Chapter 2: It Worked!

Mornings always sucked! If I could lay in bed, enjoying waking up, maybe it wouldn't be so bad, but that's not my life. Instead, my life is full of marching to my mother's tune. She says "jump", and I'm supposed to say "How high?" It's old a shit, but I keep reminding myself that I'm almost a junior. That's so close to being a senior. Two years is forever, especially living my life, so every morning sucks, but better to look at the bright side.

Once my brain began to power on, I got nervous. The sounds around me were way different than normal, like so completely different that I started freaking the fuck out. There was no annoying little brother stompings or complainings or arguings. Bizarrely there were no voices at all. My house was never quiet. It was like I had died in my sleep and hadn't realise it. The silence became deafening, like a base of a song, drowning out everything else. My heart sped up, my breath quickened, my ears rung, and my throat begin to close. Covering my head with the blanket, as if it could protect me, I prayed it was stop. Instead, everything became worse. The texture was too soft, the weight too heavy.

Daring to open my eyes a small amount, the slightly sliver of light entered the cocoon I had created. The fabric staring back at me was purple! I hated purple! I would never in a million years own a purple comforter, let alone one that looked so new. All my covers were handmade family throwoffs, because my parents couldn't be bothered to give me what was needed to decorate my room. But even if they had, it would have never been purple! Ugh!

Throwing off the cover and sheets in disgust, as if they would contaminate me, I jumped out of bed, moving myself as far away from the offending item as possible. At least, that was how it went in my head. In reality, my foot got tangled in the sheets and I ended up face planting onto the floor, letting out a fairly loud whelp, as my head, chest, and knee hit the ground. The sheet and blanket imprisoning me were no help as protection. Laying on the ground, my pride in tatters, evaluating all the places my body was screaming at me, I was unable to avert my eyes. They focused on the wood pressing against my forehead, examining it in only the way that could be possible when it's almost against your eyeball. The only thing recognisable was dust, but then even that was wrong. Goosebumps rolled over my body, my breathing became short and laboured, and the ringing in my ears increased. Chancing a glance to the left made the situation worse.

I screamed in pure terror, while trying to crawl away from the floor and this nightmare. Instead, I was stuck. My arms had no strength, and the covers were like a vice grip keeping me in place. My screams turned into frustration coated in fear.

What was happening to me? Where was I? How did I end up here? I was freaking the fuck out. Could it be a zombie apocalypse? Vampire voodoo? Taken to an alternative reality? Body swap?

With that thought, my mind stopped spinning and a huge grin spread across my face.

Any hope I had was instantly washed away with the sound of heavy boots travelled closer to me. My heart, which had barely calmed slighted, raced even harder, my breathing became even more shallow, and my throat closed entirely. I was prone on the floor with no way to protect myself from the impending doom. What was I going to do? What if the person approaching quickly was a serial killer? Creepy old man who liked young girls? The possibilities were endless and my brain conjured one worse possibility after another. As my mind raced, my body was frozen, interfering with any desire to hide under the bed. Frantically I tried to figure out what to do, as the steps drew nearer.

A loud brisk knock pounded the door and echoed in reverberation scaring me even more. "You alright in there?" the voice on the other side of the door asked, sounding concerned in a fatherly way.

The fact that the steps stopped, calmed me a little. Not entering was a positive omen. Knocking was even better. Perhaps I stood some chance to survive this encounter.

The qualities in the voice were similar to my father, giving my freakout pause. On top of that, the voice sounded familiar. It was hard to tell with the door between us, but I wanted it to be Chief Swan, as that would mean that Grandmama had granted me my heart's desire.

All worries left me like water rushing down a drain. Shock mixed with exuberance filled me up. For the second time, hope appeared. The voice being Chief Swan would be evidence that the spell Leah and I had cast had come true. Sure, I had hoped that it might work, but never in a million years had I expected it to. First off, contrary to current evidence, I didn't believe magic existed, despite what my mother kept telling me. Second, the stories my father told were that – stories, rather than historical depictions. The reality that I needed to rethink the fundamentals of how the world worked caused my brain to race and my legs to begin vibrating. Good thing I was currently well acquainted with the floor. Before my mind could go too far down that rabbit hole, and admit my mother might be right, the series of events since waking hit me. The had spell worked for reals! I was Bella Swan!

