Queen of Diamonds

7 Days Until The Sorting

I toss my head down and gather my thick blonde mane into my hands, pulling it into a loose messy bun. I check it quickly in the bathroom mirror, then grab my phone off the counter and hurry to my room. I want to look absolutely stunning today. It's the last official day of school, and I can't wait to see all of my friends again one last time. I pull my frilly pink curtains back. Chris's convertible is parked right outside my perfectly manicured lawn. I wave at him, and he waves back, giving me a dashing smile. Then I check the yellow clock on my bedside table. I'm late! I grab my jacket and backpack off my chair, pat my bunny, Tabby, on the head, and head downstairs. My mom is in the kitchen, and my dad is reading the newspaper and eating breakfast. My sister, Alexa, has already gotten on the bus for school, and my youngest sibling, little Timmy, is sitting in his high chair, playing with Cheerios. I grab a pop-tart from the table and start to head out.
"What's the hurry?" my dad asks over the top of his paper. It's the Diamond Gazette, the main paper for the Diamond quarter. There's never a lot of very tragic news. Almost everything that happens in the diamond quarter happens the way it should. Everything is clean, perfect, and pretty. It's paradise.
"It's the last day of school, dad, remember?" I huff, taking the opportunity to swipe some cereal from Timmy.
"Have a good day, honey!" my mom calls from the kitchen. My dad nods in agreement and turns back to the morning news. I ruffle Timmy's hair and head for the door. 

I slide into the front seat of Chris's pastel blue convertible. His brown hair is windswept and perfect, and his blue eyes look me up and down like I'm a runway model. 
"Hey, babe," he says, leaning over to kiss me on the cheek, then sliding on sunglasses before starting the car. Me and Chris started dating at the end fo 8th grade, and everyone agreed that we were the perfect match. We were both attractive, our parents were both renowned lawyers in the Diamond quarter, and he was star quarterback, so it was only natural that he would fall for me, the head cheerleader. But the real reason I liked Chris is that around the time we met, my oldest sister turned 15, and she was Sorted into her suit. She became a Spade. My parents didn't want to talk about it. I knew as well as them that Spades were violent, angry, and dangerous. I didn't know why my sister was a Spade, but I was worried about her. Chris's older brother had just gotten sorted at the same time, so we could talk about it with each other. We had to be careful, though. Technically, it was illegal to talk about the other quarters. Ever since the Great War, people have been confined to different suits based on their best (and worst) personality traits. The idea was to keep the best people in society with the other best people, so they could flourish. The Diamond Suit is obviously the best of the best. How could it get better?

I put my arms out to feel the breeze on my face, and the sleeves of my jacket ride up. I can just barely see the light pink ace bandage that I use to cover up my Soul Mark. Me and Chris both agreed never to show ours to each other. We knew that the likelihood of both ending up in the same Suit after the Sorting was so low, we didn't want to even tempt fate. If we were soulmates, we would find out after the Sorting. For now, we're just gonna have fun, like high schoolers should. I know some kids who posted photos of their Soul Mark online, or go around wearing it on their clothes and stuff. I hope my Soulmate isn't one of those people. I always found that kind of trashy. I pull my sleeve down over the bandage and smile at Chris. 

The hallways are packed with people, and I hear so many cries of "hi Nova" and "Happy last day of school, Nova!" that my head almost hurts. Finally I get to my first period class, history, and slide into my seat in-between two of my top cheerleaders, Gracie and Felicity. They both smile when I sit down, and Gracie reaches into her backpack and pulls out a large gift bag with frilly pastel tissue paper stuffed into the top. She hands it to me. 
"A gift to the best head cheerleader ever!" she squeals, handing it to me. I feel my eyes fill with tears on the spot. I'm gonna miss my girls so much! I reach over and hug each of them individually, and reach into my backpack as well. I don't have big gifts, but I made a little shrink dink keychain for all of my friends. I was up all night making them! I hand one to Gracie and Felicity, and they're about to respond when Mr. Hardwood, the history teacher, comes rushing in, the buttons on his shirt mismatched to their holes. 
"Settle down class!" he shouts, a little too loud. Gracie and Felicity clam up, but Felicity draws a little heart in the air with her fingers and points at me. 

The day flies by. I'm lucky I grabbed my extra polaroid film from off my white desk this morning, because I can't stop snapping pictures of everyone. Me and Chris. Me and the cheer squad. My bio lab partner, Bella, who I became best friends with. Isaac and Reirdan, from theater. At lunch, I make all my friends squeeze into one giant photo. It almost makes me cry just looking at it, but I shove down my tears. I can't believe I have to leave them all soon. I know that I'm going to be sorted into the Diamond suit, everything here is just like me, but my friends might not. The thought of never seeing them again - no, I can't even imagine it. I just need to enjoy the time now. I pass out more of the diamond keychains, and take a few more gifts from my friends in return. By the end of the day, my locker is overflowing with notes, packages, and bags from all of my friends. I grab my yearbook, the last of my friendship trophies, out of my locker, and shut it, locking it tight. I decorated the front of my locker with painted daisies and, of course, Diamonds, and I smile looking at them. I check to see if no one is in the hall, then lean in to kiss the front of my locker. I snap one last polaroid, because I want to remember EVERYTHING about school, the best time of my life, then sling my backpack over my shoulder and head to meet up with Chris.