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I can’t save it for later It is now, or never

I have just popped the last bite in my mouth when the announcer says, "We are ready to announce the Matches" I s in surprise, and for a second, I feel an unexpected surge of anger: I didn’t get to savor my last bite of cake

"Lea Abbey"

Lea twists her bracelet furiously as she stands, waiting to see the face flash on the screen She is careful to hold her hands low, though, so that the boy seeing her in another City Hal soirl and not her worried hands, twisting and turning that bracelet

It is strange hoe hold on to the pieces of the past while ait for our futures

There is a syste In City Hal s across the country, al fil ed with people, the Matches are announced in alphabetical order according to the girls’ last nahtly sorry for the boys, who have no idea when their nairls in other City Hal s to receive them as Matches Since my last name is Reyes, I wil be so of the end

The screen flashes with the face of a boy, blond and handsome He smiles as he sees Lea’s face on the screen where he is, and she smiles, too

"Joseph Peterson," the announcer says "Lea Abbey, you have beenover the Banquet brings Lea a s happens to Joseph Peterson on the screen When Lea sits down, she looks at the silver box longingly, as though she wishes she could open it right away I don’t blaround information about her Match We al receive thes for the Marriage Contract

The screen flashes back to the default picture: a boy and a girl, shts and a white-coated Official in the background Although the Society ti to be as efficient as possible, there are stil oes back to this picture, whichhappens soain reminded of the intricate steps of the dances they used to do long ago This dance, however, is one that the Society alone can choreograph now

The picture shimmers away

The announcer cal s another nairl stands up

Soon, more and more people at the Banquet have little silver boxes Some people set them on the white tablecloths in front of the to let their futures out of their hands so soon after receiving thereen dress I don’t ht, I don’t look like everyone else

I wait, holding my compact in one hand and my mother’s hand in the other Her palm feels sweaty For the first time, I realize that she and my father are nervous, too

"Cassia Maria Reyes"

It is o of my mother’s hand, and turn toward the screen I feeland I am tempted to twist my hands the way Lea did, but I hold perfectly stil with my chin up and irl my Match wil see on the screen in his City Hal somewhere out there in Society wil be poised and cale of Cassia Maria Reyes that I can present

But nothing happens

I stand and look at the screen, and, as the seconds go by, it is al I can do to stay stil , al I can do to keep s Whispers start around me Out of the corner of ain, but then she pul s it back

A girl in a green dress stands waiting, her heart pounding Me

The screen is dark, and it stays dark

That can only

CHAPTER 2

The whispers rise soft around s under the do," the hostess says, s The people around me smile as wel , and their murmurs become louder Our Society is so vast, our Cities sosomeone in your own City arehappened here

These thoughts tumble in my mind, and I close my eyes briefly as I realize what this reen dress I oes to the same Second School that I do, someone I see every day, someone--

"Xander Thomas Carrow"