forbidden [h.s.]

one.

"Help me pick out a dress, would you?"

I roll my eyes, setting my book down. "What do you need a dress for?"

Serena frowns at me, as if I should already know the answer. "For Mason's party."

I sigh heavily. "Right, the illegal one." I remind her and she frowns at me again.

"Don't think of it that way. Mason is your partner, you should be excited for any event that he holds."

"You're right. I'm sorry. Aren't you ever afraid we'll get in trouble?"

Now it's her turn to roll her eyes. "Jade, please. There are people in this world committing crimes far worse than staying up past curfew. Worst case scenario, we get shut down. No one is going to jail for throwing a party."

"Okay, and how about for underage drinking? You can't tell me there will be no alcohol." I raise my eyebrows.

She walks over to me and pulls me out of my chair. "Relax. Try and have fun tonight, please. You stress yourself out too much."

I let out a long sigh. She's probably right. But, being liberal is extremely uncomfortable for me. We have rules for a reason.

"Now, a dress. Preferably one that matches my necklace." Serena lifts the small circular pendant off of her chest, showing it to me.

I sigh and peruse her closet. "This one." I say half-spirited, handing her a dark red dress that will fall far above her knees.

She smiles and holds it to her chest. "I was going to pick the same one."

I look down at my necklace and realize that my dress matches mine as well. It was by no means intentional. I wish I could take my necklace off, but I'm not allowed to. We all have one. Another facet of our perfection hungry culture.

When we receive our necklace, it's one color. Dark red for girls. Dark blue for boys. When we meet our partner, it changes color. That's how we know. A girl's will then change to blue and the boy's to red. The concept was developed to prevent anyone from ever having their heart broken or from having an affair. When your society is based on peace and honesty, those kind of things can't happen. And they don't.

I met my partner, Mason, almost five months ago. I regret it to this day. I'm only nineteen. There were so many things I was hoping to do before I was tied to my partner for the rest of my life. But, here I am.

"What are you going to wear?" Serena says, setting the dress down on her bed.

I look down at my outfit and back up to her. "Um, this?"

She purses her lips. "I like the black boots, it complements the casual look of your dark blue dress." She says and I laugh. I swear, I've never met anyone that cares more about clothes than Serena. "What about over your arms? I don't want you to get cold."

I laugh again, she's so motherly. "I have a cardigan in my room."

"What color is it?"

"Black."

Serena claps her hands together. "Perfect! That will look so great."

As much as I don't care, I can't say it hurts to get clothing complements from the queen of clothing herself. I push my hair back behind my ear and walk down the hallway, grabbing the cardigan from my room. I hear Serena mumbling to herself about the importance of matching and wearing clothes that contrast your skin tone.

Well, my pale complexion certainly calls for dark clothing. I guess I'm doing something right.

I sit down on the couch and, moments later, Serena emerges from her room. Somehow, she's managed to get dressed and apply her makeup in this short amount of time.

"I'll never understand how you get ready so quickly." I say and stand from the couch.

Serena gasps. "Jade, you look beautiul."

"Thank you. You do too." I smile at her.

"You know, I'm thankful every day that I got a house-mate as sweet as you." She says, not trying to hide the sarcasm in her voice.

I roll my eyes again and grab my keys off the kitchen table. "Flattery will do nothing for you, Miss Ford. Let's go."

I hold the door open for her and a wave of her perfume invades my atmosphere as she walks out. It suffocates me for a brief moment and I cough, following behind her. "My God, Rena. Did you save any perfume for the bottle?"

She laughs and slings her arm around my shoulder. "Have I overdone it again?" She squints her eyes and I nod. "I'm sorry. I'll remember next time. Less is more."

"That's right." I affirm and Serena giggles like a little girl.

"Tonight is going to be so much fun."

My face falls a bit as I sigh. I hope so.

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if you have questions feel free to comment (:

and im so excited for this book you guys have no idea

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