“Look at him go,” one of my best friends, Carmen, muttered as Daniel Windsor, the schools “most eligible bachelor”, walked past with his posse of handsome rich boys. Carmen, and understandably every other girl in St. Albans boarding school, had a crush on or at least appreciated the sight of the raven-haired, emerald-eyed, eye candy that was even more popular than Bianca Jones. He was renowned for his status as a Casanova and adored for his absolute perfection in everything he did. Last year he transferred from chemistry to biology and even though he was far behind the class he quickly scored perfectly in every test and somehow managed to win the hearts of every girl in our class. I was extremely baffled last year as I watched him during our dissection of a bull’s eye as he was flirting with his group members. I don’t even understand how that could work with the gore in front of them.

“Did you know he’s on the hunt for his next girlfriend. Do you guys think I have a chance? Alex?” she asked, her chocolate eyes looking at me pleadingly for a kind answer. She had gained a crush for the guy ever since he was in our biology experiment group for the fruit fly breeding experiment we did last year. It was tragic really, she fell for him as he kindly moved the subdued flies under the microscope to see which were girls and which were boys. I looked over to the last member of our trio, Justin, for help but even though he seemed like he was listening, I knew for a fact he wasn’t. He was an expert at such things and could even sleep with his eyes open. He seemed to be asleep which left me as the only one to answer.

“I’m going to have to tell you the truth here Carmen, I don’t think you want to date him.”

“WHY?”

“Just cause…”

“cause?”

“I dunno, they’re just really weird. They give me weird vibes and I don’t think you should date someone just cause they ‘handled those flies so kindly’. It’s not a good base for a relationship.”

“literally anyone who is too good looking gives you ‘weird vibes’,” she stated with a huff of annoyance, obviously ignoring my fly comment as she knew I was right. I smiled then frowned, I couldn’t say anything to her point because it was mostly true. They just seemed like they were all in some kind of cult with all their whispering and exclusive parties.

Speaking of beautiful people, Bianca was leaving the cafeteria. Why was that such a big deal you ask? If Carmen’s crush was tragic, then I was also kind of guilty of that tragic love. The only difference is that I don’t speak about the person every 2 hours. I stood up and quickly left before Carmen could tell me that I was being silly to think that a girl such as Bianca would ever consider dating a guy such as myself (we’re both hypocrites). I’d built up my confidence for weeks to be able to ask her and I could not care if she would accept my love or not. It was bugging me immensely and I wouldn’t let anyone ruin this chance to get my feelings off my chest.

I followed Bianca until we got to the grade 12, my grades, common room. A room that most avoid because of the questionable stains on the couches and smell of dead animal. There are two common rooms for my grade, so everyone goes to the other one. You only go in here if you need to talk to someone in private. Bianca must be talking to someone. The popular people cult leader? Another boy? I worried as I thought of the possibilities and decided that the best option was to wait until she was finished to ask my important question.

A yell startled me out of my thoughts and into the present. Bianca could be in trouble! I grabbed for the doorknob and flung open the door. Bianca pushed past me as the door became only slightly ajar and I received a spray of some kind of liquid to the face. A liquid that smelt and tasted of… roses? A string of swear words erupted from a male voice as I reeled backwards and rubbed at my eyes as they hurt from the mysterious spray. The pain subsided after a second and I opened my eyes to a pissed Daniel Windsor. I was confused then progressively grew fearful as I remembered my earlier thoughts. Is he the cult leader of the popular cult? Then, for some unknown reason, I stopped caring about if he was in a cult or not. I stared at his eyes and the emerald green had never been so captivating, so alluring, so… attractive. I felt strange but good and the sudden urge to reach out and stroke his slightly tanned skin took hold of me, but my survival instinct quickly killed it. His eyes, that had been staring daggers at my own filled with fear and uncertainty. He swore some more and grabbed my hand.

“Come with me,” he uttered, his voice sounded pained which stabbed at my heart. He then pulled me towards the direction of the school car park and pulled out his phone. He spent moments frantically pressing the screen before placing the phone to his ear.

“I made a mistake. I sprayed the wrong person… no, it’s not even a girl. Yes, I’m going to the car park now as originally planned. Goodbye mother,” he frantically spoke to the phone. I tried to listen intently to his words to figure out what was going on but became oddly focused on the way his lips shaped the words. God, his lips looked so soft. A new urge threatened to surface, and my hand even lifted slightly to confirm if they were indeed soft but luckily my survival instincts were still going strong and that urge too was killed.

