"Celia, why are you so quiet?" Astra asks. She picks up a pair of sunglasses and examines them. I run my ponytail through hands as I shrug. I look in the mirror at my eyes. Instead of being their normal icy blue color, they are a hazel color due to the colored contacts I have in. I have on jeans and a tee shirt layered under a black hoodie. I have black, fuzzy boots that Emily brought for me, too.
"Oh, um. Nothing. Just something that happened last night," I say. I leaf through a rack of belts, trying to look interested in something I will never wear. Emily stops me and turns me around.
"Did someone propose?" she whisper yells. I shake my head.
"No. I just had a really strange dream. I'll be fine," I say. I walk away from them to look at a rack of scarves, one thing that I'm allowed to buy instead of heaving maids make. I pick up a white scarf that is similar to the one that got ruined during my time with Ethan. I also pick up a baby pink one that would match a sun dress my maids prepared for me.
"What kind of dream?" Astra says after cornering me between a stack of boxes and rack of jeans. I cross my arms and sigh. I look her right in the eyes but don't speak. "Come on, Celia!" Astra complains.
"Fine. I had a dream about Flynn," I say. Astra and Emily both giggle. My cheeks heat up and I have an urge to hide.
"What kind of dream?" Emily asks. She giggles her eyebrows which causes the two of them to laugh even more. I can feel the blush become even darker, though. I slap Emily's shoulder and she stops laughing.
"Not that kind of dream. It was nowhere close to that," I say. Astra stops laughing and turns her head to the side as if it would give her a better view of me.
"Well, what was it?" Astra asks. I pull my ponytail over my shoulder and pick through it, fixing all the imaginary knots.
"Flynn and I were running through the palace. He was chasing me. When caught he asked my why I ran away and I asked him why he was chasing me," I say. Astra raises her eyebrows in a questioning way. She turns her hand in a circular motion telling me to continue.
"There has to be more. That would never bother you so much," Astra says after I don't say anything. Emily just stares at me like she knows to stay out of this.
"Then he asked me if I was running away from him or something else. I didn't understand and then he asked me if I was running away from my feeling. Then, I ran away and he let me go," I say. Astra nods and Emily just has a confused look on her face.
"Do you think there is more to your feeling than you are trying to allow yourself to have?" Astra asks. I shrug.
"I don't know," I say. Emily puts her arms on my shoulders and stands on her tiptoes to look me in the eye.
"Celia, are you trying not to love?" Emily asks. I shrug.
"I don't know but can we not talk about this right now?" I ask. They both nod and turn away. We pick through a couple racks of clothes, most of which I will never wear.
When we're done there, we walk to a book store. I pick up several things that the palace doesn't have. Then my name catches my eye. I walk towards a magazine with a picture of my family on it. The title reads Scandal In The Palace! What other secrets are they keeping?. I pick it up. Astra and Emily walk over and look over my shoulder.
The subtitles read things like Queen America's Other Man! or Princess Celia actually a miscarriage? and Tames still in palace!. I flip through the pages and they all are stories about things that happened in the palace. Things that I've told very few people.
Things that I told Kevin. The things he must have wrote about for his story about me. And I gave him permission to publish.
So, what do you all think? Please comment! Those are like the best things ever! You all are so funny during your comments. Thank you so much for all the support I've received.
Disclaimer: Kiera Cass owns The Selection, not me.