Crossfires

Not so perfect

It was only a month away from my 21st Birthday. Everybody is depending on me to take the lead and rule out covenant. I don’t understand how this has to fall on my shoulders. I’m that awkward, introverted, embarrassing, and shy type of girl. How do they expect me to be the leader to over thousands of powered witches? I can’t even sing aloud in front of my friends. “Rayna, are you lost in thought again?” Said my best friend Jade. We’ve been friends since we were in diapers and she’s the only person I feel completely comfortable around. “Mmm, what? Oh, sorry Jade. I’m just thinking a lot more than usual lately.” “What’s on your mind? Let me guess, you’re freaking out once again about your birthday.” “Yes, of course I am! Everybody else gets to party and have a blast on their 21st birthday. But me? Ha! I have to do some weird witchy ritual thing which I know nothing about my magic considering it doesn’t exist until my birthday. Not only do I have to learn my magic but I have to become the covenant leader and I really wish this wasn’t apart of my heritage. This isn’t fair.” I let out a huge sigh and plop on my beautiful and comfortable bed. It feels like I’m on a cloud and right now I wish I could just go to bed and wake up and have all of this be a dream. “Rayna, I know this is hard on you but try not to think about it. Besides it can’t be all that bad, right?” “I don’t know. It feels like a nightmare to me. I just want to live a normal life and get a normal job and come home, watch new episodes of Riverdale and eat mint chocolate chip ice cream. How can I not worry about this right now?” I heard four knocks on my door. It was my younger sister Elena. If only she were born before me. She could be the leader and I wouldn’t have to worry about it. Elena is complete opposite of me. She’s beautiful, funny, smart, definitely sassy, but always has good intentions. Not to mention she’s a social butterfly that was on the cheerleading squad. Everybody loves her and wants to either be her or be her bestfriend. “What’s up, sis?” I ask. She comes in and gives me a smile and plops onto my bed next to me. Her beautiful long blonde hair that shimmers, her gorgeous ocean eyes, and her petite model body. I can’t lie, I’ve always been jealous of her. Me? I’m shorter, a little curvier, my eyes are hazel, and I have brown hair. “Rayna, do you want to go with me to pick out dresses for your upcoming party? I’m beyond excited for you and O-M-G! We got to make sure you look totally fabulous.” I try not to roll my eyes as my sister is literally grinning from ear to ear waiting eagerly for my answer. “Sure”. I say trying to sound excited. Even though my sister is miss popular, her feelings get hurt easily and the last thing I want to do is upset her. “Yay!!! Sissy bonding time.” She says and pulls me into the biggest hug possible. If felt like a rib popped from squeezing me so hard. “Elena, you’re crushing me.” “Oh! Sorry, sissy. O-M-G, Jade would you like to go with us too?” “I would but I actually have to get home and make dinner. It’s my turn tonight. Hope you guys have fun though. Rayna, I’ll text you later.” As she starts to leave she looks at me and mouths “good luck.” It’s not that we dislike Elena, it’s just shes so much different than us. Her intentions are good but we can’t exactly tell her no about certain things or

she’ll burst out into tears.” “Okay, let’s go sissy! This is going to be so much fun. Maybe we’ll finally find you a cute guy you can actually say hi to! Hehe.” Ugh, great. There goes my sister again. She’s always trying to play Cupid and find me a boyfriend. I have no interest in dating right now. The only thing I can think about is how the heck am I going to manage such a different life than this when my birthday comes around? “Look, Elena, I appreciate the thought but you know how I feel about dating right now. Besides, we can bond without swooning over every cute guy we see.” “Aw, you always suck the fun out of everything. Fine. We will just have sister bonding but if I see a cutie, I’m still looking.” She winks at me and starts to leave my room. “Meet me downstairs in five. I need to freshen up before we go.” When the door closes, I let out a huge sigh. I wish things could just be different for me. I change out of my pajamas to a tee shirt and shorts. I put on my pair of vans and brush my hair quickly. I grab my car keys and go downstairs.