CHAPTER 2

"Hello," he greeted while I walked into his average muscular, welcoming arms.

"Hello," I said with a smile.

"How are you today?"

"I'm good now. Are you feeling any better?" I looked up at his feather patterned dark blue-grey eyes, though they looked more grey than blue today because of the V-neck t-shirt he was wearing. I placed my hand on his arms to feel his energy with my magic.

He felt perfect, healthy as a horse. There was no way he was sick; there was no trace of weak or cold spirit in his body.

"Yeah." He smiled and kissed my forehead. "Let's go eat."

I raised an eyebrow at him but let it go anyway, thinking maybe he'll tell me later about it. "Okay,"

Ronnie and Abby were already settled at out table with our other friends, including Mateo and Ryan. Mateo was Drew's height, which is a few inches taller than me. In our group of friends, he was the soccer star who played amazingly on the drums. His brown eyes and hair, bright and contagious smile, basically his presence makes me happy because, even though he was my former boyfriend to be completely honest, we were still close. Then there was Ryan; the funny break dancer, always smiling and having fun.

Drew and I walked towards the table with his arms around my shoulder.

"Ey, Drew!", "Hey, what's up man?" were the greets he received once we joined them. All of us hung out, ate and had fun as usual during lunch time, but I wasn't as satisfied today. Why would Drew skip school if he wasn't sick? If he wasn't sick, where has he been all weekend long?

The bell rang right after I took the last bite of my sandwich and placed the bottle of Nestea I haven't finished in my bag. I swung it over my shoulder and said my goodbyes to my friends before we went our separate ways until the end of the day. Drew walked with me to my last class, Math, along with his friend Stefano.

Stefano had an average height and is fairly well-built. He had perfect features for a young man; he had a very light shade of brown for his hair that complimented his pallid skin that would slightly glow in a bright room. Many girls would chase after him. He's a very nice guy who's always ready to lend a hand, easy to talk to, and to make things better, he has the looks. Though I find Drew more attractive of course, Stefano's just a good friend of mine. One thing I never understood about Stefano was his eyes that changes shades the slightest bit of his eye color every now and then. I'm pretty sure humans wouldn't notice, but witches could. Our senses and strength are 25% stronger than humans.

We stopped walking at the door of Mr. Romero's class.

"Are you coming to watch our football game on Friday night?" Stefano asked before he left.

"Football?" I questioned. "I thought you guys had a soccer tournament this week,"

"That's in two weeks, Emily," Drew reminded me.

"Oh. Well, yeah sure. I guess I'll be doing some cheerleading this Friday. Go Timberwolves! " I said with sarcastic eagerness.

Stefano chuckled.

"We'll be there for your volleyball game in return, Captain." Drew played.

I deliberated for a moment. "Okay, I'm fine with that."

Drew kissed my forehead and headed to his class with Stefano, walking away into the navy, grey and white colour halls.

"Bye guys!"

"Bye, Emily," Stefano waved while Drew returned an adorable smile, his lips just simply curving.

"I'll call you later!" he promised.

I sighed happily, strolling into class.

For the first ten minutes, I couldn't stop thinking about Drew. His dark blue-grey eyes, medium golden brown hair, sunkissed skin, gorgeous cheek bones and dimples would make me drool.

"Let's go Timberwolves, let's go! Woo!" I cheered with my friends in unison.

It was a Friday afternoon I was spending with my buddies rooting for our school's football team and Mateo, Drew and Stefano were part of it. Today's game: Timberwolves vs. Warriors from Woodbridge High playing in the finals. Football was one of the main things at our school that everyone loved to shore up.

The sun was still high up in the sky, its shine glowing above us and exposing the white, grey and navy blue colors of our team while on the other side was the other team with their red and golden yellow supporters on the bleachers at the other side of the green field. At the moment, our team was tied with the other and there was only less than a minute left.

The sight of the football ball in the hands of my boyfriend made me fidgety. Drew was sprinting in the direction of the end zone. Glancing on his left side, he dodged a Warrior who dived for him and jumped over his body after his attempt. Still running, he passes it to Stefano who was 7 seconds away from the end zone. Stefano ran quick and made it look easy for him to dodge others, but Mateo and another team mate were by his side defending him. With all the Warriors running for Stefano, he was running to his sides a bunch of times, taking forever to reach the line.

"Run! Run! Run! Run!" the crowd screamed, throwing their arms everywhere in excitement.

"Hurry up, Stefano! Come on!" Jezebel shouted over and over again with Abby, Ronnie, Kinetta and half of the crowd next to her, jumping impatiently with the signs, flags, pompoms and shirts moving furiously in the air.

There was no way he could make it! He was trapped with a mob of players from the other team. He looked around quickly while he was still dodging, looking for a way out. Stefano's the best 'dodger' in history. He was quick, but not quick enough to pass through the mob.

I found Drew ahead of the big scene on the field, back on track and ready to receive the ball. But no one noticed him with the team and crowd's attention on the mob and of course, the ball.

"Pass it to Drew, Stefano! Pass it to Drew!" I screamed at the top of my lungs even though I doubted he would have the sense of hearing me over the thunderous crowd.

But as if he did, he finally found Drew in an open position. Stefano threw the ball swiftly and unexpectedly towards the end zone, leading Drew to catch the ball where it was headed. Drew's legs were moving as fast as they can go, pulling himself to the ball before it made contact with the ground. At this point, the crowd became impossibly louder. Everyone waited to see if success would be the upshot and it depended all on Drew. The clock was ticking way too fast for my liking. There was seven seconds left.

"Seven, six, five, four..."

