The mood in Annie and Maddie's shared space was far from it's usual calm happy state. The two were still very much at odds with the matter on ground and neither of them were ready to back down and apologize.
Annie walked out of the bathroom fully dressed as she happened to glance at Maddie who glanced at her and they both frowned at each other and looked away.
Annie scoffed, she was late, she had told Matt that they would both meet up early to practice their potion making in the lab and yet due to this unserious fight she was currently in with Maddie she was late.
Annie didn't even bother saying anything as she left the room and neither did Maddie. Even though they were fighting, they were both sure of one thing, neither of them was ready to bend for the other.
This wasn't just a matter of who threw the first blow, but who was going to be able to stand the several blows that would be coming next and Maddie was bent on not falling first, her stubbornness was outmatched, she was sure that Annie would end up seeing how childish this was and she would be the bigger person like always and end this; but oh boy was she wrong.
...
"Matt, good morning, I'm so sorry I'm late, I didn't mean to be." said Annie as she hurriedly entered into the lab where Matt was cautiously reading and about to mix frog teeth into his cauldron when Annie threw the door open startling him as he had been very engrossed in what he was doing.
Matt carefully moved his gloved hand away from the cauldron placing the small frog teeth back into their vial as he turned to look at Maddie.
"It's fine Annie, I knew that something had to come up for you to be late." said Matt as he smiled at her removing the safety googles from his eyes. He was covered from head to toe in protective clothes, you could barely see any skin showing.
Since he was a half witch, half vampire, his blood was very valuable and distinctive. Witches blood mixed with any other component could result in making witches brew. Who knew what would happen if he accidentally mixed his blood with all the strange ingredients and concoctions that were in here?
He did not want to accidentally create a new disease unknowingly, and hence why he had taken the precaution of making sure his entire body was covered so he could not accidentally cut or burn himself.
"Oh you can't even imagine, Maddie refused to apologize when I confronted her about her little stunt yesterday." said Annie as she aggressively washed her hands in the basin located in the corner of the lab before walking to Matt.
"She did?" asked Matt in surprise as she nodded while putting on white latex gloves.
"Yes, she did, and she made it very clear that if she wanted to harm me she would have done worse, she has no remorse at all." said Annie as she tried to remove a smudge on Matt's sleeve as her hand was unable to go any further.
"Oh sorry, I still have my barrier on." said Matt as the invisible barrier surrounding him was dispersed with a yellow glow, the only indication that it was there in the first place. You could never be too safe in the lab, that was Matt's motto now.
"It's fine." said Annie as she sighed and wiped the smudge off.
"Anyway, I'm sorry I'm late." she said as she put on her goggles.
"It's fine Annie really, I was just messing around with a basic leaping potion." said Matt as he smiled and Annie smiled, at least he wasn't upset with her.
"But about Maddie, I just think that this thing is going too out of hand, the two of you are upsetting each other and that isn't good." said Matt.
"I know Matt, I know, but there is no way I'm apologizing first, Maddie has to be the one to apologize, why does it always have to be me to be the bigger person? Why do I always have to be the one to bear all her whims and beliefs? Why do I always have to be the understanding one?" asked Annie.
"Because that's just how you are Annie, it's in your nature to want to be understanding." said Matt as he smiled.
"Well even though it is, I'm not going to be understanding this time. She's the one that turned something simple into something so serious like this, and I am not going to take it anymore, it's killing me, sometimes I wonder if she values this friendship that we have? if she truly did and it wouldn't take any effort to convince to do something that's good for her." said Annie as Matt frowned.
"You may think that, and you are right, but who is to say that Maddie doesn't see it that way... she sees it more like you trying to force her into something she wants nothing to do with." said Matt as Annie frowned, not liking where this was going, she could see Matt leaning more towards Maddie's side.
She didn't want that at all, she knew fully well that if Matt managed to convince her she would end up apologizing to Maddie, but not this time; she was tired of being the peacemaker, it was draining.
"Look Matt, I don't really want to talk about this right now, let's focus on these potions." said Annie with a sigh.
"Alright then." said Matt as Annie appreciated that he didn't try to convince her otherwise.
"Have you eaten yet?" asked Matt as Annie shook her head.
"No, there's no time to, and I'm not really that hungry, I'll just eat later." said Annie.
"Are you sure? We can go get something to eat quickly and then come back and finish over here." said Matt as Annie shook her head.
"No, this is the only time we will get to use the lab freely, you know that this is the High Council's official testing lab and they can come and use it any time they want, so it's best we get everything over and done with." said Annie as Matt agreed.
"So what page are we on?" asked Annie.
"Page thirty six." he replied as Annie looked into his cauldron seeing the little bubbles forming on the surface of the white liquid that was yet to turn green, the official colour of a leaping potion.
"Have you added frog teeth yet?" asked Annie as she looked at him and he shook his head.
"No, not yet, you came in as soon as I was about to." he replied.
"You want me to add it for you?" asked Annie as Matt smiled.
"Well yes, you know that I'm really cautious when it comes to potions, and once I add the frog teeth it's almost impossible to tell what will bubble up in the cauldron and I would rather be safe than sorry." said Matt as Annie laughed.
"I know, I know." said Annie as Matt smiled, loving that she looked happy for a moment.
"And that's why you have me here." she said with a smile as she picked up the vial of frog teeth on the table.
"I know." he replied with a smile as she put in a few frog's teeth into the cauldron as it bubbled releasing a great steam and heat causing Annie to start to sweat as she took a step back waiting for the potion to cool.
"Do you think that we will have to make potions when we take the admissions test?" asked Matt as Annie stirred the potion and shook her head.
"I don't think so, but we can never know, I mean we can't put it past them to actually want us to demonstrate our potion skills, but regardless we need to make sure we are good with potions and everything else." said Annie as Matt nodded.
"I agree with that." said Matt.
"We only have three days left till the test on Saturday, I want to make sure that I'm very ready." said Annie.
"You are, especially in potions." said Matt as he smiled.
"I think it's genetic, Uncle Capi knows his potions well and so do you." said Matt as his words caused Annie to laugh.
"That's sweet Matt, but I don't really think so, after all he does have a knack for remembering many things and he's had many years of experience playing around with potions." said Annie.
"And you have a knack for remembering ingredients as well, just admit it, out of the three of us you are clearly more versed in potions." said Matt as Annie smiled.
"If you're saying all this to make me feel better it's certainly working." she said as she chuckled.
"I'm saying it because it's true... and maybe also because I do want you to feel better." he replied as Annie smiled.
Matt was always so sweet, that was just his nature and she liked that about him very much, he was a good friend and a wonderful person above all.
"Well the potion is done, what should we move onto next?" asked Annie with a smile.
"How about a potion of happiness?" asked Annie as she smiled and Matt smiled.
"Sure" he replied happily.