The three other girls she was with seemed just as nervous as she was, which brought Holly a sense of community. After rinsing off her hand and covering it with a rag, to stop the bleeding, she went and sat down next to one of them. They hadn't spoke much, but at least they didn't hate her - or regard her as competition, she thought bleakly. They all seemed so much more beautiful than she was.
When they arrived, she was the first off. Blinking her eyes against the sudden flashes of cameras, she hurried down the carpet that had been thrown out for them, following several guards that made sure none of them got to close to her and the other girls. Holly gave a deep sigh of relief when she got into the castle grounds, feeling silence radiating around her once more.
It was quite obvious when the girls arrived, from the camera's starting to flash and the guards hustling outside to block the crowds. Sam was walking around in the garden, but once he heard the commotion he started back to the castle, wanting to get in and maybe get a glimpse of the girls before he formally met them. At least the ones that have arrived. He knew the girls would be led straight inside and as he made his way in through one of the many entrances, he made sure he walked through the main entrance of the palace.
"Look," a girl near Holly whispered to her, pointing. "It's the Prince!"
And indeed it was. Whispers and chatter arose at the sight of him, but Holly didn't say anything. She just watched him. He looked a little bit lonely, she had to be honest. She pitied him, having to deal with a bunch of girls he had never met before.
He turned when he heard whispers, only giving a polite smile and nod of his head in acknowledgment as he glanced at the girls. It almost surprised him to see how different they all were, as his thoughts were that they were all going to be very similar. This was going to be much more difficult than Sam had originally thought. Seeing some of the girls did make him happy though, since he could more likely match faces to names when they officially met. Before any of them could come over to him though, he continued on his way, down one of the many hallways towards the library.
"He's so hot," the girl from earlier said, sighing. Holly turned to her. It was the girl from her plane, she realized.
"Oh. Um, I guess he is," she said, laughing nervously. "I'm Holly, by the way."
"Sophie." The girl grinned. "I love your hair, by the way. Is it natural?"
Holly fingered her hair. "Yeah, it is," she said, flattered.
"I love it! I wish I had hair like that!"
Sam wanders through the halls once he got to the library doors, not going in and instead turning down other hallways and making his way up to his room. He figured he should look his best when meeting the girls, meaning a clean suit and maybe trying to figure out the girls names from somewhere. Time would probably fly and soon it would probably be the afternoon and then most of his life would be televised for the next forever.
Getting the dress on for lunch was the worst. Holly didn't really like hers, but from what she heard from Sophie, she looked really good. Not that Holly herself cared. She didn't place much on appearances. After being poked and prodded and stabbed with pins and having makeup applied to her face until her eyes watered and she was sore all over, she was finally done.
At least she didn't have to wear heels, she reflected, as she noticed some girls walking in those horrible tall things. They looked like they hurt.
Sophie, who was standing in the corner of the eating room with the other two girls from their plane - sisters, Holly assumed, they looked so alike - and she headed over to them. Sophie grinned at her.
"Holly, this is Lacadia and Caseline Ash. Girls, this is Holly…" she trailed off, looking at Holly expectantly.
"Ara-Hollin Whiteman," Holly said, smiling at the girls. "Call me Holly. My real name is kind of a mouth full."
As Sam adjusted his casual suit once again, he made his way into the dining room, almost feeling too casually dressed compared to some of the girl's outfits around him. Him getting dressed up to eat though wasn't something he did often unless it was a televised event. Even his mother and father looked surprised as he came in with a smile, though they smiled back before taking their seats and watching as he glanced around at the girls. "How am I going to decide?" Sam asked, looking over at his father and smiling gently.
"Very carefully." He said, laughing deeply and shrugging, "Follow your gut and give all the girls a chance, one will stick out by the end and you'll know for sure that they're the one. That's what my selection was like anyway." Sam did take the advice to heart, trusting his father and his words as he leaned back in his chair and waited for food to be served.
"Oh, look! There he is!" Sophie squealed. Lacey and Casey smiled at each other, excitement in their faces. Holly felt a flutter of nerves, but squashed it down. It was fine. She and the other girls sat down, all next to each other, and waited for the food to be served.
