————————————————————————————-
Chapter 2: The Power
————————————————————————————-
I threw open the door of the attic in Ms. Hallewell’s shop. Storming to the back of the room, I found the lamp, and without hesitation rubbed my hand on it. I needed to speak with X.

Within less than a minute, the blue cloud had formed, and the light illuminated. “Why, hello there, Mikey boy.” X said, his English accent still a surprise.

“What the hell?” I said, feeling the anger build in me.

“Excuse me?” The cloud said. If it had had a head, it would have spun it on me.

“Why the hell would you grant me that wish?” I shouted, crossing my arms.

X scoffed. “Excuse me? You bloody TOLD me to!”

“No, I didn’t! I was just speaking out loud, you know?!” I said, putting my face in my palms.

X scoffed again. “You know, you can always wish to take back your second wish. That’d your third and last wish, and I’d be out of your hair forever!” X said, drifting around the room.

I thought for a second. I should totally just take this wish away, so that I don’t do anything I’d regret. I was about to speak, when I stopped myself. What if I did want to use this power? I didn’t know for what, but it could help. What if someone like Bella was going to get hurt? I could stop it before it happened.

I slowly shook my head. “No… no… I think I’m going to keep it…” I said, still actually contemplating my decision.

X laughed mockingly. “Really? Now you want to keep it? What’s wrong with you, mate?”

I scoffed. “Nothing, nothing… sorry.”

X sighed. “That’s alright, friend. Those feelings for that little girlfriend of yours are making you antsy.” He chuckled.

I shrugged. “I think I’m going to hold onto that wish.” I said, crossing my arms.

“That would be your best bet.” X said, floating towards his lamp. “Now, if we’re done here…”

I nodded. “Yeah, go for it… thanks, X.” I said, feeling strange.

X grunted, and slipped slowly back into his lamp. I opened the door to the attic and walked away, down the stairs, ready to get to work.
————————————————————————————-
“Bella!” I shouted, exceptionally happy to see her today. The day before, she’d been sick, and I had hit a hard case of sadness thinking about my dad.

She saw me and smiled. “Hi Mike!” She said, yelping when I hugged her. “Oh, geez! Mike, I’m still sick…” She sniffled, rubbing her nose.

“I don’t mind.” I said, actually not caring. I wouldn’t mind a sick day.

She chuckled nervously, sounding stuffed up. “Alright, Mikey, if you say so.” She shrugged.

I saw several people send looks of jealousy over, but I didn’t care anymore. I was about to ask how she was feeling when I saw some movement in the corner of my eye. My frown immediately told Bella who it was.

“Oh, fuck… Derek, huh?” She whispered, turning. Bella almost never swore, which proved how bad he was.

Derek was a cunt. Sorry, he was. He was the stereotypical bully, and everyone hated him. Even his cronies, I was pretty sure. But if you were going to hate him, you may as well just pretend you liked him. It was a little easier for you if you did.

Derek was known throughout the school to like Bella. “Like,” of course, obviously stands for “want to fuck.” Bella obviously didn’t care for him; who could blame her.

“Mikey, please don’t say anything…” She whispered, pleading with her puppy dog eyes. She wasn’t trying to use puppy dog eyes, though. She just had them.

I sighed. I always used to ask Bella if she wanted me to stand up for her to Derek. She always denied me, which I was always glad about. I just wanted her to know that I would do it for her, if she needed me to. Even if I was terrified. One time, however, I did stand up. He was starting to show signs of getting handsy with her and I got really defensive. Derek immediately got handsy with me. My face, specifically. Black eye.

Bella adored me for like a month, though. So it was worth it.

Derek never got in trouble, either. Everyone was almost certain that he was part of a gang of some kind. Don’t want to fuck with that.

“Hey, hey, hey, Izzy!” Derek said, walking up to us.

Bella sighed. ” I told you, Derek, I prefer Bella…”

Derek scoffed. “Yeah, okay, Izzy. So Mikey, buddy, do you mind heading off so Iz and I can have some alone time?”

I flinched a little, and glanced at Bella, who was slowly shaking her head, but I couldn’t leave her with him. “No, actually, I think I’m fine here, thanks.”

Derek raised his eyebrows and turned to his minions. When he started to fake a laugh, they joined him. He turned back to me. “Oh, Mikey, Mikey. See, I know what it sounded like, but that was not a question.”

I crossed my arms. “Technically, it was a question.”

“Technically, I don’t give two shits.” Derek said immediately. “Now fuck off, bro.” He said, turning back to Bella.

I didn’t move, a confidence flowing through me. “No.”

Bella and Derek both looked at me. “You’ve got some fight in you.” Derek said, now in my face. “… I like that. You’re lucky, kid.” He shoved my chest, making me fall on my ass. He laughed and walked off. Bella almost immediately ran over to me and kneeled down. Derek laughed. “Hey, Izzy, come find me when you want a real man.” He laughed, his minions following.

