The Alpha Princess Selection

Chapter 4

Charlotte’s POV

We stood in the middle of a hall.

Everything in it was a white colour, with all of the pillars, curtains, tiles, and paint being a variation of the colour white. The entire hall screamed opulence and if I had ever taken the time to imagine what a palace would look like, this would be it.

We hadn’t been shown to our rooms yet because as soon as we had gotten off of the cars that had driven us through the palace gates, we had been escorted into this hall. Chloe and I must have been among the first people to arrive as when we had first arrived about 30 minutes ago, there was only a handful of girls in the hall and now the number had reached about 20.

I noticed that most of the other girls had formed smaller groups and were chatting together, but I was the only one standing alone so I moved to the girl closest to me and tapped her on the shoulder.

“Hi,” I said smiling at the girl.

“Hi, it’s nice to meet you.” She said, facing me. As her green eyes met mine and I got a good look at her face, I couldn’t help but take a subconscious step back. She was so pretty that it made me feel slightly insecure. The only place I think I had over her was that I was taller than her, other than if I didn’t have that I think I would have been way more self-conscious.

I gathered my thoughts before I spoke again. “You too,” I said. “Is your phone working?” I asked her. I hadn’t been able to get any signal since entering the palace gates, and I thought maybe my phone was the only one with the problems, I also thought that asking her a question would have been a good way to strike up a conversation.

The girl smiled politely at me before looking at me up and down. At first, I didn’t think it was in a condescending way, but as she let out an amused huff when her eyes reached my shoes, I couldn’t help but think that she was judging my appearance.

‘So she is one of those girls.’ I thought to myself.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out that I had severely underdressed. Most of the other girls were either in dresses or clothes that screamed designer while I was dressed in my sweatpants and sneakers as I didn’t want to be uncomfortable during my trip. I was cursing at myself because I should have made a bit more of an effort on my appearance, but I hadn’t assumed I would be walking into a fashion show especially within my first few hours here.

“No, it’s not.” She replied when her eyes eventually found their way back to mine. I nodded at her, and before I could try to continue the conversation, she turned her back to me, effectively putting an end to our discussion. I would have tapped her back again to ask for her name, but I didn’t want to annoy her and have a second girl who didn’t like me here. I also thought that maybe she wasn’t interested in being friends with me after judging me based on my outfit.

I was a bit disappointed that the phones weren’t working as I hadn’t been able to text my mom to tell her I had arrived safely to Royale City, so I was hoping that I would find a way to later.

A clap sounded from the front of the hall, and I looked toward it to see another man who was dressed in a similar manner to the way Edgar had been dressed. The clothing budget for the workers here must have been huge if they all dressed in high-quality suits.

“I have been told that all of our expected guests have arrived, so I assume we can start now.” The man said. “Before I continue, does anyone have any questions?” The man said.

No one raised their hands, and I would have also kept my hand down, but I had a question that needed to be answered, so I raised my hands. The man turned to me, and I saw him nod at me, I took that to mean that I could ask my question.

“Hi,” I said out loud nervously. I heard a snicker from the crowd, but I didn’t let it deter me. “Is there something wrong with the phone connection in the palace?” I asked the man directly.

“Thank you for asking. ” He said to me before he turned to face the crowd. “In most of the areas in the palace, your phones will not work for security reasons. The phones will only work in the north wing, which is where you will be staying for the duration of the event. For the duration of your stay here, you will also have limited use of your phones as we do not want things that shouldn’t be getting out to get out. We will also have to collect your phones before you attend the address by a senior member of the royal family in the next room. You will get them back after, and you will then be escorted to your rooms where the connection will be restored. You will also not be allowed to bring your phones out of your room after you enter with them today.”

He had kept the smile on his face the entire time he had been talking. It was a bit unsettling, and I flinched as he turned back to face me sharply.

“Did everyone understand?” He asked, and although the question was addressed to everyone in the hall, it seemed like it had been directly meant for me. I nodded my head meekly and watched as he turned back to the crowd. “I thank you for your cooperation now as well as in the future.” He said. He moved to open the double doors that led into another room before he picked up a basket that had been on a table that was behind where he had been standing. “If you will all please line up so that you may begin entering the tea room.”

As I stood in line with the other girls, I was confident that most of them had been friends before coming here because they seemed too close to have only met 20 minutes ago. I felt like a bit of an outcast since I hadn’t managed to make a friend yet.

I took a deep breath and shook my head.

I didn’t come here to make friends. I came here to help my pack.

As I approached the man, I saw that he was staring at me oddly. Out of habit, I returned his stare, which had him looking away first.

I decided not to dwell on his stare but rather focus on the task at hand. I dropped my phone into the basket and squared my shoulders before entering the room. I wasn’t feeling the most confident, so I needed to fane all of the confidence that I could in order to get over this hump.

The tea room was very different from the hall outside of it. Whereas the décor of the hall was limited to one colour, the tea room seemed to be a collection of all of the colours of the rainbow, with the most dominant one being the colour red. The room had a carpet that covered the entire area of the floor as well as one that was hung on the wall and a large rectangular dining table took up most of the space in the room. There were golden utensils placed on top of the table as well as various finger foods.

I was really amazed. I had never seen anything like this room in my entire life, and I obviously wasn’t the only one as all of the other girls were looking around the room, similarly awestruck.

“There are placards on the plates with your names on them to indicate your seats.” I heard the same man from the white room say from behind me.

I quickly located my seat and sat down. On the portion of the table that was in front of my seat there was a small basket of what looked like plain bread, but as I reached over into the basket picked one, I could tell from its weight that there was something inside the bread. I took a small bite of the bread and nearly moaned out loud as a sweet jam trickled into my mouth.

I hadn’t had a meal all day except for the snacks they had given us on the flight so I was famished. I quickly took another bite of the bread.

“I’m glad to see that you are already helping yourselves to the spread.” I heard a new voice say.

I looked towards the front of the room where it had come from and widened my eyes at the beauty that stood in front of us at the head of the table.

Her dark hair was cut short in a pixie cut style, and she wore a light blue dress. Her dark brown eyes lit up when my eyes met hers and she shot me what seemed like an excited smile.

I swallowed the rest of the bread snack and smiled guiltily at her before picking up a napkin from the table to wipe my mouth. I mouthed a ‘sorry’ at her but she shook her head with the same excited smile on her face.

She turned away from me and scanned over the crowd.

“Right, I guess I can start now.”