The room was completely silent. Everyone was looking at the situation with distraught and horrified looks. This lasts for a moment until Harrison jumps up and yells,

"I CALLED IT!"

"YOU SHUT YOUR WHORE MOUTH, HARRISON!" Neil yells at the top of his lungs.

David and Gwen run over to Max with mortified looks. "What the gosh darn heck happened!?"

"What do you mean 'what the fuck happened', David?! Just get me a fucking medic before Nikki bleeds to death!"

"I shall cast a healing spell to give Nikki maximum health!" Nerris says as she approaches Max.

"That won't be necessary, Nerris," Gwen quickly says as she picks up Nikki in her arms. "I'll just take her to her tent and fix her arm."

"I hope she'll be okay..." Neil says with concern as Gwen carries Nikki. What happened? Where did they go? What were they doing?

Neil began to grow suspicious, considering what Preston had said. Nikki and Max have gotten pretty close during the time they've been spending at camp. Maybe something was going on. But then again... It just didn't seem possible to him.

I'm pretty sure they wouldn't do that. Neither of them like anyone here that way, let alone each other. He convinced himself. But the more he thought about it, the more it seemed to make sense. Still...

He looks in the direction of Max and David, who were standing by the doors of the messhall. ...This whole situation looks pretty incriminating.

"So what happened, Max?" David asks, bending down to Max's height.

"Nikki and I went to the Quartermaster store to avoid your shitty activities. Nikki started acting weird and then she bumped into a shelf, cut her arm open, and fell on the ground." Max rambled, in a seemingly calm tone. He was still terrified for her, but he wanted to stay calm. And maybe try not to think about the fact that it's his fault this happened in the first place. "Now she's unconscious."

"Well, while you still need to watch your language, you shouldn't have been in the Quartermaster store in the first place! It isn't nice to invade his privacy, and you could've gotten seriously hurt!"

"Nikki's fucking unconscious, David." Max repeated, slightly louder and more irritated this time.

"Exactly!" David says. "That's why you shouldn't go into anyone's private area unless they give you consent."

Max pinches the brim of his nose and sighs. "David, you phrase things so horribly."

"What do you mean by that?" David tilts his head in confusion.

God, he's so fucking stupid. "Ugh, nothing, just forget it." Max walks away.

Soon, Max spots Neil from a few tables away, glaring at him. What the fuck? He thinks to himself. What's he looking at me like that for? Max approaches the table and sits next to Neil.

"So," Neil starts. "Care to tell me with the hell you were doing with Nikki?"

He sighs in annoyance. "What else is there to say? A knife fell from a shelf and cut a wound in Nikki's arm, then she slipped and fell on the ground."

"I know that!" Neil bangs his fists on the table in frustration. "But where were you and Nikki? And why were you there?" He grabs Max's hoodie and pulls him towards his face. "Whatever you did to her, I will get to the bottom of it whether you like it or not!"

"The hell are you talking about?" Max gave Neil an offended look as his hands balled into fists. "We went to the Quartermaster store so we wouldn't have to deal with David's bullshit! It's as simple as that. Calm the fuck down, you're acting like I tried to murder Nikki or something!"

"...Did you?" "Why the fuck would I do that, Neil?" "I don't know, I just thought you did something!"

Max pushes Neil off of him and dusts himself off. Okay, this probably isn't what I think it is. Neil thought. I mean, I'm getting this from what Preston told me. Besides, my prediction was right. ...But why was Nikki blushing? And how was she when she was losing blood?!

Neil was silent for a while, before he asked, "You didn't act weird around her, right?"

"What does that have to do with-" Max sighs and rubs his temples. "-No, I didn't. If anything, Nikki was acting weirder than usual. Though, it was probably from her mood swings."

"How? What was she doing?" Wait... 'Mood swings'? Okay, now Neil was confused. What could Nikki possibly do that's outside of the norm? She's already crazy as it is, anything wouldn't be surprising for her.

"She tried to touch my hair. I know that's not really outside of the weirdness of Nikki, but then she started giving me weird compliments? That's kinda what lead to this whole disaster."

"Weird compliments..?" Neil put a hand to his chin, squinting his eyes. "Like what?"

"She told me I was pretty." "...Pretty?" Okay, this was more confusing than before. "Since when does Nikki give compliments like that?"

"She doesn't. And it's weird to use that word to describe a guy."

