SpellShocked (SpellShocked Saga: Book 1)

Chapter 1 - How I Dodged A Bullet

So...apparently, I have magic.

No, really. I'm not joking. I have actual, honest to god, spellcasting, wand waving magic.

Confused? Yeah, so was I. I can't really say I expected my entire world to go absolutely bat-shit crazy in the space of 24 hours, but here we are.

The day my life changed, I woke up in an extremely good mood because it was the last day of school before summer vacation. Needless to say, I was looking forward to a few months of relaxing, hanging with my best friend Zac, sleeping in and, best of all, not having to do any school work.

I pulled myself out of bed, feeling unusually awake for 7:30 in the morning. I wandered over to my closet and raked through it, looking for clothes I thought would make me look good – a herculean task most of the time. It wasn't that I thought I was completely tragic looking...some of the time. On a good day I actually quite liked how my blonde hair had an effortlessly messy look, and how my light green eyes looked when contrasted with my hair colour – but mostly I just felt distinctly...less compared to other people; less good looking, less tall, less muscular. In short, I just didn't really feel like there was anything special about me.

And that seemed to be highlighted by my social standing in school. I wasn't a steroid binging jock who played football or lacrosse, but at the same time I wasn't one of the nerds being thrown about in the hallways just because they were different from everyone else. In fact, the only reason anyone seemed to know who I even was, was because of Zac.

Zac had been my best friend since the first day of elementary school when he had basically dragged me from the corner of the playground where I sat by myself, and insisted I play superheroes with him. We had been inseparable ever since. Even when he bulked up the summer before high school and made the basketball team, he still didn't abandon me, his popularity dead weight. Zac was fairly popular and did hang out with some of the more popular kids, but he always brought me along for the ride whenever he did. And while I appreciated the sentiment, I constantly felt out of place sitting beside him while the rest of his jock buddies made poop and fart jokes. The end results of all of this was that I sat in silence and was known simply as 'Zac's friend' to most people in the school.

That title was fairly accurate too; I didn't have any other friends aside from Zac. That was mostly because I felt like I didn't need any other friends, but also because I felt separate from everyone else. Part of that was because I've always had slightly more than mild anxiety and low self-esteem, so speaking to other people is sometimes difficult, but mostly I was just terrified of them finding out I liked guys instead of girls. Okay, yes, the world has come on a bit and there's gay characters in almost every TV show you watch, but we all know that high school is a totally different playing field to the rest of society. In high school, if you're different, that's not usually a good thing. It's ammunition for the rest of the student body to use against you if they so desired.

So, I kept myself to myself, and I was happy to be a shadow that roamed the corridors, unnoticed by most. I didn't feel like I needed anyone else besides my best friend and my family. I mean, I wouldn't have said no to a boyfriend, I just didn't think it was likely to happen to an invisible, closeted high schooler who looked like me. Not that that stopped me from drooling whenever I saw a hot guy walking past me and wishing I had the confidence to go and say 'Hi".

I managed to find my favourite pair of jeans that I thought made my butt look less flat, and a long sleeve t-shirt that was a little baggy but made me feel comfortable and cosy. I gave myself a quick once over in the mirror and was fairly satisfied with the results for once. In all honesty I didn't expect anyone to look at me and think I dressed well, most of the time I wanted to dress well for me. Some days – well, most days – my self-esteem tank was running on empty, so finding something to make me look nice sometimes made me feel a little more confident in myself.