A/n: HEY FAM! I'm not dead! I've really been neglecting this story; I've been too busy working on my other Winx Club fanfiction, World of Winx, that I totally pushed this story off to the side. I forgot all the good times I've had writing this story, reading feedback, and re-watching the old episodes. I've went back to re-read the other 16 chapters of this story and boy, the nostalgia. When's the last time I even updated? February? It's freakin' September now.I just completely put O Wondrous Wielder of the Winds to the side, like it didn't even exist. At one point, not gonna lie, I actually thought about scrapping this story for good. When it came to my two Winx Club fan fictions, for some reason I always pitted them against each other. I wanted World of Winx to become really popular and I'd always compare its follows/favorites to that of O Wondrous Wielder of the Winds. Because, let's face it, Winx Club fan fictions aren't as popular anymore. Stories with like 13-20 chapters only had a few alerts—ten at the most. And the ones that did have a lot of alerts were really old stories from like 2012 or 2014. I didn't want World of Winx to be like that; I wanted it to be like O Wondrous Wielder of the Winds, which had 16 chapters and over 50 unique story alerts in less than a year. I was jealous of my own story and started updating World of Winx more, pushing for more popularity like O Wondrous Wielder of the Winds. In my eyes, World of Winx was O Wondrous of the Winds's rival story. I veered WAYY more toward World of Winx and looked down upon this story like it was written by my enemy or something. But then I realized something just a few hours ago. O Wondrous Wielder of the Winds is my story. A rival didn't write it. I did. It was mine just as much as my other fan fic. I always hated how this story had a few thousand more reads than my other one and almost two times the alerts, so I tried doing everything I could for World of Winx to surpass this story. But then I remembered: the reason O Wondrous Wielder of the Winds was written by me and was more on the popular side because of me. I worked to get it where it is, and no one else. I failed to embrace this over the past 7 months, leading me to ABANDON it for over half a year. Chapter 15 was posted in October 2016 around my birthday. This is Chapter 17, posted in September 2017, less than give days away from October 2017. You do the math. I nearly threw away a good story because my other wasn't getting the same results. I was a fool. This is the first Winx Club story I've ever published, and I was just going to…trash itlike garbage. I realize that was a mistake. I let this story just sit up for months, collecting dust when it deserved so much more attention. It had so much potential and I failed to see so. Now that I think about it, I never realized how much I MISSED this. Well, I'm back now. And I'm going to finish what I started last year.

Without further ado, here's chapter 17 of O Wondrous Wielder of the Wind since more than half a way ago. I can't imagine how many people have forgotten about this story because of my foolishness, but I won't think about that now. I hope you all enjoy this chapter, and I look forward to hearing from my reviews, both old and new. Thank you so much!
-Rosalite


I really needed to stop doing this shit before Griselda caught my ass and had me expelled (and something told me I wouldn't be able to blackmail her with that vibrator a second time…).

I wanted to tell myself I was in the clear since I'd managed to sneak back into the dorms without being spotted (hopefully), but I knew Griselda be lurking in places you'd least expect. I kept an eye out as I stealthily crept upstairs, feeling hyped like I'd just tasted the rainbow and nervous as fuck like I'd just taken a pregnancy test and was waiting for the results—okay, maybe I wasn't that nervous but my stomach sure was queasy like I was pregnant. I was pretty anxious since I knew I'd be packing my shit first thing in the morning if I happened to run into Gisela. I couldn't afford to get kicked out of ALFEA and that got me questioning why I even took my chances with this BS in the first place. I mean, I'd been doing it for the past few weeks without being suspected, but my luck was bound to run out sooner or later, right? I inwardly scolded myself. I had enough now, so I could quit. And I was. I wasn't about to allow my greed to get in the way of fulfilling my childhood-long fantasy of becoming a real sorceress. The chance of being zapped into your favorite cartoon came once in a lifetime, if that. There was a possibility this had ever only happened to me and the chance of it happening again was point zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero zero [insert a hundred or two more zeroes] one. This was literally a miracle on top of a multitude of miracles and I wasn't going to waste it on bullshit like this, even though I'd come close to it several times.

