UnEnchanted Read online

  UnEnchanted

  By Chanda Hahn

  Smashwords Edition Revised

  Copyright © 2011 by Chanda Hahn

  www.chandahahn.blogspot.com

  Photo by Jorge Wiegand -used with permission.

  Cover design by Chanda Hahn

  Smashwords Edition, License Notes

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  To Richlie Fikes

  Because you always asked me what was going to happen next…

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  About the Author

  Chapter 1

  Today, I saved Brody Carmichael’s life!

  Mina penned the jubilant words into her blue spiral notebook with her favorite ball point pen. She faithfully used the same pen when writing all of her entries, in hopes that it would change her luck and she could write something good in her notebook-- like today. Mina stared at the words written before her in her sloppy script and felt a pang of guilt. She started to close the notebook but paused in thought. It didn’t feel right. It didn’t seem… truthful. With a heavy hand and a heavy heart she added in quotation brackets next to her previous entry:

  (Today was also the day I almost KILLED Brody Carmichael).

  Feeling slightly better about telling the truth, she closed her notebook titled “Unaccomplishments and Epic Disasters” and tucked it in her dresser drawer with a sigh.

  Nothing in the world ever went right for fifteen-year-old Mina. She was always late for class, her homework usually looked as if it had spent the evening being a chew toy for a pit bull when she didn’t even own a dog, her long-time crush didn’t know she existed, and she frequently spilled chocolate milk on herself whenever she became nervous. Mina was certain it was because she was the magnet for all the bad, terrible and so-so luck that existed in the world and therefore kept a notebook hidden in her unorganized sock drawer to prove it.

