by Hahn, Chanda
“All right you’ve proved your point; you are not embarrassed to be seen with me in public. So you can go now.” Mina made shooing motions with her hands and if shooing away a fly, but Brody just grinned wider at her.
“You see, what you said in the car made me angry. Until I realized that it’s not true.” Brody leaned over to whisper in Mina’s ear. “I’m not embarrassed to be seen with you in public. You are. You don’t want to be seen with me.” His breath tickled her ear making her melt until she processed the words he spoke.
“That’s not true,” Mina argued eyes blazing.
“Then prove it, Mina.” Brody challenged. His eyes darkened with meaning. “Prove to me you are not ashamed of me.”
Mina looked at Brody fearfully and then over at Nan who had wisely kept her mouth shut and watched as a silent bystander. Nan nodded her head encouragingly at her. Mina hung her head in shame, it wasn’t Brody she was embarrassed about, it was herself. She was a walking, talking embarrassment; and why in the world would Brody want to hang out with her?
“Why Brody? Why do this?” Mina asked looking up at Brody. “I don’t understand, we have nothing in common, why do you want to be associated with me? I’ve saved your life, but that’s as far as this friendship needs to go…really.”
Brody looked hurt. Mina wished she could take back the words as soon as they left her mouth. Brody stared at his tray of food for a minute and then looked up at her. His eyes bored into hers. “Mina you did more than save my life, and I’m trying to show you. But you have to meet me half way.” He picked up his tray and walked away from their table, dumping the uneaten contents in the trash. Students turned to watch him walk out and they kept turning toward Mina’s table.
One student in particular couldn’t tear her eyes away from Mina. Her eyes flared angrily and her phone kept getting irritating texts from Pri. The girl squeezed her cell phone between clenched fingers in an attempt to silence the buzzing by shear force alone. Savannah wished that she was holding Mina’s neck in her hands instead of her cell phone. She couldn’t believe Brody sat by her, that nobody. And her phone had numerous texts from friends proving that he drove the brown-haired bore to school. What did he see in her and only days after they broke up? Savannah’s lips pursed angrily in thought. She would have to see about this girl.
~~~
The rest of the day dragged on. Mina never got to speak with Nan about the Grimm family curse, and nothing interesting appeared or followed her around school, so Mina hoped the Story had forgotten about her. Mina was so preoccupied with the Grimm curse and Brody that she was pretty sure she flunked her history test. She felt numb as she handed an almost blank test to her teacher.
When the final 3:30 bell rang, Mina breathed in relief. She could now go to the public library and try and research more about her family’s history. Walking to her locker, Mina was surprised to see the number of students surrounding it. She decided to hang back and wait until the crowd dissipated so she could grab the rest of her books and leave, but the number didn’t budge. Putting her head down, in preparation to enter the mob, Mina clumsily maneuvered to her locker, stepping on toes, saying "excuse me," bumping elbows. It wasn’t until someone grabbed her elbow to steady her that she saw the reason for the crowd of students. Brody was leaning against her locker; and he was holding her elbow.
“See you guys later!” Brody ordered the crowd. Unbelievably, the group of students left until it was just the two of them.
“How do you get used to it?” Mina asked.
“I’ve dealt with it all my life, so I learn to tune it out.” Brody looked sad until he turned to Mina and his face lit up with delight. “You ready?” he asked.
“For what?” Mina looked around confused.
“To go home.”
“Of course,” she answered, reaching behind him to open her locker. She grabbed her backpack and was embarrassed by its pinned up pathetic state. Dropping it in her hand she tried to move away from him, but he snatched the backpack and hoisted it on his shoulder.
“Hey give that back! I can carry my own backpack,” she argued putting her hands on her hips.
“I know, but this way I guarantee that you will follow me and not run away.”
“Don’t count on it,” Mina grumbled stopping in the hallway, refusing to budge. When she saw that Brody just kept walking and finally turned the corner with her backpack still in hand, she had no choice but to follow meekly behind him anyway.
