The Selection - Aarmau

Chapter Two

As the days went on, Sylvannah grew more impatient about Aphmau and the Selection. The small disagreements turned to screaming matches, and Aphmau would not budge.

It was nearly 8 AM, and Aphmau was nearly late for work, she ran in her flats, as fast as she could to get there, and the employee door shut tightly behind her.

Standing in the kitchen, making sure everything was ready for the cooks while nursing a cup of coffee, was Travis.

"Hiya." he said, "you're lucky you got here on time."

"Just barely," she sighed, clocking in and walking out front. Sitting at the counter already, was one of their regulars, a plump old man, waiting for his morning cup of coffee and eggs.

And every customer that day asked her about the Selection, all similar things. 'Say, you seem like you're old enough for the Selection, did you sign up?' or 'oh dearie, you must sign up, it could change your life!'

And more and more bullshit about love.

The small TV in the upper corner of the diner was of a news reporter, talking about that very thing, the bachelor himself, flashed up on the screen, and Aphmau rolled her eyes.

By the end of her shift, she felt more exhausted than ever.

"You wanna go for a walk? Maybe go sit at the park or something?" Travis asks, coffee splattered on his apron from splashback doing dishes.

"I have to be home by 7, and so do you." Aphmau says, wiping sweat from her forehead.

"Right. Can I at least walk home with you? I can't believe you ran four blocks today."

"Can't you? I'm an athlete!" Aphmau kids, "sure, why not."

The pair of them clock out, and walk home.

"What has you so tense?"

"What else but the Selection? My mom and I are fighting what seems like every night about it." Aphmau grumbles, yawning.

"I think you should do it."

Aphmau is pulled from her drowsy, sleepiness by this. She stares at him, glaring, eyes wide. "How could you even say that?"

"You don't even think you'll get in, do you?" Travis says, matter-of-factly. "You're being stubborn for the sake of being stubborn."

Aphmau sort of gaped at him. "I can't believe you're siding with your mom."

"Well, she's not wrong. Aphmau, think, the Selection is nuts. Even if you have no chemistry with the guy, you will be a 3! And the money could really help you two. You know it could."

"Plus, you only live once, and probably every eligible girl in the province is going to sign up. If you don't get in, you don't get in." he adds.

"But what if I do get in?" she asks, voice meek.

"Well then, your life is gonna change forever. I just feel like it's a mistake not signing up. If it were me, I would've signed up the day I got that letter."

By the time they finished this conversation, they were in front of Aphmau's house, and she said goodbye wordlessly, rubbing her forehead anxiously as she stepped inside.

Her mother, like always, was in the kitchen. She hadn't gotten home too long ago, either.

But, supper was ready already, leftover potatoes from the previous night, and tomato soup.

It looked like Sylvannah was going to say something, about the Selection, about anything, but she was exhausted, and just couldn't. Aphmau could read the exhaustion on her face.

Her face was sort of sunken in, and Aphmau was sure hers would have been too, in the next ten years.

It made her regret the stubbornness, knowing how hard her mother had worked to support the two of them.

Sylvannah didn't stay up to watch the television like she normally did, instead she just went right up to bed, and Aphmau was left alone with the forms.

She looked over them, and the letter, thinking about the possibilities. All the outcomes.

There was the most obvious, she didn't get picked.

But then, there was the chance that she did, and because she was a 6, she was an early and easy elimination, but she lived as a 3, with enough money to help her mother as well.

And then, there was the chance her mother always talked about. Love.

"That would never happen." Aphmau said quietly, thinking about her mother's words about her falling in love with the prince.

It seemed that every other girl in Illea was in love with Aaron Lycan, except for her.

She went up to bed a bit later, and stared at the ceiling for hours, thinking about what Travis had said.

"You only live once."