“So maybe we should just skip this luncheon thing and embark to the point where I show you how to play guibbis.” He offered since this date had been just disastrous until now.
“That’d be nice.”
They left the luncheon, hoping that the other part of the date would go a little bit nicer, otherwise, her story with him was completely over.
“This is it,” he said as they arrived at the fancy witchy club.
"I thought you frequented the Pumpkin Valley club."
“Yeah, though it’d take a while to go all the way down there, don’t you think?”
“Fair enough.”
“Meow,” Apricot intruded, crying for attention.
“Oh, sweet furry thing.” She said to the cat and picked him up.
Harvey pretended he didn’t notice. Now the cat must’ve hated him. He was sure Apricot meowed just for attention. Slimy little cat, he thought.
After they made their way to the third floor, he showed her the game field where he was supposed to teach her how to play. Well, that was the excuse, after all.
“So this is where all the fun happens?” she said.
“Now that thing right there is what we use to score points.”
“The furry rat-like thingy?” she asked.
“Yes,” he confirmed.
“And?”
“Well, you can use whatever spell that pops up on your mind, but since we’re not on that level yet, I guess we’ll start by using the mallet.”
He walked to the equipment section, which was stacked with helmets, shoes, pads and gloves, and he grabbed a mallet and brought it with him when he came back.
“So, you’re supposed to score points with this. You should hit the rat-like thingy and try to get it into the arches.”
“Okay, I think I’ve got the hang of it,” she smiled and grabbed the mallet out of his hands and held it firmly. She hit the rat-ball, but to her surprise, the thing didn’t move at all.
“Okay, easy there, sports prodigy,” he laughed and approached her, trying to teach her how to hit the ball. Their bodies were so close she could feel his warmth against her skin.
“Wow,” she chuckled. “I did it.”
“Mhmm,” he looked at her all happy.
“I mean, we did it.”
“Yeah, now you’re getting the hang of it,” he said smugly and their faces were too close. He could feel her breath puffing upon his skin. He moved closer until there was just a tiny distance between them. “Whoa,” she said with anger.
As Anwen was going to ask him what was going on, she noticed her precious cat attacking Harvey.
“Apricot,” she yelled and she had to scream his name twice until the cat could respond.
Anwen managed to calm the cat down and get him off Harvey, who was already on the floor. She would deal with Apricot later, but first, she examined whether Harvey was damaged somehow.
“What’s wrong with that cat?” he frowned, enraged, dusting the dirt off his jacket.
“Harvey.”
"I can't believe you brought your cat with you on our date."
Well, this had been the first phrase he used at the beginning of their date, and also the very last, since he was already going away, leaving her all alone. Well, not all alone, since Apricot was nearby.
Maybe talking to Harvey was a really bad idea after all, but this date was meant to happen somehow. There was a whole school year ahead of them, and at some point, she would've talked to him. But after these developments, she had a feeling that this year would be filled with awkward feelings that she wasn’t sure she could handle.
Chapter Five
“You had to jeopardize the date, didn’t you?” she asked him, her voice mellow.
The cat lingered soundlessly around her legs as she was laying on her bed.
“I told you that bringing the cat to your date was a bad idea.”
“I don’t know about that.” Anwen shook her head, as though there was no room for discussion.
“After everything that happened, I mean, how could you say that? That cat sabotaged your date. Now you won’t be able to go on another date with him, or talk to him, or even randomly lay eyes on him …” Eudora could go on with it. Seemingly the list was long.
“Augh,” Anwen hid her face beneath the pillow. “I know,” she chuckled. “I don’t need you to go through it. He’ll think I’m a psycho who chose her cat over him.”
"Well, you chose your cat over him." She emphasized.
“Still you can’t go around waiting for people to ignore their pets just because you show up in someone’s life. That’s not what happens.”
“And that’s way beside the point.”
“How could you take his side? You’re supposed to be my friend.” Well, was she though? And did Anwen need her as a friend? Sure, they had to spend a lot of time together, but the idea of having Eudora as a friend hadn’t really crossed her mind until then.
“Which is why I need to be honest with you and tell you that bringing pets to your dates is a horrible idea."
"So you manage to be biased and then you insult me? Huh!"
“I didn’t mean to. And I’m not taking sides.”
“Well, somehow you should. You’re my roommate. And he’s the guy I’d tried to hit it off with.”
“I don’t see much of a choice here.” Eudora shrugged and squinted.
"Me." She hollowed. "You're supposed to choose me!”
“And what difference would it make if I take your side?”
“I’d be able to convince myself that it wasn’t my fault that the date was such a disaster. That I didn’t make the wrong choices.”
“Do you even realize how crazy this sounds?”
Well, it was true. It sounded crazy. But, Anwen didn’t regret loving her cat as much as she did, considering that Apricot had always been there. They had such a long history together. She couldn’t say the same thing when it came to Harvey.
