Aiden above! Isn't he super cute? :)

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I wasn't sure if I had heard that right. There was no way that I, Skylar Morgan, had been paired with Aiden Wolf. He was practically a god. But it had to be him, because he was the only other teenager left in the meeting hall.

I stood up slowly, and I could feel the elders watching me as I walked over to where Aiden was sitting.

I waited, but Aiden didn't look too interested in introducing himself or starting up a conversation. I decided that I had to make the first move.

"So... I guess we're together now," I said, but then my eyes widened. That hadn't come out right.

Aiden pursed his gorgeous, kissable lips. "Yup."

OHMYGODHOWDOIBACKTRACK. "I mean, not together! You know, together like partners, not like together like dating! We're not dating!"

Even if I really, really wanted us to be.

"I knew what you meant," Aiden said simply.

I blushed. "Um, yeah. I'm really glad we're toget—partners. I'm glad that we're partners. Yup."

Aiden rolled his eyes. "Whatever."

"So, um, my name's Skylar," I said. "In case you... you know... didn't catch it when we were called."

"Okay."

I tried again. "I heard that you're really good with your wand."

Aiden smirked. "Oh, really?"

OHMYGODTHATDIDN'TSOUNDRIGHTEITHER. Just when I thought I couldn't humiliate myself any more.

"Not like- I mean, I just meant that..." I sputtered. "Like... Um... Magic."

I was pretty much ready to just curl up and die on the floor at this point.

"Excuse me?" The head elder said into his microphone. "As excited as I'm sure you both are, we do have to close the meeting hall for a few hours. Would you two mind relocating?"

Aiden shrugged. "Sure. I'm gonna go play basketball with my friends. See you at dinner, Sarah."

I mean, that was sort of close to my name, wasn't it?

Okay, it wasn't, but the way he said it was just so dreamy. You wouldn't be mad either, trust me.

I blinked. "Dinner! Yeah!"

I had completely forgotten. As part of the pairing ceremony, it was traditional for the new partners to share a first meal together. It was supposed to be really symbolic and represent the beginning of our lives together or something, but mostly everyone used it as a chance to either show off to their partner or show off their partner to all of their friends.

And the Aiden Wolf was my partner. How was someone like me supposed to impress him?

"I'll see you there?" I said, but Aiden was already walking away.

During the entire trip back to my cabin, all I could do was freak out about the dinner. What if I did something super embarrassing, like trip on my way in? What if Aiden realized how much he hated me and begged the elders to reconsider their decision? I didn't think that they would actually do it, but it would still be humiliating, and I really did want him to like me.

Oh my god, what was I going to wear?!? That's, like, the most important part of the dinner.

I burst into my cabin with a huge grin on my face, and as soon as the other girls noticed me, it fell silent.

Laura cleared her throat. "So?"

I couldn't wipe away my smile. "So what?"

Laura put her hands on her hips. "Who'd you get?"

"You'll never believe this," I said. "My partner is... drumroll, please, girls..."

I waited for a few of the girls to start a drumroll. Then, I waited a couple more seconds before I couldn't hold it in anymore.

"Aiden Wolf."

It was quiet for a few minutes.

"No, really, who'd you get?" Laura asked apprehensively.

"I'm serious! They paired me with Aiden," I squealed.

None of the girls seemed as excited as I was by the news.

"Oh." Laura turned away. "That's cool."

"Cool," a few other girls echoed.

I nodded eagerly. "Yeah! Who wants to help me pick out my outfit for dinner tonight?"

Everyone ignored me, or maybe they didn't hear me. Oh well, it's not like their opinions really mattered. It was Aiden that I was trying to impress, not my obviously jealous cabinmates.

I fished my phone out of my pocket and opened it to see about a million unread texts from Nate. I skimmed through them, and then I replied.

ME: omg Nate u won't believe who my partner is!!!!!

NATE: who?

ME: guess

NATE: um

NATE: idk

ME: cmon just say a name

When Nate took too long to respond, and I couldn't hold the news in any longer, I told him.

ME: ok fine ill give u a hint

ME: aiden freaking wolf!!!

NATE: awsum sauce!

NATE: wait whos that again

ME: *sigh* thx for paying attention to me when i talk

NATE: in my defense u talk a lot :P

Why was I friends with him again?

