"No, no. You're doing it wrong." Madame Lourdes scolded.

"I'm sorry." Mary apologized.

Madame Lourdes sighed, "Who among you have dancing experience?"

I raised my hand along with Claire, Gayle, Carmel, Catherine.

"Good. Get five girls each and tutor them, please. I'm having a headache." Madame stated and left the Great Hall.

Surprisingly, Beatrice approached me, "I want you to teach me."

I smiled, "Not a problem."

Harriet, Julianne, and Christine all went to Claire. I was disappointed but it's not like I can force them to join my group.

Harmonia also joined when she saw Beatrice. Natalie, Violet, and Diamond also joined my group.

Claire's group consisted of Julianne, Harriet, Christine, Louise, and Mary. Gayle's group contained Lucy, Aisha, Diana, Leigh and Clover. Carmel's consisted of Isabella, Jane, Dianne, Irene and Mae. Catherine got Ashley, Elena, Margarette, Daphne and Bloom.

I looked at my group again. I mentally groaned when I realized that they were 'mean girls' of The Selection.

I cleared my throat, "Let's get started, shall we?"

"Finally." Diamond said exasperatedly.

I called five guards to assist us.

"First, hold your skirt with your left hand and hold your partner's hand with the other. The boy will place his right hand on your waist and his left will hold your hand." I began. "Hold your positions."

I inspected their postures and corrected it.

"Beatrice, kindly straighten your back." I told her.

She rolled her eyes but obliged. I went to Natalie whose hand wasn't holding her skirt, "Hold your skirt, Natalie."

She groaned before doing it. Diamond, Violet and Harmonia were doing well.

"Okay you can let go now." I told them.

I started teaching them how to move and gave them tips on how to dance as light as a feather.

"Are you even sure what you're teaching is right?" Harmonia asked.

Diamond nodded, "Yeah, what if you're sabotaging us?"

I took a deep breath, "I've taught you what I know. I have no reason to teach you wrongly."

Beatrice raised her eyebrow, "How would we know that?"

"Go have a dance battle with someone who isn't in our group. Trust me, you'll dance better." I said.

Natalie raised her eyebrow, "Is that so?"

I nodded, "Let's get the Prince to judge. If you win, will you believe me?"

They nodded.

"Okay, wait there, I'll talk to the Prince." I told them.

"Wait!" Beatrice exclaimed. "Why do you have to go and talk to him? Why not one of us?"

I sighed, "Would you be willing to tell him that you're competing with the others to see who dances better? It would ruin your image."

They huffed, "Fine. Go!" Beatrice commanded.

I rolled my eyes once my back was facing them.

I quickly went to where Tony will always be when he isn't dating one of us. The office.

I knocked on the door and it opened.

"Dee? What are you doing here?" He asked.

I sighed and entered the room. I explained to him what happened and saw him nodding his head.

"They don't believe that you taught them the right thing?"

I nodded, "Yup."

"Let's go, shall we?" He said and offered his arm.

I took it and we went to the Great Hall. They opened the doors and silence engulfed the place.

The girls curtsied to the Prince. I went to my group as he went to the front.

"What did he say?" Beatrice asked.

"He'll do it." I replied.

"Good morning, ladies." He greeted. "Since you've been practicing your dancing, I'd like to see your skills. Your mentors are not included. This will be a fight between teams. The team who wins will each get a date from me."

The girls talked excitedly.

"Mentors, come in front please." He said.

The five of us went in front beside him.

"Since there are five groups, Lady Haidee's group will wait until it is only two groups." He continued. "Let's start with Lady Gayle's group and Lady Catherine's group."

The eight girls went in front and danced to the music. Gayle's group won. Claire's group won against Carmel's.

"Let's have Dee'sㅡI mean Lady Haidee's group with Lady Gayle's." Tony said.

I pinched his arm secretly, "You are putting me in trouble," I whispered.

"Sorry, it slipped out of my mind."

As expected, my group won. Now, we were about to face Claire's group.

"So, I see it's a fight between friends." Tony whispered to me.

I rolled my eyes at him. The girls curtsied with their partners and the music started. Thankfully, my group was following what I taught them. They all looked like proffesionals.

The music ended and they curtsied with their partners.

"Well, it's hard to choose." Tony stated and kept looking back and forth between Claire's group and mine.

"The mentors of these two groups please join them." Tony commanded.

Claire and I walked to our groups.

"Since both of your groups did nicely, this will be the tie breaker." He began and my ears perked.

Couldn't he just choose the best team?

"Your mentors will be the ones to dance. Their performance will be the basis of the winner. Like what I said in the beginning, the members will each get a date with me. Meaning, The mentors would not." He explained. "But the winning mentor will get my first dance on the ball two days from now."

