Bellamy couldn’t help but glance around at the interior décor curiously. Most of the long tables and chairs were made out of solid pinewood. An enormous stone fireplace took up most of the back wall and several comfy looking chairs had been situated in front of it.

Animal head and antler hunting trophies covered the walls. Though Bellamy wasn’t too surprised by this since pretty much all of the men drinking in the pub were Hunters. Bellamy was able to recognize them as Hunters due to the outfits they were wearing: white or gray fur coats, winter camouflage, and heavy boots. The rifles and shotguns leaning against their chairs were also a dead giveaway.

There were two bars inside of the Polar Bear Pub - the largest that took up most of the right hand side of the pub was exclusively for the adults. A shorter bar on the left was for the teenagers that were around Bellamy’s age. Really, the teens should have only been allowed to order nonalcoholic drinks but the adults seemed to turn a blind eye if their children wanted to have a few beers on the weekends since they were being supervised anyways.

Crispin and Oscar led Bellamy over to a small group of teens that were surrounding the bar on the left. “Hey, everyone,” Crispin began in a loud voice to get everyone’s attention, “I want you to meet the new guy in town - Bellamy DeWinter.”

The group of teens’ focus was suddenly on Bellamy and he could tell that they appeared to be excited about a newcomer to their small town. Bellamy raised his hand in an awkward greeting. “Hi.”

Almost instantly, Bellamy was surrounded by a mob of teens that were bombarding him with a ton of invasive, and personal questions. “Where are you from?”

“New York,” Bellamy replied.

“Ooo he’s a city boy,” a girl cooed.

“Why did you move here?” one of the boys asked in an incredulous tone.

“My mother’s health-” Bellamy started to explain, but was rudely cut off by one of the girls.

“Is it true you didn’t get to graduate from high school?”

A scowl formed on Bellamy’s face. “Yeah.”

“Home schooling rules!” a random boy shouted and fist pumped the air.

“Are you single, or do you have a girlfriend?” a girl asked boldly with a glint in her green eyes.

“I, er, I’m single,” Bellamy reluctantly answered after a long stretch of silence had passed as the teens awaited his response.

“Eeee!” the girls squealed loudly. Bellamy was forced to plug his ears with his index fingers in order to drown them out.

Just how desperate were these Alaskan girls? Bellamy wondered worriedly. They hadn’t even seen him without his glasses yet and they were already acting ridiculous. He supposed their behavior had a lot to do with the fact that it was slim pickings for a boyfriend when you lived pretty much in the middle of nowhere.

Bellamy mused for a moment about what things might be like if his circumstances had been different, and if he weren’t cursed. Perhaps, he would have been happy to be surrounded by a bunch of desperate, pretty girls. As things were, however, he remembered just how crazy girls who thought they were in love could be and shuddered.

Crispin grabbed three beers from his bro at the bar, and quickly distributed them. Crispin and Oscar held up their beer bottles in Bellamy’s direction. “To new friends!”

“Yeah.” Bellamy could barely keep the skepticism out of his tone as he clinked his bottle against theirs. He bitterly remembered what had happened to his high school friends once their girlfriends had inexplicably turned their sights on Bellamy, and how they’d given Bellamy the cold shoulder after that.

As oftentimes happens with groups of teenagers, the group split in two - girls and boys. Bellamy was actually glad for the girls’ sudden apparent shyness. He could breathe easier without them being in such close proximity.

An hour ticked by without incident, and Bellamy was beginning to feel hopeful that perhaps nothing bad would happen to him this evening. Letting his guard down a little, Bellamy glanced around the pub and couldn’t help but notice an incredibly attractive young woman that was seated at a table, surrounded by a group of fawning guys.

Bellamy’s eyebrows rose to his hairline as he took in her flashy appearance. She was wearing a tight, v-neck, red dress along with a floor-length white and black fur coat. The corner of Bellamy’s lip twitched in amusement since the coat was definitely necessary to provide her with warmth when wearing such a skimpy dress. Her thick, black hair cascaded down around her shoulders in waves, and sultry lashes accentuated her intelligent, dark brown eyes.

Bellamy took a sip of his beer as he let his gaze travel over her curves appreciatively. He was a little buzzed. He pointed his beer in her direction. “What’s the deal with Cruella de Vil over there?”

“Isn’t she beautiful? Her name’s Astonia Sharpe,” Oscar began, a dreamy expression on his face. “She’s French. And she’s awesome. She’s also my future wife. She just doesn’t know it yet.”

“Uh huh,” Bellamy agreed dryly.

