UnEnchanted (An Unfortunate Fairy Tale 1)

Mina could almost have cried in relief, another reason to talk to her mother about getting a cell phone. But this latest debacle had made her late for school. Grabbing a violet zippered hoodie, Mina ran out the door and across the lawn, having to double back only once to grab the Happy Maids’ packet from the kitchen table.

After pedaling for two blocks on her bicycle, Mina heard a slight mewing noise. Looking down she saw an orange tabby cat keeping pace just to her right. Mina swerved a few feet to the right to avoid the cat and almost ran over a large dog that was now on the left of her bike.

“Yikes!” Mina stood up and tried to pedal harder to outdistance the animals, but after a few more labored breaths, she looked behind her and they were still there.

“Go away! Shoo!” Mina was worrying that the dog and cat would continue to follow her and get hit by a car. They sped up and seemed to be chasing Mina. Who would have thought a dog and cat together would be chasing her on her bike?

A loud screech and the large colorful object flying toward her head was the only warning that Mina had of a rooster propelling himself from a nearby fence. Ducking, Mina swerved and almost lost control of the bike.

“What the…?” This was the oddest thing that had happened to Mina in a while. She turned her head to see the rooster land behind her next to the dog and cat, and it seemed to join in on the chase.

Turning her head, Mina had only a split second to register that there was a large animal directly in her path, and slammed on her brakes. Too late, Mina lost control and flew headlong over the handlebars of her bike to land crumpled on the sidewalk. In that instant, Mina recognized the animal that caused her wreck but she couldn't believe it. It was a donkey, in the middle of town. And was it wearing a hat?

***

Shivering and sore because of her wet hair and skinned hands, Mina rode slowly the rest of the way to school. She decided today was turning into another epic disaster. When she hit the sidewalk she must have blacked out for a split second. Either that or she was hallucinating, because when she dusted off her hands and looked around, there was no sign of the donkey, rooster, dog, or cat. There was no evidence that they were ever there. Mina ran up and down the block looking for the donkey but with no success. Maybe it wasn't a donkey. Maybe it was another large dog? Pulling up to the bike rack, she didn’t even bother and threw her bike on the ground, her feet pounding the pavement as she ran up the stairs and into school.

Mina glanced at her watch; she was five minutes late for class. Keeping her head down she tried to walk as fast and as quietly as she could, hoping to avoid the hall monitors. Maybe if she pleaded hard enough with her first-hour teacher, she would have pity and avoid writing a tardy slip. Yeah, right.

Her teacher, Mrs. Porter, had her back to the door, and was writing on the whiteboard, so Mina slipped into the classroom and tried to nonchalantly slide into her desk next to Nan. Mina took a quick peek at the rigid spine of Mrs. Porter, noticing that the teacher never turned or made any movement to acknowledge her late entrance. She turned slightly and began to shuffle some papers around on her desk; she didn’t even glance Mina’s way. Mina was just about to breathe a sigh of relief when Mrs. Porter walked over and dropped a tardy slip on her desk, with Mina’s name written in perfect penmanship across on the top.

She never even saw her teacher fill out the form. Mina took the yellow slip of paper between her shaking fingers and looked toward Mrs. Porter’s desk in confusion.

Mrs. Porter’s thin pale lips tightened into what could only be described as an inhuman smile. “I find that it saves time if I fill out your tardy slips in advance, Ms. Grime. It’s less of a distraction for the class and you seem to be the only one that has this peculiar problem.” She held up a stack of the small carbon copy yellow forms and spread them so everyone could see her name printed on the next five tardy slips. “As you can see, you haven’t disappointed me yet.” Her eyes tried to crinkle as she laughed but everything looked strange and awkward on her. She was so old that the whites of her eyes were no longer white but a pasty grey. Her teeth looked like faded yellow parchment and her clothes seemed to have come from the 1950’s.

Everything about Mrs. Porter was a throwback to some other era and time. Even the antique candy bowl that sat on her desk with ancient, uneaten candy corn seemed forlorn and out of place amongst the high-tech gadgetry of the classroom.

Mrs. Porter had been with the school since it first opened and refused to retire, which is why she only taught homeroom or study hall. While other teachers had moved onto video chat guest speakers and live televised distant learning, her teaching methods were so far outdated that she made fuzzy, 70s era VHS tapes seem modern. Mina guessed she had never so much as touched a computer. But there was one thing that Mrs. Porter did and did well, and that was discipline. She prided herself on handing out the most detention slips and tardy notices, explaining that the other teachers had gone soft.

Mina shrunk into her seat, crumpling the tardy notice and stuffing it into her pocket. It wasn’t fair that she was always late. Most of the time it was out of her control. Biting her lip, she tried to study her algebra notes when a persistent foot kept nudging her Converse. Mina looked up into the excited eyes of Nan, who was being careful to mouth her words so as not to be overheard.

“Have you heard? There’s an Assembly. About you,” she mouthed.

“What?” Mina said audibly. Quickly she ducked her head and buried it in her notebook, just as Mrs. Porter swung around at the noise. The woman may be old, but she had hearing like a bat. Mina pretended to scribble in her book and out of the corner of her eye she watched as Nan pursed her lips and tapped her pencil on her book as if solving a complicated problem. Mrs. Porter scanned the room, then turned her back and continued her writing.

Nan blew out a breath of air that made her bangs float in the air before resting nonchalantly on her cheek. Her hair always looked effortless. She raised her eyebrow at Mina as if waiting for a response. Mina glanced at the back of her teacher and shook her head.

Nan scribbled in her notebook and flipped up the edge so Mina could see what she wrote. News reporters, photographers, media in the gym.

Mina's brows furrowed in confusion. “Why?” she mouthed quietly this time.

Nan gave an exasperated head bob that could only mean one word, duh, and began scribbling in her notebook. This time only three words appeared.

You and Brody!

Mina's head began to shake back and forth in disbelief. This was exactly the kind of debacle she was afraid would happen. What if her mom found out and made them move?

Nan widened her eyes, nodding slowly in affirmation. If someone else looked at Mina and Nan right then they would have seen two bobble heads at war.

Nan stopped nodding and scribbled in her notebook and held it for Mina to read. “Promise me that I get an insider’s scoop.”

Mina rolled her eyes, but whispered, “Fine.”

Nan used her hand to cross her heart. Mina smiled and did the same, the whole time shaking in her shoes. With a few more quick notes, Mina was able to discern what she had missed by being late that morning. The assembly would be held at second period in the gym.

What was supposed to be a glorifying rally seemed more like an executioner’s sentence. Why couldn't she be more like other kids and enjoy these things? Instead, she was terrified and tried to think of ways to escape. Maybe she could feign sickness and go home. One look at Mrs. Porter made Mina realize it’d never work. She would make her tough it out or maybe go so far as to escort her to the nurse’s office herself. Any other period and she could come up with some excuse and slip out unnoticed. But not this one. Her only other option would be to leave as soon as the bell rang.