  All of these events turned her into a cynic, especially since yesterday morning started out like any other event-filled disastrous day.

  ~~~

  Mina dreamed she was flying. She was much more graceful in the air than on the ground where her feet always seemed to be tripping her up. But her peaceful dream was interrupted by the loud banging and crashing of thunder. She was no longer flying… but falling.

  “Ouch! What the…?” Mina cried out, as she landed painfully on the mismatched oak wood floor of her bedroom. She had fallen out of bed. Struggling to untangle herself from her sheets and comforter, Mina saw a pair of small bare feet poking out of blue Toy Story pajamas standing next to her.

  “Charlie, what are you doing?” she mumbled, still wrestling with her sheets.

  Charlie, a young solemn boy of eight, pointed towards Mina’s clock that was blinking 12:00 midnight. In his hands he held a pot and wooden spoon, obviously the culprit of the loud crashing thunder she heard in her dreams. The power must have gone out again, which was a regular occurrence for their city block.

  “What time is it?” Mina asked, already feeling the dread build, knowing that today she was going to be late… again.

  Charlie held up one hand pinching his ring finger and thumb together to sign the number seven.

  “Charlie, how could you have let me sleep in so long? I’m going to be late!”

  Charlie answered by shrugging his shoulders and banging on the pot with his wooden spoon. Mina knew that it wasn’t Charlie’s fault; she was a very deep sleeper. Her mother, Sara, said that she was harder to wake up than Sleeping Beauty. In Mina’s case, though, there was no prince charming to rescue her from her snoring, and with her horrible luck, there never would be.

  Jumping up, Mina grabbed what she hoped was a clean pair of jeans from a random pile of clothes that littered her floor and slid into them. Silently she thanked her mother for never giving in to the skinny jean fad, otherwise her dressing time would have doubled. Next she shoved her feet into her favorite Converse All Stars, bending the backs in the process

  Picking up a blue zipper hoody, Mina gave it a cursory sniff before deeming it clean enough to wear. She ran her fingers through her long brown hair trying to tame the stray locks, which were the same boring color as her eyes; brown. She stuck her tongue out at her own reflection in the mirror and pulled on her eyelid like a bad Japanese anime.

  Giving a quick kiss on her brother’s head Mina ran into the small sixties retro kitchen that was forever frozen in time and grabbed her backpack from the breakfast table. Turning, Mina heard a rip as the backpack clung stubbornly to the back of the chair. The chair won and the shoulder strap ripped off of the back of the bag, causing all of her books to crash to the floor in a heap.

  Sighing, Mina threw each book back into the bag and did her best to hold it shut while she scoured the kitchen drawers for safety pins.

  Hearing the crash, Sara Grime walked into the kitchen with a quizzical look on her face. She was dressed in her work clothes; tan pants, blue polo with a stitched outline of a feather duster and a smiling mop. Sara worked for Happy Maids, cleaning homes so she could afford the tuition to send Charlie to a private school. Sara worked long hours without ever complaining, which was why Mina never allowed her mother to enter her pigsty of a room.

  “Mom, did you sign my permission form?”

  “What permission form?” Sara asked distractedly as she put two raspberry pop tarts into the toaster for her daughter.

  “For today’s field trip to Babushka’s Bakery. We are getting a factory tour. I gave it to you last week.”

  “Oh, honey,” Sara wrung her hands worriedly. “Don’t you think it would be better if you didn’t go on the field trip? You know how clumsy you are. What if something should happen to you?”

  “Mom, I have a paper to write on today’s trip and it’s worth a quarter of my grade.” Mina had finally found a few safety pins in a junk drawer and was fumbling with them to attach the strap back on to her backpack. She knew they didn’t have enough money to buy another one. She would have to make do with a quick mend.

  “Well, maybe you could do some extra credit instead?” Sara wheedled trying to get out of signing the permission form.

  “Mom, I’ll be fine. I’ll stick to Nan like glue and you won’t have to worry about me. It’s just a boring bakery tour. What could possibly go wrong, other than I die of boredom?” Mina saw the look on her mom’s face and knew that she had won the argument, barely.

  Going to a stack of mail by the fridge, Sara sifted through it until she pulled out the folded yellow permission form. Signing it, she handed it to Mina with one last warning. “Just promise me you’ll be careful.”

  “I will,” Mina promised, knowing it was a half-truth. She would be careful, but bad luck had a habit of following he
r everywhere.

  Charlie shuffled into the kitchen still wearing his pajamas, but now he added a pair of yellow galoshes to the outfit. Sitting on a slightly dented chair, he pulled one of the boxes of cereal on the table towards him and began his morning routine of combining random cereals into one bowl. Today he chose Franken Berry, Cheerio’s and Grape-Nuts. A far cry from his normal combination of at least five cereals, he was obviously distracted today. The thought of eating cereal made Mina’s stomach drop in disgust, which was why she preferred Pop Tarts.

  The toaster released her Pop Tart and Mina grabbed it midair, wishing she hadn’t as she began tossing it back and forth in her hands until it cooled. Once cooled enough, it went into her mouth while she slipped on her temporarily fixed backpack and darted out the door to grab her bike from the landing.

  The Grime family lived in a small rented apartment above The Golden Palace, a Chinese restaurant, run by Mr. and Mrs. Wong. Mina loved living above the restaurant, unless she forgot to close her window the night before, then all of her clothes would smell like peanut oil. To make up for it, Mrs. Wong gave Mina all the pot stickers she could eat.

  Mina carried the bike down the stairs to the sidewalk, nicking the paint from the wall on the way down. She had a love-hate relationship with the red 1950 Schwinn bike. She hated it because last year, on the eve of her fifteenth birthday, she thought she was being led outside blindfolded to be presented with a car; instead she got the bike. The bike was old, scuffed, needed new brakes, oil and tires, but Mina didn’t care.

  Once she got over the disappointment, and realized how unrealistic a car would be on her family’s tight budget, she began to love it. The bike allowed her some freedom. Besides, if Mina’s riding ability was any indication of her driving ability with a learner's permit, then the world was in for another terrible drivers and a lot of dented mailboxes.

  Swinging her bike onto the sidewalk, Mina waved to Mrs. Wong and barely missed colliding into an old lady walking her gaggle of toy poodles. “Sorry!” Mina yelled, losing a chunk of the Pop Tart she was still holding in her mouth. She watched in disgust as the poodles, who only minutes ago looked cute and cuddly, morphed into snapping, sugar-crazed dogs. They attacked the Pop Tart with a hungry vengeance, nipping each other angrily. The lady stared in shock as she tried to get control of her wild, pampered babies. Mina shrugged apologetically in response.

