UnEnchanted (5 page)

“
Have you heard? There’s
an assembly. About you,” she mouthed.

“
What?” Mina said audibly.
Quickly she ducked her head and buried it in her notebook, just as
Mrs. Porter swung around at the noise. The woman might be old, but
she had hearing like a bat. Mina pretended to scribble in her book,
and out of the corner of her eye she watched as Nan pursed her lips
and tapped her pencil on her book as if solving a complicated
problem. Mrs. Porter scanned the room, then turned her back and
continued her writing.

Nan blew out a breath of air that made her
bangs float in the air before resting nonchalantly on her cheek.
Her hair always looked effortless. She raised her eyebrow at Mina
as if waiting for a response. Mina glanced at the back of her
teacher and shook her head.

Nan scribbled in her
notebook and flipped up the edge so Mina could see what she’d
written.
News reporters, photographers,
media in the gym.

Mina's brows furrowed in confusion. “Why?”
she mouthed quietly this time.

Nan gave an exasperated head bob that could
only mean one word, “duh,” and began scribbling in her notebook.
This time only three words appeared.

You and Brody!

Mina's head began to shake back and forth in
disbelief. This was exactly the kind of debacle she was afraid
would happen. What if her mom found out and made them move?

Nan widened her eyes, nodding slowly in
affirmation. If someone else had looked at Mina and Nan right then,
they would have seen two bobble heads at war.

Nan stopped nodding, and
scribbled in her notebook and held it for Mina to read.
Promise me that I get an insider’s
scoop.

Mina rolled her eyes but whispered,
“Fine.”

Nan used her hand to cross her heart. Mina
smiled and did the same, the whole time shaking in her shoes. With
a few more quick notes, Mina was able to discern what she had
missed by being late that morning. The assembly would be held at
second period in the gym.

What was supposed to be a glorifying rally
seemed more like an executioner’s sentence. Why couldn't she be
more like other kids and enjoy these things? Instead, she was
terrified and tried to think of ways to escape. Maybe she could
feign sickness and go home. One look at Mrs. Porter made Mina
realize it’d never work. She would make her tough it out or maybe
go so far as to escort her to the nurse’s office herself. Any other
period, and she could come up with some excuse and slip out
unnoticed. But not this one. Her only other option would be to
leave as soon as the bell rang.

The forty-five-minute class seemed to drag
on, and Mina gave up trying to study for her algebra class. Her
eyes began to water from staring at the clock for so long. With
only one minute left, Mina grabbed her bag and was moving toward
the door one second before the bell sounded.

Yes! Mina escaped the room, and had just
turned right down the hallway and toward the exit when she walked
into Principal Hame.

“
Ah, Mina! Just the person
we were looking for. Please come with me.” His heavy hand on her
shoulder felt like a manacle snapping around her neck. She watched
someone exit the school doors, and the sound of them closing
reverberated in her ears. Mina winced.

“
Um, Principal Hame, I'm
not feeling well this morning, and I think it would be beneficial
if I went home immediately.” She tried to slump her shoulders and
look sick.

“
You can't leave now. We
have something very special planned for you.” He brushed off her
terrible acting and shuffled toward the office, pulling her
alongside him. In the background, Mina heard the noise of lockers
being shut and the excitement of students moving toward the gym.
They loved any excuse to skip class.

Principal Hame guided Mina
into his office and had her sit in one of the chairs facing his
desk. His office was decorated with pigs, and lots of them. Ceramic
pigs, plastic bobble heads, stuffed pigs, even a Hog Heaven monthly
calendar. Everywhere you looked there were pigs, mostly because his
secretary gifted him with a pig decoration for every occasion. Mina
knew she was a lost cause for tardiness when she began naming the
pigs. She stared dejectedly at a ceramic pig with a red polka dot
tie perched on Principal Hame’s desk. This one she named
Lucky
because he was the
least stupid-looking of the collection.

