Witch (The Devil's Roses 4)

She wasn’t even out of the sheets when her door was thrown open and her sister walked in, “I need you to be nice to Jake today. I told him you like him and he almost lost his mind. He was pumped. Don’t emo on me okay homie? Be the girl I know you are.”

Ophelia buried her face in her pillow, “Oh my god why do you have to exist?”

“You've wished for Jake to like you since we were five and six. Today is your lucky day and he’s going to Lance’s party. So are you by the way.”

Terror filled her, "I can't go to school."

"You have to. If you skip you're going to look guilty."

She looked at her reflection and shook her head, "No. I can't do it and I'm not going to that party with you and the plastics."

"Ride or walk?"

She sighed, "I'll walk. I need to get lost on the way and end up in New York City with a different name and a cool mustache."

Abbey laughed, "Such a loser drama queen." She grabbed her arm, "Come on we'll ride together."

At school she looked around at everyone from the sidewalk in front of the building. Everything looked the way it did everyday. Nothing looked different. She waited for the stares and the pointing to start.

She glared at her sister and waited for it to hit. She couldn’t believe Abbey had dragged her to school. She was strong for such a skinny thing.

Ophelia walked up the stairs of the school feeling embarrassment and pain in each step. She shied away from making eye contact. She would forever be the girl that gave Mr. Paulson a heart attack and nervous breakdown.

“O wait for me.”

She frowned and looked back at Maria, mean girl Maria Thompson, running toward her waving her hands. She looked around for Mack and Noams but they were nowhere to be found. She was going to die alone and humiliated.

She didn’t know what to do.

She almost turtle’d when Maria reached her, but she saw something she hadn’t seen before. Maria smiled at her.

“O we’re having a party tonight, end of year party for all seniors. It’s at Lance’s parents place. They have a pool so bring a suit.”

She stammered, “Uhhh what. N-n-no thanks.”

Maria laughed, “You have to come. You never come to parties and school’s almost over. Please. Jake Mackay asked me to make sure you come.”

O nodded, almost laughing, “Jake, Jake, Jake Mackay?” Her sister hadn’t been messing with her. She raised an eyebrow at Maria.

Maria smacked her in the arm, “You’re being weird. See you at lunch.”

"I’m being weird?’ She muttered and walked up the stairs feeling more scared than she ever had. She felt vulnerable, as if she’d showed up naked.

She couldn’t go to the party. It was a set up. Abbey wasn’t a part of the evil plan. They were using her to get to Ophelia. She nodded to herself as she walked. The plastic's hated her.

People smiled at her, people she didn’t know. Guys winked. She felt her face start to sweat as she hurried to her locker. As she got the door open she took a deep breath. Everyone was in on the plan.

“O can we talk for a second.”

She looked up at the ceiling, “Seriously?” She muttered.

She turned to face Jake. She was certain he was the hottest quarterback in the history of football. He filled all of the space in front of her. His shoulders were each double the size of her entire body. She trembled watching him look her up and own. His grin frightened her. He ran his hand through his dark blond hair. His chiseled features made him impossible to look at. He almost glowed with perfection.

He was it all, tanned skin, winning smile, perfect dark blue eyes and six foot two at least. She had seen him in swim class. She blushed remembering what lie innocently beneath his black t-shirt and jeans. His body looked carved and unreal.

“Hi.” She spoke abruptly, trying desperately to focus on anything but the memory of him in swimming trunks. His abs with droplets of water running down them.

“Pretty crazy what happened yesterday hey. No one really remembers what happened exactly? They said it was like lightning hit the window.”

She shrugged, desperate to not talk about it, “I don’t know, maybe.”

“Paulson’s out for the last few weeks and probably won’t be back next year. You rock. Marie said you might have a poltergeist from the Ouija board. Like Paranormal Activity and shit.”

She nodded, “Oh.” She felt her breath freaking out like she had asthma.

He licked his lips, “Can I pick you up at eight for the party at Lance’s?”

She shook her head, “Oh uhm no thanks.” Her forehead was sweating. She just wanted him to go away. She wiped her forehead with her sleeve, “I’m not going.”

He put his hands on either side of her, backing her completely against the locker, “You have to go.”

She nodded, hypnotized by his eyes, “I do.” Her words were a whisper.

He nodded again, charming every inch of her, “I will pick you up at eight.”

