Cassie's Crush by Fiona Foden Page B

shop.”
    â€œWhat happened there?”
    â€œWe wanted kebabs,” she explained, “but didn’t have enough money, so we shared a can of Coke.”
    I paused, waiting for her to add a juicy piece of gossip. “And that was it?” I asked finally.
    â€œEr, yeah.” We finished the call with me wondering if this is what going out with someone is all about – standing outside the dry-cleaner’s, or sharing a can of Coke, or having a snog and being dumped like Ned was, or hooking up with someone like toilet-stink Henry. Put like that, there must be far better things to do with your life. Am I disillusioned with love, before I’ve even found out what it really is?

I’m worried sick about the Leech coming to Marcia’s party. She’s so pushy, and all the boys are mad about her, so there’s no way Marcia will be able to force her to leave. I was still fretting about this when Beth and Henry started mauling each other in the kitchen. When Henry caught me glaring, he said, “It’s her perfume, Cassie. She’s just irresistible!” And the two of them burst out giggling and I had to escape to my room.
    It gave me an idea, though. I know you can get certain perfumes that attract the opposite sex. Something to do with hormones, I think. I don’t fancy my chances of nicking Beth’s perfume (anyway, would I really want to smell like her?) but what if I invented some kind of love potion and stood right by Ollie while he drank it?
    Ned let me use his laptop to investigate foods which are supposed to have a passion-making effect on the opposite sex:
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    Asparagus. Nobody likes it unless they’re trying to be posh. It also makes your wee stink, apparently.
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    Cardamom pods. Think they’re some kind of spice. I can’t imagine people queuing up to munch them at a party.
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    Oysters. Sure. My £1.72 is going to buy me about half of one and they look disgusting anyway, like rotting ears.
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    Rhino horn. This is meant to be a passion igniter, but I couldn’t find any info about whether you’re meant to grind it into a powder or nibble the end of it or what. Not that it matters, because where can I get hold of rhino horns in Tarmouth? I don’t think they sell them in Asda. Our nearest zoo is at Winterbourne and I’ve checked their website to see if they have rhinos. They do, but even if there were a few spare horns lying about in their enclosure, I don’t fancy scrambling in to get them. The rhinos on their website didn’t look especially friendly.
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    Marcia snuck round to see me (she’d said she was “going swimming” again). “Cheer up, Cass,” she said, hugging me. “At least if the Leech comes, loads of hot boys will come too.”
    Maybe she’s right, and the Leech will act as some kind of magnet. It’s even more crucial that I invent a love potion as quickly as possible, but I didn’t mention this to Marcia, not after she’d said I was “obsessed”.

Spent all morning trying to make my flytrap costume. Ned rummaged under his bed and found cardboard from old art projects. Even with his help, it was incredibly tricky to make and I wished I’d gone with Marcia’s gigantic heart idea. Finally, though, after much sweating and cursing, we managed to make a sort of giant cardboard collar with petals attached. I was just thinking that Ned’s not so bad for a hairy big brother when his mobile went off. I assumed it was the curly redhead, as he looked really chuffed. “Yuh,” he was murmuring. “Yuh, uh-huh, that’d be, like, uh, cool…” It wasn’t Ned’s normal voice at all. He sounded like one of those growly men who do horror-movie trailers. He started flapping me away with his hand as if I’d suddenly turned into an annoying insect.
    I gathered up all the flytrap pieces and took them to my room, then went out and found a