Undiscovered Match

I am a young girl named Jessica in the town of Twensler. I am only fourteen years old and tomorrow I am being forced to marry a boy i’ve never even met. His name is Jake and he is the same age as me. In my town you are forced to get married from ages 13-15. The government has a tremendously big bowl of names and once your parents put your name in the bowl, the government draws your name in the next three days, as well as a boy you get married to. My parents entered my name yesterday and Jake and I were picked together today, I meet him tomorrow.

As my family and I walk into Jake’s house his family greets me with a warm welcome. They seem friendly but i’m still not excited to get married. I am only fourteen and want to be able to grow up and fall in love the way I want, but of course, that’s not the way it works. I’m dressed in a light blue long dress that touches the floor. Its covered with jewels in a unique pattern across my chest creating a reflective light on the wall in their house. Jake walks out and shakes my hand. He seems as scared as I am. Jake is wearing a black tuxedo with a blue tie. He is tall with blonde hair that he gels up on top of his head. He has a thin face and a good looking body. He’s a cute boy but theres no way I could possibly fall in love with him, we were picked to be a match, we didn’t choose each other.

Our parents and a priest were at the ceremony in Jake’s backyard. It was long and boring and I just wanted to go home. I knew it would be my last time I would be allowed in that home for a while. Tomorrow I have to move into Jake’s house with his family, we are told to share the house until his family passes away and then it will belong to us. Tonight I will have to pack all of my things and say goodbye to my home which I have grown up in my whole life.

As my dad, mom , and I carry my belongings into Jakes house he shows me our room. The walls are painted a light gray color with a dark blue bedspread messily tossed upon the bed. His books from school are stacked on a desk; there is one dresser and a closet we will have to share. Theres a peaceful painting of a sunrise hanging on the wall and a few drawings that are really good. I am not excited, I have never had to share a room before, especially not with a boy.

I don’t like this, or him. He seems nice but I want to choose who i fall in love with, not be chosen for. I feel like the government thinks we can’t handle ourselves and that we will make some sort of huge mess if we choose who we marry. So far it hasn’t been that bad sharing a room with someone, my house is big and I get scared sometimes at night so it felt good to be with someone and know I was safe. I am still slightly afraid of him though, I don’t even know who this boy is. Today we have off of school, its suppose to be a “bonding day” for us. Its mandatory to have a “bonding day” sometime after marriage in Twensler. “Where would you like to go?” asked Jake. “You choose” I responded. I was hoping to go to somewhere I could relax. The past few days have been stressful on me. He offered we go to the beach, it was perfect. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad.

The beach was amazing, we bathed in the sun, and played catch with a football in the water. We actually have a few things in common. I don’t know if he will ever be the one i’m meant for, but so far he seems like a nice boy. I have always dreamed of marrying a boy who I fell in love with and would want to be with all the time. I think maybe he could be the one, but how could it be, out of all the people, that I would get paired with a guy I could actually fall in love with. Today we talked about different things all day long and I like listening to him talk. His opinions on things are interesting to me, they are all unique.

School is even better now, because surprisingly we go to the same one. It’s different, he waves to me as he passes by me in the hallways and sits by my friends and me at lunch. I changed busses now so that I ride home with him. I feel like i can talk to him about a lot of things, it feels nice to be able to share what i’m thinking.

At home his parents make us dinner and we all eat together. His parents are very nice and i’m thankful that I got to be here; not with some mean, crazy family.

I wonder if he could maybe like me at all? If maybe he liked listening to me talk like i like listening to him? I wish I could read minds, it would make everything so much simpler. I decided to ask him, “What do you think about me? About this situation?”

“I think its weird, that they make people be paired with someone that they have never met, but i think I might actually be happy with it. It seems to me like I might have been paired with one of the people in that whole bowl, that I might actually be able to fall in love with.” My heart dropped. No one had ever said something like that to me. I didn’t know if it was true, but it was sweet. I looked into his eyes and smiled. “What do you think about it?” he asked me. “I think..” I paused not knowing what to say. I decided to do something different, I leaned in and kissed him. He kissed back. It felt amazing and it felt right. We looked up and smiled at each other and I said, “ I think i might actually be able to fall in love with you too.”