Hamilton, I Like You A Lot!

Hey everyone!

If you read my most recent favourites post, you will know that I have developed a new obsession. This has somewhat affected the rest of my life in that I tend to not get anything done anymore. What I have been doing is listening to Hamilton non-stop (geddit?) and doing my best to learn all the lyrics (I’m currently up to Take A Break, in case you were wondering). So, while I haven’t been productive in ways that make a difference to my life, I haven’t done absolutely nothing this week (read: month).

For those of you who are unversed in the joys of Hamilton (first of all, what are you doing with your life?), it is a hip-hop musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda about the first Treasury Secretary of the United States, Alexander Hamilton. It’s far more exciting than it sounds, trust me. The songs are insanely catchy and (for the most part) are historically accurate.

I was introduced to Hamilton through my already Hamilton obsessed friend, who will remain nameless since sometimes people with addictions don’t want to be identified. She discovered Hamilton last year and showed it to us last November (I think). I have so far been the only one of the three of us to develop the obsession. In the beginning, I stubbornly refused to fall into the obsession, but it gradually chipped away at my resolve, and so the spark of interest was fanned into a flame of obsession. I know exactly when my full-blown obsession started as well. I first listened to it all the way through on the night of Friday the 16^th of February (and I cried, but who doesn’t?). Since then, I have learned pretty much all the words to Act 1 and find myself singing them at random points throughout the day.

If you didn’t already know, I am a casual History Nerd™. My favourite thing about learning history is the little facts that seem inconsequential and then not having to be tested on them. Memorising facts was one thing I hated about history class in school. Another reason I dropped history class was that I found the research long and boring. Since there are no penalties for not learning facts about history once you’re out of school, I have loved learning seemingly unimportant things about the Founding Fathers of the US.

For example, did you know that Aaron Burr (sir) once got an ice cream headache and thought he was dying? Also, Thomas Jefferson was the one to bring ice cream over to the US from France. Why are all my Founding Fathers facts about food? I don’t know, but here’s a non-food related Lafayette fact: to leave France to help out with the American Revolution, Lafayette disguised himself as a woman and fled through Spain, getting on a boat named ‘Victoire’.

So far, I have found no negative effects of this Hamilton obsession. I needlessly sprinkle Hamilton references throughout mine and my friends’ Facebook group chat, talking in real life and just randomly singing little bits of songs that get stuck in my head. I also have found that it is always hanging out in the back of my mind, even if I haven’t listened to it for a while (for further reference, a “while” is usually around 6 hours). For instance, if someone says something like ‘Pardon me’, my first thought is ‘Are you Aaron Burr, sir?’. Another relatively common one is ‘What time is it?’, my answer being ‘Show time!’, and overall, it’s kind of ruining my life in the best way possible.

Upon further thinking through, one possible negative effect is the constant death glares of people who don’t obsess over Hamilton as much as I do (read: at all), but I see that as more of a challenge than a negative aspect.

If you can relate to this in any way, honestly, there is nothing I can do for you. The only way I’ve found to get out of an obsession (if you even want to, that is), is to find a new obsession. Finding a new obsession is a lot harder than it sounds, though, so just keep going through your life and eventually you’ll get through it. But trust me, you’ll be back.

What are you most obsessed with at the moment? Do you love Hamilton as much as I do?

Love, Nicky x

My Week In Outfits

Hey everyone!

Uni has gone back recently, and I thought it’d be nice if I showed you what I wear to it. I do go every single weekday, even if it is only for one class, or one hour (yay timetabling!). It has been rainy every day this week (except Monday), so despite only just coming out of summer, it has been cold and miserable. Due to this, jeans made an appearance for the first time since September last year. Anyway, on with the outfits!

Monday

On Monday, I wore a black t-shirt from Big W and denim shorts that I got for Christmas (that I think are also from Big W, in the petite section). The belt is one I found in my cupboard since I lost the belt that originally came with the shorts (whoops!). On my feet, I wore my white Converse, which are now considerably less white from constant use, and some socks, obviously. I didn’t put on any makeup because I didn’t have time. Scratch that, I’m just lazy, okay?

