Test

I plopped down on the kitchen chair, sobbing.
Then the kitchen door flew open.
Aunt Chloe came in, dabbing her eyes with a tissue. “That was so sad!” she bawled.
“What?” I managed to say between shudders.
“You and Justin!”
“You heard?” I asked, too sad to be angry.
“We both did,” Aunt Chelsea interrupted, coming in.
I looked down at my hands, seeing the shining ruby ring, but I only saw a red and gold blur.
“I’m sorry Serena,” Aunt Chelsea said, sitting down next to me.
“I feel more sorry for Justin!” Aunt Chloe cried.
“Chloe!”
“Oh come on Chels. He loves her so much, and she won’t even take him back!”
I sniffled. “I’m sorry you feel that way, but if you were me you’d understand.”
“What else is there to understand?” Aunt Chelsea asked.
“The way he hurt me.”
“You can get over that can’t you? He loves you to death! When you were gone all he could talk about was you,” Aunt Chloe cried.
“I love him, I know that… but…there’s something else,” I said.
“What?” they chorused.
“JC…”
“What about him?” they asked.
“I think he’s it.”
“You mean?”
I nodded. “I think he’s the one.”
“But then why does Justin love you so much?” asked Aunt Chelsea.
“I dunno. But what I do know is that JC’s the one for me.”
“How can you be so sure?” Aunt Chloe probed. “I mean, how do you know you’re just falling for a pretty face?”
“There was something there Aunt Chloe. I could feel it. We just clicked. Plus I feel so comfortable with him, so ME. It almost seems like my magic doesn’t matter.”
“But it does Serena. You DO know the rules of mortals, right?” Aunt Chelsea asked.
I shook my head.
“The rules are that you can’t love a mortal. If you do, you have a choice of either they will become a tree, or that you lose your powers,” she explained.
“But that’s so stupid!” I moaned. “I don’t want JC to turn into a tree or lose my powers- wait a second, I don’t have to!”
“What are you talking about?”
“You know the family across the street?” I asked them.
They nodded.
“Are they warlocks and witches?”
“I think Roy and Karen are, yes,” Aunt Chelsea nodded.
“They’re JC’s parents!”
Her eyes widened. “You mean- he’s a-”
I nodded.
“Oh my goodness. How come we didn’t know about him?”
“Probably because he doesn’t even know himself,” I said, my voice sounding stuffy.
“What are you talking about?” Aunt Chloe cried. “He’s a warlock! How could they not tell him?”
“Wait, Serena, how’d you figure that out?” Aunt Chelsea interrupted.
I took a breath, preparing for the worst. “Well, we were walking home today and he was walking to his house, except backwards. Then there was a car that was speeding down the street, heading straight for him so I ran out there and I yelled out shield three times. The car crashed and he was like what happened and why’d you yell shield, shield, shield?” I pointed the shield away, “And I made up an excuse for it.
“Then when we were done with our homework, he was like, I wish I had a lemonade right about now and poof! There it was. I erased his memory and pointed the lemonade away. I think that’s enough evidence for me.”
“Oh my gosh,” they breathed.
“I know.”
“You have to tell him,” Aunt Chelsea finally said.
“How? How do you tell someone that they’re a warlock?”
“Just tell him.”
“Yeah Aunt Chelsea. I’m sitting down at a Pizza Hut and just say ‘JC, you’re a warlock’. That’ll work.”
“Great. You’ve got it figured out now you can go to bed,” Aunt Chloe smiled.
I rolled my red eyes and I trudged up the stairs.
Hearing some commotion inside my room I opened my door in a hurry.
“Hey Serena!” he greeted.
“Great, now what do you want?” I whined, plopping down on my bed.
“You passed your test,” the tall man said.
“Good for me. Now get out of here,” I ordered.
“You want to know why I had you do that test?”
“Alright fine.”
“Well, since you know that law… I wanted to know if you loved him…”
“And?”
“Since you do Serena… you have to choose.”
“What?!”
“You have to choose either turning him into a tree, or losing your powers,” he said apologetically.
“Oh my god no!”
“Oh my god YES.”
“But, but I don’t even want him as my boyfriend! How can you make me choose?”
“You still love him.”
“But as a friend!” I protested.
