Fated Truth (The True Witch Saga) Read online

  “OMG Ella! Why the fuck didn’t you tell me that you knew Thor out there? He was practically eye fucking you while he was surrounded by the hordes!”

  I tried to quiet her. Not that it helped. “I don’t know him. Jeeze can you be any louder? He just busted in on my father’s sermon yesterday morning. I mean literally kicked open the doors then gawked at us all and strolled away. I haven’t ever talked to him. I swear!”

  Devon decided to get into the convo. “Okay. Who, what, and where are we talking about?”

  “Pshhhh, Ella has a new boyfriend. He was all but drooling at her, while he was surrounded by the prissy bitches. Can you believe that shit? I’m so jealous. He was most def, bitable.” Jessa mimicked tearing into a steak as Thor passed us down the hallway with his groupies trailing behind.

  I looked at Jessa and tried not to laugh because Thor decided at that moment to look over at us and caught her gnawing on air.

  “Okay let’s get our shit and go. We are all going to be late for first.” I turned around and shut my locker after grabbing my English Lit book.

  “What do you guys have for first?” Devon grabbed for my schedule.

  “English Lit with Mr. Sizemore. You?” I replied.

  “Same. Well, ladies, let’s haul it so he doesn’t blow what wad he has left,” Devon suggested.

  He linked arms with us and we started down the hall way, dodging students left and right. We got to the door of our class and guess who just happened to be sitting in my favorite seat? Yup, you guessed it, Thor in all his glory.

  Devon pulled us to a stop as if stunned. “I thought he was into you, Ella. Why’s Sabrina Queen Priss-bot all up in his shiz?”

  “Babe, does it really matter? Someone that pretty doesn’t stay untouched for long, in this meat market we call High School,” Jessa said, rolling her eyes as she headed down the row of desks toward the back of the room.

  I felt eyes burning into my back the entire track to my seat. His or Sabrina’s, it really didn’t matter. Like I could really compete with her superior status. So I pushed it to the back of my mind and contented myself with thinking of all the lovely STD’s he was going to catch when he dipped his wick into that well used pool.

  Mr. Sizemore rushed into the room seconds ahead of the bell, sweating and panting, his hog jowls wagging. “Attention. Attention. I said, quiet, class!” he fairly shouted. “Let’s get underway shall we? This year is going to be tough. This is not a free pass class. I fully expect you to take notes and read the required reading each night.” He looked at everyone in the room until his eyes landed on me. “Ella.”

  “Yes, Mr. Sizemore?”

  “Please come to the front of the class and pass out the syllabus for this quarter.”

  I shuffled my feet to the front of the room and took the stack of papers from the teacher, turned to each row and handed stacks to each student in the first seat for them to pass back. On the second to last row I met the eyes of Thor and I swear that he was searing into my soul. What was it about him that overwhelmed me? Guys just didn’t affect me like that. My parents had a no dating rule, I know, no surprise there. I hadn’t really had a boyfriend before. So I didn’t know how to deal with the turbulence that he was causing. I broke the connection and moved to the next row. Sabrina was giving me the evil eye. Not a very pretty look for her. What was her problem? It wasn’t like she had any competition for the guys in this school. Queen bee needed to chill.

  Soon enough the bell rang and we were all gathering up our new texts and scrambling to leave the room as fast as possible. Jessa was babbling about something as she walked out beside me. Devon looked like he was lost in his own thoughts, as usual. Boy was a deep thinker.

  “Ya know, I think Sabrina was jealous of you, Ella. Did you not see the looks she’s been giving you all hour? I swear I was waiting for her head to start spinning!” Jessa started cackling at that moment, drawing all eyes to us. Including Sabrina’s, as she strides by and shoulder checked me.

  “Watch where you’re going, skank,” She spewed at me as she passed.

  Jessa decided to put her foot in it by yanking Sabrina’s messenger bag back as she passed by. “You watch it, you Barbie wanna be! Or did you want to taste my boot in the back of your throat?”

  “Whatev,” Sabrina sneered as she catted down the hall.

