10 Years, 5 Months, 3 Weeks, 4 Days, 19 Minutes, 21 Seconds
I glare at the stupid little screen on the underside of my forearm as I slump in my seat.
"Mom! Why'd you make me get this? I told you I didn't want it!" I complain.
"One day you'll thank me! You're too young to understand just how important this is," she says, once again telling me how I should be so grateful for her forcing me to get the wretched thing.
"But-"
"Listen here young lady, you are going to be happy I gave you the watch, and you are going to be glad that you have such a caring and loving mother, understand?"
"Fine." I say, giving up. I shot a dirty look at thing in my arm, old enough to understand that there was some idiot out there staring at the very same numbers.
7 Years, 8 Months, 2 Weeks, 6 Days, 221 Minutes, 31 Seconds
I start up the steps to my new school, some stupid place called "Eros Academy", founded by the same company that had made the stupid watch. My mother is forcing me to go here after getting kicked out of my old school, and my dad didn't put up much of a fight seeing as he abandoned my mother and I around six years ago. It's stupid how my mom could have so much faith in the watches when they failed her.
"Hey, are you new here?" says a voice from behind me. I continue walking, sure that it's not talking to me.
"Um, hello?" I feel someone tap me on the shoulder, and I realize the voice was in fact talking to me. I turn around to see a boy around my age, with brown hair and icy blue eyes. He was pretty tall, but his face was still very boyish.
"Do you need some help getting around? My name's Luke by the way."
"Um, I guess," I reply, not used to strangers approaching me. "I'm Annabeth by the way. Annabeth Chase."
"Hey Annabeth, nice to meet you!" He stuck out his hand for me to shake, and I took it. "So who's class are you in?" He asks enthusiastically.
"Umm, Mrs. Jaros," I reply, blushing a little. Why was this boy so intent on helping me?
"Really? Awesome! I'm in her class too! Although it really isn't awesome since all the fifth-graders say she's the worst." Continuing to ramble on, he grabbed my hand and started pulling me in the direction of what I could only guess was our classroom.
5 Years, 2 Months, 1 Week, 4 Days, 379 Minutes, 57 Seconds
"Do you think this'll work?" I ask Luke, my current best friend.
"There's only one way to find out," He says with a determined look on his face. "Let's do this. On the count of three okay? One, two, three!"
We both raised our sharpened rocks and slammed them into our watches, hoping to see them splinter and fall off. Instead, there's a sharp burst of electricity and the rocks bounce off as if some force-field surrounded the watch, and a large shock went up my arm.
"OWW" We both yell simultaneously, grabbing our arms and falling to the ground, the shock startling us as well as hurting us.
"Guess we're never trying that again," he says while groaning.
"Yeah, that definitely wasn't the best idea," I reply, smiling at our stupidity.
3 Years, 6 Months, 2 Weeks, 3 Days, 667 Minutes, 34 Seconds
"Today, class, we will be discussing the Aphrodite's Hour," says our soulmate teacher, Mrs. Killian. Half of the class groans, while the other half shares excited looks with their friends.
This class was the only downside to going to this school. Everything else was great, the food, the students, even most of the teachers were cool. But because the school was founded by Eros Enterprises, it required all of its students to take the Soulmate class as an elective for at least one semester.
"Can anyone tell me what the Aphrodite Hour is?" asks Mrs. Killian.
"Ooh ooh I can!" yells Drew Tanaka, a descendant of the famous creator of the watches, Alexander Eros, and the resident stuck up prick of our school.
"Then go ahead , let's not have a stroke," says Mrs. Killian, looking quite startled at her enthusiasm.
"The Aphrodite Hour is the hour in which you meet your soulmate, which is why it's called the "Aphrodite" hour, as it was named after the goddess of love!" Drew says dreamily. What a twit.
"Very good Ms. Tanaka. The Aphrodite Hour is also commonly referred to as the most important hour of your life, though not all see it that way. Can anyone explain why?"
Without thinking, I raised my hand. I never do that. Mandy scoffed upon seeing me with my hand raised, myself having built quite the reputation of hating the watches.
"Ms. Chase," Before I could put my hand down, she decides to call on me. What a stroke of luck.
"Well, some people feel that they don't need to have the watch to find their soulmate, and others find love before their clock runs out, causing them to dread the moment when it actually hits zero," I explain, hoping my voice isn't too shaky.
"That is correct, Ms. Chase. Very good." As she continued on with her lesson, I glanced over at Luke, only to find him already grinning at me.
2 Years, 7 Months, 3 Weeks, 4 Days, 11 Minutes, 29 Seconds
"HOW ON EARTH DID THIS HAPPEN? I THOUGHT I RAISED YOU BETTER THAN THIS!" Screams my mother.
"YOU DIDN'T RAISE ME AT ALL!" I fir back, tired of my mom pretending to be a part of my life. "EVER SINCE DAD LEFT, YOU CLOSED OFF AND WERE NEVER THERE FOR ME!"
