Emily In The Selection (book 1)

Chapter 5

Here I am. Hugging my own family goodbye. It has been a week since the selected were announced and today I am getting into the plane to fly to the palace.

I had already driven in a car with my parents for a very long time to go to the airport where all the selected would be meeting to get on the plane to reach California, where the palace is. I had gotten through the security and was ready to board.

"I'm going to miss you so much, mom!" I said to my mom.

My eyes fogged up with tears. My throat became dry and started pounding when I tried to fight the tears back.

"Oh, honey! We will miss you too! But don't let us come in the way of you going to the palace! You have to do this. And we will be watching you on T.V. and will be writing to you!"

My dad stepped forward and gave me a hug.

"I love you, sweet pea," he said. "and you better have fun." He winked.

I tried to smile but my lips curled on their own and a tear fell down my face.

Robbie came to me. "I love you, Em. Tell Prince Ryan that I said hi!"

The thought that those might be the last words I would hear of my brother until I return home made two more tears slide on my cheeks.

"I love you too, Robbie."

"You better go, Emily! You don't want to miss the flight!" My mom said.

"Alright," I replied, "I love you all!" I choked back more tears and I gaged at the thought of leaving them. I looked back to them and turned to pick up my luggage.

I took a few deep breaths and wiped my face. I was self conscious about crying in my dreams and I feel humiliated to be crying at an airport.

I handed the lady my plane ticket and walked in. I looked around to find a place to sit. Four of the selected girls were already here. (Not including me).

"Move!" I heard an impatient cry from behind me.

I turned around to see one of the selected girls giving me a nasty look. I tried to remember who it was from seeing the pictures last week, and she looked very similar to Jessica's picture.

"I'm Jessica Ambers. One of the selected. Who are you?" She piped again.

"Emily Blake... One of the selected. Nice to meet you," I said airily.

"Wow. If they let you get into the selection than this'll be a piece of cake for me to win!"

Her snotty, yet girly voice filled my ears and even made another girl turn around.

The girl who turned around said, "Hey, Emily. You can sit by me."

I put my stuff above the seat and sat down next to her.

"Thanks," I smiled.

"Of course!" She nodded back.

Her short brown hair was in a bob and was frizzy. I tried really hard to remember who she was but it didn't come to me. Not many of the girls had short hair, but her name never popped into my head.

"I'm sorry I've forgotten, but what's your name?" I ask politely.

"Oh I'm sorry! My name is Amity Hatton," she smiled.

"That's a lovely name," I nodded, "nice to meet you."

A few more girls piled in and I recognized them as Tammy, Florida, and Bethany. I wonder if anyone else is looking at me and trying to distinguish who I am from their memory.

"Alrighty, ladies, we welcome you onto flight H37-B6J! Our next stop is the palace! Please buckle your seat belts and getting ready to take off!" A voice off the intercom spoke.

I buckled my seat belt and look over to Amity who was already half asleep. I decided not to disturb her and pull out a book to read instead. The book in my purse was "The Witch of Blackbird Pond." It was quite interesting too, but very old.

I flipped through a few pages when I looked up to see the selected before my eyes. I counted them.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine.

Where is the last one? I wondered. But I ignored the thought for a while. I looked at my dress that was a pinkish coral color. I was a tank top with a collar that went over my neck. It was silky until it hit my waist, where it was snug and then silky again until it stopped at my knees.

I'm not used to wearing dresses. My sweatshirts and sweatpants were what I was used to. My mom told me I should wear this, even though I didn't want to. I had this dress in the back of my closet And only wore it on special occasions. And this occasion seemed special enough.

The other girls wore a variety of colors. They all wore dresses but some were long, some were short, some strapless, some with sleeves, some were just casual sundresses, and others were elegant gowns.

The girls in the elegant gowns were the twos. The only six here, Kathleen, wore a light pink sundress which looked nice on her. She look very welcoming and friendly, like Amity.

Amity just woke up from her daze and asked me, "How long was I asleep?"

"Oh, about an hour, I suppose," I replied.

"Oh, wow. We should be landing soon, shouldn't we?"

"I guess so."

I looked around again at the selected girls.

"Alright girls, we will be landing in about five minutes. Two limos will be taking the nine of you to the palace afterward, so get ready for landing!" The voice on the intercom appeared again.

I knew there was only nine girls.

Getting off the plane felt rushed and the limo ride wasn't bad. I rode with Jessica, (who I made sure was as far away from me as possible) Kathleen, Tammy, and Amity. I made sure Amity was by my side the entire time until we got into the palace. Something about her presence was just comforting.

"Welcome ladies," we were greeted into the palace, "each of you will be assigned three maids that will be taking care of you as long as your stay will be here with us. They will be meeting you now to give you makeovers and show you to your rooms and the palace."

Two ladies stepped toward me and smiled kindly

"Hello Lady Emily. We will be assisting you." They talked over each other.

"My name is Chelsea and this is Karen," one of them spoke, "it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Oh, you too!" I spoke eager to meet them. "But didn't the woman say I should have three maids?"

"Yes, and we regret to tell you that we have had a shortage in maids and can one assist two maids to you instead of three." Karen explained.

"Oh, alright," I spoke, "I'm excited to get to know both of you!"