Riley ran home from the library after talking to Caiden with excitement coursing through his veins. He made sure to take his shoes off in the laundry room before proceeding into the rest of the house. His father would kill him if he got a speck of dirt on his freshly mopped floor. He started searching through the house for his parents, needing to tell them the news. He finally found them in the home office. They were both sat at their respective desks, typing away on their computers. The office and the three bedrooms were the only rooms in the house that still had carpet. The family came to unanimous agreement that they should leave the carpet in the bedrooms. It cost less money so it was an easy agreement. His parents both looked up when he walked into the room. He panted, bent over with his hands on his knees. After a minute, he straightened.
"I think I found one of my soulmates. I haven't met him but the friend I study with at the library is best friends with him. With Jake Lee. They go to school together. Caiden says my name is on Jake's wrist along with Jayden Nicholson." The chaos that ensued was beautiful.
Riley went to school the next day with a smile on his face for the first time in years and nothing any of his bullies did managed to lower that smile. Lunch came around and as he walked towards the school library he realized just how much time he spends at libraries. He had been planning to tell Emmaline and Drew but once he saw them he decided against it. What if they weren't happy for him? They don't have soulmates and what if the news that he might have found one of his, just pushes them away? So Riley decided against telling his best friends the best news to have come his way since his birth and tried to go about the rest of his day normally. If his smile dropped after that choice then, well, who could blame him?
After school, Riley drove to the public library with a bookbag full of all the homework he had. He was certain he was going to end up with back problems by the time he was done with school. He made his way to his usual table but stopped dead in his tracks upon seeing Caiden there with four other boys he didn't know the name of.
As one of the boys stood up and faced him, Riley found he did not need his tingling soulmark to know that the boy in front of him was his soulmate. He just knew.
"Hi," He whispered.
"Hi," Jake whispered back.
"Maybe 'Hi' will be your always," One of the boys piped up.
"If you don't stop, I will hit you," Another boy snapped.
"Bet you won't," The first one answered.
"Okay bet!" The first boy squealed as he was chased out of the library by the second boy. They could hear his shout of pain from inside.
"So," Riley murmured, "Oh! Names?"
"Right! So, I'm Jake. You already know Caiden. The boy glued to his side is his soulmate, Jasper, who is also the youngest. The boy who made the reference is Mark, the oldest of our little group and the one who chased him out was his soulmate, Aiden."
"Okay. Well, it's nice to meet you guys. My name is Riley. I'm 17 and a junior in High School."
"Oh, so you're in the same grade as Jake and I!" Aiden exclaimed as he walked back to the table with Mark in tow. They all settled down at the table as Riley said yes.
"You're older than me, right? Because I remember my mom telling me that they thought I was normal when I was born with just your name on my wrist but then I got Jayden's after that and yeah."
"Yeah I was born with no soulmarks but what do you mean normal? Do they not treat you well?" Riley realized that Jake likely didn't have the best home life and his heart hurt at that realization.
"It could be a lot worse," He murmured. "So I guess I'm pretty lucky. And I've never been bullied by my peers so it's not all bad."
"But everyone deserves to have their home be a safe place. Family should be the people who love you unconditionally. They should never be the ones to bring you down." Riley wanted to scream at the unfairness of it all. Why couldn't they all just catch a break?
"Riley," Jake stopped his train of thought, "It's okay. I'm okay."
"Right," Riley gulped and cleared his throat, "Well now we just have to find Jayden. I hope he's okay."
"Me too."