1. Alanna Kennedy

2. Harriet Bridgerton

3. Celeste Jonas

I blink multiple times at the result. Me in first place? First out of all twenty girls.

"Guess I'm second best." Harriet says, chuckling beside me. Like us, many other girls are huddled close to the results pasted on a black board somewhere near our rooms.

Theresa came in eight. All talk and no brains, huh?

Madame Alicia does not let us linger much longer as she shoos us to our history class. The teacher is a young, slender and fair skinned man.

He's quite easy in the eyes but I gag at the flirty looks some girls send him as we take our seats.

Harriet leans over to me. "Aren't we supposed to be seeking the Prince's attention?" She whispers.

I scoff at the girls who had occupied all front seats, leaving us to be at the back. By us, I mean, Harriet me and another girl with short blonde hair who looks like she'd much rather be somewhere else, busy examinining her nails.

"I won't be surprised if a couple of girls are sent packing after this." The girl speaks, startling Harriet and I. We hadn't expected her to be listening.

Exchanging glances with each other, Harriet shrugs.

↭↭↭

Oakley was right though. Later that afternoon, when lunch ended, Madame Alicia announced that five girls are kicked out for inappropriate behaviour to the History teacher. Patricia, Reya, Sasha, Tilly and Grace.

"Grace was such a disgrace!" I say loudly in the hearing of Theresa. As I learnt, Grace and Sasha were her sidekicks Good to know they're finally out of the way.

Theresa turns to me with a strong glare. I cock my head at her, daring her to act.

Well, we're all in the Common Room doing nothing but gossip as usual. Well, the others because there's a book causally trapped in between both my thumbs and index fingers.

"You trying to start something, peasant?" Theresa rises, coming up to me. All discussions slowly fall to a halt.

"Of course not." I smile sweetly at her.

"Lady Alanna, library now!"

Madam Alicia's stern voice elicits a grimace from me. Only her and mom have the ability to cause that grimace.

Theresa smirks at me. I bump her shoulder a little bit hard that she stumbles.

Pathetic.

I want to go home.

↭↭↭

Isaiah escorts me to the library as expected and while I work on the books, he waits outside.

Wow.

A huge amount of dust coats the books and even some are floating about in the air. I can see this from the sliver of sunlight sneaking in through the slightly parted thick curtain.

The place is a complete mess.

Ten shelves are on one side of the room, in a vertical arrangement and ten on the other sides.

Why do the books look like they were intentionally taken out of their shelves?

But for the dust, I would have believed.

A dusty table at the center of all twenty shelves catches my attention. There's only a paper and pen on it. I try to read what's written but the language is unfamiliar.

I only catch the name Lory written at the bottom.

Okay?

The door to the library opens and shuts again. I gaze curiously in that direction until someone appears. A certain Prince.

I snort, moving to a shelf.

"That's a rather un-ladylike sound, Alanna. Haven't you been taking your etiquette lessons?" He asks, leaning against the wall and watching me lift three books off the floor.

"Prove me wrong but I think you are stalking me, Prince Whoever You Are."

A loud laughter leaves his lips. "Me, stalk you? Never. I come here all the time to read."

Another snort escapes my nostrils. "With all the dust, yeah right. Just go away and let me do my work. And you know what?" I turn around to meet his gaze drilling holes in my face.

"What?"

"Do tell your brother that I think he's a big coward."

A confused expression takes his face. "You don't mean that, do you?"

"You can add, signed, Alanna Kennedy, so he knows who it's from."

Well, I'm kind of bent on taking out my frustration on someone and this so-called Prince would receive it all. Why can't I even see his face to say this all?

The other annoying prince with me chuckles. "In due time, you'll see Alek. But I'll pass your message on to him."

I nod, picking another set of books to arrange. "Now, shoo, I'm busy."

"Are you really shooing me from a room in my own home?" He asks, humour tainting his question.

"Well, sorta?"

He puts a fist over his mouth, shaking his head at the same time. "Sorta?"

I sigh. Give me strength Lord.

↭↭↭

By the time I finished with the books, the old clock in the corner read 7pm. The prince who still hadn't given his name somehow left at some point but the bonus is I could steal a couple of books to read at dinner and tomorrow.

Outside, I'm startled by Isaiah's presence. He raises a brow at my jumpiness.

"I didn't expect you to still be here." I explain, starting to walk down the corridor. He follows.

"It's my duty to stay by your side at all times. Meanwhile, you look famished."

"No shit." I swear, making him choke on his saliva.

Oh, I'm not supposed to be swearing. Dumb rules.

Back in my room, I fall face down on my bed, too tired to protest as my maids start taking off my clothes.

Madam Alicia is evil.

♚♚♚

Tuesday: Etiquette of Royalty

Judith and Symphony are surprised to see me already standing by my window overlooking a large range land where some shadows, probably of animals are.

Nostalgia immediately sets in. I miss taking Diana and the goats to the field with Axel.

