Part One: Lovestruck Boys

Chapter One: The Virgin Talk

What is this thing called popularity anyway? If I'm so popular, why can't it rub off on Torrence?

Auriella Saratoga sighed, leaning her head on the cold—and probably unsanitary—tiled wall behind her to get a better hearing range. She was listening to their math teacher, Mr. Hughes, tear apart her best friend, Torrence Hudson, for missing so much school not too long ago. Due to her constant skipping, she was way behind in math class and had no way of catching up.

"Oh, hey, Auriella!" Rose Hudgens laughed and waved, bouncing up to the eavesdropping blonde.

Auriella looked at the approaching girls, all fellow cheerleaders. Briefly, she wondered if her blonde hair was in perfect order—nice and straight and shining just right--, if her blue eyes were sparkling with the perkiness of a cheerleader—she was really tired. But, hey, you would be, too, if you had to lead the stupidest girls in cheer routines, date your totally hot footballer boyfriend, fend off the advances of a Follower, and battle evil in your spare time--, and if her clothes were in perfect order. Perfection, perfection, perfection.

"Rose, Kayla, Tanya," Ella greeted, nodding at the three girls in order of status, as it was at La Brea High School.

Rose flipped her glossy brown curls, the plastic smile glued to her face. "What are you doing, babe? Trying to get scoped out?"

"No, I'm act—"

"Damn. I swear all the teachers here are against me!" Torrence cried out, stomping her way out of Mr. Hughes's room. "Ella, you have to save me."Kayla and Tanya tittered softly, eyeing Torrence like a piece of meat. Despite the fact that Torrence was Ella's best friend, that she was easily the most beautiful girl in school, and totally cool, Torrence wasn't exactly popular. She was too much a free spirit, liberal and independent.

Torrence heard the giggling and directed her dangerous azure eyes at them, which quit their laughter. She fluffed her thick, black hair before stretching some, her toned body being shown off. Guys passing by whistled at her, and in return, she winked, drawing on her sex appeal and the fact that Rose, Kayla, and Tanya would begin to simmer with jealousy.

Ella smiled at her dance friend, watching the way she worked her looks—the tan, her slight dancer muscles, her looks—to her advantage. Torrence could most definitely handle her own. That was why she was the elected leader of the Daughters.

Torrence and Auriella were goddesses, real life goddesses of the moon. Their "mother", Selene, had sent them to Earth as protectors of mankind against the evil force known as the Atrox. The Atrox wasn't the only one whom they were pitted against. A rogue group of ex-Followers called the Infidi—the treacherous ones—also considered themselves the Daughters' enemies. Especially one guy in particular named Tymmie whom the Daughters had scorned not too long ago.

Torrence and Ella weren't the only Daughters. Their two friends, Hailley Green and Cameron "Blaze" Mitchells, made up their dysfunctional quartet. As Daughters of the Moon, they each had powers to fight evil. Torrie had the ability to create ice at will—cryokinesis—and could see visions in her ice mirror. Hailley's highly terrifying power was that of mind manipulation—she could bend others to her will. Blaze called herself the time goddess because of her expanding gift of chronokinesis—lately she was learning to slow down time instead of just completely stopping it. Ella's power was pyrokinesis—she was a total hot head.

But being a Daughter was a lot more complicated than just that. Currently, their track record was complicated…and personal.

Auriella hadn't experienced yet what Torrence and Blaze did, but her Daughter life was beginning to swim. Even though she had a really good boyfriend, another guy was tugging at her, even if she didn't want him to. His name was Anthony, and he just happened to be a Follower for the Atrox. Since their first meeting, she was finding it harder and harder to resist him, but she was keeping it strong. Although, the whispered allure of a promise he meant to keep to her was breaking down her walls.

