I held the necklace given to me when I was 13. I wondered when the unique symbol that indicated when it was time for me to search for my soul mate would appear. I sighed and placed the small charm in my suitcase. The class trip to Japan was two days from now and I was very excited to meet my pen pal Kiku. We had all been assigned a pen pal in the same town in Japan and we were going to finally going to meet them! Kiku seemed really quiet, but I was prepared to talk for both of us.
I looked at the dull brown color of my necklace and thought of who had the match. I wanted more than anything to find her. I just hoped that she wasn't to far away... 'Damn! Why do I keep thinking about that stupid necklace? I'm only 17, it probably won't change for a while.' I thought to myself. I climbed into bed and drifted to sleep with the thoughts of who the lucky lady may be.
"And don't forget the class trip to Japan is tomorrow..." the teacher droned on.
"Psst." I heard my twin brother Matt say from the back of the room. He was a good kid, but if he wanted he could get away with murder. No one tended to notice anything he did. On occasion he would bring his little westie dog, Kumajirou,to school. It seemed the little dog would forget him sometimes. Even if anyone noticed him he was such a good student and barely did anything wrong, so no one cared.
"Yeah?" I whispered back. The teacher was still blabbering about remembering to pack enough underwear for the trip or whatever, so he didn't notice.
Matt pointed at his phone and I gave the ok sign. I had three new texts all from Matt.
Matt: Hay
Matt: Hello?
Matt: Come on man your always on your phone during class!
Me: Mattie! How many times do I have to tell you it's 'you're'?
Matt: Hay! don't call me Mattie grammar Nazi!
Me: Then use correct grammar.
Matt: No
Me: Fine. What's up?
Matt: How long 'til lunch?
Me: Why do you assume I know?
Matt: ...
Matt: Is that a trick question?
Me: ... 20 minutes...
Matt: Thanks!
Me: Don't mention it. Hey your necklace started working right?
Matt: Yeah! It's pretty cold right now though...
"Mr. Jones! Texting in class again are we?"
"N-no, sir," I said as I swallowed hard and slipped my phone in my book bag.
"Who is it this time, Alfred? Kiku? Carlos?"
"Are you kidding? I hate that guy!" I almost yelled. I slumped back in my seat, "Well, not Kiku. He's cool, but Carlos is just... And I wasn't texting either of them. I was texting Matt."
"Very funny Mr. Jones. Now really."
"No. It was me, Mr. Edelstein." Matt said.
"Oh. Well, never mind that all of you head to lunch now."
I ducked out of the room before he could hold me back to yell at me for texting in class. Matt, of course, wouldn't get a lecture. I headed to the cafeteria as Matt jogged to catch up.
"Hey," I said.
"Hey," he said in his quiet voice.
"Did you bring Kumajirou today?"
"How did you know?" He whisper yelled.
"You only ask what time it is when you bring him. You need to take him outside, right?" I shrugged.
He relaxed a bit. "Yeah, but I just can't stand to leave him at home! I mean what if-"
I held up a hand to silence him. "Matt, please I know. I don't care." I gave him a little smirk, "But one day it may catch up with you."
"What do you mean?"
"I'm just saying that your bag smells like wet dog. Clean it out. They might find him."
"Thanks"
Kiku: Hello
Me: Hey man!
Kiku: Are you excited for tomorrow?
Me: Yeah! Sorry, I really can't talk right now. Time differences and such. It's pretty late here.
Kiku: I understand. Goodnight Alfred
Me: Bye
As I finish shoving everything I need into my bag, toothbrush, face wash, etc., I noticed something fell out. I bent to pick it up, but when I touched it, it was ice cold. I picked it up and saw my dull brown necklace but this time there was a little white circle with a golden star in the center. My journey had begun.