Chapter 2: The Three Witches

[JUSTIN]

There are three witches on my campus: Kimmy, Lisa and Candy. They are not literal witches, but the three of them could really bewitch anyone while they were strolling down the campus hallways, making even those who are busy stop for a moment to stare at them. Sexy, beautiful, with seductive eyes and classy clothes, making everyone wants to pay attention to them.

They all have long hair. Kimmy and Candy have blonde hair, while Lisa has red hair. The three of them often try to get my attention, for I am the most influential student at this University; I'm the chairman of the Department of Student Association, which people commonly call DSA, who is admired for many reasons, has the most luxurious cars and has the richest family. Amongst the other students, I seem to be the only one here who already has his own company. Women like these three witches like to approach men of influence, looks and money the most, like me.

I come to campus earlier today, and I see the three witches at the corner of the alley. I pretend not to see them, busy picking up the books in my locker, but out of the corner of my eye I see them coming towards me.

"Hey Justin," says Candy.

I close the locker and lean against it, looking at the three of them. "Have you three ever stopped being together everywhere?"

They glance at each other, then shake their heads coquettishly.

"Then you want me to date everyone?"

"So you want all of us?" Kimmy answers quickly with a laugh.

"Not really," I reply as I walk out of the locker, but they still follow me like minions.

"We just want us to eat together in the canteen this afternoon," Lisa concludes.

I stop in my tracks, and I look up confused.

I guess they don't need to raise prestige anymore, why do they still need to have lunch with me?

"What for?" I ask. I don't want to accept their invitation right away.

"So you can judge if we deserve to join the DSA or not," says Kimmy.

Ah... They want to join DSA too, apparently. So that they can have more chances to approach me?

"I'm busy at DSA..." I say, still pretending to be indifferent. There is a little cry in my heart to immediately agree to their request, but I don't want to appear easy.

Lisa suddenly grabs my arm, "It's okay, I'm busy, I'm with you.."

"And it's too late. I have to immediately find my successor to be the chairman of DSA, graduation will be soon, right?”

They look sullen. I know they won't be graduating anytime soon because they haven't even finished their thesis yet. But I will soon leave DSA and this campus.

"We are ready even only for the remaining two or three months, please.." Kimmy sulks.

"Hmm.. OK, later this afternoon," I reply. "I'll finish class at 1, you girls just wait in the canteen at that time."

We are in different classes, I don't know if they are empty at 1 o'clock. But empty or not empty, I'm sure they will clear that hour for me.

"OK, it's 1 o'clock," says Lisa as she lets go of my arm.

I am ready to walk away, but Kimmy stops me. "Wait! I just found this book on the street. It says Alexa, Modeling Architecture. You take Modeling Architecture too, right?"

I take the book from her hand. "Yes, I have a Modeling Architecture class too, but which Alexa is this? I don't know all of my classmates."

They laugh.

"Then she's probably an ugly, unattractive student," Candy says with a laugh. "If she's pretty, you'll know her name."

I agree with her. "OK, I'll look for her later in class. It's gonna be my first class today."

They all smile before leaving. Oh my gosh, they're just too pretty. If Jack were here, I'd be told to hook up with them all at once.

The clock still points to 7:40. I walk past the Modeling Architecture class, which is still quiet and a bit dark, and then walk down the hall to the next class, to Ramon's class. Ramon takes the Real Estate elective class.

"Hey Ramon!"

The class is already brightly lit and has a large population. Ramon comes over to me.

"You're shining, Justin. Eyy.. Just been teased by Kimmy, huh?" Ramon sometimes looks like a psychic.

"I was teased by the three of them! They wanted to join DSA. They asked me to have lunch together so I could see if they're compatible with DSA."

"What???"

Ramon is quite surprised, because he knows the three witches don't 't really fit into DSA. This organization is quite busy, because we often hold student activities such as seminars, art performances, and so on. We have to be willing to work overtime without getting paid. But under my leadership, this generation of DSA is luxurious and prestigious, so many students want to join.

"What do they want to join DSA for?" Ramon asks, shaking his head.

I shrug my shoulders. "Do you want to come with us for lunch this afternoon?"

"Are you crazy? Who doesn't want to eat with Candy?"

"But this is Candy with Lisa and Kimmy.."

"Yes, are you crazy? Who doesn't want to eat with Kimmy?"

The rhetorical question makes me chuckle. Will they be able to bewitch me to accept them right away?

"If you are dating Candy, I think you'll be like dating conjoined triplets," I say. I know Ramon likes Candy the most, but the three of them seem inseparable.

"You make me think dirty," says Ramon, punching me in the chest. "Never mind, I'll see you later this afternoon. It's 1 o'clock, right?"

"Yes!" I reply with a mischievous smile and walk away, back to my class.

The bell rings, and I am surprised to see that my class is full, even though it seemed empty only a minute ago. I enter the classroom, go to the lecturer's desk and tap the table with a marker several times.

"Alexa!" I shout in front of the class and then spell her name, "A-L-E-X-A!"

A girl in a sweater stumbles forward and approaches me. With big eyes, tall but tiny nose bones and lips that are no less tiny, her face is innocent without make-up; She is very badly dressed with long brown hair with braided bangs, looking like a country woman herding sheep.

"Yes?" she says.

"Are you Alexa?" Duh, stupid question, Justin.