ME: Aiden is the one i really really really wanted to be paired with

NATE: ohhhh. congrats then

ME: SQUEEE

ME: but I have nothing to wear :(

ME: you need to help me pick

NATE: ok, what did u have in mind?

ME: hang on ill look through my bag and send pics

I set my phone down and grabbed my suitcase. I unzipped it and dumped all my clothes onto my bed. After combing through everything, I found myself stuck between two different outfits.

The first outfit was a cute, matte black crop top with a low-cut V and an inward curving neckline, thin straps, and a half circle cutout in the middle with a thin line attaching the two sides. I paired it with and a gorgeous pleated skirt that was almost nude but with a slight tint of pink, all gathered together with a large bow. I accessorized with some silver jewelry, a pink clutch, and my favorite pair of black stilettos. 

Then, I put together a simpler second outfit. It consisted of a short baby blue dress, and I matched it with a pair of powdery pink heels to really make the blue pop. But of course, the pink shoes needed to tie in with something- a belt! I quickly grabbed my favorite pink belt with a metallic buckle for around my waist. The belt made it so that the bottom would flare out and the top would fit nicely against my chest. Finally, I thought that my gold necklace, a birthday gift from Nate, would complete the whole look perfectly.

I stepped back to examine both outfits. How was I going to decide?

Oh, right! Nate! I completely forgot that I was texting him.

ME: ok

ME: its either gonna be this outfit

I stopped to send photos so that he knew what I was talking about.

ME: or this one

ME: unless there both awful

ME: oh my god I literally have nothing to wear

ME: WHAT AM I GONNA DO

ME: NATHANIEL

ME: WHERE ARE YOU

NATE: whoa skylar chill

NATE: they're both fine

ME: FINE ISNT GOOD ENOUGH!!!

Clearly Nate didn't understand just how serious this crisis was. Sigh. I really need to find more girl friends.

I decided that I was never going to pick anything just looking at it, so I decided to try both outfits on and see if that would help. I took pictures in both and texted them to Nate for his opinion.

ME: well??????

NATE: u look beautiful either way.

ME: ugh yeah right

NATE: no really, u dont have anything to worry about

It was a few minutes before Nate's next message popped up.

NATE: he's really lucky. If he cant see that then he's crazy

ME: oh shut up

NATE: :)

Nate could be such a dork sometimes, but he's my best friend, so I still love him.

I stared at my outfits for what feels like an eternity before finally choosing the second one. I picked up the pieces and went to the bathroom to change.

I slipped the dress on, wrapped the belt around my waist, and stepped into my heels. I looped the necklace around my neck, smiling as I thought about how nervous Nate had been when he gave it to me.

Nate could be really awkward, and he hadn't been sure that he'd picked out the right thing, so he was even worse that day. He'd been so relieved when I said that I actually really liked it. It was still my favorite necklace, and it was so sweet of him to get it for me.

Once I was satisfied with the way I looked, I decided that I still had enough time to do my makeup. It couldn't hurt to make my face look a little nicer for this special dinner.

I went with lighter makeup to show my "natural beauty", which my mom claimed I had. This meant soft blush, highlights, and a gentle flick of eyeliner.

By the time I was spritzing setting spray onto my face, all of the girls had already left the cabin. I checked my reflection in the mirror one more time, smiling as I observed the image of myself in the mirror. Then, I grabbed my purse and my phone, and headed out too.

My heels made me wobble a few times on the way to the dining hall, but I tried not to panic. It was better to get the stumbling out of the way now than to faceplant in front of Aiden.

When I got to the dining hall, I stopped to smooth out the dress.

Okay, you can do this, Skylar. Breathe in, breathe out. Thankfully, I wasn't tripping over my shoes anymore. I'd still probably find some way to humiliate myself, but at least it wouldn't be because of my fashion choices.

Part of the camp's tradition was for each pair to enter and be seated together, so everyone was meeting up with their partners by the doors. I spotted Aiden and headed over to him. As I was walking, my phone vibrated with a new text.

NATE: Sky?

ME: yeah?

NATE: good luck :)

I didn't reply, but it made me smile to myself as I reached Aiden's side.

"Hey, Aiden," I said, trying not to sound as nervous as I was.

He was staring off to the side, not making eye contact with me. "Hey."

Aiden has never really been much of a talker. That's okay though, because who didn't like the tall, dark, mysterious type?

