Tales of Aradia The Last Witch Volume 3 (5 page)

Because of her powers, being
adopted, and ironically because she had had no friends Aradia had
been bullied and isolated from her peers since first grade. Now she
had a fuller social calendar than she thought was possible. In
addition to Club Tolerance, she had been invited to more parties
than anyone else had in the school. She also had more dates every
week on both the weekdays and weekends than anyone else. Weeks
would go by where Aradia would be seen going out with a different
boy every single day to the mall, clubbing, roller-skating, coffee
shops, movies, and parties. It seemed funny to Aradia how most
girls would love these kinds of situations when it felt like sheer
hell to her. Not a day went by when she did not want to pass out on
the floor from sheer exhaustion. In addition, to the stress and
worry that came with the dating, trying to keep up with her classes
was almost impossible. Thankfully, Aradia had temporally solved the
problem by sometimes-scheduling study dates with the boys who asked
her out.

However, no matter who asked
her out her list of suitors did not change. The top competitors for
her choice in consort remained Dax, Roy, Tristan, Lamont, and
Jayce.

Dax was sweet, kind, and he
seemed to understand her better than any of the other guys did. The
two of them would often talk for hours about everything, and never
get bored. He would do typical boyfriend things such as putting his
jacket on her if it was cold out, and holding her hand constantly.
He also let her be herself and never tried to control her like some
of the other guys. He always let her make her own choices so his
personality suited her's like a foil. As for the dates, they went
on; it did not matter whether it was going to the movies or just
the two of them cleaning up the club after a party. The two of them
would end up having a blast, and not wanting to leave each other's
side.

In spite of him often seeing
Melina, Roy and Aradia still went out on several dates and such
experiences helped Aradia to conclude that Roy was the pure
definition of a high school boyfriend. He was affectionate,
attentive, and attractive. He showered her with gifts (whenever he
was with her and not Melina), hugged her and kissed her whenever
Aradia allowed him to, and put his arm around her shoulders. Their
dates consisted of typical couple of outings like skating, going to
the movies, walking in the park, and going out to dinner. Most of
all, Roy would cook for her, and Aradia would devour his meals
while he looked on happily. Aradia in return whenever Roy's band
played would be sitting in the front row cheering him
on.

Ironically, the only reason
why Tristan was on her list was that he refused not to be. Although
whenever they saw each other, he insulted her constantly, and
criticized everything about her from her looks to her personality,
he still considered himself the perfect choice as her consort.
Aradia did not know whether to laugh in his face for thinking he
had a chance or admire him for being so persistent. Still Aradia
had to admit he did have some appeal. Unlike the others, he was an
expert in hidden politics, and if Aradia wanted to make a
difference in the hidden world, she realized she would need someone
who could help her.

As for Lamont, Aradia could
honestly say out of all the dates she went on her dates with him
were the best. He would wine and dine her at all sorts of
restaurants both cheap and pricey. They would go dancing; he bought
her expensive gifts from jewelry to clothes. Best of all, wherever
they went everyone stared at Aradia not with trepidation, but with
envy and admiration. She was so used to getting those types of
looks from all the hiddens that to have people looking at her with
envy was a nice change. The looks of admiration came from the
amazement of the women that out of all the girls Lamont could have,
Aradia the last witch had been the one that was able to claim
him.

Jayce being considered a
suitor was truly a surprise to Aradia. It was not just because of
what had had happened in her freshman year when he had invited her
to his party, but also because he was a human. How could he be her
hidden consort if he was not a hidden? Still, Aradia had to admit
Jayce had his good attributes. He was sweet, nice, kind,
compassionate, a natural leader on his football team but best of
all when Aradia was with him she could feel normal. Since he was
not a hidden she never had to talk to him about the worries she
faced in the hidden world. Whenever she was around him, she never
felt stressed or felt any pressure. Around him, she could actually
pretend to be normal.

Nonetheless, as far as
Aradia knew, Dax was the best out of all her suitors, and whom she
wanted to be with. However, after two times of him almost breaking
her heart it was hard for Aradia to trust him at all. In spite of
this, Aradia had to admit that she loved Dax, but she did not know
if he would make a good consort. After all, one of the reasons why
she was willing to choose a consort was to make changes to the
hidden world and Aradia did not know if Dax was up to that. He had
made it known repeatedly to Aradia that he did not believe in her
promoting tolerance idea, and what was the point of being with
someone if he did not believe in her.

This was all that consumed
Aradia's thoughts even when she was in the library studying for a
very important test with Rhonda. Although she tried her best to
hide her stress level, Rhonda still noticed and scooted next to
her. "Are you okay?"

Aradia sighed deeply,
debating with herself whether she should tell Rhonda the
truth.

Once again, she decided
against it, shrugged, and said, "I am just stressed that's
all."

Surprisingly, Rhonda's
facial expression changed from that of concern to
bitterness.

She then nodded as she
straightened up and muttered, "I suppose I would be stressed too if
I was dating half the student body."

Aradia slowly looked up from
the book she was reading, and turned to give Rhonda a dark bitter
glare.

"What's that supposed to
mean Ron?" She whispered softly.

Rhonda shrugged nervously,
now looking scared of Aradia's change in demeanor. At first, she
shook her head, and tried to make Aradia forget her comment by
saying never mind. However, Aradia persisted in wanting to know
what her best gal pal had meant.

So reluctantly, Rhonda
shrugged, and said, "It's just I know you haven't exactly talked or
even bragged about it but I have noticed that you seem to be dating
a hell of a lot of guys lately. In fact, everyone in town says they
can't go anywhere without seeing you on the arm of a different
guy."

