“You won’t believe what I just overheard!” a girl exclaimed. Despite keeping her voice down, her excitement was obvious.

“What? What?” her friends asked, interested.

“In here!” she said, entering the bathroom.

“What is it, Sarah?” the girls asked again, more curious now.

“Jason was talking to his friend about slipping Melida a love potion today during lunch!” she exclaimed in a hushed voice.

“What? No way!” one of them shouted, her voice echoing in the bathroom.

“He knows it’s illegal! Everyone does!” another girl whispered.

“Yeah. He’s stupid, but not that much.”

“If he’s planning to do that in a crowded place, he’s beyond stupid.”

“He could be arrested because of that!”

“Does he think he can get away just because his family is rich?”

“Remember that girl, Gerope?”

“Yeah. She’s still in jail for giving that man a love potion.”

“It was to get pregnant, wasn’t it? The guy was rich.”

“Jason doesn’t want anything like that,” Sarah said. “From what I overheard, he said he just wants to humiliate Melida a little.”

“Committing a crime just for that…”

“Is this just because she exposed he was cheating on his girlfriend to everyone?”

“I think so. I heard his family got mad at him.”

“The girl was a noble, wasn’t she?”

“Can’t believe he’s gonna do that. It’s crazy.”

“Shouldn’t we do something?”

“Yeah. This is messed up.”

“We need to tell a teacher.”

“We won’t do anything,” Sarah said.

“Are you serious?”

“Isn’t she your cousin?”

“Melida’s my cousin’s cousin, not mine. But there’s no need to do anything because he said he won’t do anything to her. Just to humiliate her. If he tries anything, I’ll stop him,” she replied. Sarah pulled a wand from the pocket of her dark purple school coat and pointed to her lips, which became a deeper shade of red. Then she pointed it to her hair, which curled a bit. “Melida needs to be humiliated a little. Just because she’s friends with a lot of guys, she thinks she’s better than the rest of us.”

“She’s a succubus, isn’t she?”

“I heard that too, but I don’t know if it’s true.”

“That would explain a lot. I mean, there’s no way she could be friends with so many guys without being a demon of lust.”

“I bet she’s sleeping with them all. I’ve heard she used to go out with anyone who asked her before coming to school.”

“I heard that too.”

“If she really is a succubus, she needs a lot of semen, right?” Sarah asked.

The others laughed. “You still suck in demonology. How many times did you take that class?”

“Shut up! I’m not good at remembering boring stuff like that!”

“Don’t get angry. You know if you don’t study, you’ll flunk again and won’t get your mage license.”

“I know that. But Melida needs to be humiliated a little. This way she won’t act like she owns the place just because she’s friends with the principal,” Sarah said. She finished redoing her makeup and hair and pocketed her wand. “Let’s go watch. Can’t wait to see what he’ll make her do.”

The girls left the bathroom, their voices growing distant as they walked away. When everything was quiet, Jennifer left the stall furthest from the door.

When she heard them outside the bathroom, she hid without thinking. Because of that, she had heard something unbelievable.

I can’t believe they’re talking about love potions like it’s nothing! They’re illegal! Slipping it to someone is a serious crime, even if it’s diluted! I need to report this to the teachers. But if he’s planning to slip it to her now, the teachers won’t make it in time, Jen thought, biting her lips. If I had a familiar I could send them to get a teacher in time…

After hesitating for a moment, Jen left the bathroom and looked in both directions. On her left, almost turning around the corner, she saw one of the girls who were in the bathroom seconds ago and ran after them as fast as she could.

By the time she reached them, they were already in the cafeteria. Despite panting and sweating, and her legs throbbing, Jen looked around, looking for Melida among the hundreds of students in the huge place.

Though they weren’t friends, nor had they ever talked, Jen knew who she was. There was no way she wouldn’t know. Even among the thousands of full-time and part-time students, Melida was famous. Not only was she smart and talented, who the teachers loved, with her long and lustrous red hair and dark skin, she was one of the most beautiful girls in school. Because of that, it took Jen only a second to find the mage.

She was eating lunch with many people. They were all talking and laughing, but when Melida looked away for a second, Jason, who was sitting on her right, quickly pulled a small glass vial from his pocket, took the cork with the thumb, and poured the almost transparent pink liquid in her goblet.

The girls who were in the bathroom exchanged worried looks. Only Sarah watched with interest. Despite her throbbing and the difficulty to breathe, Jen moved as fast as she could. Even so, when Melida laughed and grabbed her goblet, Jen knew she wouldn’t be able to stop her from ingesting the love potion in time.

“Don’t drink that!” she exclaimed. Almost no one heard her, and the few who had barely paid attention to her. “He put a love potion in it!” Jen shouted at the top of her lungs.

More people heard her now. As the words love potion spread around, the cafeteria grew quiet and people looked at her. A few seconds later, the whole place was quiet.

“Don’t… drink that…” Jen said as she tried to catch her breath.

Jason glared at her. Melida looked at her with a surprised expression. Then she looked down at her goblet and brought it to her nose, sniffing it. “I don’t smell anything strange. But…”

Before Jason could do anything, she reached out and fondled the inner pocket of his school coat.

“Hey!” Jason cried out. He tried to get rid of her, but she pulled her hand back before he could.

“What’s this?” Melida asked, shaking the small glass vial. Though it was empty, there were still a few drops of the almost transparent pink liquid.