Principal Hame slumped
into his chair and had a moment of awkwardness as his chair slid
back three feet from the desk. After a few grunts and pushes, he
maneuvered the chair back to the desk. Mina did her best to keep a
straight face. “As you may have heard, Channel 6 and the
Herald Stadium
are here
to do an interview with you about your heroic efforts yesterday.
What I need to know, Mina, is whether you love your
school.”

“
I don't understand,
Principal Hame.”

Principal Hame coughed. “Well, Mina, what I
should be asking is maybe how much you like your fellow students
and friends, like Nan Taylor. It would be a shame if our school
lost funding and had to cut programs because of bad publicity.”

“
How could this be bad
publicity? I'm not sure I understand your question. Of course I
love this school. I'm just terrified of giving an interview and
would really prefer not to. So if you could find a way out for me,
that would be incredible.”

“
Mina, you have to do the
interview. I just want to make sure that you don't place blame on
Mr. West for the incident that happened at Babushka’s. If it was
publicized that he wasn't there when the accident occurred, it
could be seen as negligence, and we could lose our most valued
supporters and be forced to cut funding or even, God forbid, fire
Mr. West. The Carmichaels have a lot of powerful friends. I need to
know whether you think Mr. West is to blame for the
accident.”

Mina was at a loss for words. “Of course
not! He wasn't the one to blame. It was my—no one’s fault. Just an
accident.” Mina had almost admitted the truth. How could she place
blame on an absent teacher when she knew that even if Mr. West was
there, the same events would have unfolded with the same outcome?
It was just her bad luck that followed her everywhere.

Principal Hame smiled brightly. “Excellent!
Glad to hear it. Well, we’d better get you to the gym.” He stood up
and ushered Mina out the door, following close on her heels.

“
No, really, I'm not
feeling that well and would rather go home,” Mina pleaded. In
retrospect, she wished she had used the time in his office to try
to blackmail him into letting her go home, but it was too late
now.

Again Principal Hame ignored her, “Make sure
you tell the reporters how much you love our school. We would love
to get a new pool installed, you know. Good publicity equals good
funding.”

“
But I…”

“
Now’s your time to shine,
Ms. Grime. Do your school proud.” Principal Hame escorted Mina down
the corridor, and before she knew it, she was through the doors
into the gym.

“
THERE SHE IS!” Nan
yelled, waving at the reporters while pointing to Mina.

Yep, Mina thought to herself, she was
definitely going to kill Nan.

Principal Hame sauntered proudly to the
center and took the mic from Vice Principal Merris. “And here she
is: Kennedy High School’s own real-life heroine. Wilhelmina Grime!”
He started clapping into the microphone, which caused a chain
reaction amongst the whole student body.

Mrs. Colbert, the music teacher, came
forward and gently led a nervous Mina to the half-court line in the
gym. Principal Hame heartily slapped her back as if she were a
linebacker instead of a five-foot-four girl. Mina had just choked
back a snappy retort when a bright flashing light blinded her.
Photographers appeared from nowhere. The band started playing the
school theme song, and the whole student body began stomping on the
bleachers.

No longer was the air filled with cries of
“Slimy Grimy,” “Loser,” or “Nerd,” but her name. The students were
chanting her full and much-hated, antiquated name, Wilhelmina
Grimes— everyone except for one tall, good-looking boy. Mina felt
her heart sink when she saw that Brody Carmichael wasn’t standing
with the other students, chanting or cheering for her. He was
sitting in the front row, chewing on his lip. Just sitting and
staring at her, brows furrowed, leaning forward to see her over the
crowd. She couldn’t even begin to discern the emotions on his
face.

“
Mina, tell us what
happened at Babushka’s Bakery the day you saved the Carmichaels’
son from certain death?” The reporter from the Channel 6 news
station thrust a microphone in front of Mina’s face. Another flash
from the
Herald Stadium
newspaper photographer caught her off guard,
making her dizzy. But that wasn’t what irritated Mina, it was the
reporter's poor choice of words.