He whipped the phone away from his ear and quickly turned to me. My heart fluttered at the attention and I tried to look away to hide the red I could feel creeping onto my cheeks. Oh god, I must be sick. He caught my strange actions and his eyes quickly grew even more concerned. I was thoroughly confused, and his glance told me he had to know something about why I was acting this way. Had he infected me with a virus created by the popular cult? Did he know I wasn’t like everyone who loved him unconditionally and so thought he had to change that by drugging me?

“I’m sorry,” he finally said after a few seconds of his silent concerned glances.

“Why?”

“You’re feeling this way because I messed up and I don’t even know who you are.”

“wha-”

“I gave you a love potion,” he stated as he came to a complete stop and I almost fell over. I laughed but he turned me to face him, the look he sent me told me immediately that he was being absolutely serious, which terrified me.

“wizards are real, and I accidentally gave you a love potion. Now please don’t be difficult and I can fix this for you,” he added as he proceeded to start running. I processed his words carefully and some small part of me felt special because I was the one who had received the potion but a big part of me became terrified. I was extremely out of depth in this scenario and hated every second of it. This is exactly why I avoid new things.

“Are you going to explain everything to me or am I just going to be ‘fixed’ and have my memory erased, Mr. Wizard-cult-leader?” I asked in a coy voice and I completely blame the delivery of the sentence on the love potion. I cringed inwardly as the words left my mouth in a way I had not expected nor wanted them to.

He looked at me for a moment but ignored my question as a black Tesla pulled into the ‘pick-up zone’ of the car park. Daniel pulled me into the vehicle and I obliged. I made myself comfortable as I realized that somehow, I had been easily kidnapped on the first day of grade 12. The thought made me chuckle which received another worried glance from Daniel. We had only really known each other for about 15ish minutes and I swear all he does is look at me in either annoyance or in worry. I guess that was understandable considering the situation but the part of me under the influence of the potion became filled with sadness and a lone tear escaped my ear. I quickly whipped it away as the car pulled out of the school driveway.

“Do you have any questions? I mean, you’ll most likely end up with your memory removed if my parents can reverse this, so I guess you can ask whatever you want” Daniel sighed. His cheek resting in hand as if the situation was just so much of a burden on his head that he needs to hold it up. His mouth was drawn in a thin line and his eyes had lost most of its malice and worry which had been replaced with regret and sadness. I pondered on his question for a minute and a list of questions quickly formed in my head.

“So, is this whole forcing people to love you a common wizard practice or are you just really lonely?” I asked coyly and watched as his face turned shocked and enraged but extremely embarrassed.

“for your information, it was my parent’s decision not mine. We graduate this year and according to my parents, since I’m the heir of my family, I should be in a committed relationship bye now so that I can marry as soon as possible. My parents are very much old-fashioned wizards, but I guess that’s understandable considering their age.”

“How old are they?”

“I think they’re… Clive?” Daniel called towards the front of the car.

“I believe the lord and his lady are in their early 300’s. Quite young for a sorcerer,” a burly man, who looked quite like Arnold Schwarzenegger, responded from the driver’s seat. The only difference between him and the famous actor would be that the man in front of me would have to only be in his early 30’s.

“wait, how long can a wizard live for?” I asked, shaken by the man’s statement.

“I think the oldest are around the 1000 mark,” Daniel replied with a grin. My mind was blown, and, at that moment, I wondered if Daniel was about as old as my grandmother. Did wizards work like vampires? I gave him a look that seemed to convey my questions as he seemed to understand and even laughed.

“Don’t worry, I’m only 17 like you. Wizards age like humans until we get to around the age of 20 then we age really really slowly,” he said through a chuckle.

“So, is Bianca like you then?”

“Oh, god no, she doesn’t have a magical bone in her body.”

“Then why would you marry her if you were just going to outlive her?”

“Because if a wizard marries a mortal, then they go through a process called the tethering. Basically, the human would live until the wizard dies.”

“Ok,” I responded while nodding in understanding. I contemplated his words and reasonings to the actions enforced upon him by his parents. His parents are not going to be very nice people it seems.

“Oh, by the way, I completely forgot to ask, what is your name? I know we had that one group project in Bio last year but I’m horrible at names,” he asked.

“Alex, Alex Purvis.”

“Well, Alex, I hope your ready because we’re here.”