“Yeah, fuck off.” Bella muttered, helping me up. I brushed myself off, and picked up my backpack. When I looked back to Bella, she was staring at me, regret in her eyes. “You didn’t have to do that, Mike…”

“No, it’s fine, really. You’ve helped me so much, it’s least I can do.” I said, putting my hand under the strap of my backpack.

Bella smiled now, and I felt fury go through my body. Seeing her again, in this innocent state, reminded me of how horrible Derek was. I couldn’t… could I?

No.

Yes.

*SNAPSNAPSNAP*

I stared at Bella’s face, frozen in the smile. I had to pull my head away, and glanced behind her. Standing by the doorway was Derek, about to enter the school. I frowned in anger, and felt myself be carried over to him. In seconds I was in front of him. I stared him in his ugly face, looking for any sign of sympathy or regret or kindness. There wasn’t.

I narrowed my eyes. Looking down at my hand, I clenched my fist. Realizing the damage I could cause, I slowly unclenched my hand. I lifted my hand up, slowly. Was I really going to hit him?

*SMACK*

I guess I was.

As my hand made contact, Derek’s head shifted to the left about a half an inch. For the hell of it, I smacked the other side, almost as hard, so his head was in its original position.

After the second smack, I thought for a second. How does this work? Will he feel both smacks immediately when I unpause time? Or would he feel one, and then the other right after?

I realized that I didn’t care.

Returning to Bella, I positioned myself in front of her, getting ready to turn time back on. As I sat looked back up, and saw Bella smiling again, my anger was gone. I sighed, and put my fingers together.

*SNAPSNAPSNAP*

Bella finished smiling, as a shout was heard behind her.

“FUCK!” Derek shouted, falling to the ground. He was holding both sides of his face. It appeared as though the smacks did take effect immediately. Good to know.

Bella spun around. “What the hell?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know, Bella.” I said, playing it off perfectly.

“WHO THE FUCK HIT ME?!” Derek shouted, standing up and spinning widely in circles.

“Uh… uh… no one did, Derek…” One of Derek’s cronies said. He seemed terrified, and rightfully so.

Derek spun on him. “Fuck you!” He shouted, storming off into the school. Everyone in the schoolyard were giggling to themselves and gossiping.

Bella turned back to me. “Wow, that was weird.”

I nodded, scratching my head. “Yeah…”

Bella smiled sympathetically. “Really, though, Mikey. You have to stop standing up for me. I can defend myself. I don’t want you getting hurt again.”

I quickly shook my head. “It’s okay, Bella, really. I’d do it ten more times knowing that I could hurt Derek’s ego again.”

Bella smiled and hugged me. “Thanks, Mikey. But stop, seriously.” She laughed, and motioned to walk to the school. I watched her walk away before following her, smiling.
————————————————————————————-
It was first period now. Kyle had my homework, of course, so I was bored, sitting in my desk, waiting for class to start. Looking around, I looked at the various math posters my teacher had, and my eyes made it to the window. Naturally, my eyes drifted to the person sitting next to the window; Nichole.

I sighed. Drifting my eyes downwards, I saw her cute long toes again. I felt blood rush to my penis, an erection quickly forming. I started to chew on my lip. I couldn’t do this.

Apparently, I’d snapped my fingers. Kyle had stopped writing, everyone had stopped talking. I looked back at Nichole’s feet. Before I could stop myself I was walking over to her, my hand rubbing my crotch. I couldn’t believe I was doing this.

I kneeled down on the ground in front of Nichole. I stared at her flip flops for a few seconds. It took me a few seconds of reassurance, but I finally moved my hand to her shoe. As I slid her shoe up her foot, my fingers brushed against the sides of her soles. My cock was aching to be released from my pants. I couldn’t believe this was finally happening.

I grabbed behind Nichole’s foot, by the ankle, and lifted it up. Her sole was right in front of my face now. A faint smell was drifting up to my nose, but luckily it wasn’t that bad. I was a fan of clean feet, not dirty, smelly feet. Those are as gross to me as they are to most of you. I couldn’t take it any longer; I’d waited so long to do this. I stuck out my tongue and placed it on her heel. I pulled her foot down, dragging my tongue up the curve of her arch and to her toes. I didn’t hold back. I shoved her toes and my mouth and sucked on them. The natural taste of feet spread through my mouth, and I felt like I was in heaven.

I slipped her other shoe off and did the same to that foot. Once her feet were covered in my saliva, I couldn’t control myself. I unzipped my pants, starting to feel nervous. I felt like I had to do this. I pulled my cock out of my pants, and placed it between her feet. Pushing them together as much as I could, I thrusted between her soles, feeling her rough foot skin milk my cock.

