Free That Witch! by Zoe Lynne

breath away. And when Cassidy popped up from the driver’s side, Brynn instinctually lowered her head.
    “I brought your shoes,” Cassidy said, without a “Good morning” or even a hello. She rounded the back of her car, reached into her Dolce & Gabbana backpack, and pulled Brynn’s Mary Janes out but didn’t hand them to her. She just stood there, sort of hanging onto the shoes.
    “Sorry for leaving them,” Brynn responded, closing the distance between them. She reached out to grab her shoes, intent on doing it very quickly, but the moment her fingers grazed Cassidy’s, Brynn froze. A gasp left her lips, and her eyes widened. She tried to swallow the new knot in her throat and couldn’t. Nor could she bring herself to let go.
    “Yeah, I get it. Don’t worry, it won’t happen again. I’d hate to make you rush out of my room because you’re too homophobic to deal with a little chick-on-chick action.”
    “I’m not a homophobe!”
    “Right. And I’m not blonde.”
    “Really, I’m not,” Brynn’s voice softened as she lowered her head. “That’s, um… not why I left.”
    “You don’t have to make excuses. It is what it is, I guess.”
    “You don’t understand. You… you just… I….”
    “No, you’re right. I don’t understand, so why don’t you explain why you left like that?”
    Brynn tucked her Mary Janes tight against her chest, hugging them to her body. The trembling in her hands became obvious. The knot in her throat tightened, and if her heart pounded any harder she swore it would explode in her chest.
    “Cassidy,” she whispered, fighting to raise her head and look the object of her newfound affection in the eyes. How in the hell was she supposed to admit how she felt? “I… I… I’m scared.”
    “Oh, so I scare you now? Thanks, Brynn.” Cassidy turned on her heels and began to stalk away, blonde tresses flowing behind her like a platinum cape.
    “Not you!” Brynn cried out in desperation. “I’m scared of me….”
    Cassidy remained oblivious, walking farther away.
    Tears began to brew in Brynn’s eyes. She didn’t know what to say to Cassidy to make her understand. Honestly, she didn’t understand herself. One thing was certain; she hated watching Cassidy walk away from her like that. And as bad as she wanted to run after her, she didn’t trust her legs not to send her tumbling to the ground.

Chapter 12

     
    F IRST , second, third, and fourth periods all went by in one single, monotonous string of nothingness. By the time lunch rolled around, Cassidy had given up on trying to pay attention to her classes, friends, or even the music pouring through her earphones. She sat at her usual table, surrounded by the usual friends—cheerleaders, a few other A-list chicks who shared as close to her status as they could, and a couple of varsity football players who always hung out with the girls because they dated two of them.
    The conversation was as it always was—other people. Who wore what, who dated who, who had been seen over the weekend doing stuff they’d never be caught doing, blah blah blah. She turned Mazzy Star up as loud as her iPod would go and kept picking at her chicken apple salad, attempting to completely drown out even the faintest hints of the chatter going on around her.
    She was too busy looking around for Brynn to answer whatever dumb question Jenna had just asked her. Her little pink-headed fantasy was nowhere to be found. Brynn’s weirdo friend, Laura, sat off to a side, purple head tucked behind a book. She was probably none too happy about being left alone to suffer the awkwardness of socializing. Heaven forbid she get up and talk to someone.
    It dawned on her that not too long ago at all, she’d regarded Brynn with the same attitude. Just two days ago, as a matter of fact, she had walked by the same table where Laura now sat, barely acknowledging Brynn Michaels because she was just another freak. And now she was ready to all but scour the school