I woke up in the morning of Sunday feeling like a completely different person.

The knowledge that I didn’t have a curse was empowering, but also slightly overwhelming. From now on, if I failed anything I tried to do ever again, it’d be entirely my own fault, and that in itself was somewhat scary. But on the other hand, I could now dream of a future where things actually turned out right for me, where I could take my chances and hope for the best, knowing I actually had a shot.

The girls were sleeping next to me. Agatha on the mattress by my side, Ruth and Sam together on the bed. We’d just had our second sleepover together, to celebrate me not actually having a curse. Of course, it was one thing to know it myself, and another to get the people in school to believe it. But Sam kept telling me not to worry about it: they’d hear it from their teacher, and even from the director himself if that proved necessary. I didn’t expect that everyone would be convinced, but if at least half of the people there stopped avoiding me out of fear, that was quite an achievement compared to my previous schools.

And there was one more thing about the previous day that had me really hyped up about the future. Figuring out why I hadn’t been able to cast spells, and effectively getting rid of that nasty hairpin, it felt as if the world of magic and witchcraft had suddenly opened all its doors to me. I itched to go behind the school and start trying out all the spell recipes that I had memorized throughout the years. I wanted to experiment, to practice, to improve, and honestly, even though I had no curse anymore, I was really hyped up about becoming a witch now that I knew it was possible.

That jogged my mind. I had completely forgotten about the school electives. If I didn’t sign up for it now, I’d have to spend the entire year learning magic on my own. Sure, there were lots of other students also interested in taking it, and the Student Council did say they’d have to select us at random. I had never won a draw before in my life (most of the time I didn’t even bother to enter them), but now I knew it was possible. My chances weren’t great, with all that competition, but they weren’t zero.

The Student Council… I’d actually have to go meet them after class if I wanted to write my name on that draw list, wouldn’t I? That meant… That meant I’d have to meet up with Claire. And after what happened the other night… I wasn’t sure my heart could take it.

I looked to my side, at a sleeping Agatha. Compared to Sam, who hogged the whole bed (and whoever was sleeping on it as well), Agatha slept like an angel. I chuckled. Once she woke up and started spouting her usual nonsense, that angel impression was bound to go away.

I raised my head a little, and tried to glance at Sam and Ruth sleeping together on the bed. Ruth slept on her belly, and Sam… well, Sam just slept whichever way she happened to fall on the bed. She had her right arm and leg draped over Ruth, just as she’d done with me. It looked funny, but Ruth didn’t seem bothered by it. Come to think of it, I did remember Sam saying the two of them had been sleeping together since preschool.

Would it be okay if I asked one of them to go and write my name for me on the list? Just so I didn’t have to stand face to face with Claire just yet? Yeah, I know I was running away from it, but y’know? My love life, and particularly Claire’s love life, were both a huge nasty messy disasters at the moment, and I didn’t feel like I had the skills or the courage to tackle it all just yet.

I couldn’t ask Ruth or Agatha, though. They’d get curious, and then I’d have to tell them the whole story. Sam already knew. She heard the whole thing from me and didn’t judge me for it. If I had to ask anyone to back me up on this, it’d have to be her.

I let my head fall back on the pillow, with a soft thump.

What was it that I wanted?

Did I want to be Claire’s girlfriend?

I mean… supposing the obvious stuff actually happened, and she found out about Myu’s cheating (or decided to tell Myu about her own episode with me)… Would I be okay with asking Claire out? I mean… I’d be doing it right after she had a falling out with Myu… Wasn’t that opportunism?

On the other hand, suppose Claire never found out about Myu, and vice versa. Or suppose they did find out, but decided to work things out between them. Then… Would I be able to remain Claire’s friend? Did I want to be her friend in the first place?

