So even though America talked last chapter about going to the airport, in this chapter she finally gets there.  She’s nervous about flying, since she’s never done so before, and she doesn’t want to freak out in front of the other selected girls she’s traveling with.  Because…?  I mean, there’s lots of reasons one might not want to be scared in public, so it would be nice to know which one she’s going with.  As it stands, all we’ve got is…being scared is bad?

America has already memorized the names and faces of the other girls, because she was hoping to find a friendly face among them.  She’s never had a friend before because…?  We’re not really given a good reason.  She says she was homeschooled and only went to work with her mother, but that’s not really a good excuse.  Everyone in her caste is homeschooled, because this book likes to fuck logic.  If everyone is homeschooled, then why would the depend on school to socialize their children?  Why wouldn’t they have play dates, or at the very least, just let their kids run around outside and meet the other neighborhood children?

But Aspen and I were never just friends. From the moment I became truly aware of him, I was in love with him.

Uh, yeah, because you were fourteen when you met.  Pretty standard, so I can’t fault America for thinking that she was in love at first sight.  Still: this is why we don’t let young teens get married or make life-changing decisions.  The only real fault with this line is that we’re actually supposed to take it seriously.

America angsts for a while because woe, she is the saddest girl in the world because she lost her one true love.

I wondered if any of the others girls were sad today. I imagined that everyone except for me was celebrating.

Considering you are not as special snowflake as you think you are, yeah, it’s possible that there are other teenagers who actually liked boys before joining this contest.  It is, in fact, entirely conceivable that you are not the only teenage girl to have ever liked a boy.

And I at least needed to look like I was too, because everyone would be watching.

Why do you care?  So everyone’s going to be watching; so what?  You don’t want to win, remember?  You don’t even like the idea of the Selection, so why put effort into pretending you do?

Two more girls show up.

They were both smiling, confirming my thought that I was the only one of the Selected who might be depressed today.

Yeah, you just convinced yourself to plaster on a smile and pretend, but the fact that they’re smiling means they can’t be doing the same thing.  What?

Both of the girls are cheerful and friendly and pretty, and they come from ‘the North.’  Not that ‘the North’ tells us much.  America is from a province named Carolina, but neither of these girls are from places named after states.  How far north do they have to be to be considered ‘the North’?  How big is Carolina?  How big is Illea?  And if ‘the North’ is distinct enough and large enough to have its own regional designator, then why doesn’t it have its own airport?  Does ‘the North’ consist of only these two provinces, or are there other North girls traveling to other airports?

Marlee liked movies, and so did I, though I rarely got to see them. We talked about actors who were unbearably attractive, which seemed strange since we were off to be Maxon’s pack of girlfriends.

If you rarely get to see movies, then how do you know enough to carry on a conversation about them?  Also, teenagers talking about hot boys is not strange.  You are allowed to think that more than one man in this universe is attractive, and there’s not one thing wrong with doing that.

Suddenly, another girl arrives!  She wears sunglasses, walks confidently, and doesn’t smile right away.

Her entrance was meant to inspire intimidation. And it worked on ladylike Ashley, who I heard breathe an “Oh, no” as the new girl walked closer.

Um…what about that entrance was intimidating?  She walking in without cowering.  Big whoop.  Is it because she didn’t immediately genuflect at the chance to be America Singer’s new best friend?

Celeste finally reached us, and Marlee squeaked out a hello, trying to be friendly even in the midst of intimidation.

Seriously, why is this woman scary?  Is it because she’s from a higher caste than these other girls?  I mean, I can certainly imagine that Marlee and the others have been conditioned to view the higher castes as intimidating, and so she would respond to a Two just acting like a typical Two.  But we need to know that.  After all, for that to be true, the Two’s need to be more than just richer, they need to be actively discriminating against, objectifying, and oppressing the other castes in a systematic manner.  That’s a much different statement about their country than just saying that one chick was a little bit stiff.

And, I’m sorry, but I’m still fucking confused.  WHY IS THIS GIRL CONSDIDERED INTIMIDATING?

“We don’t know,” I answered without a hint of fear. “You’ve been holding up the show.”

Oh, it’s so that America can show off not being scared.  Yeah, it’s not impressive to be unscared of the unscary thing.

“Sorry, quite a few people wanted to see me off. I couldn’t help it.” She smiled wide, as if it was obvious she was meant to be worshipped.

It’s bad if Celeste is worshipped.  But it’s good if a whole town shows up to send America off, because she farts out unicorn rainbows. 

