That Witch!

by Zoe Lynne

  “I don’t care if anyone knows anymore,” Cassidy admitted. “According to you, things can’t possibly get any worse, right?” She offered Pinky an encouraging grin, hoping to make her understand the hardest part was behind them and anything that happened at school could only pale in comparison to Mr. Michaels’s reaction.

  “But are you okay with….” Brynn looked down at her feet, knuckles paling even more as she clenched the straps of her backpack. “It’s me, Cassidy. I’m a ‘loser’, remember? Are you okay with them knowing you’re with me?”

  “Okay, first off, you’re not a loser, so stop it. Secondly, you’re just different. It’s not like you’re a leper or anything. You’re just… unique. That’s nothing to be ashamed of. I’m certainly not ash—” Cassidy’s words were cut short by the sight of two senior girls walking by, holding hands and making googly eyes at one another.

  Brynn’s head turned, her gaze following the same girls as they passed by. For the second time that morning, they exchanged WTF faces. “Is it just me, or did they look like…?” Brynn queried.

  “Like a couple? Yeah, totally.”

  “Did our school just turn into the freakin’ Twilight Zone?”

  “Who knows? Maybe we’re not the only ones here—we’ve just been too caught up in our own stuff to realize it.”

  “Does that mean—” Brynn quickly looked around then leaned in. “—that we can hold hands?”

  Cassidy giggled. “Do you want to hold hands? ’Cause I’m cool with any type of PDA.”

  “If everyone already knows….” Brynn shrugged. “And it looks like they’re okay with it.”

  Without another word, Cassidy reached down and took Brynn’s hand in hers. She smiled proudly at her girlfriend, happy that she was finally coming out of her shell. “Exactly. The worst already happened. What else could go wrong, right?”

  “Oh look, now they’re open about it. Someone gag me.” Laura’s voice came from the left of the hallway.

  “I spoke too soon,” Cassidy mumbled, tightening her grip on Brynn’s hand and trying to control the urge to magically send Laura flying across the hall, face-first into a metal locker.

  The grip Brynn had on Cassidy’s hand loosened. Her sweet, innocent, shy Pinky was rocking one hell of a mean girl snarl. Her brows creased, nostrils flared. Her lips were pursed and her jaw tight. She stomped her way across the hall and stood nose to nose with the girl she’d once called a best friend.

  “You listen right now, and you listen well,” Brynn said.

  Cassidy’s eyes widened. She couldn’t make herself look away, like spotting a train wreck and waiting for the bodies to be pulled out of the carnage. Laura looked terrified. Her face paled as Brynn stabbed her finger at Laura’s sternum.

  “You’re really starting to piss me off,” Brynn said. “We were best friends, and you got mad because someone else came into my life. Get. Over. It. If you would find yourself a boyfriend or… or girlfriend… or whatever, you wouldn’t be so jealous of me and Cassidy. Now, you can either deal with it or drop dead, but you’re going to leave us alone. Got it?”

  Laura didn’t so much as open her mouth. She stared at Brynn. Everyone around them stared at the two of them. Cassidy smirked. Her little Pinky wasn’t so shy anymore. And Cassidy wanted to applaud her for it.

  She felt magic crackle through every cell in her body. Sparks of energy begged to be released. Instead of making Laura slam into a locker, she channeled all that power into the source of her pride, Brynn. Walking to stand at her side, she held Brynn’s hand while a few people gathered around them applauded. Some cheered. Others snickered at the way Laura tucked tail and ducked down, slipping away from in front of Brynn before booking it down the hallway and disappearing into the mass of bodies.

  “I’m proud of you,” Cassidy said lovingly.

  “I have no idea where that came from, but it felt… a-freaking-mazing.”

  “Because you finally took a stand against a witch.”

  “I thought I was standing with a witch,” Brynn teased, giving Cassidy a playful wink.

  “I’m like the good witch… only I dress better, and you can’t tell anyone about my pointy hat.”

  “Never. I wouldn’t out you like that.”

  “I know.” Cassidy smiled. “Now, can we officially declare that nothing else can go wrong to—”

  Brynn immediately reached up and clamped her hand over Cassidy’s mouth. She shook her head and said, “Not another word. Your mouth keeps getting us in trouble.”

