Spellbound

by Cara Lynn Shultz

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  a face when she smelled the smoke. Oops. Guess Angelique really was the key when we made the wind blow in her room.

  I looked around the dance f loor, trying to move things and inevitably, I would lock eyes with Kristin for longer than was comfortable. It felt like she was keeping tabs on me.

  When the coast was clear—meaning, Kristin had left the gym to apply another coat of her face spackle—I offered to get us some drinks, sticking to the edge of the packed dance f loor so I wouldn’t spill the nonalcoholic champagnelike cocktails in my hands. On the way back, I stopped to watch Brendan in action. It was an oddly proud moment for me—he was good.

  He switched between MP3s and vinyl effortlessly, his talented hands almost a blur as he ensured that the music never stopped.

  When I returned to his side, Brendan leaned in and gave me a kiss on the cheek, taking the drink gratefully and downing it in one shot.

  “Thanks, it’s getting hot back here,” he said, shrugging out of his jacket. For the next few songs, he deejayed with one hand, keeping his other on the small of my back. I didn’t know what it was like to be prom queen, but I couldn’t imagine that it felt better than this. I sighed, happily leaning into Brendan who clicked something on his laptop before turning to encircle me in his arms.

  “See, now this isn’t so bad, is it?” he teased, giving me a squeeze and I smiled, relaxing into his chest happily.

  I should have known my happiness would be short-lived.

  “Excuse me, Brendan, you should really be focusing on your duties and not letting yourself get distracted,” came the catty comment from the other side of the desk.

  I stiffened, feeling every nerve tense up. I didn’t even have to look to know who had just interrupted our moment.

  “Um,

  hello? I’m talking here.” Kristin’s voice got more demanding. “All I’m saying, Brendan, is that you’re here to 9780373210305_TS.indd 277

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  provide the music and you’re ignoring your job.” I turned just in time to see Kristin narrowing her pearlized shadow-covered eyes at me. “Don’t forget, you’re here as the help.”

  “I don’t hear anyone complaining,” Brendan answered, regarding her with a barely perceptible tilt of his head. He didn’t even seem to notice her little dig about him being “the help.”

  “Well,

  I’m complaining.” Kristin folded her arms underneath her chest—which had been stuffed and arranged like it was a proud product of the Build-a-Bear Workshop. I noticed she lifted her arms to pump up her shimmer-lotioned cleavage a little more. Does this girl ever give it a rest?

  “So? Who the hell are you to me? Big deal,” Brendan scoffed, keeping his left arm around me as he broke our embrace to put his headphones to his right ear while he changed to a vinyl track.

  “The big deal, since you ask, is that I’m in charge of this dance,” Kristin sneered, grabbing his wrist with acrylic nails and yanking his arm down. “And I. Am. Complaining!”

  My fists clenched. How dare she touch him!

  As if Brendan could reach my thoughts, he gave me a calming squeeze.

  “You’re lucky you’re a lady,” Brendan retorted coolly, pulling his wrist free. “Although it’s a loose use of the word ‘lady,’

  I’ll admit.”

  Kristin f linched, a f licker of anger crossing her face. Then she turned her cold gaze to me.

  “You.” She sniffed, f licking her index finger my way.

  “Excuse me?” I asked, incredulous.

  “Oh, there’s no excuse for you,” Kristin jeered, her bow lips turned up in a perfectly pink sneer. “But I want you to come move a box for me.”

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  “I’m not on your little committee.” I tried to keep the anger out of my voice.

  “Yeah, that’s right. You don’t do anything for the school except bring its value down.” Kristin grinned, baring her teeth.

  “Kristin, I swear, if you don’t get the hell out of here…”

  Brendan slammed his hand on the desk and caused the music to skip, the warning tone in his voice bordering on rage.

  “Save your stupid insults, Kristin,” I said, getting impatient.

  “What do you want?”

  “Just grunt work. I figured you could handle that,” she said, regarding me with distaste. “We need another box of raff le tickets brought up from the basement. It’s dirty and none of my friends should touch something that gross.”

  “You’ve wasted our time enough, Kristin,” Brendan cut in, stepping between us. “As you pointed out, I have a job to do here. So get one of your little idiots to move whatever it is that you want moved and leave my girlfriend alone.”

  Kristin scowled when Brendan called me his girlfriend.

  “Have it your way,” she purred, her voice saturated with saccharine evil. “So on Monday, I’ll just go to Principal Casey and tell her that all you did was play some crappy playlist while you made out with—” she pointed at me “— that all night.

  And I’ll talk about how upset I am about the terrible way you threatened me and my date when I told you to shape up.”

  She batted her eyelashes angelically. “I mean, I only wanted what was best for the dance and the school.”

  “Go ahead,” Brendan scoffed. But I stiffened. He was already on probation—one more straw and he was out. The last thing in the world I needed was for him to get into more trouble. His mother already probably hated me.

