Wow. This took for freaking ever didn't it? A lot longer than I thought it would, for one. I was feeling absolutely zilch inspiration, of course, and eventually wound up just writing in Aspen's POV. I wanted to include a few more, but decided they just didn't fit in with this chapter. You will definitely been seeing a lot of fresh faces in the coming chapters, however!

My apologies for the length of this chapter. I know it's pretty short, I just wanted to rip off the Band-Aid. No anesthesia.

Thank you SO much to Artemis' hunters (x2), wolf of stark, Cookiedoodles168, and jenhen48 (x3!), who I love more than anything for supporting me!

Enjoy chapter 14!

Fear is a funny thing. A test of character, if you will.

There's something called a fight, flight, or freeze response. It's part of the alarm stage of General Adaptation Syndrome, or basically phase one of a stress-induced reaction. When faced with an agonizing situation, a person will either try to face the predicament head on, try to escape it and avoid it at any cost, or will clam up, in a state similar to shock.

I can see it all around me.

It's in the posture of each girl standing next to me (Katherine –or, Kit, I think- Arias and Bonita Stone, since we're lined up in one solid row by province). In the palpable tension of the room. In the audible, increased breathing, and even those who weren't breathing at all. I can practically see racing minds and wild eyes, although I don't turn to either side to check. I'd prefer not to draw attention to myself.

It's generally pretty difficult to self-diagnose, but my closest guess is that I'm experiencing a 'flight' response. As radical as it might be to say this, I wish literally nothing more than for some cataclysmic even to take place suddenly; for some sudden excuse to be anywhere but here. Which, I mean, is awful because I've dreamed about this moment for years. This will be that test I need to pass. Will he pick me? I mean, not even permanently: there will be many expectations to meet, hoops for me to jump through, and many eliminations. But am I good enough to stay? My conditions are practically psychosomatic: I feel like I'm going to be sick. As in, physically ill. This situation is driving me crazy.

Like I said: it says a lot about me, I think.

Prince Cameron stares at us long and hard. Collectively. You can tell he's grounded right now, and not a trace of uncertainty lines his features. His bushy eyebrows are furrowed, and he's far from the manufactured (yes, I realized it wasn't genuine, which I've made my peace with) smile he sported during our interview. I can't stop thinking about that smile. It has to be a good sign. It has to be. I haven't seen that man smile in all thirteen years of careful, deliberate attention. That has to account for something.

Prince Cameron. Choose me.

"Alright Ladies, I'll be straightforward." He begins, unclasping his hands from behind his back to address us all. "Ladies Makayla Durand, Ellina Foster, Allena Quick, Heather Berry, Manhattan Bourne, Adeliza Yancey, Alessandra Hernandez, Scarlet Chatterly, Lucie Crimson, Kaycee Thomas, Wednesday Corbineau, Serena Ballora, and Cherika Lowell: I'm very sorry, however you have been eliminated. The rest of you may proceed to the Dining Hall for breakfast, I'll be in to join you shortly."

I can almost feel my mouth drop to the ground. I mean, that's thirteen girls. An actual Illéan record.

Nonetheless, I follow orders: allowing myself to be herded away with the rest of the first-round survivors to go eat. I find, unfortunately, that the panging hunger I felt while waiting has dissipated. This process was less than appetizing.

As soon as the doors are closed behind us, creating a physical barrier between us and the eliminated, I can hear the screams. Not the dangerous type -like, as in, 'people are actively invading, we're all gonna die', but more along the lines of 'I can't believe I got here only to be cut down so mercilessly'. It was pretty cold, actually.

"Is it just me or did he seem a little…" Giselle seems like she doesn't know how to ask the question.

"Rude?" Evie finishes.

"Well, yeah, I guess."

"You know what? I'm sure he just wanted to seem authoritative. And he should be able to." I defend. "He is the future king, after all, and he needs us to know that he won't be all loose with us just because we're girls. I can respect that. Gender equality, eh?"

"I'm not really sure that's what he was trying to get at…" Giselle speaks slowly.

"But you don't know that. I'm sure he'll become a lot kinder and more comfortable around us as this competition goes on. For now, I'm just happy we're all still here." Giselle smiles and squeezes my hand supportively.

We take our assigned seats around the tables. I look over for Ivy, who's on the table facing the royals, to see if she's all right. The girl looks shaken, and doesn't talk to anyone. I wish I could hug her. Tell her everything will be okay. This competition has been ridiculously difficult for her. Any moron could see that.

Butlers unmask silver platters around the centers of each table, and after the King makes a short, congratulatory speech, he tells us that we can all eat. I add some fresh fruit to my plate, and pour fresh squeezed orange juice onto my crystal glass.

"Don't you want to eat more?" Harper Jones, who I recognize quickly, asks me innocently. I take a gander down to her plate, which is loaded with waffles, topped heavy maple syrup, powdered sugar, and whipped cream, strawberries, bacon, and coffee with cream and probably sugar too. "This is all so delicious. I feel like I'm going to wind up with diabetes before I leave this place." Thera and Catalina laugh at her joke.

"Yeah, I guess I'm somewhat of a health-nut." I tease, not wanting to give full details.

"Suit yourself. That means more bacon for me."

All of a sudden, all hushed conversation ceases as Prince Cameron walks into the room. I hear my own breath hitch, and though many girls try not to look like they're staring, my eyes don't break off of him for a second. He signals for everyone's attention, wanting us to stop eating for just a second, but I don't even think that wasn't necessary. I couldn't imagine one person who wasn't already paying attention.

