MatchMaking High

Noelle

Mornings, they are like the start of a new day, a mini-chapter of life. But I never woke up all calm and collected. I woke up most of the time usually alarmed or driven by shock. Why? Because of Nicholas, my cousin. He either bounced on my bed most of the time or he was in an argument with his parents.

But today wasn’t any of the aforementioned. It was my best friend bouncing on my bed, screaming at me to wake up. “Elle, where the hell did you go last night? Please don’t tell me you went home with a random stranger.”

“Aria,” I said with a pained groan. My head was pounding. “Would you tone it down, my head hurts soo bad” I continued whining as she sat by the edge of the bed, I had no clue of how many drinks I had last night, or what did in fact.

She snapped her fingers together like she remembered something, “right, hangover. You need panadol, just a sec. who knows how many things you had last night,” she said standing up, going over to ransack my drawers.

When she left, I tossed and turned in my bed groaning. Yes, I was at a club last night but, with no idea of what happened. I was dead drunk. I have had a few drinks sometimes but, it wasn’t compared to this.

Aria walked over, “couldn’t find any. What are we going to do now?” she said. As if on a cue, Nicholas entered the room without knocking. The nerve of the child!

“Sup,” he said as if it was the most casual thing in the world. “Don’t you know how to knock,” I said, slightly irritated.

It was still early and a nuisance already came knocking.

“What do you want?” I said, squarely. His brown hair looked nestled like he had just rolled out of bed. Even his face said it all. “What. I just happened to walk by when I heard you might need some aspirin. So here it is,” he replied innocently moving closer and handing the pills over to Aria.

She took it from him and handed it to me along with a glass of water, she never understood the relationship between Nicholas and I. Who was she to talk when she had an annoying twin brother, Lucas.

Seconds later, my head ceased to pound. I sat up to face my cousin who was slowly making his way towards the door, “not so fast Nick. You’re sixteen, what the hell are you doing with aspirin?”

“Nothing, just for emergency purposes.” He replied almost too quickly. “Are you getting drunk? You-” I didn’t get to finish my statement because he scurried out the door.

“That child,” I muttered under my breath before pushing my covers away and headed to my bathroom. Aria was engrossed in a celebrity magazine she found only God knows where.

I catch my reflection immediately I entered the bathroom. A mirror was the first thing to see when you entered my bathroom I wasn’t one of those cliché popular girls who wouldn’t last a minute without looking a mirror. In fact, I wasn’t popular at all, well except Aria was. Her twin brother was friends with the most popular boy in our school, Reese Anderson. So it pretty much made her untouchable to Juan Mariez, our school’s bitch, and queen bee. She took a particular like of bullying me, although she was one of my best friends at a time in my life and one day, she just stopped.

I stared at my reflection and almost wept, my hair captured the exact replica of a bird’s nest. My last night’s makeup had morphed me into a scary looking hobo, my lipstick was smudged on my jaw and my lips were swollen. My body felt sore and I realized it.

In a millisecond, I was out of the bathroom, standing in front of Aria.

“Aria…I think I had sex with the stranger I was with last night,” I said, studying her reaction. Her face morphs to a stunned expression before looking straight at me with a slightly surprised face, “you go girl! You have officially done something I haven’t, have sex with a total stranger. Up top,” she said, raising one of her hands up for me to high-five while the other was clutching the magazine.

I pushed her hand away, sitting next to her thinking aloud, “what the hell was I doing Aria? I had sex with a total stranger,” I said repeating it to see if it would stick to my brain that I actually did it and I could not remember anything. Just great.

“Don’t you remember anything that happened? I mean you can sue if it was rape or something,” she replied and I shook my head, “no, I don’t remember anything.”

She pulled me much closer, hugging me, “don’t worry. Everyone make one or two mistakes they regret in their lifetimes. So am I getting that high-five or what,” she said smiling as she released me, she raised her hand up again; I had no choice but to laugh as I high-fived her.

