The owl had shown up at her window the night before, scaring the living daylights out of her. It wasn't the bird tapping on the window that scared her; no, in the letter, Adrienne had learned that it was time for her to accept her fate. Thus, it was with a racing heart and nervous fingers fiddling at her scarf that she made her way up to the newly named Guidance Office. Her life was about to be defined for her by the Ministry, and it didn't matter how badly she wanted her match to be the Slytherin who had accidentally become so important to her.
At breakfast that morning, Nessa had told Addie that Kaiden had already left for his meeting. Much like an explosion could set off an avalanche, the news sent her stomach falling to the floor. Something set up by the government, supposedly to help them, shouldn't have felt like it was ruining her life. She wasn't even out of school yet, but there she was, convinced she knew where she had been heading after graduation.
Now, obviously, that wasn't the case. Her breakfast had gone mostly untouched, mostly pushed around into a mess of eggs and pancakes. Eventually, Addie couldn't take it anymore. She had to get to the meeting early and find out who Kaiden was matched with.
The hallway seemed longer, but as she was approaching the office, the door burst open. Kaiden was standing there, looking either confused or anxious - she couldn't say - and Adrienne's feet stopped moving. Maybe she didn't want to know, after all. But they were friends, she mused, and he had not really suggested anything more. Addie wasn't sure she had, either, if she was being honest. Instead of calling him over or even smiling, she just watched him, waiting to see what he would do when he saw her.