Hey folks! So uh…haven't written a fanfic in a while but I'm going to stick to this one! (Especially since I have it half-written already and have had it half-written since the Elite came out). I hope you guys enjoy it and completely disregard most of the stuff on my profile page; I haven't updated it since eighth grade, lol. I hope you enjoy my story!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything to do with the Selection trilogy by Kiera Cass.

When I walked into the dining room a couple days later the air is thick with tension. This is the first meal I'm having with King Clarkson since my near-dismissal and I still don't know how to act around him. My maids told me to act naturally but I couldn't tell them the real reason of my distress over the king; that he was abusing Maxon.

Maxon immediately met my gaze and tugged his ear, smiling slightly. It was just a slight tug on the edges of his lips but it was still a smile. I nodded and tugged mine back. His smile grew a bit more before his attention was averted by Celeste pulling on his sleeve and whispering something. He laughed and she giggled seductively. I rolled my eyes as I sat down next to Kriss and Queen Amberly.

"I'm glad you're still here." Kriss whispered to me from the corner of her mouth. She was coyly cutting the fruit on her plate, pretending to not be talking to me. "If I had to deal with her by myself I think I would go crazy."

I tried not to laugh at the truth of her statement. "You still have Elise."

Kriss paused and finally looked over at me. Then she sighed and shook her head. "I wish I could tell you." She said sadly.

"Tell me what?" I asked, truthfully curious.

She hesitated before leaning even closer to me and whispering, "Maxon told me that he would be sending Elise home in a few days."

I frowned. "What?" I asked, shocked by her confession. Maxon had said that Elise was a good choice because of her ties to New Asia…but maybe that really was a cover-up for whatever he was dealing with in the war. "Do they have a date coming up?"

"Yes, tomorrow night." Kriss said. "He said the public is getting anxious for another elimination. Natalie's elimination was too understandable. They are craving one that comes from him just not wanting her."

"And they're probably hoping that it's me." I sighed, pulling away from her.

Kriss laughed and flipped her hair over her shoulder. "Oh no. Have you not seen the magazines? You're in the lead in the polls."

"The lead?" I repeated. "How?"

"Apparently your performance on the Report sparked something in everyone. I know it did in me. Anyone who isn't a Two or even a Three hates the caste system and would love to see them gone. I would." She added the last part very quietly. She glanced at Queen Amberly anxiously.

I considered what she said for a few moments. "Well I guess that's a bit of good news." I mumbled, refocusing my attention on my food.

As soon as breakfast was over I practically ran up to my room and summoned my maids. I recounted everything Kriss had told me. "You don't think that's why Maxon and the king agreed to keep me here, do you? Because they know that I was right?" I asked them.

They all looked perplexed. Mary was the first to answer. "Miss, we've heard a lot of rumors of the sort but what Maxon told you about convincing his father to let you stay was true. Maids that were in the area of their offices that night confirmed it."

Anne sighed. "Speaking of which, we still haven't come up with a master plan."

"It's really not necessary. I can win him over." I assured them.

They looked at each other and I could see the doubt in their eyes. "Miss, no offense, but you haven't exactly been doing that very well as of late. By yourself you're wonderful, but with our help you could be magnificent."

I opened my mouth to say more but a knock on my door cut me off. I was about to go answer it when Maxon walked in. I spun and instructed my maids, "Ladies, please leave us." Before I could watch them leave I turned back to Maxon. "Hey." I greeted breathily.

He smiled, looking nervous. "Hey." He replied. "I feel like we haven't talked in ages."

"Well you've been a little busy." I wanted to sound nice but it came out sounding more like an accusation. "Work and everything." I mumbled, trying to elaborate but just wanting to ease the awkward tension.

"America." He said my name like he was scared he only had a few more times to say it. He looked like he was about to say something but suddenly suggested, "Do you wanna go outside and take a walk?"

I was caught off guard by his spontaneity but recovered quickly and nodded. "Sure." He took my arm and we walked through the palace quietly, not talking. When we got outside I finally spoke again. "How've you been lately? With your father?"

He sighed. "He's still not happy but I'm important to him and you're important to me. He doesn't exactly understand my feelings for you but he understands the feelings I have. He's been in my position before."

I smiled sadly and looked at him curiously. "Kriss told me about you and Elise." I told him quickly. "What about her ties to New Asia?"

He smiled secretively. "That is a secret you will come to learn later…if I can trust you again."

"You can trust me. I've learned my lesson."

"I'm sure, but for my advisor's sake, my mother and father's sake…I'm not taking any chances." There was another awkward moment of silence between us and I wished, more than anything, that I could fix what had happened between us so that things could go back to the way they were before.

"Are you sure you are set on the three of us?" I asked.

"I'm sure. I'm sure that I would love to spend the rest of my life with either you or Kriss. It's just deciding which one is more crucial." He suddenly looked worried. He opened his mouth to say something but he was cut off.

"Maxon, we have work to do today." King Clarkson said, walking up the path toward us. "Or are you abandoning your royal duty?" He raised one eyebrow and looked at Maxon with a challenging glare. I wanted to kill the man.

Maxon sighed and looked back at me. "Maybe we can talk later? There's still so much I have to say."

"Not too much, I hope." King Clarkson snapped quickly. He pulled on Maxon's shoulder and pushed him toward the palace. On the surface, it looked gentle and playful but I could see the way the movement still hurt Maxon and the way it struck fear in him.