However, I wasn't gonna lie. This money felt good in my pocket. Part of me wondered how much more I could get if I went even further, but the rest of me silenced my curiosity. Remember the odds, Acadia. You can't fuck this up. Yes. I had what I needed. I wouldn't let my arrogance get the best of me. I was going to put this money away in my hiding place and put my little "hobby" behind me.

I yawned as I quietly rounded the corner and proceeded into the wing I roomed in. What time was it even? I had purposely left my phone behind (those things can be tracked, which was something I couldn't afford to be), so I had no clue. All I knew was that it was dark out, definitely past midnight. Hopefully, it wasn't too late. I wanted to get in at least an hour of sleep before it was time get up again for classes.

I shivered, suddenly becoming aware of how cold the hallway was. Yeesh, with how much tuition cost here you'd think they'd have the decency to turn on the heat so a bitch wouldn't freeze…

Something wasn't right. The closer and closer I got toward my room the chiller and chiller things got. By the time I reached the Winx's apartment it felt like my fucking fingers were about to break off, it was that cold. Instead of heading for me and my roommates' apartment a few doors down, I grasped the handle of the Winx's door. Of course, it turned because dumbass Stella probably forgot to lock the door again (seriously, that was how your shit got stolen in college or whatever the fuck this place classified as). I was greeted by an icy clasp of wind the second I stepped foot in their quiet, dark living room. Words couldn't even describe how freakin' cold it was in there. Yep, something was undeniably wrong in this mug. My first instinct was to check on the girls. Usually, Stella would be up at this hour (assuming whatever the fuck the hour was), but tonight her door was closed like the rest of the girls'. I opened Flora's and Bloom's door first to find the air in their room was so cold I could smell it.

"The hell?" I shiver-grumbled, feeling all over the stinging-cold wall for the light switch. When I finally found it, I had to pry that fucker upward for some reason—it wouldn't budge, almost like it was frozen. It sure felt like it. I finally turned the lights and the room lit up…What the fuck—

WHAT THE FUCK!

I started swearing like a sailor in hurricane season at the scene around me. For some reason, the whole bedroom was covered top to bottom in ice. Not kidding. Shiny ice crystals had formed on and were hanging from the ceiling like a fancy glass-crystal chandelier, the floor was covered in a thin sheet of frost, the walls were glossy with a thick coating of the same substance, and all the girls' furniture was encased in thick ice. Including their beds. With them in it.

I screamed at the top of my lungs. Flora kept snoring away, apparently unbothered by the cold. Bloom, on the other hand, was stirring and mumbling in her sleep something fierce. She kept shifting between her normal and fairy forms, clothed in her pajamas one minute and then arrayed in her winged fairy outfit the next.

"Acadia? Is that you?" called Musa's muffled voice from her and Tecna's room. "Why's it so cold?" She appeared beside me in her pajamas, which consisted of a really small tee and a short pair of super-short pj shorts. She was freezing, hugging herself and shaking like crazy. "HOLY SHIT!" she swore when she saw everything. "IT'S A WINTER WONDERLAND IN THIS MUG."

"Huh! I'm up, I'm up!" shouted Bloom, suddenly bolting upward alertly. She looked around slowly, her jaw slacked and body trembling like she'd just witnessed a shooting. "WHAT HAPPENED?" she shouted, noticing her legs and blanket were frozen in a block of ice, trapping her in her sitting position. She could still move her upper half, thus the reason she was waving her arms around like crazy. "IT'S SO COLD! SOMEONE DO SOMETHING!"

"I'll get her!" volunteered Musa, disappearing out of the doorway and into the rest of the apartment, shouting Stella's name. Meanwhile, I managed to get the hang of walking across the ice. I slowly but wobbly-ly (wobbily?) teetered across the ice over to Bloom, cautiously moving slow so I wouldn't slip. The cold was stinging my feet so much, they felt numb.

"H-h-h-how d-d-did th-this even happen?" A shivering Bloom managed to ask, her breath visible from such cold conditions. "Did we get attacked by the Trix while we were sleeping?"

