The potion that saved Love

Chapter 1

My alarm went off loudly at 7am. I groaned and hit the snooze button. Thank God it's Friday, I thought as I rolled out of bed, got dressed and washed and shuffled downstairs for breakfast. My mum stood at the sink, washing dishes.

"Morning," she said when I walked in. "Your breakfast's on the table."

"Thanks," I muttered, sliding into the seat and picking up my spoon. I glanced up, "You know you can just use something called a dishwasher for that."

"It's broken," she said, "what's that?" She pointed to the book on the table.

"My maths homework," I said, "stupid teacher didn't explain it properly on Wednesday. I'm gonna ask him about it in class today."

"Ok, better get going or you'll miss the bus."

"Mkay, see you later." I said, picking up my now empty breakfast dish and bringing it over to the sink. I shoved the maths book into my bag.

"Have a nice day," she smiled and gave me a hug.

I checked my watch. 7:47 I had thirteen minutes till my bus left. I picked up my school bag and ran out of the door. I sprinted up the road, which was kind of difficult because of my stupid school skirt. I ran up Kirsten's driveway and knocked on the door. Her step-mum answered.

"Hey Mrs B, is Kirsten around?" I asked.

Before she could reply, Kirsten herself called down the stairs, "I'm here!" She came tearing down the stairs and into the hall, tie undone and shoes on the wrong feet.

"Bye mum!" she said, pecking her on the cheek and jumping out od the door, throwing her bag onto her shoulder.

"Morning," I said, "organised as usual I see."

"You get that maths homework done?" she asked, fixing her tie and shoes as we walked.

"Nope," I sighed, "I'm gonna ask him about it in class."

Kirsten checked her watch, "Crap, we're gonna miss the bus!"

We both hitched out bags up our shoulders and broke into a run.

"Morning ladies," said Tom, Kirsten's boyfriend, as we came speeding round the corner at the top of the street, "Don't sweat, the bus has been delayed."

"Thank God!" said Kirsten, collapsing on the seat at the bus stop and throwing her bag down on the ground. I sat down beside her, pulling my phone out from my blazer pocket. I checked it and found a new message from Rhianna.

"Just leaving now! :P x" it said. The text was sent at 7:04 am. I sighed. In an ideal world all of your friends would live near you and get your bus, but unfortunately this wasn't the case. Rhianna lived right on the other side of town, Alanna lived right beside school and Kerry lived even further away, in the outskirts of the next town.

The bus pulled up and we hopped on, scanning our bus cards and getting out tickets. I chatted with Kirsten and Tom about school and stuff. Tom kept telling these flirty little jokes to Kirsten and although she batted him away, I could tell she really liked him. Unfortunately for Kirsten however, Tom didn't go to our school so he had to get off a couple of stops early. Kirsten stared out of the window at him and sighed dreamily. I rolled my eyes and nudged her, "You'll see him again later!"

She smiled and then her expression turned thoughtful.

"When are you gonna get yourself a boyfriend Johanna?" she said.

I groaned, "Ugh not this again."

"What about Nick? You know that guy in your French class?"

I wrinkled my nose, "No way, even if he didn't have major BO I still wouldn't date him."

Kirsten continued to suggest guys to me for another ten minutes, all of which I refused, until we got off the bus and walked down the street and across the road to meet Rhianna was waiting for us outside school.

"God!" she exclaimed, the second we crossed the road, "I've been here for ages!"

"The bus was delayed," explained Kirsten, "There's still ten minutes until class!"

Rhianna sighed irritably but seemed to cheer up when we got to the lockers and she opened her locker to find a rose.

"Woah, what's that?" said Alanna, walking in.

"An elephant," I said sarcastically and Kirsten laughed.

"Dude, I know it's a rose but what I don't know is who sent it." Alanna said.

"I think I have an idea," said a voice behind us. We all turned and saw Kerry standing there.

"Kerry!" Rhianna squealed and she ran and gave her a hug.

"Who'd you think sent the rose, Kerry?" I asked, high fiving her.

"Zack," she said, "in our English class. I saw him coming in here earlier and fiddling around with Rhianna's locker."

At that moment, the guy in question came into the lockers.

He smiled at Rhianna, "Hey."

Rhianna smiled and fanned herself with her history book. I rolled my eyes and beckoned to the others.

"See you later Rhianna!" I called over to her. She was looking nervous but excited. In tutor group, the teacher called the role in a monotone which was so irritating it made me want to hit him. Let's just say… I'm not the best in the mornings.

After five long periods of history, music, geography and double English, during which Rhianna whispered non-stop to Zack and was eventually moved by the teacher to sit somewhere else, lunch finally came. In the queue for canteen, I noticed a girl called Jill in my class was staring at my maths teacher with great suspicion. I raised my eyebrows at her and continued down the line, picking up a cheese Panini and an apple on my way. Kirsten met me outside the canteen and we set off to the tree where we always ate lunch (unless it was raining, which it usually was). I leaned against the tree and ate my lunch, trying to chat to Rhianna but she was talking to Zack again. I tried to talk to Kirsten but she was frantically texting Tom. Just then, Kerry and Alanna came over.

"Hey guys!" I said, smiling, "How's it going?"

"Not bad," said Kerry. Suddenly her phone rang loudly. "Sorry one second," she answered it, "Mum what the h-" she hissed, then she paused. "Oh. Oh hey, Charlie. Yeah. What time? Ok I'll be right there." She hung up.

"I gotta go, see you guys later." Kerry looked at me, "Maths!" she pulled a face.

I laughed, "See ya Kerry!"

She waved and ran off, leaving me and Alanna standing leaning against the tree.

"Why does everyone have a guy except me!" I complained, sliding down the tree and sitting down. Alanna sat down beside me.

"I feel your pain, dude." Suddenly a tall guy with dark hair walked past. Alanna's eyes followed him, "Wooah he's fit."

I sighed, "Go on."

"Thanks dude." She stod up and ran to catch up with the guy.

I stuffed my earphones into my ears and turned the music up loud. If they didn't want to talk to me, fine. I'd be antisocial!

On the way to class, Kirsten and Rhianna came up to me.

"What's wrong buddy?" said Rhianna, her expression concerned.

"Yeah you look a bit, upset." Said Kirsten.

I shrugged, "It's just, I felt a bit of a loner at lunch, you know? 'Cause you guys all have boyfriends and stuff and I don't."

"Aww Johanna!" Rhianna exclaimed, hugging me.

"You could get a guy if you wanted!" Kirsten said, giving me a hug too. "You just can't find the right one."

I nodded. They assured me that the right one would come along soon enough.

Yeah, right.