I woke up in the middle of the night, feeling refreshed. I opened my eyes, and saw Sam by my side, her left arm and leg resting on top of me in the usual Sam’s way of sharing a bed. I chuckled.

At first I didn’t understand what I was doing there. That wasn’t my room, of course. I began to remember the things that happened last night, and realized that I must have fallen asleep on Sam’s bed when we were together.

I had no idea what time it was, or for how long I had slept. Sam would know, but it would be a shame to wake her up. Sam’s sleeping face looked so peaceful, and just a little funny.

As I was staring at her face, the image of Claire crying under the moonlight came back to me. She’d looked so desolated. It shocked me to see her cry like that. But it was the right thing, to put an end to that weird relationship. I’m sure she must have understood that as well. So why did she have to look so hurt and miserable? She’s the one who said she never wanted me as anything more than a friend. Did it matter so much that I couldn’t keep on being her friend?

Why does it feel like it’s all my fault?

I shifted around in bed, trying to go back to sleep.

“Ann?” Sam called me. Her sleepy voice sounded really soft.

“Sorry,” I told her. “Didn’t mean to wake you up.”

“Nah, ‘sokay. How’re you feeling?”

“Stupid. Lame. Like a joke.”

“You’re none of those things.”

“Yeah?” I turned around to look at her. She was lying in bed sideways, looking at me with eyes wide open and a concerned face. “How do you know that?” I asked her.

“Because you’re you,” she said. “You’re our Anamaria. You have a sweet sense of humor and a beautiful smile. You have a cheery, carefree kind of aura about you, and just by being around you it makes everyone feel better, even if we’re feeling down. You’re great at Health, everyone wants to ask for your help in that subject. You’re not stupid, or lame. You’re the coolest one of us four.”

I chuckled. The coolest?

Sam probably noticed my disdain of her opinion of me.

“I mean it,” she said. “You’re my best friend.”

Ouch. That melted the ice from my heart.

“You’re my best friend too,” I told her.

“No more sulking, okay?”

I nodded.

“Right,” she said. “Come here.”

Sam wrapped her arms around me, bringing me closer to her. It felt warm, and good, and maybe just a tiny bit too intimate, but perhaps I didn’t mind it being that way. She closed her eyes and rested her forehead against the back of my head.

“Goodnight, Ana.”

—

The next morning, we found the girls already waiting for us in the cafeteria. Agatha was pissed off that we didn’t get to have our sleepover last night, because Sam and I just disappeared after dinner. I apologized to her, and promised to make up for her in some way.

“Help me with Health homework,” she demanded. And turning toward Sam: “And you help me study for that Math test.”

“Deal,” Sam agreed.

“Where were you two off to, anyway?” Agatha asked, a little less annoyed now that she’d managed to coerce us both into helping her with her studies.

“Ana’s had a heartbreak, and she needed her best friend.”

“Whoa!” Agatha exclaimed. “What do you mean? With Claire? What happened? And also, since when did you two become best friends?”

Ruth answered that one. “I think you’re the only one who hadn’t noticed, Agatha. Sammy’s always doting on Anamaria.”

“Am I really?” Sam asked, embarrassed. I saw her get all bothered by that, for some reason. That got Agatha and Ruth laughing at her, and even I couldn’t help but smile.

Things were back to normal. Or at least, as normal as they could get.

“But really,” said Agatha, not dropping the subject. “What happened between Ana and Claire?”

I shook my head, unsure if I felt comfortable with telling the girls the whole story.

“We... Well, you girls know that I have feelings for Claire,” I told them. Agatha nodded, and Ruth just motioned me to keep taking. “I talked to her yesterday night. I told her we couldn't be friends anymore. I had to... y’know... officially end things. But I think it hurt me more than I expected it to.”

I stopped my story there. Sure, Agatha and Ruth were good friends of mine, but I was too ashamed of my mistakes to tell them anything else.

“And that’s why,” Sam interrupted me, “today we’re having another girls’ night.”

“Take it easy,” Ruth told her. “Agatha’s liver can only take so much wine.”

“What do you mean?” asked Sam. “We haven’t been drinking lately.”

I saw Agatha blush furiously, and Ruth smirked.

“Well,” said Agatha, awkwardly. “Since you and Ana never showed up… it ended up just being me and Ruth last night…”

“You drank our wine?” said Sam, incredulous. “You drank the wine we bought together for our sleepovers? Without me? Seriously?”

Ruth sipped on her chamomile tea, looking between Agatha and Sam with a smirk plastered onto her lips. I had to cover my mouth with my hands to stop myself from laughing.

That went on for a while. Even after our second morning class (History) was over, Sam was still not talking to Agatha.

