Aery decided that her laboratory endeavor was foolish. After exploding three test tubes over the bunsen burner and dropping a fourth, she was convinced she just had to suck it up and go to the Town Hall. She cleaned up the spilled chemicals, scolding herself for her clumsiness (She'd not dropped a test tube since her first real project when she was thirteen!) and inattention. Then she went and checked her appearance in the mirror, straightening her collar and re-parting her hair, and then walked with purpose across the town square and into the town hall. She was the fourth to arrive; she signed in and found herself a seat in the first row. Rather than read a book, as was so tempting, she produced her holographic cube and started working on the design of an antibody that she was attempting to perfect. Just because she wasn't actively working didn't mean she couldn't still work on her projects anyway.

Annalyn had business to attend to as well. "Father, Mother, today I must attend my job at the Factory. If I may be excused?" She asked, a little bit abruptly but still (barely) politely enough. Her father said, "Of course, Annalyn. But whatever you do, keep in mind our family pride."
"Of course, Father." She turned and walked quickly from the room.
As soon as she got to the factory and signed in, she went to her workroom. There was a pile of charms left on the table, charms that she had made that needed to be boxed for shipping. One in particular caught her eye, a (seemingly) plain wire one in the shape of a musical heart (an inverted treble clef and a regular bass clef forming a heart shape.) This one had been her creative mastermind; when the couple it was meant for got close together, each heart would start electrically sparking with multiple colors.
She quite adored making crafts like this, especially where it would be well-fitting. The one this was destined for, a boy named James Hunter, was a musician and an artist; she figured it would appeal to him. But something was wrong. Though there were two hearts, there was no "assigned to" label on the second one. She stared at it for a while, until she remembered how there were unequal numbers in gender this year and one person would have to wait until next cycle. But not really, because there was one too many girls in Annalyn's year...
She pocketed the second charm. Even if it cost her her job or her ranking in society, she would be James's soulmate, because he didn't deserve to be without one.
And anyway, it was an adventure, and she'd never been on an adventure before.