A/N: You guys, I lied. I'm going to post chapter 4 AND chapter 5 today!
"Analeyah, honey, you have to get up. You leave to go to the palace today, remember?" Mom gently shook me. I groaned and rolled over.
"I don't want to go." I muttered. I heard Mom sigh.
"Please honey, do this for me. Do it for your siblings and your Dad. Do it for the baby." She spoke the last few words cautiously as if she were scared to see my reaction.
"The…the baby?" I asked, bewildered.
"Yes, honey. The baby." Mom looked down, placing a gentle hand on her tummy. My eyes widened.
"Is that why you and Dad were fighting last night? How long have you known?" I flooded her with questions. She let out another sigh.
"I've known for three months," She admitted, "And, no, your father and I weren't fighting. We just had a rather loud disagreement."
"So, the baby is going to be here in—at the most—6 months?" I gave her a questioning look. Mom nodded.
"Five." She murmured in response. My eyes were huge.
"Wait, you're four months in? Don't you know if it's a boy or girl yet?" I began to raise my voice. Mom shook her head.
"We don't want to know what it is until it's born." She said, and stood. "You should start gathering a few things, dear. Your send off is in an hour." With that she left. I groaned. Why were my parents always so secretive? It's always been a mystery to me.
.~.~.~.
The whole idea of the send off was stupid. I didn't see why it was necessary to have the whole province come out to watch you leave on an airplane for the palace. I mean, sure, I'm going somewhere important, but, the whole province? Come on.
The streets were filled with people. Some were young girls who I had seen waiting in line to turn in their applicant forms for The Selection. I didn't get very nice glances from them at all. Standing on the stage in the airport was Damsel. He smiled at me and waved me over, but his eyes told me to hurry. I raced over to the stage and climbed the stairs, ducking my head the whole time. Damsel picked up a microphone and started to speak.
"Hello, people of Newberry! Welcome to the send off of our beautiful Daughter of Illea, Analeyah Salome!" The people cheered and I blushed. Some had signs with my name on it, as if they wanted me to win. That gave me courage. Damsel walked over to me slowly.
"Alright, honey. You have two minutes to talk to your family members before getting on the plane. Is that alright?" He asked, putting a hand on my shoulder. I nodded to him, and raced over to my family. I engulfed Dad in an embrace, then let go and hugged Mom. Lee hugged my waist and Tya hugged him. Naton was standing with Terra, not wanting in on the love fest.
"You're going to do great, dove. I know you will." Mom said, gently wiping a tear from my cheek. I nodded to her, too choked up to speak. Dad spoke next.
"Good luck, princess." He kissed me on the cheek and everyone walked away. Tya waved to me over her shoulder and I laughed. She had done that to me ever since she was very young. And to the sight of Lee grinning in my direction, I boarded the plane.
.~.~.~.
The plane hit a wall of turbulence about ten minutes into the flight. I moaned, feeling like I was close to losing my breakfast. It felt like my insides were about to all come out of my mouth. But I didn't want to think about it.
The plane stopped 3 times to pick up other girls. The first one to get on was the Two from Carolina. Her name was...Jani? Yes. Jani. That's it. She sat as far from me as she could. I wondered why. I didn't smell, and I certainly didn't look like trash, but she apparently thought so. Maybe it was because I was a Six. Whatever the reason, I didn't care. Another girl came in and sat next to me. She had lovely hazel eyes and shoulder length auburn hair. She looked over at me with a smile.
"Hey, I'm Ginger." She said, holding out her hand. I took it with a smile.
"Analeyah." I replied. She nodded.
"I know. I saw you on the Report. You were one of the prettiest girls so I sort of remember you. You're a Six right?" Ginger asked. She seemed so happy that I was talking to her nicely.
"Yeah. What are you?" I gave her a questioning look.
"A Four." She replied grimly. I nodded. At least I wasn't the only lower class girl on this plane.
"Awesome." I laughed a little. Ginger looked over to Jani.
"What about you, uh…" She stopped, and I knew just then that she didn't know her name.
"Jani," I whispered to her. Ginger quickly nodded.
"What caste are you, Jani?" She asked sweetly. I hoped Jani didn't turn around and be mean to her, because if she did, I'd most likely lash out and get kicked out before I even got to the palace.
"A Two." Jani mumbled, not interesting in conversing with a girl in a lower caste than her.
"Oh," Ginger said. "I'm sorry for bothering you." Jani just grunted and looked away.
"Don't take it to heart," I mumbled, "she's just jealous because she isn't as accepting as you are." Ginger smiled softly, cupping a hand over her mouth as she doubled over in laughter. She received a rather cold glare from Jani, causing her laughing to cease. We were quiet for the rest of the plane ride.
.~.~.~.