Once she caught up to him, Brody turned around walking backwards. “See, I know you.”
“No you don’t. You just met me,” Mina countered.
“But I would like to get to know you,” Brody teased. “If you would let me.”
Brody walked them out to his car, and once again he opened the door for her. Once Mina was safely inside with her seatbelt buckled, Brody started the car.
“Where to?”
“I thought you knew everything about me already. So you should know where I live,” she challenged.
“Uh, not really. My father’s friend had problems pinpointing the exact address he only knew the area. Why is that?” he asked. “Are you hiding from the mob or something?”
“Or something,” Mina answered back. “Can you take me to the library?”
“Sure.” Brody turned the key in the ignition and pulled out of the parking lot and jumped onto the interstate. A few exits later, they pulled into the parking lot of the town’s small white brick library.
Mina jumped out as soon as the car pulled to a stop in the almost nonexistent parking spaces. “Thanks.” She grabbed her backpack and shut the car door. Brody’s door opened and he shut his door after her. “You don’t have to stay. I’m going to be here for a while.”
“I’ll wait for you. You are even farther away from home than before; I’m not letting you walk home alone.”
“I can call for a ride. My mom will be home soon,” Mina spoke quickly. She wasn’t comfortable with Brody helping her research her family history.
Brody looked at her. “Mina you are not getting rid of me that easily. I’m already here, let me help you.”
“I don’t need help.”
“We’ll see,” Brody chuckled and followed her up the steps through the glass doors.
Mina loved the smell of libraries, loved the smell of old books and the soft hum of the lights. She could literally spend the rest of her life here easily. It was why she was so out of tune with society. She didn’t watch a lot of TV, and she spent more time reading than socializing, except for Nan. Her friend was her one lifeline and the reason Mina wasn’t a hermit.
Mina walked past Mrs. Toole, the head librarian, stopping only long enough to wave and then headed to the reference section. Scanning the numbers and stopping at 398.2, Mina began pulling out various collections of tales and individual stories.
“What’s with the fairy tales?” he asked taking the books from Mina to stack them against his chest.
“Homework,” Mina replied distractedly.
“What classes are you taking that you get to read kids' books? Maybe I should take it.”
Mina grinned. “It’s for a project at home, not school.” Brody wisely kept his mouth shut. When Mina had pulled most of the books down, Brody carried them to an empty table in the back of the library.
Sitting down, Mina grabbed a book and began searching for clues, while Brody stretched out his lanky legs and picked up a book as well and started reading. Mina found it difficult to do any reliable searching with Brody sitting feet from her, and he didn’t look uncomfortable at all. She would have thought that he would be antsy and dying to get out of the library.
Brody’s blonde hair fell over his eyes as he turned the page and continued reading; he seemed content, at peace. His eyes met hers and she blushed in embarrassment, she had been staring at him. After two hours Mina was hungry and tired. She slammed the book closed in frustration. Brody had barely moved, but looked up at her with a worried look.
/> “Come on, let’s get you something to eat.” He took the book from her hand and laid it on the table.
“No, I’m fine…really.” Mina’s heart started to beat faster with worry. If she went to get food with Brody, that would be too close to a real date.
“I’m hungry; I didn’t eat much at lunch today.” The hidden meaning behind those words made Mina quit protesting. Heat rose up the back of her neck when she recalled that he dumped his lunch in the garbage.
They left the library and Brody drove toward a small 60’s drive-in and ordered food for them both at the speaker box.
“I didn’t know they still had these.” Mina was in awe.
“They are great; my parents took me here all of the time when I was a kid. I was obsessed with pushing the button and ordering milk shakes and my parents let me. One time I had ordered eight milkshakes, so we drove them back and gave them to our staff.” Brody smirked, his eyes twinkling with mischief.
Mina was stunned by his good looks and completely lost her train of thought. When the food came they ate, and talked. Brody kept watching her out of the corner of his eye and kept smiling.
