UnEnchanted (3 page)

Nan nudged Mina and motioned to the group of
girls with her chin. “I told you that everyone loves gossip. I’ve
already been texted by three different people who aren’t even here
that Brody and Savannah broke up.” Nan frowned, looking at one of
the texts, and her fingers flew over the touchpad. “No, that’s not
right. I was here. I saw it.” Nan began murmuring to herself as she
tried to fix whatever new rumor was now flying through their high
school ten miles away.

Claire finally led the tour group to the
third floor and was allowing the kids to walk the railed catwalk
over the production floor. By now, many of the students had become
bored and started laughing and horsing around. It seemed that
whatever love spell that once charmed them had worn off, except for
one hypnotized Brody. His movements become slower, and he was
transfixed by Claire’s every movement.

Mina watched as Claire’s hand stroked
Brody’s bicep in a demure manner. Warning bells went off in her
head that something was definitely wrong. A tingling began in her
hands and spread throughout her body and up her spine like an
electric current. Jumping, Mina looked around and behind her for a
source of static electricity, but no one was near her.

Another intense feeling of wrongness
overcame her, and she felt compelled to move forward and interfere.
She didn’t want to make a spectacle like Savannah, but she had to
break whatever spell Claire had over Brody. Gathering her courage,
Mina moved forward, unsure of exactly what she was going to do. The
tingling sensation was almost overwhelming.

Someone bumped her from behind, and she lost
her grip on her notebook and chewed-up pencil, which launched from
her hand to land at the feet of Steven and Frank, deep in some
argument over a video game. She watched as the pencil rolled right
in front of Steven’s foot, wincing when the foot came down and he
slipped on the pencil. Steven flailed his arms dramatically,
causing a domino effect as he lost his balance and pitched forward
into Frank.

Frank, caught off guard, tried to catch his
friend but ended up slamming backward into Mina, Claire, and Brody.
Mina caught her balance, but Claire’s heel snagged in the catwalk,
and she stumbled headlong into Brody, pushing him toward the
railing. The rickety walkway shifted under the weight, causing
everyone to lurch to the right.

The sudden jostling woke Brody from his
hypnotic state. She saw his sudden confusion, followed by shock as
the catwalk tilted again. He stumbled backward; his arms flailed
widely as he reached for a hand railing and missed. His blue eyes
filled with terror as he fell backward over the safety rail.

Chapter 2

Screams of horror reverberated off the
walls. Adrenaline took over as Mina lunged for Brody, missing his
body entirely but grabbing the shoulder strap of his black Jansport
backpack. She had done it without thinking, even though she wasn’t
very strong, and now she gritted her teeth as she slammed into the
railing, causing her to cry out in pain. There was a moment of
suspended animation when she thought she had him and they were
safe, but then her feet slowly lost contact with the floor.
Screaming, she started moving upward and over, her feet dangling
uselessly. She was going to go over the railing with him.

Suddenly, hands grabbed her around the
waist, anchoring her. Both her and Brody’s downward momentum
stopped with a jolt and a loud rip. She kept a death grip on the
backpack strap and felt pain shoot up through both arms.

Brody had one arm through the other strap;
it had slid down to his elbow. Reaching up, he used his other hand
to hold on to get a firmer grip. He stared upward, a panicked look
on his face, the catwalk still swaying precariously.

“
Don’t worry! I’ve got
you, Brody.” Mina tried to sound comforting, even though her
muscles burned and her arms shook from the strain of holding onto
someone twice her weight.

“
And I’ve got you.” Nan’s
voice was muffled from exertion. She was the one who had kept Mina
from going over. Other students began to aid in the rescue. Steven
and Frank reached over to grab the backpack, helping to relieve the
burden of Brody’s weight. They helped pull him up to where Brody
was able to grab onto the lower safety bar.

Their own safety set aside, a few students
lay on their stomachs and knees to reach through the rails to grab
onto Brody as he slowly pulled his own weight up to where his feet
could find purchase on the catwalk.

