WHEN THE SUN GOES DOWN

≪•◦ CHAPTER FIVE | WITCHY STUFF ◦•≫

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Colby sat cross-legged on her wooden floor, surrounded by candles, with her grimoire open on her lap to one of her favorite spells. Her eyes were closed, and her hands were outstretched as she concentrated deeply, not even noticing the two brunettes who had entered her bedroom with wide eyes full of curiosity and wonder. Chloe and Talia were always amazed when Colby performed magic, admiring and looking up to her. Colby had offered to teach and help Chloe and Talia with their magic, but Grace would always jump in and insist she was their tutor.

Chloe and Talia tiptoed to Colby's bed and quietly sat down, watching as Colby whispered a spell that sounded somewhat familiar to them, though neither could quite place it. "Take a picture, it'll last longer," Colby said without opening her eyes.

Chloe chuckled. "How'd you know we came in?" she asked curiously.

Colby opened her eyes and closed her grimoire. "I heard the door open and I heard you two sit on my bed. Plus, you two are the only ones I allow to come into my room without knocking," she said, blowing out the candles.

"Right, we forgot about that. So, what're you up to?" Talia asked, helping her sister pick up the candles.

"Witchy things, ya know?" Colby replied.

Chloe and Talia rolled their eyes. "Ha ha, very funny. What spell was that?" Chloe asked, handing her sister the candles as Colby placed them on a shelf in her closet and put her grimoire in her nightstand drawer. Colby hesitated when answering the question. It was a spell their parents had forbidden them from practicing because of how dangerous it was when Jason was learning to use it and got hurt severely.

The spell was one of the harder ones Colby wanted to perfect to show her parents that Jason wasn't the only one who could handle difficult and dangerous spells. "Uh—" Colby began, cursing herself.

"No way, Colbs! Mom and Dad said that spell was too dangerous!" Talia said rather loudly.

"Shh, Lia, I know. I just... I can't help it. They told me I wasn't strong enough. I want to prove them wrong," Colby said, rushing to her bedroom door and closing it.

Astral Projection was indeed a dangerous spell, and Colby knew that. But she believed she could handle it just like Jason did. It was a spell that could transport the spiritual body of a person (either the witch or someone the witch casts the spell on) to another area within the world. The dangerous part that worried the Salvatore parents was that whatever happened to the spiritual body would be inflicted on their physical form. If they were burned, stabbed, or killed in that form, it would happen to the physical body as well. This worried the parents, especially since Colby was a lot more reckless than her siblings.

"You have to be careful with that spell, Colby," Chloe said. Colby nodded in agreement and smiled at her sisters.

"There was an actual reason we came up here, by the way," Chloe said, now standing by Colby's bedroom door.

"What's up?" Colby asked curiously.

"This girl, Bella Swan, is here for you," Talia said, pointing to the door. Colby's brow furrowed. She was surprised Bella had come to see her so early in the morning, two hours before school, to be exact.

Colby made her way downstairs to see the brunette sitting on the family couch as Jaxson talked her ears off. "I mean, the girls in my grade are cute, but I'm looking for an older woman," Jaxson said, sending the uncomfortable girl a wink.

"Keep it in your pants, Jax. She's mine," Colby said, grabbing hold of her friend's hand and pulling her up, noticing she had her bag and keys. Colby grabbed her book bag and looked at Bella, who laughed and nodded as Colby dragged her out of the house quickly. "Sorry about my brother," Colby said as Bella unlocked her truck and they both got in.

"It's cool, weird but cool," Bella joked as she drove.

"How'd you know where I lived?" Colby found herself asking.

"You're my neighbor," Bella reminded her with an awkward laugh.

Colby closed her eyes in embarrassment and laughed. "Oh shit, right." The two brunettes laughed as Bella pulled up to the school and parked.

Colby smiled but looked away when the craving appeared, one she was embarrassed by but also didn't really care about having. "Mind if I, uh, step away for a moment?" Colby asked softly.

