I am slid into the backseat of a limousine, my light brown hair a mess from the wind and my feet cold from the snow. The door shuts and I put on my seatbelt, looking out the tinted windows at the snow-coated scenery around me. I can't believe that just happened. That didn't feel right, that's not how meeting someone at a ball is supposed to go. I thought I'd dance a little, walk around and maybe eat a mini quiche or two, but instead I was welcomed into some type of cult.
"What's your name?" I jump, and turn to face the source of the voice. "You can't see me, I'm not actually with you." I see a small speaker on the seat next to me with a camera connected to it.
"Hanna, Hanna Davis." I reply, looking at the camera.
"Davis, huh? Are you sure about that?" The voice questions.
"Pretty sure." I roll my eyes.
"Don't roll your eyes at me, you understand?"
"Yes! Sorry... I don't know your name." I realise.
"You will." Is the last thing I hear before the line is replaced with static.
---
We arrive at a large, automatic gate where the driver has to key in a passcode to enter. After he does this, the gate opens and we drive down the long driveway, arriving at the entrance of the house. The door is opened for me and I step out onto the concrete. The house is huge, if you can even call it that; I'd describe it as a large mansion. Green hedges surround the driveway up to the side of the house, where there's a roundabout to exit with rosebushes on and around it. It's at least three times the size of my house if not more, probably more.
My family was definitely more than comfortable, my father being the head of a large company, but this was ten times more extreme. I walk the few steps to the door and wait for the driver to come over and let me in. He opens the door and I go to move but he gives me a stern look.
"Stay here, I'll be with you momentarily." He closes the door and I am left alone on the front porch. "Place your hand on the touch pad." The driver's voice sounds from the intercom. I do as I'm told and hold it there for a few moments before feeling a burning sensation. I go to remove my hand but the driver speaks. "Leave your hand there. I'll tell you when you can remove it." I wait there for a few more seconds before getting the all clear, the door then unlocking from my touch.
The hallway is long and light, modern from top to bottom. We walk down it and to the right into into a living space where he motions for me to sit on a chair. "He will be with you shortly." The driver walks off and further down the hall, out of my vision. On the coffee table in front of me I see a small square piece of parchment like the one I received at the gala ball, so I reach out and pick it up, turning it over. Unlike my own, this one read statistics, looking to be comparing two people. There weren't any names, but I could only assume that it was me and my suitor:
Age: XX - 16, XY - 16
Eye colour: XX - Blue, XY - Blue
Hair colour: XX - Light brown, XY - Blonde
Fertility: XX - 83%, XY - 96%
Ethnicity: XX - Caucasian (Canadian)/Latino, XY - Caucasian (Irish-American)/Latino
Blood type: XX - O-, XY - O-
Risk of disease: XX - No, XY - No
Recessive genes: XX - Red hair, XY - None
Athleticism: XX - 97%, XY - 99%
Total compatibility: 100%
My eyes widen as I read through the sheet. Latino? I'm not Latino. My family has been in Canada for generations, I know that because my father drilled our family tree into my head when I was younger. My mother homeschooled me until I was 10, and when teaching history and geography, she would always pull out a map that had all our ancestors birth places marked on it. I always thought it was really interesting to see how long we'd been in North America for.
Who even is my suitor?
Just as I think this, the driver comes back in. I look up at him as he steps to the side to reveal a boy with chin length, layered blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. "Shit." I mutter so no one can hear me. It's Hayden Gallivan. His eyes widen as I assume he's as shocked as I am. I never told him my name at the ball; I was another nameless face to him before now. His eyebrows are creased, but he softens them before speaking.
"I'll show you to your room, follow me." He turns around and leaves the room, not even checking to see if I'm following, which I am. We take the hall all the way to the end and turn left to go up a flight of stairs. After doing so, he leads me down another hallway and opens a door on the left-hand side. "Here." He gestures with his hand for me to go inside.
The room is a crisp white. The light wood headboard of a king sized bed is against the wall on the right, a white duvet adorning the mattress with a cream throw on top. Throughout the room, blue, white and light wood is a reoccurring theme, other than the gold painted starfish ornaments hanging on the wall above the bed. The wardrobe is huge, covering one whole side of the room, looking to be a walk-in. I can't describe it all, there's so much.
"Wow, it's-"
"Nice, I know." He rolls his eyes, bored. "The wardrobe is a walk-in, and there is a bathroom in the next room on the right." He confirms my suspicions about the wardrobe.
"Thank you, Hayden."
"Don't thank me, thank the m- my mother. She got the room ready for you. Well, whoever I was going to be matched with."
"What were you going to say?" I ask him.
"What?"
"You cut yourself off." I state my observation. "Why?"
"It doesn't matter, get changed. We're going out for dinner." He walks out the room, slamming the door behind him. I flinch at the sound, but walk over to the wardrobe and open the door, surprised to see clothes of all sorts already there, in my size.
YOU ARE READING
Resist
Romance"You're joking, right?" "Huh?" "That's what you came in here to say? That's your apology for literally making me nearly crack my head open? What kind of back-handed apology is that?" "Well, it's the best you're gonna get from me, princess," he spits...
