Lady Jia, 2

I slammed the door behind me. My hands were shaking. I could still hear my father's voice, yelling at the top of his lungs for me to come back and not be so disobedient. I ran over to my radio and put my music on full blast, drowning his voice out. It instantly calmed me down. While dad would never put his hands on me, his words did a lot of harm.

It all started with his death. Jonathan's death. My brother was ten years older, and dad's favorite. He loved Jonathan more than anything and I was often cast aside. I didn't mind. Jon and I had a strong and interdependent relationship and he raised me more than dad did. Jon became a firefighter when he was eighteen, and I was very proud of him. His death changed everything. It happened almost seven years ago but it was still so painful to think about. Dad had always held his death against me. He changed so much after the.. accident.

Mom was a famous actress, and her relationship with me was pretty nonexistent. She was always in another province, filming for her next movie, leaving me and dad alone at home most of the time. I couldn't expect any support from her.

I looked at my closet, the doors were cracked open. I could see glimpses of beige and yellow, which made me smile. My firefighter uniform. After Jon's passing, I became a firefighter when I reached the right age. I wanted to honour him and I loved helping people. It was the perfect occupation for me.

I saw the Selection form on my pillow, and I sighed heavily. Dad had been pressing me about entering since yesterday, and Mom was finding time to bombard me with texts in between shooting her scenes. Mom just wanted to further her fame as an actress, and dad wanted his name to be headlined so that he could be known more politically, as he was a politician.

I plopped down on my bed and picked up the form. To be honest, I didn't really care. I didn't care to join, but I didn't mind joining either. Maybe it would be good for our family if I went away for a while, and it would probably be good for my own sanity to not be the constant target of my father's yelling and loudness.

But one thing I seriously dreaded was the dresses and the girly stuff. You could say that I was not a girly girl at all. My favorite outfit, besides my uniform, was sweats paired with a t-shirt. I absolutely hated jeans, skirts or dresses. It made me feel constricted somehow.

I grabbed a pen from my desk and started filling out the form. Might as well do something my parents would be 'proud' of. My father didn't approve of me becoming a firefighter at all, and my mom didn't really care enough to have any feelings about it. Maybe being Selected, or even entering to be Selected, would make them appreciate me more.

Lady Sawyer, 7

I was so bored. This man was telling me his whole life story while downing drink after drink and, to be honest, it wasn't interesting at all. Working as a bartender at a gentleman's club always made for some interesting conversations with the men I had to tend to. But this wasn't one of them. I had to keep myself from rolling my eyes as he was complaining yet again about something that wasn't even significant. My boss was watching every one of us carefully, and I couldn't drive away a costumer. So I kept pretending to be listening, and to be engaged in the conversation. But I wasn't.

Luckily for me, my best friend Ivy came to my rescue. She was a burlesque dancer at the club, and she came to whisk me away, under the guise of 'taking a break'. My boss nodded his approval and we went to the back of the club.

''Thank you, I needed to get out of there,'' I sighed in relief.

Ivy grinned in amusement. ''I felt so bad for you, that guy looked like a bore. But I have something more fun to talk about.''

I looked at Ivy curiously. Knowing Ivy, this would be entertaining. She climbed on a stool and grabbed two white envelopes from the top of a counter.

''What's that?'' I asked, not recognizing the envelopes.

''These are our Selection forms. We're entering. Right here, right now.''

I shook my head. The thought of entering the Selection hadn't even come to my mind. I wasn't ready to leave my family.

''Come on, I dare you!'' Ivy persisted. And that's where she had me. She knew I could never pass off a dare, it was one of my weak spots.

''I hate you,'' I grumbled as I snatched the envelope from her hands.

Ivy smiled sweetly at me as she handed me a pen. ''You know you love me. And you will thank me for this later.''

We filled out our forms in the break time we had left. The more I thought about the Selection, the more logical it actually seemed for me to apply. Yes, it would be hard to leave my family. But the benefits they would get from the Selection weighed heavier.

Ever since dad passed away 3 years ago, mom had been working extra hard to provide for me, my sister and two brothers. She was a classical singer and dad had been a detective. Being a singer wasn't much of a reliable job compared to a detective, but mom did her best and took up every small gig around town. It always broke my heart to see my mom so tired constantly. This would definitely take the weight of her shoulders, even if it was just for a little.

And besides, the Prince was extremely attractive. I knew Ivy was probably entering for that sole reason. I smiled at the thought. It wouldn't be a bad thing to get to know the Prince more. From what I had seen on Reports, he was always very hard to read.

If Ivy challenging me to a dare wasn't reason enough, I had come up with plenty of other reasons to enter. I sealed the envelope with my form in it, and I nodded to myself in confirmation. I was doing this.

