Chapter 2

A story about genetically programmed soulmates

Rachel stared after the girl who had sprinted in the other direction. Her eyes had followed her through the crowd until she disappeared around the corner but Rachel still couldn't figure out what had happened. All she had done was try to help her and she looked like she was going to vomit all over Rachel's loafers.

Then Rachel shrugged her shoulders and continued down the hallway to her first class. She wasn't going to ruin her first day of class by obsessing over some weird, blonde, cheerleader. The people here in general seemed to be very strange though. She had noticed that everyone seemed to be obsessed over something called a mate…Rachel didn't know what that was but apparently here it was a big deal. She heard murmurs of the word through every hallway.

Rachel knew that moving to a new neighborhood would be a culture shock but she did not know that it would be this much. She couldn't understand why everyone was so obsessed with finding their "mate". Back in New York she had never even heard the word. Everyone was so busy trying to get ahead that it never came up. Even her dads had failed to mention what a mate was to her. Were they even mates? She had no idea.

Rachel had moved from New York because her fathers, Hiram and Leroy Berry, were the top surgeons in the entire country, they traveled a lot on business to give lectures and improve other hospitals. They also had surgeries scheduled all over the nation. They had moved because the hospital in Lima, Ohio was in need of some major improvements and her fathers had bought the entire company to build it from the bottom up and help the people in the town. Rachel was forced to tag along. She had to leave her beloved New York to come to this small town. She wasn't bitter, but she did miss New York.

This whole mate thing would not be a problem for Rachel because she was not looking, she wasn't watching for her mate. She didn't really care if she found them or not. It was trivial to her, she didn't need anyone holding her back and distracting her from her dream of being on Broadway one day. She was happy being single.

When it was clear that the blonde had been scared off and wasn't coming back, maybe ever, Rachel continued walking in the direction of her first class. She looked down at her schedule with a frown. She wasn't too excited about any of her classes this semester. Except for glee club. It was an extracurricular class and it wouldn't count toward her GPA - which was unfortunate because she would no doubt get an A - but it counted as a credit hour. It was every day after school which was perfect for Rachel. She didn't like going home to her empty house every day. She needed to make some friends to take home with her when she got lonely.

When she finally found her classroom, Rachel walked in and took a seat in the third row against the wall. This was her favorite spot in every classroom for two reasons. It was far enough in back so that she never got called on, but it was also far enough up front so no one suspected she was doing anything suspicious. It was the perfect spot.

She opened her backpack reaching for out her daily planner and so that she could begin checking off her daily routine. Morning elliptical: check, vegan protein shake: check, school: check. The only thing left on her checklist was make a friend and glee club. Hopefully she could do both this afternoon.

Rachel looked up at the clock and saw that it was only 7:50 am. There were still ten minutes before homeroom started so she pulled out another notebook and began doodling. As she drew in her notebook she saw something on her wrist that she had never seen before. Bright red letters on the inside of her wrist. "What the…" When Rachel touched them they were hot. Not warm but hot. She pulled back quickly, sucking on the tip of her finger where the letters had burnt her skin. The letters 'LF' were staring back at her, but she had no idea why.

Author's Note

No really sure how I feel about this chapter. I wish my diction was a little stronger.