The Wanderers Beginning: The Wanderers, Reborn, & Unforgiven (96 page)

             
“Okay fine. He wouldn’t talk either, but I know you’re both lying.”

             
“Why do you care so much anyways?”

             
“Because Roman’s a good friend and I don’t want to see him get hurt,” she admitted.

             
“But you let him date Mackenzie,” I said, questioning her so called loyalty to their friendship.

             
“First off, that disaster happened way before I could stop it.”

             
“Cameron, I get that you care deeply for Roman as a friend and you don’t want to see him get hurt, but you don’t have to worry because nothing is going on between us.”

             
“Why not?” she pouted.

             
“Okay, seriously? You’re driving me nuts. First you want me to date him, then get mad when you think something is going on and now you’re mad that there’s not?” I was so confused I was getting a headache.

             
She sighed. “Ella, I know he likes you and this is nothing he told me. He didn’t have to. I can tell. I just…well…if something would happen, just be careful, he’s fragile.”

             
“Okay Cameron, I get it,” I said, hoping she would leave it at that.

             
“You two are totally messing around aren’t you?”

             
“Oh my god!” I laughed. “I’m going to go change,” I said, walking into the bathroom and closing the door behind me.

             
“I’d be totally cool with it if you were. I mean, all I’m asking for is a little detail,” she called through the door.

             
              “Give it up already,” I yelled back. I didn’t have to see her to know she was smiling.

             
Fully dressed, I followed Cameron to the social room. I was so tired and wanted nothing more than to go back to my room, but I knew this had to be done. When we got there, everyone was already there waiting. I went to the fridge to grab a soda to help wake me up. When I turned around Roman was standing behind me. Startled, I almost dropped my soda. “Sorry,” he said. He stood there for a moment, just watching me, making me feel nervous, but in a good way. I could tell he had something to say, but wasn’t sure how to say it.

             
“Ella I…never mind,” he said, hanging his head and stepping aside so I could pass.

             
Confused, I took a step to walk away, but he jumped in front of me. “Wait, I…there’s something I wanted to ask you.” He ran his hand through his hair indicating he was nervous about what he wanted to ask me. “I went about it the wrong way, but Mackenzie just makes me so mad,” he growled.

             
“She kind of has that effect on people,” I joked, hoping to lighten up the situation.

             
He gave me a faint smile. “Alright, I’m just going to say it. Will you go to the dance with me?” I didn’t know what to say. He noticed my odd expression and continued. “I know what I said at dinner and I just said that to shut Mackenzie up, but I really was planning on asking you. I don’t want you to think I’m just doing this to get back at her. I really would like to go with you, but it’s okay…I’ll understand if you say no.” He watched me, eyes wide, waiting for my answer. He ran his hand through his hair again.

             
I thought about making him sweat it out for a little, but when I looked into his eyes, I knew I couldn’t. “Yes,” I said smiling.

             
“Yes?” he asked unsure.

             
“Yes,” I repeated.

             
“Ella, thank you. I really do want to go with you because of you and not well, you know,” he babbled and I laughed.

             
“What?” he said bashfully.

             
“You’re babbling.”

             
“Oh,” he said, smiling. Not knowing where to go from here, Roman stood there, still smiling at me, until Cameron came over and cleared her throat. “I’ll uh…see you later,” Roman stuttered and made a quick exit for the door. I took my cue and made my way over to the couch, plopping down next to Dixon.

             
“Somebody has a crush,” Dixon sang.

             
I stifled an eye roll. “Dixon, grow up. And I do not,” I told him.

             
“Not you silly, Roman,” he said like it should have been obvious. “That boy is seriously head over heels in love with you.”

             
“Dixon, be serious,” I said, elbowing him.

             
“Ella, you need to open your eyes. Has it ever occurred to you that this is not the only social room? You do know that every floor has one.”

             
“Yeah,” I said, not knowing where he was going with this.

             
“Then why would Roman come up here to get a drink when he has access to the same things on his floor?”

             
“Maybe they didn’t have what he wanted,” I shrugged.

             
“No, they definitely didn’t,” Dixon smiled.

             
I narrowed my eyes at him and he just shrugged his shoulders. Ready to get to the matter at hand I asked, “Has anyone thought of anything yet?”  They all shook their heads no.

             
“Let’s make this quick. I have other things to attend to tonight,” Dean whined, coming into the room.

             
“Wait, what is Dean doing here?” I asked.

             
“Who else would be better to help you plot an evil plan,” Dean smiled.

             
“Maybe someone who wasn’t dipping into the witch’s brew,” I spat.

             
“Hey, I’m not picky,” he shrugged.

             
“Obviously,” I thought to myself.

             
“You know, Dean might be on to something here,” Cameron said, tapping her chin.

             
“The only thing he is on is antibiotics from all the skanks he’s been with,” I said.

             
Dixon and Sienna tried to cover their laughs. “While that also may be true,” Cameron said and Dean glared at her. “What I was getting at was that I think Dean should continue his so called
‘relationship’
with Madison.”

             
“What!” I shouted.

