“So, how did it feel to see Nick in the flesh?” I asked Liz in the cafeteria at lunch.
“The concert was really cool, but I’m over Nick because I saw him wink at about a dozen girls in the audience.”
“So you admit that you do have a crush on him,” I said wickedly.
“I did,” she corrected.
“Maybe he had to do that, you know, to keep his fans happy. You know how drummers are,” I said.
“Not really.”
“They’re the bad boys of the band.”
“Thought that was the lead singer,” she laughed.
I nudged her with my elbow. “In a way, I wish that I could be so fickle and just abandon Chase. But my feelings are too deep. You don’t just get over your first love with a snap of your fingers.”
“Hey, I’m not fickle. I wasn’t in love with Nick or anything. I just thought that he was kind of cute.”
“I’ve felt sad all day about what happened, or should I say, what didn’t happen,” I said miserably.
“What happened?” Ben asked, genuinely concerned.
“The concert was unbelievable, and I’m really grateful that I got to go, but I’m disappointed that it didn’t live up to my dreams. I really believed that if Chase had just seen me, then he would have done something to make sure that we at least got to talk. I thought that the only reason we weren’t already dating was because we hadn’t made contact yet. Maybe he didn’t actually see me at the concert. There were a lot of other girls wearing green, so I probably blended in, like I was camouflaged. My plan was to stand out so that he would notice me, but instead I faded into the background like an iguana on a leaf. I was like a soldier in combat gear, hidden among the trees. I wish that I could have shot him with a bullet of love.”
They raised their eyebrows at each other.
“Ok, that was corny. I think I’ll burn that green top.”
Liz squeezed my hand.
“Well if that loser pretty boy didn’t notice you, then he must be blind,” Ben said.
“You’re sweet for trying to cheer me up, but I still think that it was because I was camouflaged.”
They laughed, and it was infectious.
“Liz, speaking of camouflage, something did cheer me up today. It was the most entertaining Biology lesson ever.”
Ben nudged me and looked excited.
“I always miss the fun, everyone in my class in so serious,” she complained.
“Well, you wanted to be in the brainiac Biology class.” I teased.
She pulled a tongue at me.
“We had to dissect frogs, and I really didn’t think that I could do it because they were still alive! Miss Duffy said that they wouldn’t feel anything, but it was like something out of a horror movie! Even if they had been dead, I don’t think that I could have psychically made myself do it. I freak out if I even get a paper cut. I’m also a big animal rights activist.” She rolled her eyes. “Well, activist is maybe too strong a word, let’s say supporter. The point is I love animals, even frogs. Ben, my brave and loyal lab partner, said that he would do all the cutting, so I felt a tad better. Get it – tad pole.” Liz and Ben both rolled their eyes simultaneously. “So here’s the good part,” I said, really getting into my story.
Ben interrupted. “Let me tell her the rest, don’t hog the great story. Also, when you get excited you speak too fast, it’s like listening to a horse racing announcer,” he said playfully pulling a tongue at me. I pushed him. He continued the story. “I was just about to cut into the poor little frog, when Nathan grabbed his frog and let it hop out the window. He then started opening all the windows and doors and shouted for us to stop what we were doing and ‘let the frogs hop free.’ He actually said that. So everyone put their scalpels down and let their frogs escape out the windows.”
“Ok, my turn,” I said putting my hand over Ben’s mouth, and launching into my share of the story. “It was just like that scene in the Steven Spielberg movie E.T, when E.T makes Elliot release all the frogs. I felt much better after we saved two dozen frogs. But we all got detention after school, and Nathan got detention for the whole week, but he said that it was worth it. PETA would love that kid. He always seemed a little odd. In the fourth grade he always stuck pencils in his ears.” We all burst out laughing.
“Can you take your hand off my mouth now?” Ben’s voice was muffled.
“Excuse me, what was that?” I joked, and removed my hand that was sweaty from his warm breath.
