Matched

CHAPTER 13

Cassia Reyes," I say, holding out my scancard. The worker records the number on the side of the foilware dinner with her datapod and gives the meal to me.

The datapod beeps again as Xander takes his food and stands beside me. "Do you see Em anywhere? Or Piper or Ky?" he asks.

Blankets patchwork the play yard on the side of First School. It's a real picnic—food eaten outdoors on the grass. The workers rush around the yard, trying to get the right meals into the right hands. It's a bit of a hassle and I can see why they don't do this very often. It's much easier to have food sent to people's homes, schools, workplaces.

"I don't think Piper and Ky signed up in time," I say. "Because of work."

Someone waves at us from a blanket in the middle of the yard. "There's Em," I tell Xander, pointing, and together we weave our way through the blankets on the grass and say hello to our classmates and friends. Everyone is in a good mood, giddy with the novelty of the whole activity. Looking down, trying not to step on anyone's blanket or in anyone's food, I walk right into Xander, who has stopped. He turns to grin at me over his shoulder. "You almost made me drop my dinner," he says, and I tease him back, giving him a little shove. He flops down on the blanket next to Em and leans over to look in her foilware container. "What did they send us?"

"Meat-and-veggie casserole," Em says, making a face.

"Remember the ice cream," I say.

I'm almost finished eating when someone calls out to Xander from across the grass. "I'll be right back," he tells us before he stands up and makes his way through the crowd. I can track his progress through the mass of people; they turn to watch him pass, call out his name.

Em leans over and says to me, "I think something's wrong with me. I took the green tablet this morning. Already. I meant to save it for later this week. You know."

I almost ask Em what she means and then I feel like a terrible friend, because how could I forget? Her Match Banquet. She meant to save the tablet for that night, because she's getting nervous.

"Oh, Em," I say, putting my arm around her, hugging her. She and I have been drifting apart lately, but not by choice. This happens, as you get closer to your work assignments and vocations. But I miss her. Nights like this, especially.

Summery nights, when I remember how it was to be younger and have more time. When Em and I used to spend so many of our free-rec hours together. We had more of them, then.

"It'll be a wonderful night," I tell her. "I promise. Everything's so beautiful. It's exactly like they tell us it will be."

"Really?" Em asks.

"Of course. Which dress did you pick?" They redesign the dresses every three years, so Em has the same pool to choose from that I did.

"One of the yellow ones. Number fourteen. Do you remember it?"

So much has happened since I stood in the Matching Office and picked out my dress. "I don't think I do," I say, searching my mind.

Em's voice becomes animated as she describes the dress. "Ifs very light yellow and it's the one with the butterfly sleeves..."

I remember now. "Oh, Em, I loved that dress. You'll be beautiful." She will, too. Yellow is the perfect color for Em; it will look lovely against her creamy skin, her black hair, and dark eyes. It will make her look like sunshine, the spring kind.

"I'm so nervous."

"I know. It's hard not to be."

"Everything's different now that you've been Matched with Xander," Em tells me. "I've been, you know, wondering."

"But my Match with Xander doesn't make it any more likely—"

"I know. We all know that. But now we can't help but wonder." Em looks into her foilware container, at her nearly untouched dinner.

A chime sounds from the loudspeakers and we all automatically begin to gather our things. Time to work. Em sighs and stands up. Traces of worry still line her face, and I remember how it felt when I waited for my Match.

"Em," I say impulsively. "I have a compact you can borrow, if you want, for your Banquet. It's golden. It would look perfect with your dress. I'll bring it over tomorrow morning."

Em's eyes widen. "You have an artifact? And you'd lend it to me?"

"Of course. You're one of my best friends."

Red-blossomed newrose plants sit in black plastic tubs, waiting for us to plant them into the ground in front of First School. First School always looks so cheerful. I can picture the inside of the school with its bright yellow walls, green tile floors, and blue classroom doors. It's easy to feel safe here. I always did when I was young. I feel safe here now, I tell myself. There's no poem left. Papa's problems are over. I'm safe here, and everywhere else.

