Hidden Away

chapter 5

I smiled slightly as I let the positive feelings flood into me. And then, with the chalk in my hand, I channeled my emotions into patterns. The chalk glowed a crimson red as is it was infused with my magic, and sunk into the floor. The room was silent as I worked, but it was a peaceful silence. Maybe it was a side effect of the spell- I felt happy and comfortable and cosy. So cosy that I blurted out something that I didn't really need to "..honestly, there's someone who's already conquered my heart" Lucien's eyebrows furrow "Zach, yes." I look up at him surprised "how did you know?!" He looks at me and sighs "you never stop talking about how he swooped in to saved you" he smiles "it's such a great bedtime story. Puts me straight to sleep everytime" I furrow my eyebrows "well, I'm sorry that I can't help being dull!" I shout "it's okay. I usually have trouble sleeping so you're quite useful to me" he sneers "Ugh... you're right, it's not a very good story anyway. It's a story of an ugly duckling... who will never get her prince... of course you don't find that tale interesting. Would you?" He looks at me "why not?" I tilt my head confused "Huh?" I huff out, he blushes lightly with a big smile "why will the ugly ducking never get the prince?" He asks "uh. Do you realize who we're talking about here?" I ask "some guy called Zack?" He answers a bit unsure "he's not just some guy!" I throw my hands in the air in frustration "he's literally perfection. He's the smartest student in school with the highest grades in every subject. He's represented our school to national tournaments in multiple sports.. he's the nicest, kindest, funniest, most thoughtful person you will ever meet...not only that, we used to be bestfriends... then I fell in love with him. Everyone melts like butter under his sunshiny smile, even the asshats and the teachers! He was everything to me Lucien. My world" Shrugging, I start to tear up, hiding my eyes behind my hair. Lucien tilts his head "sounds incredibly insufferable" he comments "you would think that, right? But he's not though, that's the thing! He's the complete opposite of me!" I sniffle, Lucien looks at me and stands up, crouching by my side. "He used to be your bestfriend?" we both stay silent for a while then I croak out trying not to cry "yeah.. but I have been too emotionally unstable for his liking and he left." Whiping my eyes, I give Lucien a small smile. "Its ok. I was just a pain in the ass anyway" lucien looked at me and seem to be genuinely concerned. He sighs "ok then" I begin to glare at him "...uh, why are you glaring at me?" I groan in frustration "you're supposed to give me advice or something, Lucien!" He sighs "I guess my job description does include protecting your happiness..." I sigh aswell "just forget I said anything..." I trail off "for what it's worth, my suggestion is that you forget the guy" I stare at him "what? That's impossible!" he gives me a gentle smile "then talk to him about it, or maybe you should ask him out" I scoff "that's even more impossible! When I text him hes so cold to me and it hurts and I'm totally not his type at all! He likes girls who are... you know?" He frowns "I get it. You can stop making imaginary boobs with your hands now" I sigh kneeling down "what do I do, Lucien?" He looks down at me "Im a fox demon, not a plastic surgeon" he replies, I gasp "oh, great idea! But plastic surgery is expensive-" I stop myself "-wait" Lucien looks at me with a worried expression "..what" I smile and stand up and I walk closer to Lucien "I just got the worst idea" I tell him excitedly "really" I laugh "I'm the worst. I'm the literal worst. But.. but! This is the only way.." Lucien sighs "just spit it out before my headache gets any worse" you're lucky your cute.

By the time I finished, Lucien looked like he was having the worst headache of his life. The bag of jerky lay untouched by his side. "Is this really necessary? Disguising yourself as an entirely different woman to seduce Zack?" I scoff at Luicen "There's no way he'll like me. So the answer is to take 'me' out of the equation and now that I have magic. . . I can finally do it." Lucien just sighed, rubbing at his eyes with one hand. "Are you... really sure about this? You won't be dating him as yourself, even if you succeed. Are you really ok with that?" He asks me with a strict expression on his face. "...of course I am. I just want to be with him. That's all" that was...the only hope for a girl like me. "You're...pitying me" a small breathly chuckle comes out of my mouth "you think I'm pathetic, right? I can tell..." Lucien looks at me with his eyebrows furrowed "... I don't pity you" his voice was surprisingly soft. He gives a light smile "I guess even humans need to hide themselves sometimes, huh?" Wordlessly, he held out a strip of jerky to me, and I took it. For a few moments there was nothing but the sound of thoughtful chewing. "I.. I'm not hiding, you know. It's like... you're not really hiding when you're In your fox form, are you?" I ask. "It's still me, yeah. I'm just changing my form depending on what I need to accomplish." I gasp "like rerouting a character in an MMO!" I giggle. "Yes, yes, I get it..." He sighs. "S-so... we're doing this?" I ask him. "Correction: you're doing this. I'm just here to laugh at you when you fail." He comments. "H-hey!" Despite everything, Lucien did help me out with my magical makeover. He Transformed into Zachary so I could practice talking with him. And he was there for me too, when I finally geared up the courage to wait for Zach after school. "Augh, I see his ride arriving! Quick, Lucien, hide!" The marble coloured fox beside me rolled his eyes. We were both already hidden behind some trees. But he retreated deeper into the shadows, until all I could see of him was his ocean eyes. The black truck parked right outside the school gates, as usual. From my hiding place behind the trees, I could see the driver get out and lean against the side. She was a tall, pretty lady who looked about our age, maybe a little older. Her hair was pulled up in a messy bun. She looked like she would break all my limbs if I tried anything funny with Zach. Theyre probably close.. all right, Echo, focus... you can do this..." this spell was a piece of cake. I hated the way I looked and more than anything else, I wanted to be the kind of woman that Zach would fall in love with. I took a deep breath, let the potent cocktail of emotions boil up inside my ribcage and when I let it out, I was no longer Echo.