Sorry this one's late! I originally intended for it to be all the way up and done before my berfday and Halloween, but with my berfday being the day magic dies and all, things just didn't work out. Oh well, at least I got it started on my berfday! (Note: my berfday's actually on 29 October, so it's already here in Japan...you know, International Date Line stuff...)

Wesley walked into the Office of Campus Life and signed in with the secretary, a young and attractive African-American work study student who looked as young and he did. Her shoulder length black hair shone as the sunlight bounced off of it through the window. She smiled warmly at him as he wrote his name, dormitory name, and reason for seeing the dean. He was almost back at his seat before she called back to him.

"So," she said, "you're looking to change roommates already? It's only been a couple of months."

"I know," Wesley sighed, "but it just isn't working out. Long story."

"I'm sorry to hear that," she replied with a genuine sincerity. "I'm having some problems with my roommate. She's too dirty."

"Same here," Wesley said. "A little, anyway."

He turned back around and took his seat again, completely unaware that the girl was still looking at him. Too many other things were flowing through his mind; he no longer felt that he could trust James and Matthew, his so called brothers, his classes were starting to become harder with each passing day, demons and warlocks kept attacking relentlessly, and his birthday was quickly approaching, as was Halloween.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked, catching his attention again. "I mean, you know, sometimes talking about your problems helps to make them better."

"Well," Wesley said hesitantly, "it's kind of complicated to explain."

"You don't have to," she said quickly. "I just meant that if you wanted to, I'm all ears. I'm Stephanie, by the way."

"Nice to meet you," Wesley said, smiling at her. "Wesley."

"I know," she replied. "You just wrote it."

They both laughed a little bit at Stephanie's words. Wesley looked into her eyes and realized that she was very attractive. At first, he had been too preoccupied with his life to notice, but now he felt a slight attraction to her and believed that she had a mutual feeling. The thought of having someone close to him whom he could trust relieved him quite a bit; if he could just tell somebody about everything that had happened to him over the past two months, he would feel a lot better than if he kept it all bottled inside him.

Then he remembered something; as extroverted and carefree as he was, none of it stuck when it came to women. He would get very shy and back away. He usually blamed it on a lack of relationships (he had only been in one serious relationship before now), but deep down he knew that it was because he couldn't stand the thought of being rejected.

Minutes passed and the silence became longer and more awkward as Wesley hid his face behind a book and Stephanie returned to her computer, typing nervously. She had never been in a serious relationship before now and was interested in Wesley. She wasn't very outgoing and was also shy when it came to romance, but she had hoped that the feeling would go away if Wesley asked her out. Who ever heard of a girl asking a guy out, anyway, she thought. She sighed as she gathered Wesley's impression on her.

"Um," she said, "Dean Moon can see you now."

"Thanks," he said awkwardly as he power-walked into the dean's office, not looking back at Stephanie. He silently cursed himself and wondered where all that confidence from before had gone.

He was about to open the door to the dean's office when the door suddenly flew open and a hand grabbed Wesley from behind. It scared him and he threw up his hands, freezing Stephanie in time. He turned around to see the last two people he wanted to see.

"What the hell is wrong with y'all?" Wesley asked. "Look what y'all made me do!"

"There's no time to explain," James said, pulling Wesley towards the door. "We've got a demon on our tails and we need you!"

"No," Wesley replied defiantly, snatching his arm away from James' grip.

"What?" James and Matthew asked in unison.

"I said no!" Wesley said firmly. "I'm tired of doing this. I'm tired of dealing with y'all. I just want to have a normal life now, with no magic and no Jimmy and no Matt and no demonic aftertaste. So, if y'all will excuse me, I have an appointment and a girl to unfreeze."

"She's cute," Matthew said. "You like her?"

"Don't try to play on my feelings, Matt," Wesley said. "Get out of here!"

At that moment, Stephanie unfroze and was staring at James and Matthew, who had seemed to appear from out of nowhere. Wesley thought quickly; he had to come up with something or else risk being exposed, although he felt that he could trust her with his unwanted secret. He laughed nervously to break this second awkward silence.

"I'm just gonna go in here now," Wesley said, smiling slightly and ignoring James and Matthew.

"But we have to take care of something," James said through his teeth. "Your appointment's not that important."

"This is why I'm here," Wesley said to Stephanie, pointing lazily at his two brothers. "They won't leave me alone."

Before Stephanie could respond, a large creature materialized into the room, appearing to have faded into sight. It was grotesque in appearance; it had a mouth full of fangs, claws for hands, and its eyes were a pale green. Its skin was a sort of crimson color and it had a face resembling a wolf with a body to match. It was covered in red fur.

It launched itself at Stephanie, who fainted at the sight of it. Wesley gasped and froze the beast in its path, hovering a few feet away from Stephanie's face with its claws outstretched. James waved his hand and the beast was hurled in the opposite direction toward a window. Wesley quickly shot out his hands and froze it again, just before it crashed into the glass window.

Again, sorry about the lateness! I changed the storyline a bit and had to change everything else after that. But in the next chapter: the demon is dealt with, and Wesley deals with his brothers...click that "next chapter" button right now!