“If a clock could count down to the moment you meet your soul mate, would you want to know?”
One minute, 37 seconds.
My legs are shaking. Holy cow, there is no way I can do this. None.
One minute, 29 secods.
I glance around at the faces surrounding the room. Of course my Meeting would take place in the gross, overcrowded cafeteria.
One minute, six seconds.
Somewhere within these four walls, someone has the exact same countdown on their wrist. They’re going through the exact same pressure as me.
54 seconds.
Mom said I should be excited, not nervous. Yet I still find myself wiping my sweaty palms on my dress. I can’t believe she talked me into wearing a dress. I mean, shouldn’t my Soul Mate meet me as I normally am? All plain jeans, blah shirts, and wild brown curls?
30 seconds.
Something deep within me tells me to stand up. I do, drawing the attention of my tablemates. They all know too. They smile encouragingly up at me. I chew my lip nervously.
25 seconds.
That same feeling pulls me towards the center of the room. My stomach drops away from me as I take a step in that direction.
20 seconds.
I continue in that direction. With each step the tempo of my heart picks up.
19. Faster.
18. Quicker.
17. More rapid.
16. It’s racing.
Oh my god. This is it. The moment my life changes forever.
My eyes search frantically around the cafeteria, searching for someone who looks as nervous as me. For someone who’s heading towards their future with no sense of direction like me.
10 seconds.
The feeling directs me slightly to the left. I turn to accomodate.
5. My heart has given up entirely.
4. I stop walking.
3. Just waiting.
2. Everything is about to change.
1. Deep breath.
00 years. 00 months. 00 weeks. 00 days. 00 hours. 00 minutes. 00 seconds. 00 time left to wait.
Someone bumps my shoulder. I twirl around and my gray eyes meet blue, blue ones.
“Hello there, love. It appears as though we’re Soul Mates then, eh?”
As my words fail me, the only thing I can think is “I’m so glad I shaved this morning.”
"Heh, I-I guess so. Just so you know, I don't normally wear clothes like this. I mean, I will wear them if I need to, but normally I don't leave the house dressed like this. I leave the house dressed, though! Oh jeez..." This is going a lot worse than I thought it would. But, to my surprise, the boy is laughing. "Can I have a redo?" He laughs harder. It's a charmingly cute laugh. He looks at me with bright eyes and a big smile.
"Yeah. Shoot." His smile is welcoming and I calm down a bit.
"I'm Sam. Sam Roth. You are?" I am way too shy right now. It's no good. My cheeks heat up as I bite my lip when our eyes meet.
"I'm your Soul Mate, Gavin Hale. Nice to meet you, beautiful. Say," He leans in to my ear, his hand on my shoulder, breath hot on my cheek. My heart pounds and I'm sure he can hear it. "Wanna ditch? You know, get out of here, maybe go on a date?" He looks back at me and I nod excitedly. I have a note in my bag that says I could leave school early when I meet my Soul Mate.
"You know, they'd just let us leave. It's okay." He nods at me and I go over to my table, winking at my friends as I take my things with me. As I'm crossing to the door, I see my friend Toby. My eyes meet his and they look....Sad. Is he okay? I look down at his hand and I see a boquet of blue roses; my favorite. You can only engenire them specially.
"Love? You okay?" Gavin's voice brings me back and I look at him.
"Yeah, I am." I sigh. But I'm not sure if it's happiness or....What am I feeling? Am I feeling disappointed? My feelings shake off as Gavin takes my hand in his, twining his fingers between mine, and we leave the school.
Toby's POV
I keep looking at my timer.
2 minutes. 34 seconds.
My hear races as I grip my backpack. I've been careful not to damage the bouquet of blue roses inside. Sam's favorite. It took me three weeks to get them right. Sky blue, ocean blue undertoning.
1 minute. 43 seconds.
I take the bouquet out. I see Sam get up. I know what she's doing. I'm doing it, too.
56 seconds.
I take my tray in one hand, bouquet in the other, and I throw the reminents of my lucn in the bin. I turn around. Sam looks stunning in her dress. I miss her casual style, though. I go to approach her, my hand inches from her shoulder. I catch my clock in my eye.
00 years. 00 months. 00 weeks. 00 days. 00 hours. 00 minutes. 00 seconds. 00 time left to wait.
It's time. But right before my hand reaches her, someone pushes me out of the way. I look up and see the sinister eyes of Gavin Hale. He smiles evily at me, shaking his head. He mouths "Not this time." at me. My heart sinks. I scramble to get up, running out of the cafeteria. I slump against the wall, sinking to the ground. I run my hand through my hair. I shake my head. I'm determined to make Sam realize it's me. I get up, getting back into the cafeteria in time to see Sam, happily smiling and holding hands with Gavin. He's done it. He got her before me. I feel my hear shatter in my chest. Sam catches me. She looks at me and my flowers and back at me. Something flashes in her eyes. Then I see Gavin glaring at me. I look down at their hands. My stomach flip-flops.
His time ins't now. I still see numbers on his clock.
Can you really cheat the Order Of Love? The High Council had made this order thirteen hundred years ago that all love is programmed into our hearts. They said no one could rewrite their stories. If they did, there would be serious consequences.
So what the hell did he do?