I desired to jump up and down, celebrating, but couldn't, given my predicament. What an idiot I was being. Not only was there no reason to be scared, all the strangeness since awakening was confirmation of my success. If it had been possible, I would have slapped myself on the forehead. But since my arms were still trapped from my fall, I could only give myself a mental slap.

"Everything okay?" the voice on the other side of the door asked once more.

After a brief moment of confusion, I realised that I hadn't answered him the first time.

"Got it covered," I answered, while attempting to hide my jubilant laughter.

Nothing more was said from the other side of the door, although the boots could be heard moving further away from me. Guess my answer had worked. It was strange that he hadn't come in. My father certainly would have. It worked in my favour, though, as it gave me some time to put myself together. With some concentration and effort I got myself unwrapped from the covers and off the floor. While doing so my brain conjured scary options, like the spell had worked, but something had gone wrong like it also sent me back 100 years.

Needing confirmation of my true success, for the first time I looked down at my hands, confirming that I had pale skin. Upon further examination, I verified that this body was female. The clothes on this body looked fairly modern, so that was good. I looked for a mirror, in order to triple check that I was indeed in Bella's body, but found no mirrors. What girl didn't have a mirror in her room? Not even trying to solve that puzzle, I determined that there had to be one in the bathroom.

There might not have been a mirror, but there was a computer. Wanting to check the date, since her alarm only had the time, I first made sure the covers didn't harm me once more, then walked over to the computer, and turned it on.

Since it would take the computer time to boot, I carefully opened the door the knock had come from, checked that no other soul was there, and then stealthily moved to the left, hoping that like in my house it would lead to my desired destination. Opening the door and peering in, I was pleased to see that my guess had been correct. Going over to the mirror, I examined the reflection. Smiling widely, I started shrieking in excitement. I had successfully become Bella Swan, newest addition to the junior class! She was Forks version of a shiny new toy, and totally acting like it was s burden.

Heavy boots came up the stairs, although at a slower pace than last time.

"You okay there, Bells?" his voice called out to me, even though he was physically not able to see me yet.

"I'm great!" I exclaimed.

"Okay, then," he muttered with irritation and confusion, while he moved back down the stairs.

Closing the door, in case he came up again, I began to look closely at the face staring back at me.

Even though this was everything I prayed for, it was strange to see the veins running through my skin, to be shorter, less curvy, and more petite. I didn't look like me. Even though that was the point, it was beyond startling.

The spell had been such a far-fetched idea. Despite seeing the evidence, it wasn't sinking in. The excitement was tampered with a holy fuck it worked. My own disbelief in magic was only superseded by Leah's. Not only had she been extremely sceptical, she had endured even more lectures about the dangers of messing with unknown forces from her mother than I had with mine. When I had talked to her about my idea, she had first stated that it was a bunch of superstitious nonsense, and then repeated her mother's warnings. Despite all her hesitancies and concerns, her being able to win back Sam had clenched the deal for her.

Excited to share my news with her, I went to run downstairs and call her. Just shy of the railing, I stopped myself. Did Bella even know Leah? Could a phone call make Chief Swan suspicious? Or worse Auntie Sue? Holding onto the top of the handrail, trying to decide what to do, I couldn't come up with an excuse that would be believable to either of them, if Bella was a virtual stranger to Leah. Auntie Sue was annoying good at being able to see through Leah, especially, but me too. And if she found out, she'd tell Harry, who would tell the rest of the elders and then they'd force us to undo the spell, since they probably knew the antidote. And Leah wouldn't get her chance. They were so annoying, all up in everyone's business!

Ugh!

And I would never betray Leah like that. For her sake as well as mine, I needed to take my grandmama's advice and think things through before I acted.

The spell actually working seemed so far fetched that we hadn't made plans if it did. That had been foolish of us. My grandmama's laughter and words telling me that I needed to not rush headlong into action came to me, causing me to smile.

Like clockwork my response to her warning had been, "And what would be the fun in that?"

