Boom! Well, more like ‘splat!’
Mud splattered from the spell circle coating them both.
“What did you do?” Averil spit out mud. “I did it right.”
Remi wiped their face clean then snorted. “You did it right? You gotta be kidding me. If you did it right, we wouldn’t be coated in mud.”
Averil wiped the mud from her face, her light brown eyes peering through her still dirty face. She ran a hand through her hair, also covered in mud, the blue and magenta stripes now a dirty brown.
Remi’d done it right, right? They had to. They wouldn’t be who they were if they didn’t always do it right. They had to have done it right. They’d followed every instruction, every step. So Averil must have gotten it wrong, right?
“Why does the spell circle look weird?” Averil asked.
Remi glanced down. It did look weird. Maybe they did screw up or maybe it was Averil or maybe they were both screwing this up somehow. Either way they were gonna fail. They’re gonna fail. They’re gonna fail. No no no no. They couldn’t fail. If they failed, then they’d fail the year, then they’d get held back, then they’d fail again then they’d never be a witch. No no no no this can’t be happening.
“Remi, you there?”
Their chest was tight, their breathing so quick there was no break between the short breaths.
“Focus on my voice, Remi,” Averil said. “Take a deep breath. Breathe.”
Their breath slowed as they breathed deeply.
Remi’s voice shook. “How about we try again.”
“That’s a good idea,” Averil replied, putting a supporting hand on their shoulder.
The two of them moved to clean up their mess, Averil wiping the mud away from the stone and Remi getting the correct chalks. Despite the failure Averil couldn’t help but smile as she cleaned. It reminded her of the first day she’d met Remi. Their dark brown hair and skin had stood out against the colorful palette of classmates. The two had ended up at the same table and even now Avil could remember the first day jitters in their clear grey eyes. At first Averil was worried they wouldn’t like each other but how wrong she had been. The two of them hit it off like wildfire, becoming fast friends.
Avirl picked out a piece of green chalk and worked on her half of the circle, double checking every curve she drew. Their first assignment together was a summoning circle as well. It had been the most basic kind, just enough to grow a flower. The first time Remi had used the wrong color and the second time Averil had forgotten to add in half the runes. It wasn’t until their twelfth attempt that the flower had even sprouted.
Boom! The circle exploded once more, sending even more mud onto Averil and Remi, the two of them looking more mud than anything else now.
“Well, that didn’t work,” Averil stated.
“No shit Sherlock!” Remi growled back, wiping the mud off their face again.
“And now I have to clear the mud off again,” Averil whispered, mostly to herself.
“That’s what you’re worried about? That you have to clean it up again?” Remi yelled, “We have bigger problems!”
As Remi continued to yell their breathing grew heavier and faster, their face gaining a red tint as they grew more worked up. They were having a panic attack.
“Look, we’re going to be fine-” Averil tried.
“We’re not! Because you messed up-” Remi cut in.
“We are not going to fail Mr. Lopez’s class!”
“I can’t fail Ms. Davis’s class!”
What?
“Fuck,” Remi said, which sounded about right.
What? WHAT? How could this be happening? No, no no no. No wonder they were failing this. How could they succeed when they weren’t working on the same project?
Remi leaned back on their hands. “I guess this explains it.”
“Yeah.” Averil chucked. “No wonder it was mud, water plus golem, dirt and water.”
“Well we’re less likely to fail if we actually work on the same project.”
“True, very true.”
“Maybe we try again and just focus on one project.”
Averil sighed. “Yeah, good idea.”