Whoever thought this up couldn't have just woken up one day wanting to marry off students. There had to have been a plan. If I had to be paired up with anyone in our grade, I was lucky it was with Nick. I actually trusted him compared to the other guys. He and I can actually talk, and have done so even if it was only in school. There were a lot of people in my grade and with our last names it couldn't have been done alphabetically.
"Let's just get some sleep and talk about this tomorrow," Nick whispered, pushing aside some of my hair.
I just nodded as we parted our separate ways to different bedrooms to try to fall asleep in the eerily silent room.
The clattering of dishes woke me up. Scrunching my face I got out of bed and began dragging my feet towards the sound. There stood Nick going through cabinets holding a bowl and a box of cereal. I started to rub my head, squinting at him.
"What are you doing?" I questioned, hearing the morning hoarseness to my tone.
"Breakfast," Nick responded, raising up the bowl and box.
I grinned at him. He was wearing pajama pants and a sweatshirt, with his hair unruly, sticking out in every which direction. A lopsided grin finished his appearance.
"Do you want some?" Nick offered, while he chewed on a mouthful of what looked like frosted flakes.
I giggled. "Sure," I answered, walking closer.
While he was chewing on another spoonful of cereal he turned, grabbing me a bowl.
"Thank you." I smiled.
He gave a closed mouth smile with his cheeks filled with sugary flakes. We ate standing up without really saying anything. Yesterday's news started to come back to us as the sleep drifted away and the food felt like rocks in my stomach. My eyes observed the new room seeing an old cord phone that seemed stretched out with a packet of paper next to it. Moving over to the paper while I ate I noticed that it was columns. One column was an 'x' then a number and the second column was lists of names, almost as if it was a sad phonebook of the new town. As I read each name on the list I felt pressure on the top of my head. Nick was resting his head on top of mine.
"Whatcha reading?" Nick inquired.
I rolled my eyes. "Apparently a phonebook," I replied, seeing us at eighteen.
I did not know Dill's last name. I kept looking until I found Bridget, Holly, and Willow,; they were all scattered within the two hundred homes. Bridget though was the closest. I wanted to see my friends to bounce ideas of what was going on with these marriages. I especially wanted to see Bridget as any other friend would in a time of insanity.
"Do you care if I invite Bridget and two other friends over?" I asked, while the pressure was still on top of my head.
Was I supposed to ask before having people over?
"Sure, tell her to get Dill's ass over here while you're at it," Nick suggested, I felt his hand now on my shoulder. "That way when you have the girls over, I can have at least a supporting testosterone buddy."
I rolled my eyes. "Fine, be lazy and use females as your messengers,." I snorted, my voice seeping with dry tones.
"Hey, isn't that supposed to be the benefits of having a wife?" Nick asked as I turned to slap him in the chest, he faked a cringe while laughing.
"Spousal abuse!" Nick yelped I rolled my eyes as I quickly washed my dishes before getting changed.
There was a knock on the door as I finished throwing my long hair into a braid. I made haste to the door when I realized Nick wasn't going to answer it. Rolling my eyes I opened the door to see Bridget and Dill standing outside.
"Hey," I greeted and then stepped aside for them to enter.
"Where's the idiot?" Dill's voice came out rough.
I never understood male friendship.
"In his room," I spoke, but Dill was already heading towards the door, not listening.
"Yo, I'm here stop prettying yourself up," Dill called, and Bridget started to glare at him.
"Darn I was trying to get all dressed up for you,." Nick smirked as he came out of his room his arms open wide.
"Well you failed," Dill shot at him.
"Boys are seriously on stupid pills," Bridget responded to the scene, crossing her arms over her red corseted top, shifting her weight from one leg to another.
"That's probably not even the half of it," I said, as I turned my gaze to her, she was shaking her head. "Anyway, Holly and Willow should be here soon, I told them the same time."
"Rachel, you should see the amount of parents and people outside the gates protesting. There are even guards at the gates so that we couldn't get out."
I started to close the door to keep the cold air out, but there was a knock on it preventing me from doing so and responding to Bridget. My eyebrows came together as I reopened the door and almost came face to face with Mark, Nick's friend. His dark eyes shined in the afternoon light his brown hair worn not as short as Dill's, but not as long as Nick's. There standing next to him was John from my English class. I never understood why John hung out with these guys.
"Mark?" Nick inquired as he came closer so that now he was next to me. "What are you doing here?"
Mark took a quick look to Nick before returning his eyes to me. "Dill invited me, is that a problem?"
Nick shrugged. "No just invited Dill because Rachel was already on the phone with Bridget, it was sheer laziness."
Nick was standing behind me so that his body was touching my shoulder.
"Now that does sound like you." John chuckled as I moved aside for them to come in. "Thank you, Rachel."
"Yes, thank you, Rachel for letting us into your humble