Bella looked at her with concern and curiosity. "No, yeah, go ahead," Bella said, pulling out a book. Colby smiled, grabbing the smaller bag out of her book bag and walking a bit away from Bella's truck and the few other cars in the lot.

She pulled out her pack of cigarettes and her lighter with a sigh. A part of her wanted to quit, but the other part wouldn't let her, and that was the part she listened to. Lighting the cigarette, she took it between her lips and inhaled the toxic fumes she had come to love.

Colby sat on a bench close to the trees, staring off into the forest as she formed a pattern of inhaling the fumes and exhaling, taking breaks in between to look out into nature. "You smoke?" Colby sprang to her feet in surprise, too lost in her own mind to hear Bella come up behind her.

"I, uh—" she stuttered, dropping the bud on the ground and putting it out. "Uh, sorry, it's disgusting, I know—" Colby said, meeting Bella's chocolate eyes.

"I'm not judging, just surprised, I guess. You don't really look like the smoking type," Bella said, walking closer to the Salvatore girl.

"Yeah, I know. My family told me that. Other than Jason, they all think I quit. I tried, but I gave in," Colby explained, putting the pack back in the small bag before finally looking at Bella, who nodded in understanding.

"I get it. That stuff is addictive. I'm not judging you," Bella said with a shy smile.

Colby smiled back. "Thank you." The two girls made their way back to Bella's truck as more students and staff showed up.

"You okay after yesterday with Edward?" Colby asked after a while.

"Yeah, I actually want to confront him about it," Bella said.

Colby nodded. "I don't blame you. I'm kinda curious about his behavior too," Colby admitted as she stood beside Bella. Colby saw Grace's truck pull up with the twins and Talia.

"A simple 'Hey Grace, I'm leaving early. Mind taking the twins and Talia?' would've been nice," Grace said, playfully pushing her sister once they got out of the now-parked truck.

"Hey Grace, I'm leaving early. Mind taking the twins and Talia?" Colby teased, earning a playful glare from the older Salvatore sister.

"Smart ass," Grace said with a chuckle as she, Talia, and the twins bid Colby and Bella goodbye and headed inside.

Colby sent Bella a smile before the two looked over and saw the Cullens showing up to school, all of them but Edward. "Maybe he's late?" Colby suggested.

Bella huffed and shrugged. The two started walking towards the school. "Colby!" A slightly familiar voice caught both girls' attention as well as some of the arriving students. Colby looked over and saw Emmett making his way to her, even after receiving slight protests from Rosalie.

"Oh hey, Emmett. Everything okay?" Colby asked, confused as to why he approached her even when Rosalie was trying to stop him.

"Uh, yeah. Just wanted to apologize for how I acted yesterday," Emmett said, rubbing the back of his neck with an apologetic smile.

"Oh, no need to apologize. It's all good. I mean, I didn't really expect you to be open and talkative to someone you only met once, especially since I ran into you," Colby said with a sweet smile. Emmett's booming laughter caught more attention, and Colby chuckled before looking back at Bella, who was standing behind her awkwardly.

"Uh, do you happen to know where Edward is?" Colby asked. Emmett looked back at his siblings, then at the two brunettes in front of him.

"He's out of town for a few days," Emmett said simply. Colby nodded, not believing him for a second.

"Oh, okay. Thanks. Uh, I'll see you around?" Colby asked.

Emmett smirked and nodded, watching her disappearing figure alongside Bella's as they entered the school. The Cullens and Hales went up the stairs opposite the door.

The day went by as normal, except Bella constantly looked around for Edward to pop up. Colby would just remind her he was out of town, maybe for family things. She honestly didn't know.

Colby was now making her way to her Anatomy class, her earbuds securely in her ears, blasting music to drown out the voices of the other students. Colby's current favorite song, "Since You Been Gone" by Kelly Clarkson, was playing on repeat. The brunette hummed along as she walked, too distracted to hear Tyler Crowley, a boy she met on her first day, the same boy her little sister was crushing on, come up behind her and wrap his arm around her shoulders.