Mina felt like she couldn’t breathe until
Brody had stepped back over the railing and was safe. Once he was
out of danger, she fell to her knees on the diamond-shaped grating,
ignoring the painful prods as she was overcome with a feeling of
intense relief. Brody’s backpack was dumped on the floor next to
her. He leaned down to talk to Mina, but Steven and Frank pulled
him away in excitement. Mina looked at the ripped backpack and had
to blink twice to see if she was delusional. The rip she had heard
was Brody’s backpack ripping, and it was in the exact same place
and size as the hole in her backpack from this morning. Only he
could probably afford to buy a new one.

Even though Brody was safe, Mina felt like
she wasn’t. She felt as if she were being smothered. As if some
unseen force was watching her, judging her, and the feeling was
becoming unbearably strong. With all the kids’ eyes on her, she
felt trapped.

Even Claire looked rattled and scared, her
blonde hair disheveled, her safety hat gone. Limping, she tried to
stand and gain control of the students, who were celebrating,
hugging, and crying. Several students slapped Mina’s back.

“
That was
awesome!”

“
I can’t believe you acted
to so quickly!”

“
You saved his
life.”

“
Way to go,
Grimes!”

“
I think it’s time we went
outside,” Claire said, her eyes downcast in shame. Everyone
followed her to the closest emergency exit and down the steps to a
side door that led outside. The bright sunlight touching the
students' faces seemed to burn away the weary fog that had
previously overtaken them.

Mina felt her unease slightly diminish once
she was a good distance away from the building, but it didn’t leave
entirely.

They took the long way and walked around the
side of the bakery until they came to the front entrance and the
bus. Mr. West was there, along with Mr. Brimwell. For an
irresponsible chaperone, Mr. West was quick to see that there was a
problem. He read the agitation on Claire’s face and instantly
became alert.

“
What happened? What’s
wrong?” he asked.

Claire spoke up, her face red with
embarrassment. “There was an unfortunate accident on the
catwalk.”

Mr. West’s eyes went wide in fear. His bald
head looked like a pendulum as he began swinging it back and forth,
trying to take a head count of his pack of unruly students.

“
Yeah, Brody almost died!”
Steven blurted out. Savannah let out a high-pitched squeak of
alarm.

“
He fell backward off the
catwalk, but Grimes…I mean, Mina, saved him!” Frank
yelled.

Nothing else could be heard over the roar of
voices as everyone spoke up at once, trying to relay their own
version of the death-defying story. Mina was uncomfortable with all
the staring, so she tried to maneuver to the outside of the crowd
and duck behind Nan, who was no longer preoccupied with her
phone.

Mr. Brimwell paled and looked to Claire. “Is
this true? How could you have let this happen?”

Claire pinched her lips together angrily.
“It wasn’t my fault. They were messing around on the catwalk, and a
support cinch failed.”

Mina’s stomach dropped, and she felt sick.
None of them knew the real reason. None of this would have happened
if she hadn’t dropped her chewed-up number-two pencil. This whole
mess started because of how clumsy she was and her inherent bad
luck. It was another epic disaster to add to the list in her sock
drawer at home. She felt so disheartened.

“
You let these kids on the
catwalk?” Mr. Brimwell accused her. His round face turned red like
a tomato with anger, but that didn’t dissuade Claire.

“
Why wouldn’t I? I’ve been
taking people on the catwalk for years, and it’s never bothered you
before. I’ve always ended tours there.”

They drew closer together, and the heated
argument became indecipherable amongst the growing babble of Mina’s
classmates. Mr. West’s head seemed to be shaking in disbelief, and
he kept looking over at Mina skeptically. She didn’t blame him. She
could hardly believe her own actions.

Mina blushed as he looked past Savannah and
over the heads of the students, searching for something or someone.
She saw Brody spot her among the crowd and start to move in her
direction. She tensed. She couldn’t imagine him thanking her for
such an embarrassing stunt, especially in front of twenty students
with cell phones. She was likely to say something dumb and make a
fool of herself.