Crispin draped his arm around Bellamy’s shoulders conspiratorially, a rueful smirk playing on his lips. “You’ll have to get in line.” He nodded his head in the direction of the guys surrounding Astonia with hearts in their eyes. “All those guys over there are in love with her. It’s like she has her own personal reverse harem.”

Bellamy had been in the middle of taking a sip from his beer and promptly began to choke at Crispin’s words. “Harem?” He arched an eyebrow. “You don’t mean she’s sleeping with all of them?”

A flash of anger crossed Oscar’s face at Bellamy’s careless words. “Hey! Don’t talk about Astonia like that! She’s not that kind of girl!”

Bellamy quickly put his hands up before him in a surrendering gesture. “Whoa, sorry man. I didn’t mean anything by it.”

“She’s just a big flirt,” Crispin began to explain. “It’s pretty obvious she just likes the male attention. Apparently, no one in this town has even managed to kiss Astonia yet.”

That dreamy, lovesick puppy look was back on Oscar’s face again. “There’s nothing I wouldn’t do to get a kiss from Astonia.” He released a wistful sigh of longing.

“Yeah, good luck with that,” Bellamy said as he took another sip of his beer to hide his unease. Crispin and Oscar’s obsessive behavior with Astonia was a little too similar to how the girls who saw Bellamy’s face without his glasses acted.

“It sucks that everyone’s in love with her,” Oscar muttered darkly. “But how could they not be? She’s smoking hot.”

“In love?” Bellamy arched an eyebrow at Oscar. “In lust maybe,” he murmured to himself. Those guys over there were just in love with Astonia’s outer appearance. There was no telling what kind of person she was on the inside, but as Bellamy watched Astonia preening under the boys’ attention he began to get an idea of how narcissistic she was, and shook his head disappointedly.

Astonia was just playing with those guys. But playing with people’s emotions was dangerous. Love was dangerous. Bellamy knew this from firsthand experience. He grew bored of observing Astonia and remembered that luckily he still had his book with him. He opened it up and began to continue his reading about Alaskan jade, and how the term was really referring to two minerals - Jadeite and Nephrite.

Astonia surreptitiously glanced over at Bellamy DeWinter - the ‘new guy in town’. She was sure that he was probably gawking at her stupidly just like all the other guys in the pub, but she was in for an unpleasant surprise when she saw that he’d actually taken out a book and had started to read at his own ‘welcome to the town’ party.

Astonia’s jaw slowly dropped open as she gawked at the bookworm. He was completely ignoring her presence! It was like she didn’t even matter. And after she’d done him the honor of gracing his party with her presence. Astonia Sharpe did not like to be ignored - would not be ignored! How dare that nerd ignore me! Just who the hell does he think he is? Hah? She thought venomously.

“Would you look at that? That nerd is actually reading a book in the middle of this party. How pathetic,” Astonia sneered loudly, and her boy toys laughed in a jeering fashion as if on cue.

Bellamy just sighed, ignored Astonia’s immature outburst, and continued to read. He was used to people making fun of him and bullying him due to his nerdy appearance.

A muscle beneath Astonia’s eye ticked in irritation as Bellamy continued to ignore her. “I mean, how uncool is that? Maybe he moved here because he’s mentally disabled or something.” She cackled and again her boy toys joined in.

Finally, Bellamy shut his book with a loud snap. He turned and glared at Astonia. “You like making fun of disabled people?” He narrowed his eyes at her critically.

Astonia flinched guiltily. “What? No. It’s just you’re so…weird.” She waved her hand through the air as she tried to search for a better word. “So…different from the rest of us.”

“Well, excuse me for being weird.” Bellamy slid off the barstool, book in hand. “It’s become much too noisy in here to continue reading my book.” He turned to give Crispin and Oscar an apologetic look. “Sorry, guys, I’m gonna call it a night.” He started to head for the front door.

Astonia fumed as she watched Bellamy. She hadn’t even dismissed him yet! He was dismissing her. I’ll show him. Just as Bellamy passed by her chair she stuck her foot out and tripped him.

Bellamy fell flat on his face, and his glasses flew off his face, skidding across the floor. His eyes widened in panic as soon as he realized what had just happened. My glasses! Shit! He inwardly swore. Bellamy frantically scrambled across the floor, reaching out for his glasses, but someone beat him to it.

“Oops, sorry.” Bellamy heard Astonia’s voice as he watched a delicate hand with red-painted fingernails reach out and pick up his glasses. “I have such long legs that it’s hard for me to keep them under the table.”

Bellamy swallowed nervously and stood up as slowly as possible. He tried to keep his head lowered and his face shielded by his bangs. “Give me back my glasses, Astonia,” Bellamy demanded as he reached his trembling hand out to her. Shit, shit, shit. Just don’t make eye contact. Don’t make eye contact.

