Free UnEnchanted by Chanda Hahn

But how does that lead to
this morning?”
    “ He stalked me! He got an
employee to find out where I lived and then drove up and down my
streets like a stalker. Supposedly he wanted to give me a ride
because he felt bad for crushing my bike.”
    “ Um, Mina,” Nan said
softly.
    Mina ignored her, peeling
her orange with a vengeance. “Yeah, and then he had the gall to
tell me he wanted to apologize before we got to school, because he
knew he wouldn’t once we were in school. Geez, he is SO stuck up.”
    “ Mina—” Nan tried to
interrupt her friend as she attacked her helpless fruit.
    “ I’m telling you, Nan, he
is afraid to be seen in public with me. Even after I saved his life
and all.” Mina shoved an orange slice into her mouth and bit
down.
    “ Mina, I think someone
wants to talk to you.” Nan smirked.
    “ MFFWHA?” Mina said, her
mouth stuffed with orange. She looked around the cafeteria and saw
that Brody’s usual spot with the polo team was empty. He was, in
fact, standing behind her, tray in hand, looking perhaps more
embarrassed than she was.
    “ Hi, Mina.” He smiled. “Is
this seat taken?”
    Brody dropped his tray on the table without
waiting for her to answer. How much had he heard? Once she had
stopped coughing, she turned on him. “What are you doing?” she
whispered, looking around the room. People were staring at
them.
    “ I know you thought our
conversation was over, but it’s not,” Brody said, his blue eyes
twinkling with challenge.
    “ All right, you’ve proven
your point. You’re not embarrassed to be seen with me in public. So
you can go now.” Mina made shooing motions with her hands as if
shooing away a fly, but Brody just grinned at her.
    “ You see, what you said in
the car made me angry. Until I realized that it’s not true.” Brody
leaned over to get closer to Mina’s ear. “I’m not embarrassed to be
seen with you in public. You are. You don’t want to be seen with
me.” His breath tickled her ear, making her melt until she’d
processed the words he spoke.
    “ That’s not true,” she
replied.
    “ Then prove it,” he said.
His eyes darkened with meaning. “Prove to me you’re not ashamed of
me.”
    Mina looked at Brody fearfully and then over
at Nan, who had wisely kept her mouth shut. Nan nodded
encouragingly at her. Mina hung her head in shame. It wasn’t Brody
she was embarrassed about, it was herself. She was a walking,
talking embarrassment, and why in the world would Brody want to
hang out with her?
    “ Why, Brody? Why do this?”
Mina asked, looking up at him. “I don’t understand. We have nothing
in common. I’ve saved your life, but that’s as far as this
friendship needs to go…really.”
    Brody looked hurt. Mina wished she could
take back the words as soon as they left her mouth, but she was
only trying to protect herself. He had to be playing with her.
    Brody stared at his tray of food for a
minute and then looked up at her. His eyes bored into hers. “Mina,
you did more than save my life, and I’m trying to show you. But you
have to meet me halfway.” He picked up his tray and walked away
from their table, dumping the uneaten contents in the trash.
Students turned to watch him walk out, and they kept turning until
they were looking toward Mina’s table.
    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.