"Good morning, Alanna." Judith greets brightly. Symphony also has a matching smile on her face but seeing my own downcast eyes throws that aside.

"Are you alright?" She rushes to my side.

"Do you think I can write to my parents?"

Symphony nods. "Yep, but you've got to ask Madam Alicia."

As a force of sheer habit, my eyes roll before I follow Judith into the bathroom while Symphony prepares my outfit which ends up being a mint green chiffon dress with white circular patterns on it.

Symphony arranges my hair with a ribbon but I yank it out, the moment she wasn't looking.

Both girls shake their head at my behaviour but they let me out of the room to breakfast.

Breakfast passes smoothly with the queen, well, except for Theresa shooting visual arrows at my head.

Harriet filled my ears with stories about some of the other girls, their families and fortunes attached to their names.

"I feel you should have come in first position instead of me, Harriet." I tease her while we walk together to Royal Etiquette with the queen.

According to Madam Alicia, the girls have been split into two groups of seven girls in one and eight in the other, quite unbalanced because of the five girls that were kicked out.

The first group includes girls occupying positions one to eight on the ranking, and the other from positions nine to fifteen.

Sadly, Theresa would be in my group.

The Queen is seated beautifully in a room much similar to our common room but much smaller.

There are eleven red sofas arranged in a semicircle, and a little round table is at the center.

"Good morning girls." She greets.

"Good morning, your Majesty." We chorus as common manners demand.

She waves us into our chairs. I and Harriet sit on the outer circle and other girls fill the remaining sofas. I note how Theresa settles in the sofa next to the queen.

"Alright girls. It's a privilege to be your personal tutor on Royal Etiquette, afterall, who could handle that better than me, huh?" She jokes, receiving amused giggles.

"I want you to see me not only as your queen, but as your tutor, a kind one at that."

I admire her graceful pause to take in oxygen. "Now, let's go straight to introducing ourselves, starting from the right end." She glances at me with a smile.

At least, it loosens my tongue a bit.

"My name is Alanna Kennedy, from Eaton."

When Eaton is mentioned, laughter bursts out around the room. Everyone in an uncontrollable fit of laughter, all except me, Harriett and the queen.

Realizing the Queen did not find their humour, eyes widen and a nervous silence settles upon the room.

"While I may be tender-hearted, it is still my responsibility to teach you all respect. I will not tolerate anyone making fun of someone's background, and my home town."

|||||||||||

As punishment for their actions, Queen Stella sent the thirteen girls to the kitchen. Although displeased, they just had to follow through or risk getting kicked out from the Choosing.

I actually admire the discipline here. The queen was personally ensuring her son gets the best partner and future queen.

While that appealed to many females, I only came here because of the money Princess Sophia agreed to pay my family in return for the troubles. A thousand gold coins. That would fix a lot of our worries.

Armed with a couple of books snatched from the library yesterday, I head to the Common Room to have some quiet time.

Harriet left to explore some part of the palace with Florence. I could see their friendship extended beyond the Palace and the last thing I would wish for is split them apart, because last I reckoned, Florence did not like me so much. Not many people did and it's understandable.

"I'm tempted to wipe that smirk off your face."

I frown up at Theresa standing mere inches away from where I'm seated.

"Prove me wrong, but in my opinion, I think you're obsessed with me."

She rolls her eyes. "Just shut up, okay. I don't like you at all. You're just an annoying little rat not even worth a second of my time."

"And here you are spending the last twenty seconds with me. How delightful." I respond, smiling with so much mischief.

Her mouth opens and shuts twice. Plus that angry blush on her pale face. I find it comical.

"Once I'm queen, I'll make sure you disappear off the face of earth." She brags, turning around and escaping.

What a delusional brat.

When the girls start filing into the Common Room, I seize my opportunity to sneak away from their glares, out into the palace grounds.

It's a few minutes after sunset and I relish the warm after glow.

"You're not supposed to be outside, my Lady."

"I needed some fresh air." I reply, turning to Isaiah. He looks quite brighter than in the morning.

"May I join you then?"

Sighing, I wave him into the bench I'm occupying. He maintains a safe distance away.

"Do you just love staring at the sun set?" Isaiah asks.

"My mother taught me to appreciate the tiniest moments in life. And this is one of those moments. Wherever I am, I try to value every single moment." I explain. Back at home, sometimes, my entire family would go sitting on a nearby cliff just to admire the setting sun.

We might be a weird family. Sort of, but I love them.

People saw us as impoverished because of the mishap Dad's ships of gold faced at, but to be honest, riches do not compare to happiness at all.

"You're not as bad as they say you are, Alanna."

Isaiah's cerulean eyes meet with mine for a brief minute before I return to staring at the sun.

↭↭↭

In a couple of chapters the pace will be fully set.

Thank you for giving my book a chance, honestly.

Well, like I stated, I suck at writing author's notes, so, I'm off...

Have a beautiful day/night.