Mina couldn’t look away as he maneuvered
around the sympathetic girls to reach her. He was only feet away
when Savannah cried his name and caught his attention. Brody and
Mina both turned to find her running toward him, impossibly blonde
hair swinging behind her as she ran into his arms. “Are you okay?”
she asked hesitantly, unsure of her reception. Mina hoped he’d blow
her off, but to her surprise he cradled her in an enormous hug.

“
Brody, I’m so sorry!”
Savannah said when they’d pulled apart. Could she really be so
oblivious to the audience around them? “I’m sorry about how I acted
in the factory. You’re right—I do need to grow up, and I promise to
never embarrass you like that again.” Her bottom lip actually
trembled.

“
Savannah, what are you
talking about? This wasn’t your fault.”

“
No, not that. Our
argument. I’ve done a lot of thinking and…”

“
What argument?” Brody
said, sounding frustrated. Mina heard stunned whispers throughout
the crowd. “Savannah, I almost died. Can we talk about this some
other time?”

“
Wait… You don’t
remember?”

“
Truthfully this whole
morning is kind of a haze. I’m really not feeling well…maybe I
should just go home.”

Hope filled Savannah’s face, her trembles
ceasing when she realized Brody didn’t remember their breakup.
“You’re right, Brody. Let’s get you home.” She clutched his arm
possessively and led him toward the bus and a panicked Mr.
West.

“
Brody, my boy, I hope
your family doesn’t think it was negligence on my part. I got
called away on an important phone call.” Mr. West placed his hand
on Brody’s shoulder and gave a wary glance toward Mr. Brimwell.
Turning toward the rest of the students, he called out in the tone
that only a teacher can do, “All right students, lets load
up.”

Mina filed behind Nan and Pri, and waited to
board the bus. She watched as the unsteady Brody was led up the
steps onto the bus with the help of Savannah.

“
Well, I guess that was
the shortest breakup in history,” Pri mumbled.

“
Don’t be too sure about
that,” Nan said, thoughtfully glancing at Brody.

Mina watched him take a window seat and
stare balefully out it in her direction. He seemed to be staring at
her! Mina immediately looked at the ground, but when she looked
back up, she still had his gaze. It was a tad uncomfortable.

“
I mean, I don’t even know
what he sees in her,” Pri continued.

“
Don’t worry, Pri. I have
a feeling that the makeup is only temporary.”

As Mina boarded the bus, students began
clapping and calling her name, reaching out to give her high-fives
and congratulate her on her heroic act. Except for one, who was
still staring out the window. She felt like she was going to be
sick; her guilt was making her a nervous wreck. Should she
apologize to Brody? That would mean she would have to go up to him
and actually speak to the world’s most handsome boy, who didn’t
seem eager to talk to her. Definitely not. Maybe she could slip him
a note? That wouldn’t do. What if his family sued hers? Yep, Mina
was definitely going to puke.

Keeping her head down, Mina hastily made her
way to the back of the bus and slid down as far as she could into
her seat in an attempt to hide. Nan slid in next to her.

“
Kinda nice to be sitting
next to a celebrity.” Nan laughed.

“
No, it’s not. It’s
horrible,” Mina said. “You were wrong. I don’t want to be
popular.”

“
Maybe I should get your
autograph and sell it on eBay. Or better yet, I could auction off
your old English papers. I wonder how much money I would get for a
D-plus?” Mina was terrified at the prospect. “Then I could buy that
new handbag I wanted,” Nan said.

“
I hope you choke on the
handbag,” Mina shot back.

Nan chuckled, but she quit making ribs at
Mina’s expense. She leaned out the bus aisle to take a peek. Sure
enough, everyone was still looking toward her, pointing and
whispering in her direction. Sighing in regret, she leaned back
dramatically and drummed her fingers on her thighs.

“
Aren’t you going to tweet
this?” Mina said, noticing the lack of an electronic accessory in
Nan’s hands. “I thought for sure you would have taken fifty photos
by now.”

“
Can’t,” Nan sighed
wistfully.

“
Why not?”

“
I don’t have my iPhone
anymore.”