Chapter 1
She absolutely could not wait.
She had been waiting for this day for ages, quite literally, and now it was almost here. Though she would not let anyone else know that.
Rainey had been six when she decided she simply could not wait to meet her soulmate. After she had seen her parents and understood the concept, she imaged them down to the size of their shoe- a six, if you were wondering-. Rainey took pride in her soulmate. Even if they were lower class like herself. Her parents were both low class and they were perfectly happy so she should be to. However, after eight years of bulling she told herself it was time to grow up so, at the age of 14 young Rainey had decided that she was not going to worry about her soulmate until the drops started.
“Rainey, Breakfast,” A sweet voice called through the apartment.
“Coming mom” Rainey answered.
Rainey looked at herself in the mirror. Her long brown hair fell in their natural princess curls down her back, and her light green eyes sparkled slightly. She put on the slightest bit of makeup, mascara and lip-gloss. She wore a beige sweatshirt, a pair of old worn jeans, and a pair of off brand tennis shoes that were slight bit too small.
“Rainey hurry up,” A male voice demanded banging on the bathroom door, “I need to use the bathroom,”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m going,” Rainey sighed opening the bathroom door.
“Finally,” A boy almost identical to her whined.
Rainey rolled her eyes as she walked away from her younger brother. She turned down a hallway that led to the small living and kitchen. They only had the bare minimum of a couch and small box tv in the living room, and a small worn table with four chairs around it in the dining room.
“Hey mom,” Rainey greeted sitting down at the table, “Were is dad?”
“He had an early project at the castle this morning,” Her mom answered.
Rainey gave a small hum in response as she waited for her mom to finish breakfast.
Her eyes scanned the small room admiring the few pictures they could afford. There was on picture that her mother had taken great pride in. Rainey had remembered that her mother had spent almost three years saving for the picture. She had remembered getting the picture done, she had hated the photographer. He was a cruel perfectionist, so a picture that could’ve been done in just a couple hours had taken almost a week. It was nothing more than a simple family picture that needed an update. It had her mom and dad standing in the back both looking signifyingly younger, and Charlie- Rainey’s brother- and Rainey sitting on a bale of hay.
Elizabeth woods, that her mom’s name, had grown older since that picture. Her once vibrant brown hair had streaks of grey giving her a small salt and pepper look. Her eyes had grown a shade deeper of green making them an almost forestry color. She wore her favorite outfit for work, a pair of extremely ripped and worn mom jeans, that had almost seemed too big, and an old t-shirt of Rainey’s dads. She stood in front of the stove as the bacon sizzled.
“Is that bacon I smell,” Charlie asked as he barreled around the corner.
“Yes, my dear,” Elizabeth laughed.
Charlie was just a few years younger than his sister, sitting at the ripe age of 14. He had the most crooked smile that seemed to make everyone else around him smile to. He was tall and scrawny. He never cared much for taming the mop of golden-brown curls that sat on his head, and his deep brown eyes always seemed super happy. Charlie was dressed in a pair of pants that had been a few sizes to big, a pair of hand-me-downs from their middle-class cousins, and a lose fitting t-shirt.
Charlie licked his lips and sat down at the table next to Rainey, “So?”
“So what?” Rainey raised an eyebrow in question.
“Are you excited? I mean you turn sixteen in a couple of days,” Charlie smiled his crooked smile.
“I guess,” Rainey said.
“You guess?” Their mom pipped into the conversation, “You used to not be able to wait for this day.
“Yeah, when I was like six,” Rainey rolled her eyes, “Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy to meet my soulmate. And I can’t wait for a life together, but I also have a bunch of other things to worry about.”
“Here we go,” Charlie murmured, and he rested his chin in his hand.
“For starters, I have ACT coming up and I have to study for those. A good score means I could maybe get a scholarship.”
“Honey, we’ve talked about this.” Elizabeth started. “Ya’ know that collage is already going to be really hard to get into especially with our… standing”
“I know but I can’t let the fact that we are low class define how I want to live my life.”
“Yes but changing your class like that is really hard in our community,” Charlie said.
“But it’s not impossible,” Rainey snapped.
Rainey had heard this conversation to many times to count. Many believe the best way to get out of your standing, to raise yourself to a higher class, is to pray your soulmate is a higher class than you. Which happened very rarely. If she was lucky the highest, she could marry would be middle class, and that also with hopping that he wasn’t some low life middle class. Low life middle classers were the worst. Low lifers in any class were the worst. Rainey had heard how hard it was to raise your standing from one class to the next by school consolers, classmates who were already rich, and her own family. She had seen just how different each class was, and she knew it was hard, but hard wasn’t impossible and that is what Rainey chose to stand by. It was not impossible.
“I have to get to school early to turn in some books,” Rainey sighed, “I’m sorry for getting annoyed,”
Her mom gave her a slight nod in response, “Don’t forget we have to work at the castle tonight to help set up for the ball.”
Rainey gave a small nod before she left for school.
School was okay.
School was always just okay. It was never amazing, but it didn’t suck.
Rainey always had friends… well more like people to talk to in class. Her best friend had graduated two years prior, and the only reason they knew each other is because they worked in the castle together. It did not help that all Rainey ever did was put her headphones in and hang out in the library.
It’s not that she didn’t want to make friends, or go to parties, or do normal teen things. The young girl simply found it impossible to make friends. When ever she tried a knot the size of Alaska swelled up in her throat, her voice became shaky, and terrible feeling of butterflies in her stomach would decide to cause a hurricane in her belly; so, she thought it best to just stay away from that torture. Besides she had a schedule and if she wanted to raise her status Rainey didn’t have time friends.
The library was the best place in the school. It was quiet, calm, and Rainey could let her thoughts wonder. Specifically, the thoughts that she never really told anyone about.
Rainey searched through the small pocket of the worn backpack. She pulled out tons of mechanical pencils, most without any led, she also found a barley used carmex, finally she pulled out a pair of old earbuds, tangled of course. The young girl shouldered her bag and began the process of getting her earphones untangled.
“Perfect,” Rainey grumbled.
