Hex Factor - Andie M. Long Page 0,3

then I'd have liked my appearance there to have knocked him on his arse.

His really fucking fit, tight as a peach in my gentle hold, arse. Bastard.

He'd looked so good and I hated him for it. That dark spiked hair. His dark-brown eyes, like pools of chocolate sauce. You wanted them on you, like the syrup drizzled down your naked body. Come on, Stacey, stop this, I urged myself as we waited to sing for a second time. I was genuinely here for a chance to win the talent show and get my career on a high, but I'd be lying if I didn't admit revenge on Noah was a close… second. Yes, second… just.

Seven Sisters needed to win this whole competition. And although we were all witches, I wouldn't use a single spell to advance us to the final and to win. I wanted us to win on our talent alone. Then not only would my dreams come true, but it would show Noah 'fucktard' Granger that when he'd made his choice years ago, he'd made the wrong one.

His dark-brown eyes reminded me of how bitter I was still, all these years later. Like 100% cocoa solids.

I spoke to the rest of my band. "We have to get through this round. We have to win this show."

"You got it, sister! We're going to be the next Little Mix, but with seven of us!" Donna said with gusto. At five foot one she often jumped a little when she was excited.

We called each other sisters as we belonged to the same coven. When I'd been at my lowest, I'd found solace in spells and had found the local coven. They'd become my family and I loved them all as if they were my biological brood.

Though I smiled, it wasn't worn on my face for long. I'd never confessed the truth to my bandmates about the other reason I wanted to win. Mainly because at least one of them would find a way around the 'harm no others' rule and turn Noah into a literal toad, rather than the metaphorical one he was. So, it was my secret to keep for as long as I was able.

Until our paths drew back closer together as the competition progressed, when I'd find it hard to cover up my true feelings for the idiot.

I'd loved that boy. Not the man. The boy. Until he'd changed, and it had been a long time until I'd found out why.

Noah and I had dated in school for a year. He was in the year above me and I’d thought he hung the moon. I had no interest in the self-appointed Kings and Queens of our school and their simpering subjects. I’d recognised what a kind, loyal boy Noah was. We'd met when he joined the school choir.

Being in the choir was more time we could spend together. We made plans for our musical future beyond the choir, and as a duo. I'd fully intended to give him my virginity at sixteen.

But before any of that happened, he'd finished with me. The boy I loved had changed in front of my eyes. Grown in appearance and in confidence. Instead of being the school joke, he'd become popular.

I'd waited, hung on, in the hope he'd change his mind. Because the boy I'd loved wouldn't do that to me. He was too kind. He must have been having a breakdown. He'd come around if I held on.

But finally, partway through my final year, I’d seen him, in an alleyway near the local tattoo parlour, his head in the neck of an older woman with dark red hair. Her face was full of pleasure. I’d turned and run back the way I’d come, tears streaming down my face, as I realised that it was really all over, and Noah was never coming back. Was not going to say he'd made a mistake.

Stacey Williams clearly didn't fit in with his image anymore.

At sixteen I’d given my virginity to Jack Brooks instead, who’d been sniffing round me in forever. A large error in judgement. It's not every day you have to confess to a one-night-stand in front of your parents and two detectives when your one-off crap shag goes missing. He was never found.

It was a long time before I found out the truth about the woman with the long, dark-red hair. A drunken mistake a couple of years ago. I wouldn't let my thoughts go there now. I'd pushed the memories deep