"The fuck should I know?" I snapped, partly annoyed from the serious pain I was experiencing in my feet. "Flora! Flora, get up before you freeze to death!" The girl didn't flinch and kept snoring sweetly, her breath coming out of her nose as thin little clouds. HOW WAS SHE SLEEPING THROUGH IN THIS MINI-ARCTIC?

When I finally made it over to Bloom, I started pounding on her frozen lower half. "D-don't worry, Bl-Bloom! I-I'll get you out," I promised her, the cold making me shiver like crazy. Fuck, how did this happen? After a few more hopeless pounds, I was winded. I hadn't even put a crack in the ice.

"I-I can't break it," I breathed heavily, rubbing my numb hands together.

"W-well hurry be-before I c-c-completely fr-fr-freeze over," pleaded Bloom, "I-I-I can't f-f-feel h-h-half of mm-my b-b-body. M-my arms are even starting to feel n-numb."

Welcome to my world.

"Alright, what's going on—AH!" I whirled glanced over my shoulder to see Stella face-flat on the icy floor and Musa standing in the doorway trying to hold back a laugh (how the hell could you even do that when it was this painfully cold?). Stella tried to stand back up, but she ended up slipping and falling back down.

"Is it just me or is it getting colder?" I asked, my teeth chattering as Musa attempted to skate in.

"Is this some kind of prank?" demanded Stella, holding on to the doorframe as she stood and steadied herself.

"Th-the fuck? Does this lo-look like a prank?" I countered, knitting my eyebrows in a you dumb m-effer manner.

"Fine, fine!" Wrinkling her nose, Stella outstretched her arms and a bright aura emitted from her body, warming the whole room. The ice started to melt at a fast rate and eventually, it all completely dried up and the room as back to its normal room-temperature state. "Anyone care to explain what just happened?" yawned Stella, fluffing her bed head.

We all shrugged and exchanged confused glances. "I just came in here to get Bloom and Flora and the ice was already here," I said, frowning.

"It's a good thing, too," said Bloom, swinging her legs over her bed and placing them against the carpet. "Flora and I could've died." Actually, it was a miracle that hadn't even happened yet. No human being could stand to live in such cold conditions. The only reason Bloom wasn't a lifeless hunk of ice right now was probably because of her Dragon Fire and Flora…Well, I had no idea how she was still breathing. Wait, WAS SHE? Right as I was about to hurry over, she moved, thankfully.

Flora sat up in her bed and yawned super-wide. "Huh? What's going on?" she asked curiously, looking around at us with sleepy eyes. She didn't look one bit cold or even chilly. Because of Stella's magic maybe? No, that couldn't be it. When the room was on ice, Flora hadn't seemed to notice at all. Almost like…she was immune to the cold.

"Why are you guys causing such a commotion so late at night?" asked Tecna tiredly, dragging her feet into the room. "Are you trying to get us in trouble with the headmistress? Acadia, what are you even doing in our apartment?" She looked me up and down. "And why are you so dressed up?"

The other girls' heads snapped in my direction, just noticing I was the only one who wasn't dressed in her pajamas. I wasn't actually dressed up; just a biker's jacket over a plain tee, dark jeans, and biker boots. "Yeah. Why are you dressed like that? Are you just coming back from somewhere?" asked Bloom suspiciously.

The hell? These girls were just in here freezing a second ago, and they were more concerned about me? Hashtag teenage-girl logic. I avoided their gaze. "Uh…" They didn't exactly know about my side hustle yet….

Musa must've noticed the bulge in my pocket because she lunged for it, grabbing my night's winnings. The other girls gasped in shock as Musa stepped back, displaying the thick wad of cash she'd just swiped from me for all to see. Shit. I was in so much hot water now.

Stella was the first one to break the stunned silence. "Okay, Acadia. Spill. Where'd you get all that money?" she demanded, more curious than concerned. "You're the poorest out of all of us, so there's no way your parents gave it to you." Yeesh, way to be harsh.

Flora was so astonished she didn't even bother scolding Stella for her rude straightforwardness. She just kept staring at the roll of money Musa held with panicky eyes like it was a hand grenade just seconds away from detonating.