  I just strode slowly with my head down toward my locker. I wasn’t like Jessa, brave enough to stand up to the masses or brave the hordes of drama. I was more of a ‘go with the flow’ type of girl. It wasn’t like I could win against Sabrina anyway, so what’s the point? When we got to our shared locker, Jessa was fuming at me.

  “Why’d you let her treat you like that? You should’ve yanked out those nasty fake extensions she’s been sporting today.”

  “Jessa, you know why I don’t. The last time I got into trouble at school, my parents went postal and locked me in my room for a week. Literally. Lock. Key. And bolt. I was only allowed to leave for church services and to eat whatever they deemed I deserved to eat that day.”

  “I know, sweets, I just wish you had something better to look forward to going home, too. Emotionally abusive bastards.”

  Devon chose that moment to join in on our convo. “So, chicas, have we picked who our victim is going to be this year? Poor tools don’t stand a chance when Jessa gets her claws sunk in.”

  “Shut it pretty boy. I’m not that bad,” she cackled.

  “I’m thinking she should go after Brandon Jefferies. Sabrina dumped him over the summer. It would burn her bloomers seeing him with someone else. Especially Jessa,” I smirked and winked at her.

  “I think we should pick a potential for Ella this year, also. I mean we are seniors and we need dates to proms, parties, and football games, but we’d have to get it past the parentals,” Devon said. He was always the resident genius.

  As if I need any more drama at home. Pfft. “Okay, enough about my lack of love life. We need to book it to second. I can’t get a detention on the first day.”

  “St. Ella with her perfect grades, perfect attendance and perfect punctuality, I bow to your over bearing will,” Devon said, always the jokester.

  If only he knew the hell I would catch at home if I was outwardly anything else but perfection. My parents expected to live the life of the Cleavers. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect.

  The rest of the day passed pretty quickly and before I knew it, the bell rang for lunch. I hadn’t seen Thor or his groupies since first period. Sabrina seemed to be tailing me though. I don’t know what her problem was. I mean I didn’t even exist on the same shelf as she did at our school, but every time I turned around or peeked over my shoulder, yup, there she was, trollin’. I just didn’t find myself that interesting. Wonder what she’s up to, I thought. Nothing good, that’s for damn sure. Great more shit to buckle under.

  I turned and looked right at her. I smiled a sweet as a sugar cookie smile. “Stalker much?”

  She jumped as if startled by being caught trailing me and scurried down the hall toward her fellow glamazons. Yeah, I know I said I wasn’t much for making trouble, but enough was enough. She was starting to skeeve me out. She had always rubbed me the wrong way. On the outside she projected this pretty little bitch, but if you look into her eyes long enough you saw nothing. They’re totally blank. She just isn’t the nicest person either. Last year, when one of her friends decided to hit on her ex-boyfriend, she made the poor girl’s life a living, waking hell. Taunts and rumors are one thing, that’s basically a normal part of high school for some kids, but getting the breaks cut on her new Civic? Yeah. You’re seeing my point. Carly was still in a coma from hitting that tree straight on when the breaks in her car faulted. The police said the lines had been cut straight through. Too bad they could never prove who did it. Of course Sabrina and her horde were the first to start vying for sympathy. Taking flowers to Carly’s ICU room and hugging the parents.

  It didn’t surprise me in the least that Sabrina and Brandon ended
up going to prom together, not even a month after Carly’s accident. Rumor had it, at the time, Brandon was going to ask Carly to prom. I’d say that Sabrina got her message across with the subtlety of an eighteen wheeler. You don’t ever mess with anything that was hers. So yes, it was skeeving me out by being the object of her obsessive hatred, and that was putting it mildly.

  By the time I got to our shared locker, Devon and Jessa had already come and gone. I stowed my things and booked it to the cafeteria. I saw them sitting at our usual table as soon as I cleared the doors. They looked to be deep in gossip as I pulled up a seat and started digging through my sack lunch. Jessa was picking at her nuked pizza that she had gotten in the main lunch line. Devon looked to be enjoying the hell out of his salad that someone had smuggled him in from one of our local restaurants. Lucky bastard. I was stuck with a soggy ham and cheese sandwich from the vending machine.