Tuesday

On Tuesday, the first rainy day of the week, I (stupidly) wore a dusty rose coloured crop top from Supre and some high waisted black shorts from a boutique in my neighbourhood. It rained a heck of a lot on Tuesday, but only really when I was outside, which is fantastic when you leave your umbrella at home! I put on my white converse again, since they are the most closed in shoes I have. No makeup again, since I’m lazy.

Wednesday

On Wednesday I remembered to bring my umbrella (yay!). I wore a black t-shirt with white daisies on it from Temt and some blue skinny jeans from Glassons. They are the comfiest jeans I have ever owned and protected my legs (as much as they could) from the rain that managed to creep beneath my umbrella. I wore my Converse shoes again (obviously) and no makeup, since I’m lazy and I don’t need to impress anyone (mostly lazy, though).

Thursday

On Thursday, the second rainy day of the week (and the last thank God). I wore my Glassons jeans again since it was still cold and quite windy, and a black and white striped crop top from Supré. This outfit was so very comfortable, and I will definitely wear it more often especially as it gets closer to the colder months of the year. On my feet, I wore my usual Converse shoes to finish everything off. On my face, I wore nothing because I’m lazy.

Friday

Friday brought the sun back (finally!), so I wore a more summery outfit. My top was a light pink one from Myer (specifically Miss Shop) with the words ‘good vibes only’ in darker pink around the collar. I wore a black skirt with a silver zip down the front from Divided by H&M. It’s a fairly old skirt, so I don’t reckon they’ll still stock it, but it is very comfortable and easy to wear and pair with other things, so I wear it a lot. As far as makeup goes, I think you can gather by now that I don’t wear it much to uni, so I don’t really need to tell you that I’m too lazy any more, do I?

Which day was your favourite outfit?

Love, Nicky x

February Favourites

Hey everyone!

How is it that we are already two months into this year? I swear I say this every month, but time moves far too quickly for my liking. February brought with it a new semester of university, which, as much as it needs to happen, I wish my holidays could have gone on forever. I am already stressing about all this term’s assessments (that I better start on, like, yesterday). In saying that, though, there has been a lot to love about this month, so let’s get started.

For the past few months, one of my friends has been trying to get the rest of us to fall in love with Hamilton, a rap musical about America’s first Secretary of Treasury, Alexander Hamilton. I began listening, actually listening, to the lyrics this month and have become completely obsessed with it. At first, I was just intrigued by his life story, but now I’m completely invested in learning about the American Revolution (I mean, as much as I can be while I have uni work to do) and all of the lyrics to each song. I don’t think I could possibly pick a favourite song (at least not yet) because it's still so new to me and I need time to figure it out.

  

My next favourite is my insulated water bottle that I got for Christmas. It is truly magical. If you leave it in the fridge overnight without the lid on, the water will get cold and then be cold all day when you take it to uni. Even though we are now technically not in summer anymore, it still gets hot and I’ll need some hydration to get me through the day.

I got a new bag for uni this year and I love it so much. I bought it from Sportsgirl in preparation for uni about 6 weeks ago. It works much the same as any other bag does, and the zip doesn’t break like my old one did, so that’s a plus. Also, the roses on it are a really nice touch, aesthetically, which is honestly a huge bonus for me. Last year’s bag was fine, but it’s got nothing on this one.

The last thing on my favourites this month could potentially cure cancer. I know, I know, big claims, but trust me on this. I downloaded an app called DreamLab this month that does calculations to help cure cancer while you charge your phone. I use it almost every night (sometimes I forget to) and have so far clocked up a total of 628 calculations. It makes me feel like I’m making a difference in people’s lives and, potentially, I am. The calculations my phone does while charging help to find ways to treat and cure cancers throughout the body. Each project has millions of calculations that need to be completed, and every little bit helps, so I highly recommend you download and use this app. It’s free on the App Store (and maybe Google Play but I’m not certain) and really easy to use.