But no one said that making excuses could somehow make her feel better. And she had realized that while trying to make eye contact with Harvey, who now seemed to have already forgotten about her. He was focusing on his own world just as if she didn’t exist at all and that disastrous date had never happened.
“How could he ignore me like that?” Anwen asked her roommate during their chemistry class.
“What do you mean?” Eudora swayed her brows, self-assuredly. At this point, Anwen was starting to get closer to her roommate and appreciate her presence.
“I mean, it’s as if he doesn’t even acknowledge my existence, like I’m not here at all and that date never happened.”
Anwen sighed and decided to disregard the influence that he had on her. Like, she didn’t know him at all. So what if she’d been dreaming about him this whole time? Aughhh, who was she kidding? She was obsessed with him. Obsessed. You can’t just go around and let go of someone you’d been so keen on for so long. But anyways, the class had already started and she couldn’t focus just because of some stupid date that she was supposed to have already forgotten. What was the professor saying? Ahh, it was so hard to pay attention.
“So I have to remind you, I’m teaching you this ointment today just for academic reasons. You’re not allowed to prepare these ointments by yourself in any case. You can’t use this on your classmates or other witches.”
“We just came here and it’s already so boring,” Eudora shifted down on her seat and wore her hat low.
“Now this is a very complex ointment and you have to use the right portions for each element, otherwise,” the professor wandered to that part of the room which was filled with all sorts of potions.
“What happens then?” asked some girl from the first row behind the last, and Anwen turned around only to realize that it was the same girl who’d kissed Harvey in the hallway. She was pretty, no doubt, but was it okay for Anwen to say that that girl was so witchy? Yeah…probably not!
“Well, if you drink this potion, it can turn you to stone, or worse. We are going to use it on a rat. And just one little mistake may result in a completely another disaster that could cause unwanted results.”
“And why is that so bad? I mean you can turn your enemy to stone, but you can let the spell do so much more for you. I mean, unexpected surprising outcomes,” some guy next to the girl who made the first question was now guffawing loudly, feeling so proud about himself.
“Mr. Anuket, what would you say if I used you as a laboratory rat for this magic?”
His smirk vanished in terror.
“Now shall we proceed?” she grabbed a whole bunch of flasks from the shelves filled with green, orange or pink liquids and put them on the desk nearby the experiment cauldron. “In order to perform this spell, we’ll be needing these sorts of elements: a rat’s tail, wolf tears, raven’s feathers, frog’s legs, unicorn tears,” she held each representative element in her hand. “A rat,” she held it by the tail. “Volcanic lava, and a frog.”
“How the heck are we supposed to find all that?” asked Harvey, and that was enough to make Anwen lose it again. Great, it took her a big deal to gather herself, and now she was needed to do it again. Cool!
“You won’t! That’s why this is a forbidden ointment on campus.”
"Then why even bother?" he asked again.
"Because this is the academy where you are supposed to learn all these things that a witch needs to know."
That seemed to stop his inquiry.
“Now we have to pour each element into the cauldron and stir them up until there’s a green ointment in there and then we are going to use the liquid on the rat inside the cage.” She began spilling all the liquids into the container and kept stirring them frequently with the thick, wooden stick. Various green bubbles started to fly above the cauldron.
The auditorium became so soundless, except for the bubbles cracking above the cauldron.
“And now that it’s ready, we can freely perform the magic.”
“How do we know that it’s ready?” another student asked.
“The bubbles start slowing down and cannot rise too much above the surface. That’s how we know.”
“And how long can this ointment remain effective?”
“Good question,” the professor said. “In order to have a long-wearing ointment, we should put it into amber glasses, otherwise, it will lose its effect.”
All the attention was gathered at that laboratory cauldron. At this point, the professor picked up a flask and filled it with the experimental liquid and held it in her hand for a second.
“Now it is ready. At this point, we need to try out if it works, which it will. We can use a laboratory pet of our own choice, like this rat in the cage.” She pointed at the poor animal who drew back into the cage as though trying to protest.
The professor held the ointment in her hand and opened the cage to let the hideous rat hitch out. The rat tried to escape, but when the witch put the liquid into the table, the rat ran to it and just as getting the taste of it, the magic seemed to materialize. The rat’s mouth started to turn to stone and in just a second, the rat turned into a statue.
The auditorium was filled with a gasp, which suggested that the professor had finally grabbed their attention.
“What happens next?” asked the girl who’d made another question in the beginning.
“Well, it depends…on the intention of the performer.” She moved near the desk and held the rat by its tail. “You could easily destroy one’s life just like this,” she let go of the rat and the statue fell to the floor and shattered into pieces.
“Huh,” everybody suspired at once, in shock.
"Or you could try to bring it back to the previous condition. Don't forget," her voice cracked as she tried to emphasize, "there's an antidote behind every formula. All you need to do is flip the page.”