I’m ashamed to admit I came within seconds. It felt amazing, though. My semen shot out of my cock, hitting the wall behind Nichole’s feet. When my orgasm passed, I sat back, sighing. “Holy fuck.” I muttered to myself. I stood up, pushing my cock back in my pants. I felt a little strange for what I’d done, but it was already done. As I was about to walk away, I remember that I’d forgotten to put Nichole’s shoes back on. I placed each shoe carefully on her feet, and returned to my seat.

I breathed for a minute, calming down, and snapped my fingers.

*SNAPSNAPSNAP*

I heard Kyle’s pencil etching on his paper, but it was almost immediately cut out by Nichole’s gasp.

“What’s wrong, Nichole?” A guy behind her said.

“I… I don’t know! My feet feel wet!” She said, slipping off her flip flops and sticking her foot on her lap, feeling her sole. I’d forgotten to clean her feet off. Not to mention the wall.

I looked away, sighing. If I was going to do this, I had to be more careful.
————————————————————————————-
“Hey, Mikey!” I heard a familiar voice say behind me.

My mind shot back to reality. I turned around. “Hey, Bella.”

It was second period now; chemistry. Today was a boring day, as we were just watching a video about how to balance chemical equations.

I stared at the screen, up close next to Bella. I felt comforted with her next to me. I slowly turned my head over, and looked at her out of the corner of my eyes.

I really did like Bella. She was adorable. She had a cute little nose, and she was beautiful, especially without any makeup. The only thing she ever wore was black eyeliner, which made her blue eyes pop. It drove me crazy.

*SNAPSNAPSNAP*

What was I doing? The video stopped playing. Everyone stopped their quiet chatting. I looked down at Bella’s lap. She was wearing a skirt again today, so I could see her knees under the brim of it. I felt my arm slowly drift down to her legs.

I stopped. I couldn’t do this. I’d never forgive myself.

My body didn’t listen to my brain. My palm laid itself on Bella’s knee. I slowly slid my hand up her thigh. It was such a slow process, I thought it’d never end. I felt a sharp chill run through my body when I hit a soft piece of fabric. It had to be her panties.

This was the closest thing to touching a girl sexually that I’d ever experience. Minus Nichole, of course. I lightly brushed my index finger over the front of her panties a few times. I squeezed my eyes shut, and pushed a little harder on her panties. I was completely aware my index finger was between her pussy lips now. I slid my finger up and down her vagina again, my finger feeling every groove through her panties. Just one look couldn’t hurt…

I shot my hand up. My face was in my hands in less than a second.

I sat there for close to five minutes. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to cry or not. I felt guilty and evil. I couldn’t have done that to her…

I suddenly didn’t want to unpause time. What would Bella do? She’d definitely react. I was terrified of what I’d witness. Her doing anything would fuel my lust.

Was… was this rape? No. No, it wasn’t. It easily could have been, though.

I sniffled, and sighed. I had to unpause time at some point, so it may as well be now.

*SNAPSNAPSNAP*

Bella let out a quiet gasp, that was actually more of a moan than anything. I saw her thighs squeeze together, and her feet swung outwards, pushing against the ground. Still looking at her face from the corner of my eye, I saw her head roll back slightly. She subtly bit her lip and her eyes closed for a second.

I was in shock. And in lust.

“Hey, Bella… you okay?” I lied.

She opened her eyes and looked at me. “Oh, uh, yeah, I’m okay. Thanks.” She smiled, embarrassed. It was dark, so it was hard to tell, but I was pretty sure she was blushing.

I avoided eye contact with her for the rest of the period. My shame was as hard to hide as the erection in my pants was.
————————————————————————————-
It was lunch now, and I was sitting on the bench of my groups table. Alex and Kyle were chatting, Alex to my right and Kyle across from him. To Kyle’s right, across from me, was Aaron, and next to him was Tyler. The spot to my left was empty, reserved for you know who.

I turned to Alex. “So, Alex. It’s almost Thanksgiving, and after that, it’s just the short stretch until Christmas break!”

Alex nodded. “Yeah, right? Can’t wait for a break from this hell.”

I felt a body set down next to me. I turned to see Bella, who was smiling. “What are you guys talking about?”

I refused still to stare her in the eyes. If I didn’t think about it, maybe I’d forget that everything that happened had happened.

“Oh, we were just talking about Christmas.” I said.

“Oh, cool. I can’t wait for it!” She said, adjusting her skirt. “It’s my favorite season of the year.

“Same here.” I said, opening my lunch box. I took out my sandwich, and took a bite, not thinking about where that finger had been.

Bella sighed. “I’m just glad it’s Friday.” She said, taking a bite of her own sandwich.

I’d completely forgotten it was Friday. In a happy state, without thinking, I said. “Do you want to come over tonight?”