“A pick me up,” Jason answered right away. Though his voice was calm, his eyes were the opposite. He stared at the vial as if waiting for the chance to grab and get rid of it.

“Just a pick me up, huh?” Melida repeated, shaking the vial, keeping it out of his reach. “Did you put this in my drink?”

“No.”

“He’s… lying…” Jen reached the table. She placed her hands on her knees to recover her breath. “I saw him putting that… in your goblet… when you… weren’t looking…”

“That’s a lie!” he exclaimed.

“I saw it too,” a guy at Melida’s table said.

“Me too.”

“Me too…”

I knew Jason wasn’t smart, but doing something illegal in front of so many people, Jen thought, still having trouble to breathe. Each breath she took hurt her lungs.

“I-it’s not a love potion! It’s just a pick me up! I swear on the Hero Demon King’s name!” he exclaimed, more and more nervous as he looked around, his face paler. “If you don’t want it, I’ll drink it!” He tried to get Melida’s goblet, but she took it out of his reach.

“It’s okay. Thanks for the pick me up,” she said, turning it over her mouth.

“Don’t!” Jen yelled. She reached out for the goblet, but it was too late.

Melida swallowed the whole drink in one gulp, licking her lips to make sure she hadn’t wasted a single drop. She had a confident expression, but then her features relaxed and she closed her eyes.

“Yeah, it’s a love potion alright. I can tell,” she said calmly, breathing deep.

“Now you’re gonna pay for what you did to me!” Jason shouted in triumph. “Because of you, my betrothed broke our engagement!”

“I refuse.”

Still with her eyes closed, Melida reached out over the table, grabbed Jen’s coat, and brought her closer. Only then she opened her eyes. They were so close the witch was the only thing in her vision.

“Eh?” was all Jen could say, blinking in confusion.

“You tried to help me, didn’t you?” Melida said in a lovey-dovey voice, touching Jen’s nose with her own as two big hearts appeared on her eyes. “Thanks.”

“What!?” both Jason and Jen exclaimed.

Before either could do anything, Melida took Jen’s round glasses and kissed her.

“Eh!?”

Everyone was watching in silence, either too curious or shocked to say anything. Then the murmurs began to spread across the cafeteria.

“It really was a love potion…”

“Can’t believe he did that…”

“It’s illegal…”

“Even if his family is rich, he’s screwed.”

“What a moron.”

Jason looked around, his face paler and paler. Before he could run away, the deputy headmistress, along with a few teachers, showed up.

“What’s going on here?”

With Melida hugging her from behind as if they were lovers who had met after a long time, Jen explained the situation. One of the teachers took Jason to the faculty lounge while the others tried to disperse the crowd.

“I can’t believe he used something so dangerous as a love potion,” said Leila, the dark skin elf deputy headmistress, shaking her head with a heavy expression. Then she looked at the girls with a mysterious, almost amused expression. No matter how much Jen tried to get rid of her, Melida refused, hugging her even tighter. “The potion’s teacher is absent at the moment, but she’ll be back before nightfall. Can you take care of her until then?”

“I-I can brew an antidote if I have the ingredients,” Jen said, tired. She had given up and simply let Melida hug and rest her head on top of hers. There was no way she could handle all that lovey-dovey behavior for the rest of the afternoon.

“That’s great. We can always count on you, Jennifer. Tell me the ingredients and I’ll get them to you.”

After Jen told him, she left in a hurry and they were alone. She sighed and turned to Melida, who smiled at her, her eyes still with the big hearts in them. She couldn’t help but blush and look away.

I’ve never talked to her, but she’s really beautiful, Jen thought. The next second, she blushed even more. Now that I think about it, I just had my first kiss… and it was with another girl. I never expected neither to happen.

“L-let’s go to my room so I can start the preparations for the antidote,” she said.

“No need,” Melida said. In a heartbeat, her hearty eyes became normal and her lovey-dovey expression vanished.

“Eh!?” Jen exclaimed, blinking. “That wasn’t a love potion!?”

“It was. It’s just that those things don’t have any effect on me.”

“You weren’t affected by it?” she asked. Despite her surprise, Jen soon understood why. “Ah! Succubi aren’t affected by love magic since they’re demons of love!”

Melida smiled and nodded. “Yep.”

“So the rumors are true.”

“You’re just as smart as everyone says. But you got something wrong. Despite what the rumors say, I’m not a succubus. My Grandma was. My demon blood is too weak. I’m mostly human, though I have a few succubus perks,” she explained. Then her face lost some of its color. “Please, don’t tell people about this. There are already too many rumors about me. If they find out I’m part succubus, I’ll be blamed for every breakup in school and I’m not in the mood to deal with that. Not to mention all the guys that’ll come after me, hoping to sleep with me.”

“I see… Well, don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone.”

“Thanks.” Melida breathed out in relief.

“But if you weren’t affected by the love potion, why did you…” Jen blushed and averted her eyes, touching her lips lightly, “k-kiss me?” she whispered the last words

“Sorry about that. I had to pretend to fall in love with you. If I didn’t, people could’ve found out about my succubus side. Or worse, Jason could’ve escaped saying it wasn’t a love potion.”

“The teachers could’ve analyzed the potion in the goblet or the drops in the vial. There was no reason to drink it and k-kiss me…”

“Oh… I didn’t think of that. As expected of the smartest witch in the school!” Melinda exclaimed with a smile.

Jen blushed again, looking away.

And that was how their friendship started.