Crossing the Line

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

**Flashback**

"What dress will you wear to meet him, Sarah?"

"Why can't I just wear my playtime clothes? I don't wanna wear a dress." My mom gave me the look, so j begrudgingly pointed to the blue dress of mine and let her dress me.

After I was ready, with a blue bow in my hair, my father grabbed the slip of paper with his address on it, and I was just bursting with excitement. I was jumping up and down so much that my mom just old me to "stop or you'll wrinkle your dress!" That did little to stop me, but I remained somewhat calm until we got into the car.

It is customary for the boy's family hold the welcoming dinner. When paired with someone, you don't know who it is until the day you see them at the dinner. When a boy turns five, his family sets up a huge meal in their house, called the welcoming dinner. When a girl turns five, her family gets a slip of paper in the mail with an address on it a week prior version to when they need to show up.

The way that we determine how old you are is really simple. In fact, we don't have birthday celebrations, different from how it once was, I'm told. Celebrations draw too much attention to our individual selves. The start of a year marks a new age for every person within the power of the system. This day is also the day of the Welcoming Dinner. It makes life easier.

I was antsy in the car, and it seemed like every time i asked my parents "how long?", the minutes would grow slower and slower. Who was he going to be? Would I be best friends with him, as i hoped i would? The longer it took to get there, more questions kept popping into my head.

I could not get out of the car fast enough once we got to the house we were supposed to be at. My dad caught my arm just before i ran to the door.

"You don't want to run, Sarah. You might scare them away." Worried that this would happen, i slowed to a speed walk.

When we got to the door, my family all looked expectantly, so i assumed that i needed to knock. Although my knocks we're quiet, the door opened within seconds. I looked up, but it didn't open all the way. I looked through the little space and saw a set of brown eyes looking back at me.

"Mommy, they're here!" I hear a voice say.

"Shhh, don't be so loud. We'll go on, open the door!" The door opened a lot more, and before me stood a boy with brown hair, a plaid button down shirt, and a huge smile plastered on his face.

"Hi! I'm Noah. We're paired now. Come to my room, I have toys!" I looked at him in astonishment. This was the boy that I played with all the time in the building full of kids! Not knowing what had exactly gone on in that building, I wondered how the system knew to pair me with one of my friends.

I looked up at my mom expectantly. I had never been allowed to be in the same room alone with a boy before, but all she did was smile and nod her head.

** Present Time**

Thinking about the Welcoming Dinner always gets me smiling, but then again, a lot of things do.

I heard something outside of our house, and then the front door opened and closed. I went downstairs to see what was going on, and then I felt two arms wrap around my waist and lift me up. I was about to fight whatever was holding me, but it suddenly put my down, spun me around, and kissed my cheek.

"Noah! I just barely shrieked. "You're home!" He had been away on a business trip for two months. Noah is inheriting a Law Firm at 25, as all men acquire some sort of job at that age.

"I am! And you're my first stop since I've gotten off the train." He held out his arms for a hug, which I gladly accepted.

"You mean that you haven't even seen your parents yet?"

He smiled. "Nope."

I lightly slapped him. "Noah! Go see your parents. They must be dying to see you!"

"Oh alright. I think I at least deserve a kiss first."

"You deserve no such thing. Go see your parents! The sooner you do, the sooner you can come back." I shoved him out the door.

"Oh come on Sar-" I closed the door. Smiling, I sat down on the couch after turning the tv on. Almost seconds later I hear a knock on the door. I go to the door, just knowing that it will be Noah.

"What did you forget?"

"This." He suddenly kissed me, then ran to his bike that was on the sidewalk, and sped away.

~.~.~.~.~

A/N: Hey guys! So so so sorry for the long wait for the update, but life has been super busy, especially with starting high school this year. I don't plan on updating every day, or even every couple of days, but I do plan on updating every week to week and a half. If I've gone over that time please message me so that I don't forget to update!

Thanks so much for the votes and reads. I'm not going to ask for goals because a) it really annoys me when other people do that, and b) I'm doing this for criticism and enjoyment.

Speaking of criticism, can I please get a little more comments? (Meaning more than 0). Just a thought.

Since most if you have probably stopped reading this by now, I'm going to leave you be.

Bye, my skittles! :)

(Yes, skittles are my favorite thing in the world, so that's what I will be calling all of you :D)