  Ten minutes later, after cutting through two back streets and riding across three neighbors' back yards, Mina arrived at school. The school yard was devoid of human life, giving Mina the undeniable impression that she was tardy. She left her bike by the bike rack, but without a proper kick stand it sagged pathetically to one side against the nicer newer bikes.

  Running toward the bus barn, Mina was relieved to see the field trip bus was still there, until it pulled away from the curb.

  “No!” Mina yelled, running after the bus, trying desperately to catch the notice of the driver.

  A window slid down and a familiar blonde head popped out with something silver in her hand, “Mina, you really need to get a watch.”

  “Nan! Tell him to stop!” Mina cried, feeling a stitch begin in her side.

  “And a cell phone! You really need to be brought out of the dark ages. I could have called you.” The girl just kept talking, impervious to Mina’s desperation and waning stamina.

  “NAN! Snap out of it! Stop the bus!” Mina screamed huffing and puffing.

  “Oh, right!” The blonde head popped back inside. A moment later the bus slowly decelerated and pulled to the curb.

  Out of breath, and slightly limping from the side stitch, Mina finally boarded the first steps of the bus. The bus driver gave her an indignant look; this would probably delay their arrival and he was a stickler for being on time. Mina ignored him and stepped to the front row where her teacher was sitting to hand him her permission form.

  “You really should have been on time,” Mr. West commented. His balding head glistened from the heat of the already too warm bus.

  “I’m sorry,” Mina answered quietly. “We had a power outage.”

  Mr. West looked over her permission form and then nodded for Mina to take a seat. Walking toward the back of the bus was like being in a bad slow-motion dream. She had no choice but to be the recipient of twenty-some odd stares. Mina now knew what Forrest Gump felt like as she walked the aisle. But luckily for her, someone was saving a seat for her; Nan Taylor.

  Ducking her head and sliding into the seat next to Nan, Mina poked her in the side in revenge. “That’s for making me run for so long.”

  Nan grinned, showing perfect white teeth. Today she was wore an, “I <3 Jacob Black” shirt, skinny jeans, and black flats. Nan was the exact opposite of Mina in every way, which was why they probably got along so well. Nan was always amused by Mina’s obvious lack of knowledge in all things social and popular.

  “Well maybe if you got a cell phone, you could have texted me you were running late,” Nan quipped, pulling out her latest iPhone, fingers flying over the touchpad.

  “What are you doing? Are your chirping?” Mina asked accusingly.

  Nan rolled her eyes and laughed, “Really Mina, it’s called tweeting.”

  “Okay. Are you tweeting?”

  “Of course,” Nan smirked.

  Mina’s stomach sank. “About what?” She had a feeling she already knew the answer. She saw something in Nan's hand when she had previously opened the window and leaned out.

  “Oh, nothing much, just tweeting the picture of you running like a madman after the bus to all of my followers.” "Followers" made it sound like some sort of cult.

  “Nan, how many followers do you have?” Mina hoped the number hadn’t gone up.

  “Well after yesterday’s rant about the garbage they pass off as lunch, I’m up to about three hundred.” She clicked "update" and immediately chiming could be heard from multiple phones on the bus. Snickers and heads turned Mina’s way pointing and whispering the words, loser and nerd.

  “Nan! How could you?” Mina whispered scrambling over Nan so she could be by the windows and out of direct line of sight to most of the riders. Pulling her backpack up over her head, she hid behind the bag.

  Nan made a chiding sound. “Mina, you need to learn to laugh at yourself; I’m trying to get you noticed. Hardly anybody knows who you are.”

  “I can’t imagine anyone wanting to be the center of that kind of attention, I certainly don’t.”

  Nan raised one eyebrow in disbelief. “Nonsense, everyone wants to get at least some attention. Well except for you. You are the only one who doesn’t care whether people even know your name. Really Mina, It doesn’t even matter whether it’s good or bad, lies or truth, everyone wants to be popular; to be known for something.” Nan was the friendliest and most outgoing girl in the school. Everyone seemed to like Nan, not because she was popular or smart, but because she was fun and real.

  “Not me,” Mina shrugged nonchalantly.

  “Does that go for gossip as well?” Nan asked slyly.

  “Yep, not interested in others’ either,” Mina snipped.

  “So, I guess in that case, you wouldn’t care about the current eligibility status of a certain boy?” Nan knew that her best friend had a secret crush on Brody Carmichael ever since her family moved here.

  “Brody and Savannah broke up?” Mina sat up straight in disbelief, knocking her backpack to the floor.

  “Ah ha! See you are interested,” Nan smirked knowingly.

  “No, I’m not,” Mina shrugged, trying to act disinterested.

  “Yes, you are,” Nan taunted. She was right, Mina did want to know.

  “Okay, fine… Did they?” Mina felt a flower of hope start to bloom and then shrivel up dead at Nan’s next statement.

  “No, but see! Wouldn’t you want to know if they did?”

  “I hate you Nan Taylor!” Mina shot out. “You’re a dream killer, you know that right? KILLER. K-I-L-L...”

  “Gee
Grimy, keep it down,” a male voice shot out from behind their seat.

  Mina’s face flushed red and she finished spelling at a softer level, “E-R.” Mina hated her last name. Grime was an easy target for name-calling: Grimes, Slime, Grimy. She couldn’t wait until she got married and could legally change her name; if Mina could ever overcome her awkwardness and talk to a boy.

  Sitting back, Mina let Nan talk on about the latest episode of Glee and even sang a few bars from the new hit single she downloaded on her iPhone. Mina didn’t even own an iPod, the closest thing she had was an old CD player. That was something else about Nan, she was addicted to Glee and every popular reality show on TV. Mina didn’t understand her best friend’s infatuation. Mina’s own life was already a reality show; why did she need to watch someone else’s life?

  The bus reached Babushka's Bakery, and all of the wary and bored teenagers filed off and waited in groups. This was Mina’s chance to scan the crowd and find the tall blonde-haired Brody Carmichael. Sure enough, he was standing next to Savannah White, who looked every bit a princess, with her long white-blonde hair, porcelain skin, and big blue eyes. Brody seemed distracted as Savannah latched possessively onto his arm, marking her territory as only a female could.

  Brody was the fantasy of every girl’s dream. He was a perfectly blended cocktail of aristocrat and jock. The Carmichaels prided themselves on family lineage and could follow their founding members to when they first came over on the Mayflower. They raised race horses, owned a clothing company, and were by far the richest family in the state. Yet, Brody never let it get to his head. He never raised his voice, never bullied anyone, and seemed completely oblivious to his social status and effect on girls.

  Mina’s daydreaming was interrupted as a short plump man hurried out of the gray brick factory.

  “Welcome, we are so glad to have you here. You can call me B.J.,” the man said, smiling and wiping what was obviously the remains of his breakfast, consisting of powdered doughnut, from his face. “Let me introduce your tour guide, Claire. She will take you around the factory and answer any questions you have.”