The scope of love

I’m Brooke Starling and this is my story. As you read this or hear about this you might think not another love story, but I assure you that this is not the story you might be expecting. We are all so use to love stories these days. We are constantly hearing about what a success relationships are these days. It’s all thanks to the ‘Scope of love’ program. If you don’t know about the program you have most likely been living under a rock.The scope of love program relies on a persons horoscope sign. I know the name is a bit on the nose. The program started because of the high divorce rate and the decline in marriage numbers.   First they started with data collection. They went around interviewing thousand of people from all different backgrounds, cultures and races. They started with your date of birth to determine what your zodiac sign is then they moved on to your characteristics; the good ones and the bad ones. Then your wants and dreams. Lastly your dislikes. They then analyzed the info and eliminated the odd answers. This gave them a profile for each zodiac sign. Then they started with matching the zodiac signs up. They had a bunch of beta tests. Each zodiac signs were at least matched with three others until they found a match that worked out perfectly. I’m a Pisces one of the paring they made was with Sagittarius. The paring started out very hot, being lustful was the relationships main emotion, but that lust fizzles out due to the arguments they got into, because Pisces are dreamers. Apparently we dream, but we don’t go for our dreams. Whereas Sagittarius go for what they want. Sagittarius also can’t give the Pisces enough attention. They tend to be straight forward whereas Pisces is sensitive and romantic. They decided that after trial and error Pisces and Taurus was meant to be together. We are apparently a good match because Pisces are romantic and imaginative whereas Taurus are practical. We get them to dream a bit and they being practical can handle our overly emotional behavior. They had a practice period of 10 years. It took them about seven years to perfect it and the last three years they proved that the program worked, putting most peoples doubts at rest.   Once they had proven themself they launched the project. That was five years ago and it has gotten out of hand since then. They managed to incorporate it into our school system. The program was no longer for adults, they wanted to initiate it with teenagers. It gives them more time to instill it within us. When I say that it got out of hand I mean they took away all our free will. They incorporated it into all high schools. There was only a few that managed to escape their notice, mostly from very small towns. In order to attend high school you need to be part of the program and then in order to go to university you need to have met your life partner in high school and register as a grouping couple. The same goes for getting a job, you need to have your partner. Basically if you don’t participate in the program you can’t go and study, you can’t get a job or have any financial stability. They basically took away our free will completely.       I begged my mother to ship me of to a small town. I didn’t want anything to do with the program. I like having free will and even as a fourteen year old child I knew I wanted more. I wanted to fall in love over and over again. I wanted to get to know my boyfriend and be surprised by his good and bad characteristics. I also want to experience heartache and grow from it. I didn’t like that I was labeled. Basically they said that you are a Pisces and this is how you need to act and who you are meant to be. They don’t allow us to find ourselves. The same goes for our partners. We learn everything about them. We know exactly what to expect from them. It’s like they give you a cheat sheet to romance. It’s so boring. Life had become so predictable. We know when we are supposed to fall in love, with who we are supposed to fall in love, that we need to go study with the person we fell in love with and then you need to find a job, get a house and have at least one kid. I wanted more of life, but there wasn’t a way for me to get that.   Don’t get me wrong I know what they did was a science. My personality fit perfectly with their analysis, but I don’t want to be just a number in a system. I honestly don’t know how so many people are okay with this. I don’t get how they can basically be zombies. It reminds me of that movie The Stepford wives where the wives are brainwashed, but in our case it’s a whole society. It makes me wonder if life was so bad, that if it was so hard to fall in love that people gave up and that is why they so easily let them take over our lives. I don’t even know what the government gets out of it, why they allowed them to take over our schooling and allowed them to alter our curriculum. They don’t get money from the program, neither does the schools. The program only paid for addition to the schools in the beginning. Maybe it has to do with population control or something. I just feel like if that is the case there is a lot easier ways of doing that.   