Coed Witchery 101 - Chapter 3

The next morning I woke up with a horrible headache. I had gotten Tom to drive me home the night before, and of course he complained that I was being a cockblock, but I couldn’t stay at the party with my skirt and panties dripping wet. There had been more than a few comments made about it as I left, but I didn’t care.

By noon I had convinced myself that one of my “friends” had slipped me something hallucinogenic, and that Rand must have been smoking a cigarette in his room and that’s what caught the bedsheets on fire. The burn on his lip… that had to have been my imagination.

The next few days passed in a blur of packing and just trolling around on the web. I checked all my favorite message boards about five hundred times a day, watched a couple instant Netflix movies, and just generally took it easy. My mom and dad probably thought I was a waste of life, but that’s ok. I’d had enough excitement, and was ready to get away.

When Saturday rolled around, my dad got me up early, around seven, and told me to pack up three boxes of stuff that he could ship to me. I did, putting anything breakable in my luggage that I’d be taking on the bus. Then it was time to go. I hugged my mom, who was a little teary-eyed. Dad drove to the local post office and shipped the boxes to my new college address, room 362 of Randall Hall at Greenesville State.

We stopped at a convenience store and dad bought me snacks for the trip, which lasts about 5 hours with all the stops in between. Then we were at the Greyhound station just outside of Memphis.

“I’ll miss you, Emma,” my dad said. “Do well in school, and we’ll see you at Thanksgiving.”

“Love you dad,” I said, gave him a hug, and then lugged my stuff onto the bus.

I sat in an aisle seat with my bags in the seat next to me. The person at the ticket counter had said the bus wouldn’t be anywhere near full, so I figured no one would mind. I had charged my mp3 player to the max, so I settled into my seat, put on some 36 Crazyfists, and closed my eyes. A few minutes later, I heard the driver’s voice through my headphones mumbling something about having a nice trip and the weather in NC, then I felt the bus moving and I was off.

The bus’s first stop was in Jackson, TN, and that was only for about twenty minutes. While we were stopped, I looked around for the first time since sitting down, and studied the other faces around me.

Very few of the passengers were anywhere near my age. There were a number of elderly women sitting in a little group behind me and to the left, probably gossiping about everyone from their town. There was a forty-something couple with a young boy sitting ahead of me a few seats, and their son made faces at me for a minute or two before getting bored. The kid was a bit overweight. Today’s kids were all starting to look like that. Parents just give them anything they want to shut them up, which usually involves sugar and butter.

There was one girl around my age, sitting off by herself behind me. She, like myself, had a few bags with her. Unlike me, she looked like she was a pageant model. Thick brown hair surrounding her face, huge blue eyes with eyelashes longer than my fingers, and tits like Pam Anderson. She smiled at me when she saw me looking at her, that catty smile that girls like her usually give girls like me, which just screams “We both know I look better than you. You’re no competition to me, so let’s be fake friends, then I’ll talk about you behind your back.” I smiled back, as genuinely as possible, but I knew I would hate her if she talked to me.

She got up from her seat, walked up to me and sat in the seat directly across the aisle from me. “Hi, I’m Stacey.”

“Hey, I’m Emma,” I said. “You headed to college too?”

“Yeah, Greenesville State. You?”

“Same. Where are you from?”

“Texarkana. Been there all my life!” She had the Southern drawl of a girl raised in Texas, but she didn’t seem as dumb as she looked. There was an intelligence in her eyes that made me think she couldn’t be all bad. “What about you? I saw you get on at Memphis, are you from around there?”

“Yeah, a tiny town on the outskirts. Really glad to get outta there. So what made you choose Greenesville?”

We continued the small talk for about a half hour. I found out she’s an Art History major (not the Fashion Design major I pegged her for) and that she would be in the Broadwater dorm complex. From what I understood of the school, Broadwater was a smaller, but much newer dorm than Randall. I also learned that she had three younger brothers, but she was the first to go to college in her family. The more we talked, the more I felt bad for judging Stacey from her appearance. She might look like a Barbie girl, but Stacey has the brains and the common sense to go to a good school. I was hoping she could be my first new friend at Greenesville.

