Enchantment by Charlotte Abel Read Free Book Online Page A

little seeking spell to find her classroom. The spell was so weak all traces of it would be gone before lunch.  
    Channie tried smiling at a couple of girls on her way to class, but they were too busy talking to each other to notice her. She had a little better luck with the boys, but when they did notice her, it activated Chastity’s energy. She didn’t want to curse anyone so she avoided eye-contact and hugged the wall on her way to class.  
    The teacher was already seated behind her desk when Channie walked in. The woman looked to be about a hundred years old. Channie handed the enrollment packet to her, tossed the pass into the trash and took a seat near the back of the room just as the second bell rang. The teacher pursed her lips, pushed her half-moon granny glasses higher up the bridge of her nose and opened the attendance book.  
    Oh lordy, here it comes. Channie took a deep breath and stared at an ink stain on top of her desk, tracing it with a fingertip.  
    “Abrim, Joshua?” The teacher spit out each syllable as if the boy’s name left a bitter taste in her mouth.  
    “Yo.”  
    Channie glanced over her left shoulder and nearly fell out of her chair. Her eyes felt as if they were going to pop out of her head. Joshua Abrim was none other than the boy she’d kissed last night in the park.  
    He looked up and caught Channie staring at him. She whipped her head around so fast it shot a needle of pain down the side of her neck.  
    She didn’t need magic to know that Joshua was still staring at her. She read his energy field to find out how angry he was, but all she found was lust, anxiety and guilt. She was not surprised by the lust, he was a boy after all. She’d cursed him when they kissed so she understood his anxiety. But why on earth was he so full of guilt and remorse?
    The teacher cleared her throat and said, “I expect my students to respond to roll call with ‘present,’ but if any of you find the pronunciation of more than one syllable at a time beyond your capabilities, you may simply say, ‘here.’ This is an advanced placement English Literature course. Surely, you have a basic grasp of the language or you wouldn’t be in my classroom.”
    Channie was willing to bet her miserable life that this dried up old prune would insist on calling her by the name printed on her records every day for the rest of the year.
    Sure enough. The teacher looked right at her. The wrinkled corners of her mouth twitched as she stabbed Channie’s enrollment papers with the tip of her fountain pen. She sniffed twice, wrinkling her nose like a nervous rabbit. “Belks, Chastity?”
    The old biddy completely ignored the snorts, giggles and fake coughs that filled the room. She didn’t even flinch when some jackass shouted, “No way!”  
    Channie gritted her teeth. “Please, ma’am, just call me Channie.”
    “I’m sorry, Chastity, but I do not allow slang of any type in my classroom and that includes nicknames.”
    Humiliation and anger raised Chastity’s energy to dangerous levels. Channie focused all her attention on controlling her powers. If she let anything slip, there was no telling what might happen to the old crone. But once she calmed down to a safe level, she zinged her tormentor with a tiny little curse. She didn’t give Old Prune Face hemorrhoids. She just inflamed the ones she already had.  
    ~***~
    Channie’s day went downhill from there. She spent the entire first period trying to think of something she could say to Joshua, but all she came up with was… Sorry kissing me was such a horrible experience, but I needed a guinea pig to test out my new power-name.  
    She’d just decided to avoid him altogether when she found her locker.  
    Were the fates aligned against her? Had someone cursed her?   What were the odds that Joshua Abrim's locker would be right next to hers? At least he hadn’t spotted her yet.
    Channie took two steps back, then spun around and ducked into the