"Um... We should get in line," I suggested.

"We already are," he pointed out.

Normally, I'd feel stupid, but I had already made a fool of myself so many times today in front of Aiden that I was pretty much immune to humiliation now.

"Oh, cool. So camp this year should be interesting, right?" I could totally join Aiden in his calm, cool, collected game.

Aiden nodded.

"I mean, we're finally old enough for the demon binding ceremony."

Aiden perked up slightly, actually looking a little more interested now. "Yeah."

The demon binding ceremony is arguably even more important than the pairing ceremony. Demons are nothing but trouble, and they wreak horrible havoc in the human world. That's where we wizards and witches step in to take care of things. Our powers though also let us control our own demons. Binding ourselves to a specific demon let us use their powers to amplify our own, and also made the demon essentially harmless.

"You'll probably get a super high level demon," I continued. "You know, since you're such a powerful wizard."

You couldn't really control what demon came out when you used the summoning spell, but higher level demons were usually attracted to more powerful witches and wizards.

Aiden shrugged. "I guess."

"I just hope that whatever demon I end up with isn't too weak."

The doors opened, and the line finally started moving. Up ahead, I saw some partners walking in with their arms linked, and some were even holding hands. I glanced at Aiden's hand and imagined how soft it would feel in mine. I wished we could hold hands too.

When we found the name cards that marked our seats, Aiden pulled my chair out for me before he sat down. It was part of the tradition, and all of the guys were doing it, but it still made me die a little bit inside.

"Welcome, witches and wizards!" the head elder's voice boomed from the front of the room. It was suddenly silent.

While the head elder was making his speech, I took a look around the room. The camp went all out with this dinner. The round tables were covered in beautiful tablecloths that were trimmed with white lace. Each table had a few lit candles as the centerpiece, which cast a warm glow on everyone's faces. Even the place settings were elegantly arranged, with cream colored napkins folded into the shapes of roses next to our name cards.

I noticed that Laura and Rebecca were sitting with their partners a few tables away. Even if they didn't get paired with their first choice, they seemed happy with how things had turned out. Both of them looked really great too, and it made me wish that Laura didn't ignore me when I asked her for help picking out my outfit.

Girls can be so rude and shallow.

If she wanted to be jealous though, that was on her. I wasn't going to let it bring my mood down.

When I looked back to the front of the room, the head elder was wrapping up his speech.

"Today has been a grand milestone for all of you. Tomorrow will be grand in its own right, but for now you need only to eat and enjoy yourselves."

I couldn't help but stare at Aiden through the end of the speech. At his perfectly sculpted jawline, beautiful blue eyes, and form fitting suit. He looked so amazing. I was so completely entranced, in fact, that I made a fool of myself again by knocking over my glass of ice water.

I know, I know. I should honestly just live in a plastic bubble or something.

The girl sitting to my left, I think her name was Jasmine or something, stood up with a squeal. Most of the water ended up on the floor, but some of it had spilled onto her lap..

"Oh my god! I'm so sorry!" I squeaked out.

I thought that for a second I saw the corners of Aiden's mouth tilt up into a smile.

"Watch what you're doing, klutz," Jasmine hissed.

"I didn't mean to!"

Jasmine rolled her eyes. "Of course you didn't. Just like you didn't mean to crush the dreams of every girl in camp, right?"

"Huh?"

It took me a minute to realize that she meant being paired with Aiden. I don't think that he realized it though, because he didn't say anything about it.

"It's just water, calm down. Grab a napkin and get over it," Aiden said coolly.

Jasmine took a deep breath.

"Sorry, I guess you're right," she said with a forced laugh, "I way overreacted."

She smiled at Aiden sweetly as she unfolded a napkin and started mopping up the water. I think that she was only doing it to impress Aiden, because as soon as he wasn't looking, she sent me a glare.

I was a little stunned by the whole thing, but I was also flattered. Did Aiden just stick up for me?

The thought made my face turn bright red. For a brief second, Aiden and I made eye contact, and that made me smile to myself. How had I gotten so lucky?

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 I'm back everyone!!! Hopefully to stay this time :D

So what did you guys think of the outfit Skylar decided on? Did you guys like the other one better? I was kind of torn too, lol

Remember to leave comments and votes, and definitely let me know what you guys think will happen next :) I'd absolutely love to read your predictions!!!