I was fourteen when all this started to affect me before that I didn’t really care about it. It was when my mother explained it to me that I realized what it meant. Trust me no fourteen year old wants to hear she is going to high school and her one goal is to find her future husband. The concept of going to high school is supposed to be such a exciting new experience. You aren’t supposed to be put on the spot. It’s ridiculous that they put such pressure on children. We are expected to grow up so fast. At fourteen you need to be thinking about boys as a fun new thing. They aren’t disgusting anymore and you want to know how it feels to hold hands and kiss. You don’t want to be looking for a husband. I feel like they want kids to grow up to fast. We need to think about dating, kissing and making out from fourteen. It is more than just a little bit ridiculous. I mean come on they expect you to have your first child at twenty. Usually that is while you are still studying.   Don’t even get me started on how unfair it is between genders. The women do most of the work. We need to cultivate the relationship while maintaining good grades in order to get into university and then you need to be pregnant in university while still maintaining good grades. Then you are expected to leave your child to go to work which makes you a bad mother or stay at home and have no life. It’s like they want to revert us back to the fifties where we were supposed to be barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen cooking for our husbands. Maybe I’m just a feminist at heart. Anyway enough of this. I have given you all the most important information so that you have an idea around what this is all about. I have also shared my opinion on the matter. Now let’s get into the story.   When I was thirteen I finished grade seven. I was excited I was going to be a high school student. I’m was going to be big girl now. People kept saying that I’m going to fall on my ass. Being in Grade seven you are the main person, you are in charge. Then when you go to high school you are the baby again. Not to mention there is hazing to put you in your place. I wasn’t scared. I was excited for hazing. It’s part of life. I couldn’t wait for the shopping before school. I needed a complete new wardrobe. I liked the idea of high school it’s like a new beginning, you can be whoever you want to be. If there is anything you didn’t like you can change it. I planned to do my best to not be so shy. Sure a few people from your primary school goes with you to your high school, but there is a lot of new people that doesn’t know you. I was excited about meeting new people, different people. The whole vacation was spend talking about how excited we were and where we were going to go to high school. My mother didn’t say anything about the situation until a week before school was set to start. She sat me down in the dinning room. I was worried we never really sat down for a heart to heart. It was very strange. I sat there fiddling with my hands. That is when she explained scope of love to me. I immediately freaked out. Not only was there no hazing, but making new friend were limited. I was going to be with one group of people for five years. All my plans for high school was ruined. I demanded that she send me to a school that didn’t take part in the program. She flatly told me no and told me that I would be happier this way.   That’s when I found out that my parents weren’t happy. They made a point of not arguing in front of me. My mother made it obvious that they only tolerate each other for my benefit. It was a sad moment for me. I idealized my parents and I found out it was all just pretend. As if all that information wasn’t bad enough she told me that I would be staying at the school in a dorm room. I would only see them on school vacations and even then I would be monitored. Can’t go falling in love with anyone during the vacation. I was even sadder about that. I didn’t get along with my parents, but I loved them and I had never been away for longer than a couple of nights. There was nothing I could do. I kept on begging until the day before school started. We had to be there the day before to settle in our dorms. I didn’t want to pack, so my mother did it for me and she dragged me to the school. My father hardly ever was at home, I always thought that he worked hard for us, but now I knew better. He didn’t even come along to drop me at school.   Once we arrived they told us to line up in front of our zodiac sign. I didn’t even know what a Zodiac was. My mother told me that I was a Pisces and that my glyph was the one with the two brackets facing away from each other that was stricken out. She hugged me goodbye and I left to go stand in the line in front of the glyph. A teacher came along with the list and started checking people of a list to make sure everyone was in attendance and that we were in the right line. It took quite some time and standing there with my suitcase in my hand was tiring. When they were done two elder student lead us to our dorm rooms. There was one for the boys and one for the girls. It was beautiful.   