Okay, so here's the next chapter. Hope you guys enjoy it.
Thanks to Alia Mehra, thirteenth17, HestiaAbnegation11, and 4Love4Love(x2). You guys rock!
Noah's POV
Noah looked at the paper, scanning it, and sighed. He put it down, and ran his fingers through his hair. He looked at it again, and sighed.
His dad had suggested doing it. Actually, it was a pretty good idea. He hadn't know who to eliminate, and so his dad had suggested the test. He had agreed. His mom had given them a raised eyebrow and a side eye, but hadn't said anything more other than a few pursing of her lips when it was brought up. He was most likely going to eliminate the worst scoring girl, or one of the worst scoring three. He looked at the worst scoring girl. And it was...
Anastasia.
He sighed. He didn't know if he would ever love Anastasia, or if he did, more than the other girls, but he definitely liked her and wanted to keep her. He wasn't eliminating her. He looked at the next two up from her, hoping it would be Colette and Lucinda. No such luck. It was Jacey, and then Danisha. He bit his lip, thinking. He hadn't really gone out with Danisha much, and from what he remembered of their few dates, she wasn't particularly remarkable or memorable to him. And Jacey...
His relationship with her felt one sided. She seemed to love him, but he wasn't so sure he returned the feeling. He made up his mind. He would eliminate her. Then he looked at the top of the list.
He was dissapointed that Lucinda had such a high score, but also saw Summer had a very high score, along with Grace and Shaylienne. He sighed. It could have been worse. He stood up. Now he had to go find Jacey.
Anastasia's POV
Anastasia's jaw dropped as Grace pushed open the door. It lead into the kitchens, warm, with the aroma of bread and something savory cooking. She looked at Grace.
"How did you know about this?" She asked.
"Noah took me here when we were on a date." Grace said, smiling and shrugging.
"Why?" She asked.
"Well, I was super hungry because I'd done a workout pretty close to our date, and so I was starving, and I remarked on it, and we ended up spending a bunch of our date helping the bakers make different types of cookies and then eating some of them. And they had a bunch of leftover cakes that we helped decorate and eat some of." She said. Anastasia smiled. Grace waved to someone she recognized as they walked through the kitchens, their dresses contrasting to the aprons and casual clothes of those working in the kitchens.
Anastasia followed Grace as she took a few turns, and then pushed open a door. The scent of baking things hit Anastasia, and she inhaled.
"Welcome to the bakery. And dessert place. I totally just ruined that, but whatever!" Grace said, smiling. Anastasia laughed, and walked in.
Inside, there was people kneading dough, mixing bowls, and peering at various things in ovens and on stoves. One of the cooks spotted them, and walked over.
"Hi honey!" She said, embracing Grace. She looked at Anastasia.
"This is my friend Anastasia. I was wondering if there's anything with chocolate in it she can eat?" Grace asked.
"Oh sure, here, follow me." She said. Anastasia looked at her.
"That's Alena. She helped us out when I was in here last time. She's super nice." Grace said. Anastasia nodded.
"Bad day?" She asked.
"Yeah. I failed a test, so I'll probably be eliminated." Anastasia said, not bothering to sugarcoat or hide the fact of the matter. She nodded, grabbing a tray.
"Well, here's some brownies for you two, and if you head over to Devin and ask him for some, I'll bet he'll give you some of the chocolate fondue and strawberries." She said.
"Thank you." Anastasia said, smiling.
"Oh, it's nothing honey." She said. She looked at one of the ovens.
"I gotta get back to work, but you girls feel free to come down here anytime." She said.
"Thanks Alena." Grace said. Sarah smiled back, and hustled over to one of the ovens.
"Which one is Devin?" She asked. Grace looked at her.
"He couldn't be the one with the chocolate fondue and fruit right over there, could he be now." Grace said sarcastically. Anastasia smiled at her friend's sarcasm. They walked on over.
Grace's POV
Grace balanced her paper plates carefully. As they'd left the kitchens, people had given them various things-cookies, fruit, cake, pastries, until both of them had two heaping paper plates full of food. Since neither of them could eat it, as they only had two hands, both with full plates, they'd decided to go back to the Women's Room. Grace looked at her foot, and pushed open the door with it.
As they walked in, several mouths dropped as they walked in with heaping plates of food, sitting in a pair of chairs with a table between them. The plates barely fit.
"No fair!" One girl exclaimed.
"Where'd you get the food?" Riley asked.
"The kitchens." Replied Anastasia. Several mouths dropped. Grace took a bite of a brownie, her eyes widening. Once she'd swallowed, she looked at Anastasia.
"Try the brownies." She said.
"But that's so improper!" Exclaimed Bethany, from the corner the Witches, as the other girls had taken to calling them, or something that rhymed with it, were in.
"Plus, all that food will make you fat."Said Colette, disgustedly. Lucinda watched like a cat who'd caught a mouse. Grace turned around, annoyed.
"One:if you'd tasted these browines, you wouldn't care what was improper, except, oh wait, you're too worried about being fat to eat brownies. Two:I don't think I need to worry about being fat, given I can count my ribs and my elbow is easily the thickest part of my arm. And three:In case you're wondering, this is what I look like when I don't give a fuck what you have to say." She said, cocking her head to one side, staring at them for a second, and then looking back to her plate of food.
"So, where are the kitchens?" Summer asked, with perfect timing.
Noah's POV
Noah looked at Jacey. She'd been talking for a while, describing her life back home because he'd asked about it. It felt forced, like she was trying too hard for him. He decided to end it.
"So, Jacey, I have something I need to say to you." He said, putting his hand into his pocket. Her face lit up. No doubt she thought he was going to profess his love for her, or propose. He wasn't even to the Elite! He hadn't even kissed her! He hadn't even kissed any of the girls! Definitely not to professing love or proposing marriage yet! He took a breath.
"I'm sending you home." He said. Her face fell, her mouth falling open.
"But...but...I didn't even get the lowest score! Anastasia did! She should be the one being sent home! The lowest score was supposed to be sent home!" She cried out.
"No, the score just influenced the next elimination." He said. Shit, he thought. That's how they interpreted that?
"But...but." She said. Her eyes were starting to glisten with tears, and the shock was fading to anger.
"You'll leave this evening. You may take whatever dresses you would like with you, and your family will receive compensation for this week." He said, starting at the ground. The last part he hadn't expected to say, but he knew she was a six. He knew that though they managed, making ends meet for her family was a struggle.
"Okay." She said. She turned on her heels and left the gardens, presumably to start packing. Noah took a deep breath. He hoped eliminating Lucinda and Colette would be that easy.
Foreshadowing? Maaaaybeeee...
Alia Mehra-Thanks! I'm actually not that patient, but I refuse to just leave it unfinished and sitting there, so...
thirteenth17-Hermione forever. Thanks! I like both of them too.
HestiaAbnegation11-Tonks is pretty awesome too, as is Mrs. Weasely.
4Love4Love-Vacation is so definitely an excuse! I'm like that too on vacations. And no, I didn't eliminate her because I just couldn't do it, but I love Lucinda in a different way-like the way I love Voldemort. Plus I can't eliminate my main antagonist. Hermione is pretty awesome, and I like book Ginny, but not movie Ginny. And Harry-eh. He's fine, but I like a bunch of the other characters better.
RQOTD-Are you worse at makeup or drawing.
Well, this is a funny one for me. Because I'm relatively good at makeup (even though I don't apply it very much), but I'm really good at drawing, so I'm worse at makeup. Although the drawing may be part of why I'm so good at makeup.