Chapter 14
"Say 'I thought magic wasn't real'
So explain how you made me feel…"
-Rayana Jay
Author's Note: Make sure that you've read Chapter 13 before you read this one, or it will not make sense! I uploaded two chapters this week.
Huey was late. He flew down the stairs, grabbed a piece of the vegan black bean burger patty out of the fridge, and chomped down on it. Then, he flew over to the countertop to grab his keys. He was just a few steps away from flinging the door open and rushing towards the driveway, when he spotted an apple that he could eat on the way. Much more satisfying than a cold patty.
He leapt up and grabbed it.
Success.
Now he could head out of the door and…
"Boy!" Granddad stopped to stare at him, folding his arms across his chest, not breaking his gaze at all. He continued staring, almost gaping at his grandson before speaking, barely even blinking. "You're supposed to be in school!"
"I know Granddad. I'm running late." Huey started towards the door. "I'm headed there now."
"One thing about it. My kids sho' made some good-looking children." His granddad whistled, chuckling to himself. "See, if I could go back to being your age, I'd be pulling bitches left and right." He seemed to admire Huey one last time before closing the door behind him, talking under his breath. "Whew, you need to be thanking God he made you in my image, boy."
No sooner than Huey shut his car door, their next door neighbor, Mrs. Jenkins was gazing at him. He tried to ignore her as he warmed up his car in the driveway, but to his surprise, she moved even closer, waving at him. Normally, she watched him with a caution that threatened borderline obsession. She would never smile, she would only silently hold her phone in her hand, as if waiting for a reason to call and report something, anything at all.
"Have a nice day, Huey." He jumped when he realized that she was now standing right outside of his window. The woman smiled before walking away and glancing at him over her shoulder. "Your girlfriend is a lucky young woman."
Gross.
He pulled up to the school and rushed into Dr. Elliot's class, prepared to plead his case as to why he should be permitted entrance into his class. He didn't want to be on her bad side before grades came out.
"Sorry. Family Emergency." He gestured towards Dr. Elliot. "I'll take the write up and be on my way."
Dr. Elliot snatched the paper from her book and looked up at him. "Huey, wow."
It was like she was seeing him for the first time. He watched, half amused, half horrified, as the woman placed her palm over her mouth and laughed to herself. She set the write up sheet down and motioned towards his desk. "I remember what it was like to be young. We all have our days. Have a seat, Huey."
Suddenly, boys in his class who were terrified of him gave him a small nod. And the other girls in history class were craning their necks to stare at him, no fear involved. Oddest thing of all? Arielle wasn't even upset, and Arielle had once even threatened Cindy about being too touchy feely with him after she'd hugged him for helping her with something. She'd done all of that despite the fact that it was obvious that Cindy had feelings for Riley, and to add insult to injury, it was even more obvious, glaringly so in fact, that he hated Cindy with a passion.
"Um…" Huey wracked his brain for answers. He hadn't dressed any differently. Sure, he was tall, dark, and as far as looks went, handsome by societal standards, but he'd never been treated like an object to be ogled before. "Why is everybody staring at me?"
"Because you're fucking hot, babe." Arielle eased into his lap before he could protest and suddenly made out with him. Her lips felt so soft that he didn't even protest when she began caressing his lips, leaning over the side of his desk.
"He's such a good kisser." A girl behind them murmured. "I wish that were me."
If Arielle heard the girl, she was way past caring. She leaned even closer to him, kissing him feverishly. No matter how good it felt, Huey had to stop her. He had never engaged in this level of PDA in the middle of class, and he didn't plan to now. He gripped her hips and shot her a look. She rolled her eyes and then grinned. "What? What she said about you being a good kisser is true. Let me show you-"
"Please don't." Huey gently pushed her off him. He grimaced when he saw the wounded look on her face. "It's disrespectful to Dr. Elliot and we really shouldn't be doing this here."
"We don't mind."
Why the hell had they all said that in unison? And why were all the girls looking at him with their hands on their chins, with that odd intense melting look that only Arielle tended to have?
Then, it hit him.
"I know that luck isn't on your side right now, so I'm here to help. Let you guys see how it feels to be as sexy as me for a change."
Dominic had done this to him. To Jazmine.
