I must look like a mess compared to them. I didn't brush my honey brown hair this morning, making it fall messily in my shoulders, and I'm not wearing pounds of makeup like they are. Additionally, my golden brown eyes are usually not what many girls see as beautiful.

When we land, I feel a huge sense of relief and joy that I'll finally get to get off the plane and sleep and relax. The woman, Piper, returns to us and directs us off the plane, which landed on the airfield on the grounds of the palace. When we get off, there is another crowd that cheers our names, but most of the posters are general, only a few posters having specific names on them, not including mine from what I can see.

We are quickly shuffled to a car after we get off the plane, which is the same kind that took me to the airport. We were told to leave everything we had on the plane, even our phones; the other two did not like this one bit and questioned Piper to death about why they had to. We were told that all of our stuff would be safely taken to our rooms and we could find it later. In the end, they were convinced and left their phones on the plane.

I'm not sure why they told us to leave everything, even our phones since we could just carry it in our pockets. I don't question it any further, though, due to my pockets being empty and my phone being trapped in my suitcase.

We quickly get to the palace and are shuffled inside, being pushed from room to room without a chance to glance. "You're one of the first groups here and we don't want to be running behind, so please be quick with your decisions ladies!" A woman with very curly black hair and very long fake eyelashes says.

The other two are pulled away by two different ladies and taken into another room. "Now, I'll take you myself," the lady says, pulling me into the same room, which is a large ballroom filled with stations of mirror vanities with piles of makeup in front of them, a couch with a camera in front of it, chairs lining the room across from the vanities, and many racks of dresses. She takes me to the first vanity while the two others are nearer to the back of the room.

"Alright, at least you're not wearing makeup so I won't have to worry about that. So, what kind of look are you going for?" The woman asks, pushing me down into the seat in front of the mirror.

"Well, um..."

"Meredith," the lady promptly says.

"Well, Meredith, why do we have to get dressed up? I mean isn't the report tomorrow?"

"Didn't they tell you that there's going to be a special report just about the selection today while tomorrow will go on as usual?" She says, putting her hand on her hip.

I pause, regretting not listening to most of the people from the palace who've come to my house to talk about the selection. "Umm... I don't remember, but I know now," I say awkwardly.

"Well, let's get on with it, what kind of makeup do you usually wear?"

"None?"

"Well, then I guess I'll create a look for you," She spins my chair around and begins to move my hair around and stare deeply at my face. "Ah! I got it! Well, what I'm thinking is to dye your hair to make it compliment your eyes more and have it match your makeup and dress. Do you mind if we dye your hair?"

"If you think it'll make me look better, then sure," I say monotonously, pretending to be indifferent. In reality, I'm excited beyond belief; I've always wanted to dye my hair, but my mother would never let me.

"Perfect! It will take a little longer but it'll be worth it!" She pulls me up and takes me to the other side of the mirror, which has a sink on it. "Now, wait here and brush your hair," she commands, walking off. In front of me are clothe tents, probably for changing, but no one is in any yet.

I sit down on the chair as I brush my hair and wait, slowly brushing from one side and around to the other. When she still doesn't return, I keep brushing, my head becoming numb from the continuous brushing. When she finally returns, I sigh in relief to stop brushing only for her to take up the brush and continue on.

"Alright, let's get started," she spins the chair I'm in and leans it back all the way, making me put my head into the sink, which has a dip for my neck. She pulls at my hair and turns the water on, wetting my hair.

She stays silent as she dyes my hair, and from what I can tell she has done this many times. She mechanically adds the dye in lines and rubs it in. The whole thing isn't that bad, especially the massaging part. I begin to sit back and relax as she rubs in the dye.

After finishing rubbing it in, she leaves again and this time for a lot longer time. I hear other girls come in as I wait and their talking becomes louder and louder. After maybe half an hour, Meredith comes back and washes my hair again, washing it thoroughly and drying it quickly with a blow dryer.

Then I am pulled up again and taken to the other side of the mirror, showing me that my hair is now a bright auburn. "Callie!" She calls, beckoning over a small brown haired girl who silently comes to her side. "Start curling her hair. Just light beachy curls from the ear down."

She nods and runs to another vanity to grab a curling iron. While she does that, Meredith puts a cloth over my clothes and begins to cut my hair, probably making some bangs to cover my unbelievably large forehead. She is finished cutting before the curling iron is even heated up and when she moves I see that she did make bangs that swoop to one side and cover most of my forehead.

I glance over to the couch and the camera and see about five girls, including the two blondes I flew in with, waiting in a line to have pictures taken. The large ballroom door opens again, revealing two more girls who are quickly shuffled to vanities.

"She's still from the first group, we need to move," Meredith says, pulling my face to be parallel to hers. "Close your eyes," she instructs. I do as I'm told and violent patting begins to terrorize my face. I keep my eyes closed as I feel brushes and fingers attack my face more. "Open your eyes now," I do as she says and open my eyes, to see that she blocks the mirror. She begins to poke at my eyes with more brushes and eyeliner, moving quickly yet precisely.

"I'm done now," I hear Callie say as I feel one last piece of hair fall back to my shoulders.

"Good, now go do others," she commands, the girl briskly leaving. She finishes my makeup and says, "alright, now go over there," she points to the chairs lined up on the opposite side of the room with girls in them having what seems to be their nails done, "and then go behind these mirrors to get dressed, and please be quick about it."

I do as she says and go to a chair where two ladies begin to work on my nails. There are more girls in the room now and most of the employees are running around and working hard. I begin to count the girls, wondering how many are here now. Thirty-three. Only two missing, I wonder who. I didn't memorize all of the selected so I'm not sure who it is, but they seem to be late.

I look down to my hands to see them gluing on fake nails, shaping them to be rectangular with round edges. My toes were painted a simple solid red, making me guess that my fingernails will be similar too. I look around to see some girls still getting their hair done, even having a few inches chopped off. Meredith, the woman who did my makeup is now working on another girl at the same speed she did me.

I wonder what time it is... and how long it will be before I can just sleep. I don't enjoy this pampering very much, it seems rushed and very fake. I haven't seen my makeup yet, but I bet I look like a doll. I sigh and accept the fact that this is probably what the next few weeks of my life will look like—dresses, makeup, and being fake. I make a silent vow to myself, promising myself to stay true to who I am and not have others change me.

I know I won't be unchanged completely, but I don't want to be changed into something I'm not. More specifically, I don't want to become fake in order to get what I want. And I don't want to be fake with the prince. If he won't accept me as I am, then oh well, I'll accept that and easily go on with my life. Besides, I don't even want the prince to like me.

They finish my nails, drying them quickly with some spray and a hairdryer. I then go to behind the vanities to find a line of dresses with papers stuck to them that have names on them. I find the one with my name on it and take it down, finding a shoe box beneath it as well. I go into a changing room and quickly change into the dress. I guess this is why they took my exact measurements a week ago so that they could make the dresses to our exact sizes.

In the shoe box are shoes and some earrings, which I put both on. I stumble out of the changing room and back out to the middle of the room where a girl tells me to go the the couch to have a simple interview and a picture taken. I turn sharply, making me almost trip and fall into another girl, but I catch myself in time.

I slowly stumble there, no one waiting in the line now, making me notice that many of the selected are no longer in the room. They must be waiting somewhere else. As I sit down for the interview I remember my vow, taking a deep breath to calm myself and answer the questions honestly.