“Oh, Sam, what’s the big deal?” I asked her, once we were both alone walking down the corridor. Ruth and Agatha had History in a different class from us, so it was just me and Sam until third period. “It’s just a bit of wine.”

Sam frowned. “You have no idea how hard it is to get alcohol inside this school,” she told me. “They have, like, a dozen security spells per square meter. It’s probably easier to get alcohol into a prison.”

“Whoa!” I exclaimed. “Then how do you—”

Sam placed her index finger in front of my lips, to stop me from speaking.

“State secret,” she said.

We walked down the corridor and noticed a small crowd gathered in front of the bulletin board.

“Oh yeah,” said Sam. “The results from the electives draw. Let me see if I got what I wanted.”

My stomach dropped. I never got to sign up for Witchcraft lessons, like I wanted to.

“Yeah, I got the advanced class!” Sam cheered. “Been a while since I’ve had classes with Mr. Thomas, I want to show him the latest spells I devised.”

I showed Sam a weak smile, which was all I could manage. She shrugged, and kept on checking the list.

“But it seems I didn’t get any luck with foreign languages,” she said. “Too bad. I’ve been really eager to learn a bit of that. Also… Ruth got both Childcare and Nursing. That’s not fair… Oh, Ana, you got the Witchcraft class.”

I raised my eyebrows in surprise.

“Come again?” I asked her.

Sam pointed at one of the lists of names affixed to the board. The header said “Witchcraft: Basic Class,” and right below that, my name figured among the first ones on the list.

“No way…” I said, barely believing it. I had to double check, maybe there was another Anamaria in school… but yeah, no, there it was, my full name. Not many people in Willow had foreign names like mine. There was no mistake.

Anamaria de la Rosa

“Let’s go,” said Sam. “I wanna tell Ruth she got her classes, in case she hasn’t seen it yet.”

Sam and I walked down the corridor together. I was still trying to wrap my head around what happened. I never signed up for that class. How was it possible for my name to show up on the list?

“Sam…” I called her.

“Hm? What is it?”

“Did you sign me up for that Witchcraft class? Back when I didn’t want to go there because I was afraid of meeting Claire?”

Sam stopped walking, and looked at me with a puzzled look.

“You didn’t sign up?”

I shook my head.

“You think one of the girls did it?” I asked her.

Sam seemed to think about it for a bit.

“I wouldn’t put it past Ruth to do just that. But she always keeps her word, and she did promise me not to. Sorry about that, by the way, Ana.”

“It’s okay. I know why you did it.”

“Right. And Agatha couldn’t have done it. She missed the deadline for her own electives choice. I guess that leaves…”

I closed my eyes, and took a deep breath. I didn’t need Sam to tell me. I knew.

“Claire,” I said.

Sam nodded. “She is the president of the student council,” she remarked.

“Why would she do that?” I asked, still unable to believe that my name was even on the list at all.

“Think about it, Ann... did you tell ever tell her that becoming a witch is your dream?”

I stopped to think about it.

“Yeah, I did. On the train. Twice.”

“That’s your answer,” she told me.

Sam said nothing more. We walked together to the school grounds, heading to our meeting spot with the girls next to the fountain behind the arts building. I felt miserable all along the way, remembering the way I’d made Claire cry when we met, the night before. Heck. All I did was make a move on her once, then avoid her for weeks, yet she was still looking out for me. Then I went and made her cry. I was a bitch, wasn’t I?

“Stop that,” Sam told me.

“Stop what?”

“Thinking about Claire.”

I was surprised. “How did you know I was—”

“Oh, please Ana, it’s written in your face,” she drew circles in the air in front of my face with her index finger. “Right there, on your forehead: ‘worrying about pointless stuff’, it reads. So, come on! You’re single, there are tons of people out there who would love you and only you. Don’t beat yourself over what’s gone. You know Claire’s a mess, what with her relationships being like that and all, are you really regretting letting go of that mess?”

I shook my head. “I guess you’re right.”

“Aren’t I? Plus, I’m a much better witch than her.”

I laughed. “Come again?”

“That girl’s a lousy witch. I’m much more suited to be your teacher.”

“You know, Sam,” I said, still laughing, “I’m fairly sure I was looking for a lover, not for a teacher.”

“I’m more suited for that too.”

“EXCUSE ME?!” I laughed, my chin dropping in disbelief.

“Hypothetically, of course,” Sam smiled, unfazed.

I laughed.

You know, I thought to myself, I really could take you up on that, Sam. Then I shook the idea off my head. Was it weird for me to think of Sam in that way? It was weird, wasn’t it?