Amy was smiling as she entered the cafeteria. Her mind was firmly on her upcoming Math quiz. There was barely a trace of that silly smell left on her mind. She was looking forward to enjoying the taste of food again.
Before she could make it to the lunch line, however, Lina intercepted her. She stood directly in Amy's way, with an oddly euphoric look on her face. Amy remembered her strange behavior from the previous day, and wondered what was up with her now. She walked up to her friend, not knowing what to expect.
Then it happened. Like a freight train, the scent came back to Amy in full force. She stopped in her tracks, suddenly dizzy. It was an incredible feeling. That enchanting smell that held such dominance over her senses the day before had returned like a long-lost lover.
Lina smiled as she stepped right up to Amy. Amy just stared blankly, taking deep whiffs of the air around her.
"I thought you'd like another sniff," Lina said in an uncharacteristically soft voice. "The bottle says the fragrance only lasts 24 hours. You must have been dying to smell it all day."
Amy wasn't even listening. How could she have forgotten this wonderful scent? She'd struggled to remember what it smelled like ever since it abandoned her in the doctor's office.
Still in a daze, Amy barely noticed Lina gently escorting her to the cafeteria bathroom. Once inside, Lina produced a bottle of White Stripe Fur-Fume. "You said it was a play on 'perfume,' so that narrowed it down a lot. The instant I held this one to my nose, I knew it was the one."
Amy's breathing grew heavy. She was breathing in deeply through her nose, holding in the fragrance as long as she could, and then exhaling through her mouth. Lina teasingly waved the bottle in front of her face, watching Amy's eyes lock onto it.
"You want it?"
"Yes," Amy said.
"Close your eyes."
Amy obeyed. She heard spraying and felt a gentle mist falling on her face. Lina worked the spray all the way down her body, bathing her in the glorious aura of the scent. As Amy opened her eyes, she saw Lina spraying her own body again.
She felt wrapped in a familiar blanket. Breathing in the enchanting smell was a reassurance that, somehow, everything was going to be fine.
"Isn't this stuff amazing?" Lina asked. "When I couldn't get the smell out of my mind, I was going crazy. Yesterday in the hall, I knew I had to get that scent for myself or I'd just die. You know what I mean?"
"I think I do," Amy said. The high she had been riding was slowly subsiding, though she knew it wouldn't totally dissipate as long as the aura lingered. "Thank you, Lina."
"My pleasure," Lina said. She glanced at herself in the mirror. "Oh, awesome!" she squealed. "It's even darker now!"
Amy stared at Lina for a second, confused. Then she realized that Lina was talking about her hair. Just as Amy's had after the bottle fell on her head, Lina's hair was darkening. But this was much more pronounced than what had happened to Amy. Lina's previously shimmering locks were becoming a deep, dull brownish-black. Amy blinked a few times to be sure, but she thought she also saw two faint streaks running down Lina's hair that were just a little bit lighter.
She suddenly remembered the swelling in her hands that the perfume had caused. Her eyes shot to Lina's hands, and Amy gasped at what she saw.