“It was a really cool thing that Nathan did for the frogs.”
“Ooh, does someone have a crush?” I teased. “Liz and Nathan sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G, first comes love…”
“Phoebe you had better stop, before I stick pencils in your ears.”
“Liz, pretty please with a cherry on top of an ice-cream sundae, will you help me with the Chemistry homework that I was too upset to do after the concert.”
“But you won’t learn anything if you don’t do your own homework, and I won’t be able to help you in the exam,” she said gently yet firmly.
I knew that she was right, but I didn’t want another detention. I gave her my most innocent look, “Ok, this is the last time. I know that I should have planned my time better, but I had more important things on my mind. Anyway, Chemistry is pointless. I mean, who cares about mixing a bunch of colored liquids together?”
“You should actually,” Liz said. I gave her a skeptical look.
She looked around to make sure that no-one could hear us. Ben had already left because he had another Theatre Crew meeting. “I was in the library at school researching for my Chemistry project, when I came across a book about love potions.” I leaned in closer, and held my breath. “I can mix a love potion in the Chemistry lab to make someone fall in love with you.” She whispered in my ear, “By someone, I mean Chase.”
“A love potion,” I breathed. My eyes opened widened, and I think that my mouth actually dropped open.
“Love boils down to chemistry anyway, because what makes people fall in love is a cocktail of chemicals and hormones.”
“I know that teenagers are very hormonal.”
“That’s when it’s starts. When you’re attracted to someone the chemical phenylethylamine or PEA, also called the ‘love molecule’ is released in the body. Chocolate is known to have very high levels of this chemical, that’s why people become addicted to or even fall in love with chocolate. This chemical speeds up the connections in the nervous system making you excited or hyperactive. It also triggers the secretion of dopamine, which gives a feeling of elation and euphoria. It is the norepinepherine that is released in the system that makes a person feel extremely high. Together, the three chemicals produce the ‘in love’ feeling. It is, as they say, chemistry,” she explained like she was giving a Chemistry lecture.
I stared at her in shock for what seemed like minutes.
“I can make a love potion that stimulates these chemicals in Chase. Cupid’s arrows are supposedly dipped in love potion, so that’s why when he strikes two people they fall in love. So, call me Cupid.” She smiled triumphantly.
I felt like I had just been struck by an arrow dipped in energy, and started babbling a mile a minute. “I love Chemistry! Now I know why you adore it so much. You are a genius! You should be cloned! In fact, you could probably clone yourself because you’re such a genius! I guess that’s why they say that when it comes to love, chemistry is important. This is brilliant! Then Chase will be my boyfriend, and then we will get engaged, and then married. I know that our children will be adorable, just like him. I want one boy and one girl. It would be better if the boy was older, because I always wanted an older brother so that I could date his friends…”
Liz put her hands on my shoulders. “Phoebe, calm down.”
#
It was definitely fate. We had just started reading A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Shakespeare in English. I’d already read it before because I loved Shakespeare. I could
actually understand most of it, unlike the others in my class who needed a constant translator. English had always been my favorite subject. It was the one subject that I excelled at, probably because they say that you are good at something you enjoy. In the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the mischievous Puck produces a magical juice from a flower called “love-in-idleness,” which when applied to a person's eyelids while sleeping, makes them fall in love with the first living thing they see when they wake up. Puck uses the love potion on Titania, queen of the fairies, who falls in love with Bottom, despite the fact that his head has been turned into a donkey’s head. It’s a comedy of errors as everyone falls in love with the wrong people.
I was meeting Liz after school to make the love potion. Well, she’d make it, and I’d watch. I didn’t know if it would work, but it couldn’t hurt, right?
#
In the Chemistry lab, Liz looked professional with her goggles and white coat as she explained the details to me. “The book from the library says that the potion is called ‘Cupid’s Love Potion.’”
“Oh my word, that is so corny,” I exclaimed.