As if on cue, a man appeared through the door to our left.

“I hear all four of our Selected girls are here?”

“We sure are,” Celeste replied sweetly. The man sort of melted a little, you could see it in his eyes. Ah. So this was her game.

Her game is to…be nice, just not to you?  Alright, you don’t have to like her for doing that.  But on the flip side, she doesn’t have to like you either.  Would you rather she fake niceness toward everyone?  (Which, by the way, you still don’t know if the other two girls are sincere or also ‘gaming.’)

The flight, which was really only terrifying during the takeoff and landing, lasted a few short hours.

Oh, so…that’s all we get?  It’s America’s first plane ride, and she was supposedly terrified of it, but there’s no build up?  No description?  No word on if the other girls are scared or not?  No worry about stamping down any outward signs of fear? 

You’re just going to treat this like flying isn’t any big thing, just like it wouldn’t be for most middle class American brats, aren’t you, book?  Yeah, I thought so.

I watched the country from above, amazed at just how big it all was.

Hey, how about some descriptions of how big it is?  I mean, the flight took two hours, but…so?  Is Carolina on the opposite side of the country from whatever town this palace is in?  Are they relatively close?  Are you ever going to give us any fucking information at all, book?

America and Marlee talk on the plane about how Ashley is sweet and proper, but Celeste is a bitch.

Marlee covered her mouth to hide a laugh. “I don’t want to talk badly about anyone, but she’s so aggressive.

She has literally done nothing except fail to like you and be nice to the pilot.  That’s not ‘aggressive.’  Aggressive would be if she actively tried to undercut you in front of people who don’t even matter yet, or if she tried to manipulate you into looking bad in the hopes the prince would find out about it. 

“Well, sometimes I wish that the Twos had an idea about what it felt like to be treated the way they treat us.”

Let’s stop for a moment and take stock of how the Twos have treated people in this book.  So far they have: hired America, her mother, and Aspen’s mother to work; failed to treat America like a rock-star; failed to hug America at the airport; and acted neutral toward her.  I’m sure there is plenty of bad stuff the Twos could be/are doing, not the least of which is participating in this caste system which keeps them elevated and the rest of the country down.  But no one’s said as much yet.  America keeps treating this caste system like it’s something that just sprang into being because Thor commanded it, and she consistently fails to realize that the fault belongs with the upper castes.  It would be one thing to say that America is just young and doesn’t pick up on such things, but in that case…what does she wish would happen to the Twos?  Does she wish for a cosmic shifting of circumstances, or does she want to shrug off the Twos be all “yeah, yeah, I see you there.  Calm your tits.”  Each option has different implications, both for the world we’re reading about and for America’s character, but we need at least a hint of which one to go with.

If you weren’t a Two or Three, it was just varying shades of bad.

So…what, we’re going with the assumption that there’s no difference between the four-and-below castes?  Then why bother making them separate castes to begin with?  All that does is force people to be shitty artists.

So they finally get to the other airport, and the terminal is jam-packed full of people who have fuck-all else to do with their time, so they came to gawk and cheer. 

At regular intervals along this channel were guards, looking around anxiously and poised to strike at the first hint of danger. Surely there were more important things they should be doing?

Like, you know, war?  Rebels?  WAR?  Honestly, if this is a security issue, then they shouldn’t be letting people in to begin with.  It’s not like they were just incapable of saying ‘no’ and closing off the airport.  Or were they?  We’ll never know, because after hanging a lampshade on how stupid everything is, the narrative just moves blithely on.

America is scared because she doesn’t know what to do, but Celeste is ahead of her and waves, which makes the watchers ‘go wild’ with cheers.  You know, maybe these people are just starved for entertainment, since all their artists are as dull as America here.

So after whining to the narrative about how she doesn’t know what to do, America immediately and without hesitation goes up to the crowd and starts smiling, shaking hands, and signing autographs.  None of the other girls do the same thing, because apparently only America is special enough to actually think “hey, people, let’s go pay attention to them.”

Because it’s just not a crappy YA book unless the heroine gets praised for doing normal stuff.

Also, I suppose this is intended to make her look like ‘one of the people,’ but…it falls a little flat.  Signing autographs doesn’t make one humble because just by doing it, you’re agreeing with the idea that your name is worth something.  I’m not saying it’s 100% a selfish gesture, or even a bad one, and I do like celebrities that interact pleasantly with their fans.  But to do so, one has to first admit that they are a celebrity.