Except, perhaps, on the little hill where, in spite of my decision to stay safe, I often find myself glancing over at Ky, wondering. Wishing we could talk again, but not daring to take the risk of saying anything to him besides the common things, the things we always say.

I look over my shoulder for Ky, but I still don't see him.

"What kind of flowers are these?" Xander asks as we dig. The soil is thick and black. It comes apart in clumps as we lift it.

"Newroses," I tell Xander. "You probably have some growing in your yard. We have them in ours."

I don't tell him that they're not my mother's favorite. She thinks the ones we have in the City in all the gardens and public spaces are too hybridized, too far from their original selves. The oldroses took a lot of care to grow; each blossom was a triumph. But these are hardy, showy, bred for durability. "We don't have newroses in the Farmlands," my mother says. "We have other flowers, wildflowers."

When I was little, she used to tell me stories about those different flowers that grew wild in the Farmlands. The stories didn't have a plot; they weren't even really stories as much as they were descriptions, but they were beautiful and they lulled me to sleep. "Queen Anne's lace," my mother would say in a slow, soft voice. "Wild carrot. You can eat the root when it's young enough. The flower is white and lacy. Lovely. Like stars."

"Who's Queen Anne?" I'd ask, drowsy.

"I can't remember. I think she's in the Hundred History Lessons somewhere. But shhhh. That's not important. What's important is that you see the lace in front of you, too many little flowers to count, but you try anyway..."

Xander hands me a newrose plant and I pull it from its small plastic tub and put it in the ground. The strong, stringy roots have grown in circles around the inside of the pot, for lack of anywhere else to go. I spread them out as I put the newrose plant into the ground. Looking at the soil makes me think of the dirt my shoes collect while we hike. And thinking of hiking makes me think of Ky. Again.

I wonder where he is. As Xander and I plant the flowers and talk, I picture Ky working while the rest of us play, or listening to the music piped into the almost-empty auditorium. I imagine him walking through the crowds at the recreation building and taking his turn playing a game that he will likely lose. I see him sitting in the theater watching the showing, tears in his eyes. No. I banish the images from my mind. I won't do this anymore. The choice is made.

I never had a choice to begin with.

Xander knows I'm not listening to him as closely as I should. He glances to make sure no one can hear us and then he says softly, "Cassia. Are you still worried about your father?"

My father. "I don't know," I say. It's the truth. I don't know how I feel about him right now. Already the anger is giving way—almost against my will—to more understanding, more empathy. If Grandfather had looked at me with his fiery eyes and asked me to do him one last favor, would I have been able to tell him no?

The evening slides in slowly, darkening the sky by degrees. There's a trace of light left when the chime rings again and we stand up to survey our work. A small breeze drifts across the grounds and the flower beds ripple red in the dusk.

"I wish we could do this every Saturday," I say. It feels like we have created something beautiful. My hands are stained red from some of the crushed petals; and they smell of earth and newrose, a sharp-flower smell that I like in spite of my mother's comments about the oldrose perfume being more subtle, more delicate. What's wrong with being durable? What's wrong being something, someone, that lasts?

Standing there looking at my work, however, I realize that all my family has ever done is sort. Never create. My father sorts old artifacts like my grandfather did; my great-grandmother sorted poems. My Farmlander grandparents plant seeds and tend crops, but everything they grow has been assigned by the Officials. Just like the things my mother grows at the Arboretum.

Just like we did here.

So I didn't create anything after all. I did what I was told and followed the rules and something beautiful happened. Exactly as the Officials have promised.

"There's the ice cream," Xander says. The workers wheel the freezer carts along the sidewalk near the flower beds. Xander grabs me by one hand and Em by the other and pulls us into the nearest line.

It takes the workers much less time to hand out our foil cups of ice cream than it took them to pass out dinner because the ice cream is all the same. Our meals have our specialized vitamins and enrichments and have to be given to the right person. The ice cream is a nothing food.

