looking him up and down using everything I can to try and figure out his name.
'Come on! He told you millions of times! You need to know! He even told you after the amnesia!' I say to myself. I finally give up when he says
"Yea. Hi"
I laugh nervously
"And you are?" I finally say giving in needing to know.
"Josh. Don't worry about it" he says as if reading my mind, "I figured with the amnesia you'd have a hard time remembering things"
'Yea it's a little hard but, not too bad." I say. Hiding the fact I just hadn't payed attention.
"Ya, I can't wait till you get your memory back, love" he says
"Your not the only one" I say.
He lets out a laugh.
"Yes, I think you'll be much happier then. And by the way were are you headed?" He asks.
"The doctor" I mumble unhappily.
"Oh." He says "then where?"
"Rehearsal for like 4 hours" I say.
"Oh that damn ball. And Effie always having to have things perfect." He says.
Ah so that's who that crazy lady they call a women is, always making me practice.
"Ya. I can tell. Why do you care so much anyways?" I ask.
"Nothing much really, just wanted to spend time with you." He says.
"Oh" Is all I say, a little glad I just dodge that. Any spare time I'd want to spend with Maxon, so I can find out more about him.
"Yea. I guess I'll just have to wait until the ball" he says laughing lightly.
"Ya I guess so" I say, wondering were the hospital wing was.
"So what have you been doing lately?" He asks. "I haven't seen you around much"
"Oh I've just been reading. You know, I can read everything I may have read before and be surprised by there endings all over." I say completely lying knowing I've been with Maxon. I was going to tell the truth but something told me not to...
"Your majesty" I hear a sweetly familiar voice say.
"Maxon" josh says back.
I look up excitedly and see Maxon standing there.
"Hi!" I say a little to cheery.
"America" he says. Nodding his head towards me. "Where are you two headed?" He asks.
"I have a doctors appointment" I say.
I see Maxon pull at his ear. It was subtle, but I noticed it. You only would be able to, if you were really looking.
"Ya" josh says "I saw her on her way and decided to walk her."
"That was very nice of you" Maxon says. He tugs his ear again. Is he ok?
"Yea I guess it is" I say giving Maxon a strange look.
"Yes. Well we better get going. Don't want her to be late." Josh says pushing me along. As I'm being pushed away I see him pull at his ear once more and giving me a concerned look.
I look at him as I'm walking away and mouth 'what?'
Then as if he'd just been slapped with some new knowledge he mouths 'oh nevermind' then walks away shaking his head.
"Here we are" josh says.
"Oh yes." I say in return "thanks for walking me"
"It was my pleasure." He replies.
"Yea, well I guess I'll see you around." I say walking towards the door.
"Yes, good day" he says turning around and walking away. "Have fun!" He calls over his shoulder.
"I'll try" I call after him making him chuckle.
I tug the door open and see a way to cheery doctor, waiting for me.
"Ah America! Right on time!" She calls
"Mmhm" I say looking around.
"Well right this way, we want to take a quick scan of your head, so we can see what's going on." She says smiling like a maniac.
"Okay" I mumble following her farther into the hospital wing.
"Ah here we go' she says patting a bed, telling me to lay down. I step up onto the bed and lie down.
"Now I'm going to have to ask you to take that scarf off!" She says hopping up and grabbing it off my neck before I could even reply. "Oh! By the way I'm Doctor prim or bubbles, alot of people call me bubbles around here. I don't know why but they do so I don't object."
"Oh okay, cool." I say not very interested.
"Okay now I'm just going to put This here and that there" she says attaching machines t me so we can see my brain.
About 20 minutes later there done and ready to tell me what's going on.
"Okay" prim says walking in with some pictures.
"Finally" I say annoyed.
"Sorry we're not done yet. Still got some questions to ask to see how your amnesia is." She says back to happy.
"Ugh fine" I mumble.
"Okay I'll start out with Simple things. What is your name?" She asks.
"America.' I say looking up at the ceiling.
"Last name?' She asks
"Singer"
"What's the date."
'December 24th"
"Okay, who's The prince of Illea." She says. How could I not know this?
"Maxon" I say. Still looking at the ceiling.
"And the prince of England?" She says.
Oh uh who is it? Why can't I pay attention!
"Not sure" I answer honest
'Its Josh" she says
Oh josh...he's a prince too? Wow.
"Okay next question. What did you do when you left Illea?" She asks.
"Don't know" I say. "No one ever really told me"
"You wrote an album it releases after Christmas." She says.
"Ohhh so that's where all those songs I apparently wrote came from" I say.
"Yep. Good job" she says
"Oh no I didn't remember that I just put two and two together" I say. I then see her scribble something she just wrote out.
"Oh okay." She says writing something else. "Last question. Who were the elite in the selection?"
"Uh well I guess it was me and someone named Kriss, or so I was told." I says
"Yes that's two of them. Can you remember anyone else?"
"No" I say disappointed.
"Ok there was You, Kriss, Marlee. And there still is Natalie, Celeste, and Elise." She answers.
"Oh." I say. "It's still going on?"
"Yes. It's been at a halt lately though, because of the circumstances" she says finishing the last words she's been writing.
"Oh" I say.
After a moment of silence and her looking over her notes she says
"Well your amnesia is still here and very strong."
"Great" I mumble.
"Everything you know is from what people have told you, correct?" She says
"Yep"
"Well that's not very good, but on the bright side your remembering that." She says.
"And what about my concussion?" I ask.
"Oh it went from major to mild!" She says as if its a good thing a have a mild concussion.
"Joy"
"Mmhm. Your free to go whenever you like. See you next week" she says walking out and leaving me alone.
