The Azuli by Cassidy Shay (best beach reads of all time TXT) 📕

back rooms in vivid detail. Considering it was mostly shiny metal, this conversation was even more agonizing than all the rest of them had been. I wondered why they were so excited about a kitchen, and I must not have been the only one thinking that, because when they stopped for breath Mary asked them why they were getting so worked up over a kitchen.
“Back at home, we own a medium sized restaurant. I thought it was pretty nice, until I saw the kitchen here. The bar has been raised, and we must rise up to meet it. As soon as we go home, we’ll be buying new equipment, that’s for sure.”
After they decided to move on to a different subject, the parents all began to talk about their careers and investments, which made me miss the conversation about the kitchen. When you haven’t even heard of half the things that people are talking about, you feel left out and very bored. Imagine how a small child would feel if everyone around him was talking about quantum physics. That’s how I felt. When you haven’t heard of something since you were five, and you know that you won’t ever hear of it again, it is very tiring to stay focused on the conversation.
After dinner, I announced that I was going to bed. “Tomorrow is a very, very big day,” I said. “I’ll need my beauty sleep.”
Mary, Jack, and Carl agreed that they should go to bed early as well. As I watched Jack walk Mary to her room, I wondered what my parents thought of her. For the most part, Mary had managed to conceal her real personality when she was around the parents. There were times, though, when her true personality showed through. Did Mom and Dad notice? Did they care?
Before I was able to crawl into bed, Carl wanted to talk to me. “Penny, I’m sorry about how I’ve been acting these past few weeks. I just hope that tomorrow, you’ll think of the good memories we’ve had, instead of the things that have happened since we found out about the experiment. Hopefully, that’ll make it easier to marry me.” He leaned down and kissed my cheek, and then turned around to leave.
As I was climbing into bed, Macy got back from her shower. “You aren’t going to take one tonight?” she asked, and I shook my head. “Alright then, suit yourself. If I were you, I’d be taking advantage of every shower that I could get.”
I turned toward the wall when she started to get dressed, and when she was done, turned to face her again. “Macy?” I whispered.
“Yes, honey?” I allowed her to pull her covers back and climbed in the bed before I said anything else.
“He kissed me today,” I stated.
“Well, of course he did. He’s got to keep up appearances when you’re… Oh, my.” When she realized who I was talking about, she gasped. “Oh, dear. That complicates things a bit. He’ll be at the wedding, won’t he?”
“Yes, he will. But Macy, that’s not the only thing.” I had her full and undivided attention. “I kissed him back.”
Chapter 8

When I woke up the next morning, Macy was still asleep. I got up and grabbed a uniform from my drawer, and then I headed to the showers. As I stood under the stream of water, I thought back to the night before. When I’d told Macy that I had kissed Collin, she’d turned into a teenage girl, coming over to my bed and pressing me for details. I witnessed for the first time the quiet, high-pitched screams that I had heard in so many of the Memories, and we spent a good deal of the night gushing about Collin. His looks, his personality, and any other qualities we could think of. I saw a side of her that I’d never seen before, a side that was completely opposite from the Macy that I was used to.
But that was before. It had been the last day I had as a single girl, and I’d spent it gushing about a boy with my friend. Unfortunately, I wasn’t gushing about the boy that I was going to marry, but the one that I really loved. Aren’t those supposed to be the same person?