A wolfish smile curled Astonia’s red lips. “What’s the magic word?”

“Please,” Bellamy said through gritted teeth.

“Alright, fine. Here you go, nerd.” Astonia laughed as she handed Bellamy his glasses.

Bellamy let out a sigh of relief, grabbed his glasses, and quickly raised his face so he could put his glasses back on.

Suddenly, it was eerily quiet inside of the pub and Bellamy realized that Astonia had stopped laughing. With his glasses now on his face, Bellamy risked looking up at her.

There was a look of astonishment on Astonia’s face, her brown eyes wide. “You…you’re so handsome without your glasses. How is that even possible?”

“Shit!” Bellamy swore in her face realizing it had only taken a second - just one measly second - for the curse to activate. “Sorry…I gotta go!” He turned and bolted out the front door.

Less than a minute later, however, the pub door opened, and Astonia emerged chasing after Bellamy. “Hey, Belle, wait!”

Bellamy grit his teeth and didn’t slow down. That’s when a gunshot split through the night and a mound of snow that was directly next to Bellamy exploded. He decided he’d better stop unless he wanted to end up full of holes.

“I said ‘stop’,” Astonia called out in a strangely calm tone. “Turn around.”

Bellamy gulped, raised his hands in a surrendering gesture, and turned around slowly to face Astonia. His eyes widened when he noticed that Astonia was holding an old-fashioned double-barrel shotgun in her hands. Most of the Hunters these days used semi-automatic rifles or pump-action shotguns.

Astonia approached Bellamy with a smile curling her scarlet lips. She stopped only when the gun barrel was pressed against Bellamy’s chest. Bellamy knew that she had one shot left in the shotgun. “You ran away from me.” There was an incredulous note to her voice. “That wasn’t very nice. Now, take off your glasses. I want to see your face again.”

Bellamy hesitated, but he had no choice - this lovesick biatch was crazy enough to blow a hole in his chest if he refused. He removed his glasses and glared at Astonia. “Happy?”

Astonia gasped, blushed, and lowered her gun. “I didn’t imagine it then. You really are drop-dead handsome. Do you know what this means?” she asked Bellamy in a giddy manner.

“No. Not really,” Bellamy replied warily.

“I finally have a boyfriend!” The Huntress exclaimed happily.

“And who would that be exactly?” Bellamy’s brow furrowed in confusion.

“You, silly.” Astonia shoved his shoulder playfully. “You’re the most handsome guy in Yeti Town. And that makes you the best. And I deserve the best.”

Bellamy swallowed thickly, and wiped his hands on his pants to try and hide his nervousness. “And if I refuse?”

Astonia raised her gun at Bellamy and pointed it at his heart. “I’m known for my bullets never missing their mark. Especially, if it’s the heart of a handsome young man. There is no escape. You are mine, Bellamy DeWinter.”

Bellamy’s head was throbbing; he could feel a headache coming on. He rubbed at his temples with his index fingers. Shit, shit, shit. Bellamy had no choice but to agree to this ridiculousness. For now. He couldn’t cause his mother any more problems and stress. “Fine. But I really need to get going now. It’s getting late and my mom waits up for me.” He turned to go.

There was a soft clicking sound as Astonia began to playfully pull down on the trigger. “Aren’t you forgetting something?”

Bellamy turned back around, and raised his eyebrow at the Huntress. “What?”

Astonia offered him an innocent smile. “Where’s my goodnight kiss, Belle?”

A muscle in Bellamy’s jaw ticked. “Think you could at least lower your gun first? It’s kind of a mood killer.”

Astonia laughed loudly and lowered her shotgun. “Of course, darling.”

Bellamy stepped forward reluctantly until he was standing directly in front of her. He tilted his head sideways and leaned forward for a kiss. He intended for it to be a quick peck on the lips, but as Bellamy tried to pull back Astonia wrapped her arms around Bellamy’s neck and kissed him fervently.

Then Astonia started to try to get her tongue into his mouth in a desperate manner. Bellamy stubbornly refused her entrance, and kept his lips pressed together.

Once Astonia finally pulled away so they could breathe again, they were met with boisterous cheers, catcalls, and whistles. “Whoo! Yeah!” “Way to go, city boy!”

Bellamy groaned and looked past Astonia to see that a crowd of people had gathered in front of the Polar Bear Pub. The pub’s patrons had become curious due to the gunshot going off outside, and had all exited the pub to see what Astonia had done now.

Bellamy spotted Oscar’s betrayed expression in the crowd, and felt his stomach twist itself into knots. Great, just great. More icing on the shitty cake. “Now, I really gotta go. See-ya.”

I