hai:DD

i'm sorry for the late update again :( i've just been SO SUPER BUSY with school and volleyball business. hope you guys are having a groovy school year so far!

anyway, thanks so much for your patience in these stressful times. it means a lot (heart)

and now. another chapter.

enjoy,

-TangoMaxx

Love Bites
Chapter Nine

Erica walked into school dragging her feet, hair pointing in all directions, dried mascara tears on her cheeks. Kids hurriedly rushed out of her way. They weren't used to seeing Erica like this, and they didn't want to risk anything.
She glared at them as she walked past, hearing their frightened whispers.
"What happened to her?"
"She looks angrier than usual."
"I'd still hit that-"
"WHAT ARE YOU ALL STARING AT?!" she screamed. They cowered in fear and scattered to their next class. Erica resumed her sulking.
She had hardly gotten any sleep last night. In fact, all she did was cry her eyes out and watch Dusk for the billionth time.
Sarah approached her warily. "Hey, Erica, are you okay?"
She ignored her, like she did to everyone else that day. Fear and concern turned to snickering and mockery as the day dragged on.
Her phone rang constantly, text messages from Sarah, calls from Felix, it didn't matter. She had chucked it into a pond after school anyway.
All she wanted to do was go to Felix's house and curl up in his arms forever (well, until he was dead, since Erica couldn't die anyway.) She missed him so much, she considered taking him back, even after he lied to her and betrayed her.
She felt alone.

Benny reported for duty at Sarah's house later that night only to find her curled up on the couch.
"Hey, what's up?" he said as he walked through the front door.
She didn't answer.
He sat down next to her. "You okay?"
She shook her head. "I can't believe I just did that. I probably just ruined their lives."
"But it's for the best, right? Now, let's get to the potioning!"

Sarah sighed and followed Benny to her kitchen counter, where Benny began taking various-sized vials and jars out of his bag, a long silver spoon, followed by a dilapidated brown book. He also pulled out a mini cauldron. ("Sometimes I like to pretend I go to Hogwarts!" Benny commented.)

"Okay, so... what are we doing?" Sarah asked as Benny began flipping to a bookmarked page.

"I'm going to make a Forgetful Potion. It causes the subject to forget the certain... well, it's hard to explain, so I'll just do it as I go. Do you have anything that Erica might've used, like lip gloss or some of her hair?"

Sarah thought for a while. It should be easy to find something Erica used in the past since she used to visit Sarah nearly every day. She rummaged through her drawers for a bit, then found a tube of lipstick Erica had left at her house a few months ago. She threw it over to Benny, who fumbled with it for a while, then placed it with the rest of his ingredients on the counter. She sat down next to him and watched him... heat the cauldron with his hands. Well, not solely with his hands. He used a spell. It was like those little hand warmers, except your hands could warm themselves.

He uncorked a little vial full of purple liquid and poured it into the cauldron. He then continued to pour some odd ingredients like some animal's hair and what looked like shell shards. He read the recipe again to make sure he didn't miss anything so far, and then stirred the concoction with the silver spoon.

"Which way is counterclockwise again?" Benny asked out loud. Sarah rolled her eyes. "Okay, never mind. So basically what this potion is about, is when you give it to a certain person and they drink it, they will forget the person whose DNA sample has been fused into this potion."

"Oh, I see."

"It sounds pretty simple. But these instructions are so confusing."

"Yeah, stirring counterclockwise is so hard to figure out."

The potion began to bubble violently. Benny quickly dropped in Erica's lipstick. It stopped bubbling, then began turning into many different colors, purple to lightning blue to deep red. Sarah wasn't sure if it was from the lipstick color or if it was supposed to do that.

Benny closed his eyes, as if in deep thought, and began chanting, "Oblivisci dedisco!" over and over again. Sarah was reminded of a certain scene in Finding Nemo.

It seemed like forever before Benny opened his eyes. He made a hand motion, like he was throwing an imaginary ball at the cauldron, and then sparks flew from the cauldron in a flurry of rainbow colors. It was like Fourth of July in a cauldron. Benny took a small vial and dipped it into the cauldron, collecting some of the potion. He corked it and handed it to Sarah.

"Voila," he said. "Now all you have to do is get Felix to drink this, and he'll forget all about Erica."

Sarah examined it warily. "Forever?"

Benny shrugged as he put his jars back into his bag. "Yeah, pretty much."

Now all I have to do is get Toby to, well, not be in love with me. Sarah thought to herself as she put the vial in her purse. But before I even get to talk to him, I'll need to find a way to get Felix to drink this.

"Anything else you need?" Sarah heard Benny ask, but she wasn't listening. He waved his hand in front of her face. "Hello? Earth to Sarah?"

"Thanks, Benny. This is all I need right now." Sarah said quietly. "See you tomorrow."

Sarah fell asleep that night thinking of ways she could get Felix to drink the potion. But something in the back of her mind told her she shouldn't mess with Erica. Or Felix. She knew they were in love, and she knew that they made each other happy.

Now that she thought about it, Erica's never been more happy with another guy than she's been with Felix.

All along, she was trying to save Erica from another stupid relationship, but all she'd done was ruin both of their lives.

If Erica is so happy with Felix, maybe I could be happy with Toby.

It was the very thought that scared Sarah, that she could fall in love with Felix's brother. She wasn't sure if she wanted to or not.

No! she heard a voice in her head say. You can't do that! You love Ethan! Ethan loves you! Doesn't that mean anything anymore?

It does! she responded. You're right. Erica and I aren't the same person. Just because she's happy doesn't mean I would be happy.

Sarah pushed away all the thoughts about falling in love with Toby and decided that all she would do is make Toby hate her, and everything would be gone. No more Toby, no more Felix, everyone would be happy.

But was she doing a good thing?