Dormmates

Wedding bells

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(In class...)

"Today," Mr. Patel announced, his eyes twinkling behind his tortoise shell glasses, "is the first day of our family and marriage seminar."

"He is like totally unorganized, like how the hell do we have a marriage seminar after we have had a baby seminar, like the hell." I overheard Ellah from the back of the class say.

"Now you all understand the rules. There are 24 of you, 12 boys, 12 girls. Each boys name is written on a piece of paper inside the green hat by the door over there. And each girl will now come up and grab one paper from the hat and read the name out loud"- he cleared his throat dramatically-" the name you draw out will be your husband for the next two weeks." Mr. Patel announced.

Everyone laughed, and all the girls formed a line. Ellah drew first, and the class read the slip of paper aloud: "Jeffrey Vijay" the class burst out laughing and Ellah looked so disappointed. Jeffery was the weird kid. He picked his nose all the time, smelled of well... his surname says it all.

"What a downgrade, opposites do attract." Michael said laughing so loud he started tearing up.

Next was me, my arm was shaking as I placed my hand inside the hat. "Matt Baxter" I read slowly. Matt gave me a big wink as I pronounced his name. I couldn't help smiling at the prospect of pretending to be married to one of the richest boys in school. The class burst into applause. My smile immediately faded when I thought about Bret.

In the old days Matt would have been a pain to work with, I thought to myself. He used to have an ego problem. But his new relationship with Hannah had changed him. This was going to be weirdly fun.

All the other girls drew out their names except for two, which were Amy and Hannah. Amy got her boyfriend, Jess, surprisingly. Hannah got none other than Bret.

Hannah modelled up to my desk, she whispered into my ear, smiling, "I'll try my best not to get carried away." The anger I felt at the moment was so all-compassing, I felt as if it were going to start bubbling out of my pores.

" Game on." I whispered to myself.

"Let's get started," Mr Patel said enthusiastically. "Each husband has been given a folder with a fact sheet inside it. Girls why don't you join your spouse's now and find out where you live, what you do, and anything else that's in the folder."

"I can't believe this! Jeffrey is a bus driver!" Ellah exclaimed.

"what's wrong with that?" Jeffrey asked "consider it a golden chariot, my dear. Besides, we will have plenty of room for our seven children."

Ellah looked upset. "and how am I going to have time for seven kids if I'm working at a beauty parlour."

Amy was examining Jess's folder with horror. "at least your husband has a job," she shrieked. "It looks like I'm doomed to the breadline! Jess is unemployed!"

Ellah and I giggled. I opened my folder and found out that Matt was a doctor and I was a fourth grade teacher. We had two children. A boy and a girl. Soon everyone had adjusted to their new identity.

Hannah was an actress and Bret was a gym coach. "we really got it Bret, we are perfect right?"

"mum yeah sure," Bret said looking in my direction.

"okay everyone let's get started, turn to page 2 of your folders, let's work on budgeting. The number on the top of the page is your annual joint income after taxes. Has everyone seen their number?" Mr Patel interrupted.

"this is impossible," Amy moaned. "Jess, that must be the wrong page number. No one can live on that little money!"

"Now todays project is to start making a budget. On page three of the folder you'll find several budget choices. In part one for instance, there are several kinds of homes and their monthly rates. Some are higher than others. You will decide where you will allocate the money. And of course furniture, clothing- "

"I think we need to shift our rental and education money to the clothing category," Ellah told Jeffrey. "I'm going to need some new clothes this year Jeffrey dear."

" yeah then where are we going to live? In the back of the bus?" Jeffrey grumbled.

"you have forty-five minutes, you'll have more time to work on your budgets on Wednesday, and then we will choose a couple to discuss the decision they've made and why."

Ellah and I exchanged glances. Clearly the next two weeks were going to be a lot of fun. I know she is my best friend but I could not wait to see Amy and Jess cope with unemployment plans.

But it seemed lucky that they had gotten each other? What could be better than for the two of them to pretend at what would soon become the real thing? And for that Hannah girl with my man, she should also remember that I have hers.

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I rushed swiftly down the hall, trying to catch up to Ellah. "Ellah!" I called, as I got closer to her." "what's up?" Ellah asked with an inquisitive smile.

"Are you enjoying your time with Jeffrey?" I asked with a smirk.

"Please," Ellah said, rolling her eyes. "Don't give me indigestion. I think Mr. Patel has really flipped this time."

"Anyway that's not why I called you, seeing everyone kind of bumped with their choice of spouses, don't you think we should have a party?"

"that's a great idea Abby, we can even have it at my place. My parents aren't home."

"How about Saturday, we need some time to organize things anyway. We can have it in the night because I'm pretty sure almost everyone will be in a lesson in the afternoon."

"excellent. I can't wait."