Lady Evelaine, 3

The only sound that filled the empty attic was the sound of pen scraping over paper. I was on fire. I had been writing for the past three hours and the words kept flowing out of me, I couldn't stop. Inspiration filled my mind. I only took my pen of the paper when my hand began cramping and I had to take a break. That was when my brother's head poked through the doorway.

''You've been hiding in here for the whole afternoon, Eve. Come down for a bit,'' Demic said.

Demic was not only my older brother, but he was like a parental figure too. Although he was just six years older than I, he had always been very protective. Our single mother was usually out and about during our childhood, so were mostly raised by my great-grandmother. Mom and granny mostly didn't see eye to eye when it came to our upbringing. Granny encouraged us to read and broaden our intellect, while mom thought that I should have more interest in beauty than just dusty, old books which, according to her, weren't even considered as a source of entertainment. Mom and granny argued a lot and it once got so heated that mom burned my entire collection of novels. That lead to me and Demic building a hideout in our house, up in this attic, so we could avoid mom and gather all the knowledge we could.

Demic always believed that he and granny were better fit to be parents than mom. He was incredibly intelligent. As a child, he always felt the need to instruct mom on what to do and what not to do. He believed mom didn't acknowledge her duties as a parent, which he realized at a very young age. His intelligence inspired me to be like him.

Another one of my role models was granny. I gave her a kiss on the cheek when I came downstairs. I put the sheets of papers I had just filled with words on her lap. I always looked up to granny. She had such a broad range of knowledge and I aspired to be like her as an adult. She never let her deafness stop her. I remembered that when I was young, I always looked forward to impressing granny and bringing home remarkable report cards for favors. Those favors were novels. I knew that it gave granny a lot of joy to see me write, so I always made sure that she was the first one to read my writing.

Demic passed me a white envelope with my name on it in gold, curly letters. I instantly knew what it was as I had been looking out for it all week. The Selection. I tried to surpress a smile as I took the envelope from Demic, not wasting any time in looking for a pen.

''So, you're already set on entering, then? You don't even have to think about it?'' He asked.

''Trust me, I have been thinking about it. I have weighed all the pros and cons and I have decided. Don't worry about me rushing into something.''

I quickly found a pen and started filling out the form. I had a good reason to enter. A good, but painful reason. I wanted to find an actual relationship I could stay committed to without being lied to. A past relationship of mine had given me some trouble with trust. I hoped that the Selection could change this, as I wanted someone who wanted me for me, and not for what I could provide them. I sincerely hoped that this would be the opportunity to finally be able to truly let someone in.

Lady Alicia, 4

I took of my apron, done with another shift at the restaurant. My black with white polka dots waitress uniform was stained with wine a costumer accidently spilled on me. My apron contained most of it, but I still couldn't show up to my next shift with a stained dress. I sighed, not looking forward to being up all night and trying to get the stain out.

I waited outside the restaurant until my mother was done with her own work. She was a chef at a café. I had my arms crossed, a white envelope poking out of my open bag. Mom immediately asked what it was when she walked up to me.

''Oh, it's just the form for the Selection,'' I answered.

''Just the form for the Selection?!'' Mom nearly yelled, which made passersby turn their heads to look at us.

She continued in a much lower voice, ''What do you mean just the form for the Selection? Do you even know what will happen when you get Selected? What will happen if you would win?''

I laughed at that. ''Mom, it's just a silly competition. The likelihood of me getting in and even winning is very small. And besides, maybe it could help me realize my dream.'' I left out the part that me entering was also driven by my fear of poverty and death.

I always enjoyed experimenting with science as a child, and I excelled at my studies. I hoped to find a career in science, but I had had little success in that area. The other way of realizing my dream of science was becoming a three. But again, no success.

Girls that were chosen for the Selection automatically become a three. It didn't matter if you were eliminated on the first day, you were still a three. This was my ticket to fulfilling my dream.

When we arrived home I immediately went upstairs to my room, planning on reading some of the new books I got from the library. None of the books were fiction, they were all about nature, the cosmos, math and more fascinating things like that. I curled up in my chair by the window, and immersed myself in the wonderful world of logic. I had always felt limited by my caste and surroundings. I knew I had so much more in me than being a simple waitress, but I was trapped. I was trapped for something that wasn't even my fault. For being a four.

I looked at the crisp white envelope that was laying on my desk, waiting to be posted tomorrow. I had set all my hope on a few sheets of paper. Compressed fibres and pulps, the materials that sealed my fate. This was the only way. The only way left for me to escape this trap, this world. I smiled, thinking of all the opportunities that would open themselves up for me as a Selected. This was it.

Another chapter, four more girls! Same question as always; which of these four girls did you like best?

So you guys have been guessing my age, and unfortunately, no one has had it right yet! I will give you a hint: I was born in the 90s. Good luck! Oh and I need one specific number, not late this or early that, or between this and that (if you know what I mean).

As always, thanks for reading and keep reviewing! Your reviews are my motivation to keep on writing and reading them makes me very happy.

~wolfofstark