Free Tales of Aradia The Last Witch Volume 1 by L.A. Jones Page A

finding them, Roy walked
off.
    "That was pretty cool
of you," said Everett.
    Aradia smiled at him as
a show of thanks.
    "I think it's only fair
to warn you," Rhonda pointed out, "that sitting with us on a
regular basis will lower your Popularity Quotient at this school
several points."
    Aradia shrugged, and
with a gentle smile replied, "Yeah, well, if I want to be popular,
I can audition for American Idol or something."
    “Oh, can you sing?”
Rhonda asked.
    Aradia replied, “Hell
no, but I don’t think that’s actually a requirement to audition for
American Idol.”
    Everyone gave Aradia a
polite laugh. Even Calvin allowed his dour mood to lighten a bit.
It seemed that the tension created by Roy’s proposal had been
successfully dissipated, and Aradia took the good humor to
symbolize her acceptance into the group.
    After some friendly
chatting and hungry munching, Everett put down his magazine and
turned his head to look to and fro curiously.
    "What's up, Everett?"
asked Felix, noticing his odd behavior.
    Everett shook his head
and very unconvincingly said, "Nothing."
    "No seriously, Everett,
spill," Rhonda instructed, now curious herself.
    "It’s just that people
are staring at us," said Everett.
    "Dude," interjected
Calvin, rolling his eyes and rubbing his lip stud, "they always
stare at us."
    Everett shook his head.
"No, it's more than usual today. It's more intense. It’s
weird."
    Aradia glanced over her
shoulder and got a feeling of déjà vu. It was just like she’d
noticed in the hallways. Mostly, people ignored her, but certain
heads in the crowd would pause on her and her group for just a
moment. And all those heads belonged to people who seemed too
beautiful to be real.
    Aradia shook off the
feeling of uneasiness. Still, she knew that whatever the reason
was, it was somehow about her, not her new friends.
    Turning her back on the
crowd, she said, "Forget 'em. It's no big deal."
    "Still," Everett
continued, "it’s just weird how they keep staring."
    "Maybe they forgot to
take their medication," Aradia grumbled.
    Everett’s face and tone
turned cold as he replied, "I take medication. Anti-depressants to
be exact."
    Embarrassed, Aradia
tried to turn the conversation around. Deadpan, she said, "Oh, I
didn’t mean depression medication."
    Everett took stock of
the situation, not sure where she was going yet, and still a little
offended.
    "Anti-depression meds
are for the cool kids, like us," Aradia explained. "The weirdos are
probably taking anti-psychotics and stimulants and stuff. Plus,
those are just medications for the mind. I bet the starers are also
taking other medications, the kind that improve, you know, other
parts of the body." She added a wicked grin to drive the punchline
home.
    After a brief silence,
everyone at the table burst out laughing. Aradia stretched her arms
behind her head, completely satisfied.
     
    Aradia lay in bed, cozy
and happy. Her first week at Salem High proved long and tiring, but
she felt good about her time there nonetheless. She had made four
probable friends, which was three more than she’d ever really had
before, and one whom she hoped would become a friend despite a
rocky turn of events. She liked her classes and teachers, finding
them generally stimulating. In spite of finding one enemy, Tristan,
the student body seemed generally accepting and at worst neutral.
This simple lack of animosity towards her was a huge and pleasant
contrast to Arizona.
    Then there were The Starers . They
were inexplicable on several levels, and they bothered her greatly.
Aradia had noticed early on that much of the student body of Salem
High was ridiculously attractive. She was now certain that the
people staring at her were all members of the Too Pretty to be Real Students crowd. Rather, they were members of the Too Pretty to be Real Students crowds, with an “s” on the end.
    These gorgeous people
flocked together in close circles, and seemed to be completely
isolated from the rest of