“I guessed princesses-in-training didn’t wear pants.”

“My shoes I got to pick. I chose worn-out red flats. I figured I should make it clear from the start that I wasn’t princess material.”

“Listen to me, kitten. Win or lose, you’ll always be a princess to me.”

“So here I was expecting at the very best a cordial welcome from the girls who were prepared to fight me to the death for someone I didn’t want. Instead I was embraced.”

“Just that. Your family must be very different from mine.""I’d say so." I laughed. "For one, no one wears their tiaras to breakfast."Maxon smiled. "More of a dinner thing at the Singer house?”“Of course.”

“He let you have the pants anyway?" she asked. I had started talking about Maxon as soon as I could, eager to know how their conversation had gone."Yeah. He was very generous about it all.""I think it's charming that he's a good winner.""He is a good winner. He's even gracious when he's gotten the raw end of things." Like a knee to the royal jewels, for example.”

“I sighed and went back to filling out the application. The whole thing made me feel like my family didn’t think I had any right to want something of my own. It bothered me, but I knew I couldn’t hold it against them in the long run. We couldn’t afford the luxury of wants. We had needs.”