As a Night World Academy student and witch, Addie Rosewood has always dreamed about her soulmate. Her world crashes when unfortunate events lead her to realize her soulmate is the school's super-jock and ultimate jerk, Blake Tarragon.

I have no rights and/or ownership over the night world series in any way. The main characters in this story are my own creation.

Hey Guys!

So.. for now, I'll still be continuing this story. No major changes. Thanks for the reviews! I hope you enjoy (:

Chapter 2

"Now, you will read your poems out to the class. Starting with Miss Rosewood," Mr. Oak said.

Yes, of course, it was me again. Always me. Why did the world enjoy picking on me so much?

I walked to the front of the classroom and held up my notebook. Looking around the room, I guess I didn't have much to worry about as bored and sleepy faces crowded the seats in front of me.

"This poem is called Temporary. Since our topic is Inspiration, my poem is about getting over difficult times."

"Let's hear it," Mr. Oak said.

I took in a deep breath and closed my eyes for a second. I really didn't want to read the poem out loud. It was quite personal to me. Ever since the incident, I had only been able to write about darker things. I didn't usually write poetry. My entire piece was actually just a rewrite of some of my old song lyrics. I was hoping that I wouldn't be one of the chosen few to read in class. Still, I couldn't stand the idea of failing or disappointing Mr. Oak, so I did it anyway.

"I'm trying hard to speak out
but no one can hear a thing
I'm crying and I'm screaming loud
but no one is listening

So I kick myself off the ground
Need to show myself how to breathe
Something better will come around
Even if it won't be easy

Soon the nightmare will end
Even if I don't know when

It's only temporary"

Just one more deep breath.

"Okay. I'm done," I said.

I had no response of any kind at first. It was quiet and everybody seemed disinterested. Then, out of nowhere, a deep and annoyingly familiar voice boomed from the back of the class.

"Aw, that was so sad Addie. So freaking touching that I have a damn tear in my eye," Blake Tarragon said with an overly sarcastic tone. He placed his finger at the bottom of his eye and dragged it down with a fake sad expression. As I expected, everybody immediately laughed at his oh-so hilarious remark. I just rolled my eyes. Typical of Blake to start picking on me on the first day. He just sat there with a smug smile on his face, soaking up his popularity.

I turned and gave Mr. Oak a look that said, "just let me go, you've humiliated me enough."

He seemed to take the hint, saying, "That was inappropriate Mr. Tarragon and thank you Miss Rosewood, you can go sit now."

I obeyed and went back to my seat which was located inconveniently next to Carla's. Seating arrangements weren't our choice in NWA. We were assigned seats by the subject teacher at the beginning of the semester. As I sat down, Carla looked at me and mouthed 'boo hoo'. I just chose to ignore her.

"Now, Miss Refern, why don't you give it a shot?" Mr. Oak asked.

"Oh of course, Mr. Oak. I worked so hard on my poem, unlike Addie," Carla said as she got up from her seat. Her wavy blonde locks fell gracefully past her shoulders, and her heels made loud clacking noises as she walked up to the front of the class.

"This poem is so personal to me. I call it Best Friend."

"Yesterday I was at the mall
When I saw the prettiest thing of all
It was sparkly and big and I had to try it
Once I did, I had to buy it

A big diamond ring it was
I needed to have it because
Diamonds are a girl's best friend
And my love for them will never end"

"The end," she added with a smile.

Carla's cheerleader minions started clapping loudly from the back of the class. The rest of the class eventually followed although my eyes just rolled to the back of my head. Shallow as ever. When did Carla become such a dimwit?

"Thank you everyone. I worked so hard on it," Carla said after the applause died down.

Mr. Oak did not look as amused as Carla did as she started strutting back to her seat. When she reached me she said, "now that's a real poem, loser."

Again, I just stayed quiet. It took almost all my willpower not to throw my backpack on her face, but I managed not to.

"Oh my gosh Carla, that was genius!" I heard a a very perky minion exclaim.

"Yeah Carla, I wish I had your amazing creative skills," another minion added.

"I know right?" Carla responded as she flipped her blonde hair.

Carla had two minions. One was called Bridgette and the other was Fiona. Fiona was this small freckled girl with a short red pageboy cut. She was considered the cutest girl in school because she was so tiny and perky all the time. Bridgette was tall and fierce looking, a lot less bubbly than Fiona. She had super straight, waist-length brown hair and a fringe that looked like a comb. Any other person would have looked like a geek but she pulled it off just fine. Her dark, almost raccoon-like eyeliner was also a trademark. Fiona was a shape shifter. Most people expected her to turn into bright red bunny but actually she shape shifted into a lioness. Bridgette was a witch like me but she was part of Circle Midnight.

