Seventeen..

Alex was your typical high school boy. All he cared about was football, girls, and having a good time. His girlfriend Melanie was the love of his life after football, of course, and they planned to go off to college together when he received the full scholarship he had been working towards the past four years. Alex and Melanie were the star couple of Willow Park High. Everyone either loved or hated them, but they all wanted to find a love like theirs. But what no one knew was that they weren't truly meant-to-be like everyone assumed.

You see, something special happens to the teenagers around here. There are numerical specialties for everyone. At fifteen you get your learners. At sixteen you get your license, maybe even a car if you're lucky. And, of course, turning eighteen officially marks you an adult. But there's a forgotten age of seventeen that doesn't feel special for some. But in this town, seventeen is the only one anyone cares about.

When someone turns seventeen in this quirky little place, something magical begins to happen to your body. There's this tingle that shoots electricity throughout your entire being and life as you know it practically changes. At seventeen, you finally find out who your soulmate is. Well, sort of anyways. You actually just get to find out what type of idle mind they have.

Everyone grows up drawing on themselves. When you're bored, out of paper, or just for the hell of it. Maybe it's just a random doodle, or a date and time to be somewhere for those of us who have the worst memories. It could be your initials or a quote you love or just scribbles to test out a pen. But those notes and doodles aren't always private. Remember all that that I said about a special age when you're a teenager? Once you turn seventeen, those things are no longer only yours.. they appear on your soulmate as well.

Let me explain.. Let's say there was a flower drawn on the back of your hand. Most likely that's going to be the only one of its kind around. Other copies of it have little details that are slightly different. A thicker line here or an extra curve there, making each one unique to its owner. However, when you're seventeen, your unique flower shows up exactly the same on your soulmate. The same thickness, the same curves, every mistaken line that isn't quite erased. An exact copy.

I'm getting off track, let's head back to the story..

So, Melanie and Alex, right? The seemingly perfect couple with no flaws. Not physically, not emotionally, and there were even zero problems with their actual relationship. They were quite literally THE perfect couple. Except they weren't soulmates..

Alex used to be so excited about the whole 'soulmate experience.' Everyday he would search himself from head to toe looking for even the slightest hint of a mark from his betrothed. Yet every day he remained blank.. After every attempt he took towards finding his soulmate, he came back empty-handed and broken-hearted. Months of pining went by, but eventually, Alex gave up. No longer did he search for his 'One'.

That's when he found Melanie. Even though neither one of them could share the sacred 'written bond', their relationship still blossomed. They were so perfect together that no one even bothered to question if they were soulmates. Everyone just assumed and therefore left it alone.

Melanie was hopeful.. Her birthday was coming up, just in time to confirm to her at last that Alex was her soulmate. She was excited to finally be able to say 'I love you' with more than just her verbal words.. But as she'll soon find out, sometimes you don't get what you wish for..

And then there was precious little Audrey, the newest girl on campus.. She just moved here at the beginning of the school year, but she already had the greatest friends anyone could ask for. With them by her side, she just knew she would be the one to conquer the world with a hand behind her back.