Starlight

Tragedy - Maya

I feel like a lovesick puppy.

Some people think it's the best feeling ever to experience, but I don't like it - don't like feeling as if I have to rely on the other person constantly.

Yet that's exactly what I do.

In the school corridors, I spot James with three of his friends and grin at him, but he only purses his lips and avoids my eyes, a shy smile on his face. After a second thought, though, he throws me a searching glance, as if trying to look for the answer to an unspoken question in my face.

"Did I see James Parker look at you just then?" Charlotte asks. I'm thinking of evading her probing words, but when I see her eyes, I know I cannot escape her.

"Yeah, I guess," I mumble, off-put by James's reaction to my familiarity in public. Surely it was just nerves?

At least, that's what I tell myself.

"You can tell us if something happened, Maya. We're your best friends."

Hayley, looking wrapped up in her own thoughts, nods after a short moment.

"It's complicated," I say, caged, fidgeting with the cuff of my blazer. I feel very guilty about holding back from them, but it's not something I can tell them.

"Relationships always are," Hayley mutters, and I sense that something happened with her, too. I'll have to ask her about it later.

We walk to form in silence. After a few minutes, it is me who speaks. "Okay, so there's this girl. Let's call her - Janet," I say. "May I remind you that this is hypothetical."

The two nod eagerly.

"Janet is.....a witch." I cringe inwardly, waiting for their reactions. Charlotte's mouth twitches and she glances at Hayley with an amused expression - but Hayley watches me attentively. "There's this boy - Daniel. Daniel is the enemy of Janet's kind and wants her dead. But then they fall in love." My breathing is deep with indignation.

I can tell that Charlotte is having a hard time not laughing, but Hayley is calm and faces me head-on. "Sounds like Romeo and Juliet."

Nothing good ever came of Romeo and Juliet.