“What’s wrong? Do I have food on my face?” Mina asked horrified.
Brody threw his head back and laughed. “No, but why do you ask?”
“Because you keep looking over at me with a funny smirk? What’s wrong? You can tell me.”
“I’m smiling because I can’t figure you out. You’re different. You don’t act like other girls.” Brody meant it as a compliment but to Mina it sounded like she was odd.
“Oh…I see.” She remarked unhappily and put her French fry back into its container. She had lost her appetite.
“No, you don’t see.” He turned in the seat so he could face her. “Look at me” Mina kept her head down. “Mina, please look at me.” He very gently reached over and with one finger lifted her chin up so that her brown eyes bore into his dark blue. “You are unlike any girl I’ve met. You don’t talk incessantly about hair and makeup. You tell me what you’re feeling, instead of telling me what you think I want to hear. You are content to sit with me without filling the void with needless chatter. You eat food, real food and not rabbit food.” He plucked up the fry Mina put back in her container and ate it in one big bite. “And you are not constantly texting or talking on a cell phone.”
“I don’t own one.” Mina admitted.
“Exactly and I like that about you.”
“You like that I don’t own a cell phone? Brody, you are crazy.”
“Maybe I am, Maybe I am…” He let the words linger without saying what he wanted to add on. “About you.” He didn’t want to scare her, but he was feeling it. He was falling for her. Everything about her seemed right.
“Just being with you has a calming effect on me, do you know that?” Brody admitted. “My life is so hectic, with people surrounding me, trying to be my friend, trying to tell me who I should be and what I should become, that I tend to tune out the real world. I spent so long going through the motions just to make the background noise fade. But when I’m near you, it’s gone. The pressure to be something or someone I’m not, is gone.”
“Uh, you’re welcome,” Mina answered. Unsure of what her response should be. They ate the rest of the meal in comfortable silence while she pondered his words. He had only spent a few hours with her and he seemed to be unlike the imaginary Brody she had built in her head. She was actually enjoying herself with the new version, this down to earth, sensitive Brody
Mina asked to be dropped off a few blocks from home. “If my mom see’s you she will flip. She’s not too happy that you destroyed my bike.”
Brody became still. “I understand,” he said quietly, too quietly. He pulled over and watched Mina get out of his car.
“Thanks,” she called to him through the open window and waved. He watched to see if she turned back to look at him; she didn’t. Once she was out of his sight he closed his eyes and pressed his head to the steering wheel, wishing that he could somehow take down the wall she kept putting up between them. He wanted her to get to know the real Brody.
~~~
The next morning followed a similar routine. Brody waited for her and picked her up as she was walking to school. Much to Mina’s chagrin, he sat with her at lunch as well.
She was actually starting to like having Brody as a friend; he was wearing her down with pure stubbornness. Of course Nan was thrilled to have him sitting at their table and talked nonstop the whole lunch hour. Brody would shoot Mina smirks when Nan was busy talking about the latest episode of her favorite reality show. Neither one of them could get a word in edgewise, but kept smiling and eating their lunch in silence.
She actually looked for him by her locker after school and felt a pang of sadness, when he wasn’t there. Maybe he had gotten tired of her? After all she wasn’t that exciting. Mina opened her locker to grab her bag and when she shut it, he was right behind the door.
“Oh! You scared me.” Mina put her hand to her heart.
“I would never do that on purpose.” Brody smiled at her.
“If I didn’t know better,” Mina frowned at Brody. “I’d say you are definitely stalking me.”
“Of course. I’m trying to prove to you that I don’t care about social status and you promised to give me a chance.” Brody grabbed her backpack and once again carried it out to his car.
“I promised no such thing,” she teased.