"Justin, I've been in your class for almost a semester, and you don't know my name?" she replies in sarcasm.

I shrug my shoulders and replied, "Sorry.."

This is a class of 50 students and we change classes all the time, so it's not my fault I don't know a girl who looks like you.

I also don't know many other students in my class.. But Candy is right, this girl is really unattractive.

I hold out the book Kimmy had found. "I think it fell earlier, and Kimmy found it."

She takes the book rather rudely, "Geez, I didn't realize.."

You idiot, I curse in my heart. She is ugly, stupid, and rude. I immediately think of Kimmy, Lisa and the coquettish Candy, who love to show off their beautiful nails gently. Then I walk away and sit on my desk, ignoring Alexa who tries to say thank you.

Modeling Architecture has two sessions today, and time goes by so fast. At 1 o'clock sharp, while I'm walking towards the cafeteria, I see Kimmy, Lisa and Candy are already there with Ramon.

"Ramon, did you see Jack today?" I say to break the mood.

"No, I don't think he's in," replies Ramon. "I was just with Jared, but I don't know where he went."

"Ah, Jared.. I need to meet him too.. I want to talk about next week's event. Hm... I didn't see Ken either," I continue.

"Oh, Ken is in DSA's office," says Lisa.

So, why does she even notice who is in my DSA office? But I pretend not to be surprised. "Okay, let's have lunch. What do you want to order?"

I'm like a walking bank everywhere. I like to offer anyone who sat with me to eat and I will pay for them all.

"I just want tuna toast with vanilla ice," says Lisa, and the other two answer in unison, "Me too!"

Oh, great. Triple conjoined twins.

"I want a double burrito and an Americano," says Ramon.

I order at the canteen at the corner, which is actually more like a cafe than a canteen. I order myself a small pineapple pizza and an Americano.

Suddenly someone taps my shoulder from behind. "I want the same as you ordered, Justin."

"Jared! I almost scream. "I've been looking for you."

Great, three macho guys and three flirty girls having lunch together. I hope I won't make mistake today. I really didn't plan this.

We then sit together on the cleanest bench there, because the rest are still full of the rest of the previous customer's trash.

"DSA has a lot of working overtime," I say, and Jared nods.

"I used to be with DSA," Ramon interrupts. "But I dropped out in my sophomore year because I preferred to work on my PC at home."

"I only have one class session today, then I go straight to work in the office cutting stickers for next week's event. We're gonna have a seminar, right?" Jared says, looking at me.

"Ah yes, there will be a seminar next week, Monday afternoon, on the Student Project for the Department of Architecture."

"What should we do?" asks Kimmy excitedly.

"Nooo.. Wait," I answer quickly. "I don't even know what your motivation for joining DSA is for.. I can't accept you being a member while you fear of breaking your nails!"

"Oh, so nails can break at DSA?"

Damn, what kind of question is this? I hold back my laugh while looking at Ramon who is also holding back a laugh.

"Girls, so.. Here," Jared tries to explain. "You'll probably cut stickers until your hands hurt because there are hundreds of them, or type a lot of things, or wait for printing which sometimes has an error, sticking decorations on the stage while climbing a chair or table, or meeting for hours to determine assignments and make plans. "

Kimmy, Lisa and Candy are dumbfounded but trying to digest it all. They obviously seem to have a hard time doing all that, but somehow they look excited.

Jared has the position of vice chairman of DSA and he is a very efficient organizer, so he knows very well what to do in the office.

"You know what, actually I don't think you are suitable for DSA," I say honestly.

"But you're the chairman of DSA, Justin, even though you don't really fit in," says Candy.

She has a point too. Usually people like me are not the leaders of campus organizations. I'm not the type of leader, but I'm the type of person who likes power. I'm the bossy type of a king, and DSA is respected among lecturers for being considered the most important and prestigious organization on campus. So I really take advantage of my capacity to lead this organization.

"I like to lead, and I like to have influences. You will also have influence if you are in the DSA," I say.

"We already have a lot of influence, but we want to have more influence," says Kimmy.

Hmmm.. I start to smell their fishy goal.

"We want to be considered students who are useful and worthy of respect," Lisa continues.

Ahhh, I know now. They are not really smart students, and their grades must be bad, so I guess they want to be appreciated by the lecturers so that their thesis can run smoothly!

"You want your thesis to run smoothly and you all can pass quickly, right?" I ask with a smile.

Candy smiles shyly.

We are all in our 8th semester now, and we are focusing on thesis, although some of us are still taking elective classes.

"Yes, we want to be respected by our thesis supervisor, because you know that our grades are not good," Candy answers.

I don't know your grades, I thought to myself, but anyone can guess that you're not the type of smart student who would pass a thesis easily.

"OK, if that's the case... DSA wants to help, because we also like to help students who have difficulty with lessons," I conclude.

The eyes of the three witches immediately lite up, and they cheer themselves up. Ramon, Jared and I just look at each other, smiling.

All our orders come, and we start to eat together. Luckily, It turns out to be that easy. It's not a bad thing if they want to help at DSA. We will help them too.

"But.. " Jared raises his pointed finger and asks, "Is it okay for your parents if you have to come home late at night? Or come home early in the morning? Because sometimes we're so busy that we spend the night at..."

"WHAT? So we can stay overnight with you guys too at DSA?" Kimmy's scream cuts off Jared's words.

I choke.