Alex opened the door carefully and peeked into the lounge. A couple of heads turned, looked at her curiously, then turned away. Okay. At least it's not everyone.

Not yet, the pessimistic part of her said, and she sighed. It's been what, five minutes, maybe? Probably not more than half a dozen people have gone and gotten new glasses of punch. This isn't going to be so....

"Here! Have a fresh cup of punch!" A tall brunette with a pixie-cut was handing out cups, giving them to three people, each of whom immediately took a sip. She bore a tray with cups on it -- a dozen cups at least, and the tray was less than half full.

... bad. This is bad. Really bad. She closed the door and stepped back out into the hall, turned her back to the wall and leaned against it. Alex took three deep breaths, then nodded her head. Okay, job one: make sure no more people get the punch.

She turned and headed back into the lounge, making a beeline -- at least, the line a bee who was having to weave its way among the flowers might make -- toward the punch bowl. As she passed one boy, he turned and looked at her, blinking, then reached out to try to touch her. Alex made a quick step forward, then moved left, putting someone between them even as he said, "Wait! I need to talk to you!"

I can do this. It may be a big mess, but it won't be as bad as when I did the chocolate slide. "Excuse me," she said, stepping past someone who was picking up a cup, "I just need to get some --"

Putting a hand on the edge of the punch bowl, she leaned forward over it, as if trying to reach something on the other side. Then, Alex let one foot slide, dropping her weight onto the edge, sending the punch bowl's contents pouring out onto the floor while she appeared to accidentally fall.

Immediately, two people were helping her up. She looked up at them, was relieved to see that neither was Justin, not wanting to explain to him what was going on. Okay, job one done. Now.... The thought came to a screeching halt as Alex looked around. Almost the whole room was looking at her -- and a lot of them were staring at her, and then starting to move toward her, quite a few of them abandoning the conversation they'd already been in.

Uh-oh. The Zombie Love Horde is coming. Time to get moving. "Sorry... gotta run. You know how it is...." Alex pulled away from the two guys who'd helped her up -- or tried to, as one of them held on.

"Wait a minute, please -- I have to talk to you! At least tell me your name!"

"Oh... my name is Jennifer. And if you let me go right now, I'll go out with you." He let go, smiling, and Alex pulled away. "Sorry, had my fingers crossed." She took off for the door, saying "Excuse me! Coming through! In a hurry! Matter of life and love!"

People were still staring rather than moving, and Alex tried her best to weave her way through them, but it wasn't going well. There was another guy coming, reaching for her arm, and she stepped back away from him, but that took her farther from the door. They're closing in... what can I do?! Ah!

Bringing one leg up, she said, "Geilsjay Timesday!" then breathed out a sigh of relief as everyone stopped moving. Oh, hey, convenient targets. She took a sideways hop, grabbed onto one guy's arm with her left hand to steady herself, then took her wand in her right hand and started working on those who she knew had been under the spell's effect. "You've got the hots, now you'll have the nots, you were in love, now it you'll snap out of!"

After half a dozen repetitions of the spell, Alex had to stop to wiggle her leg, hoping she could keep the cramp she could feel coming at bay a little longer. This one couldn't have been one of those nice, short, two-word spells, no. She'd almost exhausted the list of people who she was sure were under the spell; she hoped that was all of them, but at the very least, it should give her enough of a lead on any others to get out of the room and get away.

Alex zapped two more, then started her slow hopping way toward the door, using people along the way to lean on. Halfway there she put her leg down and started to walk quickly as the people around her started moving again -- it wouldn't do to get a cramp and not be able to walk. Making it out the door, she broke into a slightly off-canter run, favoring her right leg as she made for the elevator.

Stupid, stupid, stupid! Alex leaned against the wall of the elevator and sighed. I should have used the time stop spell in the first place, to get the potion into Justin's drink. Well, too late now -- no more of the ingredients to make it. That puts me to the backup plan...

*

"Okay, so... let me get this straight. You want me to put a love arrow into your brother? To make him be in love with you?"

Alex blushed deeply and nodded. "That's right. You can do it, right? And you're not going to tell anyone about it?"

"Hey, what do I know about value judgments? I'm just a baby." Cupid looked up at Alex with big, round blue eyes, then cooed. "And like the ad says, complete confidentiality. You want your brother in love with you -- that's nobody's business. Love strikes where it will. Where I will."

"Good." Letting out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding, Alex smiled. "So, we just have to get you somewhere where you can shoot Justin. Let's see...."

*

Two days later, Alex was pushing a stroller along the sidewalk at the university campus, feeling incredibly silly. As if the stroller itself wasn't bad enough, she was wearing a blonde wig. She looked horrible in it, she thought, but it would keep Justin from spotting her and recognizing her. And it had been really cheap at the thrift store, which was good, since she'd blown pretty much all the money she had paying Cupid.

Cupid, who seemed to be enjoying himself immensely. They'd been out here for half an hour, since Alex couldn't remember exactly when Justin's class change was, and it seemed like half the girls who had walked by had wanted to look at the 'baby'.

Baby my ass. When he grabbed that girl's breast, that was no accident. Ah, well. Another fifteen minutes and I should be rid of the little perv....

"Excuse me..." It was a guy's voice, behind Alex, and she turned to look. He was reasonably cute, with hair that flopped to the side in an emo way, matching the From Autumn to Ashes hoodie and tight jeans.

"Yes?"

He looked Alex in the eyes for just a moment, and then his eyes dropped down. "I, um..." A pause, a scratch of the ear. "I don't normally do this kind of thing, but I just saw you over here, and --"

"Were you at the mixer in Dorm G two days ago?"

"Huh?" He looked up at her, dropped his eyes away again, the faintest hint of a blush coming up. "Yes. Why?"

Figures. Wonder how many more there are out there. "Oh, nothing -- just you've got the hots, now you'll have the nots, you were in love, now it you'll snap out of. So, what were you going to say?"

"What?" He blinked, looking confused, and this time, was able to look Alex in the eyes. His were a bright blue, and Alex smiled a little. Wow, he's cute.

"I, umm, uh..."

"Trevor, what are you doing?" A girl stepped up, also in emo fashion, wearing an annoyed expression as she looked from Trevor to Alex and back.

"Oh, uh... I was just telling her how cute her baby is. Isn't that right?"

"Yes, that's right." And has a girlfriend. Well, good thing I got him de-potioned. Probably hasn't been acting right to her this whole time.

"Oh." The girl looked down as if noticing the baby for the first time, leaned down and tickled his chin, smiling. "He is cute."

"Thank you," Alex said, with a somewhat forced smile. Yes, he's cute. Now get out of the way before he has to shoot. She looked around, looking for Justin. He should be coming out of the science building there some time soon. He'd better be, at least -- she could skip her study hall without any problems, but if she missed History, Harper would be asking where she was.

"You have a good day too," she said to them absently as they left. Holding hands. Must be nice.

She turned to look back -- and there he was. Justin! Quickly, Alex leaned down and tapped Cupid, pointing. "There he is!" she hissed. "Shoot!"

"Gotcha." Cupid fumbled out his bow and arrow, drew, took aim, let fly. The arrow flew straight, and sunk right into Justin's thigh. His hand went to the spot automatically, and Alex's heart leaped. Okay... now I just have to get his attention.

She snatched off the wig, started to run toward Justin as he was straightening back up, waving her arm and calling. "Justin!"