Bittersweet Perfection

Chapter One

The bright red sparks flew from my fingertips, knocking the human like figure to the floor and making me smile with relief. “Good job, Mia. A few more weeks of practice and you’ll be controlling lightening.” My aunt Bella, and magic trainer, encourages me.

Bella’s probably the prettiest lady I have ever met; she has long blonde hair, blue eyes, and a smile that could light up the world. Unfortunately for me, I only inherited a few of the same traits and was nowhere as gorgeous.

I sigh in frustration, wiping sweat off my eyebrows, “Why is it so hard?”

I’ve been practicing attack spells for the last five months, ever since I turned eighteen, and I don’t seem to be getting any better. Bella laughs at my complaining, “It will get easier. Why don’t you go hang out with John for a little while? He came over a few hours ago and asked for you. I think you’ve earned a little break.”

 “Why didn’t you tell me?” I grab a small towel and wipe a thin layer sweat off my face. Training is like exercising, you have to work at it and get tired every single time.   

“I didn’t want you to stop practicing… Camille, you know getting close to him won’t change the inevitable.” She is referring to how I will have to break up with him when I find my ‘soul mate’. Bella is always talking about how I should dump John and try to find my ‘other half’, but in my eyes, I have time. I’m only eighteen; I don’t need to settle down just yet. Besides, I think I should get to choose who I fall in love with, but apparently fate picks out your ‘perfect match’. Bella says that I’ll understand someday, but honestly, I doubt it.

I’m actually dreading the day that I meet my mate; I really like John and hope I won’t have to end it for a while- if ever. I guess I was kind of hoping I could force fate to make him my soul mate... I wave goodbye to my aunt, who is now cleaning the arena using a spell that she wrote. I can’t wait until I’m good enough to write my own spells, or even use spells.

 If you haven’t realized it by now; I’m a witch, literally. My parents were also magical and each other’s soul mates. From what I’ve heard, they were happy and in love, without a care in the world... I was their greatest mistake. My parents abandoned me with my mom’s younger sister and brother in-law when I was only one year old. My aunt was a young nineteen at the time, but she still took me in. I’ve grown up here, in sunny California, and I love living with her and Brian.

As for my parents, they’ve basically dropped off the face of the Earth; they’ve never tried to contact me and I’ve never tried to find them (I mean why should I after they left me?).

After grabbing a cute dress, I go into the bathroom to shower. I’m about to turn on the water when I get an idea, outstretching my hand, I mentally picture turning the faucet. To my surprise, and happiness, it snaps into place and warm water cascades down. Smiling at my accomplishment, I began to prepare for my date.   

A little while later, I’m finally ready. I grab my shoes and hurry out the door; because John lives just down the street, I like to walk to his house. As I’m leaving, I get a bad feeling in my stomach, sort of like the feeling you get right before riding a huge rollercoaster. Swallowing it down, I quicken my pace. What could go wrong?

When I get there, John’s mother lets me in, saying Kate, John’s best friend, is also there. I bounce up the stairs excitedly; John is the best boyfriend ever and Kate is super nice. At first I was worried, because she was gorgeous and I thought John might cheat on me with her, but they swore up and down that they were just friends. So I believed them; my mistake. Opening his door, I see something I never thought I would be forced to watch.

I blink a few times, hoping this is a dream and I’ll wake up in my bed. When I realize it’s reality, fresh tears spring to my eyes and run down my face. My right hand covers my mouth to stop a whimper from escaping and with my left I pull off my necklace, a gift from John, dropping it on the wooden floor. A low thud sounds through the room and John turns to me, his eyes widening, “Mia-”