“It’s called that because it has to be drunk on Valentine’s Day, which is perfect because it falls this week,” Liz said mixing a concoction of colored liquids.
“Liz, it’s weird. Lately, I keep recreating movie scenes, like in Biology with the frog scene from ET. Now this feels like we’re in that movie Love Potion No. 9.”
“I’ve never seen it,” she said busy with a measuring cup.
“It’s about a nerdy science guy…” I stopped as she shot me an offended look. “I mean an extremely intelligent science guy, who produces a love potion that affects a person’s vocal cords and makes anyone of the opposite sex fall in love with them while they speak.”
“Well, there are different types of love potions. Like in that movie, they used a potion to make people fall in love with the drinker. Our potion is to make the drinker fall in love with someone. Speaking of which, we don’t want Chase to fall in love with just anyone, like the first person they see. So we need something of yours that contains your DNA.”
“That could be funny though,” I said continuing. “Like when Titania falls in love with a guy who has a donkey’s head. Love is blind they say.”
“That’s true. Smell is one of the key elements of attraction. Often, when a person is drawn to someone who doesn’t fit their normal dating profile, it could be an unconscious scent drawing her to him or vice versa. The chemical reaction that occurs referred to as ‘chemistry,’ often makes a person fall in love with someone who is completely wrong for them. This ‘clicking’ draws someone to a person who is opposite to them, or who fulfills a need from their childhood. You know the saying ‘opposites attract.’”
“Like when people run off and elope with guys their parents wouldn’t approve of.”
“Yes, the chemicals I told you about that are produced when you are attracted to someone, Phenylethylamine, dopamine, and norepinepherine, are like natural drugs, making your heart race, your palms sweat, and your knees weak. When people are infatuated, social obligations, other relationships, and even sense and sensibility, all fly out the window. ‘Crazy in love’ isn’t just a song.”
“I love that Beyoncé song.” I started dancing around and singing the song.
“Phoebes, can you turn the page please? My hands are full,” she said holding a test tube in each hand.
“Sure,” I said turning the page. “I didn’t know all of this. I’ve learnt a lot today. Liz, if the chemicals make people fall in love, then what happens when they aren’t passionately in love anymore, but are comfortable, and want to build a future together?”
“We become tolerant to the chemicals, and it’s a good thing. I mean, that passionate love where people stay up talking all night, and have extreme amounts of energy, cannot be sustained. Relationships break-up if the people are desperate to feel that infatuation feeling again, or move into a new, deeper phase of love.”
“The honeymoon is over,” I giggled.
“Most people believe that you can’t have love without chemistry, and so when they feel that chemistry, they conclude that it must be love.”
“Hmm, but if it’s all based on physical stuff, then what about personality, compatibility, and values? Those are the things that last when the honeymoon phase is over.”
“Those things usually only become important after the infatuation phase. That’s why they say that you shouldn’t discount a person just because you don’t feel a burning attraction for them, because that fades after a while, and what you are left with is more important. The things that you need to sustain a relationship over years, or a lifetime.”
“All of this new information is making me doubt everything I thought I knew about love.”
“I know!” she exclaimed, looking like she should have a light bulb above her head. “We’ll use a lock of your hair, because that contains DNA. Hand me those scissors over there.”
I touched my hair defensively. “Chase won’t want me if I’m bald,” I said dramatically. I had a thing about cutting my hair. Once, I went for a trim and the hairdresser must have been out to get me, because she cut my hair into a bob. I’d been trying to grow my hair long like Rachel’s for years, but it grows so slowly, and psycho hairdressers don’t help.
“Don’t be silly, we just need an inch from a piece of your hair. You don’t want Chase to fall in love with Amber do you?”
“I’ll get the scissors,” I said quickly. Liz cut off only an inch as promised, and it dissolved in the liquid straight away. “But how are we going to get Chase to drink the love potion? It’s not like he goes to our school, and we can slip it in his coke at lunch. But that would be handy.” I grinned.