The food came out only a few moments later, the tables becoming stacked with sides and salads, enough food to feed all of the girls and let them have as much of whatever they wanted that was served, the same food appearing on the table in front of the prince and his parents. It was clearly more food than some of them had seen all at once, from the wide and amazed eyes from some of the contestants. The happy reactions made Sam smile, at least this was good so far. He pulled food onto his plate and started eating, or trying to eat. The nerves at this point was making it hard to focus on eating, but he was determined to eat something.
"There's so much," Lacey whispered, digging into a piece of meat. "And it's good!"
Casey, who had glanced at the Prince to see what he was having, took some of the same, while Sophie was too busy gawking at him.
Holly nudged her. "Come on, girl. Eat. There will be time to ogle him later." She herself never let any guy, no matter how cute, get in the way of eating. She glanced up, to look at the prince, and their eyes met for the slightest moment, but it made her turn beet-red and look down.
(Sorry it's short, I'm swamped today and just wanted to make sure I responded)
Sam glanced up occasionally as he ate, making eye contact with one girl in particular and quickly looking back to his food. He mostly just pushed it around, smiling and talking with his parents instead and nibbling at the food.
(You're fine! I honestly don't care how long it is lol)
Sophie cleared her throat. "So, Prince… do you have any interests?"
Holly admired her bravery.
He looked up when one of the girls asked a question, smiling gently and replying politely, "As in things I do in my free time? Or just things that interest me?" It surprised him that one of the girls had asked a question, but he was also impressed.
"A-anything," Sophie said, looking surprised that he had actually answered. "I just… I don't know much about you. What do you do for fun, I guess?"
"Well, I read, and I like to swim a lot." He started, thinking over what he really did in his limited free time, "That's mainly what I do for fun, but other than those two I just do a variety of different things." Sam's smile grew and he looked to the girl that talked, "What do you do for fun, Miss….?"
"Loveland, Sophie Loveland." Sophie looked pleased and surprised that he had answered, and Holly felt the smallest twinge of jealousy. "I like to play pool, and other games."
"Really?" Holly asked, before she could help it, feeling slightly shocked. "You like to play those kinds of games? I'm terrible at it! Can you teach me?"
Sophie grinned at her, although the smile didn't reach her eyes. "Of course!"
Holly, on a roll now, turned to the Prince. She tilted her head curiously. "You like to read? What kinds of books?"
Sam listened carefully, nodding and not interrupting the conversation as another one of the girls cut in to talk. "I read a lot of different books, though I haven't found a favorite type just yet." He explained when the other girl asked him a question, happy that talking to the girls didn't seem as awkward as he had thought it would be, "I'm guessing you like to read too? Miss..?" Asking for all their names was going to be slightly tedious, but he didn't want to get their names wrong.
"Really? That's too bad," Holly said, grinning at him. She spoke to him as if they were friends, and not as if she was just trying to show off. "I'm Holly."
"Well, Holly," He said, chuckling at her informalness, "What's your favorite book genre?" Sam wasn't paying attention as dessert was brought out, though he did realize it was bring brought out from some of the surprised gasps of the girls.
"Fantasy, all the way," Holly said, happy that he didn't seem annoyed at her behavior. "Though I don't usually like if it has romance, because the author usually makes it seem cheesy and weird." She shrugged. "I've never actually read a good romance, ever."
He leaned back on his seat and smiled, taking a slice of the cake that was placed at the table and putting it on his plate, "What's your favorite fantasy book? I haven't read any good books in that category."
"Um… well, I don't think think this counts, but I love fairy tales by the Grimm Brothers," Holly said, giggling. "They're so weird and messed up! I think you'd like them."
Sam laughed and nodded, "They sound very interesting, I'll have to check them out in my free time someday soon." He had heard of the fairytales by the Grimm Brothers, but he had never read them, always having more important things to be working on or things he wanted to do more than try to find the book in the royal library.
"You should." She shook her head in amazement. "Have you ever even been to a library?" She didn't sound judgemental, more curious. She spoke to him as if they were friends, treating him like an equal. She probably shouldn't, but he was interesting and entertaining.