I heard someone groan from the bed. Sam raised her sleepy head and looked around, barely opening her eyes. She was probably hungover after last night’s wine. Honestly, that was the second time we drank together in less than a week. That, as Agatha would say, had to be bad for our health. Particularly Agatha’s, and Sam’s, if they kept drinking as much as they did.

Sam’s hair was all messy, and her face looked like she’d been sleeping inside a cargo truck. She glanced at me, and attempted to smile.

“Morning,” she told me. “You’re up early.”

“Just thinking about stuff,” I told her. Not a lie. “It’s early, go back to sleep.”

She shook her head. “No can do… I need to work out, then bathe, before it’s time for classes to start. What do we have today?”

“Biology,” I told her.

“Not math? Or physics?”

“Nope.” Those were her favorite subjects.

“Bother. Maybe I should skip, my head hurts.”

“You’re going to work out with a hangover?”

“I’ve got spells to make me last through that,” she told me. “They don’t help much with the pain and the sickness, but at least those things won’t get worse with the exercise. And also… Well, if need be, I still have some opioids I smuggled from Agatha’s parents last summer.”

“You stole drugs?!” I exclaimed, surprised. “Who are you, and what did you do with that kind and well behaved nerd we call Samantha?”

“Am I all of those things? Really?”

“Now that I think about it… maybe not. You are a nerd, though.”

She snorted, and sat up on the bed. “Gee, thanks.”

“Um… Sam… shouldn’t we, maybe, keep quiet?” I pointed at the two sleeping girls beside us.

“Nah. Agatha sleeps like a log. It takes a marching band to wake that girl up. And Ruth’s awake already, she’s just faking it.”

“I’d still be asleep if you didn’t move around in bed so much,” Ruth said from underneath her covers.

I chuckled.

“Well,” I told Sam. “Let’s go then.”

“Go where?”

“Exercise. Wasn’t that the plan?”

“You’re going too!?”

“I kinda feel like stretching my legs,” that was truth. Just the day before I discovered I had no curse. That simple fact was enough to make me want to run, scream, dance and sing, all at once. “Plus… I’m a bit worried about you exercising in that state. I can call the paramedics if you black out.”

Sam snorted. “I’m good, honest. Still… thank you, Ana.”

She smiled at me. Sam really had the sweetest smile.

–

Willow Institute had a gym, a pool and a running track. Sam had a tracksuit and running shoes which looked fit for an athlete, while I was just wearing sweats and sneakers which weren’t really fit for anything, except being comfy, but given Sam’s general well-being at the moment, I doubted I’d have trouble keeping up with her, even if I ran barefoot.

Sam got a couple of spells from her backpack. One was just a piece of flower-patterned fabric, which she used to tie her hair up in a ponytail. The other was a glass container filled with a glowing blue fluid inside.

“That a potion?” I asked her, really curious.

She nodded. “This is what keeps me going after a drinking night. Of course you can just go to town and buy meds for hangover, and they’ll work just as well, perhaps better. But get caught with one of those inside the school, and it’s suspension for you. This,” she said, drinking a large gulp of blue ooze from the glass container. “is safe.”

I raised my eyebrows. Safe wasn’t a word I’d use to describe what that spell looked like. “But how does that keep you from getting suspended? I mean, don’t the teachers know that spell already?”

“They don’t, because I invented it.”

My chin dropped, just a little. It didn’t look like Sam was making that up either. That made me just the slightest bit jealous. Sam was so good a witch that she had the skill to create spells nobody ever used before. I wanted to be good like that, too.

“Teach me, some time?”

She laughed. “Of course,” she said, putting the potion back in her backpack, and throwing it on the hedge at the side of the track. “But… only when you’re good enough to beat me to the end of the track.”

I snorted. “You’re hungover!”

“Think it’ll be easy?”

Sam positioned herself before the starting line in the second lane, and started stretching. I copied her. Once we were done stretching, we turned to face the long paved track ahead of us.

“On three?” I asked. She nodded.

