Charmed

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

University. The next step of education. The place where they grind you to perfection with obtuse, abstruse and downright daedal philosophies and theories that supposedly prepare you to face the real world.

At least, that’s what I think they did in university. I had no idea, for I was busy tending to other, more pressing matters.

I looked over my red, plastic cup as I took a sip of the sweet drink. The party was in full swing. Most guys were playing a drinking game that would eventually leave them totally wasted and some were dancing with the girls in the middle of the room. They were just starting to get loud and our RA would come up to break the party soon enough but no one cared.

I wasn’t enjoying myself though. I was frustrated. None of the guys tonight caught my interest. It was just too easy for me now. One slip of my powerful potion into their drinks and they were smitten with me. Sure, it was fun watching the girls seethe in jealousy and hatred as I stole their boy-toys, but it just got boring after a while. Most times, I didn’t even need the potion.

Perhaps I was finally going to focus on my education and prepare myself for the so-called real world.

But why bother? I could just whip up a potion that would enhance my intelligence and help me get top marks in class. Even though I hardly attended any of the classes in this god-forsaken university, I still had a 3.7 out of 4.0 CGPA.

I sighed, crumpling the cup in my hands and throwing it into a nearby waste bin. It was time to bail. There was nothing interesting for me here.

“She’s such a slut.”

My ears perked up at that sentence. I glanced behind me and was met with the stares of several girls in a corner, scowling at me. They quickly looked away from me and pretended to be checking out the guys playing their drinking game.

I rolled my eyes. Just because I’ve had twenty boyfriends, that didn’t make me a slut. I hadn’t slept with any of them nor did I dress as provocatively as half the girls did in this party. I pretended to get another drink from the table when in fact I fixed my eyes on the girls and tried to figure out which one of them had said it.

One of them hadn’t taken her glaring eyes away from me. Lily Hayes. Ah, I should’ve known. I had started dating her crush a few days ago and dumped him twenty-four hours ago. He wasn’t a good kisser. I had actually done her a favour.

“Didn’t you hear what she did to Miranda?” Lily Hayes none too quietly declared. “That poor girl still hasn’t been able to get her life back. She completely ruined her.”

Okay, now she was just being dramatic. I gave back Daniel. Not my fault Miranda couldn’t trust him enough to take him back.

It wasn’t nice talking about people behind their backs now, was it? I searched the room, looking for something to make Lily pay for spreading rumours about me.

I spotted her crush playing beer pong with the guys. Perfect.

Fixing my hair, I sauntered towards him, making sure Lily’s eyes were on me. I could literally feel the hatred of her heated stare as I draped myself over Jack, a tall, well-built football player with striking green eyes and blonde hair.

“Hello again, Jack,” I greeted.

I smirked when I felt him shiver. The potion was still working on him. This was good.

“H-Hey, Chloe,” he stammered in reply.

I put my mouth near his ear. “Would you like to do a favour for me?”

“Anything for you,” he sighed.

“See that girl over there? The brunette named Lily?” I asked.

Jack nodded in answer. I whispered a few words to him, telling him what I wanted him to tell Lily Hayes. He nodded and then left me to go towards Lily, whose eyes lit up when he approached her.

“Look, Lily, I know you like me and all, but you’ve got to stop being so desperate,” Jack said to her.

The excitement in Lily’s eyes dimmed. “Excuse me?” she asked incredulously.

“Seriously,” said Jack, “you don’t have a chance with me, alright?”

“What-what’re you talking about? I don’t like you!” exclaimed Lily.

“You drop off a letter in my dorm every day, Lily. If you don’t stop, I’m reporting your stalker-like tendencies to the office.”

The girls around Lily gasped as Lily turned bright red. I sipped my drink, finally savouring it as I watched her expression. I could bet no one else knew about the letters but Jack and me. And now everyone did. How embarrassing.

Lily started to run out of the room in tears. Before she reached the exit, she stopped in front of me, seething in anger.

“You’re going to pay for this,” she threatened.

I rolled my eyes. Mortals and their empty threats bored me. “Pay for what?” I asked nonchalantly.

Lily didn’t reply and marched off. I crumpled up my empty plastic cup and threw it in the bin, about to make my way towards my room, when I got stopped by Jack.

“Would you like to – uh – dance?” he asked.

I sighed irritably. The potion still hadn’t worn off. It’d take another hour or so before it did.

I shrugged. I guess could spare an hour of dancing. Otherwise he’d follow me to my room like a lost puppy. “Sure,” I agreed.

So, I danced with Jack for another hour, making sure his hands didn’t wander anywhere else other than my waist, which tried to happen a lot of times. After he finally started coming to his senses, and started to wonder what exactly my name was, I slipped away from him and made my way to my room, really wanting to get out of my high-heels and clingy dress for the night.

The hallways were deserted at this time of night. Most people were at the party in the common room downstairs so everywhere else was pretty quiet. I went up to my room on the third floor, sighing in contentment when I could finally take off my high-heeled shoes. As I plopped down on my bed, I got the strange feeling that something wasn’t right.

I looked about my room. My bed was neatly made, the books on my table were untouched and some of my clothes were draped on my chair – everything was exactly the way they were before I left for the party. Yet, I felt the hair on my neck stand on end as an unsettling feeling washed over me.

I got down on my knees and brought out my trunk from under my bed. I unlocked it with shaking fingers. To the normal eye, it looked just like any other trunk with a few extra clothes and other knickknacks in it. But to someone like me, I could already see that something was wrong.

I hastily muttered the revealing spell under my breath to undo the concealment charm. The contents in the box shimmered and then started to change. The space in the box started to get bigger and other objects started to materialise. A cauldron, various colourful potions in little vials, and my spell-book appeared.

Everything was exactly where it was supposed to be. Nothing was missing.

I sat back on my heels, trying to understand why I felt uneasy. Something wasn’t right about the concealment charm. Someone had tampered with it.

Could I be losing my touch? Did I make a mistake while doing the concealment charm the last time I used my spell-book?

Or had someone broken into my room and touched my belongings?

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A/N: Comments? Suggestions? Votes? Please? ^^

First time writing a story with a character like this, so comments would be appreciated!