"EVEN SO, I THOUGHT YOU'D HAVE MORE SENSE IN YOU TO NOT LET THAT DISGUSTING REED BOY KISS YOU!"
"YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO TELL ME WHAT I CAN OR CAN'T DO!"
"I'M YOUR MOTHER, I HAVE EVERY RIGHT. THE BOY ISN'T EVEN YOUR SOULMATE, YOU CAN'T BE WITH HIM!"
"I DON'T CARE ABOUT THESE STUPID WATCHES ANYMORE!" My mom steps back as if she's been punched. These watches have been all she's ever cared about, some crazy obsession. "These watches failed you mom, I'm not about to let the same thing happen to me too."
Mother's gaze hardened to ice, and she began to stare at me with disgust. "Get out."
"What?"
"I said get out. Get out of my house, and never come back." So this is how she behaves. Your only daughter insults a stupid watch, and you kick her out onto the streets. "I hate you," I say, surprising myself with the hate evident in my voice.
"Then leave."
So that's it. No, "I'm sorry, please, forgive me!". Nothing but resentment and disappointment. Nothing but hate.
2 Years, 2 Months, 3 Weeks, 3 Days, 47 Minutes, 32 Seconds
I've been living in the streets for about four months now. Eating out of dumpsters, sleeping on benches and in alleyways, anywhere that provides shelter through the harsh nights. At first I had gone to Luke, but it was clear that he wasn't about to let me into his house. Turns out he never loved me at all. Have all my relationships been fake?
"Hey, are you okay?" Says someone, a girl from what I can tell, interrupting my conversation with myself.
"Not really," I grumble. Who cares if some stupid stranger wants to make conversation with a ragged, hunger-panged fifteen year old girl?
"What's wrong? Do you need food?" I look over to the girl who was talking to me, and I see a dark-skinned, brown haired girl with hazel colored eyes that show nothing but kindness.
"Um, yeah, that would be amazing," I say tentatively, not wanting to believe that after all of this time I had found someone that actually cared.
"Come on, I know this great burger place down the street!" At the sound of burgers, my stomach let out a loud grumble.
"I'll take that as a yes then," she says, somehow managing to look humorous and worried at the same time. "I'm Piper, but my friends call me Pipes."
"Annabeth."
"What?"
"My name is Annabeth. Annabeth Chase."
"That's a very nice name. Come on," she says, motioning me to follow her. My stomach took control of my mind, and I got up and started after her, eager to see if she genuinely cared about me.
1 Year, 3 Months, 2 Weeks, 3 Days, 542 Minutes, 39 Seconds
"Hey Beth!" shouts Piper, her voice muffled by the door to her room. "I'm going out for awhile, can you watch Mazzie?"
"Yeah, sure," I shout back, seeing the very cat that was being spoken of waltz slowly
into my room. Yep, my room. Turns out Piper was a pretty awesome person, and her parents were super rich. As in, "I could drop a stack of hundreds and not care" rich. Long
story short, she felt pity for me, and offered to let me stay in an empty room in her penthouse as it was "getting lonely anyway". Mazzie was just our other housemate, a gray tabby with a love for belly rubs that Piper had picked up from an animal shelter. She really was one of the nicest people I know.
"Okay, see ya later!" She says as she makes her way out the door. As she leaves, I catch a glimpse of her arm, and I now realize why she had been so eager to leave tonight. She only had around two hours left. I was happy for her, and then I realized I was pretty close as well. Would I end up liking the guy that this stupid watch said I would? After all it wasn't his fault that I hated the watches so much. I guess there's only one way to find out. Patience.
0 Years, 2 Months, 1 Week, 1 Day, 23 Minutes, 18 Seconds
Everyone's congratulating me and it's starting to get annoying. I mean, I still have two months people, back off! I still wasn't totally convinced about this whole soulmate thing, but after seeing Piper with her soulmate, some guy named Ford, I caught a glimpse into the happiness these things could give. Oh well, it's too late now. My mom would never take me back, and I didn't want to go back. My life here with Piper is more than enough.
0 Years, 1 Month, 2 Weeks, 3 Days, 832 Minutes, 14 Seconds
Piper brought me to the library today, and I checked so many books I could barely carry them to the car. One of them had especially caught my eye, a copy of the book Pride and Prejudice. I decided I'd save that one for last, just so I could end on something that hopefully was good. For now I'll just read my life away. Books are a great distraction from everything, especially my timer getting so close to zero. I was still struggling to decide whether or not I wanted to try to purposefully miss him, just so I could go about my life as normal. Then I realized that this guy was a person too, and me purposefully missing him would probably crush him. At least it crushed most people.
0 Years, 0 Months, 0 Weeks, 0 Days, 432 Minutes, 59 Seconds
Today was a special day. Today was the day I would (hopefully) finish Pride and Prejudice. The story was very intriguing, and I could not wait until I finished it.