“
He has a name,” Mina shot
back, furious that the reporter would refer to Brody as the
Carmichaels’ son, and not by his name. She thought he deserved
better.

“
Of course he does,” the
reporter countered. “Are you going to answer the
question?”

“
Not until you rephrase
your question.”

“
Now, Mina,” Principal
Hame interjected. “Now’s not the time to argue semantics. They are
doing a lovely story on our school and on you because of what
happened yesterday. It will be good publicity and may even help us
get grants for our library.”

“
Of all the self-centered,
hare-brained…” Mina muttered under her breath, knowing that no one
outside of the few feet around them could hear them over the band.
What a game the principal was playing; earlier he’d mentioned a
pool, and now it was a library.

“
Ah ah ah. Now remember,
it’s for the good of the school,” Principal Hame chided.

“
Fine! There was some
rough-housing on the catwalk, and someone fell into BRODY
CARMICHAEL.” Mina spoke his name loudly. “And he fell over the
safety railing.”

“
And you saved him?” the
reporter asked. Did she detect a note of sarcasm in his
voice?

“
Yeah, I guess I did. I
wasn’t thinking, I just reacted. I grabbed for him and got his
backpack. I started to go over the railing, too, except that Nan…”
Mina pointed to her friend, who was screaming in the bleachers,
“grabbed me and saved both of us. Nan Taylor is the real hero of
the story, not me. She even sacrificed her iPhone in the attempt to
save us.” As soon as Mina directed the attention to Nan, the
reporter and her flock of photographers moved on and up the
bleachers toward a surprised Nan.

“
That was a brave thing
you did,” Mrs. Colbert leaned in and whispered over her
shoulder.

Mina shrugged. “I didn’t do anything
special. Only did what anyone else in my situation would have
done.”

“
I’m sure that’s not the
case, but you can keep telling yourself that if it helps you sleep
better.” Mrs. Colbert smiled knowingly. Her short spiky hair and
blue-colored, wing-tipped glasses gave her an approachable edge,
though her quips and riddles often left Mina more confused than
enlightened.

“
Why are they not
interviewing Brody? I thought for sure they would be all over him.”
Mina glanced over her shoulder to see a furious Brody glaring in
her direction again. She swallowed nervously.

“
They can’t. The
Carmichael family has forbidden the newspapers from harassing their
son.”

“
But I thought no one
could silence the media.” Mina looked back up toward where Brody
was now sitting. Not a single photographer bothered him. Another
flash of light in Mina’s direction, and she was seeing stars
again.

“
That’s what they want you
to think, but the biggest pocketbook speaks loudest.” She grinned,
causing her cheek to dimple. “They allow their own names, photos,
and stories to be printed, but the Carmichaels control all
publicity regarding their son.” Mrs. Colbert walked away to settle
down Steve and Frank, who had taken their shirts off and were
waving them above their heads, trying to get on the
news.

Through the next hour Mina stayed in the
gym, retelling the same story over and over. Just when she didn’t
think it could get any more humiliating, it did, because by
lunchtime she was on YouTube.

“
That was exciting!” Nan
gushed as she pushed her tray along the lunch line. She was wearing
another black shirt, this time dedicated to a certain sparkly
vampire. She picked up an apple, turkey sandwich, and a pink
frosted cupcake from the line and swiped her lunch card through the
electronic reader.

Mina was too stressed to eat. She grabbed
chocolate milk from the cooler and paid, following Nan to their
favorite table by the window. They were stopped three times by
students wanting pictures and autographs.

“
I bet your followers have
doubled,” Mina commented as Nan waved cheerily at the group of
freshmen, who kept pointing and whispering.

“
Tripled! But who’s
counting?” She smiled. Obviously, Nan was.

Mina shook her milk, and began to think
about her string of bad luck getting to school.

“
What’s with the scowl?”
said Nan.

“
You wouldn’t believe the
morning I had.”

“
I know, I was here,
remember.”