by Zoe Lynne
“Thanks,” she muttered back. He looked surprised that she’d thanked him. Gawd, she was capable of being nice… sometimes.
She found the chapter and tried to follow along, but Mrs. Miller’s voice whispered so low she only caught a word every other sentence, so she just speed-read through the whole thing and finished early. With that done, she moved along and answered the questions on the quiz at the end of the chapter, taking her time to go back and search for an answer when she wasn’t quite sure. The whole time she worked, Mrs. Miller droned on in the distance, voice fading more and more with every sentence read.
Cassidy swore her hatred for the old battle-axe grew as her voice dimmed. By the time the teacher finished reading, Cassidy was all but snarling at her from her seat in the back of the class, where the cool kids always sat, purposely to avoid having to hear the old coot.
“Please use the time remaining to complete the quiz following the chapter and bring your papers up to my desk once you’re finished,” Mrs. Miller instructed before she cracked open a water bottle and took a sip in what was probably an effort to dislodge the spiderwebs in her old throat.
Cassidy tore along the perforated edge of the page, removing it from the textbook. The moment she rose from her seat, proud of herself for having had the foresight to finish before everyone else, Brynn also stood.
Un-freaking-believable!
They hadn’t been paired together an hour and already the spaz was trying to outshine her. Pfft. She had another thing coming. Cassidy sped up to the front of the class, darting past Brynn and damn near shoving her out of the way.
“Hey!” Freakzilla called out softly, righting herself.
Cassidy ignored her.
With a cocky smile, Cassidy set her paper down on a desk that looked as old and faded as the teacher. “I finished first,” she pointed out, rather pretentiously. Mrs. Miller only nodded, resembling a shaky baby vulture who couldn’t quite hold up the weight of its head.
When Brynn stood on the opposite side of the desk and placed her paper in the box labeled Completed Work, Mrs. Miller smiled proudly at her, offering her a gently spoken, “Very good, Miss Michaels.”
What. The. Heck. Everrrrrr.
Cassidy rolled her eyes and huffed exaggeratedly before turning on her heels and flipping her blonde hair over her shoulder in an I-don’t-care move. When she got back to her desk, she began packing her stuff up. Something inside her—deep, deep down inside—tingled when she thought of the moment she’d pushed Brynn aside. Their hips had brushed together for a split second, and in retrospect, she could admit to wanting to feel more of Brynn’s pliant body against her.
Before she could stop herself from daydreaming, her libido trampled her logic. In a flash, she fantasized about what Brynn looked like beneath all those black clothes. Images of her flawless, pale skin flashed through her mind, bared naked for her eyes. Brynn’s pouty lips parted, and her eyes fluttered closed in ecstasy over what Cassidy’s mouth did to her in her mind’s eye.
Cassidy clenched her legs together beneath the desk, and a bright blush crept up on her cheeks. She ducked her head down, allowing her hair to cover her face. As if being a witch wasn’t bad enough, Cassidy was also into girls. She repressed that little secret even more than she did her magic, because come on, her friends would freak out if they had to shower and change in the same locker room with someone who could secretly be checking out their boobs. Not that she saw any of her friends in that light, but they wouldn’t be smart enough to figure it out or listen to reason.
When the bell rang, she stormed toward the front of the class once more, pushing past Brynn. A few kids snickered. Brynn didn’t protest, and Cassidy kept trying to dislodge the naughty visions from her head. Great. This was what she would have to work with for the next five months, as well as deal with the possible repercussions of being seen with Brynn in public.
Yeah, life just went from good to mortifying.
Chapter 5
EVERY single student, save for Brynn and Laura, bolted out of the classroom. They had a new eagerness to get out the door. After all, the shrill sound of the bell echoing down the hall meant the end of the school day, and even better, the start of the weekend.
Mrs. Miller followed her students out into the hallway to pull her never-ending crowd control duty. Brynn stood rigid, still totally freaking over her brush with Evil in Pink. Of course, in Cassidy’s mind, Brynn had obviously been in her way. After all, Cassidy ruled the school, and that land was her land… no one else’s. She made the law, and she could do no wrong.
