Sang's Matches

2. A Rocky start

   After a very awkward moment with my father where we just stood outside of the gate in silence until he mumbled a goodbye, I step into the gathering crowd, waiting for bus number 2. 

I glance around me at the other young women waiting for my bus and notice how much luggage they all seem to have. Most of them are dressed up in fine clothing and makeup, high-heeled shoes and matching purses. My whole body heats in embarrassment as I look down to my worn out sneakers, thinning blouse and knee-length skirt with an ink stain. It's just a tiny one, so I don't think anyone will notice, hopefully. I shift my backpack up higher on my shoulders, now realizing I should have brought more with me. Although, I don't really own much more than what's in my backpack. I have more clothing, sure, but I wanted to bring a few books for the longer bus rides, and those took up quite a bit of space.

"Are you Sang? Oh, please tell me you are! You're just an adorable little thing, aren't you? This is gonna be so much fun!" A pixie-haired girl about my age squeals at me. I blush and nod my head, raising an eyebrow at her in question. How does she know who I am?

"Oh right, sorry. I'm Becca, your advisor. We'll be seatmates for the duration of our trip. Where's your bags? I'll load them up for you." She asks.

I raise my hand, pushing my lip to my teeth. "Um...I don't have any, just this." I point to my bag on my back.

Becca's eyes go wide, her mouth dropping a bit before she corrects herself. "That's okay, we'll work something out, yeah? And less baggage means less time waiting to load and unload, right?" Her bright smile comes back and I can already tell she isn't the type of person to stay down long.

We don't have to wait much longer to board our bus, but as soon as the doors open, Becca is grabbing my hand, telling me how we should be sure to grab good seats. I let her pull me along, trying not to bump into anyone and be thought of as rude. We end up in the third row behind the driver, just where she wanted to be I guess.

"Our first stop isn't too far from here actually. We'll be in Chicago for a couple of days, as some of the international matches are flown in. You matched quite a few guys outside of the country, do you have a thing for accents or something?" Becca asks with a playful tone.

I blink at her for a second, trying to remember if such a silly question was somewhere on the test. "No, not really," I answer her. "Maybe it's because I checked the box when it asked if I was willing to pair with people from other countries?" I shrug.

"Yeah, maybe. I just hope you also checked the box that requires them to speak English, or else we'll be in for a hell of a time." She laughs.

Becca was right about the short trip to Chicago, it truly didn't take as long as I thought it would. It made wonder what took my dad so long when he drove to and from the office. Traffic maybe?

 When we pulled up outside of our designated hotel I was a little intimidated by all the chaos and people milling about. We weren't the only bus staying here, and I found out that the buses are broken down into groups- by age, gender, and location, so I might not even be riding the bus with the same young women as before. Becca assured me that knowing where I'm supposed to be and how I'm getting there is her job, and I'm not supposed to worry about it. My job is simply to mingle with my matches and form my family. Easier said than done if you ask me. I wish I could have put this whole thing off for a few years maybe, only my mother never would have gone for that; she's all too happy to be rid of me, and I'm honestly grateful to leave.

There was time to check-in, have a light lunch and "put our faces on" as Becca called it, before my first event started. I didn't have much to do to get ready, as I was already wearing my best outfit and I knew little about make-up, so I just spent the time going over my matches that I'd be meeting here with Becca. Everyone was supposed to meet up in the ballroom for cocktails, but time was limited with each match, as most people had several matches to meet. Becca had asked me how I wanted to go about tonight event- like if I wanted to meet with higher scoring matches first, and in what order, but I had just shrugged my shoulders. I didn't know.