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EJ hated his soulmate tattoo.
He hated everything about it. How it was plastered across his arm, impossible to hide. How people asked about it all the time. But most of all, he hated what it actually said.
‘Stay away from me.’
What was that supposed to mean? Why on earth would he say something like that to the person he was apparently going to spend the rest of his life with? That was something you would say to someone you hated, not someone you loved. And it didn’t even make any sense! If they were supposedly the first words he would ever say to his soulmate, what had they done wrong to make him speak like that?
He remembers when he was a child and his parents explained the tattoo to him. How it signified the first thing you would say to a very special person. They talked about it like it was so exciting, smiling down at their own tattoos. But EJ can still see the concern in their eyes as they tried to understand themselves what his mark meant.
He had given up on trying to understand his tattoo, so he just tried to ignore it as much as possible. It usually bothered him the most when he was around his friends.
Ashlyn tried not to talk about soulmate marks when she was with EJ. She knew how sensitive he was about the subject. Ashlyn and Big Red had matching tattoos of simply ‘Hi!’ so neither of them had ever worried about their marks. They were so generic they both felt that they’d know their soulmate when they saw them rather than with the words. Both of them felt pretty confident they had found it.
Throughout his life, EJ had said those four words on purpose to a few girls, especially when he was a kid. If he liked a girl, he would try it, but it never worked. They either frowned at his rudeness and ran away, or else their soulmate tattoo didn’t match. Sometimes he liked someone so much that he would ignore the mark completely, determined to defeat his apparent curse. It always ended badly for him.
Now, every time he looked at his tattoo, it just made him angry. It made him feel like he would only ever make enemies in life.
Maybe he just didn’t have a soulmate.
Gina loved her soulmate tattoo.
She’s always enjoyed a good scheme. Putting together a plot to make her life easier or get her to where she needs to be. She had always had a feeling that her soulmate would be the exact same.
Written across her arm in dark black print was:
‘You’re welcome. We want the same thing, but it’s going to take a little teamwork.’
It made Gina feel excited, like she had something to look forward to. Her tattoo sounded like she would have a partner in crime, someone who understood how to get ahead. They could work together, and they apparently wanted the same thing, whatever that thing was gonna be.
Whenever she moved to a new school, she loved it when classmates asked to see her tattoo. They were always intrigued by the words, and people had said it sounded like something out of an action movie. Other girls were jealous of Gina’s tattoo, and she was proud to have something so interesting marked on her skin.
Though she loved her tattoo, she tried not to think about it too much. Because she had such specific words meant for her soulmate, she hoped it would just happen when it was supposed to. Like the words would slip out without her even having to think about it. She had liked a few boys in the past, but after their first conversation, her heart would sink a little bit. It’s not that she expected to meet her soulmate at 16, but it was disappointing when she really liked someone and their tattoos didn’t match.
Now she was at East High, it was another fresh start. Another chance to finally meet that partner, the other half of her team.
Every time she looked down at her wrist, she got a little flutter in her stomach.
She couldn’t wait to meet her soulmate.
Gina wouldn’t really call it stealing. She wasn’t taking Nini’s phone to sell it or to use it herself. She was basically just borrowing it. She’d give it back eventually.
She didn’t know EJ, but she knew that he wanted to be the lead. And so did she. So, she needed to give him a little push to get them both where they wanted to be.
Taking advantage of her new classmates being distracted, Gina slipped the phone stealthily into EJ’s bag. She wasn’t quite sure what he was going to do with it, but if it worked in her favour, that was worth it. Plus, the phone was his responsibility now, not hers.
Gina stood back, waiting for EJ to notice her unexpected gift. Folding her arms, she watched a confused expression grow on EJ’s face. The dark-haired boy looked over at his cousin Ashlyn, mouthing ‘thank you’. Gina frowned. Did he think Ashlyn had anything to do with this? She didn’t know her that well yet, but she didn’t seem like the kind of girl to come up with a scheme.
Ashlyn looked even more confused, shaking her head at EJ. Gina stepped forward, confidently striding towards the frowning boy. He looked down at her, and Gina smiled sweetly. She needed to get him on her side.
“You’re welcome. We want the same thing, but it’s going to take a little teamwork.”
Oh.
Oh no.
Gina’s eyes widened. There it was. She wasn't expecting that to come out of her mouth.
EJ frowned back at her, before grabbing his bag and walking out of the room. He had a lot to figure out.
Gina rubbed her palms against her jeans. What just happened?
Was EJ Caswell her soulmate?
He hadn’t even said anything back to her. Not a word.
