Chapter 1

-Juniper's POV-

Why did she have to be so cute? I groaned as I closed my locker door and hurried down the hallway. That was the issue with love witches, they always knew how to get under your skin and into your brain without even trying. They could simply exist and you would be willing to do anything they asked. You would worship the ground that they walk on, like everyone else.

With a simple smile, or a subtle wink, they could tear your life and mind to shreds. Of course, nobody knows that. You have to know about the supernatural world, and not nearly enough people know. The only reason that I know is because I'm a part of it.

I know, it's shocking to hear that the supernatural exist, but for people like me, it's very frustrating that humans don't know about us. We work in the shadows, under the disguise of every other building and apartment you see. Who knows? Maybe the house next door to yours holds a supernatural creature?

I'm a werewolf, nothing fancy, just the ability to turn into a wolf whenever I like, and a specific hatred for those who feel like they have a right to infringe on what I consider to be mine.

Which is why it frustrates me so much to see her with anyone else.

It was incredibly selfish of me to feel like this, I didn't even know if I had even a slither of a chance with her. My heart was wanting me to try, but my common sense told me to turn away and run in the other direction.

"You're drooling."

I jumped in surprise as my best friend in the whole world, Kavi, smirked at me. He wore his usual plaid shirt over a grey t-shirt, and distressed jeans which definitely didn't come that distressed.

"Shut up," I hissed. "She might be able to hear you."

He scoffed and raised an eyebrow. "She's not a vampire, June. But I'm sure she could feel your eyes claiming her.

My mouth dropped open. "I.Was.Not." That was the only way I could get my message across without drawing attention, without getting her attention. "We don't even do that."

"No, but they do," he sing-songed. "You are head over heels for her, and she could definitely tell. Chances are, she lives off it. It's disgusting."

I rolled my eyes. Kavi was one of the rare occasions when an angel isn't in love with the idea of love. He was rational, that was how I knew he had my best interest in mind as he advised me not to get involved with a love witch.

"She doesn't notice me," I said. It was more like admitting defeat. It wouldn't have been the first time that I admitted defeat when it came to Canta Lai.

"Then why is she smirking in this direction right now?" Kavi asked, causing me to swing my entire body around with wide eyes.

I didn't even make it a full one-eighty before Kavi burst into laughter. Canta, and the person she was talking to, had disappeared from the hallway.

"You're such an idiot," I said, hitting him in the stomach.

"Me? I'm the idiot? Just look at you." He was still holding his stomach. "Juniper, Canta is a love witch. She will do whatever it takes to get her fangs into you , to make you love her. Thens he will shatter your heart and devour the pieces."

"Could you stop with the vampire analogies?" I grabbed his arm and began pulling him forward. "We're late for class."

"And you're going the wrong way."

I changed direction, a very sour expression still on my face. I was sure everyone could tell I was in no mood to be held up. As they parted like the sea.

It wouldn't be so bad, if I didn't have to stare at her for nearly the entire day. I wasn't sure what kind of creatures my teachers were, but they certainly couldn't have been human. I joked about it far too often with Kavi, but it did seem like someone was out to get me.

Canta was always one row in front of me, or in the case of science, sat facing me. She didn't talk much, seemingly focused on the content of every lesson. And I never initiated any, in fear that I would make a complete fool of myself.

That was until today, where the fates decided that I would be tested.

My English teacher, Miss Osden, crouched in front of my desk. Her blonde hair was pulled into a ponytail, and her cardigan was falling off her shoulder. "Well done on your latest test, Juniper. You must've studied really hard."

I narrowed my eyes only slightly. I didn't want to be rude, but she wasn't the type to compliment people on their school work without having some sort of ulterior motive.

"Thanks. You know me, sucker for classics." Which wasn't necessarily a lie.

"Yeah, can't go wrong. Anyway, I was hoping that you would do me a bit of a faver."

I held my breath in anticipation, but she didn't seem to notice. I was hoping that she wasn't asking me to move classes, or seats. I then started to pray that she wouldn't ask me to change the subject of my coursework.

"Could you tutor a fellow classmate?"

I froze. I wasn't expecting anything like that. I wasn't the smartest person in the class, and I was far from the most social. She didn't tell me who it was, which made the matter even more ominous.

But the pleading look in her light brown eyes, mixed with the desperate tone of voice made me rethink how bad it could possibly be. It was just tutoring. If I didn't think it was going well, I could always just put on an apologetic expression and tell her that I couldn't do it anymore.

"Sure."

Her entire being lit up with delight. "Wonderful, I'll tell her to meet you in the library after school."

