Lovesick Witches

Facing Fears

My palms were sweaty as I entered the potions lab. 

"Are you alright, Ana?" Mildred said as she walked up behind me. "You seem quite... distracted this morning." 

"Yeah, I'm fine," I lied as my stomach clenched. 

Today was the day I was going to resolve things with Miss Hardbroom. I had hope. And a funny feeling of excitement. But I was mostly nervous. It had been over a week since the incident in the woods and we hadn't spoken to each other since. But I knew it was my responsibility to solve it. I ran away from her. So now I had to bring us back together. 

My heart raced as I took my seat in potions class next to my friends. HB was yet to arrive. I think Maud and Enid were chatting to one another. But all I heard was a vague muffling sound next to me. I saw shapes moving around in the corner of my eye. I thought that it was Ethel and Felicity entering the classroom and taking their seats. But I was in a state of nervousness that I wasn't really aware of the things surrounding me. I was only aware of my thoughts and the butterflies in my stomach. 

"Ana?" a voice said as a hand waved in front of my face, bringing me out of the trance I was in. 

"Maud!" I said anxiously. I began to calm down as I became aware of my surroundings. "Sorry," I said. Maud looked at me with concern. 

"You keep going into these weird trances," she said. 

"I'm aware," I replied. 

"HB should be here soon," Enid said. "I hope she is in a good mood today." 

I hoped so too. 

"Enid Nightshade!" a stern voice said before a familiar dark figure appeared at the front of the classroom. "You'd wish I was." 

The classroom went silent then as all the students looked at the teacher in terror. 

"Today, girls," she said as she brightened her tone slightly, "I would like you to make a laughter potion. You may begin." 

As she sat down at her desk, the noise level rose back up to the normal sound of quiet chattering. 

"I think you jinxed it, Enid," said Mildred, referring to HB's mood. 

"Oops," Enid said. 

We all got up from our seats and grabbed our ingredients from the shelves. As I stirred the potion, my hands got warmer and I could feel the sweat on my palms. I had to speak to HB. I wanted nothing more than to get back onto her good side and be close to her like before. 

I took a deep breath to calm myself. I would wait until the potions class had finished and when everyone left, I would stay behind. That's when I would talk to her. 

I watched the terrifying teacher as I brewed my potion. She was marking work on her desk like she usually did. I sensed discomfort in her actions. The way her pen pressed onto the paper. It was almost aggressive. She seemed agitated. I sensed some negative energy coming off her. Enid was right. She wasn't in the best mood. But I couldn't wait any longer. I wouldn't let myself back away from this one. I had to face my fears in order to solve things and I had to talk to HB. 

We finished making our potions but I decided not to test mine. I didn't want to seem high on laughing gas when trying to talk to Miss Hardbroom. So instead, I just pretended to laugh and no one suspected anything. 

"Good work girls," said Miss Hardbroom in a slightly snarky tone at the end of the lesson. "Class dismissed." 

I packed my spell books into my bag as the students around my filed out of the classroom.