Tales of Aradia The Last Witch Volume 3 by L.A. Jones

she could handle it all. Nevertheless,
she carried on by going to school, doing her schoolwork, and trying
not to fail. She continued hanging with her friends, maintaining
the club, and keeping the peace in the hidden community.
    However, her problems were
never far from her mind. One night Aradia was dining at a lounge
owned by Lamont's father. However, Lamont had insisted that he
would pay for everything so all Aradia had to do was show up for
the date looking good. Ironically, that had been a trial what with
Melina avoiding her and things between her and Rhonda still tense
after her outburst.
    In the end, Aradia had
succeeded by picking out a dark red halter dress, with a jagged
bottom that stopped diagonally at her knees and dripped down
towards her left ankle. She wore black boots, a gold rhinestone
decorated ring watch, and three wooden bracelets all painted with a
fancy gold design. Her hair was parted once again like a runway
models, and her face was made up with dark red lipstick, light pink
blush, and sparkly golden brown eye shadow.
    The two of them sat in the
back booth watching the dance floor, eating their dinner, and
talking. Lamont looked like a million dollars, wearing dark mirror
glasses, a light brown leather jacket, black leather pants, and
white shirt. From the moment he picked her up in his flashy black
sports car, Aradia had been having the time of her life. Aradia and
Lamont had danced to their favorite songs, and talked about
everything from politics in the hidden world to even the situation
with Melina.
    "You can hardly blame her
for being freaked you know?" Lamont pointed out, "I mean how would
you like it if you found out that the creatures you had been told
your entire life were make-believe turned out to be
real?"
    "It's not that I blame her,"
Aradia acknowledged, "It just pisses me off how weird she has been
acting around me lately. Always staring at me like I am about to
sprout two heads."
    Lamont laughed.
    "The worst part is," Aradia
continued, "She told Marietta the truth, but she didn't believe
her..."
    "Naturally," Lamont
muttered.
    "So now she thinks we have
turned her own sister against her! She has stopped going to classes
just as her grades were beginning to get better. She's smoking more
pot, and staying away from home a lot more," said Aradia sounding
depressed.
    To this, Lamont said
nothing.
    "The only plus side is she
hasn't been hanging with Bane's crew lately. But then again, she
has not been hanging with anyone anymore! She has completely
withdrawn from everyone because she doesn't who is human or
not."
    "But what's worse," Aradia
added wrapping up her complaints about Melina's behavior. "Roy is
completely heartbroken about this whole thing. He really did care
about Melina you know and now..."
    She trailed off, and heaved
a huge sigh.
    Lamont sighed as well, but
then turned Aradia's chin to face him.
    "Rai," he began, "You have
to give her time. She'll come to accept this and maybe Roy as
well."
    "But what if she doesn't?"
Aradia pressed.
    For the next few minutes or
so, the two of them said nothing.
    Suddenly, a human girl
showed up and threw her arms around Lamont's shoulders.
    "Hey," She greeted him.
"Long time no see!"
    Lamont turned to smile at
her. "Hey Francesca!"
    Aradia just watched in
silence.
    Suddenly, Francesca noticed
her, and asked, "Who is she?"
    Lamont laughed nervously.
"Oh? This is my...new friend Aradia."
    Aradia smile was brittle as
she held out her hand to shake Francesca's.
    Francesca, however, just
ignored her and her hand and said, "C'mon Lamont, let's go dance!
We haven't done so in such a long time."
    Lamont smiled, but then
turned to look apologetically at Aradia.
    "Rai," he started, "Do you
mind if..." He trailed off looking extremely nervous.
    Aradia shrugged her
shoulders. "Sure. Go ahead."
    Lamont than enthusiastically
shot up from his seat, grabbed Francesca's hand, and went towards
the dance floor.
    "Is that your girlfriend?"
Francesca whispered