I bit my tongue. "Uh, I…found it?" Busted as fuck.

"OMG. Acadia, did you steal this?" hissed Musa, narrowing her already narrow-looking Asian eyes at me. She was giving off a no-shit aura that screamed I dareyou to lie to me again. I dare you. Test me and I'll kick your ass.

I was insulted. "What? NO!"

"Then where did it come from?" snapped Tecna, looking just as scary as Musa. "How much money is that even?"

Musa leafed through the bills without popping the rubber band around them. "I don't know. I'd say…about a few hundred at the least?" I sucked in my breath as she realized how much of an underestimation that was, her eyes bugging out of her head. "Forget that. There's a few thousand here. They're all hundred-dollar bills." Busted and dead as fuck.

Tecna whirled around to stare at me, her eyes and face hard as stone. "How much is this?" she demanded in a hushed tone as if someone outside might hear.

I inched away from her. "Um…"

"How much is this?"

I took a few steps back, sweating nervously. "Not much," I gulped, "just three thousand five hundred."

Tecna looked taken aback. Musa was legit dumbfounded and Flora probably would've fainted if Bloom hadn't appeared behind her and grabbed her shoulders just in time. Tecna stared at me blankly, all the emotion draining from her face. "You did steal this from somebody."

"I didn't, I swear!"

"Oh yeah? Then where could you possibly find this much money?" Musa hot-potatoed it over to me like her skin would break out in hives if she held on to it any longer.

"Okay, for one, I didn't find it. I earned it," I corrected defensively. "I worked for it."

Musa wasn't convinced. "Isn't it obvious, you guys?" yawned Stella, sitting down on Bloom's bed and crossing her legs dramatically. "She's a prostitute."

The room went dead silent. Flora fell backward into Bloom as if the wind had been knocked straight out of her, utterly terrified. Terrified beyond words. The only sound that came out of her mouth was a strangled squeak. Her reaction was like that of a no-BS, hardcore Christian mother who'd just found out her daughter was a lesbian.

"Oh my god…" muttered Musa, stumbling backward like someone had just hit her in the face with a chair. She staggered into the wall, weakly sliding down into a sitting position on the floor. She looked woozy. "Oh my god."

"That's the only logical explanation," insisted know-it-all Stella, sitting on Bloom's bed and tossing her hair over her shoulder. "How else could she make so much cash in one night? She probably charged one hundred a guy."

Oh, you had GOT to be kidding me. Think, people, THINK.

"But that'd mean she slept with over three hundred guys tonight," pointed out Musa, wrinkling her nose as realized the absurdity of that accusation. "That's impossible. That much sex would've killed her."

Yes! Finally, someone was using their brain.

"Yes, my thoughts exactly. That conclusion is far too preposterous," agreed Tecna, "though I do agree that Acadia must've done something unlawful to obtain that kind of money in one night. It's my hypothesis she was dealing."

"Wait. As in drug dealing?" hissed Musa, shooting me a sharp, cold glare.

Bloom's eyes widened. "I heard about that rumor!" she exclaimed.

Stella didn't miss a beat. "Me too! Last week, I heard that some of those weird kids in the drama club were caught selling drugs in the woods. Do you think Acadia's part of their ring?"

WELL, GOOD DAMN!

"I didn't sell anything," I snapped, "drugs or my body."

"Then what did you do?" Musa snapped back.

Oh boy. Confession time. Might as well go ahead and spit it out before I got labeled as a human trafficker next. I took a deep breath. "I play card games," I stated slowly. "Poker," I clarified before the Yu-Gi-Oh theme song could start blaring in my mind. Poker. Aka my side hustle. Okay, so a quick backstory: I fell in love with the game when my brothers first taught me how to play when I was eight. After a lot of practice, it became a talent. I considered myself an underage professional at it (which is something I should've been proud about, but what the hell). I didn't mean to sound boastful or anything, but I was pretty damn good at it. Over time, poker became my thing. My game. Whenever I went to parties, I'd sit around the card table with a few of my high school's headstrong jocks and destroy them. It got to the point I'd only come to parties to gamble (and drink). We never betted much but I'd win every time, coming home at the end of the night with a good fifty dollars in my pocket. It was an easy way to make quick cash. Hence the reason I was currently standing in the middle of my friends' bedroom with a cash-out of five hundred shy of four thousand dollars.