Where was Jazmine? Hopefully, at home. She definitely didn't need to strut into the school with whatever emotion was radiating off of him right now. He thought about it. A teenaged boy, walking into school, who had been in a fight with his girlfriend, who hadn't…well….in days.
He groaned.
"So hot." A girl whispered.
He hadn't realized that his emotions could radiate like this and impact other people's emotions. The repression spell that Dominic had cast seemed so expansive. With Jazmine, it'd probably be different. Since they both had powers, they likely wouldn't impact each other the way that he was affecting everybody else right now. That was definitely why he was suddenly overwhelmed with the intense urge to find her before somebody else did. He was only concerned that somebody like Dominic would definitely take full advantage of her state right now. Yep. That was the only reason he was worried about it.
Dominic.
That did it. He was going to get Jazmine. He could not leave her alone right now. Especially if Dominic was planning on seducing her and dragging her off somewhere. Or worst, she could get overheated with Vince before she was ready and then come crying to him about it. Then, she would lose the war. And she'd fail. And he'd never hear the end of it.
That's why he needed to find her. Keep her safe. Protect her from the dangers of the outside world. Save her from herself.
He shot up before the bell even rang. Dr. Elliot didn't even seem to care. "See you tomorrow, Mr. Freeman!"
"Bye Huey!" The girls in his class giggled, while Arielle stood in the doorway not far behind him blushing, blowing him a kiss.
He glanced around the halls and then rushed to the courtyard. He hated to admit it, but he knew Jazmine's schedule better than he knew his own. He'd had to learn it every year in order to properly avoid her. And as time went on, it had made things a lot easier than he cared to explain to anybody else.
Around this time, Jazmine would be crossing by the cherry tree near the courtyard in order to get over to her advanced trigonometry class. He decided wait for her there, and then they could work something out to relieve him of all outrageous feelings related to his testosterone levels. It's not like sweet, innocent, Jazmine Dubois would be radiating what he'd been, radiating. She was the most adorable person he knew. She didn't have a sexy bone in her body.
He heard Dominic chuckle in the distance.
Wrong.
Before he could face Dominic head on, he noticed everybody stop to stare at something on the other end of the courtyard. He rushed through the crowd, shoving past a legion of googly eyed teenaged boys who were grinning with goofy smiles. He rolled his eyes upward as they seemed to crowd around someone. He could hear her squeak in surprise at their reaction.
"Guys, seriously, move!"
He bolted forward. Shoving a few other boys in the crowd and finally breaking way to the center. His eyes landed on her pink tennis shoes first. He wasn't sure what all the fuss was about. This was the same Jazmine he'd….
Whoa.
He tried to control it. He really did, but he was no better than the boys crowding around her. When the hell had she filled out like that? When Riley had said she'd gone up two bra sizes, he hadn't been lying. And those hips of hers. Had she always been packing that much heat back there? Not to mention her lips? All soft and pretty. She was like a Victoria's Secret Model in disguise. He wasn't sure how he'd missed it before.
And then there were her eyes, almond shaped and perfect. She also glowed. Had she always glowed like that? Radiating from the inside out? Had her angry face always looked so appealing to him? He wasn't sure. Even her hair seemed to be calling out to him at the moment. He was suddenly fighting the urge to play with every single curl. His friend was so pretty. So stunning. So attractive.
"Huey!" She called his name. Even her voice was sweet. "Get me out of here."
Caesar was in the middle of laying some of his best moves for her. "Girl, are you sure you aren't from Tennessee. Because you're the only ten I see." He draped his arm around Jazmine's shoulder, ignoring the girl's look of disgust as she yanked herself out of his arms, punching another guy directly in the groin. "You must be an angel, girl. Because you clearly fell straight out of heaven. No…wait. That didn't come out right."
Okay, maybe not quite his best.
"Seriously, Huey!" She sounded even more annoyed now. He could hear her, trying to shove past the growing crowd, roughly pushing her way past as best she could. "A little help would be great."
He wasn't sure that he should. He didn't even trust himself around her right now. Still, he snatched her arm and pulled her along, not even wanting to look at her too intently. He ignored the heat rising to his cheeks and walked her over to the opposite end of the courtyard and stared the crowd of lovestruck boys down, much to the guys' displeasure.
"Of course Huey gets to walk her to class." Someone muttered. "Dude just woke up today and decided to look like something fresh out of a Sports Illustrated magazine. It's like magic or something."