She would then laugh and shake her head, while telling me, "One day your fun is going to cost you a pretty penny."

"Nah," I'd tease back. "Don't you know nothing can touch me?"

She'd smile a sad kind of smile that seemed to contain longing and sadness, which made no kind of sense to me.

God I missed her! Life wasn't horrid and drab without her. Without Mike I would have never left my bed.

Like many things between Grandmama and I, even though the years passed, we repeated the same phrases, enjoying the banter. She was the lighthouse in my storm. She was the place of refuge I could count on until she wasn't there anymore. It wasn't like I didn't know she was old, but she wasn't supposed to leave me. Not yet.

The last time I saw her she told me in a whisper, "Even when I'm not here to give you a hug, I'll always be with you," while she coughed almost every syllable.

Until waking up in Bella Swan's body I was certain she had been wrong. How could she be with me? It wasn't possible. She was dead.

Everything was different this morning, even my beliefs. Without doubt she had been looking after me. She was certainly the one that had made the spell work. She always wanted the best for me. She was blessing me, even if I hadn't thought it all the way through, following through with her promise. The best way I could honour her life, her love for me, and this gift would be to enjoy it, and use it as intended.

Returning to the bathroom, I decided that time as critical to come up with a way around Auntie Sue and Chief Swan. Staring at the reflection, I thanked my grandmama once more. The smile staring back at me was wider than anything, but there was some sadness in the eyes. My grandmama's death flashed before me.

"Don't dwell on sad things, baby girl," she had told me.

She had never steered me wrong, so I tried to shake off the desire to cry and focused on her amazing gift of staring at Bella Swan's face.

Getting dressed seemed smart, since, all going to plan, today was a school day. Returning to the bedroom and closing the door, I first went over to the computer. Opening the calendar program, I confirmed that it was the morning after we had conducted the spell. With that concern solved, I tried to figure out what to wear, and focused on the good, starting with the good parts of being Bella Swan. It didn't take much for my smile to return and widen even further than it had been before. Not only was she the Chief's daughter, she was an only child, so no mother around to nag me, no siblings to take care of and break my stuff, and most importantly, nothing impeding Mike's interest in me.

A few minutes later I heard Chief Swan yell up, "Heading to work. Drive safe, it's icy out."

"Thanks," I yelled back, even if I wasn't sure he heard me. Seemed the polite thing to do.

Good to know that he wasn't a rotten dad. No one could beat mine, though. Recalling everything I knew about regarding Chief Swan, didn't amount to much. His best friends were Leah's dad, Uncle Harry, and Jacob's Dad, Mr. Bill. He liked to fish with them, and even though he talked about Bella, it didn't seem like he visited her often and I couldn't remember her ever staying with him before her big move. None of that seemed helpful in what was bound to happen: what to say when I actually saw him face to face. It was one thing for Leah and I to talk about the spell. It was another to be living it. And clearly we had missed some critical elements.

Refusing to become bummed, I focused on preparing for school. Rummaging through Bella's closet resulted in a lot of shirts and hoodies. She was skinny like an actresses, and probably a double zero or something. A body like what I had seen in the mirror was worth showing off. Maybe she covered it up because she was self-conscious or something.

Well, I wasn't.

Trying to pick something that was at least remotely decent was beyond difficult. Her options were so terrible. My searching made it obvious that I needed to convince the Chief to hand over money for clothes. The question was how.

Before that thought went too far, it dawned on me that Chief Swan had just left telling me to be careful driving to school. I started freaking out, since I didn't even have my permit yet. Reminding myself of the good once more, I focused on getting dressed and out the door, figuring that I could freak out about driving once I was behind the wheel.

Finally finding one remotely adequate outfit, I put it together. It took me heading to the bathroom to discover why Bella never wore heals, even as small as the ones on the boots that I had found in the very back of the closet: she was clumsy almost to the point of it being a disability. I hoped it wasn't a quality that Mike would find attractive, because I was planning on curing that junk. No way was I walking around in Converses.