She then paused, and waited
for Aradia's reaction.

There was none so Rhonda
continued. "I mean Aradia, it was bad enough when you were caught
between Dax and Roy but now...For Christ's sake Aradia five guys
and I am not talking about the restaurant! I am talking about the
five guys you seem to be dating. I mean five in addition to half
the student body especially the most attractive ones! Jesus Aradia!
How can you do all this? It's so selfish of you."

Aradia said nothing, at
least for a few minutes.

Finally, she took a deep
breath, and looked Rhonda right in the eye.

She then said in a voice
that started out sounding like a serrated blade, but soon escalated
into a horrifying roar. "Rhonda, despite what you think I am not
deliberately dating five guys or half the student body or anyone
for that matter. Would you rather I say no to all these guys, and
hurt their feelings? I think you underestimate how much rejection
can hurt men as much as it does women. Most of all, I am not
playing these guys or lying to them in fact ask everyone single one
of them, and they will tell you that they know I am seeing others.
Besides, I have my reasons for why I am doing all this in the first
place, and since you are my friend, you should trust that my
reasons are good ones. However, if you really think I am dating all
these guys just to be selfish then I can assure that that is not
the case. In fact, not only can I honestly say that I am not really
enjoying dating so many guys at the same time, but also these last
few months have been the absolute worst months of my
life!"

The librarian turned to face
Aradia, put a finger to her lips, and said "Shh!"

Aradia being too pissed off
to care about the rules of the library just whipped around, and
shouted at her. "Aw shut up, you bitch!"

The librarian stared at her
in shock while Aradia breathed heavily. She had finally released
all her pent up anger, but not wanting to wait around for the
consequences, she grabbed all her stuff, and stormed out of the
library.

As soon as school let out,
Aradia had run off into the woods. After losing her temper like the
way she had, she could not bear to face Rhonda or anyone else for
that matter. As soon as she found the most isolated and deepest
part of the woods, Aradia sank to the ground. A part of her wanted
to cry until the stress had completely left her body. She just
could not believe how crazy her life was getting. In addition to
what she was facing in the hidden world there were also things in
the human world that she had to worry about as well such as school,
junior prom, the S.A.T, and worst of all: college.

Aradia truly felt like the
world was falling down all around her, and she did not know what to
do about it. She buried her face in her hands, and shook her head
from side to side. For a while, she just sat there in stressed
silence until she heard a rustling far off in a clump of trees near
a bunch of boulders. Intrigued, Aradia made her way to the trees
and pushed the branches out of the way. She then clasped a hand
over her mouth, and tried to muffle a scream!

It was Xan, Dax's foster
brother, swimming in a natural pool of what was probably freezing
cold water with his arms around Roy's cousin, Brenna. Aradia was
surprised that they could be swimming in this weather, but seeing
how hotly and passionately they were kissing, she doubted if they
could really feel the cold. For ten long minutes, Xan and Brenna
plunged their tongues into one another's mouth while their hands
roamed all over each other. Aradia blushed, and tried to turn
away.

After a while, Xan and
Brenna finally started heading for the shore. Aradia gulped hoping
to God that they were not naked. Luckily, when the two emerged from
the water Aradia could see that Brenna was wearing a black bikini
and Xan was wearing gray swimming trunks. Slowly, the two of them
put their clothes back on, glancing at each other from time to time
with a dreamily gaze. When they were both fully dressed, Xan took
Brenna in his arms and kissed her one last time. The two of them
lingered until finally Xan whispered something into Brenna's ear.
She then giggled, and hugged Xan tighter. After a few more long
silent minutes, Xan reluctantly pulled away. Holding onto her hand
as long as he could, he turned and walked back into the
woods.

Brenna sighed as she watched
him walk away.

Until suddenly she said,
"You can come out now Aradia."

Aradia gulped, and stood
motionless.

Brenna chuckled as she said,
"C'mon Aradia, I know you are there! You seem to be forgetting how
unique your smell is. Hell even Xan could smell you and realized
you were watching us. The only reason he left is because I told him
I would talk to you."

Aradia sighed, stood up, and
squeezed through the trees. "Is that true? Do I really smell that
bad?"

Brenna shook her head and
said, "No. You do not smell bad. You smell unique."

Aradia nodded, but then
stopped awkwardly as she asked, "Is that a bad thing?"

Brenna shrugged. "You're the
one with your smell so you tell me."

After explaining how she got
to the woods, Aradia and Brenna ending up sitting on top of one of
the boulders overlooking the pool.

There was an awkward silence
until Aradia finally said, "So you and Xan huh?"

Brenna chuckled. "Yours is
not the only love life in Salem, you know?"

Aradia sighed heavily. "At
this point, I wish I didn't have a love life."

Brenna exhaled a breath
through her nose. "It's funny how much or how often you can wish
for something, it doesn't come true until you do something about
it."

Aradia looked over to
Brenna, and a few moments of silence passed.

When Aradia opened her mouth
to say something, Brenna cut her off. "Take my advice Aradia, if
you have the opportunity to marry for love or do anything for love
do yourself a favor and take it. Love is harder to find than you
think. If someone loves you, and treats you right never let him go
but especially if you know he will never stop treating you
right."

Aradia said
nothing.

She looked at Brenna long,
and hard until Brenna looked away.

Aradia then asked, "But what
if he hurts me again?"

"As long as he doesn't hurt
you too much than..." Brenna stopped and sighed.

However, despite the pause
she continued by saying, "Take it from someone who knows Aradia.
It's better to have a little pain, and a lot bit of love in a
relationship than be in a relationship where there is absolutely no
love at all."