When I woke up in the morning I felt the same emptiness I felt the day Amity had left.
My family was gone.
The only thing I could think of to comfort me was the words Ryan said to me: "I think I'll propose next month, or whenever I'm ready."
I'd seen them in about a month.
Today, however, was a few days afterwords and we were beginning to set up our presentations. Karen suggested that we start getting ready, so I listened.
And while I was getting ready, a once foreign, but now familiar feeling shook inside of me. Nervousness. But had no reason to be nervous because I was prepared. I had everything I needed, I knew what I would say, and I knew no matter what, Ryan and my family would be proud of me.
Before I knew it, I had on long pink dress that crisscrossed at the top and had gold beading down the torso. My makeup was fresh and thick and beautiful. I had on some tall heels that matched the pink of the dress and had a white swirling pattern painted across them.
"Thank you," I said to my maids.
"Of course," they smiled.
Thoughts about the presentation raced through my head. I knew I needed something.
I paced around and then said to my maids, "Um... Could I have a small bag of some sort?"
Inside the bag I would put the rebels textbook. I wanted to have it with me, but I couldn't let anyone see it.
"Yes, is there a reason?" Asked Chelsea.
"Just to carry my notes in."
That wasn't a lie. I would also put my notebook in the bag.
Chelsea later came with a small felt bag that was just big enough to fit the textbook in.
"Thank you," I said and she smiled back.
When no one was looking, I slid the book inside.
"Good luck, Lady Emily," Karen said, "we'll be watching!"
I looked over to the clock to find it was time to go.
"Thank you," I scurried off.
Walking into the room I saw the other girls prancing around. I didn't worry, though. I knew what I was doing.
I took a seat behind the cameras they were setting up.
"Emily!" Ryan jumped over to me.
"Ryan!" I mimicked but in a softer voice.
"You got this set up, right?" He asked.
I assumed that his concern was because if I didn't have this ready, I would be eliminated.
"Yes," I tapped the bag.
"Good... What is it about?"
"No, I'm letting be a surprise," I smiled.
"Rebels?"
I didn't say anything.
"Emily!" He rubbed his head; taking the hint it was about the rebels. "Emily, I thought you were smarter than that."
What?
Something inside of me melted when I heard those words come out of his mouth.
But this was about me and my project. This has nothing to do with him. He shouldn't be acting like this.
"Well, I suspected that you were going to do something with the rebels, so I came prepared."
He had a notebook in his hand and placed it on my lap.
He softly added, "This is a backup presentation. Do this instead. It's simply just about helping the environment by adding a day dedicated to planting flowers and plants."
I examined the notebook. The notes were in his handwriting and had a whole presentation written out.
"You really took the time to do this?" I looked up at him.
"Yes. For you, I'd do anything. And I don't want you hurt or forcefully eliminated. If you did the campaign about rebels, you would be, and I can't let that happen."
For you I'd do anything.
"Ryan I-" I was cut off by a man who pulled him aside.
"Prince Ryan, we're starting soon."
He walked away.
I'm doing the presentation about the rebels whether he likes it or not.
"5, 4, 3, 2, 1," a camera man pointed to Marcus.
"Welcome ladies and gentlemen to The Report, live from King Jacob's and Queen Marcy's royal palace! Tonight we will be hearing from the last four selected girls," Marcus explained the presentations.
Honestly, I didn't see anything wrong with doing the presentation about rebels. The rules we were told was: not to go against already established laws and to not go against the royal family. They said nothing about rebels.
Amelia walked up to the stage where Marcus was recently standing.
"Good evening. My name is Amelia Common and I stand here tonight on behalf of the selection from the royal palace," she began.
I listened thoroughly to her campaign about animal abuse. She suggested that local vets should keep files of who in the neighborhood has a pet, and they should be sent a letter for an examination of their pet once a month. If there were signs of any type of animal abuse, they would be placed in a local animal shelter.
It sounded like a good idea and it didn't surprise me that Amelia did something about animals. She looked like a cat person.
In fact, she went on a whole speech about her cats and dog back at home and how pets should be treated as family and not just an animal.
She ended by saying that we should love animals and gave Ryan a hug. As she walked off, Tammy went up.
I didn't listen as intensively, but I heard that it had something to do with school activity and teachers shouldn't assume that all children work at the same level and pace.
I didn't hear exactly what she was planning to do about it. I was busy looking through the notebook Ryan gave me.
He was so cute. He added a line that said: "Plants are important. Water them daily."
I almost laughed, but the cameras would've picked up my sound. Instead I covered my mouth and looked over to him. When he spotted me, he looked confused.
You have to love him.
Tammy walked off and took her seat. I was told I would be last, but I didn't mind. I was last for a lot of things. I was the last one to be drawn for the selection, the last to get a date with Ryan, and now the last to present my presentation.
Kathleen walked up and something drained from inside of me. She would be eliminated tomorrow.
She shined with a smile on her face and began by greeting the camera.
Her presentation was about orphans. She spoke wonderfully about how we should invite these children as family members in our own home. Her presentation was more persuasive than suggesting anything, but the way she spoke was so beautiful it could've made someone cry.
Just as she smile as she walked on, she walked off with the same confidence. I felt a tap on my shoulder.
"You're up," a harsh voice whispered.
I took a deep breath and slushed my way up. Looking around I saw Ryan standing off camera taking deep breaths, the rest of the selected with smiles on their faces, and officials in the audience.
My hands shook but I set my notebook in front of the podium. The textbook I hid under it.
"Good evening," I began, my voice cracking, "my name is Emily Blake and I am one of the selected."
Think, think.
"Tonight I want to speak about something serious," I croaked the word out: "rebels."
Some gasps went through the audience and the King and Queen looked worried.
I kept going.
"Rebels have been attacking the palace for almost a century. We need to put a stop to them," my voice didn't shake any more.
"Southern rebels attack the palace in search for violence. Northern rebels, however, want to figure out theory's and plot them on the palace."
Why did I say that? Everyone knows that.
"We need to stop them. It won't be easy... But it will be possible."
I picked up the pace; starting to get into it.
"My first idea is to surround the palace in more walls than we already have. We have the fences, but we need more. We need walls. They will help keep out the rebels, especially the southern. I can't promise it will keep them out forever, but it would minimize the amount of attacks," I was talking with my hands and practically jumping around.
"Northern rebels will be a little trickier," I continued, "but we can form a law that if you are founded as a northern rebel, you will will be under arrest. The northern rebel compounds will be under security cameras or taken down. Please note that this is only for safety reasons. Realizing that taking power away from the rebels will result in a loss of their jobs, we can perhaps allow them jobs as detectives or investigators."
I regretted what I said as soon as I said it. I realized it didn't sound very wise to put rebels in charge of fighting crime in our nation.
Before I could change what I said, King Jacob walked up next to me. I held my breath.
"Where did you get any ideas for such a project?" He demanded.
"A textbook, sir," I swallowed.
"What textbook? Where did you get it?"
I didn't know how to answer. I pulled the textbook shyly from the podium. He took it from my hands; making it obvious it front of the camera. Oh, what did I do?
He flipped through the pages.
"Turn the cameras off. Now. We are done," he ordered and then walked out of the room with Queen Marcy.
I looked around. They pointed the cameras to the floor and turned them off. Ryan was shaking his head at me with a frustrated look on his face. The rest of the selected girls were mumbling, probably about me. Even Kathleen and Amelia looked shocked. The officials in the audience came up to me.
"Give me that!" Someone took the book from me.
"Tomorrow morning you will be eliminated!"