I was about to argue with her, and tell her that I would need to inform my parents I would be staying behind, but I was too late. She had already skipped to a few rows ahead and began to talk to another classmate, one with long blonde hair, which was infringing on brown, and a smile which could dazzle anyone.

I held my palms flat against each other under the table.

Please tell me I didn't just agree to tutor Canta Lai.

I spent the rest of the school day cursing my luck, and hoping that my parents wouldn't be too angry when I got home. We didn't have the best relationship, so my chances of that were very slim.

"Juniper?" a silky sweet voice asked from behind me, causing me to jump. Why did that happen so often? In front of me stood Canta, hands clasped together in front of her and a shy smile on her face. It made her look like an angel, something she definitely wasn't.

"Yeah," I replied, nodding my head in the direction of the library door. "Should we?"

She hummed and nodded, moving in front of me and opening the door, holding it open for me. How could a simple gesture have me swooning? It's because she was the one that made the gesture, I'm sure of it.

I entered the room with a small 'thanks' before rushing over to my usual spot. I usually took up one of the square arrangements of seats all to myself. It wasn't on purpose exactly, but nobody sat with me, other than Kavi, and it became our spot. I declared it mine when we were in year nine, two years ago, when I found out that Kavi sat here alone when I was sick.

I sat facing the room, leaving the other chairs for Canta to choose from. She hesitated for a second, before opting for the seat on my right, the one closest to me.

"I'm not really sure what exactly we're going to be doing here," she admitted. She placed her designer bag on her knee and began to file through it, pulling out a familiar blue book. "I really don't know English...literature. I feel like it's something you hear about growing up, but I just never really listened in school."

My mouth became dry, so I took a sip of my steadily emptying waterbottle. "That's okay," I told her. "We're doing Romeo and Juliet at the moment, maybe we should start with how much you know about the story." There was a moment of still silence. "Have you read it?"

"Some of it," she told me. "Most of it. I just can't stand it." She began to laugh, which made laughter escape from my own throat. "I don't understand why they would do that, it doesn't matter if they're in love or what." She put quotations around 'in love', reminding me exactly why Kavi warned me not to fall more in love with her.

"Why did they sacrifice themselves for love?" I asked with furrowed eyebrows. "They didn't see a life without each other."

She bit her lip and shook her head. "I don't get it, but that's fine. I'm not sure that it's meant to be something for people to get, you know?"

I couldn't help but let my thoughts slide from my mouth. "Shouldn't you understand?" I asked. "Like, how strong feelings of love could be?"

Her expression turned into a smirk and she gave a light chuckle. "Is it really that obvious?" Her shoulders slumped, and she leant over the arm of the chair.

Her face was so close to mine. I could smell strawberries, probably from her shampoo or something.

"Y-yes," I stuttered out. I tried to be subtle as I leant backwards into the far corner of my chair. "Quite easy, when you know what you're looking for."

Her oceanic eyes sparkled with mischief, "Such as?" Her voice was almost a pur. It was almost charming, which was strange, as I didn't like most animals which purred.

"Such as being immensely attractive, being able to charm every person you see, getting what you want, the smell of roses," I listed. There were so many tell-tale signs that she was a love witch. There were more material signs too, such as the rose quartz keyring that she had on her bag, filled with energy and magic, that humans just wouldn't pick up on.

"You think I'm attractive?" she asked. She came closer, a few inches away from me. "You don't need to answer, I have been able to sense the attraction for the past three years."

My face heated up with embarrassment. I knew she knew, so why was I surprised?

"We could kiss right now," she declared. "Then you would get what you want, and I would get what I want."

I stood up and grabbed my bag. It was like a switch had been flipped in my brain. "No."

Canta blinked. She blinked several times before standing up, her shoulders were slumped and her brows were furrowed. "No?" she repeated.

Of course, she probably hadn't been rejected before. She probably focused on love magic since she was a child, and had enough influence to get anything.

I shook my head. "I'm not kissing you. I really have liked you for years, but that was a big mistake on my part. I wouldn't kiss someone who would just be satisfied with that." A smirk began to crawl on her lips again, so I quickly continued, "I'm not talking about that. I don't know if you know what I am, but we don't do that."

"Then why did you agree to tutor me?" She hugged herself, but her eyes were fierce.

"Because I'm a nice person?" I offered. "Because I wanted to help a fellow classmate, I didn't even know it was you when I was asked."

"Oh." That was all she said before she picked her bag up and put it on her shoulder. "I'll see you around." Then she left, leaving me full of confusion.