“That was exciting!” Nan gushed as she pushed her tray along the lunch line. She was wearing another black shirt, this time dedicated to a certain sparkly vampire. She picked up an apple, turkey sandwich and a pink frosted cupcake from the line and swiped her lunch card through the electronic reader.
Mina was too stressed to eat. She grabbed chocolate milk from the cooler and paid, following Nan to their favorite table by the window. They were stopped three times by students wanting pictures and autographs.
“I bet your followers have doubled,” Mina commented as Nan waved cheerily at the group of freshmen who kept pointing and whispering.
“Tripled! But who’s counting?” she smiled. Obviously Nan was.
Mina shook her milk, and began to think about her string of bad luck getting to school.
“What’s with the scowl?” said Nan.
“You wouldn’t believe the morning I had.”
“I know, I was here, remember.”
“No, I’m talking about before I even got to school.” Mina began to relay the entire morning’s events, even up to Principal Hame's office, but Nan only heard one thing.
“WHAT!” she squealed, kicking Mina excitedly under the table. “Are you serious? You get to go to Brody Carmichael’s house?”
“Nan, you’re not listening. Something strange is going on. I think I’m going crazy.” She looked out the window and could see the sky beginning to turn green, a sure sign that a storm was coming.
“You bet you are. I can’t believe you didn’t tell me about the Carmichael’s as soon as you saw me.”
“You’re missing the point.”
“No I heard it. You’re being terrorized by strange domestic animals. I’ll buy you some repellent.”
“Don't forget the donkey. I don't know if I would call that a domestic animal. What do you make of that?”
“You said yourself it could have been a large dog. But do you hear yourself? You are going to Brody’s house. You’ve had a crush on him for two years. When were you going to tell me?”
“I’m telling you now!”
“Are you excited?” Nan leaned in eagerly, her hands likely itching for her iPhone.
“Not really, because I don’t really plan on going. I was hoping you would go for me,” Mina slid the blue folder with the sticker of the Happy Maids’ logo across the table to Nan.
Nan looked at the folder in shock and slid it back. “Uh, no! This is your dreamy stalker moment, not mine. You do it.”
“I can’t, Nan. I just can’t.” Mina looked at Nan and pleaded silently. “I’m not ready to talk to him.”
Nan peeled the paper from around her cupcake and gave it a bite. “If you can’t talk to him now, after you saved his life, you’re never going to talk to him. Besides I have a good feeling about this. Trust me.”
Mina wished she did trust Nan. But every time Nan said those two words, she ended up in trouble.
“So how’s Charlie?” Nan said, changing the subject.
“He’s doing well. He really likes the new school.” Mina knew why her friend was trying to change the subject, but she let her get away with it.
“Do they think they can get him to talk?” Nan asked, swiping her finger through the frosting on her cupcake. Mina’s brother Charlie was born shortly after their father died, and even though the doctors could find nothing wrong with him, he never spoke.
“They hope so. They seem to think it’s because he was in the womb when Dad died, that he absorbed some of Mom’s post-traumatic depression or something.”
“What do you think?” Nan asked, licking the rest of the frosting from her fingers.
“I think Charlie doesn’t speak because he doesn’t need to.”
“You still think he will just one day awake from whatever silent spell he’s under and begin talking, like some sort of fairy tale?”