You call that a prize?

"You better win this thing, Haidee." Beatrice threatened.

"If you don't, you will be leaving this place." Violet said with a glare.

And how would you do that?

"Be prepared for hell if we lose." Diamond said.

"Don't worry, I won't lose." I told them with a blank face.

"You better not." Natalie snickered.

The team members went to the side and only Claire and I were in front.

"Hey, goodluck." Claire told me.

I smiled, "Thanks, my teammates are nightmares."

She laughed.

Two guards approached us and we curtsied as they bowed. The music started, but it wasn't the music that we were practicing.

Claire and I looked at each other and looked at the Prince. The music that we were practicing was the Second Waltz by André Rieu, but now, if I am correct, the music is for the foxtrot.

"Claire! This dance is the foxtrot!" I told her.

She got it and we both danced to the music. We swayed with our partners who knew the dance. There were parts where Claire and I exchanged partners and parts where only girls danced. I did a grand jete developpe and Claire did a saut de chat. Our audience clapped. Then we went back to our partners and continued the dance. We did several turns and exchange of partners. Then, finally, the music ended and we curtsied.

Once again, applause filled the room. Tony smiled and clapped along.

"So, who wins?" Natalie asked.

Tony paused to think. He kept on glancing back and forth between our groups. Then he sighed, "I can't choose."

"What?!" Beatrice exclaimed, then she cleared her throat, "I mean, why?"

"Both teams did well. Especially the mentors. It was quite a surprise, really. I never knew that your mentors knew how to dance the foxtrot, they even mixed a little ballet in." He explained. He snapped his fingers, "It's a tie, but I'll have to change the prize a little. The members still get a one-on-one date with me, but for the mentors, sadly, I cannot give both of you my first dance because that is illogical. Therefore, I will grant you one wish. Any wish except for something illegal and making me choose you."

My eyebrows raised. When he says anything, he means it. I mean when I told them to give nu family a new house, they did it. They also provided homes to some of the homeless in our village. They created a feeding program to feed those who cannot feed themselves.

"That settles it then. Tomorrow, I will meet with Lady Natalie first, then Lady Harriet. After lunch will be Lady Beatrice and Lady Mary and Lady Violet. The next day will be Lady Harmonia then Lady Christine. In the afternoon will be Lady Diamond and Lady Julianne and Lady Louise. Lady Claire and Lady Haidee can tell me their wish anytime."

After his long speech, we curtsied to him as he left the hall. Beatrice pulled my arm.

"Why is it a tie?!" She exclaimed loudly.

Everyone was looking at us.

"I wasn't the one who decided the winner." I stated.

Then I felt a throbbing pain on my left cheek. Beatrice had slapped me.

"I told you to win, didn't I?!" She yelled.

Harmonia, Diamond, Violet, and Natalie all came to us.

"You did win." I replied with a blank face. I tried to ignore the pain.

"Yeah! Win along with those losers!" Harmonia said and pinched my arm forcefully.

I decided not to show them that I felt the pain, "They aren't losers. They won too."

Then another slap met my face, "Now we have to share!" Natalie exclaimed.

That's what you signed up for.

"Now we don't get to have more time with him because he still needs to go on a date with them. " Diamond said while pointing to Claire's group.

Another slap on my face was what triggered Claire.

"You b*tch!" Claire yelled and ran to Diamond who slapped me.

However, before she could get to Diamond, I held her arm, "Don't."

"No, Haidee! They hurt you! These are against the rules!" She replied.

Beatrice scoffed, "Who cares about those rules?"

Harriet, Julianne, and Christine were behind me and I could feel that they were itching to harm these girls.

"We do!" Claire yelled.

"Let's go," I told Claire and pulled her away.

But before I could go, Violet grabbed me again and slapped me again. Claire was shaking so bad that Harriet and Julianne needed to drag her back. Christine assisted me. The five of us were on our way to my room.

"That stupid petty little b*tch!" Claire mumbled.

"Stop it, Claire." I told her.

"But Haidee! They hurt you!" Julianne exclaimed.

"If you hurt them too, you'll be sent home." I told them.

"So? Who cares! You better get revenge." Claire said.

I sighed, "No. I won't get revenge."

"Haidee?" A female voice said in front of us. I looked up and saw Celestiana with wide eyes, "Oh god! What happened?" She ran to me and held my face.

"Nothing." I replied.

"Nothing?! How do you call this nothing?" She exclaimed furiously. She looked at my friends, "Who did this to her?!"

"Beatrice, Natalie, Harmonia, Violet, and Diamond, Your highness." Christine replied.

She scoffed, "Beatrice? How much trouble should she cause?" Then she stomped towards the great hall.