The door to the messhall opened, and Gwen stepped in with a bit of a shocked look on her face. Kinda like she saw something unexpected and horrible.

"Is Nikki going to be okay?" Harrison asks as he walks up to her. Gwen looks at the magic kid and snaps out of her mortified expression. "Well, aside from the cut on her arm, she has a small concussion and sprained ankle, but I believe she's going to be fine with a few hours of rest and treatment."

As everyone was in their individual camps, Max was just walking around. And oddly enough, he couldn't stop thinking about Nikki.

"I hope she's gonna be okay..." He says to himself, but then he stops. "What am I talking about? Of course she is! It's not like I killed her. I didn't. She's going to be fine.." ..But why was she acting so weird? He knew it was from mood swings, but... This was different. She's never acted that way on her period. Then again, she's 13. She's just in a stage of life where she gets weird feelings about people. They'll go away before I know they even exist.

As he was thinking, he heard abrupt yelling from the Science Camp.

"WHERE DID IT GO!?" He screamed in a panic. "I could've sworn I left it right here!"

"Hey, Neil, have you got that flamethrower finished yet?" Max approached Neil. That'll probably get his mind off of Nikki.

"This is NOT the time for that, Max!" "Jeez, what's got you so worked up? At least, aside from literally everything that happens at this camp?"

"One of my tonics is missing! I was planning on testing it out today!"

"Which one? They all look the same to me." Max shrugs.

"There was a red tonic right here!" Neil points to an empty gap where the tonic once was in frustration. "Are you sure you didn't see it?"

"Yep. But I did see Nikki here earlier."

"WHAT!?"

"Yeah, she was messing with your stuff while you weren't there."

Neil was about to go on a rant about how Nikki shouldn't be messing with his things but paused. "...Was her face red the whole time?" "...Yeah?"

"Oh my fucking God!" Neil took Max by his sweater and put him up to his face. He pieced it all together. "Do you have ANY idea what this means!?"

"Oh, let me guess," Max says in a sarcastic tone. "'Oh no, Nikki's gonna die again!' Please, she just has mood swings. She's literally on her period right now."

"No, not that! It's worse!" Neil grabbed Max and pulled him up to his face. "Nikki drank a mood tonic. It was designed to simulate romantic feelings for the person closest to them! And that person was YOU!"

"So, what your saying is because Nikki drank your dumb potion, she 'fell in love' with me." "THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT I'M SAYING! And it's NOT a potion, it's a tonic!"

"That's a load of bullshit." He pushes Neil off of him again. "It didn't work last time, I doubt it worked this time. Nikki would never think of me as anything more than a friend. I'd know if someone had a thing for me, and so far Nikki hasn't done or said shit to me to imply that."

Neil was about to respond but stops himself before he starts. He rests a hand on his chin, really thinking about that. "You're right about that. I never really tested it on anything... But that doesn't explain those weird compliments you said she gave you."

"Neil, everyone here's at an age where they start thinking about weird things and act on them."

"How do you know that, Max?" Neil asks. "And how does that not lean towards Nikki having weird feelings for you?"

Max looks away, ignoring the heat he felt on his cheeks. "She's on her period, it's gonna fade away."

"And if it doesn't?"

"It will." He narrows his eyes at Neil. "Why would you make a love potion in the first place, if not to get a date because you're too scared to get one on your own?"

Immediately, Neil flinched and blushed. "That's none of your business!" He crosses his arms defensively. "Besides, we need to focus more on how to reverse it if it worked!"

"'We'? Don't put this shit on me, Neil, you're the one who made it! Not saying it actually worked, cuz it probably didn't, but just make another potion or whatever it is to reverse it if it did."

"Fine. Just at least distract her long enough for me to make an antidote before the effects are permanent." He pointed a finger at Max. "And don't tell Nikki! If she finds out, she'll freak out and tell David and Gwen. And then they'll take me to prison and then-"

"Goddamn, Neil, calm the fuck down! The most they'd do is freak out about it too. Nikki's attention span is pretty much nonexistent, so it'll be easy to distract her." He walks away, and Neil looks back at his tonics.

He begins to laugh very nervously. "Hopefully I'll be able to get something made before the end of the week."

As they finished their conversation, Neil hears clapping and a dramatic voice. "Incredible work! The feelings are so REAL! Loving the passion! Amazing use in subtext on Max's part, and the cliffhanger is executed so impressively-"

Neil ends up grabbing Preston's neck and strangling him in anger again.