As a kid, I always wished for magic. The magic in books was amazing, and it brought the characters luck, power, and respect. But my magic is a curse. It hurts people and only brings me hate, fear and loneliness.

I woke up with a start and rocketed up in my bed. Quickly gathering my wits, I checked the time. Shoot! I'm late for school! Throwing on a faded blue shirt and grey shorts, I run out of the door of my shabby apartment with ten minutes to get to the bus stop. Panting, I lean against the sign and wait. Everyone at the bus stop immediately moves as far away as possible from me, which isn't surprising. As the "curse girl," it makes sense. The bus arrives and I head to the back, which as always, is empty.

\*

"Oi! Ash! Get your butt up right now, or I swear..."

Grumbling I roll out of bed. Literally roll out of bed. I slam into the floor of my room with impressive force. My mom runs into the room and helps me up.

"Now honey, go get ready to leave for school."

"Okay, mom." Sluggishly I get ready and leave the house with ten minutes to get to the bus stop.

As soon as I get there, I'm swarmed by my classmates. Boys come over and joke with me, girls offer me food and invitations for dates. With a smile plastered on my face, I carefully edge out of the mob. The bus comes at the perfect time, and I rush on. The front and middle are full of students, all inviting me to sit by them. Instead, I head to the back and the whole bus practically shouts for me not to. Curious, I continue to head back, where I see a girl who seems suprised to see me. Her head snaps up, and her auburn hair flies away from her face. Her eyes are a startling shade of blue, that looks almost purple, and her face is dotted with freckles. Cautiously, she shies away, to which I sit across from her and pull out a book.

Once I get on the bus, I head straight to the back and pop my earbuds in and start listening to Mean Girls. After a few minutes the bus stops and an uproar emerges amongst the students. As I'm wondering what happened. The attitude of the students change. I look up to see a tall boy with messy brown hair and hazel eyes head to where I am with his backpack loosely slung over a shoulder. Sitting down across from me he pulls out a book, that I recognise.

"Excuse me."

I look up to see the girl looking at me. Great, another girl who loves me and what's to be around me. "What!" I say a bit forcefully.

She looks a bit shook, and quietly replies. "Um, what book are you reading?"

I'm a bit shocked about her answer and don't answer. She cocks her head, shrugs and starts to turn back around. I then remember her question and hastily answer. "Oh, um, it's The Demon King, why?"

Her eyes light up. "I love that book!"

We spend the rest of the ride discussing it. When we arrive at school she bolts up and rushes off the bus, giving me a hasty wave.

She's an interesting girl, I think to myself, I smile forming on my face.

(Anybody recognise the book or the music? Or am i alone in that sense?

Also, please comment sometimes, I feel like I'm writing for crickets. [No offense meant, to either the readers or crickets])

The boy who sat by me on the bus seemed interesting. Why did he come near me? Does he not know the rumors about. As I'm musing, six girls walk in front of me and surround me. Great, just great. Because this boy who seemed quite popular sat by me, I'm going to get bullied even more. I sigh, it's way to early in the morning for this.

"Witch, stay away from our Ash. You don't deserve to be within 100 miles of him." The girl in the front has her hands propped on her hips and speaks in a high, nasally voice. All the girls look similar, short skirts, crops, tights, heels, and enough makeup to make their parents go bankrupt in a month. The lead girl has bleached blonde hair, and neon pink lips. Three girls have brown hair up in ponytails, and the other two have black hair.

I cock my head, confused. "Ash? Who?"

They all gape at me and it dawns on me I never asked for the boy's name.

"The hot boy who you seduced and forced to sit by you!" Brunette #1 bursts out

Of course, somebody blew the whole thing up out of proportion. Oh, well.

"Well, regardless of what I did, I have class soon, so if you don't mind..." I sweep past the girls and head off to my math class.