Let's face facts: I was a girl who'd just ended up in a universe from a children's fantasy cartoon without any explanation or clue on how I was supposed to survive here. My part-time jobs simply hadn't been cutting it so I resorted to something I was the bomb at and good-paying if you played your cards right (pun intended). I went from earning money the legit way to earning it the lucky way. Poker. I'd been surprised when I found out the game even existed here but it turned out my luck wasn't all great; I still didn't meet the age requirement to legally play for money. So I went with the next option: play illegally with the lowlifes of Magix. I'd been a little unsure about it at first since I was playing outside of my element but playing against potential cigar-smoking crime bosses and slumlords turned out to be the same thing as going against the cokeheads from my high school (minus the custom-jewel rings, lavish clothing, and extra chins). I realized it was fairly easy to take advantage of their money-ain't-a-thing style of play and I hadn't lost a game. During my first game, I betted the hundred dollars I'd just barely saved from my many temporary jobs (which was basically all of my money at the time. Dumbass move, I know) and I cashed out at the end of the night with double that. That was what began my new poker trend. As time moved on, I secretly snuck out once a week to play at a secret location with the vile scum of Magix's streets. Three hundred bucks turned into six hundred and then fifteen hundred, which turned into three thousand, and then, eventually, nearly seven thousand. I was keeping the other three thousand in a secret place.

Everyone's shoulder's (beside's Stella's) relaxed. Sure, what I was doing was technically illegal but not nearly as illegal or moral-less as pimping or dealing drugs, which had to be a little reliving for them. Since that was out of the way, now it was time for a lecture.

"What is wrong with you?" scolded Flora, frowning with disappointment. "Don't you realize how dangerous that is? You're just a sixteen-year-old girl. You don't need to be doing those kinds of things with grown men. What if one of them decided to take advantage of you?"

"Don't worry, Flores. There's always security there," I said as Tecna handed me my money.

"That doesn't mean anything. You're still putting yourself in danger, not to mention breaking the rules. You could get kicked out of school," said Bloom firmly.

"Yes. You have to promise us you'll stop doing this," nodded Musa seriously, "this could get you in a lot of trouble."

"We're letting you off the hook this time but if you get caught up in foolishness like this again, we won't hesitate to report you," warned Tecna, "I personally don't care if you want to throw away your future, but I won't allow you to throw away ours. Understand?"

"Well, damn, Tecna. At least show a bit of concern," said Musa.

"I am, but I'm not going to let her ruin our chances here at ALFEA."

"I won't," I promised.

Stella was no longer amused. In fact, she snorted and rolled her eyes. "Poker? There's nothing interesting about that."

What? "Wait, so you wanted me to be a prostitute?" I demanded.

"Okay, time to change the subject," announced Musa. She turned to face Bloom. "You were tossing and turning in your sleep a lot when I got here. Had another nightmare?"

Bloom's face went uber-serious. "They're not like nightmares. And they're not like dreams either. It's hard to explain, but it looked far more…vivid. Real."

I nodded understandingly. "I have dreams like that sometimes." I shivered. "Except I don't see things; I hear them. And by 'them', I mean Griselda's vibrator. I still hear that thing."

Still?" Stella smirked. "That happened weeks ago. The only reason you're probably hung up on it is because it excites you. I mean, it's common for girls to have crushes on teachers, but I never thought you'd be gay for Griselda, of all people. That's disturbing and depressing on so many levels."

"What the—? The hell are you talking about? I don't have a crush on Griselda and you freakin' know it."

