Read BEFORE for Free Online

as infants since we’re both descendants of Founders. According to Mother, the State, and everyone else in the world, this means we belong together.
    Not that I disagree. Even if we weren’t the Greenes and the Channings, I’d still want to be paired with Beck. No one else understands me the way he does—how can they? Beck and I are two of the best-known members of our society. Our every movement is captured, analyzed, and commented on.
    So even though I’m in a hurry to get to school, I’m not exactly thrilled about having to step outside this room. Every time I do, I leave my privacy behind and have to become Lark Greene: perfect, responsible student and prominent member of the Western Society. 
    I hate it.
    I reach around him and flip off his reading lamp. He must have studied long after I fell asleep last night. A frown forms on my lips. I’m barely edging out Beck for first place in our class rankings. But if he studied longer…
    He places his hands on my cheeks. “Hey, why so deso?” His eyes waver with concern. 
    I blink. “I’m not—it’s just nerves.”
    “Worried you won’t get the mate of your dreams?” he teases. I roll my eyes. Unlike, ninety-nine point nine percent of the population, Beck and I have been promised to each other since birth. Birth-mated. We don’t have to sit for mate-selection portions of the assessments. Only the job placement exams. 
    A hard, tense knot forms in my stomach. More than anything, I want a good placement in State. Preferably in the Agriculture division. I have to do well. And that means not being late. 
    Beck pushes his nose against mine and wiggles his eyebrows. When I give a half-hearted smile, he releases me. 
    “We’re going to do great today. I know it.” He beams at me, the brightness of his smile matched only by his lively, deep green eyes. Other than our birthday, this is the one thing we share—even the freckles in our eyes line up perfectly when facing each other. Bethina, our housemother, says it’s a sign we’re meant to be together. 
    But I don’t need eye freckles to tell me that. The State wants us together. And the State doesn’t make mistakes. 
    “I hope so.” I reach up on my tiptoes and brush a hair out of his eye. My feeble smile is a sad match for his optimism. Beck’s always laughing, always steady. Sometimes I feel like a lost little moon floating around in his orbit. But our opposite natures work well together. He pushes me socially, dragging me from my relentless studying, and I get him to actually focus on school and do his homework. 
    Worried about the time, I check my blue wristlet again before flinging it next to my hairbrush. We have thirty minutes to get dressed, eat breakfast and get out the door. 
    I pull open one of Beck’s drawers and dig through the tangle of clothes until I find a shirt and pants for him. 
    While he showers, I consider the pair of jeans my best friend Kyra bought me and immediately reject them. I don’t want to go to my assessment wearing something uncomfortable and odd. 
    As I change behind a screen—my small attempt at privacy—Beck emerges from the shower. The scent of Beck’s soap tickles my nose and I grin. Thankfully, I’m hidden and he can’t see my reaction. 
    He doesn’t need the encouragement - things are hard enough as it is.
    “How do these even fit you?” he asks.
    I peek around the screen. He stands next to my closet, dressed, but his hair is damp and tousled. He holds the jeans out in front of him like they’re some sort of foreign object, though I know he’s seen a pair before—they’re not that obsolete. “They’re so small. Look!” He shoves his feet into the legs and they get stuck around his ankles. He hops to my bed, nearly tripping in the process, and tries tugging them off.
    I pull on my blouse and walk around the screen toward the mirror. “They’re authentic, Beck. There’s no smart technology in them to stretch to the right size. And even if