============
"Yep, you're sick alright," Emira says as she pops the thermometer out of your mouth. You snuggle closer to your covers and groan, "I hate being sick. I can't do anything."
Ed snickers, "At least you don't have to go to school or work or anything. Man, I can't believe Mother actually let you take the day off! Whenever I was sick when I was your age, she told me to suck it up."
"Here, drink this," Emira says warmly, passing you a steaming mug of tea. It smells of honey and hot lemons. You put it in your mouth and drink. The hot tea runs down your throat. It's slightly bitter, but the firebee honey balanced it out enough.
You glance to your window as the green drops of acid rain pours down the glass. You can smell the faint scent of burning.
You shift in your blanket, bored at the lack of movement. Ed's scrolling on his phone, and Em is reading a book.
"This sucks," you announce, and try to get out of the bed. However, the twins are there in a flash, and they're pushing you back in.
"Hey!" you say angrily. "What gives?"
"We are not going to watch you pull another stunt that'll 90% just make you even sicker," Emira says.
You gasp, "I do not pull stunts!"
Ed rolls his eyes, "You so do. The way you even got sick was because you pulled a stunt!"
"It was to help the gol—to help fix up Bonesburough, that's all!" you scoff, "Anyways, it worked, so what are you guys angry about?"
"We're angry that you decided to go help Bonesburough before thinking of yourself," Emira crosses her arms. "You didn't even let us help you get rid of that Titan Tapeworm thing!"
You open your mouth to argue, but a cough escapes your lips. Emira's eyes widen, and her glare melts off her face.
She sighs. "Look, !--"
But before she can say whatever she wants to, the door swings open. There, standing in the doorway, is your lavender-haired sister, still in her Hexside uniform, soaking wet. You betted she had run all the way here.
"Amity!" Emira gasps, standing up quickly. "What the—why are you here? Shouldn't you be in Hexside?"
"I–uh, why aren't you guys in Hexside?" she counters, like an accusation.
"Sick," you reply.
"We're in college, Mittens," Ed shrugs, "We're allowed to go in whenever we like. Now, what are you doing here?"
Amity rolls her eyes, dropping her bag down the floor before striding to you. She faceplants on your bed. She doesn't answer the question.
You nudge her, "You good, Amity?"
She shakes her head no. You glance at Ed, who seems to know what you're implying.
"I'll go make us some hot cocoa."
•─────⋅
"No fair, how come you guys get hot cocoa and I have to drink this rotten tea?" you exclaim as Ed walks into the room with three mugs of hot chocolate. Ed says as he sits in between you and Amity, "Because you're sick."
You mumble curse words into your cup as you take another sip from your tea.
"So, Amity, what happened?" Emira asks as she draws a spell circle, a warmer blue shade than her usual illusion magic. She places it on Amity's burns.
"Um. Luz. Luz happened." Amity replies, and she buries her head into her hands, "I messed up, guys. I messed up real bad!"
"How so?" you ask, surprised, "Last I saw, you and her were making love heart eyes at each other!"
"No, I was the one with the heart eyes," she sighs, shaking her head, "Luz doesn't like me like that, I don't think. And now, I've thrown what little chance I had with her down the drain."
Ed places a comforting hand on her shoulder, "I don't think so. Luz looks enamored by you!"
"How?" she asks dully. You three exchange looks.
"She looks at you like you're the only person in the room," you point out.
"She's always blushing when you're around," Emira noted.
"She's nervous when you're around, and she's always stuttering," Edric added.
Amity's face flushes a deep crimson. "R-really?"
You three bob heads, up and down. "It's actually kinda weird that you haven't noticed," you snicker, "I mean, it's so obvious!"
Amity chuckles, toying with her hair, "Not really. Not for me, anyway."
She looks more at ease now. She's grinning, though she tries to hide it, and her shoulders are relaxed.
"Um, enough about me and Luz, though! Ed, tell us about your partner."
Now it's Ed's turn to blush. "Don't want to steal your spotlight, Mittens." he mutters.
Mittens."
"Nah, it's fine. Come on, you can't keep them a secret forever!"
