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.

Chapter 4

"Belle! It's Blake freaking Tarragon," I repeated, not hiding the killer agony in my voice.

Belle's face immediately flushed with relief.

"Addie! You had me scared there for a second! I thought you were going to faint or throw up or something," Belle said.

"Maybe I will. I'm going to be stuck with Blake for the rest of the semester! I might as well get my death certificate now," I said. I realized I sounded just a little bit melodramatic, but whatever, it was Blake.

A smile slowly creeped onto Belle's face and she let out a small laugh.

"Hey, calm down. If you think about it, it's not so bad, right?" Belle said.

"What do you mean 'not so bad'? It's horrible! Not only do I hate the guy, he's sleeping with the enemy! No, he is the enemy!" I raged. I swear I could feel my hair getting frizzier by the second.

I was so frustrated that she didn't understand the I position I was in. She wasn't the one tortured through all the three years she's been in high school so far. Okay fine, they picked on Belle every once in a while, but I was always their main target. She didn't even get stuck with an evil Barbie or any of the other annoying popular kids. She had Gaia Lark. I didn't really know the guy but he didn't seem too bad. Sure, he was a jock, but basketball was below football in NWA's popularity food chain. Plus, he wasn't a total douche.

Belle sighed.

"At least it's not Carla," she offered.

"That doesn't comfort me. I got the next best thing. And by best, I mean worst," I ranted on.

I didn't get her. Earlier in the morning, she was the one insisting that I should tell Carla to stake herself. Belle was usually the fiery one out of the two of us.

"Fine," Belle said, giving in.

"If it makes you feel any better, I hear Gaia is a total sleaze. Jesse told me that he slept with the entire girls track team. I'm going to be stuck with a sex crazed basketball player for the next semester. Talk about creepy."

It didn't make me feel any better but I realized something.

"Wait… Isn't Jesse on the girls track team?" I asked with an eyebrow raised.

Belle's face slowly curled up into a little smile.

"Yeah… She is. That dirty little minx," Belle answered.

Belle and I both laughed. In that moment, I felt relief. It was a small distraction, but enough to take my mind off vampire Ken.

"You know what? I've just decided that I will deal with Blake as my partner," I said in a calm and mature tone.

"But, I'm still going to ask Ms. Lark for a change of partners. Just in case," I added.

"If that doesn't work out, you could always put a hex on him," Belle suggested and smiled a very evil smile.

"Haha, that's the Belle I know and love!" I said.

"Yup! Hey, let's head to class, I think we're late," Belle said.

We walked away from the auditorium and to our next lesson. We both had AP chemistry.

"Hey Belle, you go ahead first, I have to go to the bathroom," I said. She nodded and headed off on her own.

I went to the girl's toilet nearby and washed my face. I needed to cleanse myself of the negativity. If I was going to be stuck with Blake for this thing, I might as well embrace it and give it a try. I smiled at myself in the mirror and casually studied my face. Maybe I had exaggerated before about my looks. I guess wasn't exactly unattractive. I just made and effort to hide myself from the world. My mother was a beautiful witch and people have told me that I was her splitting image. She had porcelain skin and the most enchanting, deep, brown eyes. The only thing that set us apart, besides age, was that she didn't have a ball of frizz that was a pathetic excuse for hair.

I sighed, thinking about my mother. I missed her so much.

I attempted to tame my unruly hair and managed by tying it up in a messy bun. That will do, I thought, and walked out of the bathroom. Before I knew what was happening, I had bumped into somebody and fell.

"Watch where you're going!" I said snarkily from the ground.

"What the hell? You bumped into me!" I heard an all too familiar voice say. I looked up to see just what I was expecting; Blake Tarragon.

Oh great, I thought.

I let out an annoyed huff and stood myself up. I tried to calm my mind and cool myself down before speaking. Once I reached a manageable sense of ease, I looked right into his crystal blue eyes and said, "look, we're going to be friends from now on, so I'm going to say, I'm sorry."

I held out my hand as a peace offering.

Blake looked down at my hand, with a puzzled look on his face. At first, that is. He then began to laugh hysterically. It was my turn to look puzzled. What was so funny?

"Friends?" he began in between laughs.

"In your wildest dreams, vermin lover. We aren't going to stay partners much longer."

Of course. He wanted a change of partners just as bad as I did. So much for giving this whole thing a try. I should have expected this would happen.

