『 Failure 』

「 Ｏ ｎ ｅ 」

"Yeah, you're a failure."

That was the nasty remark etched on my wrist; a remark that would stay on my wrist forever. Oh, how I wished for my life to have given me a a better phrase. However, it was as if I was cursed. This curse would follow me around everywhere – always finding a way for me to get made fun of. It wasn't fun, yet I tried to not let it bother me, but it hurt me a lot.

—

Currently, I'm in high school. I don't have many friends, considering the phrase I was born with, and I still haven't met my soulmate.

That all changed when I met a girl.

I was walking down the hallway, going to class, when out of the corner of my eye, I saw a girl and her friends following me.

Wow, she's pretty, I thought. I stopped walking, and the group of girls stopped walking. "W-Why are you following me?" I questioned, stuttering the first word.

The swarm of girls laughed, "Haha! That's so lame; he stuttered!" One phrase a girl had said caught my attention, "Yeah, you're a failure."

That was the same writing on my wrist. I looked at my wrist, and back at her. The thing was, she wasn't there anymore. Where did she go? Have a finally met my soulmate?

The first bell run, indicating we only had five more minutes left to get to class. I went to my next class, continuing my day.

When I got to lunch, I sat down with my friends. We talked, but then, I remembered what had happened earlier today. I told them about the girl and her friends, and they encouraged me to go talk to her. Listening to my friends, I got up and looked for the girl.

I walked around the lunch area looking like an idiot, but after a few minutes, I finally found the girl I encountered earlier. She was sitting at a table with her friends; the same friends that were in the hallway with her.

I walked up to her and said, "Hey, uh, this might sound weird, but I think you might be my soulmate. What you said to me earlier matches my wrist."

The girl's friends looked at her, shocked. The girl got up and showed the writing she had on her, "I think we really are soulmates. Your stuttering phrase is on my wrist." Her and her friends giggled. "Oooo! Looks like someone's got a boyfriend," one girl yelled.

"Wait, I realized I never got your name. My name is Dani, by the way," she softly smiled at me.

"Oh, my name is Evan," I replied. Dani and her friends looked at one another, each with a small smirk on their faces. Then, Dani, presumably my new girlfriend, told me, "I'll meet you out here after school. Bye!"

I said bye to her, and I walked back to my friends. As I sat back down, they stared at me. "So...are you guys dating now?" asked my friend Evan. Yes, he has the same name as me, I know. "I don't know, I think we are, though," I said.

The bell rang, meaning it was time to go back to class. My friends said goodbye to each other and left. I reluctantly went back to class.

—

After another dreadful day of school, I waited at the front for Dani. After a few minutes, she showed up. "Hey," she greeted me. "Hi," I answered. "This is going to sound really cliche, but there's a cafe nearby, and I was wondering if you wanted to go with me," she stated. "Sure," I cheerfully replied.

As we were walking, we passed by Dani's friends. I heard one of them mumble, "Oh, he's so clueless. He doesn't even know."