Life Match

Day Two

"Sage!" Jericho jogged after me, "Hey."

I stopped. I'd forgotten about Jericho in the brief moment that I'd been full of only Riah. Still, he's my best friend, and I smile, "Hey."

He grabs me and kisses me, "We can be together now."

I pull away, "What about Mirabelle?"

His face clouds, "She's in love with someone else. And she isn't you."

"See Jericho, about that... I kind of like, Riah?" my voice inflects unintentionally, making it sound like a question.

"You sure?" He gives me a strange look, "This isn't the same Riah that used to snap your bra in class."

"Yeah, but he's... different now," I reply. Or maybe I was different? Instead of finding him intimidating and scary, somewhere along the line I'd began to find him thrilling and exciting. I liked how he ordered me around and took control. But I couldn't tell Jericho that. It was weird enough to feel this way, it would be too weird to admit it to my male best friend. Especially one who was convinced he loved me.

Tahoe tugs at his leash, indicating we start moving again. I oblige, and we turn around, heading back towards the house. Jericho follows me, "But I thought we were in love. I thought you loved me."

"I do," I say, "I do love you Jericho. But just not the way I think I love Riah."

He looks deflated, "Can I change your mind?"

I look at him. He's cut his curly locks into a buzz cut, longer on the top than on the sides. He's tanned from the sun, but still has the welcoming warm brown eyes. If I look closely, they appear to have the slightest hint of yellow near the irises.

"I have to go," I say, heading into the house.

****

As part of "The New Age" as the Elect is calling it, women are being forced to learn a minor trade and take a self defense class. I choose cooking, so at least if this whole experiment or whatever blows over, I'll still have some skills in the kitchen.

In the morning I wake up and eat breakfast with Papa, then change into my school uniform, a khaki jumper over a pastel green shirt. I look through my shoes, and notice a new pair of boots among my things, similar to the ones Riah always used to wear. I smile a sad smile, the memory of the uncertain parting we'd had stinging.

"Sage? I'm leaving in five!" Papa calls to me. I pull them on and head out the door.

Papa drops me off at the new rec. center. Or at least, what we were told it was going to be. Now, navigating the sea of pastel green clothed young adults (the boys' wear khakis and a collared shirt), it's quite clear that we were lied to. The whole place just looks like a high school, only a little smaller. Either way, I'm glad for the extra height the boots give me, stopping me from being absorbed into the crowd. I manage to make it to my first class, Recipe Reading, without a scratch.

"Sage!" someone calls my name and I turn to see who it is. Mirabelle.

I go to her and she pulls me into an immediate hug, "I'm so glad to finally get to meet you! Sampson never shut up about you! I feel like I know you already!"

She releases me and I take her in. She's a head taller than me with long straight black hair. Her face is very plain, and she has freckles under her ocean blue eyes. Compared to my curves, she's a toothpick. I hadn't meant to, but I'm comparing myself to her, the girl of Jericho's dreams if the test had done its job. She is nothing like me.

"We should totally be partners!" She shrieks. I agree, seeing that for the entirety of my childhood, it was only Jericho and I, driven together by Riah's hate for us. We protected each other, forced to lean on each other, as no one wanted to be friends with us, scared they too would become targets of Riah's wrath.