Someone calls out to Em and she goes over to sit by them. Xander and I find a place a little apart from everyone else. We lean our backs against the sturdy cement-block walls of the school and stretch out our legs. Xander's are long and his shoes are worn. He must be due for some new ones soon.

He digs his spoon into the single white scoop and sighs. "I'd plant acres of flowers for this."

I agree. Cold and sweet and wonderful, the ice cream slides across my tongue and down my throat and into my stomach, where I swear I can feel it long after it melts. My fingers smell like soil and my lips taste like sugar and I'm so awake right now I wonder if 111 be able to sleep tonight.

Xander holds out his last spoonful toward me.

"No, it's yours," I say, but he insists. He is smiling and generous and it seems ungracious to push his hand away, so I don't.

I take the spoon from him and pop the last bite into my mouth. It's the kind of thing you could never do at a real meal—share food—but it's acceptable tonight. The Officials wandering around supervising don't even bat an eye. "Thanks," I say, and then Xander's act of kindness inexplicably makes me feel a little like crying, so I have to joke instead. "We shared a spoon. That's practically kissing."

Xander rolls his eyes. "If you think that, you've never been kissed before."

"Of course I've been kissed before." We are teenagers, after all. Until we're Matched, we all have crushes and flirt and play kissing games. But that's all they are—games—because we know well be Matched someday. Or well stay Single and the games will never end.

"Was there anything in the guidelines about kissing? Anything I should remember?" I ask, teasing Xander.

I see an answering look of mischief in his eyes as he leans a little closer. "There are no rules about kissing, Cassia. We're Matched."

I have looked at Xander's face many times, but never like this. Never in the almost-dark, never with a feeling in my stomach and heart that is two parts excitement and one part nervousness. I glance around but no one looks at us, and even if they did, all they would see is two shadowy figures sitting rather close as the evening dims.

So I lean closer, too.

And if I needed any more confirmation that the Society knows what they're doing, that this is the Match for me, the taste of Xander's kiss would convince me. It feels right, sweeter than I expected.

A chime rings across the schoolyard as Xander and I pull back, looking at each other. "We still have an hour of free-rec time left," Xander says, glancing down at his watch, his face open, unembarrassed.

"I wish we could stay," I say, and I mean it. The air feels so warm on my face out here. It's real air, not chilled or warmed for my convenience. And Xander's kiss, my first real kiss, makes me press my lips together, try to taste it again.

"They won't let us," he says, and I see that it's true. They're already gathering the cups, telling us to finish up our free-rec hours someplace else because the light is leaving here.

Em detaches from her other group of friends and walks over to us, graceful. "They're going to see the end of the showing," she says, "but I'm tired of that. What are you going to do?" The moment she asks the question, her eyes widen a little, remembering. That Xander and I are Matched. She had forgotten, for a moment, and now she worries shell be out of place.

But Xander's voice is warm, easy, friendly. "Not enough time for a game," he says. "There's a music hall near here, one stop over. Should we go there?"

Em looks relieved, glances at me to make sure it's all right. I smile at her. Of course it is. She's still our friend.

As we walk to the air-train stop, I think about how there were once more of us. Then Ky got his work assignment, then Piper. I don't know where Sera is tonight. Em is here, but there will come a time when she leaves, too, when ifs just Xander and me.

It's been a long time, months even, since I've been to a music hall. To my surprise, this one is filled with blue-clothed people. With workers, young and old, who have finished their late shift. I suppose this happens often; with only a little time left, where else do they have to go? They must stop here on their way back out from the City. Some of them sleep, I see to my surprise, heads tipped back, tired. No one seems to mind. Some talk.

Ky's here.

I find him almost immediately in the sea of blue, almost before I knew I was looking. Ky sees us, too. He waves but doesn't stand.

We slide into the nearest seats, Em, Xander, me. Em asks Xander about his experience at the Match Banquet, searching again for assurance, and he starts telling her a funny story about not knowing how to put his cuff links on that night, or how to tie his cravat. I try to keep from noticing Ky, but somehow I still see when he stands up and edges his way toward us. I smile a little when he takes the seat next to me. "I didn't know you liked music so much."