“Well, I’m gonna go back to my seat and read for a bit,” Stacey said when we got to the next stop in Nashville. “Do you wanna exchange numbers so we can hang out some once we’re there? It would be great to know someone there during the first few days.”

“Sounds great,” I said, honestly glad to have met her. We switched cell numbers and she went `back to her seat. I smiled to myself. Hopefully all the girls at the school will be as cool as her. Maybe not as pretty. I don’t want too much competition, I thought to myself. Of course, I knew there would be many girls at Greenesville who would definitely NOT be as cool as her. Sorority sluts, mean-spirited athlete girls, they would all be there, and they would all hate me, I was sure of it.

The rest of the ride was just more of the same. At one stop I walked back to sit with Stacey and chatted with her a bit more. I found that we didn’t have much in common as far as music, but we liked the same style of movies so we had some common ground there. She told me how she had broken up with her boyfriend before leaving for college, because he would be staying in Texarkana and he never really treated her well anyway. We made plans to go shopping for things for our dorms, and found that we’d be taking the same shuttle from the Greenesville bus station to the school.

I returned to my seat about twenty minutes before we were supposed to arrive in Greenesville, listened to a little Saosin, then we were there. The Greenesville station didn’t really look any different from the one in Memphis, but despite that fact I knew that this was the start of a new chapter in my life. I couldn’t wait to get to school.

*************************************************************************************

The shuttle dropped us off on the Greenesville campus at the circle between all of the dorms. I had looked at a map of the campus, and it was shaped like a big circle, with the academic buildings on the bottom left section, the dorms covering most of the top, and the gym and administrative buildings on the bottom right. There was a Greek row at the top of the circle, and we were dropped off just down the street from it.

A couple of the fraternities had set up right there at the drop-off point, offering to carry your stuff to your dorm for you. Stacey and I both took them up on the offer, and so we walked toward our new dorms with two muscular football-types dragging our stuff behind us, probably staring at both our asses. Both guys were from the same fraternity, Kappa Omega Delta, and seemed like decent enough guys. Of course, you don’t know how these guys can be until you get them in a group of their buddies at a party.

Stacey and I parted ways in front of Broadwater. The building actually looked to be about the size of Rand’s house back home, and I was caught by a pang of guilt and remorse about the missed opportunity. Oh well. The front of Broadwater was mostly simple red brick, with a nice-looking entranceway and card-key access to all of the doors. We were given keys to Randall, so I assumed they hadn’t yet upgraded it to card-keys. There were a few people standing outside of Broadwater smoking, and they all politely said hi to Stacey as she walked in. She didn’t notice, but two of the guys checked her out as she was walking by, and high-fived each other once she was past. Well, that’s to be expected… she’s gorgeous.

On our way to Randall, I made a little conversation with my assigned frat boy. His name was Steve, a third year Business/Econ double major, and honestly seemed like a very nice guy. I wasn’t getting a judgmental vibe from him, and he wasn’t checking me out every time I caught his eyes. We passed the dining hall and about five other dorm buildings with names like Portsmouth, Walleye, and Samuels. Random names given by the rich alumni who had paid for them. They all looked as if they were kept up well and there were always a few trees and bushes in the front yards to give the semblance of nature.

We got to Randall and it looked just like I remembered it from the brochure. Large, made mostly of faded brick with some columns at the entrance making it look a bit like a courthouse. To me, it looked like home already. I went into the lobby, which was really just a small entranceway with a desk set into the wall and a large door that served as the barrier between the residents and the outside world. I checked in at the desk, got my keys, and went up to the third floor.

The hallway was decorated in a Snoopy theme, with lots of “Welcome New Residents!” and “Have a Great Year!” It was just a little bit sickening, but I suppose it’s part of an RA’s job to do crap like that.

I passed a bunch of other rooms. A few of the doors were open, with some other Freshmen setting up their new rooms. The upperclassmen wouldn’t arrive for another week. Finally we reached my room, number 362. Steve put my bags down outside and wished me good luck moving in and with my classes. I thanked him and he headed out. I opened the door to my new home.

