The Selection (Selection - Trilogy)

Selected girls were watching him in adoration.
    “America,” someone called. I turned to my right to see Elayna and Leah talking to a woman who looked almost identical to the queen. “Come and meet the queen’s sister.” There was something in Elayna’s tone that I couldn’t quite name but made me nervous about joining them.
    I walked over and curtsied to the lady, who cackled and said, “Stop that, honey. I’m not the queen here. I’m Adele, Amberly’s older sister.” She extended a hand, which I took, and she hiccuped as we shook. The woman had a slight accent, and something about her was comforting in the way that coming home feels. She was curvaceous and held a near-empty glass of wine that, based on the heavy look in her eyes, was not her first.
    “Where are you from? I love your accent,” I said. Some of the other girls from the South sounded similar, and their voices seemed incredibly romantic to me.
    “Honduragua. Right by the coast. We grew up in the tiniest house,” she said, making a space the size of an inch between her finger and thumb. “And look at her now. Look at me,” she said, motioning down to her dress. “Such a change.”
    “I live in Carolina, and my parents took me to the coast once. I loved it,” I replied.
    “Oh, no, no, no, child,” she said, waving her hand about. Elayna and Leah looked like they were holding in laughter. Clearly they didn’t think the queen’s sister should be quite so familiar. “The beaches in middle Illéa are trash compared to the ones down south. You have to go see one day.”
    I smiled and nodded, thinking that I’d love to see more of the country, but it was doubtful I ever would. Shortly after, one of Adele’s many children came up to her and pulled her away, and Elayna and Leah burst into laughter.
    “Isn’t she hilarious?” Leah said.
    “I don’t know. She seems friendly,” I replied with a shrug.
    “She’s vulgar,” Elayna replied. “You should have heard all the things she said before you came up.”
    “What was so bad about her?”
    “You’d think she’d have picked up a few lessons in decorum over the years. How did Silvia not get ahold of her?” Leah said with a sneer.
    “Need I remind you, she was raised as a Four. Same as you,” I shot back.
    Her smug expression faltered, and she seemed to remember that she and Adele weren’t so different. Elayna, however, was a natural Three and kept on talking.
    “You can bet, if I win, my family will either be trained or deported. I wouldn’t let any of them embarrass me like that.”
    “What was so embarrassing?” I asked.
    Elayna sucked her teeth. “She’s drunk. The queen and king of Swendway are here. She ought to be caged.”
    I decided that was enough and walked away to get some wine of my own. Once I had a glass, I looked around and honestly couldn’t find a single place I wanted to settle. The whole reception was beautiful and interesting and completely aggravating.
    I thought about what Elayna had said. If I ended up living in the palace, would I expect my family to change? I looked at the children running around, the people huddled together catching up. Wouldn’t I want Kenna to be exactly who she was, want her children enjoying all this no matter how they behaved?
    How much would living at the palace change me?
    Would Maxon want me to change? Was that why he was off kissing other girls? Because there was something not quite right about me?
    Was the rest of the Selection going to feel this irritating?
    “Smile.”
    I turned, and Maxon snapped a picture of me. I bounced back in surprise. That unexpected picture wore out the last of my patience, and I turned away.
    “Something wrong?” Maxon asked, lowering the camera.
    I shrugged.
    “What’s going on?”
    “I just don’t feel like being a part of the Selection today,” I answered curtly.
    Unfazed, Maxon stepped closer and lowered his voice. “Need someone to talk to? I could tug my ear right now,” he offered.
    I sighed and tried to put a polite smile on my face. “No, I just need to think.” I went to leave.
    “America,” he said quietly. I stopped and turned. “Have I done something?”
    I hesitated. Should I ask about him kissing Olivia? Should I tell him how tense I was feeling around the girls now that things had changed between us? Should I tell him how I didn’t want to change myself or my family to be a part of this? I was about to let everything spill out when a shrill voice called