Not You

Chapter Three

"Nope, not happening." Kady kept on muttering to herself, angrily grabbing the folder she needed out of her locker before she slammed her locker closed, at least remembering to lock it and double-check it before she stomped her way to her Psychology class.

Why is he my soulmate? Kady groaned as she slumped into her usual seat in her class. She dropped her head onto her desk, wincing briefly at the pain before remembering her predicament and sighing. Why me? Kady stayed like that until a finger poked the side of her head; with another groan she looked up to see Symphony sat down next to her, a concerned frown on her face.

"You okay? You left me out there, just walked away without saying anything." Symphony looked a little hurt, though mostly confused. Kady couldn't help but feel a wave of guilt wash over her and she straightened up in her seat with a sigh.

"I'm sorry."

"Are you okay?" Symphony asked again, worry completely taking the place of any hurt she may have felt.

"Not really," Kady admitted, slumping once again in her chair.

"Did Lucas do something?" Symphony was trying to piece the puzzle together, but Kady could see she didn't have the pieces needed. Kady struggled a bit with trying to word her thoughts, before finally deciding to simply lift her wrist for Symphony to see. Symphony glanced from Kady to her wrist, and then to Kady again. There was a pause before she shook her head. "What?" Kady sighed once more and rubbed her face with her hand.

"He said them." Kady looked down at her wrist. "He said the fucking words." Symphony's eyes widened for a second before she shook her head.

"I mean, it doesn't mean anything unless you said his words too." She looked at Kady and waited for her to speak again.

"Well, by his reaction and subsequent words, I'm pretty sure I did." Kady looked up from her wrist to her friend. "Why else would he say 'Hey, I'm your soulmate' if I hadn't spoken the words on his wrist?"

"You have a point." It was Symphony's turn to sigh. "The universe is a weird place." Kady rolled her eyes.

"Ugh, tell me about it," Kady whispered the words as their class started, the two now being forced to keep their thoughts to themselves. Not that Kady particularly minded, she was much more comfortable in her head than out of it. Kady glanced back down at her wrist and re-read the words, again and again. Suppose I was right when I said my soulmate was probably an idiot. Kady let out a quiet sigh. Why him?

~~~~~~

Kady walked to her locker alone, Symphony having already left to get to her last class- perks of carrying all your books with you. Kady was still angry, but now she was tired too. Tired of everything that had happened that led her to that moment where she found out her soulmate was Lucas Harris. She sighed. Just forget about it, who cares about the person the universe decided you were meant to be with? I certainly don't. Kady turned around with her last folder for the day, only to bump directly into someone. She knew immediately who it was, every ounce of anger she had felt when he said those words returning as she looked up at him and glared, hoping he could feel every ounce of it.

"Move," Kady growled, not bothering, nor wanting, to hide the disdain in her voice.

"Hi, soulmate." Lucas grinned, ignoring the way Kady's glare hardened.

"You're not my soulmate, I hate you. Now move." She didn't wait for him to retort before shoving past him, possibly a little harder than necessary- actually no, scratch that, it was absolutely necessary- and started in the direction of her class.

"See you later, soulmate~" Lucas called out after her, and Kady froze, looking around in a panic to make sure no one heard those stupid words. Once appeased that most people were already in class, and those that weren't were too busy to pay attention to the two of them, Kady shot Lucas a glare over her shoulder before hurrying her steps to class.

~~~~~~

Kady leaned her head against her locker, feeling incredibly grateful that the day was over, and closed her eyes as she waited for Symphony to join her. She didn't dare look around her, nor risk having her eyes opened, entirely wary of any more unwanted visits from Lucas. Kady's glasses were slowly sliding down her nose but she ignored them, too tired with the day to even raise a hand to push them back up.

"Tsk, what's that freak doing?" Kady could hear Ashley and her group laughing loudly, as though calling her a freak was the funniest thing ever, but Kady really couldn't have cared less in that moment; she was truly done with that whole group.

"Ready to go?" Symphony's voice cut through the laughter and Kady sighed in relief, leaning away from her locker to nod.

"I've never been more ready to leave." Kady pushed her glasses back up the bridge of her nose, attempting a reassuring smile at Symphony's worried look. Symphony looped her arm around Kady's and gently dragged her until she started walking beside her. It had taken Kady a while to get used to Symphony's touchy person, but she couldn't imagine herself without these small grounding touches now. Kady kept her head down as they walked, not wanting any accidental eye contact to make Lucas think he could talk to her again.

Thankfully, the pair made it out of the college and down the street without bumping into anyone. Deeming it now safe, Kady looked up and rolled her shoulders back, the posture having not been the most comfortable.

"Jeez, he was annoying before but now he's taking it to a whole new level." Kady groaned, throwing her head back as they walked. Symphony giggled, her reaction to this whole thing being quite opposite from her best friend.

"To think your soulmate is one of the people you despise most." Symphony's laughter was light and Kady shot her a look, earning herself a shrug accompanied with a smile by the curly-haired girl. "What? The universe has a pretty good sense of humour." At least that made Kady laugh, though more out of disbelief than anything.

"I would definitely not say it's good." Kady rubbed her face with one hand, sighing loudly. "Why me?" The two friends walked in silence once more, both lost in different trains of thought.

A tug at her arm made Kady look up, a curious look on her face as she met her best friend's eyes.

"Home." Was the only thing Symphony said and Kady frowned until she realised that they had indeed made it to Symphony's house; the familiar blue house she'd been to so often yet had somehow almost passed now. Kady slipped Symphony's arm out from under her own, squeezing her once in reassurance at the look on Symphony's face.

Symphony walked up the steps leading to her front door, Kady watching patiently in a habit they'd developed over the years until Symphony opened her door and turned back to her.

"Are you going to be okay?" Symphony asked after a short pause, the worry in her eyes not lost on Kady. Kady shrugged before forcing a smile on her face, not quite feeling it but determined not to have her friend worry for her- more than she already was, at least.

"Don't worry about me, Symmy. I'll be fine, I always am." Kady may have misjudged the reaction those words would get her because now Symphony looked even more worried. Kady watched in apprehension as Symphony opened her mouth and then closed it, thinking better of saying what she had been about to say.

"Okay, see you tomorrow!" Symphony's bright smile returned, and Kady wondered if it was more for her case than out of genuine feeling, before finally turning around and walking into her house, closing the door quietly behind her. Kady took in a deep breath and let it out slowly before starting to walk the distance to her own house.

Now that she was alone, Kady had no one to distract her from the anxious thoughts swirling around her head in a continuous loop. She sighed exasperatedly and rubbed her face with both hands. What am I going to do? The thought seemed to snap her out of something and she shook her head, ridding herself of any negative thoughts and instead replacing them with one, semi-hopeful one. There was a mistake, that's what happened. And even if there wasn't, like hell she was going to spend the rest of her life with Lucas- not even the universe could force her to do that.

"He wants to make my life miserable? Well, he'll have to work for it." Kady chuckled and nodded at her own decision, resuming her now relatively pleasant walk home.