Colby jumped, jabbing Tyler in the side, causing the boy to groan in pain and then chuckle. "Oh shit, I'm so sorry, Tyler!" Colby said, taking her earbuds out of her ears.

"Wow, you're pretty strong. I like it," Tyler said, smirking and placing his arm around her shoulder again with a playful laugh.

Colby shook her head, taking the boy's arm off of her. "What is it, Tyler?" Colby asked, standing outside her Anatomy class and making quick eye contact with Emmett.

"I know I'm asking a bit early and we also just met, but the dance is coming up in a couple of weeks, and I don't have a date and you don't have a date, so I was thinking—?" Tyler started.

"Uh—what makes you think I don't have a date already?" Colby asked, glancing at Emmett, who was already looking at her intensely, as if he was listening in on the conversation.

"I, uh—" Tyler started.

Colby chuckled. "I'll think about it," she said, walking away from a now smiling Tyler as she made her way to her seat beside Emmett.

"Hey Emmett, everything okay?" Colby asked, noticing Emmett was quieter than usual.

"Yeah, just tired," Emmett said simply as class began.

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Colby smiled at Bella as she pulled up to the Salvatore household. "Thanks for the ride, and sorry again about Jaxson," Colby said with a laugh, exiting the orange truck and looking at Bella through the rolled-down window.

"No problem, and it's fine, really. I'll see you tomorrow?" Bella asked with a smile.

Colby nodded. "Of course, Bella" Bella smiled and started to back out of the driveway of Colby's house, waving goodbye. Colby returned the gesture and walked into her house.

"Why do you always get the hot girls to befriend you?" Jax complained the second Colby closed the front door.

"Hi to you too," Colby said, rolling her eyes at her younger brother.

The rest of the night went as normal, well, as normal as it could be for the Salvatore witch family. The family ate, poked fun at each other, then descended to their rooms, some to sleep. But Colby always practiced a little magic before bed as part of her nightly routine. Colby laid out a short line of salt and held her hands up. "Phasmatus Ignitium Dos Ex Salvo, Phasmatis Ignitium Dos On Salvo, Phasmatis Ignitium Dos On Salvo." Colby whispered the incantation a few times as she concentrated. After saying it for the third time, the line of salt caught fire. Colby smiled; it was a simple newbie witch spell, but she loved it. With a content sigh, she closed her eyes again. "Suctus Incendia," Colby whispered, and the fire was extinguished.

Colby yawned and cleaned up the salt before changing into her pajamas and falling asleep.

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The next couple of days were the same as the first. Edward never showed up to school, and it seemed to visibly upset Bella as the two roamed the halls heading to the cafeteria. "You can't get too upset about this, Bella. It could be something serious going on," Colby said as they walked into the cafeteria. Colby saw Bella nod, but her eyes still found their way to the Cullen's lunch table, all of them there except Edward.

Once they sat down, Bella was mostly quiet, only really chiming in when Colby or Jessica said something. Once Jessica was preoccupied with her conversation with Angela, and Mike with Eric, Colby turned to Bella, following her line of vision and catching Emmett staring at her. A faint blush found its way to Colby's cheeks. The Salvatore girl looked away, mentally cursing herself for the strange feeling she had developed for the Cullen boy. "Bella, hey, maybe he'll show up in the next couple of days," Colby tried, catching the girl's attention.

"Yeah, you're right," Bella said with a timid smile.

"Always am," Colby teased, making Bella laugh.

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The day went by in a blink of an eye for Colby. She found herself staring at the ceiling of her bedroom, her mind constantly drifting back to Emmett Cullen. He was mysterious yet not at all. He seemed to always catch Colby's wandering eyes, and it confused her since he was the only one who could do that. She felt a strange pull towards the boy, and she didn't know if she liked it or not.

With that thought in Colby's mind, she knew only time could really tell.