Bella stopped chewing, and looked at me, as if startled. “Oh, yeah, cool! I’d love to!”

The request wasn’t out of the ordinary, as she’d been over to my house a hundred times. It was just that the request was awkwardly random.

“Alright, awesome.” I said, returning to my sandwich.

What had I gotten myself into?
————————————————————————————-
I sat down on my couch at home. Work had been a breeze today. Only a few easy jobs. I didn’t talk to X though, as I didn’t really have a point in doing so. I had no idea what my third wish would be.

I was waiting for Bella to get here anxiously. I was anxious because I was excited to see her, but also anxious because I didn’t want to see her. It was weird.

When I’d returned home that afternoon, I’d told my mother Bella was coming over.

“Oooh, yay! I like that girl.” My mom had said, obviously happy. “You should really ask her out!”

“Mom!” I’d said, embarrassed. She would always say that, occasionally even when Bella was here. I hated it.

But I agreed with her, too.

I heard the doorbell ring. I leapt up, and walked quickly to the door. I’d rather her see me first than my mother or, God forbid, Lauren.

I opened the door and was greeted by Bella’s pleasant face. She had a backpack on, and was smiling as usual.

“Hey, Mikey!” She said, stepping inside. She immediately kicked her sneakers off. A pair of fresh, clean white socks were gripping to Bella’s amazing feet, showing off the curve of her arches. I looked away, aware I was about to get a boner. She was wearing a white shirt that had long black sleeves… it was too difficult to explain (You could always look up “white shirt with black sleeves”… ;D). It fit very well, and showed off certain… “bumps” on her body.

She was also wearing skinny jeans, as it was getting quite chilly out now. She looked cute, to say the least.

My mom was suddenly behind me. “Oh my god, Bella!” She shouted, sounding like she just saw Justin Timberlake. “How do you keep getting more beautiful every time I see you?!”

Bella was giggling and shooting glances at me, as she was completely used to all of this now. My mom did it every time she came over. “Thanks, Mrs. Thompson.” Bella said, grinning her perfect smile.

My mom raised her eyebrow at me before walking away. I sighed. “Sorry about her, again, Bella.”

She laughed. “That’s okay, it’s cute.”

I heard footsteps behind me. I turned to see Lauren walking down the stairs.

“Oh, hey, Bella.” Lauren said, quickly glancing up from her cell phone.

“Hey, Lauren.” Bella said, without a response from Lauren.

We shared a glanced and laughed, before heading upstairs.

Bella was the only girl in my life to ever be in my bedroom, who wasn’t family of course. She threw down her stuff and pulled up a chair, like she owned the place. I didn’t mind though.

I sat on my bed, and looked in Bella’s general direction. “What do you want to do?”

Sighed shrugged. “I brought some stuff.” She unzipped her backpack. She pulled out a spare Xbox controller, in case we played something. She brought a card game, too, as well as her Nintendo DS. She began pulling out something else, and it occurred to me it was a pair of panties.

She looked up from her bag, smiling when she saw my face. “In case I ended up sleeping over.” She said, pulling out a shirt and pants to go with the underwear.

I nodded, feeling stung that she was fine with me seeing her underwear. As she pulled out a bra to clear space in her bag, I felt like I was slipping deeper into the Friend Zone.

She sighed. “That’s about it.” She said, slipping everything back into her bag. “Did you want to play something?” She said, holding up the controller.

I nodded. “Yeah, yeah, sure.”
————————————————————————————-
Bella wasn’t really a fan of the shooter games, like Call of Duty or Battlefield, but luckily she enjoyed Halo, so we could remain friends.

As we were playing through a multiplayer match in Halo 4, we heard a call from downstairs. Dinner time.

Bella was laying on my bed now, on her stomach, her legs bent with her feet in the air. She threw a glance at me. “Yay! I’m starving.”

We headed down the steps, and into my dining room. The table was set, and my mom was setting out our pre-made plates of food. She liked to do that.

“Hey, kids.” She said, quickly looking over her shoulder. Ever since my dad had passed, she had tried to be the best mother she could be, and she was doing a very good job.

“Hi.” Bella said, taking a seat at the chair next to mine. “Do you mind if I slept over tonight?”

My mom shook her head. “No, no, of course not! You’re welcome to stay here any time you’d like.”

Bella smiled. “Thanks, Mrs. Thompson.”

Just then, Lauren entered the room, still staring at her phone. She sat down in the seat across from Bella.

Tonight my mother had made chicken and potatoes. They were delicious.

“This is really good, Mrs. Thompson!” Bella said, after swallowing a mouthful.

“Well, thank you, honey.” My mom said, cutting into her chicken.

We ate in silence for a few more moments. When my mother glanced at me. I returned the glance, but she had moved her attention back to Bella.

“So Bella… Any boys in your life.” My mom said, raising an eyebrow.