What have you loved during February? Do you like my favourites?

Love, Nicky x

The Mystery Blogger Award

Hey everyone!

I was recently nominated by Will from willandsandrine.com for the Mystery Blogger Award (thanks, Will!). The Mystery Blogger Award was invented by Okoto Enigma to give bloggers recognition in the community and allow their readers to learn a little bit more about the person behind the posts.

Three Things About Me

   ·   A big thing you’ll need to know about me is that when I get obsessed with something, I really get obsessed with that thing. So much so that it is pretty much the only thing I think about for months on end. My current obsession is with Harry Potter, in case you were wondering.

   ·   I have a strange kind of fascination with history. I have always found it interesting, finding out about the lives of those who’ve gone before us, but I would hate to do a course on it because research is not one of my strong suits and neither is remembering specific facts.

   ·   Another thing you should probably know about me is that I am a very disorganised person. Going to uni has sorted me out somewhat; I’ve got all my assignments in on time, but I am really bad at time management. This may or may not have something to do with my Intense Obsession Thing™.

Question Time!

Why did you decide to start a blog, and when did you do it?

I started a blog waaaayy back in 2013 when I was 14, so I’ve been at this for a while. I started a blog because I thought it would be a fun way to spend my time when I wasn’t working on school things. I was inspired by people like Zoella and Sprinkle of Glitter to make it focus on beauty, but nowadays I just write about whatever I want and hope you all like it!

What’s your best advice about blogging?

Spend time brainstorming blog post ideas and bulk write your posts if you know you won’t have time to write soon. Perhaps I should follow my own advice…

What do you do in your free time?

I spend a lot of my free time on the internet, scrolling through Instagram and sending my friends Snapchats. I also spend a lot of my non-free time doing this and I definitely need to change that.

What’s the last book you’ve read? What is it about?

The last book I read was The Selection by Kiera Cass. In a nutshell, imagine The Bachelor but the guy is a prince and you live in a dystopian world where you’re born into a class labelled with a number from one to eight. The lower the number, the better off you are. America, the main character, is a five and ends up being ‘selected’ to be one of the women the prince has to choose from.

What’s the weirdest thing about you?

I guess the weirdest thing about me is that I really hate getting things on my hands. Eating donuts is exceedingly difficult. Sure, I love them, but is having cinnamon sugar all over your fingers really worth it? Of course, it is, but I have to be careful to not get any of what is on my hands on anything else. I absolutely must wash my hands after eating donuts and not touch anything else until I do so.

My Best Posts

I have a lot of posts in my archive, which only came from years and years of persistence and determination. I reckon my favourite posts to write are definitely the short stories. Since I have to submit them for assessment, I spend a lot of time perfecting them and by the end, I’m really proud of them. In order of when I posted them, they are Night Terrors, Beginning Again, and Absolutely.

I nominate:

      ·         Megan

      ·         Angel

      ·         Jasmin

      ·         Amy

      ·         Sarah

      ·         Viola

      ·         Ariana

      ·         Becca

      ·         Cheryl

      ·         Victoria

I'd love it so much if you do it, and please let me know if you do! Of course, you don't have to do it, but where's the fun in that?

My Questions

      ·   What is your favourite thing about blogging?

      ·   Where is the place you most often sit to write your blog posts?

      ·   How do you incorporate blogging into your daily life?

      ·   What is one thing you’ve learned about yourself from blogging?

      ·   If you had to choose between having feet for hands or hands for feet, what would you choose and why? (funny)

The Rules

      ·   Add the award logo to your blog

      ·   List the rules

      ·   Thank the blogger who nominated you and provide their blog link

      ·   Mention the award creator and link to their blog as well

      ·   List three things about yourself

      ·   Answer the questions your nominator asked

      ·   Share a link to your best post or posts

      ·   Nominate 10 to 20 people and notify them

      ·   List your 5 questions for them to answer in their posts. Make sure one of them is weird or funny and specify which one that is

And that's it! Thank you so much to Will for nominating me! I had so much fun doing this and highly recommend doing it if I nominated you :)

Love, Nicky x

Uni's Back and I'm Slack

Hey everyone!

