The Marked Lovers

Chapter 1

I look around and I lock eyes with a handsome stranger. With a smile, I notice his jeans, and his striped red, buttoned-up shirt.

"Howdy, what would you be doing round here in the country," the stranger says with his hand on the corner of his book, staring at me.

I wasn't expecting him to say anything, especially something about where I'm from.

"Well, What makes you think I'm not from here," I question.

He closes his book, takes off his hat, and stands up from his chair.

"First off, You don't have a southern accent, second off you don't have a buttoned shirt, third  you don't..."

At that point, I cut him off, "Woah Woah Woah, hold on there cowboy, I don't need you to explain much further, I get it now."

He puts his book back on the shelf that's behind him and starts walking towards me. when he makes it to me, he showed me his wrist. His wrist has a curved line with three dots outlining the edge of it. I hesitated.

"well, don't just leave me hangin," he pushes.

"Uhh," I said, holding my wrist so that he couldn't see.

He started to get aggressive. He grabs my arm and pulls up my sleeve to see nothing imprinted on my wrist.

He gasps, stepping back slowly. All of a sudden black mist came rushing towards me. I hear myself screaming as I wake up in bed. My hand meets my forehead, and sweat started running down my face. I push the covers off of me and throw my feet to the side of the bed. I decide to sit there for a few minutes.

The sound of the door opening burst through my ears.

"honey, are you alright, I heard screaming," my mother asks.

I put my hand back onto my lap and respond.

"I'm fine, it's just a bad dream, go back to bed," I respond, frowning.

She made her way into my bed, and she moves her arm to where she can rub my back.

"Is this about your," she pauses, "mark?"

I start to clump my fist but then I rest them again.

"Maybe," I say in an upset tone, "What if there is no one out there for me?"

 My mom sighs, "honey," my mom started putting her hand on top of mine, "there is someone for you, you just have to be patient."

"But, I have no mark, I'm supposed to have a mark, the mark is supposed to tell me who I'm meant to be with, " I say getting worked up.

"Honey, you don't need to worry about relationships until you get older anyway," my mom responds. 

"And what do you mean by older? like, what age,  exactly," I question. 

"let's not worry about it until you are in your twenties," my mom replied, smiling.

"but that's only 4 years away," I shout.

My mom got up from my bed, gives me a concerned look, and makes her way to the door.

Before leaving completely she told me, "Don't worry about the mark, Megan, get some sleep."

I smile at her as she closes the door. I get up and walk to my desk, and I open my journal and start writing.

...a few hours later...

The sound of metal slamming against metal envelopes the school hallway. I add to the sound by opening my locker. Three clicks and it opens with a shriek. before I could stick my hand in my locker, my friend Max comes up behind me with his hands meeting my shoulders and screams, "BOO!" I stand stolid.

"You didn't scare me this morning, you won't scare me now," I respond planting a grin on my face.

I continue to grab binders and notebooks from my locker and close it.

"I'll get you one of these days, " he says lightly pushing on my shoulder, "you won't see me coming." He uses two fingers to point from his eyes, towards me.

"Whatever Max," I respond rolling my eyes. He walks along with me as I make my way down the hall.  

I put my thumbs beneath my bookbag straps that are around my shoulders.  That position makes me feel safe, It always has.  I guess I got into the habit of it because of the environment I was forced to be in. This school was always very... what's the word... Intence.  I got interrupted from my thoughts by a hand waving to and fro in front of my face. Then a voice emerges making me come back to reality.

"Hello, did you hear me," Max interrogated, "I said that I missed a few questions on the study guide and was wondering if we could meet up so you can help me with it?"

"Oh, " I respond after a moment of silence, "yeah, I should be free tonight." 

Max looks at me questioningly, as if he was worried about me.

"Hey Megan,"  he said, "Are you doing alright? You seem a little down in the dumps?"

As soon as he finished his sentence, I started rubbing my hand against my other arm and looked down. 

 "yeah, I have just been worrying about something I can't control," I put my arm back where they hang down at my side. 

"And what is this thing you have been worrying about?" 

It goes silent for a good minute. I finally break the silence with the words, " uh, I rather not talk about it, it is too personal."

Max nods as if he were embarrassed.  Then he shook it off and looked me in the eyes. 

"Megan, I think I know what's wrong with you," He kept his eyes on me.

"you...do," I asked completely shocked. I stare straight at him, intrigued by what he was going to say next. 

He smiled at me after a long silence, then he spoke.

"You don't know the answers to the study guide and you don't want me to know," max states with a grin. 

"Is that your way of trying to make me feel better," I asked? 

As I stare at him for a few seconds, I start to smile, myself. I always laugh when I stare at someone for a long period of time. I just can't help it.  After we parted ways, I spent the day going to my classes. English Language Arts,  History, Math, Chorus, Acting, and then Science.