It took me a bit to realise that her bathroom stuff wasn't in the bathroom, which seemed dumb to me, but it wasn't my family or house. Going back to her bedroom, I found a bag that looked like a guy's shaving kit. Not seeing anything else, I looked inside. Sure enough there was a toothbrush, deodorant, and other essentials. Not sure about how I felt using someone else's personal body things, I decided to anyway, since it was her body and her stuff.

By the time I was ready to leave, applying what little makeup she owned, I was in high spirits once more. My body was nearly shaking in excitement, I had a huge grin, and I kept wanting to jump up and down, so much so that I kept telling myself I needed to play it cool, since Bella wasn't a very animated person from what I had observed. If I was honest, my last thought as I gave myself one last look over before I exited the bathroom was that I looked better than she usually did. It took me a few minutes to find the kitchen, and then something edible, but eventually Poptarts became my breakfast and I walked outside.

As soon as I opened the front door, I shut it, chastising myself for forgetting Forks weather in my exuberance. Tracking down a jacket, scarf, hat, and gloves wasn't too hard, but certainly meant I was going to be late to school.

Would being the Chief's daughter that Mrs. Cope would be more or less strict about attendance?

There was no way to know, so I focused on the garments I found to keep myself warm. Unlike mine, hers weren't pretty, but at least they were snuggly. Maybe I had found something my parents were better at than Chief Swan: they clothed me properly.

Opening the door once more, I moved slowly, as the rain from last night had frozen, making everything a sheet of ice. Focusing on not falling had stopped me from freaking out. Locking the door behind me, I eventually made it to Bella's truck. All of my excitement was sucked out of me and replaced with terror. Turning it on was easy enough, but I struggled to convince myself to actually drive. Sure, my dad had given me a few lessons, but that wasn't the same as being on my own behind the wheel. His words reminded me that vehicles can become weapons if not treated with respect repeated like a broken record in my head. But it wasn't like I was going to walk when she had a truck. With grandmama's encouragement in my ear, eventually I convinced myself that as long as I took my time, I could safely drive to school.

The engine was ridiculously loud, but it drove well enough. In my fear I kept the speed below ten, and it barely hit five when I was backing up. The whole time I had my dad's voice in my head reminding me to keep my hands on the steering wheel at ten and two, to keep the left side of the truck's hood on the middle line, and to pay attention to potential hazards. I had missed seeing him this morning, so his instructions helping me get to school gave me a sense that he was still looking out for me, which soothed some of my sadness.

When I arrived there were police vehicles and an ambulance hauling someone away. Any anxiety I had about being late was replaced with worry about what had happened. This kind of excitement was rare in Forks.

It took a bit of waiting until an officer, Deputy Stevenson, directed me around the mess and into a parking spot. Turning off the engine, I moved the rear view mirror to check myself out one more time, since there was no mirror behind the sunscreen, and then I went to find Mike. I was barely at the truck's taillight when Jessica, a girl who hung out with Mike came towards me, moving relatively quickly, given the ice that coated every surface.

"Oh thank goodness you're okay," she squealed, once she reached me.

"Just running late," I explained, confused as to why she might be concerned. "I drove extra slow cause of the ice," I added as she seemed to be waiting for me to say something, but I wasn't sure what.

Her tone changed to one that sounded as if she were conspiring with me. "Well, Tyler lost control and ran into a number of cars, mine included." The glint in her eye reminded me of the one Dawn got when she got to tell me information that she was certain I didn't know. Then, her tone changed again to something slightly less high pitched. "In fact for a minute I thought maybe he had hit yours, since he stopped right where you have been parking," she declared to me, talking so fast I had to wonder if she knew any speed of speech other than rapid. Suddenly, she frowned and she slowed down a bit. "A bunch of us are going over to the hospital to make sure Tyler's okay and everything. If you want to go, maybe I could ride with, since my car is in that mess somewhere?"

"Sure," I told her, working at keeping in the broad grin that wanted to spread and turning it into a frown, reminding myself that Bella would have been sad or worried about Tyler.

Not only had my spell worked, but it was like the day had become my dream come true.

The excitement from before began to return until I got into the driver's seat once more. It was quickly replaced by terror. My throat closed and my heart crashed into my stomach, threatening to spill its contents on my lap. Driving where people were watching me was a thousand times worse than when I had been alone.