I get up shortly after and walk to my next destination. Which just happens to be the grand ballroom.
"Over there! And be careful! Oh gosh no that goes there! I said pink not red where are the pink roses?!" I hear Effie scream as I walk in.
"Oh dear America, You're late!" She nearly yells
"Sorry my appointment went over" I say walking towards the stage
"Oh no worries." She says trying to act calm. But she takes one look around and starts going off the deep end again. "Careful boys! Don't even think about dropping that!"
The boys must've said some thing sassy back cause she screams at them
"BECAUSE THAT IS MAHOGANY!"
"Effie!" I yell
"Yes dear?" She says trying to be calm but ends up spinning around looking like a crazy women.
"Calm down! It's okay everything's going to look great!" I call across the room to her.
"Thanks Hun, it better be when I'm done!" She calls back.
"I'm sure it will be!"
"Okay let's start warming up!" The guitarist says
"Yea good idea" I say.
She then starts playing a song called 'speak now' the band then also begins playing. This is one of our favorite songs to practice with cause its so fun. We've been doing it all week.
I then begin myself.
"I am not the kind of girl
Who should be rudely barging in on a white veil occasion
But you are not the kind of boy
Who should be marrying the wrong girl
I sneak in and see your friends, and her snotty little family
All dressed in pastel
And she is yelling at a bridesmaid, somewhere back inside a room
Wearing a gown shaped like a pastry
This is surely not what you thought it would be
I lose myself in a daydream where I stand and say
Don't say yes, run away now
I'll meet you when you're out of the church at the backdoor
Don't wait or say a single vow
You need to hear me out and they said speak now
Fun gestures are exchanged
And the organ starts to play a song that sounds like a death march
And I am hiding in the curtains
It seems that I was uninvited by your lovely bride-to-be
She floats down the aisle like a pageant queen
But I know you wish it was me, you wish it was me
Don't you?
Don't say yes, run away now
I'll meet you when you're out of the church at the backdoor
Don't wait or say a single vow
You need to hear me out and they said speak now
Don't say yes, run away now
I'll meet you when you're out of the church at the backdoor
Don't wait or say a single vow
Your time is running out and they said speak now
I hear the preacher say speak now or forever hold your peace
There's the silence, there's my last chance
I stand up with shaking hands, all eyes on me
Horrified looks from everyone in the room
But I'm only looking at you
I am not the kind of girl
Who should be rudely barging in on a white veil occasion
But you are not the kind of boy
Who should be marrying the wrong girl
Don't say yes, run away now
I'll meet you when you're out of the church at the backdoor
Don't wait or say a single vow
You need to hear me out and they said speak now
And you say lets run away now
I'll meet when I'm out of my tux at the backdoor
Baby I didn't say my vows, so glad you were around
When they said 'Speak now'"
Applause fills the room.
"Thank you, thank you" I say taking a bow with the rest of the band.
"Lets go again" the drummer says
And so we did, and for the next few hours we just sing songs ~any songs~ as they work around us to get the rest of the ballroom ready.
I walk back to my room afterwards and find Maxon waiting there.
"Oh hi" I say slightly startled.
"Hi" he says seeming bummed.
"What's wrong?" I ask
"Nothing, how's your memory?" He says
"Still pretty shitty" I say, but cover my mouth quickly and blush
"It's okay America, you used to swear whenever you got frustrated, don't worry about it." He says making my blush die down slightly.
"Oh ok, that's great"
"Yea."
"Hey was your ear, like is it ok?" I ask.
"Oh yea! Don't worry About my ear it was just a signal we used to use. " he says
"What? Pretending our ears have some weird infection?" I ask jokingly
"No! Nothing like that, more like ear-tugging" he says back laughing.
"Ah ear tugging I like it" I say.
"You Better!" He says mockingly in return.
"Yea. So how's the selection going?" I ask out of no where.
"Oh what do you mean?" I say.
"I don't know," i say. "I mean like who do you like best since one is going to be your wife?"
"Oh" he says "I don't really know. I don't like any that much."
"Oh I'm sorry about that. Too bad" I say looking somewhere-anywhere but his eyes.
"Yea, why do you care so suddenly?" He asks trying to make eye contact.
"Oh nothing my doctor was just talking about it, and I was just curious."
"What did she say?" He ask nervously
"That some girls named Elise, Celeste, and Natalie are left but it's been at a halt lately." I say back pretending to pick up some books.
"Oh well she's correct." He says.
"Yes, I figured that much"
"I don't really like any of them." He says "you know that right?"
"Now I do." I say laughing nervously.
"Yea, you were the one I liked. But then you left." He says "and I was stuck choosing some random girl I had no feelings for"
"Oh" I say blushing like a mad man
"Then I found you. But you were with someone else. I came to find you and try to convince you to come back, but it was too late."
I just was now openly staring at him now. He was saying I guess everything that has happened so vaguely. I felt bad? Was I re-hurting him? Who am I kidding?! Of course I am! He's said he liked me!
I think to myself
He continues
"Then you lost your memory, and here we are now" .
There's a long empty silence, don't know how or why we got into this conversation, but we are.
So I fill the silence saying
"In love with someone I don't even know."
A/n
Wow it's been a while! Sorry hi! How you've guys been?
Any who this is it! Big chapter next! Hope you enjoyed! OH PLEASE REVIEW-KINDNESS ONLY!-
Well bye ~
DISCLAIMER:all rights go to Kiera Cass for writing and owning the selection trilogy and to Taylor Swift for the songs/quotes I use! Also to Veronica Roth I use a character of hers and some quotes. And also now to Suzanne Collins for some characters and quotes I use!