Ava

"Simone, stop." Adonis growled lowly. I glanced at Maci to see if she had heard him but she was so focused on me that I was sure she didn't. The other students were chatting amongst themselves and no one had noticed me standing rigidly in my spot, yet.

I grit my teeth and glared at Simone. She was muttering something quietly under her breath and for a moment, the pain intensified, nearly sending me to my knees. I bit down on my tongue to keep from crying out as it felt like a swarm of bees was trying to burrow their way out of my skull.

"Simone..." Adonis's growl was livid.

I screwed my eyes shut against the pain, taking a deep breath through my nose.

Then it was gone.

I opened my eyes and straightened up, Simone smirked at me from her seat as Adonis continued glaring at her.

"Are you okay?" Maci asked worriedly, her hands hovering over me like she was ready to help but didn't know how.

I cleared my throat and walked to the empty seat next to Adonis that Maci had saved for me.

"Yea, I'm fine." I told her. "Sometimes I get these little migraines, they're more annoying than anything." I glanced at Simone, watching her smirk fall away as anger took its place.

"You should really see a doctor. That's not good." Maci said worriedly, oblivious to the small stare down going on between Simone and I. I refused to break eye contact first and Adonis looked nervously between the two of us, chewing on his lip.

That's when I realized, Simone must be his girlfriend. She was staking her claim on him after she saw us smiling at each other.

"Oh fuck me. Great, that's just great." I thought to myself sourly.

Adonis's head snapped to me and I raised my eyebrows at him questioningly. He opened his mouth like he was about to say something but decided against it, glancing between me and Simone again.

Well that was weird. Why was he acting so odd?

I pulled my pen and notebook out of my bag, and began tapping it on the desk, if only to do something with my hands.

"Ah!" I hissed as the pen became white hot, making me drop it as my skin sizzled against it. I inspected my hand, small blisters were already beginning to bubble on my fingers.

Adonis growled low in his chest, glaring at Simone.

"Oh my god, what now?" Maci asked.

"Nothing." I said quickly. She glanced at the hand I was cradling and rose an eyebrow at me.

"Hand cramp." It was a lame excuse, but it seemed to satiate her curiosity. Maci reached into her bag, producing a bottle of water.

"Sounds like you're dehydrated." She said. "Here, I have another in my locker."

"Thanks!" I said brightly, before turning my head away from her slightly. "Gonna need a lot more, and a priest to bless it." I mumbled under my breath.

Adonis snorted next to me and I grinned at him. But the smile fell from my face as I turned to see him glaring down at his desk, refusing to look at me.

"So, I finished like half of those Latin assignments Mrs. Marinelli gave me." I told him lightly, hoping to dissipate the tension in the air.

He looked up at me with a grin, yet it didn't reach his eyes. I couldn't read the emotions running through them instead.

"That's-"

"Stop talking to her." Simone said sharply.
Adonis's mouth closed so quickly that I heard his teeth click together as he clenched his jaw. His eyes dropped closed and he took a deep breath through his nose as if trying to keep his cool. When he opened them again, he looked into my own eyes, searching them silently as I raised an eyebrow at him.

After a long wordless stare, he frowned, flaring his nostrils angrily and returned to scowling at his desk.

Anger bubbled in my chest as I glared at Simone. He was a grown adult, he could speak to me if he wanted to. Why was he just following her commands obediently like a well trained dog?

Then I thought of something.

My eyes searched what skin was exposed of Adonis. I couldn't see a witches brand but maybe he had one hidden beneath his clothes. That would explain it.

If Simone had cast a compulsory spell on him, his skin would be branded, most likely with her initials.

Compulsory spells were cruel little bits of magic. They took away the afflicted's free will and actions.

I frowned, hoping that wasn't the case. It was a horrible way to live, and it often led to the afflicted eventually committing suicide, with no other option to escape its hold.

I'd have to research compulsory spells when I got home. There had to be a way to counter it. Then again, I had to be sure that was what was going on.

"So anyway..." Maci began, completely oblivious to what was happening between Adonis, Simone and I.

I watched Adonis for a moment more before begrudgingly looking at her instead. Could she not sense it? Something was definitely wrong, and I desperately wanted to find a way to fix it.

Maci started talking animatedly about her design class, but my mind was far too occupied to follow the one sided conversation.

I unscrewed the cap of the water bottle she had given me, taking a thoughtful sip. But my face quickly screwed up in disgust. I turned away from Maci, spitting the water back into the bottle. Instead of the mouthful of clear water I had taken refilling it, murky brown water swirled inside instead. I ran my tongue along my teeth, feeling grit sticking to them.

I cringed, looking up at Adonis who had watched the whole ordeal. He was glaring at the bottle, silently. My eyes found Simone's and I shook my head.

"Swamp water? Really?" I muttered angrily. She shrugged and spun in her seat as the professor began the days lesson. I sighed in frustration and ran a hand through my hair before dropping my forehead into my palms, resting my elbows on the desk.

I couldn't retaliate. Witchcraft law forbid it. I was an outsider, and unless my life was in imminent danger, I couldn't use magic against a covened witch. I knew it, and worse, Simone knew it. I didn't know what kind of punishment I could receive, but today wasn't the day I wanted to find out.

I sneaked a peak at Adonis, surprised to find that he was watching me with a sad look on his face. He gave me a sympathetic smile before opening his textbook.

