The scope of love

Chapter 14

They didn't let us see each other one last time. I thought it was cruel. I had waited in that room for so long. I ended up falling asleep on my arms until the guy came to escort me back to my room. I looked over at the vice-principals' office. The door was open, the light off and the room empty. It made me see that we were truly over. It set in and a blanket of sadness came over me. How can they not see that this is real? We really loved each other. How can they just break that apart? Aren't they all about promoting love? Of course, they only promote the love they approve of. He walked me right to my door.

"Since you are high risk, I will personally be supervising you." The top guy, I must have really rattled them. I opened the door and was shocked. My side of the room was completely empty. They took everything I owned.

"I used my spare bedding for you." Madison said as she woke up.

“Thank you.” It was all it took for me to fall apart. My voice broke as I thanked her for her kindness after they basically stripped me of my identity. They took away everything that is me and left me with what I was supposed to be, only my sign. That is all they left, my uniform with my Pisces colour and necklace. They already took the guy I love. Madison jumped out of bed as she saw I was crying. She pulled me into a hug. I cried on her shoulder. My whole body shook as I cried hard and long.

“I really did love him.” I told her because I had to tell someone.

“I know you did.” She said, rubbing my back. It was supposed to make me feel better, but it didn’t. Words wouldn’t be able to fix the whole I was feeling. Only Declan could make me feel better in that moment and that is the one thing I couldn’t get. In the end, I ended up on my bed with Madison. She had rubbed my back until I had fallen asleep. The next morning my alarm went of, but I wasn’t in the mood to get up. I felt disgusting and tired. All I wanted to do is sleep. Madison seemed to understand as she left me. My new bodyguard didn’t understand as he stormed into my room yelling at me to get dressed and ready for the day. I said I would do as I was told, but I never said I would do it exactly as they wanted. I got up, tied my hair in a messy ponytail and put on my uniform. I didn’t even try to tuck my shirt or put on my tie.

”Let’s go.” I said as I came out of the room. He didn’t seem to care about my appearance. I went to class. Everyone was staring at me like I had lost my mind. I had a lot to deal with and could care less what any of them thought about how I looked. Everything went fine until lunch came around. I mean no one could really comment on my looks when we were in class, but now that it was lunch it was like I was fair game. I heard whispers and got stares of pity which made me regret my choice. The only one I’m hurting by not getting ready properly is myself. I did it as a ‘screw you’ to my bodyguard, but he couldn’t care less about how I looked as long as I just behaved. Madison kept most of the people at bay and I was grateful to her. She managed it until Finley showed up. He was the last person I wanted to see.

“Guess what I heard?” He asked as he sat next to me his hand slipping onto my upper thigh. I just ignored him. I looked around to see my bodyguard standing at the door. It was supposed to look like added security, not like he was following someone around. He was watching me though, probably thinking his job could be over if I seemed interested in Finley.

“I heard that our school will be hosting a speed dating singles mixer. It’s the first one that I’ve heard of. It’s apparently something new that they are trying and they picked our grouping. So on Friday all the single Pisces and Tauruses that want to find love in our school district will be here.” I pushed his hand, of my leg only for him to throw it around my back pulling me against him.

“I also heard that you look this shitty because your boyfriend dumped you. I guess I’m seeing you at the mixer.” Yes, he would be seeing me, but only because I had to go and not because I wanted to. I got up and walked away from him to the door. I stopped at the bodyguard who saw the whole exchange,

“That is what you are protecting. Assholes like him that don’t take no for an answer, you erase all proof of it. I guess it makes you feel more like a man or maybe you just don’t care, like erasing the evidence erases what you know and choose to ignore.” I threw at him.

“I wouldn’t have let it escalate.” He assured me. I looked him dead in the eyes.

“It’s a good thing I have you around to protect me. I wonder what happens to all the others that aren’t that lucky. Do you think Declan ever treated me like that?”