"That was a nice try Miss Redfern, but I wanted all of you to write an inspirational piece, not a work of satire," Mr. Oak said.

"Well, Mr. Oak, I'm sure it might not be inspiring to you because you aren't a girl. As I said in my poem, diamonds are a girl's best friend, not diamonds are a man's best friend. You men have dogs for that," Carla retorted in retaliation. She stopped fearing talking back to teachers when she realized they cowered under her Redfern name.

"Really? I thought cats were a man's best friend," Fiona said, a little lost. She wasn't joking. I forgot to mention that Fiona should have really been blonde. At least as far as the stereotypes go. She wasn't the brightest person in school, to say the least. Then again, maybe she dyed her hair red because it was impossibly vibrant.

"No, Fiona," Carla replied.

"Oh? Then I guess I should trade my brother's cat for a diamond," Fiona said.

"You mean dog." Carla corrected.

"What? Why are we talking about dogs now?" Fiona asked back, confused.

"Okay girls, that's enough chit-chat," Mr. Oak said, stopping them.

After four more poems were read, class ended and the rest of us just passed up our assignments onto his desk. Before all of us had a chance to rush out - and some of us could literally rush out super fast - Mr. Oak made an announcement.

"Class, before you go, all senior students are required to attend the senior class assembly that will take place in Redfern Hall after lunch."

We usually had our assemblies in Redfern Hall. Redfern Hall was the biggest auditorium in NWA. It was named after Hunter Redfern when he donated the money - and other "items" to the vampires of the school board - to get it built. By items, I mean humans.

The next few classes were much better than first period English because Belle was in them too. With Belle to talk to, I managed to avoid making a snide remark at Carla every time she 'subtly' insulted me. Belle always managed to distract me. It was mostly reverse psychology. She kept trying to convince me to tell Carla to shove it, but I was determined to prove I had more self-control than that.

"Come on Addie, you're not going to let her say that to you," Belle insisted.

"Belle, I know you're only trying to help, but I'm ignoring them. Anyway, it's for my own good. I don't want the soda incident to happen again. At least not on the first day. I'm wearing a white shirt," I replied.

"Fine, it's your call but you know the bitch deserves it," Belle said.

The soda incident was the name I gave for the time I finally cracked a witty reply to one of Carla's insults. I just told her that she looked like a pastry in her dress, and she thought I was calling her fat. She immediately told me to shut up (how original) and then when I provoked her by saying, "is that the best you've got?" she actually grabbed my tank top, pulled out the neckline, and poured all of her bright pink soda into my bra. Yeah... my mistake. Everyone laughed at me and some people actually cheered for Carla. Like pouring soda was some legendary accomplishment. It always is when you pour it on the pathetic human sympathizing loser.

That incident was mostly the reason I wanted to avoid further contact with Carla and the rest of the popular gang. It was my favorite sky blue strapless bra, and the stains never came off. I never wore that bra again.

When classes ended and it was time for lunch, Belle and I decided to ditch the cafeteria and head to the Starbucks right across from school. A small perk of being upperclassmen was that we were all allowed to leave school for lunch. This was as long as we were back to school in time for classes. So Belle and I had a good forty-five minutes.

We didn't leave because the cafeteria was bad or anything though. Most of the Vampires and Werewolves chose to stay in school because where else would they get a blood section or a raw meat section. The "witch" food (regular food) was actually decent too. Belle and I just hated the crowds.

We reached the Starbucks fairly quickly and luckily for us, there was no line.

"I would like one Espresso Con Panna and the Protein Artisan Snack Plate, please," Belle ordered.

"Anything else?" the fairly disinterested cashier asked.

"Oh, yes. For my friend here, a Strawberry Smoothie and an Egg Salad Sandwich. Thank you," she answered. Belle and I took turns to order and pay for each other. We had a Monday at Starbucks tradition ever since we were allowed to leave school for lunch.

After we got our food and drinks we sat at our usual booth on the second floor, by the big windows.

"So, there's supposed to be an important assembly for us seniors after this, right?" I asked.

"Yeah, I heard that it's going to be about some kind of semester long assessment or project or something." Belle replied.

"Really? What kind?" I asked.

"I'm not sure... But Jesse told me in first period French that we all have to have a partner, and also it will take up to twenty percent of our final year grade," she answered.

"Seriously? That's crazy. I wonder what it's going to be..."

"Probably something really lame."

"Haha. I hope I get partnered with you," I said with a smile.

"Me too. It would be great if we get to choose. I don't want to spend a whole semester on a big project with some weirdo. Or worse, a ditzy cheerleader," Belle said, making a gag face.

"Or a stupid Jock," I added in utter agreement.

Oh how I wished I hadn't jinxed it.