That Witch!

by Zoe Lynne

  Brynn took a step forward and said, “Laura, it isn’t what you—”

  “You know what?” Laura interrupted. “I’m so sick of you lying all the time. You hate her!” She stabbed her pointy finger in Cassidy’s direction. It took a whole lot of restraint for Cassidy not to break that lanky digit in two. “Now you’re going all lezzie with her? What the hell?”

  Brynn opened her mouth, but Cassidy stepped between them. No way in hell was anyone going to talk to her Pinky that way and get away with it.

  “Jealous much? God, freak. Quit spazzing.” Cassidy’s tone was insulting. Downright demeaning. It was the cool, arrogant voice she reserved for the meanest of insults because she knew nothing bugged the crap out of people more than being treated like someone who wasn’t even worth a raised tone. “What’s your deal, anyway? Maybe you’re the lesbian, what with the way you’re all up in Brynn’s Kool-Aid.”

  “You’re freaking mental, Cassidy. Wait until everyone hears about you holding Brynn’s hand. You just wait!”

  “Oh, I’m cowering,” Cassidy snorted. “Really? Who’s gonna care that we were holding hands? More importantly, who’s even gonna listen to you? You’re a nobody.”

  “Stop!” Brynn yelled. Her face had blanched to a pale white, paler than her normal creamy porcelain. “Just stop.” She looked at Cassidy and frowned, then looked back at Laura. “Why are you being so mean to me?”

  “Oh, you haven’t seen mean yet,” Laura said. “How could you? She’s the enemy.”

  “She’s being nice to me.”

  “To your face, only because you guys have the project. She hates you, remember?”

  Brynn lowered her head.

  At this point, Cassidy clenched her hands into fists at her side.

  Truth be told, she’d never really hated Brynn, just misunderstood her. Maybe even envied her casual attitude a bit too. For a moment she let Laura’s words hit her. Just for a moment, though. She bounced right back and straight into bitch-face mode. She pointed one finger straight into Laura’s black-hoodie-covered chest and laughed sardonically. “What would you know about who or what I hate? You don’t know squat about anyone or anything because no—one—likes—you.” With each enunciated word, she poked her finger harder and harder against the fabric covering Laura’s chest. “Go ahead, psycho. Bring your A-game. By the time I’m done with you, you’re gonna wish you were under that rock you slithered out from.”

  Malice. She had it in spades.

  Laura growled as she stormed away, pushing between the two of them and shoving them both out of her way. When Cassidy looked over at Brynn, she saw genuine fear and maybe a little sadness in Brynn’s eyes. If there was anything that could completely dissipate the fury she was feeling, it was the expression on Brynn’s face.

  Immediately, Cassidy’s stance changed. She stepped back and sighed, offering Brynn an apologetic look before the words even made it past her lips. “I’m sorry” was all she could say. Knowing Brynn was caught in the middle between her crazy friend and her new… girlfriend? Girl who was a friend? Whatever, that was something she’d figure out later. All she knew now was that she’d probably made the situation worse, and not for her, but for Brynn, who still looked like she was caught somewhere between tears and anger. “I’m sorry,” Cassidy repeated, offering Brynn her hand, if Brynn would even dare to touch her again.

  “It’s not your fault,” Brynn said as she let Cassidy lace their fingers.

  The moment they touched again, Cassidy felt heat build in her palm. She felt the rolling, frizzling, crackling of energy, and knew her emotions were pushing her powers and giving them the jolt they needed to burst to life and embarrass the hell out of her. She wondered if Brynn could feel it too.

  “I’m just worried about what Laura is going to do,” Brynn said as if she hadn’t felt a thing.

  Cassidy felt like the Wicked Witch of the West. If it hadn’t been for her interrupting, Laura and Brynn might have hashed out whatever it was the freak was so bugged about. Since it was too late to do anything now, she did what she could. Looking Brynn straight in the eyes, she squared her shoulders and softly promised, “I won’t let her do anything to you, ’kay?”

  “I believe you,” Brynn whispered, tightening her fingers around Cassidy’s.

  “Good.” Cassidy nodded. “Now, you wanna walk over to the frozen yogurt place in the food court while we wait for your phone?