If only he knew. Huey snorted, continuing to walk with Jazmine toward a more secluded area. It was clear that she was radiating the same lust that he was. He was hoping that she had a plan. A plan that allowed him to stare for her beauty for a very, very, very long time.
No, wait. That wasn't it.
"Speaking of Sports Illustrated, I wonder if Jazmine would break up with Vince and pose like those girls in the magazine, just for me." Another guy mused.
Over his dead body.
Huey now pondered the thought of Jazmine in a swimsuit himself, but he felt so guilty about it that he forced his eyes onto her face. Her sweet, innocent, kind face. She returned his stare, her eyes also filled with the same hunger as his.
This Jazmine looked anything but innocent right now. Her eyes were slanted. Her afro was out and wild around her head. Her lips slanted slightly as she nervously licked her lips in front of him. She was basically a tigress, looking at him like she wanted to pounce on him.
And he had no problem letting her do it.
"Jazmine." Huey focused all his attention on breathing like a normal person. He inhaled. In and out. In and out. "Listen to me. This isn't real. We have to control ourselves."
She seemed to be thinking the same thing and started stepping back. Each time, he found himself stepping forward, keeping less and less distance between them until he was face to face with her. He leaned forward right there in the grass, not caring who saw them. His lips were just inches away from hers. They were so kissable, and they were right there, just waiting for him to lean forward and taste the lip gloss she was wearing.
"Huey don't!" She put her hands on his chest and pushed him away, letting out a shaky breath. "You're right. This isn't real. We need to control ourselves."
He could deal with that. He had a girlfriend. A very sexy, very beautiful, willing to make out with him anytime, anywhere, any place girlfriend. And he could go and do all sorts of things with her…whenever he wanted. He didn't need Jazmine to tell him to control himself. She was the one staring at him with those passionate pupils of hers.
"What is wrong with me?" Huey had never ever thought of Arielle as just some sort of object that he could use just because another girl was available. And he'd never once gone to her to fill the void of Jazmine. And if any another girl tried to brush up against him or grab his hair. "How long is this going to last?"
"That's what I tried to tell you before." She rolled her eyes, still breathing shakily. "Everything we normally feel, whether it's for ourselves or other people is expanded exponentially, to the point that it affects other people. And it taps into other emotions too. Like-"
Vince came running across the field. He shot Huey a glare before pasting a bright smile on his face and turning over to Jazmine. Before either one of them could react, Vince was pressing Jazmine against the wall and practically swallowing Jazmine's face. Jazmine wasn't even protesting. She was pressing further into him while he gripped her hair, pulling her even closer.
"Want to get out of here?" Vince was so eager that it was comical. Not on his watch.
"Um, yeah." Jazmine was breathless. Her eyes clearly not distracted from the fact that they were under the spell of lust spell demon. "I'm ready. Let's go."
"Jazmine, um, your, math test." He couldn't think. He was only pulling her away because she was under the influence of a weird spell turning dark incredibly fast. She didn't exactly need to be losing her virginity right now. If she even was a virgin. Still, friends didn't let friends sleep with their boyfriends under less-than-ideal conditions. There was no other reason why his incredibly beautiful friend shouldn't be kissing her boyfriend. Nothing connected to him at all. Nope. "You should head to class."
He couldn't fight the deep urge to yank Vince's hand off of hers. It was almost a reflex. He shot the guy a glare and pulled her along.
"Man, what the fuck is your problem?" Vince immediately shoved him back.
"What is yours?" Huey smirked, before making it a point to glance over at Jazmine and gaze into her eyes, knowing that she couldn't help to return the look even if she'd wanted to. He kept walking with her hand in his, satisfied when Vince's jaw dropped, watching as Huey pulled the girl along to class. "Exactly."
Jazmine was quiet the entire time they walked through the empty halls to where her classroom was. There were tears in her eyes. He'd upset her. Maybe he should've let her go with Vince, maybe he was wrong.
"I'm a terrible girlfriend." Jazmine looked down, crying. "He loves me so much, and all that I do is screw him over. I can't do anything right. I just let you pull me away, and I basically eye fucked you right in front of him."
"It's not your fault." Huey tried to reason with her. "It's the spell work. I even had to shove Arielle off of me today because she's not thinking clearly." He scooted closer to her, trying to keep his voice from sinking an octave too low. "You're not a bad girlfriend because you didn't advantage of him being extra attracted to you right now."
