The Scarred Rebel (Book one of A Selection Fanfic)

Chapter 7

This is Dahlia's dress! A little note for her outfits all of them are closed back and no one in the Palace knows about her scars. Some of the outfits are shorter than appropriate for the Palace and some dresses are off the shoulder. I'm just gonna need you all to pretend they have sleeves or are longer.

Dahlia's POV 

Arriving at the airport I notice there are two girls already there. One has a Lily in her hair so she must be from Carolina, and the other had a Daffodil in her hair so she was from Belcourt. I went through the list of girls I had memorized and realized it was Faye Holland and Mollie Ford. They turned as they heard me approaching and smile politely at me. Well Mollie smiles politely and Faye grins. 

"Hi I'm Dahlia Merchant. Kent." I extend my hand and Faye bats it away immediately hugging me. I return the hug somewhat scared that she'll somehow feel my scars. 

"Hello! I'm Faye Holland from Belcourt!" She exclaims.  I was correct in assuming I should befriend this girl. Her joy was contagious much like Paisley's and I found myself grinning with her. I turned to Mollie to see if she would join in on the introductions.

"So are you more of a hug or handshake kind of girl?" I ask. 

"Actually I prefer fistbumps." She replies half joking half serious. Mollie was a tan girl with bleach blonde hair. I remember reading that she was an actress. I extend my hand and we fist bump.

"We're waiting for one more girl right?" I ask Mollie nods in confirmation. 

"We're waiting on Nia Warren from Fennley." Faye says.

"She's the model right?"

"Yeah! She's sooooo pretty, I've heard that she's super nice to her fans too!"

Obviously we had all been studying up on one another trying to figure everyone out and what their strategy is. Maybe that was just mom who was insistent that I can win this. But what's there to win? The Prince is a person not a trophy. He's not a possession to be won no one is.

We all turned our heads when we heard the click of heels and saw Nia walk over. "Hi guys! You're the other selected right?"

"Yeah! I'm Faye Holland!"

"Mollie Ford."

"And I'm Dahlia Merchant!"

"Oh good! I was worried I walked up to the wrong group. Can you imagine how embarrassing that would be?" Nia seemed plenty friendly but she had this confidence that the rest of us didn't. A man walked up to us as we were chatting and cleared his throat.

"Now that you're all here you can board and we'll be heading for Angeles shortly." We all filed onto the plane and silently agreed to sit by each other. As the other selected conversed I took a moment to study each of the girls. All of them were very kind and I hoped we would still be friends after the selection.

"What do you think Prince Micah is like?" Mollie asked.

"Hot." We all burst into laughter at Nia's comment. 

"I'm sure there's more to him then that!" Faye said gasping for breathe.

"So am I, but you can't deny that he's hot."

"She's right Faye you really can't."

"Dahlia!" 

"I'm just saying! I'm sure he has a personality as equally wonderful as his face."

"And his body!" Mollie chimed in.

"You guys shut up!" 

"I mean for a guy who does desk work he's pretty fit!" Nia chimed in.

"I heard he works out with the guards!" Faye finally joined in instead of scolding us.

"That would explain a lot." I mumble. 

"Like those abs."

"WHAT!" Mollie shrieked, Faye's jaw had dropped and I'm sure I looked quite shocked.

"It was a behind the scenes clip in a magazine!" 

"Ok let's change the topic!" I say swiftly. Nia brings up her modeling and asks what the rest of us do for work. Mollie was an actress and said she starred in a couple romcoms, Faye's family owned a chain of cafes and coffee shops and told us she worked there. Mollie thanked her for making coffee because it's what apparently keeps her alive. I of course explained that I'm an artist and volunteer at the post office to prepare meals. 

"Oh! We're here!" Faye exclaimed and we all whipped our heads toward the window she was looking out of. We quickly landed and as we stepped off the plane I heard the shouting of all the people gathered to see the selected. I was slightly shocked at the amount of people that were rooting for me. I was fairly certain they were northern rebels but I really didn't care. I saw two girls one around Paisley's age and the other was a few years younger. They were holding a sign that said "Life is short. Dahlia is short. Therefore Dahlia is life!" The sign made me laugh and as I thought about it even at 5'2 I was probably the shortest girl in the selection. I walked over to the girls and they asked me to sign their poster which I happily did. I jumped around to both sides of the roped off area talking to people and signing posters. I had a few conversations with some rebels who recognized me from meetings I attended with the Illea's. One girl asked me to sign her arm and told me she wanted to get tattooed! I couldn't believe it! I told her that maybe she should wait and make sure that's what she wanted but she was insistent so I finally relented and signed her arm. 

"Excuse me?" I looked to my right and saw an redhead girl around the age of 6 looking at me. I crouched down to meet her height.

"Hi. What's your name?"

"I'm Piper." She answered shyly.

"Nice to meet you Piper!" 

"It's nice to meet you too Dahlia! I wanted to ask you something."

"Go ahead!"

"Are you scared?" I saw all the other selected stop what they were doing and turn my way.

"You know what? I am. I'm a little scared but I'm not going to let that stop me."

"Why not?"

"Well my dad always tells me to keep my chin up and be proud of myself so that's what I'm gonna do."

"Then that's what I'm gonna do too!" Piper was grinning at me now and I grinned back.

"Hugs?" I ask completely ignoring the other people and the cameras. 

Piper nodded and I being short enough ducked under the rope to hug her and shook her moms hand. 

"You've got a wonderful daughter ma'am."

"I know I do. She's my little star." It was then I noticed the woman's hair clip. An  8 point star. 

"Keep your chin up Piper." I said to the girl before finishing up and getting in the car with the other girls. They all gave me small smiles but we stayed silent for the rest of the trip. 

When we got to the Palace it took everything in me to stop my jaw from dropping.

"Oh my-"

"Goodness." I finished Faye's sentence both of us speaking in an awed whisper. We were quickly ushered into the Palace where we were met by a woman with blue eyes and styled brown hair. 

"Hello everyone I'm Antonia if you'll follow me to the women's room for your makeovers please. This group is running late." 

We all walked into the women's room and were sent over to our stations. I stepped behind a curtain and the maids there had a bath set up. After a small fight and the fact that I nearly had an anxiety attack at the thought of someone seeing my back I washed myself and put on the robe. I made it obvious that I didn't want a drastic change and they dragged over a simple black dress that I loved. Let the makeover begin.