Coed Witchery 101 - Chapter 2

Johnny was ok. He apparently got rushed to the emergency room and had to have a little reconstructive surgery on his nose, but it’s nothing that his daddy couldn’t afford. No one had an explanation for how it happened, but I didn’t care enough to worry about it. I was getting ready to leave.

Orientation at GSU starts early, right at the beginning of June. My graduation was the last weekend in May, so I had one week to get my stuff together, then it would be time to catch the bus east. I had already gotten most of the essentials for my dorm room from family members as graduation presents… extra long twin sheets, pillows, a coffee pot, shower sandals, all the things that they tell you you’ll need to keep from failing out of college. The stuff I couldn’t take with me on the bus was going to be shipped to me, courtesy of my lazy father who couldn’t get off his ass and get sober long enough to drive me there with my luggage.

Tuition and housing was almost completely paid by my scholarships, leaving a small amount that I would have to cover by taking out a small student loan each year. Not too bad for a highly-respected school. Mom and dad’s contribution would be to pay for my meal plan and send me $50 a month as a sort of allowance. That’s cool, I guess. It’s more than a lot of people get. I fully planned to get an on-campus job to supplement my income, once I got settled in at school.

My prized possession, my laptop, would be coming with me of course. I saved up for three summers to buy this laptop, paid $2500 for it, and I intended it to last me through all of college. I had a pretty substantial CD collection which I didn’t want to try to lug with me to school, so I set about copying all of my music to an external hard drive. That took up all of Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.

On Wednesday my mom surprised me by taking me shopping for a few new articles of clothing. She had always let me pick my style, not requiring that I wear what she wanted me to, so we went to Hot Topic and PacSun and anywhere else that held my style of clothes, and I ended up with three new outfits, one of which included a slightly provocative miniskirt. I decided that would be my first-day-of-classes outfit. Might as well flaunt my assets the first day, before the sorority sluts steal all the hot guys.

Thursday I decided to try to visit Tom once more before I left, so I called him up and we met at the mall for pizza. He brought a girl with him, I think her name was Heather. She looked like she could use some sleep, or at least some eyedrops, but that was probably just a good indication of how high she was. Tom and I talked a bit about what we thought college would be like, while Heather shopped for lip gloss and hand cream in the little bath boutique store. I’m not much for strong smelling lotions or soaps. Give me a good clean bar of soap to shower with, and a little spray of perfume, and I’m good.

Tom didn’t have to leave for State for another month, so he said he was planning to make as much as he possibly could dealing before it was time to leave, then he’d quit dealing and get a legit campus job. I smiled, nodded, and said all the right things, but I knew that wouldn’t last. Tom is a great guy, but he’s also a great dealer, and I was sure he would eventually get back into it.

As we were browsing CDs in the music store, we ran into another friend of ours, Rand Vitaro. Rand was not your typical Kentucky boy. His parents moved here from New York city to “get some fresh air” and liked it so much for some unknown reason that they ended up staying. Rand himself looked like he belongs in a city, not a slum like this. He was tall, with dark hair that was always just a bit tousled. His perfect teeth were in stark contrast to the cigarette he constantly had in his mouth, and his eyes always looked playful. Truth be told, I always had a crush on the guy. I guess he must’ve known about it, but he always had a girlfriend, all of whom were actually really cool. I was jealous of them, sure, but at least he didn’t date any of the pom-pom brigade. Recently, Rand’s girlfriend had moved out of state, and they had broken up last I heard. Hmm…

“Hey yo, what’s up?” Rand asked, pulling me into a quick but powerful embrace.

“Nothin’ except gettin’ out of this burg. You?”

“I’ll be here for another few weeks. Then it’s up to NYU where I belong. Screw this Kentucky shit.”

“Here, here,” Tom said, raising an imaginary glass. “To getting out of Nowheresville.”

Rand looked over at me and asked “So when are you leaving?”

“Saturday. Bus leaves at 12:42 in the afternoon.”

“Damn, I wish you weren’t headed out so soon. It would be cool to hang with you for a couple weeks before I head out. What are you up to tonight?”

My heart skipped about three beats, then I recovered and tried to play it off as nothing. “Oh, nothing much. Did you have anything in mind?”

“Impromptu graduation party. My house. Interested?” He grinned at me with that extremely sly look in his eyes.