Since it’s been so long since I’ve done one, I thought I’d give you all a bit of a life update. Not much has happened since then, but a lot of things are about to happen soon.

I go back to uni this week and I could not be less ready if I tried. I mean, sure, I have notebooks, pens and things, but I am not ready for the early starts and the assignments. I’ve been on uni holidays since early November last year and I feel like it has gone by like the snap of my fingers. At the beginning of the holidays I was looking forward to my four months off, to all the time I’d spend with my friends, sleeping in, and staying up until the early hours of the morning not having to worry about alarms.

I’ve sorted out my timetable and since I was two minutes late to the registration page, I have managed to get at least one class every single day. Pro-tip: get to the registration website at least half an hour early. I did have it all set out in a spreadsheet and it was going to be great. I’d get Mondays and Fridays off, but then I forgot about my pro-tip and landed all of the worst class times. I suppose it could be worse, though. At least I have all of my classes during daylight hours. Having classes at night would be awful, to say the least.

This semester I have elected to do tons of reading again. Unlike last semester, which was all children’s and teen’s books, nice and easy, this semester is all of the classics like Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, and some Shakespeare thrown in for good measure. Let’s just say I’m looking forward to being able to say that I’ve read them, but not so much looking forward to the hard slog that it will be actually reading them what with all of their olden day's language and confusing turns of phrase. And if the books themselves are a challenge, I can’t even begin to imagine what the assignments will be like. I was lucky last semester to not have any exams, but I don’t think I’ll be as lucky this time around.

Another thing about the books; they are expensive as bloody heck! All up, they come to around $200 (note to self: pay Mum back at some point). Sure, I already have Jane Eyre, but that was one of the cheaper ones so isn’t really that great of a saving in the first place. Maybe I should get onto reading Jane Eyre before I get bombarded with a whole lot more books, at least that’ll be a little bit of a head start…

My sleeping schedule has been completely messed up since about Christmas with me often falling asleep well past midnight and waking up well past what is deemed acceptable. To be fair, Mum’s definition of acceptable is 6 or 7 am. The fact that I wake up most days at 8 doesn’t seem like much of an issue to me, but to her, it’s a problem. One day in January I didn’t wake up until after midday and that was a shock and disappointment even to me. I didn’t tell Mum about that day; what she doesn’t know won’t hurt her. Anyway, what was my point? I had a point. Oh! I have to wake up at 6:30am most days and I have no idea how I’m going to do that. The first few weeks are going to be absolute hell on earth. Alarms will simultaneously be my best friend and worst enemy. I’ll cope though, I have done it before and I can do it now.

Other than that, that’s all that I have going on in my life right now (thank God) so this is where I leave you. Until next week, adios!

Love, Nicky x

The Harry Potter Tag

Hey everyone!

Today I thought I’d do the Harry Potter Tag. I saw this on a blog a while ago and unfortunately, I don’t remember whose it was! I wasn’t tagged, but I’ve been a HP fan for as long as I can remember so I thought I’d do it anyway. So why not?

   1.   What house are you in?

I have done the Pottermore test a few times and I’ve gotten Hufflepuff most of the time and Gryffindor once. I do consider myself a Hufflepuff at heart (and a proud one at that) since the time I got Gryffindor I did the “Gryffindor” answers. I think Hufflepuff fits me quite well; I am very loyal, a great friend, hard-working (when I get around to it), and do believe in justice for all.

I also have done the Ilvermorny version of the test and got Thunderbird, but I don’t really know what that means. It means less to me than the Hogwarts house; I guess it’s because I’ve grown up with the Hogwarts houses and not Ilvermorny.

   2.   What is your Patronus?

My Patronus is a hedgehog. I don’t really know what this means, but hedgehogs are my favourite animal, so there’s that. Unfortunately, hedgehogs aren’t allowed as pets in Australia (something about spreading diseases) but that won’t stop me from loving them.

