"Woah! He was totally just staring at you and smiling!" The girl next to me says in a high pitched voice. I turn to her and give her a quick look up and down.

She's wearing a puffy, yellow dress that is too sparkly to be honest. Her brown hair is up in a perfect bun, and her eyes are a light brown, almost Amber like mine, but are only a nice chocolatey brown. She's significantly shorter than me, probably by ten inches or so, and her figure is quite small, making her look like a kid.

"I'm sure after he looked at all of us he was just smiling in general. Or he was looking at you, I mean you are so bright."

She softly giggles and puts her hand on my arm, "no way! It was definitely you! What? Do you know him or something?"

Her eyes plead for an answer, reminding me of April and how curious she can be. "No, that's why I know he wasn't looking at me. I've never met him before."

"Hmm, well I still believe he smiled at you! Maybe it's because you're so eye-catching with all that red!" I look down and notice how the dress looks even brighter under this light, making me squirm in my seat a little. "Eye-catching is good! That's why I asked for a yellow dress, because it's such a bright color!"

"Ladies show time is in ten minutes!" A woman yells from the base of the stage. I sigh, ten minutes still? I wish time would go quicker.

"Ooh! I wonder what they're gonna do on the show!" The girl squeals, "I've never seen a recording of the other selections before!"

"Me neither," I say pretty flatly, feeling like I haven't missed out on much.

"Hey, Wait! I never got your name! Mine's Charlotte!"

"Ah... um, I'm Addie. Nice to meet you I guess," I say with a slight smile. "Umm... do you know anyone else here?"

"Nope. I've never been outside my province. You?" I shake my head. We sit in silence for a moment or two until Charlotte speaks up again, "you think they'll show those interviews tonight? If so, everyone's was around a minute, so thirty-five minutes for that, I wonder what they'll do with the other planned twenty-five minutes?"

"I don't know," I shrug, looking around the room. It feels so odd to see beyond the stage that I'm used to seeing when I watch the report; to see all of the people who are behind the scenes and see the ones on the report. At least it's a cool experience, so maybe not a complete waste of time, but still.

"Well, from what I heard after they play the interviews, they're gonna have the interviewer interview the prince! I hope he remembers me and likes me! I think I did well in the interview, but you never know, you know," Charlotte keeps talking, but I space out, staring down at the seats the prince and the nice interviewer will sit in. I hope they don't talk about me. That's a little too much attention for my liking.

I mean, I like some attention, but to have the whole nation's eyes on me? That's a little too much. Even being here and being selected is nerve-wracking. If only I hadn't taken that bribe, then I could be at home, not giving a care about who wins or loses this thing.

Me and Charlotte's conversation dies out a bit for the remainder of the waiting time. I honestly feel kind of bad for not talking back to her that much, but also I don't really have anything I want to say...

"Alright, ladies! Stay silent and big smiles for the camera!" The music for the report begins to play, the jingle echoing in the large room. After it finishes, the camera between us and the couches moves closer to the back of the stage where the familiar Gale Stone pops out from the shiny dark blue stage curtains and onto the set.

"Hello Illéa!" he begins, "and what you've been waiting for since prince Tyler was born... his selection!" a prerecorded clapping sound plays and some of the selected joins in with clapping, including Charlotte. "We have thirty-five true blood female Illéans here who are all ready to take on the role of the queen, so let's embark on the journey to figure out who that will be!"

He walks over to us and I feel the tension from the other girls as they all move to sit up straight and look the best they can. "Here are the lovely ladies here, ladies and gentlemen, and they have gotten all dolled up just for you! Now, we had a special guest from the new hit movie, The Good Night Lullaby, come to interview these thirty-five girls. Now, Tom Axwall will you join us?" As he runs out onto the stage I suddenly remember the tv commercial for the movie. It didn't look my style so I ignored it, no wonder I didn't recognize him; besides, I don't watch many movies anyway.

The two men shake hands then move to the couches where they sit and both look towards the camera. "Well, first we want to know who are your favorites, and then we'll get into the interviews. So, who are they?"

Tom laughs and crosses his legs, "well, of course, all of these ladies are amazing in their own way and very deserving of a loving husband."

"Yes, of course they are. They are the young ladies of Illéa after all! But you didn't answer my question, Tom," Gale leans in toward Tom, and I feel the pressure from all of the other girls build.

"Well, I can tell you who I thought was most interesting."

"Fine, fine, who is it then?" He answers, leaning back again.

"Little Red," he answers stoutly. Immediately quiet whispers begin to form among the selected as Gale pauses for a moment.

"Well, who's that? Many of these lovely ladies are wearing red tonight."

"You'll know who it is after watching all of the interviews, shall we get onto them now?" Tom says with a smirk.

Gale gives an audible loud sigh and nods, "Well, guess we'll get to find out who this interesting person is for ourselves, so let's see those interviews now!"

Gale points to the camera and a tv playing back what was being broadcasted switches from Gale's face to Tom, the couch we were interviewed on and a girl. I can't really hear the audio, as I've always had bad hearing, so I tune it out and begin to mess with the bracelet I am wearing. It's my own bracelet that I always wear, even though it's old and scratched. It's a gold band with some illegible words on it, but it once said Kind Heart Fierce Mind Brave soul on it. I had gotten it from April and Aly when we were little as a birthday present, and I haven't taken it off much since then. It used to be painted gold with red words, but now it's a scratched up copper band with the engravings of the words wearing away.

Thinking of Aly and April, they're going to see my interview, and my family, and the rest of Illea. Man, just thinking about it makes me embarrassed, hopefully, they'll all forget it as the rest of the selection goes on. I can just imagine my brothers and even Aly and April laughing at my answers and never letting my stupid answers go. Geez... I wish I could go back and give better answers, or at least more normal answers! Red? really? who describes themselves with a color?!

I grunt softly and grit my teeth, then it hits me. Little red. Wait... it can't be me, right? It's not because I described myself as red, is it? Gah! Now I really wish I had given normal answers... But, who knows, someone else's answers could be more fitting to that title. Yeah, and besides, I'm not even that little!

I look up at the screen and see a blonde girl on the screen I scan the first row and find the girl, who is fidgeting in her seat. I count up to her and see that she is only from province 7. Man, this is going to take a long time, I wish I was first because then everybody would forget about me by the time it reached the end... why do I have to be last, the one who's remembered most? I just want this whole thing to be over with!

I squirm in my seat, fighting in my mind about who 'little red' could and couldn't be. Taking a guess, the person has to have red somewhere on them, whether that's hair or their dress. From that, it's down to ten girls, including me. I listen intently to those ten's interviews, despite my bad hearing, and try to figure out which ones could be it or not. After that, it's down to three girls, the only ones who mention red anywhere in their interview. But still, the others only mention it as their favorite color or something of the like in a passing moment, they don't describe themselves as it...

There are only five interviews left to play... soon they'll realize it was my stupid mouth that uttered the words that made me Axwall's favorite. I just wanted to stay in the background and get eliminated quickly. Now the prince will probably be urged to keep me here for the publicity of "little red", or maybe he'll realize how boring I am and discard me.

When it comes the time, I listen to Charlotte's interview, nervous about what comes next. Of course, Charlotte has a bubbly, carefree, optimistic personality, and her looks fit that. Her interview was pretty short with having only two questions in it, which means my interview came sooner than I hoped.

As it begins, I become perfectly still, staring blankly at the screen. As my eyes begin to refocus, I see myself sitting awkwardly on the screen, it feels strange to see myself there, almost an out of body experience. Then as the interview drags on I can see people perk up and turn towards me with a questioning look on their face. I can do nothing but sit there as I get unwanted attention.