Matched by Ally Condie Read Free Book Online Page A

boy stood next to me; tanned skin, dark hair. A new boy. That was all I had time to notice before he vanished, slipping under the surface in one quick motion.
    A pause, a few more slaps of the waves against the cement, and Xander’s head popped up above the water. He grinned triumphantly at me, holding the waterproof case. “Got it,” he said.
    “Xander,” I said, relieved. “Are you all right?”
    “Of course,” he said, the confident light back in his eyes. “Why would you think I wouldn’t be?”
    “You were under so long that I thought you were drowning,” I admitted. “And so did that boy—” Suddenly I panicked. Where did the other boy go? He had not come up for air.
    “What boy?” Xander asked, puzzled.
    “He went searching for you.” And then I saw him, below the blue, a shadow under the water. “He’s right there. Is he drowning?”
    Just then the boy broke the surface of the water, coughing, his hair glistening. A red scrape, almost healed but still noticeable, ran along his cheek. I did my best not to stare. Not just because injuries are uncommon in a place where we are all so healthy and safe, but because he was unknown to me. A stranger.
    It took the boy a few moments to catch his breath again. When he did, he looked at me but spoke to Xander, saying, “You didn’t drown.”
    “No,” agreed Xander. “ You almost did, though.”
    “I know,” the boy said. “I meant to save you.” He corrected himself. “I mean, to help you.”
    “Don’t you know how to swim?” I asked him.
    “I thought I did,” the boy said, which made both Xander and me laugh. The boy looked into my eyes and smiled. The smile seemed to surprise him; it surprised me, too, the warmth of it.
    The boy looked back at Xander. “She looked worried when you didn’t come back up.”
    “I’m not worried anymore,” I said, relieved that everyone was safe. “Are you visiting someone?” I asked the boy, hoping he was staying for a long visit. I already liked him because he had wanted to help Xander.
    “No,” said the boy, and though he still smiled, his voice sounded quiet and still like the water had become around us. He looked right at me. “I belong here.”
     
    Now, my eyes fixed on the crowd in front of me, I feel that same feeling of relief and release as I see a familiar face, someone who, until now, I had been desperately worried about. Someone I must have thought had drowned or slipped or been pulled under and might never be seen again.
    Ky Markham is here and he looks right at me.
    Without thinking, I take a step toward him. That’s when I feel something burst beneath my foot. The lost tablet container has broken open, and everything it is supposed to protect has spilled out on the floor and been crushed under my foot. Bluegreenred.
    I stop in my tracks but the movement has been noted. Officials swarm toward me and the people near me draw breath and call out, “Over here! It’s broken!”
    I have to turn away when an Official takes my elbow and asks me what happened. When I look back at where Ky stood, he has disappeared. Just like he did that day into the pool. Just like his face did earlier on the port at my house.

CHAPTER 6
    T here was a new boy at the pool today,” I told my parents that long-ago night, after the incident while Xander and I were swimming. I was careful to leave out any mention of Xander losing his tablet container. I didn’t want him to get in trouble. The omission felt like the tablet itself stuck in my throat. Every time I swallowed, I felt it catch there, threatening to choke me.
    But still, I didn’t tell.
    My parents exchanged glances. “A new boy? Are you sure?” my father asked.
    “I’m sure,” I said. “His name is Ky Markham. Xander and I swam with him.”
    “He’s staying with the Markhams, then,” my father said.
    “They’ve adopted him,” I told my parents. “He calls Aida his mother and Patrick his father. I heard him.”
    My parents exchanged