“And I’m stuck working with her for the rest of the year…,” Brynn mumbled.
“I totally can’t believe Mrs. Miller paired you two. Is she blind or something? Does she live under a rock? Everyone knows you and Cassidy don’t get along.”
“Cassidy and I don’t speak to each other,” Brynn said flatly, giving Laura a droll expression. “Our rivalry isn’t catastrophic enough to register on the Richter scale.”
“True.” Laura shrugged. “But still. Popular people with popular people. Everyone knows that.”
“Maybe.” Brynn hiked her backpack up on her shoulder. “I’m gonna go. See you tonight?”
“Yeah. I’m bringing movies.”
“’K, see you then.”
Laura eagerly snatched up her backpack and headed out the door. Brynn promptly followed, slowing into an aimless amble as she wove through the mass of bodies rushing through the halls to get their Friday nights started. Her platform boots thumped against the linoleum. Her stare stayed trained on the floor, but somehow she managed to move through the crowd without any embarrassing accidents.
Through the small group of not-so-eager loiterers, Brynn spotted the bright red door leading into the girls’ bathroom. She took the long route, avoiding the crowd as best as she could, then pressed her palm to the door. Its hinges creaked as it opened, and the moment she ducked inside, she saw Cassidy Rivers, fixing her already perfect pink lipstick in the mirror.
Brynn froze.
Cassidy looked up.
Brynn swore World War III was about to erupt in the only girls’ bathroom on that floor.
She wasn’t going to say a word. Brynn intended on going straight down to the stall, taking care of business, then hauling out of there before a riot ensued. But when she saw Cassidy’s smirking reflection and wicked blue eyes watching her, something inside her snapped. She’d had enough.
“Cassidy—”
“What?” Cassidy barked at her.
“Why do you hate me so much? What did I ever do to you?”
“You’re a freak. That’s all there is to it.”
“So,” Brynn said, crossing her arms over her chest and shifting from one heel to the other. “You mean to tell me that because I don’t wear bright colors and don’t like Katy Perry or hanging out at the mall that I’m not worthy of a little respect. Are you really that shallow?”
“Shallow? Hold up. First of all, I don’t give a rat’s furry ass what you’re into or not into. You have, like, zero friends. You’re always alone. You don’t care for group activities. In other words, you’re like a serial killer in training.”
“I have friends! I spend my time studying. I have a 4.0 GPA, thank you. I volunteer too. How does that make me a serial killer?”
“You have one friend. That hardly constitutes as a group of friends. Besides, I don’t have to explain myself to you or anyone. What do you care if I like you or not?”
“Because, unfortunately, we have to work together for this stupid class.” Brynn exhaled sharply, looked down at her boots, then over to Cassidy’s designer heels. She knew she would never be anything more than a weirdo in Cassidy’s eyes, and this whole argument was one big waste of time, but she had to get her feelings off her chest, even if it did make her seem completely hopeless. “You could give me a chance,” she muttered beneath her breath.
“A chance? No thanks, I’m fresh out of extra blood to donate to your sata
nic rituals. Just because we have to work together doesn’t mean we have to like each other. Stay out of my way, and I’ll stay out of yours. Somehow, we have to find time for this project, but I’ll be damned if I’m seen hanging out with you, so figure it out.”
“Fine. Whatever.”
Brynn tucked tail and turned for the door, but the moment she reached for the handle, something stopped her, something stupid and hopeful, something she would probably regret saying in the end. She looked over her shoulder and said, “And all this time I thought—no, I hoped—there was more to you than this. Guess I was wrong.”
“IF YOU only knew…,” Cassidy whispered, but the door had already closed, and Brynn Michaels was long gone.
