The Soulmate

Chapter 1 - Goodbyes

I am pacing back and forth in my room trying to make sure I had all the essentials for college. I was leaving in two hours, and I knew that I had whatever I needed packed, but I went through this every single day. I had to be sure that I would have absolutely everything I needed before I got there, I would be devastated if I forgot a single thing. Books- check, pencils- check, pens- ch-- 

"Alexus Dawn Parker! Get your butt downstairs this instant!" Uh oh, my dad used my full name. I must be in trouble for something, even though I don't recall doing anything wrong for once. It is crazy to think I still get yelled at for practically everything even though I'm technically an adult that is leaving for college.

"Yes daddy?" I run down the stairs and try to sweet talk myself out of whatever I may have done.

"Why did you sneak out of this house last night? You may have some more freedom that you keep begging for if you wouldn't do things like this behind my back."

"But I didn't sneak out daddy, not this time." I really didn't.

"Don't lie to me young lady, I heard you sneaking back in early this morning!" His voice was getting louder, if that was even possible.

"Can a girl not open her window in the middle of the night to let some cool air inside?" I asked knowing I should of just said I snuck out, dad will now think I'm trying to be rebellious and back-talk.

"Not a girl that is known to sneak out in the middle of night!" His voice boomed.

Mom decided to step in, "Paul, please cut Allie some slack and learn to believe her when she says she didn't do something. You know she always owns up to her mistakes. If you would take the time to get to know her instead of screaming at her all the time, you might know that she is actually a very sweet, smart, caring girl."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Dad said, proving that mom won the argument and that I was off the hook.

I head back upstairs to finish the rest of my checklist. Just as I had put everything in its proper bag and placed by the door, Troy barges into my room planting a kiss on my cheek and plops down onto my bed. Troy is my foster brother, that I may or may not have a crush on. Some people say it is very wrong of us, but we do not see it that way as we are not technically related.

"Cuddle with me, my love," Troy was an affectionate person. I skip over to the bed after shutting the door so mom and dad wouldn't see us and fall into his arms.

"You know I'm not your love, our bracelets prove it!"

"So, I can pretend can't I?" Troy asks planting a slow, heavy kiss right on my lips.

Everyone has a bracelet, it is given to us when we are born. The bracelet is a metal chain that is nearly indestructible with a small star charm on it. The charm will light up when you come in contact with your soulmate. Unfortunately that hasn't happened to me, I haven't eve got a flicker yet. Troy has had one flicker with a girl at our high school, but his bracelet has not lit up a solid blue yet. A flicker means that you could be potential life-long lovers but not soulmates. Quite a bit of people actually never find their soulmates because they could actually be anywhere on our planet; you may cross paths with them, you may not.

You may think it is stupid that we go ahead and date people anyways knowing that our bracelet tells us who we are compatible with, but dating is actually encouraged so we aren't completely clueless when we do find the "right one". It has been proven that the people with more relationship experience before finding their soulmate actually have less arguments and get along better. Therfore, I spend a lot of my time with Troy. No, we aren't dating, but we do quite enjoy spending time together and kissing. We try not to go any farther than that though no matter how hard it is to stop our raging hormones.

"I'm really going to miss you baby girl."

"I will miss you too, Troy."

"You know, it'd be really cool if we got placed at the same college," Troy says. See, that's another thing that is different from your beloved country of the United States, our college is completely free. At the end of high school, you take a test to see if you are smart enough to go to college. If you fail, you are placed at a job that doesn't require a college degree; if you pass, they place you at a college with people in the same test score range as you. You do not know what college you are going to until you arrive at the train station, each college has different majors you can choose from. Personally, I really want a job helping people or animals, but we will see where I am placed.

"Yeah, that would be cool." I lie, I'm secretly trying to get away from Troy, he is just holding me back.

"Children come downstairs for your breakfast, so we can shortly leave for the train station.

***

I carefully grab my pink bags from the back of mom's SUV and head to my train platform. I have been assigned to Lester University, which is train number 7, my lucky number. Mom and dad will meet me there shortly after they say goodbye to Troy at platform 4, to my relief. I see several boys but no females standing around my platform. Great, I'm going to end up with a job for men, such as an engineer or carpenter. I'm going to be miserable for the next four or so years and then I'm going to end up with a job that I don't like whatsoever. It's not my fault that I enjoy mathematics and that I do very well at it.

"Honey, come give us a hug and say goodbye. You know you won't be seeing us again until fall break in October." Mom wrapped me up in her arms, I took a deep breath of her flowery perfume, locking the scent into my head.

"I'm going to miss you mom! I'll be sure to call you all the time and let you know how I'm doing and what's going on. I'll tell you all about my new roommate and the friends I hope to make, and the classes. I love you mom." By this time, I'm starting to get a little teary-eyed. My mom has been my best friend for the last six years I was in her custody.

Dad was next, he gave me a very short hug, "I know we may not get along very well, but I want you to know that I'm going to miss you kiddo."

After another hug from my mom, I turned around and stepped onto my train, ready to begin a new chapter in my life.