The countdown faded into more yells.

Drew's arms were held out in front of him, ready to catch the ball spinning ahead of him. Was he going to make it?

The ball landed flawlessly in his hands.

The crowd roared and the band behind us started playing their instruments in celebration. The Timberwolves players jumped all together at the same time, running towards Drew to attack him. In other words, to thank and congratulate him. My school cheered happily, everyone grinning ear to ear, too busy to notice the other team sulking in defeat and throwing their helmets on to the ground.

After the celebration of the team's victory, me and Stefano went over to Drew's house to hang around. Drew lived on the shore which was something I loved about going to his place. His backyard was the whole beach, so I had the chance to swim and surf with him or sun bathe on his comfortable beach chairs. At the moment, we were in his kitchen. It was right beside the living room with no walls and just open space. Then there were big glass windows that seemed like glassed walls behind the kitchen, giving us a full view of the beautiful beach from inside. Their house is really bright, spacious and modern. All colors and furniture matched, it was like those houses you'd see in TV. Though his house wasn't as big; it was not too big or small.

As the sun was preparing to set, we headed outside and sat down on the beach chairs near his balcony. The sky was turning golden yellow, the blueness of the atmosphere fading away.

I sat down in between Stefano and Drew, enjoying the beach view in front of me. Then I took a quick look at the boys beside me.

"Stefano, you're skin like... glows." I commented, as I observed his exposed skin. He was wearing a V-neck t-shirt and khaki shorts, so I only saw his glowing pallid skin on his legs and arms. I always wondered why it radiated.

He paused for a second as I caught him take a quick glance at Drew. For a human, you wouldn't really notice it. But the fact that I was a witch, I was able to see that quick glance. Though it was too quick for a human to do; it was almost too fast for me to catch. I pretended I haven't noticed their glimpse exchange.

"Thanks, I just have really nice skin." he joked while Drew snorted. I scowled at them, wanting a real answer.

"Seriously, Stefan."

Still smiling he answered with a shrug. "I really don't know, Emily."

"Fine then."

At that moment, when I seemed to get suspicious about the two, I felt a strange pull, tugging me towards Drew's house. This urge for me to go wherever my body wanted me to go was weird but I ignored it, thinking maybe it'd last for a few seconds. I started talking, making an effort to pay no heed to the feeling.

"So what did you guys do last weekend?" I asked. I realized it was a question that'd answer a bunch of things I wondered about earlier this week.

And there it was again. I was oddly being pulled in the direction of something, feeling like a magnet to an object. I took a quick look at Drew to get my mind off of it, but it only made me more suspicious. When I wasn't looking, Drew and Stefano were exchanging glances once again and the tugging seemed to grow even stronger.

"I was out of town with my brother." Drew explained to me.

"Unfortunately, I bumped into Drew while I was out of town, too." Stefano joked.

"What were you doing... wherever you were?" I questioned.

"You know, hanging out with my family."

"What about you, Drew?"

"Looking for Jesse's new car." he replied quickly.

"Did you have any luck with that?"

"Nope."

"Uh huh."

Drew laughed, but it sounded slightly nervous. "What's up, Em? What's with all of these questions?" he tried to cover.

I simply stared at him and tried to read his face. After a few seconds, I chanted to myself a spell because I was able to tell he had his poker face on.

Remove the smear and may the truth unfold, I whispered in my head. I waited for him to spit out the truth.

Drew cocked his head the side. "Emily?"

I felt my eyes un-narrowed at him, finding out I had a weird face on.

"Huh? Oh! Sorry about that. My thoughts had gone far." I tried to hide my disappointment and curiosity with a smile. "I think I should head home now."

"You sure? Is everything okay?" he asked with pure concern in his voice.

Oh yeah I'm fine. It's just that my spell that works on every human didn't work on you today. Happens all the time. I wanted to say.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine. My energy is just wearing off." I lied.

Drew's features softened. "Time for your beauty sleep, huh." he joked. "I'll drive you home."

"I'll just wait for you here, bud. Do you have any food in the fridge?" Stefano asked with a grin.

Drew replied with a hysteric laugh. "Yeah, knock yourself out."

"All right, later, Emily." he waved.

"See ya,"

Right after he closed the back door that led him straight to the kitchen from the balcony, I got up.

"Am I missing something here?"

"Huh?" Drew muttered, confused.

"Never mind."

He let it go, but I didn't. "If you say so... You ready to go?"

"Yeah."

I slipped my feet into my flip flops and took Drew's waiting hand and walked to the back door. He led me through his house, trying to reach the front door. But right when he grabbed the door knob of the front door, the magnetic feeling rang through me, stronger as ever. I gasped and let go of Drew's hand.

It suddenly felt like strings pulling me towards the living room and they were taking over my body. I let it lead me to the living room but I had no idea where I was going and why. I ended up walking and stopped in front a bunch of modern drawers and shelves where the Ives family kept their books. But I found my hands jerking to a specific drawer.

I wasn't aware of Drew behind me, though I heard his voice. "Emily? What are you doing?"

I ignored him and just opened the drawer, hoping the captivating draw would stop. The drawer rolled open and found a book piled onto a bunch of other books.

The dusty hard cover of the book scared me a little, despite the fact that there was absolutely nothing frightening about it. The title read "Twilight" with one pair of pale hands holding a bright red apple below. To anyone else but me, it would seem like any ordinary book cover. However, to me, it was the ruby apple, held in the pair of inhuman and perfect hands, which gave me the chills.

It was as if the apple, without a single doubt, were being purposely given to me.


A/N: R & R please :)

- Evolette