  “So guess what I heard? I bet you will never ever, ever guess!” Jessa was biting at the bit to tell me what she had heard.

  “I really have no idea what the latest is, Jessa. I’ve been trying to keep my head down.”

  “Well you know that new guy, Thor? Well his real name is Jaxx, and he turned Sabrina down flat. She was all up in his shit and he told her that he likes girls that aren’t quite so desperate!”

  “Ha!” Devon practically spit his milk out his nose, which caused all of us to laugh horribly loud. He leaned forward and Jessa and I leaned in close. “Has anyone told him what happens when Sabrina doesn’t get what she wants? I mean look at what happened to Carly. I mean, sure, she was a snatch, but no one deserves that shit.”

  We all sat there in stunned silence for a long moment just digesting what he’d just said.

  “Well, I don’t think he has to worry about her too much. It seems that she has her sights stuck on me. She’s been stalking me through the halls and in between classes,” I commented.

  Jessa actually looked scared by that. She might snark at Sabrina like she did this AM, but she would never want to be that psycho’s target.

  Someone slammed down a tray on the table beside me, making us all jump. I looked up into the lightest blue eyes I had ever seen up close.

  “Hi, I’m Jaxx. Do you mind if I sit here?”

  Jessa jumped in, acting like her normal peppy sarcastic self. “Sure, hunk muffin. Anyone that turns down Queen Psych-ward is always welcome here!”

  He gave her a confused look and turned to me. “So…” he dragged out the word. “It’s cool, then?”

  “Sure.” I held out my hand to introduce myself. “My name’s Ella,” I said. When we touched hands, I swear I saw a light glow between our hands. It looked like green sparkles mixed with moonlight. Jaxx pulled his hand away so fast you would think I burned him. All I had felt was a pleasant hum of energy. Freaky! I looked from Devon to Jessa to see if they had seen anything unusual, but they were off in their own little gossip bubble.

  Jessa turned to Jaxx and asked if I’d told him what my name was short for.

  Ugh, Could this get anymore humiliating?

  “It’s really unusual. I don’t know why she shortens it.” She shrugged like I completely baffle her. I assure you. It’s a mutual feeling. “Anywayzzzz! Since our little raven isn’t talking,” Jessa giggled, “Arabella. See it’s pretty.”

  Jaxx turned to me and I was sure that I resembled a tomato at that point. “Little raven,” he said with a quick smile, “I like it. Why don’t you go by your full given name? It suits you.”

  Before I got a chance to answer, there was a loud cackle from someone standing right behind me. “Don’t you know, Jaxx? Ella is short for Cinder- Ella. She just doesn’t want anyone to know how truly skanky she really is. Her parents don’t even want her.”

  I turned around slowly to look into Sabrina’s vacant brown gaze. I was so pissed that I started to shake. Then the table started to vibrate under my hands. WHAT THE FUCK!?!? I thought.

  Jaxx put a hand on my knee under the table and his touch seemed to calm me. I looked at his face and mouthed a silent thank you. Jessa had already jumped out of her seat and was charging around the table. She marched right up to Sabrina and got in her face.

  “Listen I don’t care if you try to cut my brake lines, like you did your ex best friend! I’m going to shove my boot so far up your ass, you’re going to taste black leather for the next week!” she stormed.

  Everyone around the Cafeteria was deadly silent. This was the first time anyone had ever called Sabrina out on Carly’s accident to her face. I mean sure, we had all speculated, but never like that.

  Sabrina slowly smiled the most devilish smile. “Jessa, I think you’re a tad deluded dear, but you can bet on that you will get yours.” Sabrina turned toward Jaxx and started to simper. Smiling a mile wide grin, and trying to climb into his lap. “Jaxx baby, why are sitting with loosey goosey and her herd, when you can be cuddled up with me for the next hour?”