"I come here a lot," Ky says. "Most of the workers do, as I'm sure you've noticed."

"Doesn't it get boring?" The high clear voice of the woman who sings this song winds above us. "We've heard the Hundred Songs so many times."

"They're different, sometimes," Ky says.

"Really?"

"They're different when you're different."

I'm not sure what he means, but I'm distracted suddenly by Xander pulling on my arm. "Em," he whispers, and I look at Em. She's shaking, breathing fast. Xander stands up and trades seats with her, guiding her, shielding her with his body so that she's on the inside of our group instead of on the edge.

I lean, too, instinctively helping to hide her, and soon Ky presses next to me, blocking her, too. It's the second time we've touched, and although I'm worried about Em, I can't help but notice it, can't help but want to lean into him a little in spite of the fact that I still feel Xander's kiss on my lips.

We've closed around Em now, hiding her. Whatever's happening, the less people who see it, the better. For Em's sake. For ours. I glance up. The Official in charge of the music hall hasn't noticed us yet. So many people are here, and most of them workers, requiring a closer eye than students. We have a little time.

"Let's get your green tablet," Xander says to Em gently. "It's an anxiety attack. I've seen people at the medical center who have them. All they have to do is take their green tablet, but they're so scared they forget." Even though his voice sounds confident, he bites his lip. He seems worried for Em, and he's not supposed to say too much about his job to others who don't share his vocation.

"You can't," I whisper. "She took it earlier today. She hasn't had time to get another one yet." I don't say the rest of it. And shell get in trouble for taking two in one day.

Xander and Ky exchange glances. I've never seen Xander hesitate like this—can't he do something? I know he can. Once, a child on our street fell and blood was everywhere. Xander knew what to do—he didn't even flinch—until the full-time medics arrived and took the boy to the medical center to fix him up.

Ky doesn't move either. How can you? I think, angry. Help her!

But even while he holds still, his eyes hold Xander's. Ky's lips move. Tours," he whispers, looking at Xander.

For a split second, Xander doesn't understand; and then at the same moment he does, I do, too.

But here is the difference between us. Xander doesn't hesitate once he knows what Ky means. "Of course," Xander whispers, and he reaches for his tablet container. Now that he knows what to do, he's fast, he's smooth, he's Xander.

He puts his own green tablet in Em's mouth. I don't think she knows what's happening; she's shaking so much, she's so afraid. She swallows reflexively; I doubt she tastes anything as it goes down.

Almost immediately, her body relaxes. "Thank you," she says to us, closing her eyes. "I'm sorry. I've been worrying too much about the Banquet. I'm sorry."

"It's fine," I whisper, looking at Xander and then at Ky.

Between the two of them, they've pulled it off. For a moment, I wonder why Ky didn't give Em his tablet, but then I remember. He's an Aberration. And Aberrations aren't allowed to carry tablets of their own.

Does Xander know now? Did Ky just give himself away?

But I don't think Xander guessed. Why would he? It makes as much sense for him to give Em the tablet as it would for Ky. More, even. Xander has known Em longer. He settles back in his seat, watching Em as he takes her pulse, his hand around her delicate wrist. He looks up at Ky and me and nods. "Everything's fine now," he says. "She's going to be fine."

I put my arm around Em, and close my eyes, too, listening to the music. The song the woman was singing has ended, and now it's the Anthem of the Society, bass notes rumbling, choir coming in for the final verse. Their voices sound triumphant; they sing as one. Like us. We closed around Em in a circle to protect her from the eyes of the Officials; and none of us will tell about the green tablet.

I am glad that all is well, glad that I promised to let Em borrow the compact for her Banquet. For what is the point of having something lovely if you never share it?

It would be like having a poem, a beautiful wild poem that no one else has, and burning it.

After a moment, I open my eyes and glance over at Ky. He doesn't look back, but I know he knows I'm watching. The music is soft, slow. His chest rises and falls. His lashes are black, impossibly long, the exact color of his hair.

Ky is right. I will never hear this song the same way again.