Stella pretended to be disappointed. "Such a shame, to think someone like you would go for old ladies like her. But it makes sense when I think about it. You never had decent standards," she said matter-of-factly, crossing her legs and smirking. I gritted my teeth, but she didn't take that as a sign to stop. "Seriously, Griselda's so unattractive. You could've aimed for a pretty girl, like me as an example. Not that I swing that way, but I'm just saying. You'd think if you were into girls you'd at least go for someone who didn't smell like grandma perfume and look like a grizzly bear with a bob haircut. But as I said earlier, you never had decent standards."

"Shut up, bitch."

Stella didn't. "What's wrong? Mad because I called you out?" she taunted, "don't worry, we all kind of figured you were a lesbian anyway. It makes sense considering no boy would ever find you attractive. Sure, there was Miller, but he was just a fluke. He never really liked you. And you know no boy ever will."

Of course, I already knew the truth about Miller but it stung when it came from someone's mouth, especially one as brutal as Stella's. And it actually made me kind of sad. Miller was the only boy I'd ever thought of romantically pursing, which was really saying something since I'd never once given two-shits about the possibility of a boyfriend beforehand.

"BITCH. SHUT UP," I growled, taking a threatening step toward her.

Flora jumped in between us, me looking/feeling triggered and Stella giving off the air of a sly and satisfied cat. "That's enough," she said firmly. "Please stop."

"Oh, give me a break. You're not our mother, Flora," said Stella, waving away her request. "So stop acting like it. I'm just telling Acadia the truth, even if it is stone-cold. Why do you think she's never had a boyfriend before? She's just naturally unflattering to guys. It's not her fault."

"Whoa. Why are you being such a bitch?" said Musa, a defensive edge in her voice. "Okay, so maybe she's never had a boyfriend, but so what? And so what if she's gay?"

"I'm not," I spat.

Stella was about to say something more but was cut off when Bloom suddenly cried out, "Yes! That's her!" Our heads turned to look at Tecna and Bloom, who'd been quietly discussing Bloom's visions in the corner, outright ignoring us. Tecna was projecting a hologram from her Dream Probe device—a hologram of the face of phantom Daphne, Bloom's lost sister. I gave Stella one last harsh glare before joining them with the other girls.

"Whoa. Who's that?" asked Musa as she, Flora, and me gathered around Tecna and stared up at the projection.

"That's the lady who's been talking to me in my visions," explained Bloom quickly, "I've seen her before; when we went shopping in Magix last week. She was atop a tall building, watching me like a ghost."

Stella suddenly laughed out loud, like Bloom just told a hilarious joke. Oh boy. Cue the bitchiness. "So what, you see ghosts now?" she asked humorously, "what's next? Can you talk to the dead too?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" demanded Bloom.

"You know exactly what I mean. You're delusional. I was with you that shopping trip, remember? I didn't see anything."

"Yeah, maybe because only Bloom can see her," I argued.

"Yeah, only because she's a figurative of Bloom's imagination. She's not real, just some kind of imaginary friend Bloom must've accidentally created in her sleep or something."

"Is it just me or are you really being a bitch tonight?" deadpanned Musa, "bitchier than usual?"

"Whatever, Musa. Who asked you anyway?"

"Daphne's not fake," insisted Bloom, angered. "I hear her plain as day. She's real and I'll prove it tomorrow."

Stella yawned. "Sure, sure. And why you're at it, how about you prove the existence of the boogeyman too?"

Bloom was probably about to march over and pull Stella's hair if Flora hadn't intervened, as usual. "Girls, that's really enough . Look, it's late. How about we all just head to bed so we won't be late for class in the morning? Besides, at this rate you're going to disturb the other girls in the dormitory. We wouldn't want to alert Griselda and get Cadey in trouble."

"Fine by me," I grunted, storming over to the door. "I was just leaving anyway."


I think Griselda can read minds.

Well, probably not, but she definitely suspected something was fishy about me (not literally. I believed in proper feminine hygiene). I'd accidentally slept in two hours late and I'd already missed most of my second class by the time I got downstairs to eat breakfast. And guess who'd been waiting for me in the cafeteria? The Grizzly herself. She gave me the usual lecture about missing class and shit before dismissing me, but that wasn't the last time I saw her. After that, she happened to "conveniently" be in the hall when I was leaving class and at lunch she kept patrolling me and the Winx's sector of the cafeteria.

