"Adeline Greene, yes?" The interviewer asks, shifting in his seat as he looks at a small packet of papers. I nod. He shuffles through his papers and reads some of them before speaking again. "Well, your parents are caste jumpers, that's pretty rare. Do you have plans of caste jumping?"

"No, I'm pretty content in where I am," I answer honestly while keeping eye contact with him.

He smirks, "oh? So you don't think you'll be chosen by the prince and jump to being a one?"

I tense up. I want to answer honestly but my mother will kill me if I don't answer how she would. I take a deep breath and decide to keep my promise to myself. "To be honest, no. I don't think I'm what the prince is looking for, there's a lot more prettier girls than me here... so, yeah..."

"Ahh, very modest, the prince likes that, so you have nothing to worry about. So how do you stay so modest?"

"Well, I'm not modest, I'm just being honest. I don't think I'm the princess type that he is looking for... that's just what I believe," I finally look away, pushing a lock of my hair behind my ear.

"Well, you might change your thoughts after meeting the prince. But anyway, what does a modest girl like you do for fun, or in other words, what are your hobbies?" He leans forward in his chair, making me nervous.

"Well, I like to read and learn... especially about history I guess. Other than that I—" I pause and stop myself. I was about to tell the whole world about how I was learning the job of another caste, which would probably get me arrested. I don't understand what's so dangerous about trying new things and doing what you love...

"You what?" The interviewer inquires.

"I forgot what I was about to say," I tell him as an excuse, "besides, I've been rude! I haven't even asked your name yet. Well I'm Adeline Greene and it's nice to meet you. What's your name?"

"How polite," he smiles and offers out his hand for a handshake. As we begin to shake hands, he says, "I'm Tom Axwall, and it's a pleasure to meet you as well."

"Yep, same here," I say, immediately realizing that I had already said that it's good to meet him.

"Can I bother you for one last question?" I nod, "Well, if one word could describe you, what would it be?"

I pause and think before I answer. One word? That's difficult. I'm so much more than a word... everyone is much more than a word. But I guess I'm supposed to describe the biggest part of my personality...

"Intrepid... no... Umm..." I pause. Intrepid isn't the right word I guess, but what would be the right one?

I look down at my dress, an idea suddenly coming to mind. "Red," I answer stoutly. Red represents so many feelings and ideas, I believe it to be the right word. It can probably describe all of me...

"A color? Hm I've never heard anyone describe themselves with a color," he laughs, "usually it's a simple character trait like courageous or kind."

I blush, "Sorry..."

"No, no it's a good thing. Well, good luck Adeline Greene," he reaches out for another handshake as he stands.

I take the handshake and stand as well, "thanks Tom Axwall..."

"Alright, now just head through those doors there. The report will start soon, so you'll go to the filming room after waiting in there a little bit, so good luck."

"Who will see this interview?" I ask, now thinking that my mom might not even see this.

He laughs a little and puts a hand on my shoulder, "Well all of Illéa of course, it'll be shown on the report. Don't worry your interview was the best so far and will probably be the best, these other girls don't have anything on you." Oh great... I say in my head. He probably has said that to the others too, I don't understand why though. Maybe to gain the favor of Illéa's future queen early on.

I go where he directed me, which brings me to another room which is smaller and includes some round tables with chairs and windows with a single long window seat.

Most of the girls are at the tables chatting with each other and showing off their outfits. I immediately go to the window seat where no one is, sitting and looking out the window. The view is of a small garden of the castle, which is quite beautiful. Maybe I'll be able to go there later. Most people probably wouldn't want to go to this small garden, so I'll probably be alone. If anyone wanted to go to a garden, they'd probably go to the main gardens near the front of the palace. I wonder why there even is this small garden separate from the main one...

I begin to feel hot, so I open the window a little, bringing me a cool, fresh breeze. I look back down at the gardens, now noticing someone walking into them. They're wearing some sand colored clothes and gloves. As they walk around, they bend down every now and then and mess around with the plants. They're probably just a gardener, a seven.