Something inside her stung. Like her heart was having trouble dealing with the severity of the words she’d just sharply spat at Brynn. In truth, she hadn’t intended on being so mean to the girl. When she first walked into the bathroom, Cassidy almost smiled at her. After all, she had just been fantasizing about doing not-so-Catholic things to the girl just moments before. Then something made her go all feral, though, just like she always did. Even when Brynn hadn’t done or said anything to deserve it, she immediately slammed her wall down and raised her defenses.
It annoyed her that she acted the way she did, but she didn’t know how else to be. She’d been this person for so very long it became her default. What would Brynn have done if Cassidy had smiled and offered to work side by side with her on the project instead? She probably would’ve bolted from the bathroom, screaming about possession. And Brynn was supposed to be the satanist. Ha. Yeah, right.
Her lip gloss container clicked against the rest of the makeup in the small clutch holding the few essentials she carried around. While some considered her plastic, she wore very little makeup—some mascara, a little lip gloss, and a bit of blush to accent her sun-kissed cheeks. That was all she ever really needed.
She finished packing up her stuff and turned to head out the door, resolved to try and be a little bit nicer to Brynn. Okay, maybe not “nicer.” Not right away. But perhaps she could start to be… civil?
There was just something about Brynn that had gotten under her skin. Something that—for some reason—chipped away at the guards she held up so tightly.
She didn’t really notice there was a bit of a hurry to her step as she made her way out of the bathroom and down the hallway. Knowing where Brynn’s locker was, she refused to acknowledge the little spark that ignited when she saw Brynn standing there, pink head hidden behind the red metal door. When she approached her, it wasn’t the way she’d always done before. There was no hostility, no inner anger. She slowed down, suddenly unsure of what to say.
“Um,” Cassidy stammered, “so listen. What if we work together on this one thing, and when it’s over, we go back to not knowing each other, ’kay?”
“Yeah. Sure.” Brynn frowned, tucking a pink tendril of fallen hair behind her ear. “But why—”
“Because we need the grade.”
“Right. The grade. So, um… where do you wanna work or… whatever?”
“You know which house is mine. We live in the same neighborhood, so just come by my place,” Cassidy said, as she fished in her bag for something to write with. She took Brynn’s hand and scribbled her cell phone number across the pulse point of her wrist in pink glitter ink. “Guys would kill for that number. Don’t give it out, ’kay?”
“No. Yeah. Right,” Brynn stuttered, curling her hand and staring down at her wrist. Cassidy could feel the muscle in Brynn’s arm flex against her palm and she immediately let go. “So, I’ll, um… call you tomorrow?”
“Yeah, tomorrow works. Any time after noon.”
“Sure. Thanks for….”
Brynn’s words trailed off, and Cassidy was dying to know what she wanted to say next, but she didn’t push. Instead, she nodded and muttered, “You’re welcome,” before turning around and heading back down the hallway and to the staircase.
Chapter 6
THE entire drive home, Brynn thought about how Cassidy had come back to her locker, how her whole demeanor had changed, about the way Cassidy’s hand had felt around hers. The gentleness of her touch and the way her skin felt so soft did something to Brynn. It gave her a goofy grin and a warm feeling that radiated out from her chest and sent tingles down her arms. Cassidy actually made her smile for the first time in like… ever.
At least Cassidy didn’t act like she hated her. At least right now, anyway.
Brynn pulled into the suburbs, past all the cookie-cutter look-alikes, past Cassidy Rivers’s house, around the corner, and down to her own driveway. One block separated their houses. One block. But so much more kept them apart. Her house looked exactly like Cassidy’s, save for the gardens, the arrangement of the flowers, and the fixtures. Brynn’s house had an American flag flapping by the front door—a show of support since her daddy was a retired Air Force captain. Other than that, the houses were the same shape and color, had the same windows and doors. The same. But they were two very, very different girls.
She parked in her driveway, turned the car off, and grabbed her backpack from the passenger seat. As she worked her way toward the front door, she stole another quick glance at her wrist—the place where Cassidy had so gently and flawlessly written her phone number in pink ink and huge, swooshing, bubbly strokes. The sight of it made Brynn smile. Though why she liked seeing it there, she had no idea. Maybe she just liked the idea that Cassidy Rivers could be nice to her, like Miss Popularity didn’t completely hate her.
