Chapter 1

The beautiful blue swirl and swirl on my wrist. I watched it swirl in the same clockwise rotations. I have had blue swirling circle on my wrist for as long as i can remember. the blue swirling tattoo on my wrist should tell me who me perfect genetic match is the guy or girl who i will fall deeply in love with. i had been told this since i started pre schooling as a small youngling. the blue swirling tattoo would turn green when we met and that's how we would know. we were told that the elders did this for our own protection to make sure the good went on while the bad didn't continue or something like that. to be truthful, i never really pay attention when they go on about this stuff. i like the world and the way it was before the elders took over; it was before all that armageddon stuff happened although it only happened a couple years before my birth in 2026.

The scene has changed a lot according to people. It use to be better. The poor weren't dying of hunger and the rich aren't swimming in melted gold. i'm not kidding on the melted gold. Story time! At the age of 11 megan montgomery, a snobby little rich blonde girl had a pool party i got invited to and i freak you not there was melted gold for water because what better way to show off if not by telling your school friends to swim in melted gold.anyway,

i try my best to stay laying down even after my alarm has gone off. So far my mom has taken 30 minutes to walk in and yell at me to get up. I'm really hoping to hit one hour at some point. I stay laying down watching the blue swirl and swirl around. Being honest i had never really paid much attention to the swirling and color. The blue isn't just any blue. It was a combination of the blue used in the painting the starry night with a mix of ocean blue. My gaze moves to the door at the foot of my bed. Right on time 7:10. I can hear my mom's foot steps already. I guess i only got 10 minutes today. I sigh and get up and sit on my bed as my mom opens the door and just says “ hail, come on get ready you have school in a couple minutes.your brothers are up already” all i say is “ i'm up”. My mom leaves i hear my mother say a quick goodbye before leaving for her job as a secretary at an office downtown. I get off my bed and get ready put on the school uniform. Black jeans with a plain black shirt.

I pull my long black hair into a pony tail and head down. I walk into the kitchen that smells like sausage and toast and is filled with the bickering of my older brothers i would bet my life that the bickering is over the last piece of sausage or toast. “ well look who decided to join us” my brother cedric says as he is leaning back, stretching his arms behind his head, his blue mark swirl around his forearm like a snake. I smirk and reach for the closest object and throw it at cedric. Cedric, swiftly catches the green apple i had thrown at him. Leon sighs from where he's sitting “ Hail, you need more power in your throw and be less predictable. That is if you ever want to be able to surprise and win whatever this is between you and cedric” a small laugh emerges from ren “why do you want them to stop its so funny to see Hail gets so riled up over not winning after seven years”.

I just kept my eyes on Cedric as i moved into the kitchen to grab something quick to eat and leave so i wouldn't have to walk, once again with the dear idiots that are my brothers. Well kind of each of them has his own skill. Cedric, who is the oldest and 19,for example is one of the strongest in his class, he got a scholarship for high school and college from the military. Leon who is second oldest and is 18 is amazing at math and science.

Leon who is 18 got also got a scholarship for high school and college after taking the SGT ,the standard government test that every eighth grader must take. Leon is one of eight kids that got a perfect score.

Now Ren who is 17 he’s goofy and no one really takes his seriously, his fate tattoo is a diamond shape under both eyes which makes him look like a total joker like in a deck of cards, But put Ren in front of a computer and he can hack into just about anything. Story time, once Ren hacked into the school system in middle school and changed his grades from failing to passing, of course the government caught him but when they noticed that it was a scrawny sixth grade who hacked into a top security system they gave him a scholarship for high school and was excused from the SGT. and then there's me, little Hail, i'm a little of all of them a little bit of Cedric's strength a little bit of Leon's smarts and a little bit of a computer geek from Ren. I have both an academic and athletic scholarship for high school and college is a still to be determined all depends on whether the government wants to me start working or to keep learning and work for them later on.