Bella was obviously taken off guard. “Oh, uh… I mean…”

*SNAPSNAPSNAP*

I’d snapped my fingers under the table, hoping nobody would hear me. Bella’s mouth was frozen open, mid sentence. My mom’s eyebrow was frozen in place as well. Lauren was in the middle of looking up from her phone.

I sighed, putting my head in my hands. Damnit, Mom. Why would you ask that?

I looked around. How could I stop this conversation?

A idea crossed my mind. Standing up from the table, I walked to the kitchen and looked through the cabinets. I found a glass plate that nobody ever used. Taking the plate, I positioned it in the air, above the ground, and out of view from the dining room. Assured that that would work, I returned to the table. I sat down and snapped my fingers.

*SNAPSNAPSNAP*

As Bella stuttered for another second, a crash sounded from the kitchen. Bella stopped talking.

“Oh, wow, what was that?” My mom said, standing up and heading for the kitchen.

“Oh, let me help.” Bella said, following my mom into the kitchen.

I watched them disappear from view into the kitchen. As I slowly turned my head back around, I realized Lauren was smirking at me.

I scoffed. “What?”

She continued to smirk. “How’d you get that?”

I squinted my eyes, confused. “How did I get what?”

Lauren laughed. “Really, Mike? Her.” She said, putting to the kitchen with her knife.

I felt nervous now. “What do you mean…?”

Lauren laughed degradingly again. “Come on, Mike. You can’t be serious. She obviously likes you.”

I frowned. “Lauren-“

She shook her head. “I’m telling you, she definitely does.”

I shook my head now. “No, we’re just friends, Lauren.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Really, now?” She smirked. “Sure. If you don’t want that, you have to be gay. She’s nice, smart, and funny, from what I can see. And she’s cute.” She added, flicking her eyebrows.

Before I could answer, my mom and Bella walked back into the dining room. My mom was shaking her head.

“That’s so bizarre. A plate fell from the cupboard and broke all over the floor!” She said, taking her seat at the table.

As Bella sat down next to me, I was relieved that the conversation from before had been forgotten, at least.
————————————————————————————-
It was late at night now, and my mom and Lauren had gone to sleep. Bella and I were playing Xbox still when she yawned, and covered her mouth. “Wow, I’m tired. I think I’m going to go to sleep, Mike.” She said, hopping off of the bed. I’d offered her my bed, but she had made sure she got the floor. I felt bad, but she wasn’t budging. She laid out across the couch cushions that we’d laid out for her. She was still wearing her long sleeve shirt, but now she was wearing pajama bottoms.

Before she threw her sheet over her, she had one more unknowing tease for me; she reached down to her foot and stuck her thumb in the ankle of the sock. She pulled down the sock, revealing her smooth foot. After doing the same for her other foot, she threw the covers over herself.

“Night, Mikey.” She whispered. “Don’t stay up too late.”

I laughed, all too aware of my erection. “Don’t worry, I won’t.”

I sat on my bed, the Xbox now off, listening to Bella’s breathing. At some point it had become obvious that she was asleep.

Would it hurt if I paused time and just…

Just for a little while. It couldn’t be too bad…

I mean, I liked Bella, a lot. I just wanted to know how they tasted.

Just a little taste.

*snapsnapsnap*

I snapped very quietly this time, as to not wake Bella up. It was hard to tell that time was paused, but once I knew it was, it seemed obvious. There were no sounds coming from Bella, and her chest wasn’t rising anymore.

I slipped out from under my covers, the sheet staying in place when I let go of them. I laid down on the floor, at the foot of Bella’s makeshift bed. I grabbed the sheet near her feet and lifted slowly. Before long, her soles were completely visible.

Bella was a fit girl. She played soccer, so she was very in shape. She wasn’t muscular or ripped or anything. She was just in shape. Thin, in a good, healthy way. Not thin like an anorexic twig.

Because of this, she didn’t have fat feet. I hated fat feet, no offense to those with fat feet. Bella’s feet were perfect, for me at least. The toes were long and skinny, which were the sexiest kind. She currently had no polish on them, and that was fine. She didn’t need any.

I looked at the bottoms of those toes, just asking to be in my mouth. I exhaled, realizing I was holding my breath. I couldn’t get carried away. I only wanted a little taste, that was all.

I closed my eyes and leaned forward, my mouth open. Bella’s toes entered my mouth, and I closed it. My tongue felt up her toes, savoring the taste. Luckily, she had showered before she came here, and put on clean socks, as her feet tasted clean. I licked up her soles and savored the flavor. I’m not going to lie; I’d masturbated while imagining I was doing this.

I suddenly realized my cock was out and in my hand. I was sucking on Bella’s toes as I stroked my cock. It was the most amazing thing I’d ever felt.

Sorry, Nichole.