“Very.” I tried to match his look, but probably just looked desperate. Oh well. If he didn’t know before now that I wanted him, now he does.

“Awesome, show up at 9, guys. Bring liquor if you have it, but I’ll have plenty available too. Parents will be up at the lake house until Monday.” Oh, did I mention that his parents are rich as hell? Yeah, a lake house. On Lake Michigan. They’re very rich.

“Sounds like a plan. See you then,” Tom said.

“Later,” I said, and he winked at me and walked away.

“Girl, if you don’t give him some tonight I’ll eat my shoe. Slut.” He grinned at me, and I threw a CD at him. Of course, he was right. Unless I was seriously mistaken, I was getting laid tonight.

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I went home and planned out the night. I took a bottle of gin out of my dad’s liquor cabinet. He’d never miss it, with the spread he’s got in there. I took a shower, straightened my hair, tried on three different tops before I decided on one, and chose to wear the skirt I had gotten the day before. It was short, but not overly revealing. The top I chose was a black tank top with zippers sewn in at random places, one of which was right across my left breast. Easy access and a fun game to play all at the same time. I switched out my normal nose ring for a jeweled stud, and put a matching jeweled nipple ring in my left breast. I had originally planned to get both nipples pierced, but the first one hurt so much I said I’d just stick with the one. I had really grown to like it, though. The tongue ring was a fairly new addition, so it couldn’t be switched out yet, but it was fine. Nine o’clock came, I put on some slightly provocative hooker boots and was ready to go.

I didn’t have to take the bus, as Tom had offered to drive me to the party. He came by at around nine fifteen, took one look at me and pantomimed the wolf from those old cartoons, howling and whistling. The girl he had at the mall wasn’t with him, instead a mutual friend named Carrie sat in the passenger seat. She gave me a thumbs up and told me I should tone it down or she’d never get anyone to look at her at this party. Carrie is a sweet girl, but sort of big, and so she was probably right, which made me a little sad for her. She wouldn’t hold it against me though, she’s not that type of person. I always liked her a lot.

It was only a fifteen minute ride to Rand’s house, even though it was out in the richest part of town. That tells you how big the town really is. We arrived at the house, and there were probably thirty cars parked in the driveway. Rand was always the type of guy who could bring different groups that didn’t get along together for a party. Another reason to really like the guy… he’s non-biased. Inevitably, several people always left these parties early after someone picked a fight, but Rand never let anything get physical. He’s a big guy, and when he tells you to take it outside, you take it outside.

As we walked up to the house, I marveled again, as I always did, at its size. Three stories, and as wide as four of my own house put together, the place looked like it could be a dorm, as opposed to a single family home. The house was all brick and stone, not a bit of siding or anything cheap like that in sight. The roof was a dark grey that somehow matched the dark bricks perfectly. There was, of course, a six car garage on the far side of the huge driveway, unattached from the house, where Rand’s father had his extremely expensive cars stored. At one party the year before, someone had gotten into the garage and egged his Hummer. Consequently, Rand’s dad had a security system installed on the garage that would alert the police if even Rand himself tried to touch the place. Everyone knew to stay away, for fear of the party getting busted.

We walked in the extravagant doors into the extravagant foyer, and were instantly assaulted with horrible rap music. Oh well. You have to deal with such a thing at a party. Everyone looked like they were having a good time, and Rand spotted me from one of the couches out of the corner of his eye and gave me a little wink and a nod. He pointed toward the kitchen, where the alcohol was always kept, and we headed there.

A huge assortment of alcohol, from champagne to Nattie Bo, was arrayed all over the kitchen. I put my gin down and helped myself to a Samuel Adams. I’ve always been a beer girl, not so much liquor. Since I’m kinda small, it only takes maybe 4 beers for me to be nicely wasted, so it works out well for me. I was planning to stop at two and a half tonight, so I could enjoy Rand and remember it vividly in the morning.

The party wore on, I had my couple drinks, danced with Tom and with Rand several times. The cheerleader crowd tried to steal him away every couple dances, but he would always just dance with one of them once, and then politely excuse himself to come find me. It made me feel special, and pretty much sealed the deal for him that night.