"Stop her!" I yelled.

Julianne and Harriet ran to Celestiana.

"Move!" She yelled.

"No! Celestiana don't! Please!" I exclaimed.

She looked back at me, "Haidee! Look at what they did to you!"

I shook my head, "I'll tell the Prince, okay? Calm down. Please."

She took deep breaths before coming to me, "Let's get her to my room." She told Christine.

The six of us went to Celestiana's room which was mine for a short period of time. They made me lay down on the bed.

"Denisse," Celestiana called to the maid who I met the first day I came here. "Please get cold water and a towel. Also, call Zeke and tell him to get here this instant."

Denisse nodded and left to obey her orders.

"Now, tell me what happened." Celestiana demanded.

"Let them tell the story. My face hurts." I told her.

Celstiana turned to them and they gulped, probably because of Celestiana's angry face. Harriet explained what happened.

The door opened and Denisse entered with a bowl of cold water and a towel, "The Prince will be here in a minute."

Celestiana nodded and dismissed her, "I know this is a competition, but they were taking it too far." She said grumpily while wiping my sore cheeks.

"Ow." I winced when she pressed too hard. She noticed it and uttered a sorry and started dabbing it gently.

"You can say that again." Claire said and rolled her eyes.

"Oh I would, but when I repeat that, it would be to the Queen, Prince Consort, and the crown prince." Celestiana replied.

"Does it still hurt?" Julianne asked worriedly.

"Of course it will!" Harriet exclaimed. "Try getting yourself slapped and pinched a lot of times."

They seem to have forgotten that we were with the princess because they didn't use any filter while talking. Then the door burst open.

"What happened?" Tony asked.

"Look at what they did to Haidee." Celestiana said and went out of the way so Tony could see me.

His eyes widened, "Oh, god." He ran to my side, "Who did this?!" He screamed.

I winced, "You're too loud."

"Her teammates." Celestiana replied.

Tony looked at my friends, "Could you leave us alone for a minute?"

They all nodded and hurried out of the room.

"What happened?" He asked and I couldn't help but answer because it looked like I'd die if I didn't.

I told him the story despite the pain. When I finished, he looked outraged.

"What are their full names?" He asked.

I gulped, "Beatrice Rowell, Harmonia Fawn, Natalie Porter, Violet Francisco and Diamond Brown."

"From where are they?" He asked.

"Beatrice is from Ottaro, Harmonia is from Belcourt, Natalie is from Dominica, Violet is from Midston and Diamond is from Whites." I replied.

"They can say their farewells today. They're leaving tomorrow morning." He stated.

My eyes widened, "Butㅡ"

"But nothing." Tony said sternly and I couldn't do anything about it. "You're sleeping in the Princess suite tonight. I bet they'd come find you to take revenge."

Without much of a choice, I nodded.

"My room will be connecting with yours. If anything happens, knock on my door." He said and left the room.

I exhaled loudly and my four best friends came inside the room again.

"What happened?" Julianne asked.

"He's sending them home." I told them.

They all exhaled.

"Good to know." Claire said.

"Ladies, please tell the chef to bring our lunch inside here. The four of you can also eat with us in here." Celestiana told them.

Claire and Julianne went down to the kitchen to tell the chef. Harriet got a nearby medical kit and applied some ointments to my bruises and put bandages on.

"You seem skilled." Celestiana commented.

Harriet smiled, "I studied medicine before coming here, your highness."

Celestiana smiled, "Please, call me Celestiana. Any friend of Haidee is a friend of mine."

"Really? It's an honor, Celestiana." Harriet thanked.

Julianne and Claire came back to the room. They all sat on Celestiana's bed and we formed a circle.

"What about introducing ourselves?" Celestiana suggested. "As you know, I am Celestiana."

"Claire."

"Harriet."

"Julianne."

"Christine."

"You already know me." I replied once they all looked at me expectantly.

"Come on! Just Do it!" Harriet urged.

I sighed, "Haidee."

"Can I ask a question?" Christine asked.

We all nodded.

"How did the two of you get close?" She asked as she pointed to me and Celestiana.

"Sanno che sei rimasta qui per una settimana?" Celestiana asked me. (Do they know that you stayed here for a week?"

"Non ho detto loro," I replied. (I haven't told them)

"What are you talking about?" Claire asked.

"Dovremmo dirglielo?" She asked. (Should we tell them?)

"Non lo so." I answered. (I don't know)

"Um, hello? We're here. We can't understand." Claire said.

"ScusateㅡI mean sorry." Celestiana apologized.

"Sei rimasto qui per una settimana?" Julianne asked with wide eyes. (You stayed here for a week?)