Once we all got to the arrival meet up, I was near losing my lunch. The plane ride was so unstable that I was unsure if we were in the air at some times. But the landing was much worse. It took them 25 minutes to get stable alone, and after that 5 more to get on the ground and slow down. Jani was complaining that the flight was unsatisfactory and that she would most definitely be complaining to the prince about it, while Ginger was as chipper as ever, eying all of the fancy floral arrangements around the Angeles airport. A reporter came up to me and smiled, her eyes were obvious in her asking me if she could ask a few questions. I shrugged and headed over to a small tree so we were alone for a bit.
"So, how is your family taking your being Selected?" The reporter began.
"Well," I began, thinking about my insistent mother, "my mother is over the moon, and my two little siblings are iffy about it. My dad is pretty neutral about it, but I can tell he's a bundle of nerves." The reporter laughed, and I could tell I was doing something right.
"You have very pretty eyes," the reporter complimented me, "do you get them from your mother or father?" I smiled. I was the only one of my parent's children to have green eyes, and my mom was so pleased to finally have a green eyed baby like her.
"My mother." I replied proudly. "I'm the only one other than her that has them. The rest of my family has dark brown eyes."
"A lucky one, then?" She asked, but hypothetically. She turned off the camera then nodded to me. "That should be enough, thank you." I smiled at her, then returned to my group.
"What did she ask you?" Ginger pressed, looking very interested in how that went. I shrugged.
"Just like any other interview, I suppose. She asked about my eyes and about how my family was taking my leaving, but other than that, she didn't seem to care about me." I chuckled, knowing this was how it was going to be for a long time, now.
"She only interviewed you." Ginger observed as she took in Jani's unhappy expression. "I wonder what that's all about?" I knit my eyebrows. She was right, that was weird. Why did they only interview me and not Jani or Ginger? What if there was something wrong with me? I dismissed the thought as soon as it made it to my head. There was no way that they were interviewing me just because I'm a Six. That would be unfair.
"I wouldn't give it any thought." I told Ginger, "She probably just grabbed the first one of us that she saw." Ginger seemed to consider this, and I could tell she didn't completely buy it, but she shrugged anyway, going back to her happy self.
.~.~.~.
It was quiet for most of the drive to the palace, though Jani tried to roll down the window once to wave to her loving fans. I had a few people from the lower castes rooting for me, and a couple others, but Jani and Ginger had the majority. It wasn't like it mattered to me, I was only here for the experience and not to win. When we got to the palace, my heart stopped.
It was huge, with 3 stories and balconies by every other window. There were two grand staircases leading up to the entrance that was guarded by five or six guards, and the doors were wide open. There was a fountain in the middle of a round-a-bout, and just in the distance I could see the garden. It was breathtaking.
The driver ushered us out of the car and into the palace so that we could get makeovers. A young woman who introduced herself as Mabel gave us a small tour and pointed out the Dining Hall, the garden, the library, the Great Room, and the Women's Room. The three of us were practically run into the Women's Room and sat down on a few cushions against a wall. A stylist came up to Ginger and smiled, seeming to already know what they wanted to do with her. I drew in a breath, hoping that I wouldn't have to change my look too much, but enough to look nice. A stylist then came up to me and gently grabbed my wrist, pulling me over to a station that had the number 6 at the top in large letters.
A few ladies came over and took me to a space behind a sold divider that had a bathtub behind it and a manicuring station. She washed me off and did my nails in a very light pink, then walked me back over to the station.
"So," he began, playing with my hair a little, "what would you like your image to be?" I thought for a moment. I wanted to look pretty, but not overdone. I smiled, knowing exactly what I wanted.
"A natural yet pretty look is perfectly fine with me." I told him. He raised an eyebrow, but didn't question what I meant. He took a few inches off of my hair and put it in a twisty up-do which was rather lovely. He put some sparkly pins in to make it a little fancier, then moved on to my makeup. He didn't put much foundation on me, and put only a couple dabs of blush on my cheeks. He gave me a light smoky eye, and light eyeliner with mascara to make my eyelashes look pretty. Once he was done with that, I looked like a princess. I smiled at my reflection in the mirror until it was time for me to choose a dress. The stylist let me over to a rack full of knee length pretty gowns.
"These are your day dresses," he explained, "you'll only be wearing these during the day, and the longer gowns will come at night." He then left me to choose, and I chose a pretty off-white dress that had a fitted bodice and a skirt that flowed out. It had sleeves that fell off the shoulder, and I felt very pretty. I slipped on a pair of matching off-white kitten heels and walked over to sit next to Ginger. She had on a lavender dress and silver heels. Her auburn hair was down and curled, and her hazel eyes sparkled.
"Do I look alright?" She asked, tilting her head.
"You look wonderful." I assured her, but she averted her gaze, seeming to be pondering if I meant it or not. I understood. After all, we were competition in her eyes, but in mine, we were just acquaintances that had met on the plane. We didn't talk for a while after that, or for the rest of the day.