“Aria Tate. Your pep talks are full of shit.” I commented and she shrugged hopelessly. Aria was one of my childhood best friends. She was the closest of them all. We stuck together like glue when Joan dropped us like a bag of rag dolls to mix up with senior, popular girls immediately we became freshmen.

When she started bulling me, Aria stood up for me and I’ll always be forever grateful.

Ariadne and Lucas Tate were twins but had different looks. Aria had black long hair and pale blue eyes. While Lucas was brown haired with dark brown eyes. They were the popular Tate twins with a little sister called Melody.

“Hey Elle, do you want to go out and do something which doesn’t involve you messing with other people’s lives?” she asked, dropping the magazine on my bedside table then stood up from my bed. She straightened the wrinkles on her tiger pleated gown.

“Er… no, I have uh… homework to do today. Lots of them,” I said, praying she doesn’t see through my web of lies. Having been told too many times that I was a bad liar but hey, it’s not too late to get the hang of it.

I was a decent grade student. Always doing my weekend assignments on Friday afternoons, in the school library. Aria knew that too well but for some reasons, I was hoping it slipped her mind just this once. She gave a sigh of defeat before heading to the door.

Immediately the door closed, I rush out of bed quickly to search for my phone. I had a particular secret which a few people knew about. I was a matchmaker, I match made people with their meant to be. I had gotten Aunt to design a MatchMaking App for me as a present for my sixteenth birthday.

She was an application/software designer alongside my Uncle. They were the owners of PORT, one of the biggest software companies in California. I found my phone hidden inside the pocket of the jacket I wore to the club. Eagerly, I hopped on my bed. I wanted to set Nicholas up with a girl I happened to notice at school, I already did the calculations and it turned out they would be perfect for each other. He would go out with anything in a skirt.

I had just gotten to work when my phone was grabbed from my clutches, I groaned thinking it was Nicholas. No surprises, it was Aria, already scrolling through my phone. I sat down like a little girl caught red-handed and was awaiting scolding.

“Nicholas huh! Noelle, when could you just STOP meddling in other people’s lives? It’s their lives, not yours,” she said throwing her hands in the air in frustration.

“You know why I do this Aria; I don’t want people to end up alone,” I said quietly, not even sure she heard me but, she did. She pulled out the chair of my study table and positioned it next to the bed before taking a seat.

“Don’t blame yourself Noelle; they both jackasses and idiots for how they damaged you, giving you this guilt to carry. I’ll feed them to the hounds...as soon as I find them.” I laughed and hugged her, she hugged me back.

“Elle am going home now. See you in school on Monday,” she said, releasing me. “See you on Monday Aria, love you,” I said as she opened the door. Blowing me a kiss before shutting the door behind her.

I got back to work. By the time I was done, it was midday, matching people was not an easy task. I showered, put on clean shorts and a red tank top; I threw my previous clothes I was wearing in the laundry basket. I sat down on the sofa situated on the side of my room to review my assignments again. It doesn’t hurt to be extra careful.

My room was over spacious. When my parents died, my aunt and uncle stepped in to take care of me. To make me feel comfortable, they let me pick out my room colors and the decor. I picked sky-blue and white. My canopy bed was messy with a white blanket and throw pillows all over it. There was a closet, a sofa, and a TV.

My aunt, Amanda Adams, having to outdo herself got me a makeup table, which I sadly agreed to keep and later turned it into a reading table, which allows me to get a view of myself while reading. Creepy but, I loved it.

I finished my assignment around eleven pm. I was surprised Nick didn’t show up to annoy me for the day. It was a whole new record. I took a lot of time on my homework cause I had a hundred paged history essay due Monday so it took all my time.

Tiptoeing downstairs after discovering the house was quiet, meaning everyone had gone to sleep.

I met my dinner in the microwave, after eating. I hurried back upstairs to my room and collapsed on my bed immediately. It soaked me in; it didn’t matter if I had been in my room all day. Soon I drifted off to sleep.