Soul Watch

Chapter 2

I took a cheese-soaked fry and dangled it into my mouth. "God,Crysta, you're so lucky. You're meeting your soul mate in exactly fifteendays. Isn't it crazy fast?" Monique sighed dreamily, as her tofu burger satlimply in one hand while she used the other to prop her head up. Herwoven headband fell a little from her forehead, and she pushed it backup. The other two girls nodded in agreement.

We were having lunch at our usual spot on the lawn, just behindthe Lightson College giant stone sign. It was the perfect place on thelawn—the sign blocked out the sunlight, and we had a cozy corner toourselves.

"Man, Crysta, I would kill to meet with my soul mate in fifteendays," Poppy agreed, looking down at her soul watch as her platinumblonde hair fell in a curtain around her face. "I'm not meeting my badass,leather jacket-wearing soul mate for two more years!" She then showedus her soul watch that read: 0730 days 09 hours 30 minutes 49seconds. Poppy had just turned twenty so she would be meeting hersoul mate at twenty-two: the age many soul watchers would consider asthe "ripe" age in their words anyway. Soul watchers deemed twenty-twoto twenty-six years old as the "ripe" age as it meant it was the perfecttime to meet your soul mate. Maturity levels would have been just right,careers would have been established, and it would be just in time forthem to have children of their own. Soul watchers did an awful lot of oddresearch...

"Oh, come on, Poppy, you want to beat mine?" Leah snorted,turning her left wrist to us, her golden bracelet sliding down her tinywrist. 1460 days, 23 hours, 47 minutes, 55 seconds—sheshook her head sadly at it.

Crysta faked a cough and not so subtly nodded at me, indulgingin my soggy cheese fries and not paying them any attention."R-right, who cares? We can wait." Leah pulled the sleeve downon her glittery cardigan and started on her salad. Leah was petite, whichwas an understatement. Even the smallest size looked big on her, but shemade up for it with constant massive hairdos. Today, her chestnut hairwas shaped like a beehive. I glanced up at them and met Poppy's eyes,both of us settling on a mutual eye roll. Poppy was all about being a rebeland a badass. Her personality reflected her style like a mirror. All leather,eyeliner, and her signature red lips, Poppy was probably the only onewho believed that I didn't care about meeting my soul mate, or the factthat I didn't have one. She was cool about my personal opinion like that.The others, well, could use a little convincing from time to time."Geez, guys, it's fine. I don't care about my soul mate or lack ofone. Just go on," I said distractedly as I continued spearing the fries."Argh, look at those Tainted." Poppy nodded in the direction ofwhere the large oak tree stood.

I craned my neck to look at the couple under the tree, making outunder the shade. The dead giveaway that they were Tainted were theirstill ticking soul watchers, sunlight bouncing off them.

"Oh, god, I hate that." Leah huffed, shaking her head."They both know this is going to lead nowhere, right?" Moniquemurmured as she took a bite of her tofu burger as she watched them, likehow one would eat and watch cartoons.

I watched them too. It wasn't very often you saw the Tainted outin the open, making what they were doing known. It wasn't precisely ataboo, but it was frowned upon. They basically would hook up with eachother until they met their soul mates—a joyride of sorts until the mainstop. Soul mates were supposed to remain pure and untouched until theirreunion with each other as it was deemed an insult to your other half.Waiting for your soul mate even if it takes longer was a sign ofrespect and devotion to show them how much they meant to you.But the Tainted didn't really care about that. Their focus waspurely physical pleasure. They saw no need to wait for months and yearseven to get sex. If they could get it now, instant gratification trumpedremaining pure for your soul mate. The Tainted were driven by lust ifanything else.