Taking a deep breath, I reminded myself of all that I had done to safely arrive at school.

Once Jessica was seated and buckled, I told her, "My mom's car was small, so I'm not used to this monster. Could you check too? I don't want to hit anyone."

"Sure," she answered very bubbly, making me wonder if she dialled it down ever.

Maybe she only knew how to exist in the world in a hyper fast state, or maybe it was the result of watching the crash.

Pops and I had only practiced reversing once. Luckily, his words were cemented in my mind. Like everything else about driving thus far, it took my whole concentration. Even though I was afraid Jessica would say something about how slow I had backed up, she didn't seem surprised or upset about it, so I guessed that I did all right and warning her had been the right move. Backing up with all the cars and people was completely the worst. Nothing from my practice with my dad made it easier.

At the parking lot exit my father was directing traffic and didn't even give me a second glance. Taking in a harsh breath to stop myself from crying, I refused to be weak. I was following my happiness. If anyone had supported me living out grandmama's gift, it would have been him. I tried to stem the sadness that was rising by reminding myself that even though I hadn't expected the spell to work, any dummy would have worked out that I couldn't stay his little girl and swap with Bella. I couldn't stay his little girl much longer, anyway, so it wasn't like I sacrificed a ton. Between my pep talk and reminders that I was dwelling within Bella Swan's body, the sadness receded.

It was only once we were almost to the hospital when I remembered that Bella seemed like she was friends with Jessica and that any fool could tell that Jessica was gaga for Mike. By going after Mike Bella and Jessica's friendship might be at jeopardy. Mulling it over, I decided that no one would catch on to the swap if Jessica and Bella had a falling out. And it wasn't like she was my friend; she was Bella's. So, it really wasn't any skin off my nose. The important part was to make sure nothing gave me away.

The spell working was clear evidence in my belief that Mike and I were meant to be together. I was determined to make my grandmama proud. And, it was obvious that living happily every after was way more important to my grandmama than keeping my family or my friends, my old ones or the ones Bella had made.

Finding a place to park in the hospital garage, Jessica and I walked together into the waiting room, where nearly the whole junior class, along with students from other classes, had conjugated. All clumped together with Mike were two other girls and two other boys. As Jessica and I walked over to them, I grew nervous, but refused to appear anything other than calm and collected.

We were almost to them when someone yelled out, "Bella."

I would have kept walking, except Jessica pulled on me.

Turning to her, she declared, "Bella, your dad is calling for you."

"Oh, okay, thanks."

Clearly, I needed to start answering to Bella before someone found out.

Stopping my progression, I turned around, unsure of where he was coming from.

Right then he reached me. Putting his hands on the top of my arms, he asked me with worry and urgency in his tone, "You alright?"

"Perfect," I told him with a smile.

He looked relieved, yet eyed me carefully.

"I drove super slow to school, so it was already over by the time I got there," I informed him.

Pursing my lips, I had to hope that I hadn't said anything to give myself away.

"Good," he stated strongly, relaxing somewhat. Moving away he informed me, "I might be home late. Don't worry about dinner for me."

"Okay," I agreed easily, relieved he wasn't upset about me being late to school and pleased to learn the information that Bella was usually the cook.

Although the cooking part worried me, since I was no good at it. My mother had attempted to teach me and I had found it irritating. There had to be a way to get out of that responsibility, as it definitely would blow my cover.

Once Chief Swan began making his way through the people, I went over to Mike and his friends.

"Hey," I told them, making sure to keep eye contact with Mike. "You guys all okay?" I asked trying to sound genuinely concerned.

"God, I could have died," Lauren wailed. "It was terrifying. He slammed on the breaks. You could hear them squealing and the tires burning and then the tremendous crash. Then, everyone was screaming and trying to get to Tyler."

"Sounds like I should have arrived earlier," I told them playfully, adding a smile for good measure.

My joke seemed to fall flat, as no one smiled. I looked down, trying to keep an eye on Mike's expression.

"It was unreal," one of the boys added after a second, saving me from humiliation, "like the world sped down and then sped up. It was wicked."

"I thought that was just me," Mike added, looking like he was feeling a little sick.