   3.   What is your wand?

My wand is 10 inches, elm wood, phoenix feather core, and has a hard flexibility. 

The wood type means that I'm present, have magical dexterity and a certain native dignity. Elmwood wands produce the least amount of accidents and are capable of highly advanced magic in the right hands. 

Phoenix feather cores are capable of the biggest range of magic, and act of their own accord sometimes. They also are the hardest to tame, apparently. I don't know what that says about me, but it's interesting.

The hard flexibility of my wand indicates that I am not very adaptable or willing to change if necessary. That doesn't sound very nice, but maybe it just means that I am stubborn and not willing to budge on the things I really want.

   4.   What would your boggart be?

I reckon my boggart is snakes, spiders, or losing my friends and family. As much as I hate snakes and spiders, I can think of nothing worse than being left without anyone who loves me. I don't know what that boggart would look like, but it would definitely be the worst thing ever.

   5.   What position would you play in Quidditch?

Since I have the hand-eye coordination of something with neither hands nor eyes, I reckon I would be best suited to sitting in the stands supporting my less uncoordinated friends on their brooms.

   6.   Would you be a pure-blood, half-blood or muggle born?

I reckon I’m a half-blood. My mum has read Harry Potter, Dad hasn’t, so I’m a half-blood.

   7.   What job would you want to have after leaving Hogwarts?

I think I’d want to be a writer for the Daily Prophet or The Quibbler. They’re both essentially creative writing if you think about it!

   8.   Which of the Deathly Hallows would you choose?

I would choose the wand. Why would you choose anything else? The cloak? No, use the wand to make yourself invisible. The stone? There are theories that the visions are just death drawing you to him. Wand all the way. I wouldn’t use it, but if I had to have one that’s what I’d choose.

   9.   Favourite book?

My favourite of the books is the Prisoner of Azkaban. I love the storyline the most of all of them.

   10.   Least favourite book?

I reckon my least favourite book is the Deathly Hallows, just because then its over. There's no more. Ever.

   11.   Favourite film?

I think it’s the Philosophers Stone because of all the nostalgia. I also love the Prisoner of Azkaban because of how much I love the book.

   12.   Least favourite film?

Probably the Half-Blood Prince. The book was so great, with all the Voldy backstory and romantic undertones that aren’t the main focus of the story. The movie turned that brilliance into a teen drama with very limited Voldy backstory. And they burned The Burrow down for absolutely no reason. Just why?

   13.   Favourite character?

Sirius Black. Which is another reason the Prisoner of Azkaban is my favourite book. He meant so much to Harry and was one of the only connections to his parents. I also love Remus for these reasons, but Sirius is my favourite.

   14.   Least favourite/ most hated character?

Umbridge. ‘Nuff said.

   15.   Favourite teacher at Hogwarts?

Its either McGonagall or Lupin. McGonagall is the strict but loving mother to all of her Gryffindors, and Lupin is the best Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher Harry ever had.

   16.   Least favourite teacher at Hogwarts?

I would say Umbridge again, but she didn’t really teach anything, did she? So by that logic, I’ll say Snape. I also just don’t like him as a person, but that’s a whole other story.

   17.   Do you have any unpopular opinions about the series?

I don’t really have any. A lot of my opinions are widely shared in the Harry Potter community, like not accepting the Cursed Child as canon, not liking (or even hating) Snape, and not hating Malfoy.

And that's the Harry Potter Tag! I encourage you to do it if you haven't already. Please let me know if you end up doing it on your blog, or leave your answers in the comments!

Love, Nicky x

An Open Letter to Procrastination

Procrastination, you and I have a sort of love-hate relationship going on. To be honest, its been going on for far too long You are great at making me happy and doing fun stuff all the time like checking social media and listening to music. You are also great at distracting me with these things to the point where I don’t do the things I need to do with the day. Believe it or not, I do actually have things to do and can’t just waste all my time listening to your every command! In case you were wondering (which I highly doubt you were), I have a few ideas of how to combat your incessant nature.