He sighs. "Fine. What do you want to know?"
"Everything!" the three of you exclaim all at once, "All the details, don't leave out anything!"
He shakes his head, laughing, "Okay, okay! So, their name is Rowan, they're a beastkeeping student."
Emira raises an eyebrow, "Is that why–"
"No!" he says quickly, his face still red, "I was already interested in beastkeeping before I met them!"
"How did you meet them, actually?" you ask.
"Um, in the stables with the pegassi, at school? They told me some pegasi facts and stuff,"
"Nerds," Amity whispers to you. You snort. "You're one to talk, Mittens!"
She offers you a reluctant grin. "Whatever. I'm not a nerd!"
"Azura books?" Emira says, backing you up, "Reading late at night? Doing schoolwork on saturdays?"
She rolls her eyes, "I do not study on saturdays! Not all the time, anyway, I've been spending my time with L–" she catches herself in time, and takes a swig of her hot chocolate to hide her burning face.
You and the twins exchange looks. No teasing, not yet.
"How about you, Em? Got any special witch we should know about?" You ask playfully. Emira laughs, "Nah. Dating's not really my thing, you know?"
"Fair," you shrug.
"What about you, (reader)?" Emira pipes up.
Her tone surprises you, teasing and sly. "What about me?" you question.
"Any girlfriends, boyfriends? A partner we need to know about?"
Almost like an instinct, your mind instantly thinks of a certain blonde haired boy.
Hunter.
Your silence acts as an answer, because everyone's eyes widen. "Wait, really? Who?" Ed asks eagerly.
You shake your head, snapping out of your trance. "Um, no one. I don't have a partner."
Amity quirks an eyebrow. "You really expect us to believe that when you have that look on your face?"
You nod, "Uh-huh. I don't like him like that?"
Emira gasps, "so there is someone!"
"What—I? No!"
"Oh my titan, there so is someone," Amity snickers, "Look at them! They're red!"
"Am not!" you snap, "Anyways, we only met like a few weeks ago, okay? Not a big deal."
"Wait a minute, is that why you're always sneaking off to the library?" Ed asks all of a sudden.
Uh-oh. Your cover is blown.
"No! I go to the library for school, asshole!" you stick out your tongue at him.
Emira begins, "Whatever, do you guys wanna watch a movie? I've got a new recommendation from a friend!"
Everyone agrees, and Emira conjures up a bowl of popcorn and the movie DVD. You all move so that you're facing the TV in your room. Amity's curled up on the beanbag, Ed and Em are both sitting on pillows, and you're on the edge of your bed, still wrapped up in the thick blanket.
As the movie begins, your thoughts drift to the day you spent with Hunter a week ago.
Everything about it felt right – the way you two teased each other, the comfortable silence, the ice cream...but you were only platonic friends! No romance between you two.
You think back, and suddenly you can picture him: his golden hair flowing freely like a cringe anime, that strand of hair he always complained about being on his face all the time dancing in the wind, a faint grin that showed off his adorable — no, charming tooth gap. He still had a few drops of ice cream on his chin you hadn't bothered telling him about partly because you thought it funny. His magenta eyes, so dark it could pass as crimson, glittered like rubies in the sunset's warm light.
And that scar on his cheek....you hadn't asked him where he had gotten it from. Sometimes you wondered if he had gotten it in an accident, but Hunter wasn't the type to be clumsy — sure, he stumbled on his words every now and then, but physically he was very graceful. He reminded you of a statue sometimes, sophisticated and elegant.
You snort at your own thoughts. Hunter wasn't elegant, he was just Hunter.
Absentmindedly you stuff a fistful of popcorn in your mouth. The cheddary taste clashes with the remnants of the tea in your mouth.
You were being stupid....you and Hunter were friends, that's all.
Right?
============
YOU ARE READING
Hoodwinked
Fiksi Penggemar(Reader) Blight--the third youngest in the Blight family, an oracle student attending Hexside, and a sarcastic witch. (Reader) finds themself trapped in a deal they made with their mother, Odalia--replace Amity as the golden child of the family, in...