It bothered him for some reason that she wouldn't look at him, and even though he knew that he shouldn't be doing it, he didn't fight the strong sensation to pull her face just close enough for him to look at her.
He regretted it instantly. Because now there was no way that he could avoid leaning in and finishing what he'd started before Vince had rudely interrupted. Who cared if the whole school wanted them? Who cared if they both were in relationships with somebody else? Fuck that. Nobody mattered but her.
She needed him to kiss her. She was crying. She was sad. She thought that she wasn't a good person, and she was. She was the one worrying about her boyfriend. Feeling guilty even after feeling an insane attraction to him. He was the problem child. He was the one who had tried to kiss her and was going to try again. He was the one who was about to fight with her boyfriend. He was the one who had just messed with his head at her expense. That made him the selfish, lustful, villain here. Not her.
Never her.
"Huey?" She was retreating, backing away from him. Her hands were trembling. "What are you doing?"
He didn't answer her. He took his hands and reached out until her slender hands relaxed into his larger ones. When she seemed to stop moving back, he moved forward, slowly starting to lean forward…
His head hit the floor before he could even blink. Somehow, he was on the other side of the hall. No way had it been Jazmine since their powers wouldn't function until they got through whatever feelings they'd repressed.
He glanced up just in time to see Dominic pressing Jazmine against the wall. His arm was above her head, and he was leaning over her, towering over her. He shot Huey a nod and then smirked, glancing back over to Jazmine. "He won't bother you anymore. Don't worry."
He couldn't move. He couldn't speak. He couldn't stop him. He was fighting with everything in him to get to her before he made his move.
"Just give in, beautiful." Dominic whispered the words to the wide-eyed girl. Her lips parted and her eyes met his grey ones then suddenly swept down to the floor. "You feel guilty, don't you? You think that if you chose me, then Vince wouldn't be hurting. And Huey wouldn't be involved with all this."
Huey watched in horror as Jazmine nodded. She was in a trance, and he'd been so busy lusting after her that he'd forgotten to protect her from him. He should've been more vigilant, more careful with her.
"You're not alone." Dominic glanced over at Huey and then shook his head. "It's normal. It's normal to be attracted to someone else. It's normal to have feelings and emotions attached to one person." He leaned in suddenly, brushing his hand around her waist. "And all you have to do to break the spell is give in to it. You just have to come to terms with whatever you're repressing and let yourself have it."
Huey tried meditating, but it wasn't working. So he tried moving again. That didn't work. He didn't know what else he could do. He certainly couldn't talk. So he glanced up, hoping that she could somehow feel that she didn't have to do this. She was stronger than he was when it came to this stuff. She just had to fight it.
"Kiss me, Jazmine." Dominic repeated the words again, and it gave him a surge of intense jealousy. That's what it was. It wasn't just him being protective. It wasn't just him being prideful. It was him being jealous of him getting her to trust him. It was him being jealous that Jazmine looked at a demon in the awestruck way he'd used to look at him. He loved Arielle, but he missed the way that she made him feel. And it wasn't fair that Dominic reaped all the benefits with so little resistance. "It'll all go away if the two most beautiful people here kiss." He lifted his hand and something invisible seemed to yank Huey further away. "Just a little further."
"No." Jazmine surprised both of them when she wriggled out of his grasp. "I will never kiss somebody like you!" She got right in his face, as the both of them blinked. "You're an arrogant, self-centered, piece of shit, Dominic! I hate you!"
"Whatever, gorgeous!" The boy winked. His voice wasn't nearly as confident as it had been before. "You weren't saying that when I kissed you two years ago. They say a girl never forgets her first."
She shoved him into the locker beside her, her eyes no longer full of lust for him. "Our first kiss was hardly memorable."
"You never mentioned that you two dated." Huey took the opportunity to move once Dominic was distracted, and clearly, upset by Jazmine's last outburst. "That's interesting."
"We didn't…" Jazmine bit her lip and avoided his gaze, turning her attention back to Dominic, her eyes blazing. "It was just a kiss, and as it turns out, I've moved on. I thought there was good in you. That you actually cared about me. About Leilani!"
