UnEnchanted (9 page)

One student in particular couldn’t tear her
eyes away from Mina. Her eyes flared angrily when Mina caught them
on the way up from her phone’s screen, and she did not look away.
Mina looked at Nan with wide eyes, hoping she’d just imagined what
she’d seen: Savannah White, the most popular girl in school,
mouthing the words “you’re dead.”

***

The rest of the day dragged on. Mina never
got to speak with Nan about the Grimm family curse, and nothing
interesting appeared or followed her around school, so Mina hoped
the Story had forgotten about her. Mina was so preoccupied with the
Grimm curse, Savannah, and Brody that she was pretty sure she
flunked her history test. She felt numb as she handed an almost
blank test to her teacher.

When the final 3:30 bell rang, Mina breathed
in relief. She could now go to the public library and try to
research more about her family’s history. Walking to her locker,
Mina was surprised to see the number of students surrounding it.
She decided to hang back and wait until the crowd dissipated so she
could grab the rest of her books and leave, but the number didn’t
budge. Putting her head down to enter the mob, Mina clumsily
maneuvered to her locker, stepping on toes, saying, "excuse me,"
bumping elbows. It wasn’t until someone grabbed her elbow to steady
her that she saw the reason for the crowd of students. Brody was
leaning against her locker, and he was holding her elbow.

“
See you guys later!”
Brody ordered the crowd. Unbelievably, the group of students left
until it was just the two of them.

“
How do you get used to
it?” Mina asked.

“
I’ve dealt with it all my
life, so I learn to tune it out.” Brody looked sad until he turned
to Mina and his face lit up with delight. “You ready?” he
asked.

“
For what?” Mina looked
around, confused.

“
To go home.”

“
Of course,” she answered,
reaching behind him to open her locker. She grabbed her backpack,
embarrassed by its pathetic state. Dropping it in her hand, she
tried to move away from him, but he snatched the backpack and
hoisted it on his shoulder.

“
Hey, give that back! I
can carry my own backpack,” she said, putting her hands on her
hips.

“
I know, but this way I
guarantee that you will follow me.”

“
Don’t count on it,” Mina
grumbled, stopping in the hallway, refusing to budge. When she saw
that Brody just kept walking, even turning the corner with her
backpack still in hand, she had no choice but to follow meekly
behind.

Once she caught up, Brody turned around and
started walking backward. “See, I know you.”

“
No, you don’t. You just
met me,” Mina countered.

“
But I would like to get
to know you,” Brody said, smiling. “If you would let
me.”

Brody walked them out to his car, and once
again he opened the door for her. Once Mina was safely inside with
her seatbelt buckled, Brody started the car.

“
Where to?”

“I thought you knew everything about me. So
you should know where I live.”

“
Uh, not really. My
father’s friend had problems pinpointing the exact address. He only
knew the area. Why is that?” he asked. “Are you hiding from the mob
or something?”

“
Or something,” she
answered. “Can you take me to the library?”

“
The library! My, aren’t
we studious.” Mina rolled her eyes and went for the door, but Brody
stopped her again. “Hey, I’m kidding around. The library it is.” He
turned the key in the ignition and pulled out of the parking lot,
putting on their local pop music station for their drive. The
silence seemed to draw a wedge between them, but Mina wasn’t going
to be the first one to speak. A few exits later, they pulled into
the parking lot of the town’s small white library.

Mina jumped out as soon as the car pulled to
a stop. “Thanks for the ride. And sorry. You know, about earlier.
I’m sure you’re a nice person.” She gave Brody a fake smile, and
grabbed her backpack and shut the car door. Brody’s door opened,
and he shut his door after her. “You don’t have to stay,” she told
him. “I’m going to be here for a while.”

“
I’ll wait for you. You’re
even farther away from home than before, and I’m definitely not
letting you walk home alone.”

“
I can call for a ride. My
mom will be home soon,” Mina said, speaking quickly. This was
definitely not a research trip she wanted to share.

