A.N. I wrote this story ages ago, but had tons of trouble with the ending. I'm still not 100% happy but this will have to do I guess.

Disclaimer: If you recognise it, it's not mine.

Miranda had always loved the idea of soulmates. When her Mama first explained what the words on her Daddy and Mama's arms were she had been so happy that there was someone made for her, all she had to do was find them.

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When Miranda was six she met Cecil, the first person her age who had met his soulmate. Jenny Sans was his next door neighbour and they had only met a few weeks ago. His parents seemed rather worried about it, but Miranda couldn't see why. Jenny and Cecil got along quite well and both liked to play on the swings so what was wrong? She overheard Cecil's Mummy say to her Mama:

"It's a big burden for children their age isn't it? Most people don't meet their soulmates until they're at least 20. Some never meet."

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That night at dinner, Miranda asked her parents if everyone met their soulmate.

"It sort of depends honey." Her Mama replied "Most people do eventually. But sometimes, particularly for people who die young, there just isn't enough time. Remember sweetie, most people's soulmates don't even live in the same country, it can take a while to find your soulmate. I was very lucky to find your Daddy, and he was very lucky to find me."

And that signalled the end of that conversation. But Miranda was left, at least in her mind, with one mission; to find her soulmate and do it soon.

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In reality Miranda didn't stay focused on that for long. Schoolwork, friends and family became the things she lived for and she didn't think much about her soulmate at all. The words on her forearm remained the same when she put on the sleeve each morning before school. The words were the first her soulmate would say to her and most people considered them too personal to share with the world. Most people wore some sort of armband or sleeve over them and, though it wasn't compulsory, her school encouraged students to cover them up.

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The next time she really thought about her soulmate was when she was nearly eleven, at a sleepover. The other girls were discussing their soulmates and what they hoped they would look like. A random question entered Miranda's head and without thinking about it, she voiced it;

"Do all girls have boy soulmates?"

The other girls looked slightly surprised by her question, but immediately tried to answer it;

"I mean, I think most do." said Kayla "But I'm pretty sure my aunt knows someone who's a boy who's soulmate is a boy, so why couldn't that happen with girls?"

The other girls seemed to think about that for a second before moving on to some other topic, but Miranda couldn't stop thinking about how some part of her had a feeling her soulmate was a girl.

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When Miranda was 13 she transferred from Olympus to Chiron Academy and fit in much better there. The rules weren't as tough, the kids were more accepting and the teachers were kinder. Also, there was no rule about armbands. Miranda continued to wear her's anyway, the habit was too hard to break, but maybe, just maybe she'd work up the confidence to take it off.

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Three years later and she had found a home there. She was well liked, maybe not popular, but happy, and there were few students she didn't know the name of. She was more confident and had even told a few of her friends her suspicions regarding the gender of her soulmate. Most of her friends didn't worry about their soulmates, they focused on their friends and their schoolwork, but Miranda was still excited when her science teacher announces that their next unit would be focusing on soul mates.

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"As I'm sure you are all aware, the writing on a person's arm shows the first words the person's soulmate will say to them. It is believed we evolved to have these words show so that it is easier to identify who our soulmates are. The purpose of soulmates is one of science's great mysteries, although some some scientists believe the bond between soulmates increases their chance of successful procreation. Other scientists disagree pointing out that a surprisingly large number of people have soulmates with whom they cannot produce children. These scientists also have many different theories about the purpose of soulmates."

For once, every single student in the class was paying attention. It was funny how much more interesting they found something centred on themselves. But Miranda couldn't claim to be any different, she was dying to know the purpose of the words on her arm.

"When one first has any kind of physical contact with their soulmate, it is quite common to have some sort of physical side effects. Some people faint, some describe their arm as having felt like it had been in water for a long time and some have felt an electric shock strong enough to be quite painful. Again, no one quite knows why this occurs, but it certainly does."

The class was then instructed to write their soulmate's words on a piece of paper, omitting any names. They then all placed the slips of paper in a hat. Mr Williams picked a few from the hat and read:

"Excuse me, I think you dropped this?"

"Hi, nice to meet you too."

"Could you please stop that?!"

"Hi, I'm _ how can I help you today?"

"Oui, C'est moi."

"Quick, get me some oxygen, I think we're losing her."

The second Mr Williams started to read Miranda's her nerves were on edge. It was an ordinary phrase but it was hers. It felt too personal for the class to hear.

"No problem, thanks"

It felt strange hearing Mr Williams say it. He didn't leave the ending open, he acted as if it had a full stop. Miranda felt odd hearing a voice that wasn't her soulmate's say those words.

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Two weeks later and again Miranda was in science class. They had moved on to a project in which they had to try and come up with a 'plausible scientific way that soul words end up on a person's body that in no way involves magic' It was a tough assignment and she was focused enough that Mr Williams had to call her name three times before she heard him.

"Miranda could you grab that pieces of paper on the shelf behind you? Lou Ellen's class needs it."

Miranda brought the piece of paper up to Mr Williams desk.

"Could you give it to Lou please?"