"I still do, Jaz." Dominic told her. Huey rolled his eyes. It was like he wasn't even there. Like he didn't even matter. He hated it. He hated how he wanted to make Dominic disappear. Hated how Jazmine didn't look like she wanted him to go anywhere at all. He hated that he didn't have the right to feel any of those things. "I still care about you. Both of you. You'll see. I'm just trying to help."
"Then leave." Jazmine shot the demon a look of disgust. "I'm better off without you."
Dominic looked between them, appearing crestfallen for a moment, before he flickered out of view. The spell with him had obviously been broken. Not so much with either one of them. They still couldn't even look at each other. Then again, it's not like he'd exactly tested the theory.
"Jazmine?" He glanced up, slowly walking towards her. He watched her lips pucker slightly. He knew what they had to do. What he was going to do, whether she wanted him to or not. "Can you please look at me?"
Her eyes were shut. He could see the war practically blazing in her head. "It's okay. It's okay to be attracted to me, Jazmine." He glanced at her. "I'm not a saint. Because…I've been stealing glances at you too." Her eyes were still closed. "We haven't seen each other in a minute. We're the only two who knows what really happened the past few days. And we've missed each other. We've both been thinking 'What if?'" He reached out to touch her, surprised by how electric it felt just gripping her arm. "You're not alone. I've been doing it too."
"Huey, all that we have to do is push past it." She was talking more to herself than him. "It'll just go away. The spell has to break eventually."
He grabbed her before she could even stop him. All that he wanted was her. All that he wanted right now was her. The feelings were so intense, so crazy within him that he couldn't even stop himself now if he'd wanted to. He held out his arms. "Come here, Jazmine."
She walked into his arms, tilting her head up to his. "I know it's selfish. I know that I've been acting jealous. And I know that I'm attracted to you."
He nodded towards her. "Your turn."
"I…." Her voice faltered when he moved a little closer to her, his lips hovering right above hers, almost brushing against them. "I feel guilty because I'm attracted to you. Sometimes, I even feel jealous of Arielle. Not because I want you all to myself, but because you both love each other, and I'm just not there yet with Vince. No matter how hard I try. No matter how much I should. I just don't. I'm starting to think that I can't."
"Okay, good." Huey took a breath, trying to will himself to only press his lips against hers and nothing more. That meant no heavy petting, no gripping her disrespectfully, no tongue. They'd admitted their faults, and all that they had to do to break the spell was be honest about what they wanted. And neither of them actually wanted to shove the other away, so there was only way forward. "Here goes nothing."
Jazmine knew that she should stop him. It wasn't okay, what she was doing. Even under the influence of spell work, she of all people should have known better. She was taking advantage. Of Vince's kindness. Of Huey's lack of logic. Of all of this. And she was wrong for it. She knew it. He knew it. But she wanted to let it happen anyway. The feelings inside her growing more and more intense the closer his lips got to hers.
This was only to break the spell. There was no other reason that they were doing this.
He brushed his lips against hers slowly, hesitantly, but that hadn't been enough. Never mind that they were skipping class in the stairwell near the principal's office, or that they were still in freaking school after Huey had been attacked by a demon that had posed as a regular boy and ended up being her first kiss after he'd fooled her into thinking he was just a summer camp attendee her age.
Who cared?
The moment that he licked his lips and kissed her, really, actually kissed her, she felt herself reel at the sensation. She couldn't help kissing him back and moving closer, pulling her arms around his neck until his tongue slid into her mouth and he backed her into a corner, pressing his lips even harder against hers. His hands were gripping her tighter against him, and she didn't yell at him once. If anything, she wanted more. More of what she wasn't sure. She and Vince hadn't gone past some pretty heated makeout sessions, not too different than what she and Huey were doing now.
And as much as she hated to admit it….
Even without the spell, she was pretty sure it didn't come close to this.
He moved his hands up to her hair and ran his fingers through her curls, pulling her tighter against his mouth as she kissed him right back. They continued this way until they ran out of air, and the moment that they broke apart, a vision, one that both of them shared, flashed into their heads.
"We should not have done that." Leilani muttered, putting her clothes back on.
Bartholomew was still gasping for air, his chest heaving up and down. He was staring at her, not saying much of anything for a change.
"I shall go." She continued, heading down the path. "My mother will be looking for me soon."