A smug expression formed on his face and he started walking closer to me. He ended up backing me to a wall and stood just inches from my face. I could feel his breath on my skin. He was starring right into my eyes, his features gone from smug to serious. My heartbeat started to raise. What was going on?

"Just because you're attracted to me, Rosewood, doesn't mean you have a chance in hell," he said.

What.

The.

F*ck.

"Excuse me?" I said, utterly baffled. I slid away from the wall and made a three foot distance between us.

Blake turned around slowly and smiled.

"You heard me, Rosewood. I know you think I'm sexy," he said in a low tone, obviously mocking me.

Well that confirms it. He's nuts. He was not just a narcissistic jerkwad, he was actually delusional.

"Look, Tarragon. I don't know what goes on in that thick Barbie head of yours, but be rest assured, I am not attracted to you."

I flashed him a fake smile and continued.

"In fact, you disgust me. And now, I can't wait until Ms. Lark gets me a new, sane, partner,"

I turned away from him and started walking to class.

"Whatever, loser," he called from behind me, pathetically itching to have the last word.

I rolled my eyes and kept walking.

I didn't get to talk to Belle during AP chemistry, because we had a pop quiz. When class was over, Belle had to find her French teacher to pass up her summer assignment. We met up right before we entered the last period of the day.

It was Spellcasting and Powers. Every NWA student was required to take three Night World classes each week. Witches had Spellcasting and Powers, vampires had Guide to Vampirism (a.k.a. GV), shapeshifters had Shifting and werewolves had Lycanthropy.

These classes were specifically designed to; focus on our special abilities, learn to deal with our weaknesses, learn to fight, and cultivate our unique powers.

Every Night Person has a unique power. For example, all vampires can manipulate thoughts, have super strength, and speed, but only some could shape shift. Vampires, shapeshifters, and werewolves had a very limited range of power possibilities. The unique powers for witches, on the other hand, were endless. Most night world people lived their whole lives (some through eternity) without uncovering their unique power. This was because only the strong or gifted ones could unlock them. Everybody had the potential, but not everyone had the skill. Even in NWA there were very few people who had unlocked their powers.

Amazingly, I was the exception. I discovered my unique powers at a young age. I had my mother to thank for this. She was one of the most gifted and special witches in her time. She possessed the power of telekinesis; the ability to move things with her mind. When I was just seven, she told me I would have inherited the exact same power. She showed me how to use my ability. The best I could manage was making a feather float in the air. It wasn't much, unlike her skills. She could lift a building after unattaching it from the ground if she had wanted to. Still, I had to start somewhere and I had a lot to learn from her. Sadly for me, my mother burned in a fire later that very day.

I tried everything to save her afterwards. I looked at every book, every spell, and every enchantment. I even managed to get a vampire to donate their blood to give my mother. Unfortunately for me, nothing worked. I had felt so powerful when I first accessed my powers but when I couldn't save my mother from a simple fire, I had never felt more weak.

From that day on, I avoided using my powers as much as possible because it reminded me too much of my mother. It was too much pain to bear.

When I started attending NWA, the 'Spellcasting and Powers' classes encouraged me to try again. Surprisingly enough, I did. Even though it hurt so much to think about her, I realized that my powers were the only connection with my mother that I had left.

Belle discovered her power in junior year. Matching her volatile and wild personality, she could create fire from her fingertips. This was extremely ironic because it meant Belle, as a witch, was fireproof. If only all the witches that had burned at the stake had the same power she did. Belle's power wasn't dangerous though, at least not so far. The best she could do was light a candle. She couldn't even shoot the fire from her hands. She was about as lethal as a walking matchstick. Her power was more defensive than offensive because it allowed her to be immune to fire. To be honest, my ability was considered one of the most powerful in the world. Yet, I was still the most unpopular, freak of a loser, in school. C'est la vie.

Each Spellcasting and Powers class of the week had three distinct lesson plans. Monday was the normal spells, hexes, curses and etcetera. Wednesday focused on physical training and unique powers. Since witches were the weakest in physical offense out of all the night world people, we learned the traditional ways to fight. If we had offensive unique powers, like I did, we would learn to use them in battle. Friday was about how to deal with iron and other weaknesses. Some extreme students had a daily diet consisting of a lot of iron to become immune. Night World classes always took place the last period of the day, so if any of us wanted to stay back to train or cultivate or powers, we could. Belle and I did this together every Monday.