0 Years, 0 Months, 0 Weeks, 0 Days, 65 Minutes, 14 Seconds
"Eve, you really need to get out of the house," says Piper, sounding genuinely concerned. "You've been in here for at least a week with your nose buried in all those books! Why don't you go take a walk, get some fresh air. Besides, you might see someone interesting out there," She says, winking.
I groan before responding. "Fine, but I'm not going out of my way to meet some guy."
"You won't have to."
0 Years, 0 Months, 0 Weeks, 0 Days, 36 Minutes, 32 Seconds
I decided I'd walk down to a cafe that had been a place of comfort recently, especially since their mocha would be the perfect relief to this winter chill. Of course, I wasn't about to leave Pride and Prejudice behind so I decided I'd just read while I walked.
0 Years, 0 Months, 0 Weeks, 0 Days, 0 Minutes, 20 Seconds
I was getting closer and closer to the end, and I was loving every last page. This book really was amazing. I looked up just as the red light turned green, and I began to make my way across the street, raising up my book and picking up where I left off.
0 Years, 0 Months, 0 Weeks, 0 Days, 0 Minutes, 11 Seconds
I was about halfway across the street when I heard the sound of a speeding car, but I was too immersed in my book to realize it. I was just a couple pages from the end…
0 Years, 0 Months, 0 Weeks, 0 Days, 0 Minutes, 4 Seconds
The sound was getting extremely loud, and broke into my reading state, just in time for me to look toward the sound-
0 Years, 0 Months, 0 Weeks, 0 Days, 0 Minutes, 0 Seconds
I was thrown off my feet and onto the ground, rolling a couple of times before I came to a stop. It was getting increasingly harder to breath, and every part of my body cried out in pain. Then, amidst all of the pain and the ringing in my ears, I heard a faint beeping sound. Seriously? My soulmate is some guy who hit me with a car? I then realized that there was someone holding my hand, and I looked over to see a guy with jet-black hair, brown eyes, and a worried look on his face staring at me. Then my vision fuzzed over, and I slipped into the darkness.
0 Years, 0 Months, 0 Weeks, 0 Days, 0 Minutes, 0 Seconds
Beep beep beep
I blink a couple times before the room comes into view, my eyes attempting to adjust to the bright lights shining from the ceiling. I look around before seeing that I had an arm and a leg in a cast, and I was hooked up to several other machines as well. I quickly realized I was not alone, and the guy I had seen just before I had passed out was slumped on a chair beside my bed, snoring quietly, my hand still clutched in his.
For some reason I blushed, and I tried to remove my hand slowly without waking him up.
"Huh?" Crap. I guess I'm not that great at moving silently after all.
"You're awake!" He says, looking at me with wide eyes, a look of confusion and happiness on his face.
"Yeah, it appears I am," I say, my voice dripping with sarcasm. I immediately regret this when I see a look of embarrassment on his face. He quickly drops his hand, and I almost cry at the loss of warmth. "Sorry, that came out wrong. And no offense. But who are you?"
He blushed before responding. "Well, I'm pretty sure I'm your soulmate," He says, looking away.
"Oh," I say, not quite sure what to say. This was a guy I had hated for most of my life without even knowing him, but now that I'd met him, he really didn't seem so bad. He was kinda cute actually, once you got past the awkwardness.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw he was holding a book. My book. Pride and Prejudice. He noticed I was looking at it and he awkwardly held it out to me.
"I'd grab it, but I'm kinda… you know," I say, nodding toward the casts and bandages.
"Oh right! Sorry. How are you feeling?" He asks, once again turning bright red.
"Well I just got hit by a car, so not too bad," I say, inwardly cringing at how cold I sounded.
"That's great. Well, um, you sound like you need some rest, so I'll just… go," He says, getting up out of the chair and making his way toward the white paneled door. I am such an idiot.
"Wait!" He turns around just as he reaches the door. "Could you possibly, stay?"
I blush. He blushes. Maybe we really are soulmates.
"Uh, sure." He made his way back toward his seat, and he sat down. Great, now I just made things more awkward.
"So, uh, how do you like this book?" He asks.
"It's great" I say, not having to pretend at all. "Have you read it?"
"Yeah, my high-school had us read it for english. It was very enjoyable."
"Seeing as I'm currently, well, incapacitated, would you mind reading it for me? I'm almost at the end, and I really want to finish it.
"Uh, sure," he says, and he cracks open the book to the page I've dog-eared it on, and he begins to read. Something about his voice was soothing, and slowly, I began to drift off to sleep. For some reason, this boy I had just met made me feel at home, and I decided that I liked that. I decided that the watch, while still stupid, may have given me someone that I would love and be with for the rest of my life. Maybe, just maybe, this watch had given me something: a love that was timeless.