Matt Enderson is a nice guy. He's just a seventh grader, complaining about math homework, playing Super Mario Party and going to the mall with his friends.
If you met him you would love him and he would love you too because he loves everyone. The first thing Matt would do if he met you is check your finger for the string.
Oh, you don't know about the string? Well, an imaginary red string connects soulmates all over the world. It can get knotted and tangled, but it never gets cut. Sometimes the red string will appear before you even meet your soulmate, but it most commonly happens the exact moment you see them. But every once in a while, you find those oddballs that haven't even got their string. Those people do have soulmates, don't worry, but the gods haven't decided who it is.
And it's rather fun to figure out who loves who.
In first grade Matt would see kids all over the playground playing tag while the person they were going to marry sat around the corner playing trucks. In third grade Matt saw his friend Ashton bump into a girl walking down the hall, and the red strings appeared. In fourth grade his friend Melina (or Melons, as he liked to call her,) ran into a third grader who threw a rock at her and told her to watch where she was going. In sixth grade his absolute best friend in the world Marybeth walked into band class, red string on her finger. Moments later a seventh grader walked into the room with the other end of the string on his finger. Marybeth got her trumpet, Joe grabbed his mallets, they waved and that was it.
Anyway, Matt had grown to respect his abilities and he never ever told anyone who their soulmate was. Well, except for strangers in the mall.
"Okay, what about her?" Marybeth asked, pointing to a girl in BlueNotes.
Matt took a sip of his Orange Julius. "Hasn't got it yet." He stared at the girl for a moment before nearly dropping his drink. "Oh! Oh hold on!"
Another girl in the store began talking to the girl. Girl number one laughed and a red string connected the two of them.
"What?" Marybeth asked, looking in their direction.
"Those two girls," Matt said, pointing to them. "The string just appeared."
"Awwwwww, I love when that happens." Marybeth gushed.
Matt turned and saw a couple holding hands. Another couple passed them, a red string connecting the girl from couple one and the boy from couple two. Matt sighed. It broke his heart every time he saw that happen, which was sadly quite often.
"Okay, okay, What about them?" Marybeth pointed to a couple, probably twenty or so, ordering a coffee from Tim Horton's.
"Matched." Matt said, seeing the red string on their pinkies.
Marybeth pointed to the kids running out of the Arcade. "Any of them?"
Matt searched all eleven of them. "Purple shirt's left his in the Arcade, two boys that look ready to puke are connected though. And that girl in the camo is with that boy down the hall."
"What about Natsu and Lucy?" Marybeth gave a hopeful look.
"Murry, I've told you ten gazillion times that I can't see the strings on animated characters."
Marybeth looked disappointed. "What about me?"
"... I don't know." Matt lied.
"You're a bloody awful liar." Marybeth took a sip of her drink. "Tell me!"
"I said I don't know." Matt got up, wanting to change the subject. "C'mon, I wanna go to Chapters, the new Magnus Chase book is out and I haven't got it yet."
Marybeth rolled her eyes and stood up, following Matt to the book store.
"OMG OMG, I'M FREAKIN' OUT."
"Matt, you're causing a scene, it's not a big-"
"CAN'T STAY CALM. BIG DEAL. REALLY REALLY BIG DEAL."
"Matt-"
Matt picked up Binge by Tyler Oakley and did a twirl. "I've looked everywhere for this! Nowhere had it! They must have gotten a new shipment!"
"Just get it and let's go." Marybeth said, not caring.
Matt bolted to the check out with two books in his hands. Then he stopped and picked up I hate Myselfie by Shane Dawson. Then he stopped to pick up The Land of Stories by Chris Colfer. And a bookmark.
"Really?" Marybeth said as they left the mall.
"Stop judging me, I'm aware that I have no self control." Matt said.
"You went for one book and came out two hours later with four and a kitten bookmark." Marybeth said.
"It was cute." Matt muttered.
"Whatever." Marybeth laughed.
"Matt, get up for school!" Andrew yelled from downstairs.
Matt groaned. He personally thought that six forty five was way too early to be awake. "Ten more minutes..."
Andrew marched into his room and ripped the blankets off of him. "Up!"
"Nooooooo."
"Matt, stop being a baby and wake up." Andrew said.
"I'm in seventh grade, I practically am a baby." Matt protested.
"Shut up or you'll be late." Andrew left the room.
Matt groaned and pulled himself out of bed. He trudged over to his dresser and pulled out his Ravenclaw shirt. This shirt was his favourite of course, because he took a quiz on Pottermore where he was sorted into Ravenclaw, which he rather appreciated since Luna Lovegood is just about the most badass and amazing fictional character in history. Black jeans and blue Chucks. He looked in the mirror before deciding that combing hair is a waste of time.
He grabbed his knapsack and walked down the hall to the bathroom.
"Singin' the toothbrush song," Matt mumbled through mouthfuls of toothpaste. "And you can sing along... Don't forget to brush your tongue... La la la la la la... Plah." Matt spit out the toothpaste and ran downstairs.
He poured a glass of orange juice and passed it to his six year old sister Charlie. In sign language he said 'princess Charlie, your daily orange juice' and bowed.
She smiled, took a sip and signed back, 'thank you Sir Matthew'
Matt kissed Charlie on the forehead and sat down across the table. 'So are you nervous about school' she shrugged. 'There's gonna be lots of cool people there so make lots of new friends'
'Okay' Charlie signed back. 'You start big kid school today'
'I start middle school today' Matt corrected. 'Big kid school is a few years away'
'Oh'
"Doofus, come on, you're gonna be late." Andrew smacked Matt's arm as he passed.
"Sorry that I'm the only one in the family who took the time to learn to speak to our baby sister." Matt shot back.
Andrew waved. "See you, princess. Have a great first day."
"She can't hear you and you know it!" Matt said angrily.
"Shut up and come on." Andrew said.
Matt sighed. 'See you after school, Charlie. Have a great day.' He kissed her forehead and walked out the door.
Matt ran to Marybeth and hugged her and spun her around. "Ahaha! Matt, put me down!"
"Middle School, Murry! Middle school! That's only two years away from high school!"
"I'm aware of the concept." Marybeth said.
"Shut up and let me be excited." Matt said. "Andrew already made me upset and I need the rest of the day to be perfect."
"Charlie?"
"Charlie." Matt sighed, rubbing his eyes. "He doesn't even understand her language! I mean, he can't even tell her he loves her."
"But you can and that's what counts." Marybeth said.
"Yeah, sure." Matt said, not totally convinced that was true. "Let's go be middle schoolers."
"That was the worst experience of my life!" Marybeth moaned. "There's enough homework in this bag to weigh down the house from Up!"
"Yeah but there were cute boyyyys." Melina said.
"I'd have to agree on the cute boys." Matt said. Oops. They didn't know.
They turned to look at Matt for a second. Marybeth passed Melina five bucks. "Dang..." She muttered.
"Melons, I can expect this from you, but Marybeth?" Matt put a hand on his chest.
"She started it!" Marybeth defended. Matt laughed "Whatever."
"How are we gonna do aaallllllllllll this math homework? Like, what even is an integer?"
"It's just any whole number," Marybeth said quietly.
"Hey guys," Ashton ran up behind the three friends. "What's up?"
"An integer is any whole number, we have too much homework, Matt is gay and you owe me ten bucks." Melina summed up.
"Dammit!" Ashton shouted as he passed Melina ten bucks.
"Mel!" Matt shouted. "Ten?!"
"Sorry," She shrugged.
Matt laughed. "Yep. This is gonna be a good year."