“No, that’s not true. I know as well as you that you love him like… like that. And so you’ve got to choose.”
“Why do they make this stupid rule?” I asked.
“Just choose Serena.”
I sighed deeply. It took me about 10 minutes, but I decided. “I think I’ve got it.”
“What is your choice?”
“I guess I’d rather lose my powers than lose Justin.”
He smiled. “Cool.”
“Why do they make this stupid rule?” I asked again, groaning.
“Well actually, that’s not even the rule.”
“WHAT?!” Was his job to give me tests or to confuse me to death? “Then why’d you make me choose?”
“I just wanted to make sure there were still things that meant something to you.”
“Then what’s up with the rule?” I asked.
“The rule only applies if you tell him you’re a witch, then he tells someone. THEN you have to choose,” he said.
“So you just wasted some of my precious time for all that fake stuff,and now you tell me the truth?”
“Basically, yeah.”
“But I didn’t even tell him anything. So why are you here?” I asked, perplexed.
“I came to tell you that you’ve got another test.”
“Oh joy.”
“Yup. Your next test is to find out the solution to your problems: If you love JC, or Justin. A warlock… or a mortal,” he stated simply.
“But that’s not fair! I love both of them!”
He just shrugged. “You said so yourself. You said that JC was the one for you, and that Justin hurt you. All you have to do is say it. Then your test will be over.”
“Fine. I love JC more than Justin.”
“Before I actually accept your answer, let me show you what Justin is up to right now.”
“You can do that?”
He nodded. “Well, here we go.”
He cast a looking glass spell and pretty soon, I could see Justin’s face in my full-length mirror.
My eyes widened at the sight.
Paper was flying everywhere and the sounds of ripping filled my ears. Justin ripped up every picture that had us in it- and that was a lot too. His garbage can was full of them. I almost jumped at the mirror, trying to make him stop. I caught myself, and just shook my head, wishing he would stop.
“No,” I whispered. “Please no…”
Justin held one last picture in his hand, and it was by far the best picture of us ever. It was the day he told me he loved me. Because of that it made it more special. We had a candle light dinner and dancing. I could never forget that day. Justin put his hands at the top, ready to rip it to shreds. But… he stopped. He just stared at it.
“God I can’t do this,” he choked.
His trembling hand let the picture fall to the ground. He turned to the wall and banged his head against it once, his body shuddering from his sobs.
“God why…”
The mirror zoomed in on his tear-streaked face, showing the details of his sorrow. His eyes were puffy and crimson, his lips trembled, and his tears fell like rain.
“Justin…” I whimpered, touching the glass. Once my fingers made contact with the glass though, the picture rippled and disappeared.
I dropped down to my knees, tears filling and pouring from my eyes.
“Do you want to rethink your decision?” my Quizmaster asked, looking down at me.
“Why do I have to make this decision at all?!” I yelled at him, frustration and anger easily replacing my sadness.
“The basic requirements say-”
I jumped to my feet. “I don’t give a damn about what the “requirements” say! This is my personal life, and mine alone! I don’t see why you, or the council have any reason to intrude! Can’t you see how bad this is already? Can’t you see how much this hurts? I don’t get it! I don’t get why my life has to be so complicated. Keeping this whole witch thing a secret is bad enough, but to love two people is so much worse. You can’t decide, you can’t just “follow your heart.” You can’t do ANYTHING! All these damn rules drive me crazy! You have to keep your powers secret or the one you love turns into a tree, you have to find someway to live normally when you already know that you can just point, you have to use the ice maker as a mailbox, you have to lie to your closest friends, you have to do these crappy quizzes, you can’t even tell someone that you love them just because of these rules,” I simmered down. “I’m just sick of it. I just want my problem over with. I just want to be free and happy… but I’m not. So please…just let me sleep. I have a big testtomorrow.”
He just looked at me thoughtfully. “I guess I chose the wrong time to intervene. I guess I’ll see you later then.” A second later, he disappeared.
I sighed and plopped down onto my soft canopy bed. It was already halfpast midnight- the witching hour.
I groaned when I remembered that Aunt Chelsea told me to tell JC he was a wizard or warlock or whatever.
‘Great’

Chapter 6
Test
Main Page
Email Jessica