Spellbound

Chapter two

"Of course."

She slid her boots on and pulled on her coat. "Okay, I'll be back on Wednesday to check on you, if you need me call. Nathan will be here, and I left you money on my nightstand."

I stood and gave her a hug before she ducked out the door. I had always known that my mother cared deeply about her work, she was a powerful Wiccan, one of the most powerful. And her casting abilities were unmatched. So when it came down to creating protection wards and keeping people safe, her job was important. And she always made sure I had all I needed before she would leave. But even when we were homeschooled it was never her, always someone else teaching us, always mother leaving for her work.

I watched her shut the door behind her, and I turned back to Nathan who flicked the switch of the garbage disposal it roared and rattled but didn't make the gut-wrenching sound that had woken me up the morning before.

"How are you guys settling in?" I wandered, sending my spoon into the sink and watching Nathan wash his greasy hands.

"Pretty good, we got a house in the country, it's pretty nice."

I frowned looking at a geometry problem. "You guys get a house?"

"You know why," He ran his hand through messy blond hair. "If anything happens to the farmhouse, we need to have a place to meet."

I started filling out problems, easy ones that I wasn't planning on cheating on. "I know, still, this is what we get and you guys get a house."

"We are hardly in the house,"

I remained quiet.

Sitting in history, I curiously watched the usually unattentive group of girls sitting in the front row. Even from the back, I could tell that something had them excited. Their bubbly laughter echoed in the linoleum room and even the teacher didn't stop them, the class had not technically started but our last class had been unexpectedly canceled, so everyone was here early. All besides the empty seat right in front of me. I'd noticed it since the first day, and everyone who swapped seats constantly never sat in it. The white door was pulled open and the scattering girls went silent.

The boy was tall, shoulders broad, arms thick and chin strong. He didn't look like a boy, he seemed like he should have been at least in college, brown hair slicked back messily and the thermal he wore stretched taut against his body. The boy right behind him was different, he had long black hair, pulled back by a string, his face was sharper, more angular and deeper sunken eyes. He wore a black leather jacket, combat boots.

"Welcome back, Hopkins," The teacher, nodded to the boy in the front and then to the one behind him. "Thatcher."

"Hopkins," I muttered under my breath, the name sounded familiar, like I should have recognized it, but I couldn't figure out what it meant. The man candy with the face of gold. His eyes found the seat in front of me and he smiled, at the seat, not me, but a girl could dream. When he got closer even in the ugly fluorescent light, his eyes were beautiful, a warm chocolatey brown.

The edge of his shirt rode up as he sat in the chair, exposing tanned skin marked with a dark tattoo and taut over a muscle. As a witch, somethings were certain, teenage boys were a no-no unless they were witches also, and especially absent, tattooed hunks. But I liked looking,

"Okay class, now that our vacationing mid-term students are here we can begin." The teacher smiled at the two boys despite calling them out.

Through the class I found myself focusing more on the back of the boys head, my converse tapping the floor rhythmical. In time to some old song on the projector. Something about him caught my attention, and God it irritated me.

The shirl scream of the bell pulled me out of thinking about the name Hopkins, the oh so familiar name.

The teacher stopped the first person who stood. "Not so quick, you all have an assignment. A partner project." A slough of groans rolled over the students. "Oh come on, you'll like it."

Figuring that since I was a newly transferred student I'd get a free pass with however I got I zoomed out until I heard my name. "Miss Bane?" His eyes snapped to me, I smiled. "You Will be with Mr, Hopkins on this one since you just got here and he hasn't been here for a few weeks."

The slow turn of the boys head caused me to wish I hadn't been watching the peak of his tattoo all class. Warm eyes connected with me, giving me a slow once over, the slow perusal of me made my toes curl in my shoes.

"Hey there."

I nodded to him. "Hey."

I stayed behind in the class, carefully organizing my papers and books nicely into my bag, clipping in shut I stood and headed into the crowded hallway, making my way to the cafeteria. Passing many faces and talking mouths, I found Nathan and Patricia, sitting at different ends of a table, the people with them had math textbooks out and were in a heated discussion about the pop quiz that they had taken. Patricia had an open book in front of her and no empty seats. Passing her a smile as I passed I went to the courtyard doors on the far side of the room. The courtyard was empty and dreary, a tall oak tree sat in the middle surrounded by a stone wall and a bed of wilted flowers. A stone picnic table was lined in moss and soggy chips. Classy. I perched myself on the cold stone wall around the tree, shaking off my wool coat and placing it next to me, and ignoring the cold drops of water that seldom fell from the leaves of the tree above me.

The sky was a murky grey, threatening more rain, but the chilly breeze carried the smell of hotdogs and caramel corn, the smells of summer. God did I miss summer. I pulled out a granola bar and a book named Wicca For Beginners. I found reading books like it interesting because sometimes they actually had something worthwhile in the midst of nonsense. At the first bite of the granola bar, the doors to the courtyard swung open. The boys from history class and a few girls walked out, mid-laugh and conversation. Praying that I wasn't being too creepy by sitting alone, I kept my nose down.

"Yeah! That's what I'm saying." The dark haired boy with the leather jacket said, clasping his hand onto the stone table and sitting on the table and not the seats.

"Hey!" The handsome boy said and I focused my attention on the word spells, hoping I'd gone unnoticed, but fully aware I'd need to acknowledge him at some point for our project. But the shadow casts on the book told me I had to suck it up and look up. There he was, leaning against the rock wall with his hip and smiling.

"Howdy," I said, clearing my throat.

The smile on his face seemed to stretch. "Howdy, history partner."

I smiled with no teeth. "That's me."

His friends were settling in with their lunch, back into saying something through laughter.

"Do I get to know your first name, Miss Bane?" He asked, tilting his head to the side.

I squinted, with his head to the side he looked like a puppy, waiting for something. The thought brought another smile to my face. "Rose."

Head now on straight, a dimple sunk into his cheek. "I like that name. I'm Adam."

"Nice to meet you," I stuck my hand out to shake, his much larger, calloused hand wrapped around mine, sending a wave of electricity over my arm and into my spine. God, I needed to get my head in the right place.

"That over there is KJ," H pointed to the dark haired boy sitting on the table. "Don't ask what it stands for we don't know."

I giggled. "I wasn't gonna."

Adam pulled away, sticking his hands into his pockets. "Good, do you wanna sit over here? KJ won't eat your soul even though he looks like he will."

KJ glanced our way, squinting at his friend. "Hey now."

I laughed again and stood, everything in my head telling me that I probably shouldn't get too friendly since the elders had not even decided that we were going to stay here for the rest of the school year, I sat on the far side of the table, slipping the book about Wicca back into my bag since these people had immediately thought I was weird I didn't need to give any reason to.