She couldn’t just walk up to him and ask him if he was her soulmate. She had heard some horror stories where people spoke those important words only to find out that their soulmate had a different mark. They had found their soulmate, but they were meant to be with someone else. What if EJ was her soulmate, but she wasn’t his?
On top of that, when her and Ashlyn discussed their soulmate tattoos not long after they met, Ashlyn had mentioned that EJ was very private about his mark. She wondered what those words could possibly be to make him so sensitive about them. Would she ever hear them?
Gina took a deep breath, still in shock. She didn’t really know what to do next. Soulmates aside, it didn’t look like EJ was on board with her plan. Not that she really had a plan either.
EJ wasn’t the worst possible choice for a soulmate, she thought. She didn’t know anything about him except that he was a senior, a member of like 100 clubs, and gorgeous, obviously. Gina thought about his big, blue-green eyes looking back at her and felt a shiver run down her spine.
Well, everything just got a lot more complicated.
It’s amazing how everything can blow up around you in just a couple of days, EJ thought to himself. Standing at his locker, his brain was racing, trying to process all the mistakes he had made in the last 72 hours. Nini hated him, Ash was disappointed in him and honestly? He didn’t even know who he was right now.
He was a big believer in playing to win. He liked to be the best, and not getting the lead in HSM had hit him hard. He was determined to prove to Miss Jenn that he was a better Troy than Ricky.
Now, with Nini breaking up with him, he wasn’t even sure where to go next. He knew that Nini wasn’t his soulmate, but he liked her, and he wanted her to have the best performance she possibly could. He could give her that.
Gina stealing Nini’s phone for him was very confusing. He didn’t know what her motive was, but it couldn’t be good. She was new to the school, and obviously didn’t have any loyalty to anyone yet. EJ could tell she was playing to win too, and he respected it. But now he had messed everything up.
Closing his locker, the face of the girl he was just thinking about stared back at him. He jumped slightly, as Gina smirked. He was not in the mood for this right now. He looked steely-eyed at her.
“Stay away from me.”
EJ stormed down the hallway, away from the girl who seemed intent on making his life complicated. There was so much going on in his head right now, he couldn’t think straight.
Wait.
Hold on.
EJ stopped in his tracks. He turned around and looked back at Gina. She had a strange expression of confusion and hope on her face.
That was the first time in his life he had said those words without even thinking about it. They just came out, like he had no control over the situation. Like it was meant to be.
He started to walk back towards Gina. She was fidgeting with her fingertips, and EJ thought about how beautiful she looked right at that moment.
EJ thought about what he was about to do. This could go horribly wrong, but he had to know. After so many nights laying awake, angry about his tattoo, wondering if he would ever make sense of it all, he had to know.
He stared at Gina, who was frowning slightly, staring at him expectantly. Her hand lay nervously over her arm.
EJ pulled at the sleeve of his t-shirt, exposing his left wrist. There were the four words he had just said:
‘Stay away from me.’
Gina’s breath caught in her throat. It was right there in black ink, clear as day.
She lifted her own arm, showing EJ the words she spoke to him just a few days previously.
EJ laughed in disbelief. He had found his soulmate.
The two of them stood facing each other, and right then it felt like they were the only two people in the whole universe.
“Wow.” EJ whispered.
“It’s you.”
Gina blushed, unable to contain the smile on her face any longer.
Suddenly, EJ’s heart sank.
“Gina, I am so sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude, I didn’t know that- “
“EJ, it’s fine! It’s been a crazy few days, don’t worry. I didn’t want to ask you after the other day with everything going on, I guess I was just…scared.” Gina fidgeted with her sleeve, but EJ put out his hand, stopping her from hiding the mark again.
Gina’s eyes shot up at the contact, looking straight at EJ. She could see so much kindness in his eyes.
“I was scared too, I’ve been scared for…a while. I guess I just always assumed my soulmate was gonna hate me if they were the first words I’d ever say to her. Really, I kinda assumed I didn’t have a soulmate at all.”
Gina reached forward nervously, taking EJ’s hand in her own. The two teenagers smiled at each other for a second, before laughing in disbelief at this whole insane situation.
“Well, I guess we don’t have to be scared anymore.”
EJ squeezed her hand, already feeling like it fit so perfectly with his.
“We don’t have to know where we go from here, but we can figure it out together.” Gina looked up at EJ, finally understanding what it felt like to have a partner. They were new to this, but she just felt that he would always be there for her, and vice versa.
“You’re my soulmate.”
“Yeah, I am. And you’re mine.”