"Why would you teach us all this when we're not allowed to use it while on campus? Can you imagine how many obnoxious creatures and witches we could have gotten rid of just by using this ointment? It obviously works miracles. Too bad we can’t even own this formula.” It seemed like the curious girl, after all, had a lot of other layers beneath her pretty appearance.
“And that’s why it is forbidden for you to use this formula. We would risk the lives of the witches in the confluence if the ointment got into the wrong hands. That would be horrible. We can’t take that risk.”
“No, showing us the magic and then telling us it’s forbidden; that’s what’s horrible,” the guy next to the girl spoke up.
Now other students joined in the laughter, the guy in the front row turned back to up-high him.
“Okay…that’s enough,” her scary voice made them shut their mouth.
"I wish we could use the ointment on her," Eudora mumbled.
But Anwen was already so captured by this whole experiment, Eudora’s hilarious comment went unnoticed.
“I bet Harvey would wish to use it on the cat,” Eudora mocked her.
“Hey,” Anwen nudged her on the arm.
“Well, it’s true,” Eudora was so happy with her own jokes. At least they had an effect on one person, so it didn’t slightly damage the reputation of her sense of humor. “Your cat attacked him.”
“No, he did not!” Anwen’s eyes opened wide in defense.
“M-hmm…”
“Well, probably he was trying to be protective of me in a catty manner.” She tilted her head on one side as though trying to think.
“Okay…”
“And that defense required him to put his paws to use.”
“Yeah?”
“And, so what if there’s a scratch mark on Harvey’s neck?”
After this, Anwen frowned at the comment trying to figure whether that was a tricky question.
Probably, there was a slight truth in her roommate’s unfavorable judgment. Maybe she was right all the way, but what could she say? She was a cat fancier and one can’t just expect her to stop being defensive of her pet.
Sure, the cat got defensive sometimes and could scratch someone’s face if they got in his way, but after all, his aggressive love could not be rewarded by turning your back to him. That wouldn’t be fair.
“You should talk to him.”
After the long silence that Anwen had tried to embrace, Eudora came up with this unhinged idea out of nowhere, telling Anwen to go ahead and talk to the guy that didn’t care about her anymore. It was just crazy because Eudora wasn’t under the influence of any suspicious ointment and still she managed to act so weirdly. And the best part was her face remaining so firm as though there was nothing strange going on.
“Huh?”
“Try to explain to him why you brought your pet with you and apologize for it and make sure he knows you’ll never do that mistake again. Though, it is doubtful if there’ll be a second date.”
“Well, thanks for the validation. And no.” Anwen turned to the other side trying to avoid the face of her roommate. She couldn’t even make eye contact with her after this. Huh! Making Apricot a social pariah? How did she even come up with that? It was crazy!!!
“It’s up to you,” her face was so calm and uninvolved, “whether you want to fix it or not. Need I remind you, there’s a whole year ahead of us and at some point, you'll come across each other? And just think how weird it will be to have to make a normal conversation with him. It will be awkward because you’ll never be able to get rid of that horrible date.”
“Hmm?” she squinted. This statement had confused her a little. “What if I talk to him after this period, would you promise to get a little less judgmental towards Apricot and give him a try?”
“No chance.” Eudora scoffed. “What do I get in all this? It’s a win-win situation where you get to win twice, and I get nothing.”
“Come on, I’m talking to Harvey.”
“Yeah, you’re doing it for you.�
��
“You’re the one who’s pushing me.”
“Need I remind you he’s your creepy fantasy, not mine?”
“Okay, I’ll do it anyways.”
They both managed to shuffle through the crowd after when the professor said that the course was over. They hurried their way out and proceeded to do whatever it was they planning to do. Waiting in the hallway, against gothic columns with enamel, witchy-statues on top, they scanned the entrance for Harvey and after a considerable long time—which was only a couple of minutes to be precise—he came forth with his charm, causing Anwen’s insecurity to resurge.
“Go on,” Eudora pushed her.
Anwen thought that it was better to just get along with it and not give it a second thought, because every time she did that it easily made her want to give up.
Eudora looked at her from behind and half a smile sprung up on her face as her roommate was putting this plan to use.
“Hey, Harvey,” she said in the most cheerful voice she could bear.
“Oh,” he scowled, and she noticed that the smile on his face sort of vanished, because of her presence. It kind of looked like her presence surprised him in an unexpected, probably undesired way.
“Who’s this, babe?” The girl next to him, asked.
How could she manage to sound so sweet and yet be the most devious, manipulative person around? Anwen thought.
And her eyes immediately shifted to the level of their intertwined hands.
“Oh, she’s…” he hesitated for a while, but his smile appeared on his face again, obviously finding Anwen’s presence ineffective as though she was some random witch whom he hadn’t had probably the most terrible date with.
How could he ignore her just like that? She meant, yeah, having a person you care about being angry at you, is something to worry about, but having them be unaffected by your presence is a whole another mess to deal with.
An Academy for Witches (A Witch in Progress Book 1) Page 3
