The Inadequate Experiments: 1. White Noise [Rough Draft]

Part 1; Insanity - 2. The Golden Boy

A shocked look flickered across Oliver Jackson’s face; a look that quickly changed to one of annoyance.

“What do you mean, ‘you have got to be kidding me’?” He asked incredulously. “I knocked you to the ground, helped you up, and saved you from getting trampled, and all you can say is, ‘you have got to be kidding me’?”

“Are you really that naïve?” I snapped, my tone mimicking his.

He looked almost taken aback. “Oh, so now you’re calling me naïve as well? Great. Just great. Whatever happened to manners?”

Anger flared up inside me, plunging itself through my veins. I hoped desperately that my Watch would flicker and change from the twelve consecutive zeroes that occupied its screen, but the numbers stayed there, smirking up at me mockingly. A little voice in the back of my mind reminded me that all the other times it had flickered up again, it had never actually reached zero. I grabbed his wrist – the one with his Watch on – and shoved it in his face before throwing it back down to his side. His eyes widened as he took me in for a second time, looking me up and down.

“It’s you.” He muttered in awe. “When I used to come here, I always used to look at you and think… but I never even knew your name! We never ever spoke! I can’t believe that it’s actually—”

“No.” I said sharply. “Oh no. No way. No way in hell. I’m not your Soul Mate, nor do I want to be. Everyone gets nice boys who they can be cute with and cuddle and watch movies with all day, and I get the prissy Hollywood Golden Boy who think he’s all that. This had got to be a god damn joke.”

“I don’t think…” He took a breath, a hurt look appearing on his face. “I don’t think the Watches can stuff up like that.”

I laughed then, the sound completely humourless. “You think they don’t stuff up like that? Really? This is the ninth time my Watch has gotten remotely close to zero. The ninth time, Oliver. What makes you think it’s not screwed up again?”

“Oliver,” he whispered softly, and I realised I had used his name when he didn’t even know mine. It was as if before the word had slipped from my mouth that he had forgotten his name completely. He shook his head as if to clear his thoughts. “You want to know how I know it hasn’t stuffed up?” He asked me. “Because it’s actually at zero. Do you think you’re the only one whose Watch went down to almost zero eight other times? No. You’re not. You know why? Because this isn’t a mistake.”

I let out an exasperated sigh, only then realising that I had been holding my breath while he tried to prove his point. I stared at the white linoleum floor of the school hallway, not knowing how to answer, because I wanted – more than anything – for it to be a mistake. Yet, his Watch also dropping for the ninth time made it quite obvious that it wasn’t.

“What’s your name?” He asked softly.

I looked up at him. “Wouldn’t you like to know?” I asked sourly, still beyond belief that I had to get the one person I hated more than anyone in the world. I wondered what my sisters would think when I got home that afternoon and told them my “Soul Mate” was their celebrity crush.

“Well,” he mumbled, “what’s the point in telling people I met my Soul Mate if I don’t have a name to give them?”

My eyes flashed, anger flickering through me once more. “Sera.” I told him, almost against my will. “Seraphina Grey.”

He reached out and took my hands in his, warm tingles making their way up my arm from the skin to skin contact. “Seraphina Grey, the girl I’ve dreamed of my entire life…” His blue eyes searched mine, but I was too angry and confused to believe in any way possible that he could be my Soul Mate.