I counted down from three. While my mouth was still forming the word “zero”, I saw Sam push down on the ground and propel herself forward, faster than I thought she’d be able to run.

“What?!” I exclaimed, surprised. Then I remembered this was a competition, and started running too.

Sam was right, I couldn’t beat her. I gave my very best, but still reached the finish line ten whole seconds after her.

“It’s not fair on you,” she said. “Those sneakers hold you back.”

“How can you run so fast when you’re sick?!” Honestly, Sam was scary.

“I’ve been doing this since age two. It’s my passion. My dream. One day I’ll go pro.”

“I thought you’d be a witch? I mean, you’re pretty good at it.”

“Nah, that’s just a hobby. Now let’s jog, I’ll hold back so we can run together, don’t worry.”

I smirked at her in contempt.

“You don’t have to sound so condescending about it, eh?”

We began running together. Sam was right. After our competitive sprint, she was now running very leisurely by my side, allowing me to keep up with her and even exchange a couple of words along the way.

“So, ms. not-cursed-anymore… You wanna be a witch, right?”

I nodded. “If I can.”

“Will you join the elective? They should still be accepting subscriptions until the end of this coming week.”

That subject, again… I was trying not to think about it, not too much. But since Sam was the one asking me, and I needed her help anyway, it was probably wiser to just ask.

“I… Sam, you see…” I was out of breath. Long sentences weren’t possible for me to accomplish while running. I was really out of shape. “I was hoping you’d… sign me up… So I don’t have to… You know…”

“So you don’t have to meet Claire after you gave her a kiss.”

“That’s the… gist of it… yeah…”

“No can do, Ana.”

I stopped running. Sam then stopped too, a few meters ahead of me.”

“Why not!?” I asked her, surprised. I had been so sure I could count on Sam to do this for me. We were friends. I never expected her to refuse.

“Because you’re running away,” she said, walking up to me. “I’ve seen how you’ve been acting around the school grounds. Hiding from Claire whenever she was somewhere nearby. You locked yourself up in the women’s toilet. Honestly, Ana…”

“I know, I know.” I sat down on the track, and folded my legs in front of me. “I’m a coward.”

“No, Ana,” Sam sat down beside me. “You’re not a coward. But you’re scared. I understand, really, I do, but you got yourself in this mess, and you need to get yourself out of it.”

“How?”

“That’s for you to figure out, innit?”

We sat side by side in the middle of the track for a really long time. I kept thinking about what Sam told me, trying to figure out the solution to that riddle. Sam just sat there, keeping me company.

After what seemed like an eternity, I broke the silence.

“I love her,” I said. “I love Claire. And I know I said yesterday that I regretted kissing her, but the truth is that I don’t. Not really. I love her and I’d do it again if I could. Does that make me a bad person?”

Sam shook her head. “You’re single. Claire’s the one on the wrong here.”

“Even if I was the one to kiss her, and not the other way around?”

“Even then.”

Sam and I stood in silence for a bit, thinking.

“What if I just misinterpreted everything? What if she really just wants to be my friend, and I messed it all up by kissing her?”

“Then you apologize, and go on as friends.”

“What if I don’t want to remain friends with her?”

“You still apologize, then tell her you can’t be friends.”

“But… what if even after all that mess, I still want to be her girlfriend?”

Sam sighed.

“Then you confess,” she said, averting her eyes. “And hope she’ll break up with her lover for you.”

It was clear that this option bothered Sam. Maybe she thought that I was intruding in someone else’s happiness. If she thought so, well, she was right, I was intruding. What Claire and her girl had between the two of them was none of my business, and I had no right to mess it up with my own feelings.

I tried looking at Sam for guidance, but it seems that I did bother her enough that she wasn’t going to offer me help in this matter any further.

“Will you remain my friend?” I asked her. “Whatever happens?”

Sam nodded, getting up from the floor. “Of course, Ana,” she said, still not looking me in the eyes. “Come, we need to bathe before class.”