“Good question,” she said. “But I’ve already thought of that part. We’ll inject the potion into a box of chocolates and send it to Chase as a Valentine’s gift,” she said pulling out a red, heart-shaped box of chocolates from her backpack and beaming about her “genius” idea.
“You have got to be kidding,” I said in shock. “What celebrity even opens gifts and mail from fans, let alone eats the gifts?”
“The love potion will attract Chase to the chocolates. He will be drawn to open the gift. He will smell the sweet, deliciousness of the love potion and will be unable to resist trying just one chocolate. What is sweeter than a box of love potion chocolates on Valentine’s Day?”
“Ok, James Bond, what about this one. How will he know how to find me?” This should stump her.
“Like when you send any package, we’ll include your name and return address. After he’s consumed the love potion, he’ll be instantly drawn to you, and will come find you. A man in love, will climb mountains, and swim oceans to be with the woman he loves.”
“But still, I seriously doubt that anyone would be dumb enough to eat a random box of chocolates. If it was me, I would be too scared that the chocolates were laced with arsenic from an obsessed fan,” I said shuddering. Liz raised her eyebrows. “I know what you’re thinking Liz. But we’ve been over this. I’m not obsessed, I’m in love, and I don’t want to hurt him, I want to love him. How could love hurt?”
*****
6. Valentine’s Day
The next day, the day before Valentine’s Day, I noticed that the whole school had gone crazy. Red balloons and streamers covered the halls. People had been giving each other heart shaped invitations to the Valentine’s Day dance.
“Liz, there’s a pink heart in my locker. I wonder who it’s from.”
“Phoebe, sometimes I wonder where you’re from, Mars perhaps?”
“No, men are from Mars and women are from Venus,” I corrected, referring to the famous relationship book.
“How could I forget,” she slapped her forehead.
“It’s from Ben,” I said reading the note.
“Duh!” she practically shouted.
“It’s an invitation to the dance. It says:
&nb
sp; Dear Phoebe,
Roses are red
Violets are blue
I’d love to go to the dance
With you,
Love Ben”
“That’s so sweet, and he used ‘L-O-V-E,’” Liz said, reading over my shoulder.
“Well he’s definitely no poet, but it’s the thought that counts. I think that he was just trying to cheer me up over the whole Chase thing.”
“Maybe he really wants to go with you.”
“We’re going as a group, remember, the three musketeers.”
“Well, I’m actually going with Nathan.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I demanded.
“I’m telling you now. But we can all go as a group if you’d rather do that.”
“Yes please, a group is definitely better.”
#
Every year, the Valentine’s king and queen were chosen at the dance. I knew that Amber would definitely be nominated for queen, and probably win. She would take Chase to the dance in a heartbeat if she could, but Eugene Sherman would take her in a heartbeat if he could. However, that would never happen in a million years. Well, maybe in his dreams. Eugene Sherman was a sweet, yet dorky guy who would probably be decent looking if he actually had something resembling a hair style, and didn’t wear his pants so high. Poor Eugene, he’s had a massive crush on Amber since the third grade. However, she can’t stand him, and avoids him like the plague. She said that she wouldn’t touch him, if he was the last man on earth. But if he really were the last man on earth, she couldn’t be so picky, because the survival of our species would be up to her. I heard that Eugene had snuck a heart invitation in Amber’s locker, and she tore it up in front of him. The poor boy must have been heartbroken. What an ice queen.
Amber overhead me talking to Liz about him one day, and then walked up to me, and told me in front of everyone that I was crazy to think that someone like him would ever look twice at me. She said that I was pathetic and sad. When she said such hurtful things to my face, I felt the tears burning my eyes as they welled up to reveal my pain. I quickly ran into the ladies room so that she wouldn’t see me cry. Liz followed me and said that Amber was a sad person who had to make other people feel bad in order to make herself look and feel better.
Lovesessed Page 4