  Cassidy moved Brynn’s hand away to reveal a wicked grin. “I thought you liked the trouble my mouth gets you into.”

  “Hmmm.” Brynn’s head waffled from side to side. “Sometimes. Okay, most of the time.” She laughed. “We’re going to get in even more trouble if we don’t get to class.”

  “Ugh, class. Okay, I’ll see you later, yeah?”

  “Totally,” Brynn said, then she spun on her heels and headed down the hall. Cassidy watched every step she took, even after Brynn looked back and caught her watching. She couldn’t possibly be the only one around to notice that for the first time since spotting Brynn Michaels, the emo girl walked with a spring in her step and her head held high, daring the world.

  It was a magical sight.

  Chapter 33

  THE next day at school went much the same as their first day back after Brynn’s disastrous coming out with her parents. One of the drama-club boys actually looked at her and said, “Baby, you were born this way,” winked, then skipped off. Brynn didn’t exactly know how to respond to that. Despite detesting every Lady Gaga song ever, she got it. That song had turned into the theme for every gay kid across the planet, apparently.

  Whatever. At least they weren’t teasing her. And the ironic part, Cassidy’s friends even welcomed her into the fold. She was hanging with the popular kids now… pink hair and all. Her only regret was that Laura still hadn’t spoken to her, and it sincerely looked like her best friend was… well, not.

  “Cassidy, hurry!” she called across the parking lot.

  Cassidy was stuck talking it up with their cheer coach, and the clock quickly ticked down the minutes. If they didn’t get home soon, Brynn would miss the chance to see her mom before Nana, Mrs. Rivers, and her mother all headed to the PFLAG meeting. She really wanted to see her mom. Sure, it’d only been two days, but she was used to talking to her mother every single evening after school.

  When Brynn saw Cassidy wave to the coach, then push through the gate, her heart started beating a little faster. She got a little more antsy. She loved Cassidy to pieces, but OMG she needed to hurry!

  “I’m sorry,” Cassidy called out, shuffling faster toward Brynn. “We were talking about regionals and who’s gonna be the captain next year. The junior varsity girls are all two left feet!” She dug her keys from her designer handbag and jingled them in the air as she finally neared the car. “I know you wanna see your mom.”

  “Yes. I do. I haven’t seen her since Tuesday, and if we don’t hurry, we’ll miss them.”

  “So quit standing there and get in the car, silly.”

  The alarm chirped and the lights flickered on just before Cassidy opened the door, tossed her stuff in the back, and slid in behind the wheel.

  Brynn climbed into the car and set her backpack down between her legs. She tried to be patient, but that just wasn’t going to happen. Even as Cassidy pulled out of the school parking lot, Brynn silently prayed for her to go faster.

  Her sporty little car wound around the corners. Cassidy sped, but not too much, not enough to get her in trouble, and the powers that be must’ve been watching, because every single light turned green as they approached. They pulled down into the neighborhood just in time to catch the three women stepping out of the front door of the Riverses’ home.

  “Oh! Hurry!” Brynn bounced excitedly.

  “I’m hurrying. I’m hurrying.”

  Cassidy parked behind Brynn’s mom’s minivan and barely had th
e car in park before Brynn bounded out the door. “Mom! Wait!”

  Brynn’s mom stopped and smiled. She held out her arms as Brynn charged toward her. “I was hoping to see you before we left. How was school?”

  “Laura told everyone about me and Cassidy,” Brynn panted. “But it’s cool. Everyone was cool with it. The cheerleaders are actually being nice to me.”

  “Well, that’s good.” Brynn’s mom hugged her tight, then released her. “We have to go, but I brought pizza from that place on the square you love so much. We’ll be gone a few hours, but I would love to see you when we get back, if you’re still up.”

  “I will be. I promise.”

  “Good.”

  She kissed Brynn’s forehead and wished her daughter a good night, then climbed into the back of Mrs. Rivers’s car. Brynn watched as they pulled away, wishing they’d gotten there an hour earlier just so she could hang with her mom for a bit. When she’d lived at home, she’d hated when her mom had called her into the kitchen for their afternoon talks, but now, she missed it.

  With a sigh, she turned back to Cassidy, who was waiting at the top of the driveway. She put on her best smile and headed up to join her girlfriend.

  “Did I hear something about pizza?” Cassidy asked as she walked to the front door.

