And so it begins...

  The first time I met Stephen he painted a hex on my right arm.  I couldn't move it for three hours.  I resolved, in an eleven year old way, that I wouldn't give him the satisfaction of riling me again.  But it still, somehow, happened.

     I considered him to be a mean bully.  Constantly my dog, Seleg, would show up as a bunny, or toad, or salamander, adn I would have to go sunning to my father to have him changed back to his natural shape.  Or my sandwhich would be turned to sandpaper, my apple to a tennis ball or potato chips into wood chips.  Father would chuckle as he righted the wrongs, but I found no humor in it.

     Stephen was the bane of my existence.  As the years crept on my freinds began to ogle and sigh longingly as he walked by.  He paid them no mind though.  It wasn't long before I could counter his mundane spells and place wards that would null any attempts made on me or my possessions,  Once high school came my friends were asked to the movies and for ice cream, but no one ever approached me.  I usualy didn't mind, since there wasn't anyone I was particularly interested in, but every once in a while my chest ached for a little attention.  Finally, on a day when PMS and hormones got the best of me, I was found bawling in the girls bathroom by Cassie and Luca. 

   "What's the big deal?" Cassie flipped her hair, taking a step back as if to take in a disheveled mess that expanded my physical being.

   "I am sure you did find on that calc test."  Luca said, putting an arm around me and sending a little glare at Cassie's lack of empathy.  Luca could empathize with anyone, and bring a pschizo jumper to the ground.  Cassie was much more matter of fact.

   "That's not it..." I sniffed, and Cassie ducked into a stall for toilet paper.  I felt a new sob thrust it's way up in my chest and leave me gasping. "What's wrong with me?"

   "What do you mean?"  Cassie asked, eyebrows puckering.

   "There's nothing wrong with you!" Luca insisted, vehemently.

   "Nobody likes me!  No one asks me out!  I feel like an outcast"  The lack od a social calendar couldn't have escaped my best friends notice.

   "We went to the mall and the game last Saturday," Cassie protested.

   "And to 'Beast Mode's' show at the coffee shop."  Luca interjected.

   "Boys!"  I blurted, beginning to wish I hadn't brought it up, but I knew they would have been relentless to to find out what hd brought me to tears.

   "Oh."  Luca stopped, a curious look on her face. 

   "Don't you know?"  Cassie gave me a look as if I were addled in the brain.

   I cocked my head. 

   "Um, Stephen kind of staked a claim on you."  Luca said quietly, flinching away lnowing that name was sure to incite me.  It did.

   "What?"  I squawked.

   "Not a claim really."  Cassie shook her head in dismissal.  "More like a threat to anyone that messes with you."

  "That mean, fricking..." I seethed.  I could feel the pressure build inside me and sparks flickered off my tongue, burning tiny pock marks in the formica counter top.  "So, he's trying to monopolize me for the bullying!"

   "How could you not get that he's into you?"  Cassie asked, exasperated/

  "How the hell could he possibly be interested in me romantically when he has made my life miserabe since the day we met!"  I fumed. "How could he possibly think I would be interested in him when he has made my life amiserable since the day we met?"

   I had spent too long trying to avoid Stephen, and now was the time to confront him.  Cassie snickered and Luca gave me a sympathetic look.  "After school I am going to finish what he started, once and for all.  Feel free to come watch, cuz I want some of the rumours to be true!" 

   I stomped down the hall towards my chem class.  Taking some deep breaths my stride evenedand I regained control of the roiling magic knot in my gut.  The next few hours rolled by slugishly as I tried to put all the angry thoughts in my head into a semblance of a retort.

  Finally the bell rang.  Never had the wave fo students seemed so repressive.  Though it felt like I was making no progress, Luca suddenly appeared at my side.

  "Are you sure you want to do this?"  She asked. a worried wrinkle in her forehead, and lips pursing.

   "I am not going to have my life controlled anymore."  I growled, pushing out the double doors.  Out of practiced habit I, or whichever of my friends was carpooling that day, parked in the Northeast parking lot, because I knew where Stephen habitually parked hi solive green El Camino in the South lot.  I could see his dusty blonde head over the tops of the cars as he leaned against his car talking to Brant Singely. 

   Good. Witnesses.  I huffed adn picked up speed, Luca trippng to keep up under the weight of her book bag.  From the corner of my eye I could see Cassie dodging between carss as she tried to reach us, and Brant's attention, followed by Stephen's, was turned to our approach.

   I suddenly realized that I had never really had much contact with Stephen recently.  It was mainly through the pranks that I knew I was stil on Stephen's radar.  I'd look around the cafeteria and he would be there smirking, or laughing behind me in class.  Whatever hapened, he was always near.  Things had died down some the past year or two, but once a week or so something would happen that would be incovenient or humiliating, and there he was.  As if I couldn't find enough trouble myself.  And then to discover that he was behind my lonely misery!

   There was that little smirk, a twitch of the lips adn wrinkle around the eyes.  That sent me over the edge.  I was tired of being the butt of his jokes and this would end today!

   "How dare you!"  I threw my bag down to free my arms.  "How dare you tell everybody that I belong to you like some kind of pet! You have made my life miserable for the last five years, and I am sick and tired of it.  I never did anything to you and you have just tortured me!  I don't have a date to homecoming because of you,  Iam the fifth wheel on group dates becasue of you!  So spread the word that I am fair game, or so help me I will get a restraingn ward cast on you!  Think about that humiliation, Stephen Gregory!

   "I can't believe you told everyone to leave me alone!  Do you hate me that much?  What did I ever do to you?"  By that time I was screaming hysterically, and Luca put her arms around me, drawing me away from Stephen, who was looking at me intently, and the gathering crowd.  Cassie hefted my bag over her other shoulder and said something to Stephen and Brant that I couldn't hear, not that I really cared.

   "So, you feel better, Bridget?"  She asked once we were in her car and on the road.

   "I tought for a second before answering.  I had embarassed myself by yelling at Stephen and crying, but now he knew what I thought of his stupid pranks and maybe I would get some relief.  Hopeflly he was humiliated as well at the dressing down he got from a younger, much less popular, girl.

   "Yeah, I do."  I sighed and tried to wipe some of the saltiness off of my face.  It was a good thing that I didn't wear makeup daily, or I would look even more a wreck. 

  "So maybe the guys will start lining up, eh?"  Luca tried to sound hopeful.

   "I doubt it,"  I laughed.  "Who wants to go out with a psychotic chick who might go off on you in front of everyone?"

   "Some guys love being whipped."  Cassie said, pragmatically.