Her breathing had taken flight into the realm of uncontrollable, “You will pick me up.”

He laughed and leaned into her. He feather kissed her cheek. His plump lips pressed against her flushed, no doubt sweaty, cheek. She closed her eyes. She couldn’t be certain, but she might have wet herself.

He pushed himself off the locker making a sound, a growl? She turned back to her locker, desperate to hold on to her emotions. She gripped the metal of the door for a microsecond and took long soothing breaths.

She closed her locker and walked to the bathroom as quickly as she could.

“Uh hooker was that Jake kissing you on the cheek?”

She turned to see Mackenzie and Naomi following her in to the bathroom. They wore matching long sleeve white t-shirts with a dark face smeared on them.

She scowled at them both and walked in to the bathroom, “Where the hell have you two been? God Maria tried to kill me with kindness and everyone thinks I’m totally awesome for almost killing Paulson and Jake just kissed me and I think I'm being haunted by Emily Roses or her ghostly demons.”

Mack sighed, “You weren’t answering the phone or texts last night, what do you expect from us?”

She blushed, "Throwing rocks at my window?"

She looked in the mirror at herself, her pale skin was flushed making her face crimson. Her dark hair was matted with perspiration. She pulled an elastic from her pocket and pulled her hair back into a ponytail. The curly hair looked tame as she dragged the moisture back and across the top of her head to smooth the frizzies. She looked at her face again. She had always thought herself pretty, not beautiful but pretty. She had a flaw. A major one. One she actually liked about herself, her eyes were different colors. The right was a dark, almost black blue and the other was light blue.

Mack pointed to her dark eye, “O it looks angrier today.”

"It's my nervous eye."

Noams laughed, "Dude seriously though, we called like eighty times."

She smiled at her best friends in the mirror, “I was hiding last night. My mom and dad are coming to meet with the principal. Everyone thinks I smashed the windows.”

Noams and Mack both had black bobs with too much dark eye makeup and dark lipstick. They had thin white faces and thin short bodies. The only difference between them was Mack’s huge breasts, they made fun of her for them. She was the stick with boobs. Everyone called them twins, even though they weren't related. Not even a little. They'd done the genealogy charts.

“Tell us the truth O, what happened?”

She turned away from the mirror and shook her head, “I don’t know. I kept hearing those plastic beotches saying shit about me, like I moved the Ouija marker on purpose or that I was a crack head. Then they said I was cutting myself and Abbey told everyone."

"Sluts. That Ripley is a whore. She let the French teacher-"

"-Okay gross. Dude come on."

Noams blushed under her white powdered face, "Sorry. Continue."

Ophelia snickered, "Anyway then I got hot and sweaty and then I yelled at them and the windows all broke and this wind blew through the classroom. The papers went everywhere. It was weird.”

They grinned and spoke simultaneously, “Wicked.”

She shook her head, “Not so wicked. The principal is pissed.”

Noams grinned, “We can be like that movie The Craft.”

Ophelia sighed, “No. This is like a poltergeist from that stupid game. I’m haunted.”

Noams shook her head, "Think of the revenge you could get on Lacey and Ripley. Everyone would know the truth about them."

Ophelia rolled her eyes, "Everyone knows the truth. Lacey got caught with her cousin at junior prom. Oh and remember last year when they faked those crank calls and the police traced the harassing calls back to Lacey's house. That was epic. And of course everyone knows the story about the French teacher and Ripley." She shivered.

"So gross."

"So gross."

Ophelia smirked, "Anyway today has been weirder than yesterday. Everyone is smiling at me and pretending I did an awesome thing. People I don’t know. Like I rock for no reason."

Noams looked at herself in the mirror and adjusted her bangs, "You do rock. We've been telling you this for years. You're just stupid."

Ophelia stuck her tongue out.

“Okay well hokey pocus see you at lunch then and movie night?”

She sighed, “Got invited to Lance’s by Jake. That’s why he was kissing me. He asked me out.”

Their screams filled the small bathroom with echoes.

“You have to go.”

“Oh my god, get laid for all three of us. Can you tape it?”

She laughed, “So disgusting.”

“Okay, we'll see you at lunch unless Jakey wants to show you his snakey in the handi washroom like all the other slutty seniors.”

"Bring Lysol, I heard that's where the French teacher and Ripley have, uhm well you know."