"Miss Norton, please stop slouching! A queen or princess must have proper posture!" Miss Vera reprimands yet again.

I sigh, maintaining my posture no matter what. My mother used to make my sister and I take classes like these, so now it's just a boring and painful repeat of my childhood.

Summer, the girl Miss Vera is reprimanding, is seated beside me, stirring her soup with a bored sigh.

"This is so dumb. I think we all know what a spoon is," she mutters, making me giggle a bit.

"True, but a few of us don't know what a 'soup spoon' or 'salad fork' are," I tell her.

"Yeah, I guess so, but really? Shouldn't the Elite have to learn this? Why now? We literally got here yesterday!" She whispers back.

"Yeah, it is weird." I turn around a bit in my seat to fully look at her. "I'm Amber." 

"Summer, though I'm sure you already know?" She tells me.

"Yes. Where are you from, Summer?" 

"St. George. You're from Hansport, right? My sister is obsessed with your twin, and she constantly blabs on about her to me; I pick up stuff." 

"Uh, yeah; Hansport. That's a bit creepy, though," I tell her, giggling.

"Well, obviously, but my sister didn't care, and neither did I." 

I smile, and she smiles back at me. Then she starts to slouch again, sighing in boredom.

"This is so boring! Why do we need to know this, anyway?" She whines.

"I guess so we don't embarrass ourselves or the royal family? Hey, at least you're not getting a repeat of your childhood etiquette classes," I tell her.

She grins, sitting up straight again.

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

After our lessons, Miss Vera sends us off to lunch with the royal family. Breakfast and the morning were quite uneventful, but the lesson is not enough for me for one day; I want to do more.

Summer and I have been bonding very well, and right now we're walking to the dinning hall. 

"So, why did you enter the Selection?" Summer randomly asks me.

"Two meet the real princes, and also to just explore. I really didn't think it through, though, since I've always been terrified of attention."

"Cool. I came for the experience. I do want to get to know the princes, and maybe even fall in love, but I really wanted to just know what the royal life was like and what Whites looked like, too."

We enter the hall, and go our separate ways, seeing as her name is towards the middle-end of the alphabet. 

Sighing, I take a seat, soon hearing Annabelle's chair softly scoot next to me.

"Hey, Amber," she whispers, before sitting down.

"Hey, Annie!" I greet, using my new nickname for her.

"Why do you have to call me that?" She whines.

"Because it's cute, and I want to have a special nickname for you!"

"What do you like to be called, then?"

"Ams; that's what my friend at home and my sister call me," I tell her.

"Ams - I like it! Ams it is!" Annabelle exclaims, putting her finger up in the air. 

We continue to talk, until Annabelle finally realizes something.

"Ams, why don't we have food yet? It's been thirty minutes since lunch was supposed to start," she whispers to me, glancing over at the royal family to make sure they didn't hear.

Prince Tyler is seated next to me, but he's in a deep discussion with his parents and brother. His sister is listlessly drawing on the table cloth with her finger, still making it look refined and graceful. How the heck does a twelve-year old act like a queen all the time? I guess, with Miss Vera's etiquette lessons.

"I don't know, but now that I think about it, Kim's missing," I whisper back, looking across the table to where the girl would usually sit.

My sister looks slightly worried, glancing around, before catching my gaze.

'What's going on? Where's Kim?' She mouths to me.

I shrug lightly, looking round some more. A solid lump of dread settles in my stomach, making my insides clench up. This doesn't feel right. At all. 

After a few minutes of more searching, the once quiet whispers have now become murmurs of worry and dread. The girls start to get restless, glancing at the royal family.

What should I do? Maybe... no, no; that's idiotic! But... it could get us answer...

I decide to go with my insane plan that will probably kill me inside. Lightly leaning over, I gently tap on Prince Tyler's thigh, feeling like a fool right now.

He's only listening to his father and twin talk, so he turns around to face me the moment I start to tap. My face is already red now, and I look down at my hands nervously clenching the fabric of my dress.

"Yes, Amber? What is it?" He asks softly.

I hesitantly glance up, trying to look into his eyes for longer than half a second.

"Um, do you know where Kim could be? We're all worried about her, and I have a bad feeling about her disappearance," I admit.

"We don't know, but my father has sent some guards to alert the palace staff to search for her. She probably fell asleep somewhere, and her maids just haven't found her yet. No need to worry," he tells me, though his eyes are darkened with worry.

"O-okay, thanks," I mumble, before turning back to a grinning Annabelle.

I feel a light tap on my shoulder and turn around again.

"It's going to be okay, alright? I'm here if you need me, as well," he tells me, looking into my eyes.

I nod, before blushing and turning around. Annabelle looks like she might burst.

"Don't say a word, Annie," I warn her, before she can let out a word.

She giggles, before pressing a finger to her lips.

After another hour, one of the guards suddenly bursts inside the dining hall, his face deathly pale. He holds onto a sobbing maid, her cries echoing through the now silent room.

"Have you found her?" The King asks frantically.

"We did, Sir, but -"

"But?" Prince Mason urges.

"Alice here found her, Sir," he says, and Alice lifts her head.

When I see the horror in her eyes, I can't help myself. I jump up, my chair making a loud screech. I run over to her, and the guard lets me hold her shaking form. She begins to sobs harder, shaking so much I know it's not healthy.

"Alice! Are you okay? What happened?" I whisper to her, not caring about the growing whispers in the room.

"She - She -" 

"Come on, Alice. Tell me, please," I urge, stroking her hair softly.

"I-I was putting some new d-dresses into your room, when I saw Miss Kim's door open next door. I opened it, to find the room q-quiet. I w-went into the bathroom, since there was a light on, and-" before she finishes, she breaks into more sobs. 

"What happened to Kim, Alice?"

"Her body was in the bathtub, pale and bloodied. She was naked too, but there were five stab wounds in her chest, back, and head. I screamed, turning around, only to find a bloody message on to the mirror," she whispers, making me almost collapse.

Kim's dead? How? There are guards everywhere!

"What d-did it say, Alice?"

"'We're coming for them; all of them. Watch your backs'," she recites, her eyes wide in horror, before she collapses in my arms.

Her weight causes me to drop her, before I stumble myself, feeling my head spin. Kim's dead, and someone's in the palace trying to kill us all.

Chairs scrape quickly, before I feel my knees start to buckle, bringing me to the floor. I stare at the floor, wide-eyed, before everything suddenly goes black.

Oh my goodness, I don't know why, but I thought I had this done when I was writing yesterday! Sometimes I'm so forgetful. How was that dramatic opening to the plot? Ha, I honestly can't wait for this. 

Comment, vote, and share plz!

-Mel