The Claiming

Chapter Seven

I start to open up to Alec a little more. He knows me, but not all of me.

"Sometimes I wish we could go back in time," I say. "Then we could have gotten married in the traditional way, maybe even waited a few more years instead of... you know, jumping right into it."

"I know what you mean," Alec says.

We both lie on the bed on top of the covers, staring up at the ceiling. I had explained to him in the car why I was so off during lunch, and he agreed that it was depressing for those girls, but he reminded me that I should thank the Lord for how fortunate I am for not getting stuck with a stranger, and that I should pray for those who are. I love that we have the same faith.

"You know," Alec says, turning his head to the side to look at me, "people used to wear rings as a symbol of marriage. All we have now is a piece of paper that the kingdom keeps on file. We'll never see that paper..."

I shift onto my side to face him. "No one says we can't have rings. Why can't we go buy some?"

Alec's blue eyes light up. "You're right! Tomorrow after the screening, we should go to the jewelry place in town. We should have enough money for something decent."

In the Family District, parents have to have a separate bank account for their children so that when they marry, that money automatically transfers into their kids' bank accounts. That way, we don't start out in life broke.

I'll just say, Alec's family was pretty well off. I only wish that Bayfell would allow us to buy a new house instead of assigning us one.

I smile at Alec. "That sounds great. Although, I'm not used to all this spontaneous stuff... Maybe Riah and Chance will want to come. We haven't seen them at all today... do you think they're all right?"

Alec grins. "I've been getting a few texts from Chance. They've been home all day... they're very all right."

My eyes round. "Oh, wow. How can they be so comfortable with all of that already?"

Alec shrugs. "Maybe it just comes naturally to them."

We lay there in awkward silence for a few heartbeats before I hear a beeping sound. Just one beep, and then it's quiet again.

"Did you hear that?" I ask.

"Yeah," he breathes. "I can't tell where it came from, though."

We wait again for the beep, but it never comes again.

***

We arrive at the palace around nine in the morning along with many other couples. The place is huge, and I honestly never expected to be able to come here one day. I always thought the palace was one of those off-limits places. I guess it's actually pretty communal.

We see Chance and Riah as soon as we cross the threshold into the crystal-like building. Riah has the brightest smile on her face as she wears a golden yellow dress with a cardigan over it. She holds onto Chance's arm like it's the dearest thing to her.

But she lets go long enough to hug Alec and me. "Hey! How are you guys?"

I beam at her. "We're great. You?"

She grins knowingly at Chance, and I awkwardly step back into Alec's chest, which gives me a little jump. He wraps his arms around me as if to say, "I'm here."

"We're perfect," she says dazedly.

I pretend I don't know anything after that.

"So what are we supposed to do here?" Riah asks.

Alec slides his hands up and down my arms. "We just wait in line until we're called in to take some kind of test in these cubicles, I think. Once we take it, we leave and they send our results in the mail."

"Easy enough," Riah says, crossing her arms. She stands on her toes to see over the heads of the other teenagers waiting for their life to begin. "I just pray I get something that's not horrible."

"Same," I say quietly. Too quietly for anyone but Alec to hear.

Alec gives my arms a squeeze and wraps me up in a hug.

The line moves slowly, and by the time we're about halfway there, I glance up at Alec and say, "I'm hungry."

"Didn't you eat breakfast?" he asks, brushing his fingers through my hair.

"Oops... I knew I was forgetting something." I giggle nervously, trying to distract myself from the idea of taking a test.

Alec chuckles. "As soon as we finish here, we can go out to eat. You guys want to come?" he asks, glancing up at Riah and Chance.

"Sure!" Riah says.

"Sounds good," Chance answers, pulling Riah to his side.

***

"Name, please," an old man says to me once I'm at the front of the line. He sits behind a small table with a tablet in hand, ready to submit my name.

"Isabella Re—I mean Bentley. Isabella Bentley," I stutter.

I feel Alec's gentle hand on my shoulder, and I look back at him to see a warming smile. At least he's not mad I almost took my last name back.

"All right," the old man says. "You're going to go through the doors behind me into Stall Three. When you're finished, you're free to go."

"Thank you," I say.

I walk past him towards a tall wooden door marked "Testing Room".

As I open the door, I suddenly feel tense. Maybe it's because every teenager in the room looks panic-stricken taking a test that will determine how he or she will make a living. I'm scared to death.

I'm not good at anything.

The Facility drilled that into my head.

Growing up an orphan means that all we do is learn the curriculum set by the kingdom, and that's it. I mean—I like reading... Does that count?

Stall Three is the only empty computer available. I sit down at the chair and press the "Begin" button under the popup of my name.

Oh, Lord, help me.ortsW8_

A/N (6/20/20): I want ya'll to know that this^^^ was some kind of typo from when I copied the chapter from a Word doc over to Wattpad... I'm keeping it, though, because ya'll seem to get a kick out of it X'D