I got out of the shower and dressed in my uniform, then walked back to my room. By that time, Macy was up and dressed. I didn’t look at her as I sat on the bed. I felt like our late-night conversation needed to stay in the past, and I feared that meeting her eyes would bring it into the present.
After a few minutes of silence, we were graced with the presence of a Vipero. “Penny Miller?” he said, nodding toward me. “You need to come with me. They’re going to run everyone through a rehearsal, and then everyone will need to get dressed. We’ve got a long list of weddings we have to get through today, so the sooner we get started, the better.” He smiled. “Because the sooner it’s over, the sooner we can party.”
I wasn’t sure if he was supposed to mention that he wanted to party in front of me, but I didn’t say anything about it. There was no harm in mentioning a party that I already knew about. He was the youngest guard I’d ever seen, and the gleam in his eye told me that the idea of a party was the best thing he’d heard of in months.
I followed him down the hall and to the stairs, where he led me to the cafeteria. The tables had been moved and more chairs had been brought in so everyone could fit. Even with the extra chairs, though, I knew that there wouldn’t be enough room. The cafeteria was designed to hold a little over one hundred people. With all the Azuli, plus the parents and siblings, and employees of the academy, the cafeteria would be holding almost five hundred people, or at least trying to.
Once we were in the cafeteria, the guard pointed out Dr. Pender, who was standing in the corner with Catherine, Mary, and the brides from the other floors. I walked over to the group of other brides, and then we got started. We ran through all the ceremonies, how we would exit and enter the space at the front, and how we were to act throughout the whole thing. It took over an hour, and then we all started to get dressed.
Our parents had been up there with us for the rehearsals, and my mom came in to help me put the extensions in and put the dress on.
“You look beautiful, Penny,” she said. “Carl really is a lucky man to have someone like you with him. I’m proud to say that I’m your mom, even if I can’t take credit for how you’ve grown up the last ten years. I believe that award can go to Macy.” She smiled a sad smile, but it was for just a second. She gave me a kiss on the cheek, and then left to get dressed.
A few minutes later, all the dads came in to collect us. When we came out of the back of the kitchen, the chairs were all filled, and people were standing up in the back of the room. We took our seats in the front row, one of the brides from Floor 5walked with her dad to the altar where her groom was waiting.
They were having the weddings in reverse order of the floor that we each lived on. Floor 5 was first, then Floor 4, Floor 2, and Floor 1. Carl and I were scheduled to be married dead last.
I thought about all the weddings in the past, before the New World. Some were simple, but some cost millions of dollars. In some, everything went wrong. In others, nothing was out of place. But they all had one thing in common- each wedding reflected the bride’s interests, each had its own flair and style.
Part of me was really sad to think about my wedding, and how completely insignificant the whole thing was.
All the ceremonies were extremely boring, and I dozed off halfway through the third one. By the fifth wedding, I was dead to the world. “Penny. Wake up. Now.” I felt someone shake me awake. When I opened my eyes, I saw Jack standing at the altar while Mary’s father walked her up to stand next to him.
The next few minutes were more painful that I would have ever imagined. I knew that Jack couldn’t stand Mary, and I hated to see him recite vows that he didn’t mean. “You may now kiss the bride,” said the preacher. I squeezed my eyes shut so I wouldn’t have to watch.
Everyone cheered and the newlyweds came back to their seats in the front row while everyone prepared for Ben and Catherine’s wedding. My dad led me to the back of the room where we waited for them to be married. When Ben and Catherine kissed and stepped down, my heart began racing. I was handed a bouquet, and Carl stepped up to the altar. A small girl, who was probably someone’s sister, walked ahead of me with rose petals in a basket, leaving a soft, sweet-smelling new carpet in her wake.
“You ready?” my dad asked, and started moving forward. My feet followed, and I plastered a smile to my face. I tried looking at Carl, but the smile faltered. Instead, I looked right above his head. “I love you, baby girl,” said my dad when we reached the altar. He squeezed my hand, kissed my cheek, and then he was gone.
I turned to Carl and saw the familiar look of pain in his eyes. I tried to convince myself that the look had no effect on me, but I wasn’t successful. A tear fell from my eye, but it wasn’t for Carl. The tear was for Collin, who I could see standing off to the side. He smiled at me, but it was a sad smile. I tried to focus on Carl, but the whole time, my eyes strayed to Collin.
As with all the other weddings, the preacher made a brief statement before getting to the vows. “Do you, Carl Smith, take Penny Miller to be your lawfully wedded wife? To have and to hold, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward, until death do you part?”
“I do,” replied Carl, looking me right in the eye. He slipped a beautiful ring on my finger, and then we turned back to the preacher.
“Do you, Penny Miller, take Carl Smith to be your lawfully wedded husband? To have and to hold, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this