  “Yeah, my mom bought us pizza from one of my favorite places. She wants me awake when she gets back. You feel like staying up with me?”

  “Sure.” Cassidy smiled. “I have homework to do and some routines to work on for the junior varsity team, so I’ll be up for a while. Wanna watch a movie or something after we get stuff done?”

  “That sounds great.”

  But the moment they headed into the living room where they spent their evenings on studies and random silliness, Brynn heard a knock at the front door. She looked back at Cassidy and frowned. Her girlfriend shrugged.

  They both went back to the door to find none other than Brynn’s ex-best friend standing there with a fake smile plastered to her face. Brynn and Cassidy exchanged a quick glance, but it was Cassidy who said, “What are you doing here? What do you want?”

  “I thought I could talk to my friend without her guard dog attacking me,” Laura said.

  “I’m sorry, cow, but you don’t have any friends. Certainly not inside this house.”

  Laura opened her mouth, but Brynn stepped between the two of them and pushed them back before they had a chance to rip each other’s heads off. “Stop it, you two.” She gave Cassidy a please behave look, then turned back to Laura. “Seriously, though, what do you want?”

  “My boyfriend said I should apologize to you, so here I am.”

  “Well, that’s real…. Wait—” Brynn frowned. “Since when do you have a boyfriend?”

  Cassidy snorted. “Boyfriend. I wasn’t aware Satan took on girlfriends, but whateverrrr. I’m gonna go start on my homework.” She turned to Brynn and kissed her cheek before wiggling her fingers in a wave at Laura. “Poor sap. Give him my condolences.” And with that, Brynn’s girlfriend disappeared into the house.

  Brynn sighed and shook her head. Apparently, the two of them would never, ever get along. Not that Brynn really expected them to. Some people were never meant to be aware of each other’s existence.

  “Like I was saying.” Brynn looked back at Laura, who was still glaring in Cassidy’s general direction.

  “Since you ditched me for the popular kids,” Laura all but pouted. “It’s been a few weeks.”

  “Who is it?”

  “Norman Fletcher.”

  “Nerdy Norman?” Brynn gasped. Laura flinched. “Sorry.”

  “Yeah, like, don’t call him that, and I won’t talk about your prissy, vapid girlfriend.”

  “Look, if you came here to call names—”

  “I didn’t. Anyway, Norman said I should apologize for being so hateful to you. And honestly—” Laura took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled. “—I agree with him. It was really nasty of me to tell your parents about you, but I was hurt, so I lashed out. I had to get you back for being so… whatever with me.”

  “You have no idea what that did to me, Laura.”

  “Yeah, I kinda do.” Laura stuffed her hands in the pockets of her hoodie and shrugged. Apparently, she wouldn’t be looking directly at Brynn again, because her stare ping-ponged all over the place, and she never really looked Brynn in the eyes. “Anyway, like I said, I’m sorry. I wish I could take it back, but I can’t. And you probably hate me now so—”

  “I don’t hate you.”

  “I would if I were you,” Laura mumbled.

  “Maybe I’m just a better person than you are,” Brynn blurted, but the moment she said it, she wished she could take it back. “I’m so sorry,” she said, eyes wide, hand hovering over her mouth. “I didn’t mean that.”

  “I deserved it. I did something really horrible to you, and it wasn’t fair. But, Brynn, you really hurt my feelings. We were supposed to be best friends. You’re all I had.”

  “We can still be friends.”

  “No, we really can’t. Your girlfriend hates my guts. I’ll never be part of her… your crowd. I just wanted to say I was sorry, not beg for you to be my friend again.”

  “Well, I forgive you.”

  “Good. I, um—” Laura thumbed over her shoulder. “—guess I’m going to go now. I’ll, um, see you around.”

  “Yeah. Sure.” Brynn nodded.

  Brynn didn’t close the door until Laura was in her car heading out of the neighborhood. Honestly, she didn’t trust Laura not to turn that apology into some kind of horrible prank. That’s the moment when Brynn knew beyond a shadow of a doubt their friendship had truly ended—no do-overs, no second chances… over.

  After closing that chapter of her life by accepting the fact things would never be the same with Laura, she went back to the girl who had become her best friend, who’d proven herself in more ways than Brynn could recount. When she found Cassidy sitting on the living room floor with a box of pizza on the table next to her book, Brynn kneeled down beside her and laid her head on Cassidy’s shoulder. She said a soft, “I love you.”