Moving closer to him, I put my hand on his arm. Making sure to sound empathic and concerned, I told him, "I'm sure it was traumatic."

Focusing on Mike, I was only half listening to everyone else.

"They're bringing in counsellors for everyone," one of the other girls told us.

"No way," Jessica retorted.

"I think so," the girl added, "I overheard some of the staff talking about it."

"Well, then, we should leave before they expect me to smear my mascara," Lauren stated with authority.

"We should wait to hear from Dr. Cullen about Tyler," the second male put in.

Looking at Mike, I watched to see what he wanted to do. I was totally in for skipping school and having fun, but reminded myself of my grandmama's advice to think things through first. It took a bit, but I could see Mike really wanting to wait to make sure his friend was okay. He really was a great guy.

"Fine," Lauren retorted nasally. "But as soon as Doctor Dreamy comes out we're going."

No one said anything, but Mike's body relaxed, which was good enough for me. I was glad to know that Lauren had a lot of sway in the group, especially since I would have thought from watching the group at lunch that role would have gone to Jessica. It just showed that even though we all knew of each other, we didn't really know each other.

After a bit, some other people cleared out and our group was able to sit down on uncomfortable hospital waiting chairs. Luckily, I manage to stick by Mike's side, offering him comfort when it seemed appropriate. It took some more time, which the group used by each person retelling their perspective of the accident, before Dr. Cullen came out. Honestly by the time Angela said, "Yeah, it was scary," I was ready to scream. It was just the same thing basically over and over. It's not like someone died or anything. Let them lose the most important person in their life, and then have them complain. In comparison to my loss, their fear seemed misplaced and childish.

Dr. Cullen cleared his throat rather loudly, if you ask me, and then told the room, "Those of you here for Tyler, please know that he's not in any danger and being well attended to. There will be no visitors for him except his direct family. Thank you."

With spells being a thing, Dad's stories were clearly a thing, and no more evidence was needed in support than Dr. Cullen. He clearly wasn't human. He didn't scare me or anything, but his whole appearance was way too beautiful and composed.

After a moment Angela told everyone, "I need to get back to class."

"I'll drive you," Ben offered.

"Thanks," she told him and smiled back.

They seemed like they were into one another. I had to wonder if they were a couple. No one had mentioned anything about it, and I hadn't seen the two of them hold hands or anything, but then some couples were more private about those kinds of things. I wouldn't be. I would hold Mike's hand everywhere and anytime he let me.

"I'm going home to recover from today's awfulness," Lauren informed us. "You all should come over."

I took my focus off of Mike to notice how the group would respond, as it would say a lot about their dynamics. Clearly Angela and Ben were goody two shoes, but then again Angela was the Reverend's daughter.

"Sounds good to me," Jessica put in.

"Me too," added Eric.

Mike turned to me, "What about you Bella?"

"I'm thinking going sounds good," I told him truthfully, excited he asked me and hoping he and I were on the same page.

"I'm in," Mike added.

Unable to help myself from smiling, I tried to not be too obvious.

After arranging transportation, we all left the hospital and headed over to Lauren's, except Angela and Ben, of course. Jessica rode with me again and directed me to Lauren's house.

It didn't take long after we'd arrived to realise that it was lunchtime and we were all hungry. Jessica and I went about making everyone sandwiches, while Lauren found some soda and chips. Everyone was nearly done when Eric asked, "What now?"

"I've got some video games," Lauren offered.

The guys got excited and us girls just rolled our eyes. After dumping our plates into the kitchen, she set up the system and the boys played while we watched.

When we'd have enough of watching them she asked, "How about Twister?"

"Sure," nearly everyone said at once.

The first couple of colours were no big deal, but once we had three points down, everyone was touching everyone else. I could feel Mike at every place where our bodies were connected. Officially this day was turning into the very best of my life. Purposefully or not, I couldn't tell, Mike's elbow moved over my breast. It didn't take much after that for me to fall down and be out, but it was the icing on a great cake.

When Eric won I went to the kitchen to get some more soda and looked at the clock. Chief Swan had said that he'd be home after dinner, but did I have a curfew? I wasn't sure, and I didn't want to get grounded. Maybe there was a second downside, if Bella's father was stricter than my parents.