  “Fine, where is this stupid box?” I sighed, resigned.

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  “Emma, no. You don’t answer to her.” Brendan glared at Kristin angrily.

  “I’ll give you two losers a minute to figure it out. Brendan, I have a feeling you’ll need to talk extra…slowly…to…her,”

  she drawled dramatically before sashaying away to join her blond date.

  “Brendan, you’re on probation.” I turned my back to the dance f loor and kept my voice low, even though I knew no one could hear me over the bass. “You don’t need any more issues with Principal Casey.”

  “If you give in to Kristin now, that’s it,” he pointed out angrily. “She’ll know she can blackmail us, extort us, whatever, to get what she wants.”

  “Brendan, it’s just moving a box,” I promised. “It’s fine.”

  “It’s not fine, Emma,” Brendan argued. “I’ll go move it before I let you deal with this.”

  “Look, she just wants to be bossy and feel superior,” I reasoned. “We know she’s pathetic. Besides, I’m not going to let you get into trouble, again, for me.”

  “I’ll be fine.”

  “Okay, then how about this? How horrible will things be for me if you get kicked out, huh?” I folded my arms and stared up with him with my best “so there” face.

  Brendan began protesting but I ignored him, and turned around to see Kristin striding back across the dance f loor.

  From the smug look on her orange face, you could tell she knew she had won.

  “So where the hell is this stupid box?” I asked, my voice dripping with contempt.

  Her grimace turned into a smile. “It’s in the basement by the lockers. I’ll show you the way. Just go get it and bring it up to the raff le table.”

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  figuring I’d call Ashley and see where she was while I was away from the music.

  Brendan slid his hand around the side of my neck. “Emma, you don’t have to take care of me.”

  “Let me do this for you?” I asked, stretching up to kiss him.

  “I don’t have all night,” Kristin yelled, tapping her crystal-encrusted sandal impatiently.

  “I know where the basement is,” I said scornfully as I fell into step next to Kristin. “You don’t have to walk me there.”

  “Oh, this is my absolute pleasure,” she gloated, strutting through the dance f loor. I pretended to be oblivious to the confused stares from my classmates who caught us walking together. It would have been less probable to see the Loch Ness Monster do a conga line through the dance f loor than it would have been to ever see the two of us peacefully together.

  We walked right past Jenn, whose jaw dropped, mouthing

  “What the eff ?” to me when she saw me with my mortal enemy. I just shrugged, figuring I could give her all the gory details on Monday. Then at least I could find out why she was holding Austin’s hand.

  We passed the raff le table—where a full box of tickets sat at Kendall’s feet. When she saw us walking by, Kendall stood up, a disgusted look on her pretty face.

  “Kristin, I don’t think—” she shouted over the music, but Kristin told her just exactly what she could go do with her thoughts.

  So this is just a power play like I thought. Kendall doesn’t need the tickets. She doesn’t need the box moved. Kristin just wants to let me know who is in charge.

  Kristin strutted down the hallway to the basement door.

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  “After you,” she sneered, twisting the doorknob and kicking it open with her strappy sandal.

  “So this box is right by the lockers?” I asked.

  “I said that already. All the unwanted and unnecessary stuff goes in the basement.” I let her dig about my locker location roll off my back and I stepped into the chilly stairwell.

  “What, do they turn the heat off after school?” I wondered aloud, wrapping my arms around me as I quickly ran down the stairs, hearing the bass echo in the concrete stairwell.

  My breath was coming out in smoke. I just wanted this over with.

  As soon as I was on the bottom step, I turned to the right to face the row of lockers—and that’s it. No boxes. I turned around and looked up the stairs to see Kristin peeking out from the top of the stairs, laughing.

  “That’s what you get, bitch!” she yelled, and pulled the door shut.

  I ran back up the stairs, feeling my ankle starting to throb.

  I grabbed the doorknob, twisting it and shaking it, but it was no use—she’d locked me in the basement.

  I pounded my palms on the thick metal door, calling her name even though I knew it was futile.

  “Fine, you made your point, now let me out!”

  I pounded again, screaming, “It’s freezing in here, let me out!” But I couldn’t hear anything on the other side of the door—just the deep bass that pulsated from Brendan’s speakers and made the door vibrate underneath my fingers.

  “Crap,” I moaned, folding my arms and covering my chest with my clutch in a pathetic effort to keep warm.

  Then I looked down at my clutch. “Emma, you fool. Remember, you have a phone,” I chastised myself. I stepped away from the door and went back down the steps into the quieter 9780373210305_TS.indd 282

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  basement. I pulled off my gloves to dial the cell phone and texted both Ashley and Brendan.

  Kristin locked me in the basement. Pls get me!

  The pain in my ankle was now pulsating, so I kicked off the heels and put them in my locker, slipping the f lats on as I first called Ashley, whose phone went straight to voice mail.

