It made sense, didn't it? In those teenage wizard romcoms, the girl always sent a few hexes toward the protagonist, to throw the reader off of the fact that she was actually interested in the protagonist. Xanthe wasn't particularly interested in John; although she wasn't *uninterested* either; but she figured that sticking to tropes was a surefire way of getting a date. She figured wrong.
"Hey John I..." she caught him on the stairs, blocking his path... it was unintentional, but she totally made it look like an ambush, before stammering out a question about the dance. Great, she sounded totally creepy.
"Look, X," he had started his answer, rubbing his arm where it had been broken as he did, "You're nice and all, but... I may have already got someone..."
He didn't. She knew he didn't. But she got the hint and moved on. The next day she found herself one of the Wampus dueling enthusiasts, who had seemed impressed by her duel. Maybe *he* was intererested? But no... she messed that one up too. Never tell your prospective date that they're the second choice, was the moral of the story...
Presence + Attract, going for John (popularity 2): 2eA+2eD 1 success, 2 threat
Presence + Attract, formidable: 2eA+5eD+1eS 2 failures, 4 threat
+4 strain
Presence + Attract, going for a Wampus (popularity 2): 2eA+2eD 1 failure
Presence + Attract, Formidable, I'm more popular than the Wampus: 1eP+1eA+5eD+1eS 3 failures, 1 threat
+1 strain