Even now, as I was following the rest of my fellow students out of the classroom after our last period class, I caught a glimpse of Griselda's ugly blue dress as she rounded the corner, pretending like she was minding her own business when she was really glaring at me over her glasses. I went along with the act, pretending like I didn't notice her following me as I advanced down the hallway. I did wish she'd stop stalking me, though. It was making me feel weird, especially after Stella accused me of being in love with the old bat last night. I did NOT have the hots for Griselda (I felt the urge to eat a bar of soap just thinking about it) but it was still a bit awkward for me to even glance at her. Stella's disgusting little theory was screwing with my mind.

And speaking of Stella, I hadn't even acknowledged her presence in the classes we shared. She tried to talk to me, but I ignored her ass. I wanted to slap her right across the face for even attempting conversation. She expected me to be all buddy-buddy, friendly-friendly with her after what she said last night? She thought I'd just let it slide? Ha, not going to happen. But enough about Stella. Right now, I was thinking about my newest mission in Operation: Rewrite Winx Club.

Aft lunch, Bloom had made it clear she was going to the library to do some research about Daphne, meaning we were somewhere around episode nine (ten? Nah, definitely nine). And if I remembered correctly, that was the same episode Musa was supposed to come across that witch hangout or whatever and catch Darcy and Riven "romantically" holding hands when it was really just Darcy using her magic to make Riven her bitch and Icy and Stormy were going to catch her, leading to an epic chase-down between Musa, the Trix, and their gothic witch pals. Next, the Winx and Specialists were going to fly down just in time and a huge fight was gonna go down between good and evil. The battle would end with Bloom revealing her Dragon's Flame but start a vicious cycle between the Winx and Trix in which the trio of witches would start hunting Bloom like hungry wolves for her unique, extraordinary magic. So here was my agenda for the day:

Agendas for Today:
1. Keep Musa away from that witch club
2. Keep Bloom away from that witch club

If I made sure Musa dodged the witches (and an even bigger heartache), the Trix would continue underestimating Bloom's real power and remain clueless about the rare magic she carried. For now.

If I wanted to keep Musa from going to the club, I had to keep her away from Stella, who was going to run her mouth and offend Musa, which would be the sole reason Musa would even be in town in the first place.

"Musa!" I called out to the music fairy when I turned the corner and saw her among the crowd of girls pouring out of a science lab. She looked up and gave me a small wave.

"You okay?" she asked when I walked over.

I almost asked why wouldn't I be when I remembered Stella's insults. "Yeah. Everything's cool," I said. And it was. Better I take Stella's verbal abuse than Musa. "Hey, how about we go find Bloom and see what she found at the library?" I suggested. Bloom had last period free, and at lunch she'd made it known she was going to use it to research Daphne. She should've been done by now.

Conveniently, by the time we made it over to the library, Bloom was already on her way out. "Guys! Guess what?" she said excitedly, "Daphne is real."

"Hello to you too," I teased. Then I became aware of my full bladder. "Crap, I gotta take a piss." Bloom was so excited about her research, she ended up following me to the bathroom as she explained everything she'd discovered, prompting Musa to do the same. This was a good thing, considering I needed to keep them both in my sights.

"It turns out Daphne is one of the nine nymphs of Magix," informed Bloom, "I even saw a picture. I would've kept reading if the headmistress hadn't stopped me. I'm going to bring Stella to the library later and show her the books I was reading to prove I'm not crazy after all."

Musa smirked. "You don't have to prove anything to her. We all believed you to begin with. Stella just likes being a troll."

And speaking of trolls, there was one in the bathroom when we walked in. Standing at the sinks was Candi, her hip jutted out and that bitchy I'm the shit look all over her face. "Well, if it isn't the school's least favorite pack of mules," she smirked upon our arrival, setting down the lipstick she'd been smothering her lips with beforehand.

