1 Radio Silence

Alice

8:45 am

In this world of soulmates and radio-silence, I am the outsider. My mom had me when she was eighteen, only a few months after she met her soulmate. I was born prematurely. I think that's what convinced most people. My mom had a boyfriend before she met her soulmate, his name is John Lancaster, he was two years older than her. They broke up about four months before she met her soulmate. Then she found him. She said that some people in her high-school were harassing her, she never told me why, he was the new kid in school he had absolutely no reason to stick up for her but he did. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her behind him and that's when she knew that he was the one.

Not everything can be that simple though. I think it was because she found her soulmate that I was born about three months early. David Ward is a great guy and an amazing dad... he's just not my dad. My real dad is John Lancaster. How do I know this? Well...I have a rare blood type. When I was in elementary school I went on a school trip and while coming back the side of the bus was hit by a drunk driver. Nobody was as hurt as me, While they had a few broken bones and some concussions. The paramedics had to rush me to the hospital. I had been thrown from the bus and hit a wooden fence that went straight through my side. When they got me to the hospital I had lost a lot of blood.

That's when I found out who my real dad was. My mom, Maria, was told that within a few hours I would die without a blood transfusion. They had patched me up but my body was having trouble taking the other blood. So if I was going to live they needed someone with the same blood type as me to come in. My mom tried to give her blood but they said that hers wouldn't work, so she made a call. Her and David had a big fight about it but it worked. This mystery person was already there and said they would give blood as long as nobody knew it was him. David and mom wouldn't tell me who it was but one time when they were fighting he yelled at her "That no good Lancaster has no right to secrecy she has a right to know Maria!" I knew right then that they were talking about John Lancaster.

That blew my ten-year-old mind David wasn't my real dad, John was! How could he do that to my mom? She was younger than both John and his wife Grace. That was so not right! Grace and John had a daughter the same age as me Maclyn. Maclyn and I have almost the same birthday, mine is a day before hers.

Maclyn likes to make fun of me because I was born so early and says that the universe didn't want me. She only gets away with saying stuff like that because she's popular. Everyone at my school worships Maclyn, Everyone everywhere worships the Lancasters! But today is the worst day ever! It takes the cake for bad days in the life of Alice. Today is my birthday but everyone is making a big deal out of Maclyn's birthday party tomorrow.

"Look at little old-Alice writing all her dirty secrets." Maclyn said slamming shut my book. I looked up at her. She went all out today, she always puts effort into her looks but today was extra nice.

"You look nice." I told her my voice was quieter than normal.

"What was that Alice? Can't hear you mouse girl speak up." Maclyn sneered.

"Um," I cleared my throat,"You look nice today." I told her louder than before, I could tell she heard me because she looked surprised. Though her best friend,Stella, had something to say about my compliment

"What do you mean mouse? She looks good everyday, unlike you... you look like you just crawled out of bed."

"No..no th..that..that's not what...what I mean...meant" I stuttered out pulling my book close to me as she leans forward towards my face.

"Yeah yeah just leave will ya we need this area." She said in a treating tone I nodded my head, quickly gathering my things before going to find another table.

Geez what is wrong with me I should have stood my ground. Why do I always let them scare me like that? I'm older than both of them, I should stand up for myself. Ugh! How could today get any worse? Oh right, today is also the day that the parkers go on the news to announce who their son's soulmate is so everyone's buzzing about that too. Ugh! Why can't today just be a normal da-

I was pulled out of my thoughts when I ran into someone and fell on the floor. I looked up to only find Jayden Parker, My heart skips a beat, god please kill me this is not good not good at all. I quickly scrambled to my feet letting out a meek sorry before running off again.

Jayden

"Hey, bud! Don't look so down, you're about to know who your soulmate is." My best friend Isaiah said slamming a hand on my shoulder.

"Yea Man I would be stoked to know who my soulmate is!" Anthony chimed in.

"It's not that I'm not excited, I just already have a feeling of who it is and they're going to be disappointed that it's not who they want it to be," I told them as we walked through the library

"Oh come on man you still don't think it is her do you?" Isaiah asked as I turned to him, He's the only one who knows the truth about my feelings and who I think is my soulmate.

"What do you mean Maclyn? Why would they be disappointed that it's her?" Anthony said, making me look at him we've told him several times that's not who I like even though we're dating.

"No Man Mo-" Isaiah tried to say but got cut off as a small girl ran into me making me bump into him a little.