  “Is this a date?” Brynn finally smiled, which elicited a mirroring smile from Cassidy.

  “This is anything you want it to be, Brynnie.”

  “I think I like the idea of this being a date.”

  Chapter 19

  AS THEY headed through the crowds of happy, oblivious mall loiterers, Cassidy kept her hand locked around Brynn’s. Not that Brynn minded. She actually liked the fact Cassidy accepted her enough to be seen in public with her. Maybe Brynn sounded desperate, but she didn’t care. She’d always wondered what life with the in-crowd would be like and with Cassidy by her side, maybe one day she would find out… if Laura didn’t ruin it for her first.

  Sighing, she looked at the people passing by them—the happy families, the husbands and wives, the girlfriends and boyfriends holding hands. Brynn realized she saw no one like her and Cassidy, and she didn’t mean two girls on such opposite ends of the spectrum there was no way they could possibly be friends. Rather two girls who felt so much for each other they had to hold hands.

  Was it wrong, the way Cassidy touched her, the way they kissed, and how close they’d become? Would Laura turn them both into social lepers by outing them to the school? What was there to out? Did a single kiss make Brynn a lesbian?

  They arrived at the yogurt place, and Brynn had been so lost in her own mind she hadn’t heard the guy behind the counter ask her what she wanted and hadn’t noticed Cassidy staring at her like she’d grown a second head. “I, um… vanilla. Large. With white chocolate chunks and nuts, please,” Brynn said before absently moving to the side. She hadn’t even noticed she was no longer holding Cassidy’s hand.

  “Small, fat-free chocolate, with sugar-free fudge and low-carb graham crackers, please,” Cassidy chimed in after Brynn. She kept glancing over at Brynn with worry… or something… creasing her features. “You okay?” she asked softly as they moved down toward the register at the opposite end of the counter.

  “I’m okay,” Brynn lied as her stare scoured the crowd. She had a feeling Cassidy would notice she hadn’t looked her in the eyes again, not since they’d started toward the food court. “You’re not worried about everyone in the school thinking we’re lesbians, are you?”

  Cassidy shrugged one dainty shoulder in disregard. “Nah.”

  “You’re not afraid of being bullied?” Brynn paused. “Wait, of course you’re not. You’ve never been bullied, have you?”

  “Um… no. But I know what it’s like to be outside of a group because you’re different and sometimes, that’s just as bad.”

  “What group would consider you different enough to make you an outcast?”

  Cassidy looked down at her white sandals. She seemed to be dissecting the polish on her toes by the way she stared so intently. It was the first time Brynn had ever seen her act anything other than confident. When she looked up again, her expression was soft, and if Brynn didn’t know any better, she’d swear Cassidy was hurt.

  “Let’s just say not all the beauty pageant girls are nice, especially when you’re prettier than they are.”

  “That sounds so life-ending.” Brynn rolled her eyes. Only then did she realize how ugly that made her sound. “Sorry, I… I just…. You have no idea how hard it is having people make fun of you and stare at you. If Laura goes around telling them I’m a lesbian, then I’ll really be made fun of. I’m already the ‘emo freak’—add anything else to that and I might as well hide under a rock.”

  “Back to Laura again?” Cassidy huffed, clearly growing irritated by the mention of the many things Laura could do to ruin
Brynn. “I promise you that no matter what she does, it’ll get turned around on her, and she’ll be the brunt of her own game. This I know how to do, so just trust me, ’kay?”

  The guy behind the counter handed their order over on a bright pink tray. Cassidy grabbed it before Brynn had a chance to. Brynn picked up two plastic spoons and a pile of napkins, then followed Cassidy over to the tables. They both sat down, each girl reaching for her dessert. Brynn took a bite, then said, “I don’t want anything bad for Laura. I just don’t want her making trouble for me… or you.”

  “Brynnie,” Cassidy sighed. “That girl is so far off anyone’s radar she couldn’t make trouble if she knew how to spell it. Chillax.”

  “‘Chillax’. Got it.”

