Another Selected (Book 1 of Selection fanfics)

Chapter 5

I rolled my eyes. "I highly doubt that. I'll probably accidentally insult him, or I'll run out of things to say."

She laughed. "Ten bucks you'll trip and fall on him the first time you meet."

I giggled. "Deal."

Unfortunately, Amber was probably right. I managed to trip over everything, even things that weren't even there. There was no doubt I would probably trip every day at the palace.

"So what're you bringing?" Amber asked, quickly changing the subject.

"An extra set of clothes. Some pictures of the family and Duke." I said quietly.

She nodded, and proceeded to fling her arms around me. I wrapped my arms tightly around her, burying my head in her brown hair. She was still fairly short, like mom, so my chin rested on top of her head.

"I'm gonna miss you." She sniffled.

"I'm gonna miss you too." I held onto her tightly.
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We walked downstairs together in silence. Mom and dad were talking in the kitchen, and Kaleb and Aidan were waiting for us at the bottom of the stairs.

"Ready to go?" Kaleb asked me.

I nodded. "Yep. Is Annika here?" I asked hopefully.

He sighed. "I'm sorry Erika. I don't know where she is."

"Oh." I sighed and looked down at the ground.

"Hey. Don't worry about her. Worry about that prince you've gotta impress." Aidan looked at me.

I laughed. "I'll be back in a week."

He rolled his eyes. "As much as I hate saying this, I wouldn't count on that."

I snorted. "Yeah right."

"Stop it you two. Just try not to wreck the whole palace Erika. And take care of yourself. Call us if he tries anything-I don't care if he's the prince, if he hurts you, we'll beat him up." Kaleb hugged me tightly.

I nodded and hugged him back tightly. "Thanks Kaleb."

Aidan and Amber joined in on our hug, and soon mom and dad were in on it too. I held onto them tightly, not ready to let go of them.

"Alright, I hate breaking this up but we need to go. The car is waiting already." Mom said sadly.

"You guys go ahead. Give us a minute." Dad said, taking my hand and waving them off.

I turned to face him. "What is it dad?"

He pulled me into a bone-crushing hug. "I just wanted to say goodbye in private. And I wanted to give you something."

I tilted my head. "What is it?"

He dug into his pocket and pulled out a silver bracelet with some sort of star charm on it. "It was your grandmothers. She wanted it to be given to one of you, but it got mixed up in your mother's jewelry. I thought you might want it, to have a piece of our family with you."

I smiled. "It's beautiful daddy. Thank you."

He beamed and clipped it around my wrist. "Now, I know your brothers probably already told you this, but if that boy gives you any trouble, I'll knock some sense into him."

I smiled softly and hugged him tightly. "Thanks dad."

He hugged me back tightly. "Your welcome sweetie. I'm gonna miss you so much."

"I'm gonna miss you too daddy."
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After a long drive, I was forced to endure a long speech from the mayor congratulating me on being selected, and how proud the province should be of me. I nearly fell asleep, but with Amber grabbing my arm every five seconds, I didn't.

The mayor asked if I wanted to say any words, to which I politely refused. I had no idea what I would even say, and I really didn't want to embarrass myself. Finally, I was led over to the car that would take me to the airport, and I had to say my final goodbyes to my family. Mom was pretty emotional, and I regretted not saying goodbye privately at home.

"Good luck sweetheart." She sniffled after nearly five minutes of her sobbing.

"Thank you mom. I'll write as soon as I can." I hugged them all one last time before climbing into the car. The door closed behind me, and I looked at their smiling faces. I loved all of them, but there was only one face I wanted to see right now. And of course, she wasn't here.
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I walked into the airport quietly, carrying my small bag. I hoped that I wasn't late-I really didn't want girls to be angry with me before we even got to the palace.

Thankfully, only one other girl was there. She was sitting down at one of the chairs, a bored expression on her face. Even with such a bored look on her face, you could see how naturally beautiful she was. She had gorgeous brown hair and brown eyes, and a pretty pink peony flower was sitting in her hair.

As soon as I walked over, her head popped up, and a grin spread across her face.

"Thank god your here. I was about to die of boredom. I'm Liana by the way. Liana Walsh." She held her hand out.

I smiled, and shook her hand. Maybe these girls wouldn't be as bad as I had thought. "Nice to meet you. I'm Erika Carpenter."

"Of course! I remember seeing your picture on the Report-your from Kent, right?"

I nodded. "That's right."

She grinned. "I'm from Allens, so we're practically neighbors. I'm guessing Kent's filled with cornfields and farms, too right?"

I laughed and nodded. "It is. And I happen to live on one of them."

"Ah. So your a country girl?" She scooted over so I could sit beside her.

I shrugged and sat down. "More or less. I love the farm, but I don't want to stay there forever. If that makes sense."

"Perfect sense. My family owns a restaurant, and I love the place but I also hate it. If that makes any sense." She giggled.

I laughed. "I understand."

She smiled at me. "It's nice to talk to someone about this who isn't in my family."

I nodded in agreement. "It is. If I ever said I wanted to leave the farm voluntarily to someone in my family, they'd faint at the thought."

She chuckled. "Your pretty funny. Somehow I don't see a lot of the other girls being like that."

"You think?" I said sarcastically, before laughing and nodding. "They'll be too busy complaining that their dress isn't pretty enough, or that the prince doesn't talk to them enough."

She laughed. "We should stick together. I'd like a friend who doesn't take this too seriously."

I nodded. "Me too."

And with that, I'd somehow made my first friend who wasn't a member of my family.
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Ugh sorry this took so long, but its a long chapter so hopefully that made up for it! I'm kinda disappointed that I'm behind on holidays in this book, so maybe I'll make a christmas special...or I'll find a way to publish a lot of chapters at a time. Who knows. Anywho, hope you guys liked this!