\*

I watched the redhead be confronted by the girls. Here we go, I thought. She'll just cower before them like everyone. Instead, she gave a quick retort and brushed past them. After enjoying the show, I headed off to my math class. Upon opening the door, I saw the girl in the back of the class. Perfect. Inwardly grinning I walked back and slid into the seat by her. She looked up in surprise before registering who it was.

"Oh, the bus-boy." She spoke with an indifferent air to her voice.

"You know, I have a name." I slightly teased her

"Really? I never thought people had names?" Her reply was clearly sarcastic

"Well, then what are you?"

She hesitated. "A witch, according to others."

"And according to you?"

She glanced at me. "Well, I guess I'm a girl who wished for something I shouldn't have." She turned back to her work, ending the conversation.

The teacher walked into the room and clapped her hands twice. "Alright class, let's start, now, turn to page...."

Near the end of class, she asked the class to solve a problem.

Both the girl and I answered at the same time; "2 over 0 is undefined." I was a bit shocked she had answered. Based off of her face, she was surprised I had.

"Very good you two! Now, Hana, what would the solution for this problem be?"

"It's a factorial, so you'd multiply it. It would end up being..."

Ten minutes later, the bell rang and the student all filed out.

(Anybody get the two references? What were they?)

I quickly walked down the hall, my eyes fixed on the ground. Halfway to the cafeteria, two pairs of shoes stopped in front of me. I looked up to see the blondie from before and one of the black haired girls.

"I thought I told you to stay away from Ash!" The blonde was very angry.

"Calm down, Sarah." The black haired girl restrains Sarah and whispers something in her ear.

Smirking, the two girls walk away.

How odd, I would've thought they'd stay for longer. I shrug it off and head to the cafeteria.

* * *

I settle down in the cafeteria with my friends, and I notice everyone is acting odd. They leave five tables open, and no one starts eating, but seems to be waiting for something. Even my friends next to me are doing it. Right as I'm trying to figure out what they're waiting for, the girl from the bus, Hana, comes in. The second she enters the cafeteria, everyone throw a large portion of their lunch at her. Her eyes flash with hated, and I see the air around her spinning around. But that's impossible, right? Nobody can control the wind. She quickly leaves and everyone starts cackling and jeering at her.

"Who's that girl?" I ask my friends once they stop laughing

Peter gives me an odd look. "Stay far away from that girl, she's a hideous witch."

Will jumps into the conversation. "Yeah, I heard that in first grade, when somebody shoved her, she blew him into a tree!"

Sarah comes over and sits right next to me, with only an inch of space. I quickly slide over away from her. The three of them share more details about her, everyone close to her ends up suffering, her family abandoned her at 8, a kid was thrown into the road because he shoved her into mud. I feel like I'm suffocating between the three, and I quickly excuse myself to leave the cafeteria. Heading outside, I see Hana leaning against the building. I walk over to her.

* * *

What rotten luck I have. Because I talked to a boy, my clothes are now ruined and I almost injured everyone in the cafeteria. While I'm wallowing in self pity, I hear footsteps coming over to me. I turn around to see Ash coming over. He waves as he walks over and leans on the walls next to me.

"Why'd you come out?" I ask him while moving away.

He shrugs. "It was too noisy and suffocating."

"Really! How so?" I cock my head at him.

He laughs. "To much gossip."

"Oh? You listen to that stuff?"

He snorts. "I don't want to, I have to though. But...is the gossip true?"

"What gossip?"

"The gossip about you."

I feel my hope that he was different plummet. "Mostly, yes. But it doesn't matter either way, does it?"

I expect him to fear me and keep a distance, but instead his eyes light up with enthusiasm.

"Wow! So cool! When did you start doing it?"

"Fir...first grade." I'm baffled at his response. Normally, people would call me a freak or a witch once they knew this.

Why is his response so different? Why does he smile when talking to me? Why? Why do I think he's different? Why do I hope he's different? Is he actually different, or just pretending?