  After all, Cassidy had a point. Brynn needed to relax and stop letting Laura have so much power over her. On the one hand, she hated the wedge that had been shoved between her and her best friend. On the other, Cassidy gave her something, made her feel something she’d never experienced in her life. Cassidy gave her a new reason to be happy. Why couldn’t Laura accept her happiness? Why couldn’t Laura be happy for her?

  “We should have a sleepover,” Brynn blurted. Who knew where that idea came from?

  “We totes should!”

  “Can I spend the night at your place tonight? We can watch movies, and I promise not to bail on you.”

  Cassidy squealed. “Yay! Yes! Not just yes, heck yeah!”

  “Would you mind coming over and meeting my parents? They have a thing about me spending the night with people they don’t know. It’s so stupid.” Brynn rolled her eyes. “I mean, I’m almost eighteen already.”

  “No, not at all,” Cassidy said as she licked chocolate frozen yogurt from her spoon. “Parents love me.”

  “My daddy is military, so make sure you do the whole ‘sir’ and ‘ma’am’ thing. It’ll earn you mad points with them.”

  “Sir and ma’am are my specialty.”

  “Good.” Brynn smiled wider as she scooped up more yogurt and plopped the spoon into her mouth. She licked away the gooey goodness, watching closely as Cassidy did the same.

  As she watched the pink plastic spoon slip between Cassidy’s pursed lips, she remembered the way those lips had felt on hers, the way they tasted like strawberry, and how soft they were as Cassidy kissed her. It made everything inside her all warm and fuzzy, just like she felt when Cassidy held her.

  “I, um… I think I’m finished,” Brynn said, clearing her throat.

  The sound of a spoon scraping across the bottom of the bowl indicated Cassidy had finished her dessert as well. She took one final long, almost teasing lick of her spoon, clearing it of any remaining frosty yumminess, before dropping it into the empty Styrofoam bowl. “Me too.”

  “I guess we can pick up my phone and head to my house then?”

  “Sounds like a plan, gorgeous.”

  Cassidy rose from her seat, the sound of the metal legs scraping across the linoleum floor of the crowded food court. She turned to walk away, leaving her bowl on the table for the mall maintenance staff to clean up, but when she saw Brynn begin to clear hers and place it atop the tray, she turned around again and followed suit.

  With their trash in the receptacle, Cassidy once again reached out her hand for Brynn’s, smiling when their fingers intertwined. Together, they made their way back to the Apple store, where Brynn was elated to discover the geniuses at the Genius bar hadn’t been able to fix her phone, but they’d transferred all the data to a brand new phone, which they already had charged and waiting for her.

  It seemed the little fiasco with Laura was beginning to ease away. As they made their way through the mall, Brynn didn’t even stress that they were holding hands in public. As a matter of fact, she sorta liked the way it looked in the reflection of the windows they passed by. It was natural. Cute even, since they were about as far opposites as anyone could picture—even though people wouldn’t know that from looking at her dressed in Cassidy’s clothes. Which, she had to admit, looked pretty nice on her.

  To her left, the bag holding the box to her new phone swung gently back and forth while to her right, Cassidy chattered on about how tacky the stuff at Claire’s had gotten and how absolutely adorable the stuff at Sanrio was, even though she’d never be caught dead in public with anything Hello Kitty because it was soooo last year.

  Outside, the sunshine warmed her shoulders while the breeze billowed by, caressing her cheeks. She felt good. Really, really good. The day had suddenly gotten so much better with the simple promise of sleeping over at Cassidy’s house. It was her chance to make it up to Cassidy for darting out of her house that night. This time, not only would she not dart out, she might have to fight herself to not crawl into Cassidy’s bed and snuggle into her.

  The same cheerleader who’d given Brynn a new reason to smile suddenly screamed bloody murder, followed by a string of expletives. When she looked up, her eyes widened and her mouth fell open to form a big “O.”

  There, across the shiny silver side of Cassidy’s car, the word “DYKE” was spray painted in black capital letters.

  Cassidy kept cursing and Brynn silently kissed their good day together good-bye.