Brody looked at her. “Mina, you are not
getting rid of me that easily. I’m already here. Let me help
you.”

“
I don’t need
help.”

“
All right. Then let me
come and do my own thing. I need to study, too, you know.” Brody
swung his own bag over his shoulder and walked up the steps through
the glass doors. Once again, Mina had no choice but to follow
behind.

Mina loved the smell of libraries, loved the
smell of old books and the soft hum of the lights. It was probably
why she was so out of tune with kids her age. She didn’t watch a
lot of TV, and she spent more time reading than socializing, except
for hanging out with Nan.

Once she’d shooed away Brody, Mina walked
past Mrs. Toole, the head librarian, stopping only long enough to
wave, and headed straight for the reference section. Scanning the
numbers and stopping at 398.2, Mina began pulling out various
collections of tales and individual stories.

“
What’s with the fairy
tales?” she heard suddenly, and again there was Brody, taking the
books from Mina to stack them against his chest.

“
Homework,” Mina replied
distractedly. “I thought you had some of your own.”

“
What classes are you
taking that you get to read kids' books?” he said, reading the
spines. “Maybe I should take it.”

Mina grinned. “It’s for a project at home,
not school. And I can carry them myself.” She grabbed the stack
from Brody and made her way to an empty table in the back of the
library.

Sitting down, Mina grabbed a book and began
searching for clues while keeping a corner of eye alert for Brody
and his habit of sneaking up on her. Within a few minutes she saw
him stretching out at a table nearby, reading a small paperback.
Mina found it difficult to do any reliable searching with Brody
sitting a few feet from her, and he didn’t look uncomfortable at
all. She would have thought that he would be antsy and dying to get
out of the library.

She found herself unable to stop sneaking
glances, enthralled with his lanky posture, the way his blond hair
fell over his eyes as he turned the pages. He seemed content, at
peace. Once, his eyes met hers and she blushed in embarrassment,
hoping he didn’t think she’d been staring at him. After two hours
of trying to concentrate, reading as many fairy tale histories as
she could, she slammed the latest book closed, feeling fatigued.
Brody had barely moved, but looked up at her with a worried
expression.

“
Come on, let’s get you
something to eat.” He took the book from her hand and laid it on
the table.

“
No, I’m fine…really.”
Mina’s heart started to beat faster with worry. If she went to get
food with Brody, that would be too close to a real date.

“
I’m hungry. I didn’t eat
much at lunch today.” Heat rose up the back of her neck as she
recalled that he’d dumped his lunch in the garbage. This time, she
didn’t argue.

They left the library, and Brody drove
toward a small ’60s drive-in, where he ordered hamburgers and fries
for them both at the speaker box.

“
I didn’t know they still
had these,” she said in awe.

“
Yup. Isn’t it great? My
parents took me here all the time when I was a kid. I was obsessed
with the speaker box, so my parents always let me order for
everyone. One time I ordered eight milkshakes, so we drove them
back and gave them to our staff.” Brody smirked, his eyes twinkling
with mischief.

Mina was stunned by his good looks and
completely lost her train of thought. When the food came, they ate
and talked about funny stories from their childhood. At one point,
she realized Brody was watching her out of the corner of his eye,
and secretly smiling.

“
What’s wrong? Do I have
food on my face?” Mina asked, suddenly nervous.

Brody threw his head back and laughed. “No,
but why do you ask?”

“
You’ve got a funny look.
What’s wrong? You can tell me.”

“
I’m smiling because I
can’t figure you out. You’re different. You don’t act like other
girls.”

“
Oh…I see.” She remarked
unhappily and put her French fry back into its container. She had
lost her appetite.