"I should go," I told the group, as staying in Chief Swan's good graces seemed wise.

As the words exited my mouth, I could nearly feel my grandmama squeezing my hand in encouragement.

"You willing to give me a ride to my place, Bella?" Mike asked.

"Sure," I told him beaming.

Out the corner of my eye I could see Jessica seething, which confirmed my guess that she was into Mike.

After we both said goodbye to everyone, Mike and I got into the truck's cab. Even though he said nothing, it seemed like he wanted to grab my hand, but constrained himself. I wanted to make the first move, but didn't. Not only did that sound slutty, Leah had warned me against it. Still, it was hard to keep my hands on the steering wheel when he was so close.

"It was great of you to hang with us," he told me, as he pointed out his place.

"Yeah, it was fun," I agreed this time unable to stop the smile from spreading across my face.

Once parked, I noticed that he was staring at me, flicking his eyes at my lips. Had he down that throughout the drive? I couldn't help but wonder if he wanted to kiss me. Licking my lips and pursing them a bit, I leaned towards him putting my hand down between us in order to do so. I wouldn't make the first move, but flirting and encouraging him seemed smart.

Placing his hand on top of mine, he leaned towards me. "Thanks for being so great today, Bella," he told me his voice quivering some.

"Anything for you, Mike," I told him my voice unsteady as well.

He might not know the reality of what I'd already done to mean every single word, but I hoped one day he would know the truth in my statement.

He looked into my eyes, while he leaned in, presumably checking that he had my permission to come closer. He absolutely did, so to encourage him, I leaned in. It took him a few more second before his lips found mine. It was like electricity flowed from where our lips were touching down my spine into my fingers and toes and then made a ball of energy in my stomach. It was so energising, I could have run a mile without breaking a sweat. Mostly, though I wanted to scream and shout my happiness from the rooftops.

The kiss barely lasted a breath's length and he hadn't pressed that hard, but it was the best thing that had ever happened to me in my whole life. Pulling away from me, he had a million watt smile. I wore a matching one. If there was any more confirmation that Mike was my path to happiness, I had just received it. My heart felt like it was going to burst out of my chest, in a good way.

"See you, Bella," he told me, as he got out of my truck.

High as a kite I couldn't remember how to drive back to Bella's. It took almost an hour, but eventually I made it, still over the moon. Fortunately, there was no Chief Swan.

Making my way into the kitchen, I made myself something to eat, then opened her backpack to prepare myself for tomorrow. For a second it was as if I was in my home doing my regular. The topics quickly brought me down to earth. My elation plummeted, causing me to wish that I had not even gone there. Somehow this part of her being a grade above me hadn't crossed my mind. Refusing to let this new downside tarnish a great day, I told myself that it couldn't be that hard. Starting with the class that I imagined being the easiest, in terms of what lay before me, I opened the English textbook and tried to read the first chapter. Between the content and the memory of Mike's lips on mine, I hardly made any progress. At least it wasn't science or math.

When I heard a cruiser pulling up into the drive, I scampered into Bella's room, taking her things, unwilling to deal with the Chief. Hopefully he didn't require homework to be done in the kitchen like ma. He moved around downstairs. Afraid he would come up, I put the studies away, found some ratty clothes to sleep in, covered myself in blankets, even though it was really too early to go to bed, and closed my eyes, pretending to be asleep with the door opened a crack, like I was required to do at home. When he did come up, he lingered longer that I thought necessary in the doorframe, but didn't do more, not even step into the room. Eventually, he turned and headed downstairs, closing the door behind himself. I guess closed doors were permitted her. Good to know. Sleep didn't come easily, my excitement filling me with energy.

Before I had gone ahead with the spell I was certain that I was irrevocably in love with Mike, and thus, my happiness would be found with him. Yet there had been doubts that he could love me in return. Lying in the bed staring at the ceiling, it was abundantly clear to me that we were meant to be. As I fell asleep, my mind racing and my heart full, I hoped and prayed like I never had before that I would wake up and be Bella Swan again tomorrow.