  Chapter 20

  AFTER that vulgar display of anger, Cassidy should’ve still been seething. But she wasn’t. Not only was she not fuming, but she was plotting the devastating downfall of Laura Dorien. In her head, the elaborate plan spun like a spider’s web, weaving out of control as she pulled out of the mall’s parking lot and made her way back to Majestic Hills.

  They rode in silence save for the radio playing softly. The music served more as background noise than entertainment or distraction. Cassidy simply couldn’t be distracted. She was like a geek with a new science project, eagerly anticipating the steps she had to take to ensure the big shiny award at the end went to her while her competition wept in defeat. Oh yeah. Laura was going to regret ever becoming a blip on her radar, and she was definitely going to suffer extreme torment if she caused Brynn even an iota of pain or embarrassment.

  Rounding the corner, she stopped the car in front of her house and turned to Brynn, who sat quietly looking out the window. “Do you mind if I park here and we walk over to your house? I don’t want your parents asking about my car if they see it.”

  She didn’t want Brynn to think Laura’s little stunt had in any way ruined their plans, because she refused to let it happen. It was a simple matter of getting a rental car while her Scion spent a few days getting painted. No big. The car wasn’t a huge deal. It was Laura’s choice of word that fueled Cassidy’s anger. For the moment, though, she pushed it all aside and focused on Brynn, hoping like hell Pinky still wanted to have a sleepover.

  “I think that’s a good idea,” Brynn said, keeping her stare on the goings-on outside the car. “I don’t think I could explain that to my daddy.”

  “Yeah, I’m not looking forward to explaining it to my mom, either.”

  Brynn finally turned her head toward Cassidy. The rims of her eyes were red, as if she’d been sitting there the entire time quietly crying. “Your mom doesn’t know already?”

  “Nope. She’s huge on LGBT rights, though, so I think she’d understand. I just haven’t had the chance to talk to her about it since we’ve had… um, other stuff going on.”

  “I just assumed you guys talked about everything. You seem like the type.”

  “We do. Usually.”

  Cassidy pulled into the driveway, cut the engine, and took a deep breath. Before she had a chance to think of the best way to explain the situation, her mother and grandmother walked out of the house dressed in their gardening best.

  Crrrraaaap.

  Miranda’s eyes widened, and Nana dropped the basket of gardening tools she was carrying. “What in the Sam Hill?” her grandmother cried.

  “Who did this?” her mother demanded, storming over to the car with Nana hot on her heels. Cassidy slid from the driver’s side and looked over the roof of
her car at Brynn, who was standing in her all too familiar “earth swallow me now” pose.

  “Laura Dorien did it while Brynn and I were in the mall.”

  “Why?” her mother urged again.

  “Teen girls nowadays are little—” Nana cut herself off, probably for Brynn’s sake more than anyone else’s.

  “She thinks Brynn and I are lesbians ’cause we were holding hands.” Maybe Brynn didn’t want that particular detail aired, but Cassidy had no shame when it came to her divorced mother and widowed grandmother. The three of them were close, and she briefly wondered why she hadn’t sat down earlier with her mom and told her about her sexual orientation.

  “Holding hands?” Nana looked like she’d been slapped hard. “Some girl did this because you were holding hands?”

  “That’s preposterous! Girls hold hands all the time,” her mother chimed in.

  Nana pursed her lips. The look on her face was one Cassidy knew all too well. She’d worn it almost permanently when Cassidy’s father had been moving out, and it crossed her features every time Miranda mentioned the man, even in passing conversation.

  “Lesbians? Because of a little hand holding? I’ll show her a lesbian!”

  Cassidy caught Brynn’s equally surprised expression from the corner of her eye, just before she focused on her grandmother. “Calm down, Nana. It’s whatever. The insurance can cover it, and I’ll handle the chick at school.”

  Apparently, Cassidy’s mother wasn’t as willing to ignore Nana’s previous statement. She glanced over at the elderly woman, one brow quirked in curiosity and a half smile on her face.

  “What do you know about lesbians, Mom?”

  “I’ve been in love with a woman before—” Nana turned to Cassidy, offering her a smile. “Before your grandfather, of course. It was a long time ago, but we were happy until her family moved away to England. We did a whole lot more than hold hands too.”

  “Mom!” Miranda exclaimed as she laughed softly.