I watched them go sadly, walking back to the palace myself. Without Gregory's diary to read anymore, I suddenly found myself getting bored. I walked to the Women's Room and saw that it was just Kriss and the queen inside. Kriss was reading a magazine that Celeste had left in there and the queen was working quietly in the corner.

Sitting adjacent to Kriss, I picked up a book sitting on the table next to me. Kriss looked at me with curious eyes. "What were you and Maxon talking about?"

I frowned. "We were just talking."

"You guys haven't been together in a few days. Did something happen?" When I didn't answer her, she went on. "Something did happen, the night the rebels attacked. Where were you two?"

I sighed patiently and put the book down next to me. Queen Amberly was watching us curiously. "We were in a safe room, hoping we weren't going to get killed." I answered honestly.

"Alone." Kriss added.

"Yes, alone. You and Maxon sit in his room alone."

"What does that have to do with this?" she demanded angrily.

I laughed. "What does that have to do with this? It has everything to with it! I want to win, you want to win, we all want to win. But you're not going to win by knowing what Maxon and I do whenever we're together. Draw all of the conclusions you want but I'll never tell you the full truth."

"I thought you're trying to win over Maxon's trust."

Shaking my head, I answered, "I am, but I'm not that concerned about yours."

She huffed and slapped the magazine closed. "I think I'll go finish reading this in my room." She started to walk about but Silvia entered from another door and called Kriss back.

"Ladies, sorry to interrupt your day but I have another assignment for you." She walked over to Queen Amberly and bowed before taking a couple folders from the desk where Queen Amberly was working. "There is going to be a ball here at the palace in a couple weeks celebrating the king and queen's wedding anniversary. It normally is not such a big to-do but this year it is especially significant because the Selection will probably still be going on. We decided, that as another assignment and to ease some of the queen's stress, we'd have each girl plan a different part of the ball. Lady Celeste will be in charge of the guest list and sending invitations and everything else to do with the guests. Lady Kriss, you will be in charge of the food; taking all of the RSVPs and estimating how much food will be needed and making the menu and arranging serving times." She handed Kriss a red folder. "Lady America, you will be in charge of decorating. We figured you would be best because you do have an artistic background. Table centerpieces, curtains in the ballroom, chair coverings…the whole works. Also, we are placing you in charge of music and entertainment. You all have separate due dates and they are listed in your folders. I will be briefing Lady Celeste on her jobs myself. Any questions?" she asked as she handed me a purple folder. "No? Good luck ladies. Get to work!"

With that Silvia left, leaving Kriss and I in a stunned silence. Kriss immediately opened her folder and set to work, leaving the room whilst reading the notes in her folder. I got two jobs and both were pretty difficult, how did Kriss not get two? She did a lot of the planning for the Italian party we hosted. "I have a few books in my office you could look through." Queen Amberly said, not looking up from her work.

"Do they have a how-to chapter for how to plan your sovereign's anniversary ball?" I asked sarcastically, not even wanting to open my folder yet. It was thicker than some of the books on the shelves nearby.

Queen Amberly laughed. "I know Clarkson is being hard on you, giving you two jobs but I didn't fight him on it because I know you'll be just fine. You can come to me or Maxon anytime if you have questions. Some things would be best to come to me for but I'd rather you went to him."

I smiled. "He didn't learn how to plan parties in prince-school?" She looked up at me with a serious look on her face. Did I insult her? "I'm sorry, I didn't mean…"

She just waved me away and laughed. "No, I was just thinking how perfect you two are for each other." She sighed, packing up her books and folders. A maid standing in the corner of the room came forward and picked them all up. "Thank you Belle, you know where to take them." She smiled to the maid and walked toward me. "Between you and me, I would love to see you win. You handled the situation with Kriss today very well. That is really what convinced me that you should win. If she had said any of that to Celeste or vice versa, they would have instantly gushed what had happened."

"With all due respect Your Majesty, I just didn't want to tell her."

She smiled knowingly. "Whether you know it or not, it was an extraordinary sign of respect for your relationship with him. Like I said, I like you. I know my husband does not approve of you at all but I'm afraid that between Maxon and I, he's outnumbered two-to-one. You could win." She left before I could say anything else.

I didn't need any more reassurance. I had the queen of Illéa pulling for me. I was the favorite in all of the polls from the public. I had Kriss backed into a corner because even though I had the harder job for this assignment, it was something I had a lot of experience from. What did Kriss know about food? I did most of that planning for the Italian welcoming.

After getting to my room, though, I knew that I would need to employ one important person's help with this. Silvia once mentioned that the palace had an official decorator they had hired. He was an artist, a Five. Well, if I was going to be queen someday I would only be comfortable with my own staff that I had selected.

I pulled out a piece of parchment and chewed on the end of my pin, thinking over my words carefully before writing them. This man knew more about which color means what and which color goes best with every color of the rainbow. He had always wanted to vault to the top of the caste system. As the palace decorator, he'd be a Two. I doubted that after my experience in the palace I would be the same and be able to go back to my ways of a Five. I would need someone that understood this luxury I was living to talk to. I couldn't think of a better person to bring in as my assistant decorator than my brother, Kota.

I know it had a slow start but it will pick up after this chapter. It's just the typical boring first chapter of a book. Please review and I'd love to hear your feedback!