Eleven o’clock came around, and the party was in full swing. Rand found me and gave my ass a little squeeze under my skirt. “You wanna go upstairs and see my stamp collection?”

I laughed. “What a line. Does that work on all the girls as well as it’s working on me?” I grabbed his hand and pulled him up the stairs.

I’d never seen Rand’s room before, but it was pretty typical of a teenage guy. Posters of mostly naked chicks on one wall, band posters on most others. But his bed was huge! It looked very comfortable too.

He closed the door and asked me what type of music I would like to hear. I told him Saosin. We’d both expressed our love of the band before, and they were mellow enough not to ruin the mood.

After I took a quick look around the room, I settled down on his bed with my legs crossed and gave him a meaningful look. “So, what happened to Lindsay?”

“She couldn’t handle the distance. Washington State is a long way away. She dumped me about two weeks ago.”

“Oh, I’m sorry Rand. I had assumed it was mutual…”

“No, it’s okay. It’s better this way, because it gives me a chance to test out a theory I’ve had for years.” He moved over to the bed and sat down.

“What theory is that?”

“That you’re a great kisser.” He leaned over and kissed me softly, just testing the waters. “Theory confirmed.”

“Now hold on, science only works by repetition,” I said with a grin.

I know. We’re lame. Nerds. Dorks. I have no shame for that, because I was about to get one of the hottest guys in school into bed.

We kissed for a little while, just enjoying each other, and then we started getting a little more heated up. He found the zipper I had mentioned earlier, and enjoyed very much unzipping it and playing with my nipple ring a bit under my bra. It felt amazing. I was really getting turned on, so I pulled away slightly and pulled off my shirt. I had worn a very sexy VS bra that he could clearly see through. He pulled his shirt off also. My God he had a nice body. He kissed me again, more forcefully this time, and then he pulled the comforter down and we lay down together on the bed.

After some more playing through my bra, he reached around and unhooked it. He kissed along my neck and down my chest, stopping at the nipple ring. He stayed there for a minute or so. It was amazing. In fact, I was getting hotter by the second. Hotter… and hotter… and…

Suddenly, I heard a sizzle and he yelped and pulled back. “What the hell?!” he exclaimed.

My nipple ring was red hot. I looked at his face, and there was a small burn on his lower lip where it had touched the ring. What in the world? I started to freak out a bit, and then I noticed that my fingertips were starting to burn holes in his sheets. I brought my hands in front of my face and my fingertips looked like they were about to burst into flames.

Rand yelled “What the hell are you doing?!” and started to run for the door. Then he thought better of it and ran to the bathroom. After a few seconds of me sitting there, wondering what the hell to do, he came back with a bucket of water and doused me and the bed. The little fires that had started on the sheets were put out, and my fingers and nipples steamed away water and then went back to looking normal.

Rand, never one to panic, said “I don’t know what happened there, but I think you should probably go. We’ll just act like this never happened. Ok?”

I nodded dumbly, fumbled for my clothes, and put them back on. My skirt and panties were soaked from being doused. I headed for the door, wondering what on earth had just happened, and why it had to happen just when things were getting good.

Coed Witchery 101 - Chapter 1

I stood, feeling just a little apprehension as I walked toward the stage in my white robe and tassled mortarboard hat. I heard a few snickers behind me, but that’s ok. They could laugh at me all they wanted. I was about to get the hell out of this school, this town, this life. While the jocks and cheerleaders were waking up to the reality that being cool in high school gets you jack shit in the real world, I would be going to one of the most prestigious Universities on the East Coast, Greenesville State University. While some of those cheerleaders got pregnant and married someone they couldn’t really stand, I would be meeting people from other states, other countries, the greatest minds on earth.

I’m Emma Dawes. Pretty normal name, eh? Simple southern girl type of name. You can probably picture me just from my name: dirty blonde hair, blue eyes, a little pudgy from my mom’s Southern-fried-with-love cooking, wearing Daisy Dukes and a too-tight button-up shirt and just aching for a cowboy hat.