"Yo!" Bounding up the hallway was the replica of Torrence, if she was a guy. Christopher Ormond, Torrie's twin brother, slung his arm around his sister. Even though it was apparent they were fraternal twins, they looked alike. Chris was a tad paler than his sister and taller, but their facial features were nearly exact, and they had the same piercing blue eyes, as did their father Stanton. His hair was black, too, except now he had put crimson streaks in it.

Rose batted her lashes at the newcomer. "Hi, Chris."

"Oh, hey. So, Torrie, Ella, you ready for lunch?" Chris asked, blowing off the Hispanic cheerleader.

"Definitely. I'm famished!" Torrence exclaimed, giving her brother a smile. Ella nodded, ready to follow.

"Bye, slut," Tanya called after her, waving her fingers.

Torrence stiffened and stopped walking, but Chris, the ever calm guru that he was, gripped her shoulders and pushed her forward. Only Ella saw the icicles begin to form in her friend's hands.

"You know, Ella," Rose began, her eyebrow arched as she spoke, "if you don't give it up to Gavin soon, he'll find it elsewhere. Probably with Torrence. I mean, if she slept with the principal, she'd sleep with her best friend's boyfriend."

Auriella winced. Not too long after the Follower Larry—who posed as the school principal and gained Torrie's trust in what the Daughters believed was an attempt to turn her to the Atrox—left the school, it became news why the principal resigned. Soon, word got out that Torrence had been having an affair with him, all before she was even sixteen. It didn't help Torrence's status within the school.

"Whatever, Rose. I trust Torrence," Ella said, walking past the girls. "I'll see you later at practice."

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Ella was only fifteen, so she felt she wasn't even ready to have sex, especially not with quarterback Gavin Devrough.

"What's on your mind, Firebug?" Torrence asked, poking at the school lunch before her. Fighting Followers did not prepare you for the mystery meat, that was for sure.

Ella shrugged, absently braiding her blonde hair. "I don't know."

"Those bitches say something to you?"

She looked at the twins looking at her. They seemed curious and worried. Suddenly, she was happy that Hailley went to Hollywood High and Blaze was stuck over in Turney with Conrad Killingsworth—the twins' cousin and Jimena's son. Jimena was their Magna Mater, the mother figure that guided them.

"I…Well…Torrence, what was it like having sex?" Ella finally asked, her cheeks growing red and her skin burning.

Torrence choked on her soda, coughing and sputtering. Chris laughed as he patted her on the back.

"Sex, Ella? I thought you were all pure and virginal," Torrie joked.

"Er…"

"It was…I don't know. At the time, I thought it was the best thing ever. And Larry knew how to melt the ice, if you know what I mean. I look on it now, though, and realize it was wrong. I'll never be a virgin again," Torrence mused, shrugging, but there was a wistful look bouncing in her eyes.

"Oh. So, if you had the chance, you would do it all over again differently?" Ella inquired.

"Well, yeah. I guess so." Torrence grinned then. "The sex part was great though. Sex is nice."

"Really don't need to hear this," Chris groaned, rubbing his temples.

"Look, why the sudden curiosity? Is Gavin pushing for sex?" Torrence questioned, a hard look covering her face.

"Or is it that Anthony guy?" Chris asked after her.

"No! I just wanted to know!" Auriella cried. How could she explain the popularity factor of her life? It pressured her to be in on the band wagon.

"Well, virginity is a great thing to hold special," Chris put in, smiling at her.

"You're a virgin, too, Chris?" Ella smiled awkwardly, hoping.

"Nope!" He leaned back, crossing his arms behind his head in a macho-like way. "I lost it last year to this total babe named Claire. She was seventeen."

"Last year, you were fourteen," Torrence pointed out, poking the boy in the chest.

"Yeah. I have skills."

Ella sighed, wishing now that she hadn't brought up the topic. Tor reached over, squeezing her hand.

"At least Hailley is still a virgin. I'm pretty sure Blaze should still be."

Yeah… That made her feel better.

Next Up: Anthony, yay!