When the bell finally rang, I packed my bag slowly, watching out of the corner of my eye as Adonis followed Simone out of the classroom like she was holding an invisible leash. He glanced back at me one more time before the door closed behind him.

I threw my bag onto my back and stood from my seat. "Hey Maci?" 

"Hmm?" She hummed, doing the same.

"Are Adonis and Simone together?" I asked, trying to seem nonchalant.

"I mean kinda?" She shrugged. I raised an eyebrow, waiting for her to continue.

"Well, if you ask him if they're dating, he'll say no, so there's that. But back in senior year of high school Adonis transferred here as an exchange student, although I have no idea where from because he speaks perfect English and has no accent. He moved into Simone's sorority house which we all thought was totally weird but, whatever." She walked out into the hallway with me hot on her heels, not anting to miss a word. "Anyways, they're always together but she's so awful to him."

"How so?" I frowned.

"Like, she is never kind to him, ever. I've never heard her say a single nice thing to him in the five years he's been here. And he just seems so miserable when he's around her. And she's always telling him what to do and he just does it. Like, immediately. I dunno, sometimes I wonder if she has something over him and is blackmailing him. That would make sense..."

I frowned. If he had been under a spell for that long, he must be miserable, and desperate to get free. The thought saddened me. I'd have to get him alone to talk to him. Based on his reaction to our confrontation, he knew she was a witch, and possibly had the inclination that I was one too.

I paused as we turned another corner, Simone and Adonis were off to the side, arguing quietly amongst themselves. Adonis's shoulders were rigid with anger as he towered over her, but she didn't seem concerned in the slightest. Her electric blue eyes flicked to me and she seized his arm roughly, dragging him away.

With a sigh I followed Maci to her locker, half listening as she ranted on about watching some guys play touch football after school.

I hummed noncommittally, the thought of being distracted by even more men didn't seem appealing to me at the moment. I needed to get over the whirlwind of the last two days first.

"So are you going to Tyler's party Friday?" She asked excitedly.

Her smile grew wider when I nodded and guilt nibbled at my mind for being so absentminded for the last two hours. Maci was a seriously nice girl who I could definitely see as being a good friend.

"Do you want to go shopping for something to wear?" Her excitement was contagious and made me grin.

"Yea that'd be awesome! I left all of my nice clothes at home, I didn't really think I'd need them down here."

She linked her arm through mine and lead the way to the cafeteria.

When we made it to the cafeteria I caught sight of Lily and suddenly remembered.

"Do you think we could bring Lily?" I asked. "I told Tyler I'd invite her to the party. And I'm kinda trying to get on her good side, apparently her last room mate sucked."

"Sure! The more the merrier!" Maci chirped.

"Cool, go on without me, I'll go ask her." I told her, nudging her towards our table before making my way over to the one Lily was sitting at.

"Hey Lily," I said lightly. The two other girls at the table looked up and I smiled nervously. They were dressed similarly to her, dark clothes, dark make up, dark everything.

"Hey Ava." Lily's eyes were wide, as if she was surprised I was even talking to her.

"Ava? Are you Lily's new roommate?" One of the girls asked. I nodded wordlessly and she looked me up and down. "Wow, you're like, really pretty."

I felt my face flush red and mumbled out a thank you before returning my gaze to Lily.

"Could I talk to you for a sec?" I asked her, feeling more and more awkward the longer I stood there.

"Sure..." she said hesitantly, climbing out of her seat. I could feel her friends eyes on us as we walked a few feet away.

"So... Tyler is throwing a party on Friday..." I grinned.

"Yea, I heard." She mumbled, looking down at her shoes, she was wearing all black Vans today.

"He asked me to invite you."

Her head snapped up and a radiant smile spread over her face. "What? Really?"

I smiled wider, nodding my head. "Yea, Maci and I are going shopping after school, well, after some game of touch football she wants to watch for some reason. Do you wanna come?"

She glanced towards our table and I followed her line of vision. Tyler quickly looked away from where he had been watching us.

Lily bit her lip nervously, as she turned back to me. "Yea, that would be great. I have to go home and feed Salem but after that?"

"That'll be perfect. We'll pick you up!" I said.

"Thanks Ava!" She smiled.

"Of course! And I don't think he'd mind if your friends came either."

She thanked me again and practically ran back to her table to tell them.

I sat down at my usual table with a smile on my face.

"So...?" Tyler asked me quietly, leaning in so the others wouldn't hear.

"She gave the excuse that she doesn't have anything to wear." I shrugged.

"Oh." His face fell and I felt slightly guilty for messing with him.

"That's why Maci and I are taking her shopping after school." I grinned.

His mood did an about face and he pulled me into a hug.

"Thank you." He muttered in my ear. "I'll put in all the good words with Arsen. I owe you."

I felt my face turn red and ducked my head. "Oh um, you don't have to-"

"Psh, please. I barely need to do anything. He's already asked me like twenty questions about you since yesterday."

My stomach did a little flip as I looked up at him with wide eyes.

"Really?" I squeaked.

He chuckled and nodded his head, biting into his pizza. "Yea, that reminds me, are you a virgin?"

Soda splashed onto the table as Dean choked on his drink. My mouth fell open and I stared at him in shock. "I uh, no, wait, he asked that?"

He grinned devilishly at me and I rolled my eyes before shoving his arm.

"That's what you get." He laughed.

"Wait, you didn't answer the question!" Dean spluttered, looking rather sticky.

I narrowed my eyes at him and Tyler and I both threw pieces of food at him before laughing.