We walked into our common room. The walls were painted in a plum colour, the floors were polished wood. There was a fireplace with a television above it and white couches surrounding it. And the other side of the room had white desks with plum chairs and dark wood bookshelf that covered the one wall. On the other wall was our glyph painted in white. Next to it was two doors. They explained that the one lead to the bathroom and the other to our rooms. The other door that was near the fireplace leads to a small kitchen. Next they took us to our rooms. Each room was to be shared between two girls. The rooms were also painted in the plum colour and had white bedding. On our pillows was a necklaces with our glyph. It was explained to us that we always need to wear them. As I unpacked I was shocked at seeing the school uniform, so much for buying new clothes. It had a grey skirt, white button up top, a grey pullover and jersey with a plum coloured tie. Later they explained to us that each Zodiac has a colour assigned to them. Ours being plum. They also informed us about the other colors, but made it clear the only colour we need to worry about is olive green which is for Taurus our perfect match. Aries wore royal blue, Cancer was Lavender, Gemini wore an ocean blue green color, Leo’s an light orange, Virgo a dark pink colour, Libra is a dark peachy colour, Scorpio is red, Sagittarius is forest green and Aquarius mustard yellow.   We were left to unpack our luggage. That’s when I met Madison, my best friend. It was kind of inevitable since we were stuck with each other for five years. Although she stuck with me through all the years and supported me in all my crazy schemes. She was truly a best friend. She never judged me for my thoughts and schemes. She tried talking me out of them, but she always lost that battle and she was never sour about it. Once we were done with unpacking we all got together in the common room. The two older students then took us on a tour of the school, showing us where our lunch rooms are. They explained to us that each grouping has two lunch room. We have one for Pisces female - Taurus Male and then another for Pisces Male - Taurus Female. Since we aren’t allowed to date people from our own zodiac sign. It was all very confusing for my fourteen year old brain to comprehend. Honestly I found it all very ridiculous.   They even planned the tour so precisely that we didn’t meet any of the other students. We would just see the back of their heads as they walked away. It had me so curious I wanted to see their fronts. I wanted to meet them and make as much friends as I wanted. It was all a bore for me. I didn’t really pay attention I was more intrigued in trying to catch a glimpse of someone else. It was all in vain. After that we had dinner with our grouping partners. It’s the first time that they allowed the boys to mingle with us. Out of the door went my plan to not be shy. The pressure of knowing my future husband was in the room. I stuck to Madison’s side and talked to her and the girls. I noticed everyone else was doing the same. The boys kept to one side of the room and the girls to the other side. The mingling changed the next day when the older kids joined us in the room. They weren’t shy anymore. They all knew each other.   My first day was something else our first class was called zodiac knowledge. That is where they started to teach us about ourselves and our partners. What they said sounded like me to much. I was amazed that they knew my personality so well. Looking back now I think that their profile influenced young me. They said that I was supposed to be like that and that is what I acted like. Anyway they said that I, well us, are loving, creative, Easy going, instinctive, affectionate and submissive. As well as secretive, vague, manipulative, irresponsible and duplicitous. They told us that our greatest wants as Pisces are for romance, stability, being encourage to dream and what we hate is vulnerability, being alone, crudeness and noisy scene. They gave each of us a ring with our gemstone in it. Ours are a Moonstone. Our groups Moto is ‘I believe’    They then told us about our partners. They told us that they are patient, reliable, artistic, gentle and loyal. They can also be jealous, possessive and greedy. They look for stability, practicality and a routine. Whereas they hate cheating, change and uncertainty. Their gemstone are emerald. Which is the ring they will be wearing. They told us that couples sometimes exchange rings to show they belong to each other. Especially Taurus due to their possessive, jealous nature. Their moto being ‘I have’   Although this isn’t where my story really starts this was just the introduction to our story for the next couple of years I adjusted and felt oppressed. The longer I stayed in that environment the more I felt drained. I felt my freedom slipping away until I decided that I can’t allow other people to decide my life for me. I couldn’t take it anymore. I felt so bored with how things were going. I played with the idea for so long until the one day when things just fell in place. It’s then that I knew it was meant to be. I told myself that it was the universe telling me to go against them. If they wanted to base our lives on astrology then I can blame my need and ability to rebel on the universe.