You are the main reason for all my stress at the moment, which will exponentially increase once I’m back at uni with a mountain of assignments and books to read and study. You divert attention away from things that are actually important like housework or writing blog posts. Honestly, I would have written this a lot sooner if I didn’t have you encouraging me to check my phone or watch a 3-hour Markiplier live stream I’ve already watched. Furthermore, I have a schedule for my housework and you do not do me any favours when I still haven’t done any of those chores 3 whole days (sometimes more) later. I get paid to do chores, in case you didn’t realise, so I really don’t appreciate your antics! Also, keeping on telling me that I’ll have plenty of time to do it later isn’t good either. There will always be a spanner thrown in the works when you use this little trick, making it take longer than you promised me it would. The fact that I believed you in the first place – bah!

There are a few things I’ve thought of to reign you in a bit. And God knows I need to reign you in a bit. Or maybe a little bit more than a bit.

First off, writing a to-do list every morning so that I know exactly what has to be done that day. I’ve done that today, actually, and it’s worked quite well. I’ve done all my chores for the day and I’m kinda proud of that. Sure, I left writing this for last (which is another kind of you that I can’t deal with), procrastinating “non-fun” stuff with easier “non-fun” stuff, but at least I’m doing it and not putting it off further!

Another thing I have done today and plan to continue to do is to add a little reward at the bottom of my to do list which can only be done after I’ve done everything else on that list, no matter how many things there are. Today, my reward is unlimited time on my phone until the end of the day. Therefore, the sooner I finish my work, the more time I can spend doing fun stuff.

One more thing I want to implement is kind of cheating in a way, but I’m gonna go with it. I’m going to put music on while I do my chores, to tide you over a bit while doing “non-fun” stuff. It makes all those “non-fun” but very necessary things less mind-numbing. In a way it makes you procrastinate from making me procrastinate, so it’s a win-win situation in my book!

Also, no one seems to like you. I’ve heard people say that you’ve ruined their lives. So, cheers!

Love, Nicky x

January Favourites

Hey everyone!

How is it that we’re already one-twelfth of the way through 2018? I swear it was 2015 yesterday. Since it is the end of the month, that means another round of monthly favourites. January is always a hard month for favourites. I never really do anything in January; I kind of just sit around, sleep in and watch TV. I have come up with a couple of things, though, that I have loved throughout this month, so I’ll share them with you now.

The first thing on my favourites list is Harry Potter related (is my obsession obvious yet?) thing that I received for Christmas from one of my friends. On an entirely unrelated note (wink wink), she is now my best friend. It is a purse that looks like the Hogwarts letter Harry got when he was eleven. I really love it. I transferred my money over to it as soon as I could and has been in constant use ever since. The inside has plenty of card spaces and a zippy section for coins right in the middle. Other than that, it makes me smile every time I look at it, which is pretty nice if you ask me.

  

Another thing I have been loving this month is the pair of denim shorts I got for Christmas. They are just plain ol’ denim shorts, but that is what makes them great. They go with every single top I own, making them extremely versatile, and they are really comfy. They are a petite size, which is great for tiny people like me. They hug my waist perfectly, which is a welcome change from having a massive gap between the top of my jeans and my back.

The final thing on my list of favourites this month is season 4 of Once Upon a Time. Mum and I have been sporadically watching this all throughout last year, but this month we committed ourselves to finishing it. This season the focus was on Frozen and also on the big Disney villains Ursula, Cruella De Vil and Maleficent. Everything about it was just fabulous. There are so many twists and turns all the time and sometimes it's hard to keep up but its so worth it. For those of you that haven’t seen it (or, heaven forbid, heard of it) it is a show that puts a twist on the old fairy tales like Snow White and Cinderella. If you are a hardcore Disney fan, I highly recommend this show to you.

They are all of my favourites for this month. I do hope you enjoyed this post and I’ll be back again next week with a new post!

Did you like my favourites? What favourites did you have this month?