"Sure" Miranda replied turning to face the girl in the door. She vaguely knew Lou Ellen was a new student, funny and flirty from what she had heard. She hadn't exactly been prepared to see a gorgeous girl who was maybe 160 centimetres tall with tawny skin and sparking eyes. Slightly distracted, she managed to accidentally drop the piece of paper she had been holding at Lou's feet. Miranda quickly bent to pick it up. As she stood up with a slightly embarrassed smile she managed to say "Oops, sorry about that!"

A look of shock came over Lou's face before quickly smoothing over, a bright smile reclaiming her face once again.

"No problem," she replied as Miranda handed her the paper "thanks"

Miranda's heart nearly stopped. As what Lou had said registered in her brain, their hands briefly brushed each other and suddenly everything went black.

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Miranda woke up in the nurses office. It must have been lunch time as some of the student volunteers ran to her side the second she opened her eyes.

"Don't worry." came the calming voice of Will Solace, "You had an FPCR but you're fine now. Don't worry, we'll check over you and then you'll be free to go. "

A thousand questions were spinning around Miranda's head, the first of which was "Did I pass out in front of the whole class?" and the last of which was "What the hell is an FPCR?" Thankfully Will Solace's soulmate and boyfriend Nico DiAngelo spoke up.

"Will, she obviously has no idea what an FPCR is and she's probably a bit fuzzy on the details of what happened."

Will turned around to explain,

"An FPCR is a First Physical Contact Reaction. Your teacher probably spoke about them in class but the term is a medical one. You had a pretty severe one, but they're not exactly uncommon."

"You mean I..."

"Fainted? Yes."

"No you mean... my soulmate? I don't really remember what happened all that well."

"Ah, I got one of the volunteers to fetch one of your friends who was in the class to explain what happened. They should be here soon."

As soon as Cecil walked into the room Miranda sat up, both eager and terrified to find out what happened.

"Hey Miranda, are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah, just a bit confused as to what happened!"

"Okay, so how much do you remember? Never mind, I'll start from the beginning anyway. So we were doing that project thingy when I hear Mr Williams call you. I look up and there's Lou Ellen, you know her, she's the new girl. And so he tells you to bring this piece of paper up and you do, but you were still focused on your work I think, and you tried to give it to him. And so he said to give it to Lou and man I'll never forget the look on your face when you saw her. All I can say is I knew you were soulmates right then. But anyway, by now the whole class is watching when you drop, pick up and give her the paper. And when you said sorry she looked shocked, but like in a good way. And then she says thanks and you two touch... and you fainted. Like full on swooned. And then she's doubled over in pain holding her arm and everything is happening at once. All anyone talked about for the rest of the class was you two. Even Mr Williams started talking about physical reactions and how their severity could vary. It was pretty exciting."

Miranda slumped back on the couch. She wasn't sure whether this was good or not. On the plus side she had found her soulmate. On the downside it had happened in front of her whole class, she was only 16 for gods sake not to mention her soulmate was a girl. Oh, and she had fainted in front of her whole class and the girl she liked.

Wait. The girl she liked? Did she like Lou? She barely knew her. And they were soulmates. Miranda knew that was the way it was for everyone but knowing you were meant to fall in love with a girl you just met was kind of scary.

"How's Lou?"

Miranda surprised herself by asking the question but Cecil seemed very happy

"Hahaha, I knew it! You so like her."

"She's my bloody soulmate Cecil."

"Right. She's fine, went back to class. She looked pretty shaken though, once her arm had settled down. Good shaken. Happy. Excited. And she was definitely smiling."

Miranda sighed in relief. If Lou had thought her an idiot for fainting she wasn't sure what she would do.

" Now come on Miranda, I'm hungry."

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The next few days were very strange. Telling her parents she had found her soulmate, and then having to explain that said soulmate was a girl was tough. But her parents always pointed to soulmates as proof that we couldn't help who we fell in love with and were really happy for her. The school rumour mill was the harder challenge, things like this didn't happen much and the story got very embellished. One version had them start making out, another had them both faint. Miranda felt bad for Lou, whom she hadn't seen since then. Part of her was relieved that she had time to take it in but another part really wanted to see Lou again.

On the forth day her lunch was interrupted by Lou walking up to her and saying "Hey, I think we need to talk." They walked around to the library but didn't go inside. Lou started the conversation, seemingly very confident:

"So. We're soulmates."

"Yeah"

"Can I see your words? I-I it's not that I don't think we are I just want confirmation..."

Miranda tore the sleeve off her arm and showed Lou the words written there.

"It's my handwriting" Lou murmured

"Listen, this is kinda weird. Most people meet their soulmates when they're adults who know what to do and stuff. But, I-I I really do like you and I think we should try and be friends... at least?"

Miranda waited for Lou's response nervously

"I think you are very good at this Miranda. Very good indeed."

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And so Miranda found her soulmate was actually a very good best friend. They were inseparable, but there was still a slight awkwardness, in that they weren't destined to be best friends, they were destined for something more. And that barrier remained untouched until one night when the two were studying together and came across something on soulmates, a topic they usually avoided, causing Lou to break the awkwardness by whispering "damn this" and leaning towards Miranda, who then closed the gap between their lips. Suddenly the world made even more sense, Lou and 'Anda' were meant to be, meant to live and love and last together. And that was the way things stayed.