  “Hey, Ash, it’s Emma. Are you at the dance yet? Kristin has locked me in the basement. Can you please come get me?”

  I tried Brendan next, hoping he had his phone on vibrate.

  Frustrated, I slammed my locker door shut, hooking my lock back on but leaving it dangling open. I rested my back against the lockers, getting more annoyed with each ring of the phone.

  Eventually, his voice mail also picked up.

  “Brendan, it’s Emma. Kristin locked me in the basement.

  Can you come let me out please? I’m trapped in here and it’s freezing and I’m all alone….”

  I turned my head—and that’s when I saw why it was so cold in the basement. The fire exit door, right next to the entrance to the chemistry lab, was propped open.

  “Oh, you’re not alone.” I spun around when I heard the voice. The only sound I could make was a gasp before the hands closed around my neck, slamming me into the lockers.

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  I scratched at the hands that held me pinned against the lockers by my throat, dropping my phone to the f loor with a metallic clack.

  “Where’s your savior now?” Anthony snarled, his bloodshot blue eyes just inches from mine. The alcohol on his hot breath made my stomach churn.

  “Hey, tough girl, I asked you a question,” he growled, slamming me against the lockers again as his hands tightened around my neck. I felt a blunt pain in the back of my head where I’d hit the raised metal vents on the locker. I let out a choked scream, gasping for air as I tried to pry his meaty hands off my throat.

  And then his chapped lips were on mine, invading my mouth as I coughed and grunted out feeble screams, trying to breathe. I twisted my head from side to side, pressing my lips shut as tightly as I could. My aching head was filled with the stale, sour smell of alcohol and body odor. My feet kicked, my hands frantically scratched his face, my nails dug into his cheek as I tried to cause him pain, distract him, something to get him away from me. Blindly, I clawed at his eyes, tearing a gash near his left eye. For a moment, he f linched, releasing 9780373210305_TS.indd 284

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  my neck as he clutched his bleeding face. I took my chance, raising my knee with a sharp jerk and connecting with Anthony’s crotch. He doubled over with a grunt, and I shoved him in the chest, pushing him off me.

  “You stupid bitch,” he groaned, lunging forward with one thick hand that grabbed a fistful of my hair as I tried to run for the fire exit. My head snapped backward as he sharply yanked on my hair. My ankle wobbled and I fell to the f loor, sprawled out at his feet as I gasped for air.

  “You ruined my life,” he bellowed, towering over me and blocking my path in the hallway, his palms spread out to touch the lockers and the opposite wall. I noticed a smear of blood—my blood—against the metal slots next to his thumb, and my stomach twisted.

  “You did it to yourself,” I choked out, reaching a hand to the back of my head and feeling a wet spot where my hair was matted with blood. My eyes scanned the narrow, empty hallway for a weapon—any kind of weapon. My gaze fell on my lock, dangling there unlocked. If I could unhook it quickly, maybe I could hit him with it….

  “Anthony! What are you doing?” The shrill voice echoed through the small area, sounding more panicked each time it bounced off the walls.

  Anthony straightened up and looked at his palm, where he clutched a fistful of my hair. He held his palm out and let the tangled wad of hair drift to the f loor be
fore looking at Kristin and laughing. He actually laughed.

  “I’m doing what I want, Krissy.” He turned his menacing glare on a wide-eyed Kristin, who stood at the base of the staircase, staring at me in horror as I inched out of Anthony’s sight and toward the fire exit.

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  “This isn’t what we talked about,” she screamed, stamping her crystal-covered feet. “You were just supposed to scare her and make her go to Casey so you’d get allowed back in school.”

  “That was never going to happen,” Anthony growled.

  “That’s what you told me! It was your idea! It was your plan!”

  Kristin cried, her usual composure just a memory as her face twisted with the realization that she’d made a deal with the devil.

  “Well, plans change.” He scowled at her. Kristin occupied all of his attention so I stif led a cough, pulling myself off the f loor.

  “No, Ant, this will get me in trouble, too! I can’t get kicked out!”

  Kristin ran up to him, beating her fists weakly against his broad chest. He didn’t even react—it was like hitting a brick building. “I didn’t sign up for this,” she wailed. “Just forget it, it’s over!”

  “I’ll tell you when it’s over!” Anthony punctuated his command with a quick, but powerful, backhand across Kristin’s face.

  Blood immediately streamed from her nose, dripping on her cleavage and dress, staining it with darker crimson splotches.

  Kristin whimpered, covering her face with her hand as Anthony backed her up against the wall, his muscles bulging menacingly underneath his long-sleeved black shirt.

  “Don’t you ever tell me what to do again,” he snarled in her face as she began sobbing, her tears mixing with her blood.

  “That’s right, cry. It’s all you’re good for.” Anthony’s voice was chillingly calm as he rested his palms on either side of Kristin’s head, trapping her between his massive arms. She cast a terrified glance over his shoulder at me as I steadied 9780373210305_TS.indd 286

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