  Jaxx just dropped his knees and Sabina fell to her ass on the nasty Caf floor. “I already told you Sabrina, I’m just not interested, but if you insult my new friends again, I can guarantee this will get interesting.” He smiled politely at her back as she huffed away, followed closely behind by the priss-bots. As she sauntered away she turned her head over her shoulder and gave me an evil glare. Shudder. Freaky bitch.

  During the whole convo and confrontation, Devon had been slinging his head back and forth like he was watching a tennis match. If I wasn’t so freaked out by everything, I would have found the look on his face hilarious.

  “Hi, I’m Jaxx,” Jaxx introduced himself to Devon since he still seemed to be struck mute. They soon start bonding over boyish things. Cars and such I’m sure.

  The bell rang, signaling the end of lunch and I realized that with all the drama, I didn’t even get to eat. Oh well, I didn’t like soggy ham and cheese anyway. When we all rose from the table to drop our leftovers into the garbage, I noticed that Jaxx was even taller than I’d first thought. He towered over my 5’11 frame. He had to be at least six foot four, maybe five. Wow, dude is tall. I couldn’t help but to cough a small laugh at my inner monologue.

  Jaxx turned to look down at me. “It was nice to finally meet you, Arabella. You definitely make a memorable first impression.”

  “How so? I barely said a word during lunch.”

  “That’s true, but not everyone would let the bird fly in the middle of a crowded church.” He laughed to himself as he walked off.

  Jessa and Devon cornered me on the way out of the Caf and asked me what Jaxx was referring to. “Why didn’t you tell me that you had already met Thor? How can you not share in all that hotness?” Jessa complained.

  Devon remained quiet for once. He was too engrossed in watching Jaxx’s jean clad bum as he saunters away from us.

  As we stroll back to our locker, I gave them a recount of what happened at the chapel the day before. When we reached the locker, I noticed there was a crowd of gawkers surrounding it. I fought my way through and saw that someone had used a black marker to write something across it.

  WATCH IT SKANK OR YOU MIGHT GET SHANKED WHEN YOU ARENT LOOKING! KISSES!

  “What the fawk?” Yup, Devon about summed it up.

  Jessa turned to me with a slack look on her face. “I bet you twenty dollars this was Psycho Queen’s handy work. Or one of her bitch squad.”

  I looked away from the locker long enough to glance at the crowd surrounding us. I doubted anyone saw anything. Even if they did, no one would dare say anything against Sabrina or her friends. Everyone knew what happened when you stepped over that line.

  The warning bell rang and the crowd started thinning. Jessa ran to get the Janitor while I went to the office to report my vandalized locker to the administration. Not that it would do any good, even if Sabrina got caught with the marker in her hand. Her mother was President of the PTA and the Board of Education.

  The rest of the day passed in a blur. I couldn’t seem to get the locker incident o
ut of my head. Not to mention the weird light that radiated out of my hand when I touched Jaxx. Thoughts of all that had occurred swirled around in my head like a cyclone. I barely grunted or paid any attention in any of my afternoon classes. I did notice that I didn’t have any more classes with Jaxx or Sabrina.

  Before I knew it, the last bell of the day had rung. Thank you. The first day of indentured hell was over.

  Chapter Two

  Family Lies

  I met Jessa at her car. She was circling it like a drug dog on a mission.

  “Jessa, what on earth are you doing?”

  Devon skipped up as I was asking her. “What do you think she is doing? She’s trying to make sure the bitch hasn’t cut anything that’s going to send you all hurling into a tree or oncoming traffic on the way home,” he explained.

  “Oh.” That was the only thing I could think to say, and now that they’d said something about it, I was starting to stress about it as well. With the way Jessa drives, yeah, you get my point.

  Devon hopped up on the rusted hood of Jessa’s civic and offered to give us a ride home.

  “Uh, yeah. Riding home with your mommy, while she tries in vain to plan you and Ella’s wedding? No thanks,” Jessa said.

  I turned and gave Devon a sympathetic look. “I thought she would have set her sight on something or at least someone else when you busted out of the closet this summer.”

  Devon’s face twisted into a scowl. “She and my dad are still in denial. They keep whining about never having grandchildren, like I even want to worry about that stuff yet. I’m still in high school. Ugh!”