String of Fate

Chapter Three

My family was quite small, being only my dad and me. My mother had died giving birth to me, so I had just been raised by my dad. I liked to think that he had done a good job in raising me, but he was a little over protective of me. As such, he tended to scare away my friends that I brought over to the house, well, all except Shane. Shane was my best friend, and had been since we had met each other five years ago, when the two of us were eleven years old. Somehow, my dad had not managed to scare him away over the years. I didn't mind, and, well, Shane didn't seem to notice.

Now, Shane and I were both in our last year of school. I had turned sixteen a few weeks ago and was waiting, not so patiently, for my string to appear. Shane, on the other hand, had yet to turn sixteen - there was a five month gap between the two of us. I didn't actually know how I was going to manage if I had to wait years for my string. Hopefully, it wouldn't be too long for it to appear.

When I was in school, I couldn't help but check out some of the girls in my classes, even though any of the girls I was looking at was not going to be at the end of my string. I should not be thinking that any of these girls could be at the end of my string, and I should not be getting my hopes up about any of them. I needed to wait for my string to appear. Until that happened, checking out any number of girls would be useless.

To distract myself, I should concentrate on my studies. I had a lot of classes this year to think about. Plus, it was my GCSE year so I had to concentrate on my exams otherwise I would bugger up my future. There was no way I wanted that. I needed to have a good future.

"Charlie, stop zoning out!" Sophie told me on our first break, brining me out of the daze that I had gone into. She was the third, and final member, of our friendship group and I made sure I didn't take her home to meet my dad. He would scare her away and I didn't want that. I valued her friendship as much as I valued Shane's. "So, your string hasn't appeared yet? Don't worry about it. It'll happen when the other person turns sixteen. That might not be much longer. Personally, I kind of hopes that it happens on my sixteenth birthday for me."

"I do, too, if I'm completely honest. For the both of you. This waiting game is actually a nightmare. I keep seeing people and thinking that it might be them. I just want my string to appear as soon as possible." I replied. I'd already waited over a month for mine already. It was actually awful to wait for my string.

I looked at Sophie, and truthfully, I wouldn't mind if Sophie was at the end of my string. She was a great girl, kind and generous. She made me laugh and was a great friend. Sophie looked good, too. She wasn't super skinny like the models that were everywhere, but she had nice curves. She was a natural beauty, only wearing a small amount of make-up to enhance the features that she thought that she was lacking. I didn't actually think that she was lacking any features, though.

Oh no. was I checking out someone who may not be at the end of my string? That was not a good idea. I should not be doing that. I would not be unhappy about the fact that Sophie may not be my soul mate. I had to stop thinking about the possibility. I would just have to be patient and wait until my red string appeared. I kind of just wished that I knew how long it would be until that happened.

My thoughts were distracted again as the bell went and the three of us started heading to our next lesson. At the bottom of the stairwell that the three of us had been sitting on, Shane left the two of us to go to his chemistry class while Sophie and I headed to art. As we walked, she looped her arm through mine and fell into step beside me. "So, do you have any thoughts as to who it could be?"

"Not really. It's frustrating because, at this point, it could literally be anyone." I complained. I looked down at her and gave her a smile. "What about you? Is there anyone you like the look of?"