Love, Nicky x

Short Story | Absolutely

Hey everyone,

So, I wrote a short story for uni last year that I haven’t yet shared with you. I got a fairly good grade on it (I can’t remember the number, but it was better than the previous one) so I thought I’d jazz it up a bit and put it out there for all to read (and hopefully enjoy).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I moved into Hudson’s house over the course of a month. I didn’t have to take many things with me, because he had furniture already.

We sat down on his grey leather couch in his – our – living room once we finished unpacking and putting my stuff throughout the house, each with a plate of leftover strawberry and cream surprise birthday cake sat on our laps. I could almost hear Mum’s laughter as we found the surprise: chocolates in the centre, tumbling out all over the plate. I really miss her sometimes. I wish I could go home. I miss my bed. I miss seeing Mum and Dad every day. I miss home. But I have this new home with Hudson, I should be happy. I trust the system; they’ve never been wrong before, so I should have nothing to worry about.

While finishing off our cake, we sat in silence, the spoons scraping our plates the only sound. Occasionally, one of us tried to start a conversation, but trailed off back into silence. I kept my eyes on my plate, not daring to look at him and make this situation more awkward than it already was. How did we end up as a Perfect Pairing? This isn’t going well at all.

He finished his cake and put his empty plate on the coffee table, leaned back on the couch, resting his feet on the coffee table and his hands behind his head. He let out a sigh and I looked at him, and immediately wished I hadn’t. Even with the discomfort of the situation, his eyes were still as green and alluring as they were when I met him a month ago. I found myself getting lost in them, but shook myself out of it.

“I’m not very good at this. I’ve never been in a relationship before,” I said to him, breaking the silence. I looked back into my lap in shame.

“Hey,” he said, placing a hand on my shoulder. “It’s okay. We can learn together.”

 I felt the corners of my mouth quirk upwards slightly, “You think so?”

“Yeah.”

He looked into my eyes and I felt like he was staring into my soul. He leaned closer to me and rested his hand on the small of my back. I’d never noticed how freckles dotted his nose and cheeks, or how he began to close his eyes, or how I closed mine, too.

The sound of my phone ringing made me pull back from him and open my eyes. Hudson looked at my still ringing phone with disgust, as did I. I picked it up, feeling slightly frustrated as I pressed the speaker to my ear.

“Hello?” I asked.

“Yes, hello, is this Ebony Wolfe?” a calm female voice asked.

“Yeah, that’s me.”

“There has been a mistake with your file. We paired you with the wrong person,” she explained. My mouth fell open. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

“B-but you always get it right,” I replied, my voice shaking. “Always.”

“Not this time. You must come to the Pairing Centre immediately, so we can issue you your correct file.”

“And if I don’t?”

“You will be arrested.”

“Oh-okay, I’ll be there as soon as I can,” I said before immediately hanging up. I ran to my bedside table and yanked open the drawer that I kept Hudson’s file in. All his details were printed at the top of the page, his picture attached below it.

Name: Hudson James Wolfe

Date of birth: 25th April 2074

Gender: M

Height: 177 cm

Hair colour: Brown

Eye colour: Green

Skin tone: Fair

ID No: 742811

How could the Pairing Centre be wrong? They’re never wrong. No one in living memory had ever been re-paired before. Mum and Dad’s was correct. I don’t know much about Hudson’s parents, but I assume theirs was correct as well. We were the first mistake. The first mistake since the Pairing Centre was set up. Since the war. 75 years ago.

“You’re not actually going, are you?” Hudson asked after I filled him in on what was happening. I was sitting on my side of the bed, staring at Hudson’s file clutched in my hands.

“Of course, I am. The Pairing Centre works,” I said, not taking my eyes off the file. If I looked at him, I’d change my mind. I couldn’t let that happen.

“No, it doesn’t. They made a mistake with us. Do you know what they do with mistakes?” he said, sitting down next to me on the bed, his voice raised in fear and desperation.

“No, but I have to go. I don’t wanna get arrested, or worse,” I replied, beginning to stand up. I needed to leave.