I knew I’d told myself I would stop, but I couldn’t. I lifted her legs up, and got on my knees. I had to feel these on my penis. I slowly drifted towards her feet, the head of my cock finally making contact. I pushed slowly in between her soles, feeling her soft foot skin rub against my cock. Bella really kept her feet clean.

I thrust faster and faster, and before I knew it, I was cumming. I came the most I’d ever cum in my life, all over her feet. I watched as my cum dripped slowly down her frozen feet. I was in pure lust.

I couldn’t let this moment pass. I took my phone out and took a picture of her feet. Something about those feet being covered in cum was making me hard again already.

Before I started feeling guilty, I grabbed a towel from the bathroom and washed Bella’s feet off. I spent a good ten minutes cleaning, getting between every toe and getting all the cum off. I sighed, and sat back, proud of my work.

After throwing the towel in our hamper, I fixed Bella’s blanket and hopped into bed. I snapped my fingers and everything that had been moving or making sounds resumed doing so. Bella remained asleep, which meant I’d done my job correctly. Before going to sleep, I looked at my phone, staring at the picture of Bella’s feet.

I closed my eyes and put my phone away before I started feeling guilty.

I didn’t sleep for most of the night.
————————————————————————————-
The next morning, I woke up to Bella pushing me.

“C’mon Mike, wake up!” She said, with her puppy dog eyes.

I yawned. “What’s wrong?”

She laughed. “Matt, it’s almost noon!”

I sat up and stretched. “Sorry, Bella. I… I didn’t sleep much last night…”

She sighed. “I told you not to stay up too late!”

I laughed. “Yeah… yeah, sorry.” I said, lying.

She smiled. “That’s okay, Mikey. I’m just joking.”

Bella smelled nice, as if she just recently showered. It occurred to me that she smelled like vanilla, which is an amazing scent for perfume, in my opinion.

I yawned again. “So… do you want to play Xbox or something?”

She shook her head. “No, no… I was just lonely and wanted someone to talk to.” She laughed. “Besides, I was about to paint my nails!”

I raised an eyebrow. “Fingernails?”

She laughed. “Yeah. And toenails. Why?”

I shrugged. “No reason… just curious…”

She laughed again. “Alrighty then!”

Bella reached into her bag and pulled out black nail polish.

Thank you, God, for blessing me with black nail polish. That color would look so sexy on her pale skin. I couldn’t wait to see it.

“Mike?” Bella said expectantly.

I blinked and looked to her. “What?”

She laughed. “I said, is it okay if I did it here?”

I quickly nodded. “Yeah, sure.”

She smiled. “Okay, thanks!” Bella said, putting her feet up, her toes gripping the edge of my bed, right near my hand. “Don’t worry, I won’t get the polish on your sheets.”

I was mesmerized again by those toes. “Uh, yeah, okay.” I said.

She smiled at me and went to painting her nails. She started on her big toe, lathering the black paint on the nail. She worked her way down, to the pinky toe, and moved on to her other foot. When the last pinky toe was blackened, she started to air out her toes with her hand.

They looked delicious with the black contrast.

“Done!” She said, wiggling her toes. “How do they look?”

I nodded, not knowing what to say. “They look… good.”

She smiled. “Alright, cool!” She lifted her feet up, so that her heels were on the bed now. I saw her cute pink soles as she checked out her toes. “Yeah, they do look good.”

I looked away, ashamed suddenly of the night before. How could I have done that to her?

She sighed. “I know it’s almost winter and all, but I like my toes to be colored, even when it isn’t summer.”

I shrugged. “Hey, I’m not judging.”

She smiled. “I know you aren’t.” She stood up and stepped around the room. “Yep, they seem to be dry.”

I turned on my TV as Bella went on to paint her fingernails.

I played Grand Theft Auto 5 until she decided she was ready to continue playing Halo 4.

As we played, Bella turned and looked at me. The sudden movement caused me to turn to her. “What’s up?”

“You should come over to my house today.” She said, putting her chin on her fist. We were laying out on the bed again, so I saw her pretty pink soles over my shoulder.

I forced myself not to look. “Uh, why?”

She shrugged. “I have to go home today, but it’s only Saturday. I’d be bored all day tomorrow. Not to mention all night.” She winked.

That last part made me hard. She didn’t mean for it to, obviously. It just did. The sexual innuendo…

I shrugged. “Yeah, why not?”

I had only slept over at Bella’s house once or twice, as she preferred it here much more. She had a nice family, though, so I didn’t mind going over.

She smiled. “Yay!” She shouted, throwing her arms around my neck. The smell of her vanilla scented hair entered my nostrils again.

How exactly did I get this girl as my friend?
————————————————————————————-
After talking to my parents, and hers, I was on my way to Bella’s house. I was going to stay the night there, and leave the next day.

My mom drove off after Bella and I stepped out of the car. Waving goodbye, we walked up to her front door.