"And if it isn't the school's least favorite slut," I countered. This was less of an insult and more of the truth. Everything about Candi Burkett (I just found out she even had a surname last week) screamed slut. Her crop top was skimpy (and probably violated Alfea's dress code) and her jean shorts might as well been considered panties. Her eyeshadow and mascara were always applied super thick and super seductive and lips glossy with the same "delicious" pink. Her pierced belly button was forever on display since she didn't own a top that went past it and her acrylic nails had to be longer than my life span. I mean, there wasn't anything wrong with long nails, but they were one of Candi's many secret weapons when it came to seducing a guy. Her signature move was raking them along the dude's neck and arms in a gentle yet alluring way (you became familiar with the technique when you witnessed it a good ten times at the least).

"What do you even want?" I demanded.

Candi clicked her tongue, setting her harsh gaze on Musa. "So tell me, Musa," she said with a mean smirk, cocking her head playfully. "How are things with you and Riven?" Crap. Here we go. I could already tell this was going to end with either Musa dashing out of the bathroom in tears or Musa kicking ass here in the girls' bathroom. I preferred the later.

Musa's whole body flinched. "What's it to you?" I snapped in her place.

Candi pretended to be innocent. "Nothing! I just heard he's awfully into Darcy lately and I know Musa's hopelessly in love with him. Poor girl. Losing your crush to a witch must be so hard." She pressed a hand against her heart and gave a convincingly sad sigh.

Okay, so I saw a change in the future. This was going to end with either Candi wisely leaving the bathroom right now or me getting detention for trying to stab a bitch's eye out with a tube of lipstick. Again, I preferred the later.

Bloom raised a challenging eyebrow. "Oh, like you'd ever know what that's like."

"As a matter of fact, I don't. It goes the other way around—I don't get my heart broken, mainly because I'm always breaking them. I've never lost a guy to anyone. I know how to hook them and make them stay until I get bored with them. And if I see another girl wants him, I make it known she can't have him." Um, why was she glowing with pride all of a sudden?

"Why would I ever want to 'hook' Riven, of all guys?" asked Musa nastily. That was what I was trying to figure out. "I can do way better than that."

"So you're saying you're cool with him dating Darcy?" challenged Candi.

"Totally," said Musa a little too quickly, ignorant of the fact her fists were balled at her sides.

Something told me that was what Candi wanted to hear because a Cheshire-cat grin spread across her face. "Excellent. Then if you're so chill with the two of them dating you should have no problem facing them, right?"

IT'S A TRAP.

I think Bloom realized it too and if Musa did she sure didn't give a fuck. "Damn straight," she said a little too forcefully.

"Then prove it," said Candi, "the Van Rensselaers brothers are having a party this weekend." She said that so casually like we were supposed to know who in the fuck the Van Rensselaers were. "I know some people and I'll get Darcy and Riven on the guest list, as well as you and your friends. If you truly don't like Riven then you'll show and make it through the night without escaping somewhere to cry your little heart out. And if not, I guess we'll know you're hopelessly in love with that loser and a liar."

Okay, so it was quite clear this chick wanted to see someone suffer. "C'mon, Musa. You don't have to prove anything to this bitch. Let's go," I said, reaching for her hand, forgetting I was on the verge of pissing myself.

Musa drew back. "No way. This bitch doesn't what she's talking about and I want to make her feel stupid." Those words made me realize just how alike Musa and Riven actually were. They were both prideful—unfortunately, to their downfall. Wait. Now that I thought about it, I was like that too.

Candi let out a triumphant giggle. "Good girl! Now just leave the rest to me. Let me talk to my people and I'll have the rest of the details for you on Friday, the day before the party." Candi proceeded past us, toward the exit to no doubt make her dramatic leave. And to make things even more climatic, she froze in the doorway and glanced at us over her shoulder with a chilling smile. "Oh, and don't even think about chickening out," she said sweetly, "or you'll regret it big time."

Musa nodded, keeping her Bad Bitch face on. It wasn't until Candi left and the three of us were alone her face changed drastically. We all just stood there in stunned silence. Musa finally broke the silence a few moments later.

"Hey guys?" she said, her voice wavering.

"Yeah?" said me and Bloom.

"I think I just fucked up. Big time."