Wrong. Most days I wear dark jeans, a black top accented with red or white, bracelets and rings on each hand, pink highlights surrounded by black streaks in my blonde hair, and a nose ring. I’m also on the skinny side, since I never eat fried food and go running to burn off steam when mom and dad start fighting, which happens a lot. Not your typical southern girl from a small town. You can see now why I was getting some snickers as I walked up. I was not well-liked in high school.

The few friends I had were social anomalies themselves, some because of their taste in music, some from smoking and selling too much weed, and some of the girls because they got labeled as slutty. I fell into that category, even though I had only slept with one guy. It doesn’t matter to those catty, bitchy types, you steal one boyfriend from any of them and suddenly you’ve apparently screwed around with every guy in school.

I digress.

At the podium, hastily erected each year in our small gymnasium, the principal stood congratulating each graduate as they took their diploma and shook his hand. Today I had made myself presentable in the eyes of my parents, no nose ring, tried to hide the colored streaks under the rest of my blonde hair, and I was even wearing a dress under my graduation gown. It was a light shade of pink with a barely noticeable flowered pattern, spaghetti straps holding it up, and some respectable cleavage out in front thanks to a generously padded bra. Not my normal style, but I pulled it off, not that anyone could see it. As my name was called and I stepped up to the podium, someone in the crowd of students yelled “Skank!” I didn’t care.

I got my diploma, walked back offstage, sat down in my chair, and waited for the forty or so other students to get called up. My high school was small… we only graduated 56 seniors this year. On a good year, they might get 70 or so, but no more than that. That’s the thing about growing up in rural Kentucky… not a lot of people around, and many less who would go away to college. The guidance counselor, who I knew pretty well by now since teachers always thought I looked depressed, told me that only 14 of the graduating seniors would be going to a University. Tons more would be going to the community college down the street, some would just be going into farming or truck driving. That’s the type of town I lived in. I couldn’t wait to get out.

After the graduation ceremony, my parents found me, congratulated me as they beamed with pride, and made me the center of about three hundred pictures with every conceivable relative we had. That was fine by me. Let them fawn over me now, they deserve some quality time before I leave. My parents were alright, nothing special. My dad drinks a lot, sometimes drives home from a bar, sometimes gets thrown in the local jail for a night because of it. My mom is quiet, reserved, and everything a southern belle of a wife should be, which makes me sick. I hoped that they’d eventually get a divorce because I think away from each other they’d both be happier. Oh well, they can work that out while I’m away at college.

As we were walking out of the gym, I pulled off my gown, showing the school for the first and only time what I looked like in a dress. I heard a few catcalls from off to my left, and looked over. As expected, it was Pete Donnely and his idiot, linebacker friends. Pete was never your typical football player. He’s smart, funny, and actually cares about people. Also has a washboard stomach and loves to please a girl in bed. However, when he was with his buddies, like any other jock, he would just go along with whatever they said. I told my mom to ignore them, that I’d be out to the car in a minute after I found my friends to say adios. My dad was probably too drunk to hear them, because he kept walking. He’d been drinking from his flask during the whole ceremony. Once they had walked out the door, I turned away from the football bozos, making sure to shake my ass just a little so Pete could see what he was missing since he went back to his goody-two-shoes cheerleader, and went off to find Tom.

Tom Downing was your typical stoner, and my best friend. He supplied half the school, and always offered to me, but I had a strict policy about drugs. Alcohol, totally cool. Speed sometimes when cramming for a test. But nothing I had to inhale or inject. Just my choice, and I would never judge anyone else for their choices to the contrary. Anyway, I found Tom in one of the hallways, making a discrete deal with a fellow stoner named Jake something. Tom had his earbuds hanging from his neck, blasting 311 or some other stoner band, and was just wrapping up the deal when he saw me, gave me a “what’s up” type of nod, and walked over to me.

“Hey kid, what’s up?” His normal greeting. Tom was wearing his graduation gown, of course, but I knew underneath he had on a tie-dyed t-shirt and jeans. I could see his old Vans sneakers under the gown while he walked. His hair was curly and black as night, a testament to his Mexican heritage. He wore it in a loose ponytail behind his head, and had a peace sign tattooed in a shaved patch behind his left ear, where he could hide it for college interviews with his voluminous hair.