Brody reached for her hand and they walked to his car hand in hand. Mina felt as if she was on cloud nine and a shiver of doubt cast a shadow upon her single moment of happiness. This couldn’t be happening. This couldn’t be right. Mina's happy mood darkened by the time they got to the parking lot. She stopped ten feet from the car refusing to take a step farther.
“Brody, really, this is unnecessary. It’s a little overboard, with the rides to school and back, sitting with me at the lunch table. I think you’ve proved your point. You were right; I was the one that was uncomfortable with you, not the other way around and I think you have paid back your debt.” Mina looked down at the cement, not wanting to look him in the eyes.
It was like a dream and she knew that she was going to have to wake up soon. She didn’t belong with someone like Brody, she was used to the stares and whispers about being an oddball, but ever since Brody started paying attention to her, the whispers had gotten worse. She even got a rude letter shoved into her locker after lunch.
Brody refused to let go of her hand, with his other hand he lifted her petite chin so she could look into his eyes. His heart ached to hold her when he saw the wetness of unshed tears. “Please believe me when I say that this isn’t about a debt I owe or a bet to prove myself.”
“I feel like this is some sort of sick joke or a bad play and you are trying to mess with my emotions.” Mina turned away from his touch.
“This isn’t, believe me.” Brody leaned forward and would have kissed Mina right then in the parking lot, if there wasn’t a bunch of catcalls and whistles that alerted them to their very loud teenage audience. He could have ignored them too, but he felt Mina stiffen, when someone called her a Grimey Gold-digger.
She pulled away from him, but not far enough that Brody couldn’t steer her back toward his car. She got in it without a word, happy to be out of sight of the rest of the student population. Mina stared out the window in silence, ignoring Brody’s worried glances, tuning out the world, lost in her own myriad of thoughts. Brody wished he knew what she was thinking.
Grimey Gold-digger? They think I’m after Brody for his money? That is the farthest thing from the truth. Yes, she secretly had a crush on him from afar, but it wasn’t because of his money. This was worse than she had imagined. Mina was so distracted by her own inner monologue that she was surprised when Brody pulled up to the public library again. How did he know that was where she wanted to go?
“How did you know?” Mina asked, speaking for the first time since entering the car.
&nb
sp; “I knew that you were looking for something pretty hard yesterday and you didn’t find it. Maybe if you tell me, I can help you look for it today?”
Mina shook her head. “I don’t know what exactly I’m looking for. All I know is that I’ll know it when I see it.”
Brody followed Mina into the library with his book bag and they headed toward the same table as before. This time he brought homework and was content to sit with Mina again as she poured through encyclopedias, journals and microfiche tape. After another three unsuccessful hours, Mina was ready to give up.
“You didn’t find what you were looking for did you?” he asked.
“No, I didn’t.” Mina leaned back in here chair and rubbed her eyes. “I’m going to check another shelf, I’ll be back.”
Brody raised one eyebrow at her in disbelief.
“I promise I won’t run off without telling you. After all I don’t want to walk home.” Brody seemed satisfied and relaxed back into his chair with ease.
Mina walked a few aisles down and peeked through the shelves to spy on Brody. What was he doing here? Mina couldn’t fathom why he would want to hang out with her, especially in a library. She would have thought he would have gotten bored and gone home already, but to stick with her for two whole days. Leaning against the shelf, Mina felt defeated; she was here to look for a clue, a sign, anything to help her family.
She had finally convinced her mother to tell her everything she knew about the Grimm family curse and the Story. Supposedly there were signs that would appear to tell her she was the chosen one. Like the appearance of the animals. Sara also explained that once chosen, the Grimoire would appear; a book of power that was supposed to aide her.
“How do I get the book?” Mina had asked, feeling as if she was already losing precious time in breaking the curse.
“You don’t,” Sara stated simply. “It will come to you.”
“What do you mean? Didn’t father have it and Uncle Jack before him?”
“Your father did, but after his passing the book disappeared. It's way of protecting itself, I guess. Then when the Story chooses the next Grimm member, the book decides if it’s going to help them or not.”