My (Not So) Charmed Life

Not That I'm Looking To Score Or Anything....

"So, how's the boyfriend?" Ryan asked. Wow, he really wasn't giving up, was he?

"He's not my boyfriend. And besides, he has a girlfriend." I retorted. He chuckled at my response, looking amused.

"That doesn't mean that you don't like him. It just means that you have a crush on someone that's taken. But just because there's a goalie, it doesn't mean that you can't score." He waggled his eyebrows at me.

"Ew, I'm not looking to "score." And I don't like him. Not to mention, I don't see how my love life is any of your business."

"Everything about you is my business, partner." The emphasis that he placed on that whole sentence made me shiver. I needed to getaway from him, and fast.

By the time last period rolled around, I was a nervous wreck. He was everywhere, constantly staring at me with an unreadable expression. I hated to admit it, but I was honest with myself; he scared me.

Within one day, he had ingratiated himself into my school, and that was something that I still hadn't managed to do, and I'd lived here my whole life. I could see him looking for me, and I ducked into the girls bathroom to avoid him.

I heard fake giggling as two freshman girls entered the bathroom as I watched from the crack between stalls. "Oh my gosh, he is like completely gorgeous!" and "He looks just like Ryan Reynolds from that superhero movie!" I rolled my eyes and knew that he had probably seen me duck into the bathroom.

Usually, I would go to a quiet corner, zap myself home and avoid walking. But I knew that it would be a huge red flag if I didn't leave the bathroom when Ryan was waiting for me right outside. As much as I hated the popular crowd at school, for once I found myself wishing that he would latch onto them and leave me alone. Not only was he dangerous, but he was also cocky and arrogant, and I wanted nothing to do with him.

Sighing, I exited the stall, bypassed the naive freshmen, and walked calmly out of the bathroom. I saw him waiting a few lockers down, but I ignored him as I made my way outside to start walking home. I resigned myself to saving my magic for home only, because I couldn't risk him seeing me do anything out of the ordinary. Right now he had no idea that I was magical or knew about his family, and I intended to keep it that way.

He caught up to me as I was leaving the building, and kept up with my swift pace at my side. I continued to ignore him, keeping my eyes straight ahead of me. I would not interact with him unless I absolutely had to. This plan was going smoothly, or at least I was for about five minutes until he had to open his mouth.

"You know, I didn't have you pegged for a snob."

My mouth dropped open. I'd heard of being rendered speechless, but I had never understood it until this moment. Me, snobby? I had never been a snob to anyone ever! I'd never even had the opportunity to be a snob, considering that I was the least popular girl in school and had only two friends.

"Why so silent? Are you upset because I hit it on the head?" He sneered. I stopped walking and turned to him.

"Why won't you leave me alone? We just met and already you think you know me enough to judge me? News flash: I'm not the new kid in this situation. I don't need to take this from you," I said, indignant.

He looked at me, and rather than having the grace to look repentant, he appeared amused, as though my little outburst was funny to him. I let out a frustrated groan and walked away. This time, he remained a few yards behind me and when I got to my street, he turned, going up to Williams Avenue where I guessed he lived. I kept my eyes on the sidewalk as I kept walking, reminding myself not to look back at him.

When I got home, I made sure to look carefully around for my parents before closing the front door and then zapping myself to my room. I hated the fact that my dad was able to put restrictions on my magic.

Being the paranoid father that he is, he kept me from knowing about my magic until I was twelve. He'd placed specific charms on me so that I wouldn't be able to accidently perform any magic in front of regular people. But when I turned twelve, my mother begged him to let me have a little bit of my magic, telling him that I would never be able to control my magic as an adult if I didn't learn how to harness it from early on.

I remember how much fun I had turning my spinach pie into a cupcake at the dinner table the night that they told me. I'd been pretty mad that they had left me in the dark for so long. I mean, how could they not tell me that I was a witch? They'd watched me obsess over Harry Potter as a kid, going to the movies and dressing up, quoting my favorite lines (and I had a lot of those) and saying the words along with the characters on screen. And all along, I was one of them!

Now at seventeen, my dad had loosened some of his charms, but put other ones in place. I could zap my clothes, my food and my bedroom (I was very indecisive about paint colors,) but I couldn't zap myself further than from school to home and vice versa and I definitely couldn't use the mind reading spell that I'd found in the advanced spellbook that my mom had gotten me for my Sweet Sixteen.

My cell phone rang, dragging me out of my lapse of annoyance, and I saw that it was a text from Shira.

*Party at Mason's tonight! Pick you up at 8. Don't bother arguing.*

I groaned. Mason Crosby had approached Shira after gym to talk about something, but since I couldn't afford a lateness, I left her behind. I guess he'd invited her to a party at his house. Shira knew me well enough to know that I would want to put up a fight at any mention of a party, but clearly she wasn't taking no for an answer tonight. Maybe if I was lucky, my mom would tell me that I couldn't go.

Author's Note:

Thank you to everyone who's taken the time to look at this! It means the world to me and I'm so excited every single time I see that I've gotten a new view! If anyone spots any errors, let me know and I'll fix it as soon as possible. I aim to update every other day or sooner!