He grabbed both of my arms, forcing me to sit back down and look at him, “W-what about us? What about learning together?” he asked, his words catching in his throat.

“I care about you, okay? But I can’t get arrested,” I said, resting my head on his shoulder and taking a deep breath, then I lifted myself back up and looked him in the eyes. “It won’t work out. The woman said so.”

“Fine,” he huffed, almost in tears, releasing my arms. “Go.”

The drive to the Pairing Centre was agonising. I found myself trying to rationalise it all. He can’t be the one. The Centre said so. Then why was this hurting so much?

The Pairing Centre was as dreary and mind-numbing as I remembered it. The line of people stretched back to the door and was moving at a snail’s pace. When I finally got to the front of the line, I told the woman my name and handed her my ID card.

“Ah, yes, Mrs Wolfe, right this way,” the woman said, ushering me down the hall to a door marked Error Correction Office.

“Now sit and wait here, miss, I must retrieve the file,” she said, seating me in the wooden, blue cushioned chair facing the plain, white desk laden with files and a computer in the centre. I sat with a hopeful smile on my face. It will work this time. It will. A couple of minutes passed, and the woman returned with a new file and a syringe filled with a clear liquid.

“This might hurt a bit,” she said, placing the file on the desk and picking up the syringe. I squinted to read the label on the syringe. Memory Modification Serum. I jerked my arm away from her and stood up from my chair.

“Why would you have a whole office devoted to errors if I was your first one? That’s how you have a perfect record. No one remembers your mistakes,” I accused, crossing my arms. The woman opened her mouth to reply, but no words came.

No one’s marriage was correct. No one knew of the Centre’s corruption. Of the government’s corruption. No one except me. I have to get out of here. They’ll be after me. What will they do to my family? To Hudson? To me? People have to learn the truth. Things have to change.

I sprinted for the door, pulled it open and let it slam against the wall on my way out. The woman slammed a red button on the wall. They’re coming for me. I flew out the front doors to the car, running as fast as my legs would carry me. I wrenched the door open and shoved the keys into the ignition. I sped all the way home, paying no mind to the speed limits. I wrenched opened the front door of our house.

“Hudson!” I yelled as I got inside. “They’re after me. Come quick!”

“Where are we going?” he asked, breathless, as he sat down in the car.

“I don’t know. Away from here. Where no one can find us. Somewhere safe,” I answered as I sped down the road. The sirens rang in my ears and the blue and red lights danced around the car with a blistering fury. My hands gripped the wheel tighter than I had ever gripped it before, my foot pressed the accelerator pedal into the floor and tears threatened to stream down my face.

“But they’re everywhere. They can always see us. Always.”

“We’ll just have to keep running then.”

We drove and drove until the car whined and trembled with exhaustion, completely out of fuel. I pulled the car over to the side of the road, next to a sprawling wheat farm. We lost the police a while ago and the stars dotted the sky with a glistening light. Even out here, in the middle of nowhere, I still had the unnerving feeling of being watched.

“What now?” I asked. We were leaning on the side of the car, staring out into the night, into the wheat farm we’d been stranded next to. The only light came from the stars in the sky and one flickering lamppost on the other side of the road.

“I don’t know. We could walk, but we don’t have food so…”

“What’s going to happen to my family? How do we save them?” I thought out loud. Those questions rocketed around my mind like a swarm of angry bees.

“That’s something we’ll have to work out later. We have to focus on us right now.”

“You mean that?” I replied, turning to face him, his eyes sparkling in the starlight.

“Yeah, I do,” he said, leaning towards me and closing his eyes. He’s going to kiss me. Oh my God. Am I ready?

Too late. His lips were on mine before I could make up my mind. I felt my heart race inside my chest and I kissed back, which surprised me. I rested my hands on his chest and stood on my tippy toes to reach him better. Then he pulled back – all too soon in my opinion – and rested his forehead against mine, looking deeply into my eyes, and I into his.

“So, you’ll stay with me?” he said in a hushed tone.

“Absolutely.”

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Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed it.

Love, Nicky x