“I’m glad you came, Mikey.” Bella said one more time.

I nodded. “Of course, I wasn’t doing anything at home anyways.”

She smiled as her mother opened the door.

“Hello, Michael!” Bella’s mom said as she opened the door. I stepped inside, saying hello, as she kissed Bella on the forehead.

I waved to Bella’s sister, Allison, who was sitting on the couch. Ally was a year younger than Bella, and had blonde hair. She shared her sisters blue eyes, though.

“Hey Mike!” Ally said, waving back.

I looked around the house. It was very clean, which was a relief. I couldn’t stand living in a dirty house, so contrary to what you may think of me, I actually cleaned the house a lot.

“C’mon, Mike. Let’s go up to my room.” Bella said, signaling to go upstairs.

I felt a little awkward being invited into a girls bedroom in front of her mother. I decided not to worry about it, as her mom didn’t really react.

I followed Bella up her stairs, avoiding looking at her ass in her jeans.

Bella opened up her bedroom door, throwing her backpack to the side. “Make yourself at home!”

I looked around. Bella’s walls were red, which I thought actually fit the room nicely. Luckily, I’d brought my Xbox controller, so we could keep playing on her console.

And that’s what we did. For the next few hours or so, Bella and I continued playing Halo 4 from the mission we’d left off on.

The whole time, I had avoided staring at Bella’s now bare feet, as every time I did, memories of that last night flooded back to me.
————————————————————————————-
Before long, we were eating dinner. It was apparently pizza night, so Bella’s mom ordered takeout from the local pizza place. She had ordered 2 large pepperoni pizzas, and an order of wings. They were apparently honey garlic flavored. I’d never heard of the flavor, but they were delicious.

With full stomachs, Bella and I returned to her room to camp out for the night.

I sat down on Bella’s floor as she closed the door behind her. She started to move, when out of nowhere, she stopped. “Aw, shit. I still have to get dressed…” She paused, and looked over at me. “Hey, Mike… can you just look at that wall for a minute…?” She said, locking the door.

I felt a shock go through me. Was she getting dressed while I was in the room? I’m much further in the Friend Zone than I thought.

“Uh… sure, yeah.” I said, spinning to face the corner.

Bella thanked me. “Don’t peek!” She added, giggling.

As much as I wanted to, I didn’t look.

“So how was your day so far?” She said. I heard the sound of her dresser opening.

“Pretty good, I guess…” I said, interlocking my fingers repeatedly.

“That’s good.” She said. I heard a zipper, and the sound of pants hitting the floor. “Those wings were good, huh?”

I nodded. “Yeah, they were.”

Bella cleared her throat, and I heard what sounded like a shirt hitting the floor. “Okay, really, don’t look!”

I looked down at my fingers.

No, no.

I put my thumb on my index finger.

I can’t do this. This is too far.

*SNAPSNAPSNAP*

I sat there in silence for a few seconds. I was breathing heavily, in a bit of a panic. I had to resume time. No matter how many times I thought that, I couldn’t get myself to snap again.

It… it couldn’t hurt, right? I’d seen her in a bikini before, during the summer. Underwear and a bra wasn’t any different. Not really, at least.

I sighed. It was obvious I wasn’t going to unpause time without looking first. I slowly turned my head and gasped.

I glanced up Bella’s silky legs, until I reached her panties. They were black, and were pretty small. I couldn’t see anything important, but it was still small.

I looked at her flat belly, and decided I couldn’t wait for summer again, so I could see that everyday. My eyes went further up. Her bra was black, too. Bella’s hands were behind her back, in an awkward angle. I felt shocked. If I had waited even another second, I’d have seen Bella’s bare chest.

I was relieved and pissed at the same time.

I almost pissed myself as I kept looking. As Bella had been undressing, she’d been staring at me. I don’t know why, but her eyes were now looking into my eyes. They had been staring into the back of my head, though. I was sure it was so she could make sure I wasn’t peaking.

I couldn’t look at her anymore. I took a mental image for “reference” and, spinning back around, unfroze time.

I heard the bra hit the ground a few seconds later. I soon heard the sound of shorts going up her legs, and before I knew it she was done.

“Okay, you can look.” She said. I turned around to see that she was wearing a pair of short shorts, that were the same material as gym shorts. She had a dark red t-shirt on that was a little too big. You know, that stereotypical girl pajama outfit that made it look like she had no pants on? That one.

She was still bare foot, of course, so that was fun for me, although I still felt guilt.

I thought about what Lauren had said. Bella had changed in the same room as me… maybe I wasn’t in the Friend Zone after all.

No, that couldn’t be it.

Could it?

No.

“What do you want to do?” Bella said.

I sighed. I had to let this go. “Well… let’s just finish Halo 4.”
————————————————————————————-
Bella threw down her controller when the final cutscene finished. “I can’t believe we finally finished it!”

