Jake laughed as he played tag with the little kids in his neighborhood. Mina and Sarah giggled as he chased them down the street.
"Tag! You're it." He said as he grabbed Mina and started tickling her.
"Jake! Dinner's ready and you have homework to do." His mom yelled, poking her head out of the front door. He sighed and said goodbye to the kids as he made his way back inside. "You haven't shown them you're soulmarks have you?"
"What? No, no I haven't."
"Good. Good. Don't want them getting the wrong idea." She murmured.
"What wrong idea?" He snapped.
"Oh. Nothing, nothing." She had her arms outstretched slightly like she wanted to hug him but decided against it. His mother opened and closed her mouth then turned away and walked into the kitchen. Jake sighed, used to it, and made his way upstairs after letting her know he wasn't hungry. That was a lie but he had food stashed away in his room for situations like this.
Jake lay awake in his bed for several hours just listening to the sounds of his family enjoying each other's company. Why couldn't that include him?
Jake woke up the next morning too tired to properly function but aware that he had to go to school anyway. He went through his morning process on autopilot, just going through the motions and was out the door before Mark even had the chance to honk the horn. Mark is his best friend who happens to be older than him, therefore has a car and was able (and willing) to drive Jake to school. He slipped into the back seat and Aiden greeted him with a smile from the passenger seat. Aiden was Mark's soulmate who is the same age as Jake. Barely younger than him. These are two of his best friends.
"So, how was your weekend?" Aiden asked.
"Crap, but no surprise there." He responded and Mark snorted.
"At least you have a free period and can catch up on sleep."
"True."
They got to school and made their way to their lockers where they met up with Caiden and Jasper who make up the last two members of their friend group. Another set of soulmates. Jake loved his friends but sometimes they just made him really sad. Don't get him wrong! He's super happy for them but he just wished that he could hurry up and find his soulmates. But it seemed highly unlikely.
"Jake! Jake!" Caiden got all excited upon seeming him and Aiden put his hand over his heart in mock offense.
"That's my name. Don't wear it out. What's up?"
"So I may or may not have met your soulmate the other day. Or well, one of them."
"Wait, what?!"
"Okay so basically I've known this guy named Riley for a while. I met him at the public library and we've been really good friends for a while but I didn't see his soulmarks until this past weekend. It was just a glimpse at first because I'm pretty sure he was hiding it from me. Probably scared about what I would think. But then I told him about you and how you have two soulmarks and he asked me what your name was and obviously I said Jake Lee and then he gasped and pulled him his sleeve and sure enough, Jake Lee and Jayden Nicholson. The names on your wrist are Riley Howard and Jayden Nicholson, right?" Jake simply nodded and Caiden grinned triumphantly. "So, now he wants to meet you. Pretty great, right?"
"Jake that's great! You're so close to meeting one of your soulmates!" Mark grinned. Jake just stood there all numb.
"What's wrong? I thought you'd be really happy." Caiden wondered.
"What if he doesn't like me? Or he doesn't want me? Or I'm nothing like he ever imagined. What if I just disappoint him? What if I'm not good enough."
"Jake, that's nonsense. You guys are meant to be. You wouldn't have been saddled with two soulmarks unless you were meant to be. This isn't like one of those cases where the two soulmates are unhappy. You are in a category all by yourself. There's three of you." Jasper reassured him.
"When did you get so smart?" Aiden cooed while pinching his cheeks.
"I'm not a baby!"
"You will always be my baby!"
"NO!" Jasper took off running.
Jasper was the youngest of the group. He was born in 2002, Caiden was born in 2001, He and Aiden were born in 2000, while Mark was born in 1999. Jasper was a Freshman, Caiden was a Sophomore, he and Aiden being Juniors, while Mark, the old man, was a Senior. He likes to mess with Mark by calling him a senior citizen.
"Thanks, Jasper!" He shouted out at his retreating form.
"No problem!" Jasper shouted back.
"Come back here!" Aiden shouted back.
"Class?" Mark asked.
"Class." Jake agreed.
"Maybe class will be our always."
"Shut up." Jake and Caiden both snapped.