The forest looked foreign when it was bathed in sunlight. The trees still covered the sky, but rays of light were scattered through the gaps of the canopy above me, highlighting things that even I had not noticed before, like the colourful wild flowers surrounding the bottom of the trees and the infinite shades of green covering the tired branches. The leaves glimmered against the light, still covered in raindrops from yesterday's rainfall. Birds sang high above me, and the stream was no longer a murky brown but crystal clear. It was unusual to see my forest in a new light. I had grown accustomed to the grey clouds drowning out the things I could see now. It was even more beautiful.

"Lilah," Anna smiled warmly as I entered the clearing, the lake shimmering in my peripheral vision. "We thought you weren't coming."

"I didn't realise I was late," I explained apologetically, choosing to stand in between Leah and Calum. I ignored Ashton's eyes on me though my heart was racing under his gaze. "Sorry."

Anna looked taken aback by my sudden willingness to interact in a way other than simply rolling my eyes, and I wondered if I had really become somebody who shocks people when I am actually pleasant. My chest felt heavy at the thought. I was a horrible person.

"Anyway, I wanted to talk to you all about something," Anna began. "I think there's another coven in town."

Everybody widened their eyes but me, and Ashton shuffled awkwardly. I wondered why he was so uncomfortable at Anna's words, but then remembered that he was new here and probably took Anna's words a lot more seriously than the rest of us.

"What do you mean?" Luke questioned, his brows

"Well, I'm not a hundred percent sure, but I keep having this feeling like I'm being watched. And there's this kind of coppery smell around town, like the one that I can smell when I use my powers."

I rolled my eyes at the absurdity. We were going to assume there were other witches in town because of a smell? I knew the scent that Anna was talking about, I had smelt it when Michael had shown us his ability to create electricity, and when Anna created a force field. It was a bitter, metallic fragrance but it was faint and only noticed if it was to be pointed out. Sometimes I could even smell it after I had made it rain.

"Okay, so we're all going to panic and get paranoid because you can smell copper?" Calum's voice was full of suppressed laughter, a smirk painted on his plump lips.

"I don't know," Anna sighed. "I just have a feeling. I suppose I am being a bit paranoid, but I just have a funny feeling about it."

"Well, we'll keep an eye out," Leah assured Anna, her fingers laced with Michael's. A pang of jealousy shot through my stomach at the sight of it. I could never have a relationship like that, because I couldn't allow myself to. For the first time in my life, I realised how much I was holding myself back. Even if Leah and Michael were to get their hearts broken eventually, they had each other. They had somebody that they could talk to about anything and everything, and a part of me wanted that too. I glanced at Ashton and found he was already watching me. He smiled gently at me and I averted my gaze quickly, pretending to listen to whatever it was Anna was talking about now.

Ashton showed the group his new-found power after Anna had finished babbling and everybody gasped in amazement, just as they had when I had shown them my ability to make it rain. He looked like a proud child who had just painted a picture for his mother, receiving endless compliments. His dimples popped in his cheeks and I found it hard not to grin at his own delight. 

I was about to walk over to Ashton after the meeting, but Grace had gotten there before me, and I could tell that she was trying to flirt

"I was thinking, we've never really gotten a chance to get to know each other," she purred, her manicured hand stroking his bicep gently. Ashton seemed unfazed and I was glad that she wasn't using her powers on him. It took everything within me not to heave at what I was seeing, and I bit my tongue, turning away so I wouldn't have to watch it. I could still here it, though.

"No, we haven't," Ashton agreed, sounding amused.

"Maybe we should change that."

"Maybe we should." Ashton's voice sounded just as captivating as Grace's. A lump formed in my throat. He was flirting with her, after he had gotten so angry when Matt had flirted with me. I was silly to think that he really did like me. Of course he didn't. Why would he when he had Grace, with her olive skin tone and glossy hair? I was just pale and normal, not to mention rude. It was my own fault.