             
“Let me finish,” she said. I took a breath and calmed myself while she went on. “I also think he should take Mackenzie to the dance.” I opened my mouth to say something, but Cameron stopped me. “Think about it Ella. Dean’s the biggest player on campus.”

             
“Hey, I’m a ladies man not a player,” Dean complained. I just glared at him. “I can’t help it I’m loved,” he shrugged. I threw a pillow at him, missing and hitting Cameron instead.

             
“Like I was saying,” she growled, wiping the hair out of her face and looking at us like an annoyed parent. “If we got Dean to secretly date all three, maybe he could use his charm to get some information out of them. We could play them against each other. Let them be the ones to destroy themselves.”

             
“Cameron, that’s genius,” Dixon said.

             
“Yeah, but what makes you think they’ll so easily give up information about each other, especially to Dean. They do know he’s my brother,” I said, not totally convinced Cameron’s plan was fool proof.

             
“Have faith li’l sis. I do have my ways,” Dean said smiling.

             
“And I also think Sienna should join their coven,” Cameron said, surprising us all.

             
“No way,” I said.

             
“Yeah Cameron, I don’t know about that one,” Sienna said.

             
“Hello, what a better way to find out how to take them down. It’s like going behind enemy lines,” Cameron said, trying to sway us.

             
I looked at Sienna. I didn’t exactly like this plan, but it was the best thing we could come up with. I told her it was up to her and not to feel obligated to say yes. We would come up with another plan if we had to. “I’ll do it,” Sienna said proudly.

             
“Great, so here’s what we do,” Cameron started. “Dean, don’t tell Mackenzie you’ll go to the dance with her until the last minute, make her wait. Same with you Sienna, wait a few days before you tell her you’ll join her coven.” Cameron went over a few more details of the plan. Dean had left, saying he was on his way to start
‘carrying out the plan’
as he called it. This was going to take a lot of self-control for me to follow through with this plan. And a lot of Tums to settle my stomach from all the nauseating details I’m sure Dean will provide.

             
When I knew Dean was gone for sure, I pulled Cameron aside and asked, “So what did you tell Dean to get him here? You didn’t tell him about me and Mr. Callahan did you?”

             
“Relax, I didn’t tell him anything,” she said, like it was no big deal.

             
“Then how did you get him to go along with it?” I knew my brother and he didn’t do anything out of the goodness of his heart.

             
She sighed, seeing I wasn’t going to let this go. “All I told him was we were making a plan to get back at Mackenzie and asked if he wanted to help.”

             
“That’s it?” I asked, having a feeling she was holding out on me.

             
“Yep, that’s it,” she said and walked away letting me know she wasn’t going divulge any more information. I dropped it, figuring it was probably better off I didn’t know. I decided to call it a night. I was exhausted and had to get up early tomorrow. Everyone else stayed to watch a movie while I went back to my room to crash.

             
When I got there, I found Roman pacing back and forth outside my door. “Um, hey, what’s up?” I asked.

             
“I just wanted to talk to you,” he said.

             
“Is everything okay?” I asked, wondering if maybe he thought asking me to the dance was a mistake.

             
“Yeah, I just…um…” I could tell he was feeling uneasy, but I was too tired to spend the next twenty minutes waiting for him to try and spit it out.

             
I opened my door, stepped inside, and turned to face him. “I’m sorry, but can this wait? I’m really tired and I oh –” He leaned forward and kissed me, catching me off guard.

             
He pulled back smiling. “Sorry, but I’ve been wanting to do that since dinner.”

             
I was speechless. My lips were tingling and I so wanted to feel his lips on mine again. I grabbed his shirt and pulled him into my room. Then I shut the door and pushed him up against the wall. I stood on my tip toes and pressed my lips to his. They melted with every touch. It was almost magical.

             
And then it hit me – magic.

             
I pulled back. “Wait, does this feel weird?”

             
“No, it feels wonderful,” he said dreamily, leaning down to kiss me again.

             
I pushed him away. “No. What if this is another spell? What if after Mackenzie saw us in here she put the same spell on us she put on Aidan and me?”

             
He tensed at the mention of Mr. Callahan’s name. “I would be able to tell,” he said.

             
“How, you didn’t notice last time?”

             
“That’s because I wouldn’t let myself,” he said almost shamefully.

             
“But…”

             
“I can tell when someone is under a spell.”

             
I looked at him confused. “Care to elaborate?”

             
“I’m half witch. We can usually tell when someone puts a spell on us or someone else, but it’s not always easy. That’s probably why I didn’t realize at first that Mackenzie had put one on you. After you had told me, I remembered I saw the signs, but refused to believe it. I’m sorry Ella. If I wasn’t so stubborn…”

             
“Don’t,” I said. “It’s not your fault. But are you sure that we’re okay now? You said so yourself it’s not always that easy.”

             
“Yes, but it also takes a very powerful witch to mask it and Mackenzie nor her coven combined have that kind of power. You already proven that you are more powerful than any one we know and cannot be bewitched easily,” he smiled, stroking my hair.