"Congratulations." He says. And then he sits down. He tells us that we can continue eating, when none of us seem to.

"That's all?" Catalina whispers quietly to herself.

"I guess so." Harper responds. Catalina seems a little shocked that she got a response, but shrugs.

Conversation has pretty much ceased. Everything seems awkward. The royals are the only oblivious ones. Princes Cameron and Mason eat with gusto, not bothering to look around. Prince Connor looks at us with some look of distain. Princess Cassiopeia speaks quietly to her mother, while King Adrian listens and nods. Princess Elena smiles wide at the rest of us, and waves at a Selected who smiles at her. I cant help but wonder what this says about each royal. I hope to find out soon.

As it's clear we wouldn't eat much more, Avery announces that she'll be taking the Selected to the Women's Room for their first lesson. The king and queen approve and we all get up as quietly as possible to leave.

The Selected and I walk in a slow, jumbled mass. Already our numbers were noticeably lessened. Thirteen gone. That left only twenty-two of us, on the second day no less. Absolutely unheard of.

Upon entering the Women's Room, a few girls take seats, however Avery has none of that.

"Stand up." She instructs. "There's a room behind that door, a classroom-esque place. However, you –uneducated- ladies need to learn proper bodily actions first. We'll move onto lessons later." Avery lines us all up, just like we were this morning, only this time the order is random. She instructs us to stand naturally, so none of us move. Then, she goes down the line one by one with a ruler. She smacks backs to enforce good posture, and forcibly takes apart fiddling hands so they rest by one's sides. Our stance is corrected as well, and many people's knees aren't straight enough, or even too strait, and pigeon-toed girls like myself are reprimanded. Feet forward. Back so straight it's curved. Head level. Knees unbent. Hands by your sides. Don't touch your hair. Instructions smack me in the face, one by one.

Avery then strolls to a bookcase and pulls out a novel for each of us. I can say, for the record, that this is the only time I haven't felt giddy in the presence of a book. Next, we're partnered up and told to walk in circles around each other.

"You've got real good posture." Mahalia Babineua, my apparent partner, compliments. I smile in return.

"Thanks!"

"Do I hear talking?" Avery singsongs angrily. Mahalia and I exchange a worried look, and say nothing.

My book only falls off five or six times, I'm proud to report. It's much harder to walk in heels, granted, but if I'm slow enough, it won't fall off. It's a small victory, but it makes me excited anyway.

After we've all practiced posture, Avery gives us a short break. The very first thing I do is open up my book. It's fairly old, from probably the early twenty-thirties, but I'm not sure exactly the year. It's called Barrier Clip Door, by Annie Fortuna. My friends approach me and try to make conversation, but I shrug it off. It feels a little mean to ignore them, but Fortuna is actually one of the more intricate writers I've seen. I get through about thirteen fascinated minutes before Avery begins to teach us curtseying and proper greetings of royals.

About halfway into that lesson, a dainty, redheaded maid prances through the door. She bears a sealed envelope, messily scrawled on and unreadable if you don't have a clear look. My stomach positively twists girl looks around the room. There are so many possibilities as to what this letter may hold. A mistake in eliminations, sending another girl packing, a letter from home, the first date, a breech in conduct resulting in punishment… I'm practically relieved when the letter doesn't go to me, but to Hannah Wade, the Selected girl from Fennley. She rips it open slowly, soaking in the attention she knows she has from the rest of us. Then, reading the letter slowly to herself, her vacant face turns into a devious smirk.

"It'd seem that I have the first date." She brags, flipping her straightened black hair. My stomach drops to my feet. Not good enough. You just weren't good enough, Aspen.

"You have permission to leave and get ready." Avery grants, smiling at the girl with pride.

Hannah saunters away smugly. She gives us one last confident, "better than you" look before leaving.

She never returned.

So that actually totals fourteen girls gone (full list of girls remaining is below and also on my profile). Wow. I feel like it's so soon. And like, literally, I'm the one who wrote it. What is wrong with me?

I hope this clued you in to the fact that this competition is going to generally go pretty quickly. I'm aiming for around fifty chapters total, to cover everything I need to. There will be four sequels, for those of you interested! I want to write the stories of each of the siblings finding love in their own Selections! Hopefully, by the end of this year, we'll be on Mason already! Wow, wouldn't that be crazy? Anyways, point is, Cameron, exactly like Cassia predicted, is basically eliminating these girls due to scrutinizing pickiness and will probably eliminate a lot of them at a time. Get prepared, guys. It's gonna be a bumpy ride.

My most sincere apologies to the people who created these lovely girls who got eliminated. I appreciated every submission more than you know, and thanks to those of you who have stuck by me even if your character didn't get the rank you wanted. I appreciate all of the support I've gotten, and I love you all more than you know!

Here is a list of all of the girls still standing. Congratulations to the creators of these girls, and I'm so SO sorry again if your girl wasn't one of them :( This is the absolute worst part for any SYOC writer.

Girls Remaining:

Adriana Foster

Aspen Marx

Audrey Matlock

Bonnie Stone

Cat Alvarez

Clio Smirnov-Athans

Delilah Gregory

Drew Montgomery

Ember Saffron

Evie Clause

Giselle Knight

Harper Jones

Ivy Dupree

Lea Fleuret

Mahalia Babineua

Natalyn Brandon

Pepper Hearst

Raven Cortez

Thera Ellington

Waverly Evans

Remember to review!

Love you all,

xx. Scarlett