“
No, you don’t see.” He
turned in the seat so he could face her. “Look at me.” Mina kept
her head down. “Mina, please look at me.” He very gently reached
over and with one finger lifted her chin up so that her brown eyes
bored into his dark blue. “You are unlike any girl I’ve met. You
don’t talk incessantly about hair and makeup. You tell me what
you’re feeling, instead of telling me what you think I want to
hear. You’re content to sit with me without filling the silence
with needless chatter. You eat food, real food, not rabbit food.”
He plucked up the fry Mina had put back in her container and ate it
in one big bite. “And you’re not constantly texting or talking on a
cell phone.”

“
I don’t own one,” Mina
reminded him.

“
Exactly, and I like that
about you.”

“
You like that I don’t own
a cell phone? You must be crazy.”

“
Maybe I am,” he said with
a small smile. “Just being with you has a calming effect on me, do
you know that? My life is so…hectic. So many people surrounding me,
trying to be my friend, trying to tell me who I should be and what
I should become, that I tend to tune out the real world. I spent so
long going through the motions just to make the background noise
fade, but when I’m near you, it’s gone. The pressure to be
something or someone I’m not is gone.”

“
Oh, well,” she started,
stunned and unsure what to say. “You’re welcome, I guess. More
fries?” Brody laughed, and took her up on her offer. They ate the
rest of the meal in comfortable silence, sneaking smiles at each
other. Mina had never felt happier. Brody had now spent a few hours
in her presence and still seemed to be enjoying her company. She
wasn’t sure what this would mean when they got back to school, but
for now, it was bliss.

Mina asked to be dropped off a few blocks
from home. “If my mom sees you, she will flip. She’s not too happy
that you destroyed my bike.”

Brody became still. “I understand,” he said
quietly, too quietly. He pulled over and watched Mina get out of
his car.

“
Thanks,” she called to
him through the open window and waved. As soon as he was out of
sight, she ran home to call Nan.

***

The next morning followed a similar routine.
Brody appeared on Mina’s street and picked her up as she was
walking to school. To Mina’s great surprise, he sat with her at
lunch as well.

She was actually starting to like having
Brody as a friend, if she could quit thinking about what revenge
Savannah might have planned. So far it was only nasty rumors that
Nan, queen of all social media, quickly dismissed. Of course Nan
was thrilled to have Brody at their table and talked nonstop the
whole lunch hour. Brody would shoot Mina smirks when Nan would go
on a rant about one of her reality shows. He seemed to enjoy her
company as well.

Mina looked for Brody by her locker after
school, and felt a pang of sadness when he wasn’t there. Maybe he
had gotten tired of her? After all, she wasn’t that exciting. Mina
opened her locker to grab her bag, and when she shut the locker, he
was right behind the door.

“
Oh! You scared me.” Mina
put her hand to her heart.

“
I would never do that on
purpose.”

“
If I didn’t know better,”
Mina frowned at Brody, “I’d say you’re definitely stalking
me.”

“
Of course. I’m trying to
prove to you that I don’t care about social status, and you
promised to give me a chance.” Brody grabbed her backpack and
marched off with it toward his car.

“
I promised no such
thing,” she said after him.

When she caught up, Brody reached for her
hand, and they walked to his car hand in hand. Mina felt as if she
was on cloud nine, but a shiver of doubt cast a shadow on her
happiness. This couldn’t be happening. It just wasn’t right, just
didn’t fit with the long string of bad luck that had followed her
all her life. Brody high-fived one of his friends on the way to the
car, a jock who’d never be caught dead speaking to her. Nor did she
belong with someone like Brody. She was used to the stares and
whispers about being an oddball, but ever since Brody started
paying attention to her, the whispers had gotten worse. She even
got a rude letter shoved into her locker after lunch, probably from
one of Savannah’s friends.

She stopped ten feet from Brody’s car,
refusing to take another step.

“
Brody, really, this is
unnecessary. It’s a little overboard, with the rides to school and
back, sitting with me at the lunch table. I think you’ve proven
your point. You were right—I was the one who was uncomfortable with
you, not the other way around. And I think you’ve paid back your
debt.” Mina stood as still as she could, half-hoping and
half-dreading that he would confess.