For my mother the fact that all of her children were able to get scholarships to high school was something that she was happy about. Most parents have to chose one child to send to highschool if they are middle class. There is only free education until middle school after that the government feels that it is a privilege to learn any more or if you are gifted like me and my brothers. I have heard from the radicals that are around that it was not like that before that kids were able to go to school four years after middle school, but that of course was before the war. When it comes down to it, it was our ancestors fault for their bad choice in president. there is this old film called The Purge apparently that's how it was 3 years after chosing The first elector. After about 5 years of that kind of thing people stood up and now here we are 20 years after a really bad 2 year war.

I quickly grab an apple and head out before the three dorks that are my kin. As i get onto my board and head to school i turn on my sofcom. My messages instantly appear in front of my eyes. My sofcom helper, mystic, talks into my ear “Good morning Hail you have four new messages from: Madi montgomery, Zack elder, Hina young and Bryan michel.” i liked everyone on that list except madi freaking montgomery. I groaned and spoke into my com “ read madi montgomery” mystic laughed a bit “ i heard that groan reading Madi Montgomery message: hey Hailey bailey i hope your done with our project we need to turn it in soon. Don't forget to put my name on it. End message. May i add that she put a heart emoji as well”. “Of course she did. Could you please read the rest of the messages por favor?” “ of course Zack Elder: hey are we still going to go watch that movie with hina? Hina Young: Hey hail can we not go to the movies and just stay in? Zack just wants to go out so it seems like he doesn't just stays home and plays video games with his sofcom helper. Bryan Michael: hey. Huh so the crush finally texts you i've been waiting for this” I can hear the smile that mystic would be wearing. Sofcom helpers are robots of sorts they aren't people but they are able to hold conversation like so and don't have robotic voices sometimes i forget that mystic is not an actual person but a robot assigned to me by the government to help me with my everyday life. Every kid rich or poor gets a sofcom person at the age of 13. At that age the government feels like they have seen enough of the way you are and are able to code a robot perfect for helping you with the rest of your life. Every kid gets to name their personal sofcom person. Mystic comes back on the com “ Hail do you need anything else right now? Write a paper on your way to school? Talk about this “bryan” guy? Who knows he might turn your tattoo green”

I laugh “funny mystic but no that all be all for today.” “alrighty your approaching school any way. If you need any note taking done or help you know what to do”. A beep followed and mystic was gone just as i crossed onto the parking lot i hop off my board and have it turn back into a small cylinder. Just as all my brothers arrive into the parking lot after me. I grab the cylinder that my board has turned into as cedric's girlfriend Lin who is also one of my friends came over. Instantly i see cedrics snake like tattoo turn green and i see Lins swirl tattos on her fingers turn green as well. She gives cedric a quick hug and kiss. Ren starts to complain about how gross that was. “One day ren you'll be all over someone like that i bet you anything. I say that to all you young tots” cedric told us. Cedric was the only one out of all of us that has had his tattoo turn green. Apparently when we are small we are matched with another person who, for girls was already born or was born on the same year and for guys it could be someone was was going to be born or was born on the same year. Lins was my age. They met a couple years ago and now they are almost inseparable. They were planning to get married after Lin finishes high school. It wasnt uncommon for college students to have found their match in high school and married in college. Lin and cedric let go of each other and me and lin walked to our first period. As we walk into first period lin is going on and on about the wedding that is a decent amount of time away but like any 17 year ols girl sheis losing it. Honestly im not gonna lie i hope to not find my Soulmate for years hopefully after college i dont want to be distracted by love or whatever it is we feel at that moment that we meet them. “So should we go with green drapes and blue attire or the other way around… Hail? Hail?!” lin said “yes ,lin?” i said annoyed for being pulled out of my thoughts. We reach the rest of our friends. There was Ray. ray was a special person he didnt really excel in accademics but give him a stick a tape and he could fix a car. Then there was rae she was an amazing musician many said she would play music for the elite someday. There was also tifs and lu. Both excelled in academics but tiff had a mind like a computer and wel lu was an amazing painter many said they would have very calm or very rebelious soulmates. “ hey guys” i said. “ going off about wedding preps?” said Ray. “what do you think?” i eyed him. Ray just nodded and rolled his eyes. Zach and Hina joined us not much long after we all got to school a bit earlier so that we could enjoy our time as a group of friends. So far no one’s tattoo had turned green….yet. The elders had the choice to change the tattoos and so did we if we put in a special request.