The Selection (Selection - Trilogy)

Smiling.
    “Celeste.”
    “Could you come with me for just one moment? I need some help.”
    Without waiting for an answer, she pulled me away from Kriss and Natalie and around the heavy blue curtain that was the backdrop of the Report studio.
    “Take off your dress,” she ordered as she started unzipping her own.
    “What?”
    “I want your dress. Take it off. Ugh! Damn hook,” she said, still trying to get out of her clothes.
    “I’m not taking off my dress,” I said, and went to leave. I didn’t get very far, though, as Celeste buried her nails into my arm and jerked me back.
    “Ouch!” I cried, grabbing my arm. It looked like there would be marks but hopefully no blood.
    “Shut up. Take off the dress. Now.”
    I stood there, my face set, refusing to budge. Celeste was just going to have to get over not being the center of Illéa.
    “I could take it off for you,” she offered coldly.
    “I’m not afraid of you, Celeste,” I said as I crossed my arms. “This dress was made for me, and I’m going to wear it. Next time you pick out your clothes, maybe you should try being yourself instead of me. Oh, wait, but maybe then Maxon would see what a brat you are and send you home, huh?”
    Without a second of hesitation, she reached up and ripped one of my sleeves off and walked away. I gasped in outrage but was too stunned to do anything more. I looked down and saw a tattered scrap of fabric dangling pathetically in front of me. I heard Silvia calling for everyone to come to their seats, so I walked around the side of the curtain as bravely as I could manage.
    Marlee had saved me a seat beside her, and I saw the shocked look on her face as I came into view.
    “What happened to your dress?” she whispered.
    “Celeste,” I explained in disgust.
    Emmica and Samantha, who were sitting in front of us, turned around.
    “She tore your dress?” Emmica asked.
    “Yes.”
    “Go to Maxon and turn her in,” she pleaded. “That girl’s a nightmare.”
    “I know,” I said with a sigh. “I’ll tell him next time I see him.”
    Samantha looked sad. “Who knows when that will be? I thought we’d get to spend more time with him.”
    “America, lift your arm,” Marlee instructed. She expertly tucked my tattered sleeve into the side of my dress as Emmica plucked away a few stray threads. You couldn’t even tell anything had happened to it. As for the nail marks, well, at least they were on my left arm and away from the camera.
    It was almost time to start. Gavril was flipping through notes as the royal family came in at last. Maxon had on a dark blue suit with a pin of the national emblem on his lapel. He looked sharp and calm.
    “Good evening, ladies,” he sang with a smile.
    A chorus of “Majesty” and “Highness” fell over him.
    “Just so you know, I’ll be giving one brief announcement and then introducing Gavril. It’ll be a nice change; he’s always introducing me!” He chuckled, and we all followed. “I know some of you are probably a little nervous, but you have no need to be. Please, just be yourselves. The people want to know you.” Our eyes met a few times while he was talking, but nothing long enough for me to read him. He didn’t seem to notice the dress. My maids would be disappointed.
    He walked over to the podium, calling out “Good luck” over his shoulder.
    I could tell something was going on. I assumed this announcement of his would be related to what he’d told us yesterday, but I still couldn’t guess at what it all meant. Maxon’s little mystery distracted me, and I wasn’t so nervous anymore. I felt all right as the anthem played and the camera settled squarely on Maxon’s face. I’d been watching the Report since I was a child. Maxon had never addressed the country before, not like this. I wished I could have told him good luck, too.
    “Good evening, ladies and gentlemen of Illéa. I know that tonight is an exciting night for us all as the country gets to finally hear from the twenty-five remaining women in the Selection. I can’t begin to express how excited I am for you to meet them. I’m sure you will all agree that any one of these amazing young ladies would be a wonderful leader and future princess.
    “But before we get to that, I’d like to announce a new project I am working on that is of great importance to me. Having met these ladies, I’ve been exposed to the wide world outside our palace, a world that I rarely get to see. I’ve been told of