“Not a lot, just wanted to come see you before I head out. I don’t know how much I’ll be hanging out for the next week before I hop a bus to NC.”

“Wow, no shit. You’re really leaving all this majesty in the dust?” He spread his hands and slowly twirled, taking in the drab scenery. “You’re really missin’ out babe.”

“I’m sure. What are your plans once I’m gone?”

“Get laid a lot over at State. You’re a major cockblock, ya know.” He winked at me, because we both knew that wasn’t true. Tom got more ass than some of the jocks, thanks to his smooth talk and the bags of weed he’d give to girls after a night of sex. He didn’t exactly buy his way into girls’ pants, but he came damn close. I hoped he’d clean his act up just a little bit over in Kentucky state, just enough to keep him from getting kicked out. I loved the kid the way he was, but you get caught one time dealing and you’re out.

“I’m gonna miss you, Tom. You know, until I find some other stoner to tell me how much weed will change my life.”

“Oh, I’m sure at college you’ll experiment with all sorts of stuff, girl. You give me a call when you’re tripping on acid and watching Sesame Street and tell me it’s not the best time of your life.”

“I’m sure it will be.” I gave him a hug, then headed outside to meet my parents.

As I got to the door, Pete and his buddies appeared from around the corner.

“Emma! Hold up a second,” Pete said.

I decided to give him five seconds, since he’d never see me again.

“Hey, I just wanted you to know…” he looked down at his shoes for a long second.

“That you’re the biggest skank he’s ever laid eyes on.” That was Johnny Betts. What a dick. Johnny was your typical rich jock. His parents practically own the county, and he could always get away with anything just by mentioning his daddy’s name. His long, pointed hawk’s nose was always turned up, and his hair was blonde and long for a guy, making him look a little bit gay. He made up for that by treating women like shit. Pete gave him a stern look but didn’t stand up for me. He never did.

“I wanted to say your dress looks nice. You should dress like that more often,” Pete said.

“Oh, so if I dressed more like Barbie over there you wouldn’t have given that picture of me to your buddies to spread all over the school?” Jenni Franco, Pete’s current love interest, had just walked out of the gym, looking every bit as shallow as she’d proven herself to be hundreds of times. The picture, of course, had been one that Pete had taken with his phone of me topless after we had a really good night of sex. He told me he would delete it as soon as he transferred it to his computer, so he’d have something to keep him going at night. Of course he’d lied, and sent it to Johnny, who had consequently spread it around the whole school. We girls really can be stupid when it comes to a hot guy. “Eat shit, Pete. Good luck in college next year.”

I walked away, Pete stammering and his idiot friends calling after me with many choice names. Then Johnny said the one word that I just couldn’t walk away from. Starts with a “c”, rhymes with “front”. I whirled around, ready to tell him off again. If I had been in his shoes, I probably would’ve run, because I know I looked dangerous, even in a dress and high heels.

In that instant, the gym door slammed in his face. Hard. It looked like his nose may’ve broken. “Serves you right, douchebag,” I said. Then I noticed that the door had been tied back with rope. And the rope looked like it had been torn apart. Weird. I turned around again and walked to my parents’ car. As we were turning up my street a few minutes later, an ambulance drove straight by us, lights flashing, back toward the school. I hoped he wasn’t dead and all, but to tell you the truth, the world would’ve been a better place without him.

Coed Witchery 101

Hi everyone,

In the following posts I'll be adding a few chapters from a fantasy novel I'm working on. This is intended for college students or older, not teenagers, because there is some graphic sexual content in it. I've titled it VERY TENTATIVELY "Coed Witchery 101". I would absolutly love some suggestions on a better title for it from anyone who reads my chapters. I've got about 8 chapters finished right now, but I'll only post three until I get some feedback on those few. Here's a description of the general plot:

A girl, about to go off to college, finds that she is manifesting some interesting powers. She was shunned in high school for her slightly gothic taste and appearance, but finds solace with a group at college that she runs into. They show her that they all have some powerful gifts, and teach her how to master hers. But when some other students in the group begin to be found dead, murdered by something unimaginable, her newfound happiness turns to dread.

I hope you all enjoy it and PLEASE leave me feedback!

Tyler