The two of us were three minutes late when we awkwardly walked in to a room full of witches. Mrs. Stone, our teacher, did not look very happy.

"Nice of you two to join us, have a seat, ladies," she said coldly.

We obeyed and sat in the last two tables left at the back of the class. I loved the Spellcasting and Powers classroom. The room smelt like nature, because of the herbs and spices. It was decorated beautifully. The theme was purple and blue. There were crystals on the walls and hanging from the ceiling. There were spellcasting books on fairytale like shelves alongside potions and other knick knacks. The class also had cauldrons and crystal balls. The cauldrons were obviously for potion making.

At the back of the class, were three magical doors. The first door led to our training arena. The second door led to the nurses' office in the other end of the school, because our crafts could sometimes be dangerous and explode in our faces. The last door was the place with the rooms where the students developed and discovered their unique powers. There were separate rooms for each individual witch. This was because some powers had to be contained, and some could be lethal.

"Today we will learn about deadly curses…" Mrs. Stone started.

I whizzed through class. I always enjoyed anything to do with witchcraft. It was always so fun, even the homework assignments.

It was now time for training with Belle.

Belle and I always partnered up during training because we were the only ones with powers that could be used in fighting in our class. There were only three other people who had unlocked their powers in our class. One girl had the ability to talk to animals, so she always brought her pet cat to class. Another girl had the power to heal small wounds like cuts and light burns, she wasn't able to heal anything worse than that. The last witch with the power was a boy. He had the ability to sense the true moods of people when he touched them. If somebody was smiling, but actually sad on the inside, he would know. He would have to be a creep and somehow manage to touch them, but he would know.

Belle usually used these enchanted paper balls when training. The paper balls, when lighted up by fire can be thrown like a fireball. Before they are lighted, they are about as small as the tip of your thumb. When they are lighted up, they grow to take up your entire hand. Only people who were wearing fireproof gloves or people who were actually fireproof themselves could wield these fireballs.

The school made a special space in the arena for Belle and me that was made of fireproof material, just for us to train in. During training battles, each student had to protect their ribbon on their side of the court by fighting off the other student. Fireproofing was very necessary. Usually, we didn't have battles though, we just trained. Belle liked to train on the target dummies with her fireballs. I normally trained on the dummies by kickboxing or using my power. I still hadn't mastered my ability. Actually I was far from mastering it. At this point in my training, the most I could do was make a book levitate or deflect Belle's palm sized fireballs. This would already wear me out by the end of training.

I think that if I had ever developed my powers when I was younger, I'd be able to do a lot more. I hadn't advanced much since I've attended NWA, but a book was a large step from a feather. Every once in a while I tried to move something bigger, like a backpack or a chair but I usually ended up with a bleeding nose. Sometimes I would faint and wake up in the nurse's office. My powers really took a lot of energy out of me. When I tried to lift a backpack with my mind, it was just as difficult as trying to lift a couch with my hands. Except all whole body ached eventually, not just my arms. It wasn't only me of course, Belle would also get worn out by her power. Her energy acted as a fuel for her fire.

Belle and I both headed to the shooting area of the arena. We chose spots right next to each other. Belle practiced her shooting with her fireballs. I usually did it with darts. I didn't throw them with my hands though, I used my mind. I did it to practice my aim.

Belle picked up her first paper ball. She held it with her thumb and index finger and lighted it up. The ball transformed into a fire ball and it began floating above her hand. She took her first shot and the fireball hit the target's torso. I smiled.

"I ran into Blake before chemistry today," I said to her. I put my hand over a dart and concentrated on it until it began to lift off its pile. I looked at the target twenty feet away from me and I focused on it's head. My mind let the dart shoot. It ended up on Belle's target instead of mine. Oops.

"Really? What happened?" She asked, ignoring my awful shot.

I thought about telling Belle that he cornered me against the wall, but decided against it. I didn't want her to get any ideas.

"He's going to ask for a switch," I said, leaving out the details of our encounter.

"Oh, and he was a complete asshole," I added.

"Typical," she snorted.

"Yeah. I really do hope this change of partners works out in the end. If not, that self-centered, male Barbie is going to have to watch out," I said.

There was no way I was going to play nice anymore.

Yay, I'm revamping and updating this pretty fast ehy?

Hehe, thanks for all the reviews so far. I love you all!

xx