UnEnchanted by Chanda Hahn

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