"Great." I didn't have to look to know that she was fluttering her eyelashes and biting her lip. She had done the exact same to both Luke and Calum, and would have tried it with Michael too if he wasn't so sickeningly in love with Leah. "I'll text you."

"I look forward to it."

I let out a breath as I heard Grace's footsteps walk back through the forest and pretended to be admiring the lake as Ashton made his way over to me. "Hey."

"Hi," I muttered as politely as I could muster. I knew that I should have never bothered with Ashton. Maybe a part of me thought he could be different, but obviously I was completely wrong.

"Is something wrong?" He questioned, trying to clasp my hand in his.

I pulled away quickly, looking at him directly

"I just find it kind of hypocritical how you got so angry when a guy flirted with me, yet here you are flirting with Grace," I spat. I could feel the group's eyes on me, but I didn't care.

To my surprise, he chuckled. "You think I was flirting with Grace?"

"I know you were. I'm not stupid. Flirt with who you want, I don't care, just don't make a big deal out of it when somebody flirts with me."

"Lilah, are you jealous?" He bit his lip to suppress a smile which only made me angrier.

"Jealous? Of you and Grace? Please," I forced a distorted laugh out of my throat. "If you want Grace, go and get her. I don't care. You're made for each other anyway."

And with that, I stormed off.

"What's that supposed to mean? Lilah!" He called after me. 

I was utterly humiliated that I had made such a big deal out of this whole situation, but hadn't he done the same when Matt had flirted with me? I felt used after Ashton had expressed such an interest in me and then decided to flirt with somebody who I could never compete with.

How could somebody come into town and break down every wall I had ever built? I was ashamed of myself for letting him take over me so much. It wouldn't happen again, that was for sure.

I heard footsteps jogging behind me and turned around to find Leah, panting slightly.

"What do you want?" I demanded, continuing to walk with balled fists.

"I just wanted to make sure you were okay," she replied sympathetically, standing in front of me so that I was forced to stop in my path.

"I'm fine." I said through gritted teeth. "You can move now."

Leah sighed. "Lilah, it doesn't have to be like this. You can talk to me."

I felt like the energy had been drained from me, and I put my head in my hands. I felt like crying, but I wouldn't allow anybody that satisfaction.

"Why are you always so nice to me? I'm horrible to you."

Her blue eyes were filled with pity. I hated it. I hated being weak.

"Because you're not a bad person. You just push yourself away from everybody because you're afraid you'll get hurt," she said softly. "I know you care about Ashton."

I shook my head in denial, but I couldn't bring myself to tell her she was wrong, probably because there was no use in lying when she seemed to see right through me.

"I don't want to care," I whispered. Leah took a step forward and embraced me in a tight hug. I didn't know how to react, my arms plastered to my sides. Nobody had ever hugged me like this before, or at least not for a long time.

"I know. But you can't just shut him out because you're afraid. He really cares about you too," she murmured in my ear before pulling away.

"He was flirting with Grace." I raised an eyebrow.

"Because he knew it would get to you. All he wants is to know that he's not wasting his time. And now he does, because you reacted in the way he wanted. You can't keep running away from him, though."

I sat down with my back pressed against a large tree trunk and Leah joined me despite the soggy mud beneath us.

"I was like you, you know? I was too afraid to be with Michael at first."

"But?"

"But he was worth the potential heartbreak. He still is. He always will be, because I'm in love with him, and that's worth losing everything over."

I couldn't bring myself to gag at her words, because I knew they were true. And I was not in love with Ashton, but I couldn't deny my feelings for him any longer.

The problem was that I was cold and Ashton burned. I could not decide whether I would extinguish Ashton's fire, or whether that fire would burn me.

AN: HIIIII SORRY THIS IS A BIT OF A FILLER THE GOOD STUFF IS COMING SOOON I PROMISE. GRACE IS IN THE GIF AT THE TOP AYYYY I LOVE YOU IF YOU'RE READING THIS BYE