Hypnotized to Fall in Love

Chapter 1

Carl walked in the school corridor, fearing what Trent was going to do to him this time. Everyone glanced at them as they met each other. They also feared what would happen to Carl. Surprisingly, Trent tried to shake hands with Carl. Carl looked wondering at him. Trent smiled.

"We should shake hands now when we have been enemies for so long."

"Why would Trent want to be nice now?" Carl thought.

Trent had been a bully since they started first grade. He scared his classmates, put pins under the teachers' chairs and stole things from almost everybody. But this was 8th grade. And now, Trent was meaner. Carl couldn't trust him when he tried to be friendly, even though this was the first time ever.

Carl looked confused at Trent and tried to pull the hand away from his grip but Trent refused to let him go. Trent snickered. He whispered in Carl's ear.

"What do you hate the most? Answer correctly."

Carl couldn't stand it anymore. Trent obviously wanted to know that to make his worst nightmare come true. But Carl wasn't raised to lie.

"To be in a relationship..."

"What!?"

Trent stopped whispering and loosened the grip of Carl's hand. Everybody around them stood quiet, still watching. They wondered what they were whispering about. And why Trent got so shocked.

Trent was the kind of person who spread a secret when someone told him. But this time, he had an evil plan and he was going to fulfill it. Trent walked away from Carl, proud that he'd forced the truth out of him. He'd read about hypnosis since he was nine years old. And he was about to test it on all the girls in school. He started with Courtney. They sat in front of each other, on two chairs, in the empty music room. Carl stared into her eyes, holding a golden hypnosis pocket watch clock. As he swayed it from the left to the right, Courtney got more and more dizzy.

"Imagine yourself on a deserted island... You're all alone. Remember... that you can imagine anyone you want to be with at the island. A friend, a crush, a family member... Anyone. Who would you take?"

"I would take my best friend Lizzie with me."

"You're feeling strongly that you have to take another person with you, this time a crush. You're in love with Carl Smith."

Courtney nodded, slowly.

"I'm in love with Carl Smith."

Trent snapped his fingers. Courtney looked dizzy and confused.

"What happened...?"

Trent looked at Courtney, cunningly.

"Nothing."

Courtney walked away from the music room, wondering how she got there. This was not the first time Trent's hypnosis experiment worked. He'd tested it on his family too. So now, he knew that it would work. He kept on hypnotizing girls during the breaks until everyone was hypnotized to fall in love with Carl.

In 4th grade, Amanda had a crush on Carl and was hanging over him all the time. She used to hug him against his will, lie to her friends that they were together and follow him wherever he went. But not after school. When she started in another school, Carl got very relieved.

Carl walked in the corridor at the break, like usual. But then, he realized there were no girls there. Trent, who stood farther away smirked and pointed behind Carl. He looked behind him and gaped. All the girls in school were on their way to him, smiling.

"I love you, Carl!"

"Don't forget ME!"

"You're so sweet..."

Carl stared at them, with fear. The least thing he wanted to happen was right in front of him. All the girls in the whole school wanted to be together with him. That even felt worse than his worst nightmare, when he dreamt about a water horse that chased him in the water. Carl ran to the nearest classroom and closed to the door with a slam. A class was sitting there, doing math. One of the girls looked up at him, lovingly.

"Isn't he dreamy...?"

Another girl sighed deeply.

"Yes, indeed..."

Carl shook his head, shocked.

"No!"

The teacher looked at him, wondering.

"What's going on?"

Carl knew that she never would understand what was going on. Carl didn't know exactly what was going on either. And if it was a nightmare or not. If it wasn't a nightmare, something was very weird about this.

"I don't know, all of the girls suddenly has a crush on me or something. I hate it and I want to wake up!"

"This isn't a nightmare. It's school."

Carl looked at the girls who gave him air kisses through the door window. Carl knew that the school didn't have stairs or elevators. So he ran to the window in the corner of the classroom and jumped out of it. He fell down on the schoolyard ground, relieved that he didn't hurt himself. Fortunately, it was just 2 meters from the window to the ground. Plus, he was pretty athletic. He knew he couldn't just skip school, so he had to find other ways to get rid of the girls.

At lunch break, Carl took his meal tray with him to the exit doors and ran out of the school cafeteria. The girls ran after him, waving and screaming as if he was a celebrity. A teacher who saw what was happening came in front of them and locked the door. The girls got irritated and frowned at him.

Carl sat on the grass near the soccer field and ate his lunch: Asparagus pizza. Now, it suddenly felt good to be alone, in comparison to the girls who stalked him. Carl let out a deep sigh, wondering when they would let him be. At least calm down. It felt like he was the guy in the music video "Hot N Cold" by Katy Perry. Except that the guy only got followed by one girl.