The Confession

Chapter Six

After the party...

America:
"Marlee!" I whisper-shouted.

"What?"

"I'm nervous!"

"You're nervous? I should be the nervous one here! You aren't telling your children how you got your scars that they have been wondering about their whole life!" she complained.

"I may not be, but Maxon will," I mumbled under my breath.

"What?" She asked.

"Oh, nothing," I replied.

"Something about Maxon?" Marlee pressed.

"Never mind, it doesn't concern you."

"Fine, if you say so..." she said, rolling her eyes.

We were walking across the palace toward the Women's Room. Slowly, I opened the heavy wooden doors to see Eadlyn holding Kerttu with Erik by her side on a couch. "Grandma!" Kerttu said when she noticed us, leaping off her mother's lap and running to my arms.

"Hello, Kerttu!" I said, smiling.

"Hi, Miss Marlee!" She said giving Marlee a hug as well.

"Why is Marlee here, mom? No, offense," Eadlyn asked, standing up from the couch.

"Marlee will play an important role in the story soon, as will Carter. Kile and Josie will arrive shortly to listen, because they don't know this part yet either," I explained. Eadlyn stiffened at the mention of Kile, but gave me a smile and nodded.

As the rest of our audience arrived, Marlee quietly chatted with Carter, no doubt trying to figure out how to tell their part of the story. A pair of hands covered my eyes, "Hello Maxon," I said, not hesitating.

"How'd you know it was me?" Maxon asked, stepping in front of me.

"One cannot tell one's secret!" I replied, kissing him.

"Is everyone here?" he asked quietly.

"Yes," I said, voice shaking, my nervousness creeping up again.

"Don't be nervous, America. We've got this," he assured.

I nodded and took my seat. "Shall we begin?" I asked the crowd.

Everyone took their seats, eager to hear the story. Maxon and I quickly caught everyone who wasn't here up, and I proceeded with the tale.

"It was Kriss Ambers, another selected, birthday. The palace was having a party and I wanted to give Kriss a gift because she was kind to me. I ended up deciding to play her a song on my violin. At the party, Marlee and Kriss made me play, and of course when I was playing, Maxon walked in," I told them, smiling at Marlee.

"Here we go again," Eadlyn muttered under her breath.

"I remember feeling like I was cast under a spell when I heard America play the violin. I thought it was a dream. But it obviously wasn't," Maxon said, as I blushed a little.

"Celeste had 'accidently' spilled wine on Kriss's cream colored dress, making her run off, Maxon following her. That ended the party."

"A couple days later, we had a rebel attack, a pretty big one. The Rebels were fast that time. Luckly, Aspen was outside my door, and was able to get me into the saferoom. Maxon confessed his feelings for me was definently more than friendship, and Aspen was there to see it. After the attack, Aspen told me that he wouldn't stop fighting for me."

Aspen gave me a weak grin that I returned.

"The next day at breakfast, I noticed Maxon debating something in his head. I got nervous that he was about to kick me out. By then I knew that I wasn't just in the Selection for the food and money, but partially for him," I said, a little sadly.

"Soon, I announced that I would narrow down the Selected to the Elite. Because we are only a third done with our story, I would prefer that we don't talk a lot about this, since you already know this," Maxon spoke. Everyone nodded.

Maxon:

"During one of our dates, I challenged America that I knew everything there was to know in the world, and if I didn't, I would know where to find it. She asked me what Halloween was. I made a decision for showing America a room with Gregory Illea's diaries and other banned books. I searched up Halloween and found descriptions about it in one of Gregory's diaries. I let America borrow the book so she could read it. A couple days later, I decided, why not have a Halloween party, since it was the same time of year as Halloween was said to be?" I said.

"When he told me this, he said that my family and the families of the Elite could come, since it was part of the competition that Maxon should meet the elite's parents. I was overjoyed!" America said eyes shining.

"But the catch was, I had to eliminate a girl after the ball," I took a quick glance at Marlee and Carter as they tried to keep straight faces, knowing their turn was arriving very soon.

"The next weeks was a blur of costume designing and planning for the party. During which I also met with Aspen," America said.

I started to ball my fists, but tried to remain calm. She chose you, Maxon! No need to get worked up! This was a long time ago!

"My family came, and I was so happy! They day after they arrived, May and I saw Maxon walking alone with my dad in the gardens. I wasn't quite sure what to make out of that. I thought it meant I was going home. Then came the Ball. I was upset that Maxon hadn't danced with me yet, but danced with all the other girls. During which I danced with Carter, Aspen, and other guards. Then finally, Maxon asked me to dance," she told them.

"Why didn't you dance with Mom first?" Ahren asked.

"I wanted to get all of my obligations finished so I could have all the time I could with your mother," I said as she gave me a smile. "I had plans that night to ask your mother to marry me. I had the perfect ring, a long speech, but I didn't ask. That was a mistake, I later learned. But what I did manage to do was tell America that I would choose her.

"I figured that happened," Aspen said, speaking up. "That's why a vase in the hallway may or may-not have been shattered..." he said, as we all laughed.

I heard Marlee take a deep breath, clearly nervous. "The next morning, I was woken up early by my maids for something. They dressed me in black, and I started to cry, asking who died." America said, trying to keep it together.

"Mary, Anne, and I were under strict orders to not say anything. But after a lot of urging Anne did tell America that no one had or would die," Lucy said sadly, shaking her head.

"I met with Elise, Celeste, Natalie, and Kriss, who were also dressed in black. The guard said that we were all there, but Marlee was missing..." America trailed off, gripping my arm.

Carter took a breath, and turned toward Kile and Josie. "At the party, your mother and I was caught in a closet kissing by a cameraman filming the ball. He heard noises and found us."

I heard Eadlyn and Ahren gasp, realizing what was going to happen next.