Her mom smiled at her. “You’re only an idiot if you didn’t learn anything from it. What you just said shows me you did. And I think you know now you deserve far better than that boy could have given you. That boy wanted to cage you. And you, Kennedy Grace, should never be caged. Reach for the stars, baby girl. Fly.”
She wiped at her eyes. “Mom. You’re going to make my mascara run.”
Her mom laughed. “Get yourself the waterproof kind. If your Culling is anything like mine was, you’re going to need it.”
***
“Aww, man. No tunnels?” Eli asked, nose wrinkled as he looked at the foyer front doors. A black SUV waited curbside.
Kennedy had to agree. She would much rather slip into DIA unnoticed. But no, they had to go big and flashy for the start of the Culling. Cameras were probably waiting at the entrance to DIA, ready to capture the heirs’ arrival.
Their mother rolled her eyes. “We are trying to not advertise their existence, remember?”
Eli huffed. “Fiiiiiine.”
“When is the last time you three actually used the front door?” her mom asked, smiling.
Eli smirked. “No idea.”
Kennedy sighed, just wanting the waiting part to be over. She was ready to get out of the Manor, ready to rip the Band-Aid off. “Let’s get this over with already, shall we?”
“Sis,” James said gently, giving her shoulder a squeeze. “It’s going to be all right. We will make it be all right.”
She nodded, trying to believe him. But she loved him for saying so—for understanding she was struggling. “It just sucks. My reputation is ruined before we even begin. I don’t know what I’m more scared of—the other girls or the guys.”
Eli shrugged. “Who cares? The people who really know you don’t care about anything he said. You’ll shut the haters up.”
“With any luck, Josiah won’t even make it to the Candidatorial Ball,” her mom added cheerfully.
“About that,” her dad added. “Give everyone a fair shot—should you make it to the first ball.”
Their mom choked on a laugh. “I may or may not have thought your father was working against me that first night.”
That was news to Kennedy, and she kind of wanted to just hit pause on their grand entrance to drill them with a hundred questions about their Culling and what all had gone down.
“Don’t worry,” her mom said. “He’s much better at flirting nowadays.”
“Good grief,” Kennedy said, groaning. Those two were on a roll today. She loved them, but they were just too much sometimes.
“Just remember—we do not care how far you make it in this thing,” her mom said, going serious on them. “Make friendships that will last a lifetime. Be open to the possibility of love. Do your best on the tests. You’ve already made it further than a vast percentage of the population. And try to have a little fun too.”
Kennedy wasn’t after fun, though. Or friendships.
She was after one thing and one thing only—a presidency.
***
Breakfast was in a cute little room off a kitchen area that she had honestly never been in before. She suspected they were going to use this part of the kitchens when preparing for a hundred guests to eat. Since the boys and girls had to be separated, the girls were here rather than the large cafeteria room nearby. But the smells and clanging of the kitchen actually soothed her, so she’d take it.
Kennedy was one of the first five girls to arrive. They smiled awkwardly at each other and then situated themselves around three long tables. It was kind of a tight space even when mostly empty, so she thought it might get loud once all of them arrived.
She was sipping on some tea, trying to channel the grace her mom exuded, when two familiar faces—Maggie and Vera—walked in. The pair were perfect opposites, with Maggie being a short brunette and Vera being a tall blonde.
Kennedy had been friends with Maggie and Vera at school before graduating and starting their careers. Not best friends, but friendly. And the fact that they chose to sit at a different table, almost as far away from her as possible, stung a little.
Were they just giving her space? Or were they being judgmental ninnies? The latter possibility was weird because she knew full well Maggie had had numerous boyfriends before qualifying. And was also far from the Virgin Mary.
But whatever. Maybe it wasn’t what Josiah had said. Maybe it was that they were all competing now. Her dad had warned them. Being a Reed put a target on her back.
“Hey,” Cassie said, sitting down next to her and looking around the room. “This feels a lot like high school all over again. I don’t know where to sit.”
Kennedy let out a sigh. “Tell me about it.”
Cassie smiled at her. “How’re you doing?”
She cocked her head back and forth in thought. “Well. I’m currently more nervous to meet all the rest of the girls than I am to see Josiah again. That’s where I’m at.”
Cassie wrinkled her nose. “That’s no fun.”
Kennedy nodded. “How about you, Squirt?”
After she used James’s nickname for her, Kennedy made a mental note to stop calling her that. Cassie was a candidate in the Culling and probably wanted to be taken seriously. Calling her Squirt was probably not going to help Cassie any.
Cassie looked at her hands, not sure how to answer. “I’m still kind of shocked, I guess. I had always hoped I’d qualify—just never thought I would.”
Kennedy grinned. Cassie had it bad for James. Had for years. But Cassie hadn’t said anything—probably because she knew James was after the presidency and would never end up with anyone unless a Culling manufactured the relationship.
Megan, the lone qualifying girl from Kansas City, sat down next to them, smiling and making small talk. She seemed nice enough.
Nicole, the attractive girl from Vegas, soon entered the room and scanned the room as if strategizing where to sit. Apparently, she’d showed up ready to play the game.
A brown-haired girl named Bindy, however, seemed to be treating the Culling more like a party than a competition. She was bubbling over with excitement and wanted to introduce herself to everyone—be friends with everyone. She was one of those types of girls who barely needed any makeup but was still cute—and looked like she’d cry if she stepped on a spider. It took three introductions to different girls, and Kennedy already had her pegged as the nice girl.
Kennedy mentally rolled her eyes. Did Bindy not realize what they were here for? That they were all competing against one another?
Soon the tables were full and they had all arrived. And Kennedy was right; with everyone talking, it was getting pretty loud.
Loud enough that someone three people down felt comfortable talking about her.
“I mean, both her and Josiah qualified. I bet you they pair up and make a run for it,” whispered Peyton. The same Peyton she had been friends with in fifth grade.
Cassie’s eyes met Kennedy’s for a brief moment.
“I feel like that’s not even fair,” the chick named Alessa responded.
“A definite advantage,” Peyton agreed.
Good grief. It was the first damn day, and the speculation about who she would pair up with had already began. Wait. Had the Culling technically even started yet? She had expected the gossip, so she shouldn’t have been surprised. She tried to ignore them. Yeah, she could hear every word they said, but she was just going to let it all go.