IIIIIIII Scarlet IIIIIIII

I pick up a rock off the ground and hurl it into the lake. "My planet was cursed by an evil wizard- he turned my planet as dark as his heart, and the people with it. His sister was an enchantress that tried to protect my world, but she was defeated by her brother and driven into hiding. For centuries, the enchantress lived alone and gathered enough strength to create a powerful curse to counteract her brother's."

I can hear him frown by his town. "Alright," he says, "so your planet got mixed up in a sibling rivalry and suffered big time. What does that have to do with you?"

My fingers find my necklace again as I reply, "The enchantress decided to use her curse on the next baby born into the royal line. So now I get to decide the fate of my planet, thanks to her and her prophecy."

There's a moment of silence, minus the crickets. We both look over the lake until finally, Kal whistles and mutters, "And I thought I had a lot on my plate."

It's a ridiculously big plate, and it doesn't make sense that a teen girl should have to decide the fate of a planet. Really, what was the enchantress thinking?

I take a deep breath, realizing the more I think about it, the more frustrated I get. "Whenever I have a negative emotion, I change into a witch when I transform. I don't know how to stop it." I run my hand through my hair and sigh. Here I am confessing everything to a guy I just met. Wait- that's probably bad.

He uncrosses his arms and leans forward. "Wouldn't the prophecy have answers?"

I hesitate and glance away. The breeze picks up again, and my hair flies in front of my face. "I've never actually read the prophecy, or seen it." I don't even know who the enchantress is, either.

"Wait." He turns his head to me and says, "You have an entire prophecy about you and you've never seen it? How do you even know it's true?"

I tuck my hair behind my ear and reply, "It's easy to eavesdrop when you can make yourself invisible. I did it all the time- that's part of the reason I was shipped off to boarding school. But I still couldn't find answers."

Kal chuckles and relaxes, saying, "I mean, if I had powers like that I'd probably do the same." He sits up straighter and adds, "You know, I don't think your powers are all that bad. Sure, it's not an element, or something organic, but it still sounds really useful. It's just a sneakier ability."

"You know, you know everything about me now, and all I know is you're a middle child from Titannus."

He smiles under the moonlight. "Well, I like running, bacon and green pepper pizza, and gold eyes. And I'm starting to think cursed girls are my type."

Heat rises to my cheeks, and I turn away. My heart's beating quickly again, but it's not from dread like ten minutes ago. I take a deep breath and try to keep calm as I say, "You know you can't tell anyone this, right? The headmistress doesn't even know."

He shrugs. "Who do I have to tell? And can't you just erase my memory if you wanted?"

I furrow my eyebrows, and my heart sinks. I guess he would think that of me. "I'm not going to erase your memory, unless that's something you want."

"Psh, why would I want that? This has been the most interesting night I've had." He bumps my shoulder. "You want a ride back to Alfea? It's almost past curfew."

"Crap." My eyes widen and I check my phone. I really need to get a password.

He stands and extends his hand to me. I pause at his gesture. I've somehow poured out my life story to this guy, and he hasn't run away. For a moment, I think this must be a trick. After all, why would he stay? Why would he track me down just to give me my phone back?

He smiles and shakes his head. "Still having trust issues? Don't you think it's a bit too late for that?"

"I just...Why did you find me? I figured I'd never see you or my phone again."

Kal pulls away for a moment, and his voice is soft when he replies, "To be honest, I wasn't sure what I was going to do. But I knew I couldn't let the alley be the last time I saw you. You seemed super nice at dinner, and we had a lot in common. I couldn't believe you were a witch." He smiles again. "And, don't hate me, but when your roommate called, and I answered and told her what happened, she kinda went crazy. Called you her 'misunderstood cinnamon roll' or something, and demanded that I find you. She knew your secret, and she didn't care."

My eyes widen. She called me her misunderstood cinnamon roll?! I'm gonna kill her.

Kal smiles and continues, "I figured, if she doesn't care, then why should I?"

I'm still sitting on the bench, but I can't bring myself to move. To blink. I never thought I'd meet anyone who would understand me, or at least not be afraid of me, or judge me on the spot. Rooming with Trish had been my miracle. Even when she found out, even when I broke down crying and told her everything, all she did was hug me. She hugged me and told me that everything was going to be alright. And now, thanks to her, there's someone else willing to listen, to understand, to not judge me.

Kal extends his hand to me again. "So you coming or what?"

I reach up and take his hand.

Maybe this night wasn't so bad after all.