Haunted

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Veronica Torres hosted her annual end of summer party on Saturday, August 29th, 2020. As usual, she invited everyone in the class of '21. They were going to be seniors that year, so everyone was going regardless of how close they were with Veronica. And even though everyone including Veronica bullied her, Callie Weir came to the party.

Calliope Jane Weir was interesting, to say the very least. She believed in and had a deep interest in witchcraft, voodoo, hoodoo, and the supernatural. She had a collection of tarot cards, crystals, candles, an alter, statues, books of witchcraft, incense, and a Ouija board displayed in her room among countless other things. She started building the collection in middle school, and then Felicity Marx came to Callie's house once and saw all of it. The next day everyone made fun of her and it was relentless through the years. She still went to the party, though, in hopes to have fun... and maybe they wouldn't find her so weird anymore.

Even though everyone disliked Callie there was one person who absolutely could not stand her: Jedidiah Campbell. She made him want to off himself, and the feeling was mutual. Jedidiah was not only one of the meanest to Callie, he really wasn't nice to a single person. They were all terrified of him and he loved it. All but Callie, which pissed him off more than her whole voodoo thing. He was truly heartless, though. Usually Callie could find the heart in people at some point, but Jedidiah was ruthless.

They both ended up going to the party, they showed up at the exact same time. Callie on her bike and Jedidiah on his motorcycle. Gag me Jedidiah thought as he spotted her in those stupid flared, boot cut pants she wore practically every other day. She wore the same beat up Mary Jane platform shoes every day. Really, everything about her pissed Jedidiah off, especially her look.

As Callie locked her bike to a tree in the front yard, she noticed Jedidiah walking to the door. He was dressed in his usual all black, chains and all. What even is the point of those she thought as she approached the door before him. She rang the doorbell and he scoffed, pushing past her and just walking into Veronica's house. Rude Callie thought, but she followed him inside. Everyone gawked as she walked in, not feeling comfortable enough to take her shoes off. It was okay though, everyone else was wearing shoes. She waved nervously at Veronica, who smirked and leaned against the wall. "Of all people, you two arrived together?" she raised her eyebrows.

Callie rolled her eyes and Jedidiah didn't hesitate to get in Veronica's face. "We are not together," he growled.

Veronica raised her arms in surrender. "Just sayin'," she giggled.

Jedidiah walked to the couch and sat down. "You have a very nice home," Callie smiled, trying to strike up a conversation.

Veronica just stared at Callie, then laughed. "Uh oh, time to move."

The other teenagers laughed along. Callie ended up sinking to the floor in the corner as the others socialized. She was prepared, she packed her bag before she came. She brought her favorite tarot deck, her journal, and a pen in case she was outcast and got bored. She didn't want to come home after five minutes because her dad would nag her about it relentlessly. She chose the journal and started writing.

Jedidiah barely talked to his classmates and when he did he used as few words as possible. He couldn't wait to get out of this dead beat town. He didn't like wasting his time, but he had nothing better to do than go to the damn party. He just observed as some of the other kids got tipsy and loopier as the night went on. He turned around a few hours in, to see if Callie had left yet. She hadn't. She was scribbling in some book. "Hey are you writing spells?" someone said loudly. Jedidiah recognized Jack Steen's voice.

Callie didn't look up so Jack staggered over to where she was and snatched the book. "HEY!" Callie screamed. Why was everyone so damn loud?

Jack laughed and started reading. "'This house smells like my grandmother, weird how a smell can bring back such memories. Smells can transport you back to a time in your life, even. I bet smell is the secret to time travel'. Oh my god! This is hilarious!" Jack cackled as Callie finally grabbed her book back, shoving it in her bag. "Hey, got anything else in there Weird?"

Jedidiah found it so juvenile when they called her Weird because of her last name. He wasn't defending her, but that was such a stupid joke. Unoriginal.

Callie looked around the room, there were so many kids, more that she could hear upstairs and in the dining room too. She felt so uncomfortable, but she wasn't going to give up yet.

"Okay," Veronica stepped into the middle of the room. "How about we all play truth or dare?" she asked.

Jedidiah groaned. "We're not twelve."

"Fine, no truth. Just dares. And they have to be good, or you have to kiss Callie," Veronica laughed. Callie turned beet red and sunk back into the corner. "Scared?" Veronica smirked.

Callie shook her head. "It still sounds dumb," Jedidiah rolled his eyes.

"Too bad, my house my rules. Everyone is playing!" Veronica exclaimed. "Up to the loft!"

All the teens made their way up to the top floor of Veronica's house, the loft. It had no furniture, it was literally just for large groups. There was, however, a bay window which Callie took seat in immediately upon getting up there. The students formed a circle and thunder rolled outside, then there was a flash of lightning and it began to rain. "Nice," Callie smiled, storms were her favorite. She opened the window and took an empty jar out of her bag.

"What are you doing?" Felicity Marx whispered.

"I need rain water," Callie shrugged. "I knew it'd rain tonight so I came prepared."

"For what?" Felicity questioned.

"To have on hand," Callie shrugged. "Spells."

Some kids around her giggled. "Close the window!" Veronica scolded.

"I need rain water," Callie retorted. "I'll close it once I set this in the flower box."

Veronica rolled her eyes as they all waited for Callie. When she closed the window she saw everyone staring. "Ready?" Veronica asked.

"Yes," Callie sighed.

There were a few snickers across the room as Veronica paced around. "If you give someone a bad dare you have to take a shot. If you chicken out, two shots, if you refuse to give a dare just get out of my house," Veronica laughed. "Felicity, you start. Pick someone to dare."

Felicity turned to Callie. "Show is a spell, I dare you," she smiled. Callie knew Felicity meant no harm, but everyone else just laughed.

"Ronny, do you have any candles?" Callie asked Veronica.

"Don't call me that," Veronica snapped. "And yes, some were burning downstairs."

"Can you bring me one?" Callie sighed. "Or a wax melt."

Veronica confusedly walked back downstairs to get the wax. "What are you gonna do?" Gil Trent asked.

"Find Felicity's soulmate," Callie replied with a smile.