Just as Brynn reached for the doorknob, she heard Laura’s car whipping around the corner. The music hit her ears right before she saw Laura’s black Honda barreling up the driveway. Brynn’s mom hated when Laura did that, and she’d asked Laura not to more than once. Laura didn’t listen well.
Brynn waited for her, watching as Laura popped out from the driver’s-side door. Laura got to her house so fast Brynn wondered if she’d even bothered going home. Laura held up her arm, waving a stack of DVDs in her hand as she jogged up the concrete path to meet Brynn.
“You just getting home?” Laura asked.
“Yeah,” Brynn said as she slipped the key in the doorknob.
“What took you so long to get here?”
“I got hung up at school.” Not a lie, but not the whole story either.
“What happened?”
God, could she be any nosier? “I, um… stuff at my locker.”
“Oh,” Laura said.
When Brynn turned the key in the lock, her arm turned as well, exposing the phone number written on her wrist. She’d stopped thinking about it until Laura grabbed her arm and pulled it up to see the pink evidence of exactly what had kept Brynn at her locker after school.
Laura frowned. “Whose number is that?”
“It’s…. Well…. I….”
“Brynn.”
“It’s Cassidy Rivers’s number,” Brynn blurted. Heat rushed her cheeks.
Laura’s eyes widened as she released Brynn’s arm. She stared, mouth agape, eyes still as big as saucers, but she didn’t say a word. Not that she had to. The astonishment on her face was enough to make Brynn a little squirmy.
Looking away, Brynn opened the door to her house. Cool air rushed out and blasted against her blazing hot face. Relief. Sorta. Now she just needed Laura to quit staring at her like she’d lost her mind.
They headed inside—Laura going straight up to Brynn’s room, Brynn going to the kitchen for sodas and popcorn. At least their normal routine would put some distance between the girls and give Brynn time to think about how she would explain Cassidy’s number while Laura marinated in whatever ideas she conjured about Brynn and Cassidy’s new relationship.
Relationship? What a weird word to use when considering the most popular girl in the school.
Shaking her head, Brynn reached in the cabinet and grabbed a bag of popcorn. She started it popping and listened closely as the kernels exploded in the bag. Even
as she focused her attention on the red and white bag rotating inside the microwave, she couldn’t stop thinking about Cassidy.
There was definitely an attraction there, one Brynn couldn’t deny, but wouldn’t admit to anyone else. It was a different kind of attraction, one she hadn’t felt with anyone else before. She wanted to spend time with Cassidy, wanted to snuggle under the covers and feel Cassidy’s arms around her. She wanted to feel Cassidy’s mouth against hers, if nothing more than to know what her lip gloss tasted like. Brynn wondered if they could ever be friends on any kind of level or if she was too much of a pariah for Cassidy to ever be seen with. It was so silly, and Brynn didn’t even know why she cared.
Okay, so that was a lie. She did know why she cared. A part of her wanted to have a place in Cassidy’s world. Take away all the self-righteous, narcissistic, catty, vapid airheads and that left… well, not much of anything. No wonder Brynn stuck to her one and only friend.
Cassidy had to be different, though. There had to be more to her than the role she played for the popular masses. Right? She had depth, something Brynn would’ve never even considered before Cassidy came over to her locker. She’d seen something in the cheerleader’s eyes, something almost caring and understanding, something that actually did wish for more than what she had. Or maybe Brynn was just wishing on a star.
The microwave dinged and ripped Brynn right away from her Cassidy fantasies. She popped open the door and grabbed the bag by its corner, then grabbed a bowl from the cabinet. On her way out, she stopped by the fridge and collected two sodas, then hightailed it upstairs to her bedroom.
She found Laura sitting on the edge of her bed, toying with the remote to the DVD player. “So what did you pick out for us?” Brynn asked as she sat one of the bottles of soda on the nightstand next to Laura.