Friday came around and I was warned that attending wasn’t enough. I will have to put effort into finding someone new. I wanted them to believe I was trying, so I put effort into my appearance. I curled my hair and did my make-up. I added a very bright red lip. I looked provocative. They brought some of my clothes back for the occasion. I chose a pair of black leather jeans and a bustier flower bandage top. It was white with red roses. I put on a pair of black pumps and left the room. My BG was waiting. I started calling him BG when he didn’t want to tell me his name. It works for bodyguard and big guy. He has to escort me to the social that has been organized especially for me, but is being dressed up as a new event idea. I was even less in the mood for this since they moved Madison out of my room. They were afraid that I was a bad influence. I still see her in class and at lunch, so they can’t take that from me too. All the students that showed up were talking to one another. I didn’t care about socializing, so I went to get myself a drink. I stood there at the snack table and waited for the actual event to start. I was placed at table one, of course. They announced that we would start and that each person would get five minutes. I sat there looking bored out of my mind until the first guy came to sit in front of me. I smiled and made it look like I was having a great time, whereas in reality I was rude to every guy that sat down in front of me. I even reached out and touched a couple of them subtly. My plan was working perfectly fine until Finley sat in front of me. My smile immediately dropped from my face,

”Come on baby. You can’t deny the chemistry between us. Just give in and be mine again. No one else wants you.” I just let him go on for five minutes. I didn’t say a word which he thought was his cue to talk about himself the whole time. To me it was a huge disaster, which is what I wanted. I’m sure that even if I had tried I wouldn’t have found anyone special. Declan was the only one who was right for me. That is the whole point. I guess I wanted to prove that the program doesn’t work for everyone and that it is still possible to fall in love the old-fashioned way. When the night was over, I got up to leave while everyone else went to find the ones they clicked with. I walked over to BG.

“You didn’t even try!” I was hoping that I had fooled him.

”I did try. I made an effort at my appearance and I was polite. I promise you if I go back there no one, but Finley will approach me. The fact is, you just put me in there while I’m still heartbroken. You know that I really loved him and it would take more than a couple of days to make me feel better. They all probably sensed it or saw it. I am cooperating with your plan, but you also need to give me time to heal and reset.” As I said the words my eyes filled with tears. I looked up, trying to stop them from escaping.

“Alright, let me escort you back to your room.” I was very grateful that he gave in, *

"What was so special about that guy? You claim to have been so in love, but didn't you trick him into loving you? He thought he was falling in love with a *. You had to tell him who you really were. That means he thought he was following the program. You lied to him and can love really be build on a lie."

"It was special because I couldn't lie to him anymore. It wasn't about proving that I could fall in love with someone that isn't from my grouping anymore. It was that I actually fell in love with him. I told him the truth and I gave him the choice. He chose me, he said he would always choose me.", I explained to him. Not that I think he would ever really understand.

"How did the two of you start up?" I guess we are doing this now. I tell him my love story as he walks me back to my room.

"Out of all the grouping I went to, he was the only one who caught my attention. He didn't approach me though. He was too cool for that.. So after waiting a couple of days, I approached him. He was looking for a pairing, so I told him I wasn't either, because I couldn't register as a pairing. We started hanging out and it just grew. Suddenly, he asked me to register with him. It was a comfortable relationship. Neither of us tried too hard. It was perfect." I was truthful. They already knew everything and took him away, so saying what I thought wouldn't hurt anyone.

"Right, here you are." He said as we stopped at my door.

"Thank you for not making me stay there longer."

"Thanks for sharing your story." He said back.

"Maybe next time you could tell me your story." I went inside my room.

Book entry

These socials started to become a frequent thing and after a month I couldn't sneak out early. I made it look like I was really trying. I was friendly with a bunch of guys, but never intended to actually pursue it. I would tell them that I would call them or text them and then I got rid of their numbers. I guess the people from the program started to notice, because Emmett, my BG started warning me that they weren't happy with my progress and that they were going to convince me that it was in my best interest. What they did I never expected, not even in my wildest dreams.