“I know, right?” I said, setting mine down gentler. I didn’t feel like breaking anything.

Bella yawned. “What now?”

I shrugged. “We could just talk.”

Bella nodded, looking at her alarm clock; 1:37 AM.

She looked back at me. “So, what do you wanna talk about?”

I shrugged. “I don’t really know…”

Bella smiled, looking around. She gave a pondering look, before turning back to me. “So… do you like anyone?”

I raised my eyebrows. “What do you mean…?”

Bella laughed. “You know what I mean, Mike.”

I laughed nervously. “Uh… no, not really.” I said, lying.

Bella laughed. “Yeah, me neither…”

We laughed nervously together before falling into silence.

“Sooo…” Bella said, looking around. “Do you know what your name translates to?”

I frowned. “What?”

Bella laughed again. “Yeah, your name translates to something.” She said, pulling out her phone.

After a minute or so, she continued. “Yeah, here it is: Michael, in Hebrew, means Who is like God?… Whatever that means.”

I nodded slowly. Fitting. I am like God, in a way. I can pause time, after all.

“I don’t know.” I laughed, rubbing my arm.

“I wonder what my name means?” Bella said, looking up at me.

*SNAPSNAPSNAP*

I didn’t know why, but I wanted to look this up before Bella did.

After some easy research on my phone, I found out that Bella meant beautiful in Italian. Again, fitting.

*SNAPSNAPSNAP*

I looked up at Bella before she could look at her own phone. “Oh, Bella means beautiful in Italian. Which makes sense…” I trailed off.

“Oh… really?” Bella blushed. She laughed. “How did you know that?”

I froze. What would I say? I could just say that I got bored and decided to look it up. But why would I look up her name and not my own?

“Uh… I think I’d just heard that in the past.” I said, scratching my head.

“Oh… good memory.” Bella said, laughing. She suddenly frowned. “I don’t like Derek.”

I frowned in return. “What? Did he say anything else to you?”

She looked up, startled. “Oh, no, no. I just thought about what he’d said earlier.”

I nodded. “Really, Bella. You need to know I’d help you with him if you ever needed it…” I said, probably awkwardly.

Bella smiled. “Thanks, Mikey. I know you would. I just don’t think it’d be worth it for you.”

I scoffed. “Are you kidding? Of course I’d protect you!” I felt awkward, then. If it wasn’t obvious to her already, Bella now knew I liked her. She had to.

But she didn’t seem to catch on. She hugged my neck, as we were still on the bed. “Thanks, Mike. I appreciate that.” She whispered, before yawning. “Now I think I’m going to go to sleep.” She laughed.

I laughed in return. I stood up from her bed and watched as she pulled the covers over herself. Her pink soles poked out from the end of the covers for a second, before she pulled them back in. “Night, Mikey.”

I smiled. “Night, Bella.” I said. Bella laid her head down on her pillow. I watched her shuffle around, before finally getting comfortable.

When she was finally asleep, in shame, I masturbated to the thought of touching Bella’s feet again.
————————————————————————————-
It was two days later now, a Monday morning. I stepped off of my bus, looking for Bella. I had started to miss her after a day of being apart. Sad, I know.

When I saw her, I walked to her. “Hey, beautiful.” I said, smirking. I’d been planning that one.

She playfully punched my shoulder. “Shut up.”

A hand touched my shoulder and Bella gasped before scowling. Fuck.

I sighed. “What do you want, Derek?” I said, turning to see his smug face.

Derek held up his hands defensively. “Hey, man, I didn’t say anything.” He held his innocent look for a second before smiling mischievously. “I just heard somebody flirting with my girl.”

I was taken aback. Flirting? It occurred to me what he’d meant. “Oh, no, I wasn’t flirting. I called her beautiful because over the weekend-“

He pat my shoulder. “Did I ask?”

I stopped. Why was I defending myself? Bella wasn’t Derek’s girl. “Why does it matter to you?”

Bella was shaking her head. “‘Cause she’s mine, Mikey Boy. And I don’t like people taking what’s mine.” He laughed, and his followers laughed.

I scoffed. “Bella isn’t yours. She isn’t anyone’s.”

Derek started to mockingly repeat me. “Beat it, bitch. Leave me be.” He said, laying an arm on Bella’s shoulder, who leaned away.

Seeing him do that made me angry. “Don’t do that.” I said, not knowing what to do.

Derek laughed abruptly. “Or what?!” He laughed, looking at his friends.

“I… I’ll hit you…” I said, probably sounding pathetic.

Derek raised and lowered his eyebrows. “You will, huh?”

Before I could react, Derek’s fist connected with my face. I was suddenly on the ground, and I saw Bella’s panicked face before I was out cold.

[b]To Be Continued…[/i]

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