"Twas' the spell, Leilani." Bartholomew glanced at her. "It did not mean anything whatsoever. Nothing has shifted."
"Everything has shifted!" Her voice bounced around the walls of his home, and he suddenly shot up, the spell broken. "What? Would you like for me to keep it down so that your beloved betrothed cannot hear that I do not mean anything to you but this?" She motioned towards the bed when she said it, slamming her hand into the mattress and then up towards her forehead. "God, I am such a fool. Such an imbecile for believing that there was ever anything more."
"Leilani, please." Bartholomew was tossing on his clothes, following behind her. "It was solely due to the aftereffects of the spell."
"The spell no longer had an effect on either of us once our lips touched!" She growled, getting into his face. "The aftereffects are not the source of our affliction."
"Well, I still long for you." He admitted quietly, rushing to her side. His lips hovering over hers again. "I still crave things with you that I have never craved with another." His lips brushed alongside her ear. "And I want to do those things now."
Leilani knew that it was wrong. That she should turn the corner and walk home. But she craved him to, and she wasn't ready to face just how wrong it was in her bed all alone. Not when she wanted to just as intensely as he did.
They didn't notice that she was watching, didn't notice her scowl as she walked away.
They'd written their tickets to an early grave.
She'd make sure of it.
When the vision was over, Huey and Jazmine immediately broke apart from each other, glancing at each other hesitantly. At least they didn't have that overwhelming sense to makeout anymore.
And at least they hadn't done that.
Jazmine's eyes furrowed as she tried to decipher the vision and what it meant. She could tell that Huey was doing the same until his eyes suddenly widened at something next to her.
"What the fuck do you want now, Dominic?" Jazmine snapped. "Haven't you done enough."
"I'd like a word with my daughter." Julian lifted his hand and to both their surprise, Huey's back slammed onto the door to the stairwell. Normally, with ghosts, this would be a cause for surprise, if it wasn't so obvious that he hadn't quite moved on in an effort to look after Jazmine. She didn't even need to ask how he'd done it. She already knew. "Alone."
She had never seen Huey look so terrified of an authority figure. If the situation hadn't been so awkward, she would have burst into a fit of laughter at the sight of him running out of the door, scared to death of her father.
"I know that I was wrong, Dad…Julian." She hated seeing how disappointed he looked. "I take full accountability for what I've done. I'll fix this."
"Jazmine, do you really even know the full extent of what is going on?" He glanced around the halls. "Do you even know what is happening right now?"
"It's wrong of me to lead Vince on, I get it." She held up her hands. "I'll work things out. I'll give him a shot. I promise."
"It's not about boys, Jazmine!" He bellowed, causing her to hop back in surprise. "This is about you. This is about you being as strategic as possible to make sure that you're safe. You don't even know what you're up against! The truth is that no-"
"No what?" Jazmine wrinkled her nose. "Are you saying that nobody knows who Bartholomew is working for?"
He sighed, fading away. "I'm saying…that nothing is as it seems, and you need to start figuring out what is as it seems, sooner rather than later."
"That doesn't make sense." She protested.
But he was gone.
And she was left all alone to sit with her shame.
Author's Note:
I didn't save my initial edits, so if you read this before I published them, I am so sorry.
Make sure you read Chapter 13 before you hop over to this one lol! I uploaded TWO chapters.
I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Lol. This was probably one of my favorite chapters to write outside of the hellfire scene. I came so close to releasing chapters 12-14 all in one pop, but I've been trying to proofread heavily before publishing.
To the Juey lovers out there, congratulations to you on this moment. To the handful of people who are actually Team Arielle and Team Vince, stay strong!
Shoutout to Glokka! To answer your question, yes this is a Juey story, but it's heavily centered around Jazmine and this mess that she has to deal with. You'll still get some Juey scenes here and there, but this isn't a completely romantic tale tbh. Sorry! Lol. I'm glad that you're enjoying it though.
I would also like to highlight the return of BoondocksFever234. She has so many dope stories. Silent Beauty AND Children of the Night are great places to start. Check her out!
As usual, thank you for reading, reviewing, following, and favoriting my stories. I really do appreciate it.
I will also be taking a hiatus for a few weeks, but I'll be back before you know it. I'll be focusing on this and probably updating the Princess Diaries whenever I come back.
Until Next Time,
MissAceThankYou