  “I love you too. Is everything okay with Gothzilla?”

  “I believe we just said our good-byes to each other. But she’s sorry for everything she did.”

  “Well, at least there’s that. I’m kinda sorry you lost a friend, though. That part sorta sucks, regardless of how psycho she is.”

  “She wasn’t always like that, though.” Brynn untucked her legs from beneath her so she could sit down on the floor. She reached across the table and grabbed a slice of now lukewarm pizza. “She used to be the only person who would talk to me.”

  “Exactly. Psycho.” Cassidy laughed and nudged her shoulder against Brynn’s playfully, knocking the pizza slightly away from her mouth, causing it to hit her cheek.

  “Gee thanks. Now I have pizza sauce on my face.” Brynn huffed. “Hand me a napkin, please.”

  “What are you talking about?” Cassidy leaned down and swiped her tongue across Brynn’s cheek, cleaning up the sauce as she giggled. “You’re nuts. There isn’t anything there.”

  “Oh, I guess you got it.” Brynn lifted the pizza to her lips, but at the last second dipped her finger in the cheese and pulled back an impressive glob of sauce. She ran it down Cassidy’s cheek and smirked.

  Clearly, Cassidy was well prepared, because she simply smirked back and said, “You gonna clean that before it drips down onto my designer shirt?”

  Heat shot through Brynn’s cheek. While she knew her tongue would soon be lapping across Cassidy’s face, there was so much more she wanted to do, and it all included having them both naked. She swallowed hard, then pressed her lips to Cassidy’s cheek and slowly kissed away the sauce.

  “That’s hella better than the napkin I was expecting you to use….”

  “I figured that’s what you expected me to do.”

  “Oh my little emo bunny, you’re full of surprises lately.” Cassid
y laughed as she reached for a few napkins. She handed one over to Brynn, then swiped another across her own cheek to clear off whatever might be left.

  Brynn shrugged as she cleaned her cheek as well. “I guess I feel… I don’t know… more like ‘me’ now. Like I’m being real or something.”

  Cassidy set her pen down into the crease of her open book. She shifted her weight slightly, bringing her face to face with Brynn. The smile gracing her flawless features was a sight Brynn knew she wouldn’t grow tired of anytime soon, if ever at all. “I feel the same way. Before you came around, I was super popular but no one ever really knew me, ya know? Somehow, you snuck under all my defenses and walls, and before I knew it, I didn’t want to keep anything from you. For a girl who’s always hidden behind a designer outfit and a holier-than-thou attitude, that’s a lot. So, um… thanks, I guess. For giving me a chance regardless of what you saw.”

  “God, if you could’ve seen you through my eyes,” Brynn whispered, lowering her gaze.

  “Believe me, I know what I seemed like. It was all done on purpose. You saw past it all anyway. It was like—” The brilliant smile lit up Cassidy’s cobalt gaze. “—like magic. I’m the witch, but you’re the real magical one, Brynnie.”

  Nothing Brynn could say would possibly top that, and yet she felt the urge to blurt out every ridiculous rambling thought in her brain. So before she made an utter fool out of herself, she closed her eyes and claimed Cassidy’s lips. That was a hell of a lot better than going on about everything and anything, and holy crap, Cassidy’s lips still tasted like strawberries… even with the pizza.

  Epilogue

  “SAY cheese!” Cassidy’s mother held a camera up to her face as Nana posed Brynn and Cassidy in yet another exaggerated embrace at the base of the stairs.

  “Mom, don’t you think you have enough pictures?”

  Nana gasped. “We can never have enough pictures of your prom night! This is wonderful!”

  “It is kinda epic,” Brynn chimed in, smiling.

  She looked radiant. Even though she wore a black strapless gown, the color didn’t dull her shine. A series of thin, silver necklaces accentuated her collarbone, dropping in different lengths across the front of the satiny dress, all the way down to the empire cut. She’d dyed her hair a few shades brighter. Where it was usually cotton-candy-colored, it was now shiny, bright hot pink, and made an amazing contrast against her pale skin and dark dress. Cassidy was shamelessly ogling her—again, when Nana cleared her throat.