I keep my eyes fixed on this person as they work, watching them go from plant to plant. Soon, they leave my field of vision, but I keep watch for when they enter it again. They pop in and out of my vision for a few minutes until they come back to the side of the garden where I have the best view of them. They're thorough, probably a hard and diligent worker, which is sometimes hard to find now-a-days.

As I stare, they look up from their work, their gaze floating around until it meets mine. For a second I don't move and just keep eye contact with them, but then I blush and look away, embarrassed to be discovered staring at them. When I take a chance and glance back, I see that they're still looking at me. Because of the distance, me being on the second floor, I can't tell his exact facial expression, but I can tell that he's smiling.

In a moment of awkwardness, I wave and smile, not even sure if they could tell I was smiling. He waves back and then finally goes back to his work, moving around the garden again, probably weeding. I then move my gaze to beyond the garden, to the forest surrounding the palace. It's very different from the rest of Angeles, which is mostly an urban landscape.

I look along the whole line of the forest, looking to see if there was anything in it. I don't find anything, only seeing a quiet forest and a perfectly green lawn in front of it. I glance back at the garden to see the boy going back into the palace, but right before he goes in, I see him look back up to me for a second before his gaze is cut off by the building.

I sigh, having nothing else to look at or do. I turn back to the room full of girls I don't know and look from face to face, playing a game with myself and guessing where they're from, even though I won't know if I'm right or wrong.

Most of them don't notice me while they're deep in their conversations with each other. Only a few take a glance toward me before they turn back to the others. As I look around, I notice that I'm the only one alone and not talking to people. Hopefully I can leave this room soon and get to my room so I can sleep.

The others who were behind me in the other room are now here and joining in on the other conversations. I sigh and turn back out to look out the window, just staring out at the sky.

As my thoughts begin to drift, the doors to the room open loudly and two men and one woman walk in. One of the men whistles, bringing all of the other girl's attention to him. "Well, ladies, the report is about to start, so please line up in province order." I don't move immediately, being from province 35.

As a semblance of a line forms, I slowly stand and move to the back of it, making sure to stay a little back to signal to the others that I'm definitely last. When the line forms, we begin to walk out of the room and down the hall, eventually coming to another room.

The doors are large and already open, revealing a filming studio, where the Report is filmed. We then slowly shuffle in and I finally see the stage; it's a little different than normal, everything being pushed over to make room for chairs that are in rows of ten in an escalating manor.

We are then instructed to sit in them in the order of our provinces, which means I'll be at the very top. It takes a while for me to get to my seat, though, as the others slowly shuffle into theirs. When I do sit, I see that the room has filled with more people now.

There are men and women in suits, moving about and talking with one another. They seem to be the ones who film the show and produce it. I then look over to my right to see Gale Stone being fitted with a mic.

He reads from a packet of papers, which is probably a script, but gives it to someone else after seemingly skimming through it. Behind him, I see the couch where the speakers on the report usually sit, but this time it has a single chair next to it as well. They are angled toward each other, hinting that the two who will sit there will speak.

I sigh and lean back in my seat; I could've been doing so much more productive things than this. I could've been reading or learning more from Aly and April... why do I have to be stuck here, expected to suck up to some prince who's probably a spoiled brat.

As soon as I look back up, a hush falls over the room, and I soon find out why. The prince enters the room wearing a pristine white suit with a red tie. All of the selected are staring at him, including me. He looks up at us and smiles, scanning our faces. It kind of feels as if he's looking for someone specific, maybe he knows someone here.

When he gets to my face he stops, his eyes widening and his smile growing larger. Some of the others then turn to look at me as if I had just cheated or something. But he quickly turns away, and so do the others. Was he really staring at me or did he just get to the end and smile at everyone? I mean I've never even met or seen him in real life before... what reason would he have for doing that?