Nan nudged Mina and motioned to the group of girls with her chin. “I told you that everyone loves gossip. I’ve already been texted by three different people that aren’t even here that Brody and Savannah broke up.” Nan frowned, looking at one of the texts, and her fingers flew over the touchpad. “No, that’s not right. I was here. I saw it.” Nan began murmuring to herself as she tried to fix whatever new rumor was now flying through their high school ten miles away.
Claire finally led the tour group to the third floor and was allowing the kids to walk the railed catwalk over the production floor. By now, many of the students had become bored and started laughing and horsing around. It seemed that whatever love spell that once charmed them had worn off, except for one hypnotized Brody. His movements become slower and he was transfixed by Claire’s every movement.
Mina watched as Claire’s hand stroked Brody’s bicep in a demure manner. Warning bells went off in her head that something was definitely wrong. A tingling began in her hands and spread throughout her body and up her spine like an electric current. Jumping, Mina looked around and behind her for a source of static electricity, but no one was near her.
Another intense feeling of wrongness overcame her and she felt compelled to move forward and interfere. She didn’t want to make a spectacle like Savannah, but she had to break whatever spell Claire had over Brody. Gathering her courage, Mina moved forward, unsure of exactly what she was going to do. The tingling sensation was almost overwhelming.
Someone bumped her from behind and she lost her grip on her notebook and chewed-up pencil, which launched from her hand to land at the feet of Steven and Frank, deep in some argument over a video game. She watched as the pencil rolled right in front of Steven’s foot, wincing when the foot came down and he slipped on the pencil. Steven flailed his arms dramatically, causing a domino effect as he lost his balance and pitched forward into Frank.
Frank, caught off guard, tried to catch his friend but ended up slamming backward into Mina, Claire, and Brody. Mina caught her balance, but Claire’s heel snagged in the catwalk and she stumbled headlong into Brody, pushing him toward the railing. The rickety walkway shifted under the weight, causing everyone to lurch to the right.
The sudden jostling woke Brody from his hypnotic state. She saw his sudden confusion, followed by shock as the catwalk tilted again. He stumbled backward; his arms flailed widely as he reached for a hand railing and missed. His blue eyes filled with terror as he fell backward over the safety rail.
Chapter 2
Screams of horror reverberated off of the walls. Adrenaline took over as Mina lunged for Brody, missing his body entirely but grabbing the shoulder strap of his black Jansport backpack. She had done it without thinking, even though she wasn’t very strong, and now she gritted her teeth as she slammed into the railing, causing her to cry out in pain. There was a moment of suspended animation when she thought she had him and they were safe, but then her feet slowly lost contact with the floor. Screaming, she started moving upward and over, her feet dangling uselessly. She was going to go over the railing with him.
Suddenly, hands grabbed her around the waist anchoring her. Both her and Brody’s, downward momentum stopped with a jolt and a loud rip. She kept a death grip on the backpack strap and felt pain shoot up through both arms.
Brody had one arm through the other strap; it had slid down to his elbow. Reaching up, he used his other hand to hold on to get a firmer grip. He stared upward, a panicked look on his face, the catwalk still swaying precariously.
“Don’t worry! I’ve got you, Brody.” Mina tried to sound comforting when her muscles burned and arms shook from the strain of holding onto someone twice her weight.
“And I’ve got you,” Nan’s voice was muffled from exertion. She was the one who grabbed Mina from going over. Other students began to aid in the rescue. Steven and Frank reached over to grab the backpack, helping relieve the burden of Brody’s weight. They helped pull him up to where Brody was able to grab onto the lower safety bar.
Their own safety set aside, a few students laid on their stomachs and knees to reach through the rails to grab onto Brody as he slowly pulled his own weight up to where his feet could find purchase on the catwalk.
Mina felt like she couldn’t breathe until Brody had stepped back over the railing and was safe. Once he was out of danger, she fell to her knees on the diamond shaped grating, ignoring the painful prods as she was overcome with a feeling of intense relief. Brody’s backpack was dumped on the floor next to her. He leaned down to talk to Mina, but Steven and Frank pulled him away in excitement. Mina looked at the ripped backpack and had to blink twice to see if she was delusional. The rip she had heard was Brody’s backpack ripping, and it was in the exact same place and size as the hole in her backpack from this morning. Only he could probably afford to buy a new one.
Even though Brody was safe, Mina felt like she wasn’t. She felt as if she were being smothered. As if some unseen force was watching her, judging her, and the feeling was becoming unbearably strong. With all the kids eyes on her, she felt trapped.
Even Claire looked rattled and scared, her blonde hair disheveled, her safety hat gone. Limping, she tried to stand and gain control of the students who were celebrating, hugging and crying. Several students slapped Mina’s back.
“That was awesome!”
“I can’t believe you acted to so quickly!”
“You saved his life.”
“Way to go, Grimes!”
“I think it’s time we go outside,” Claire spoke, her eyes downcast shamefully. Everyone followed her to the closest emergency exit and down the steps to a side door that led outside. The bright sunlight touching the students' faces seemed to burn away the weary fog that had previously overtaken them.
Mina felt her unease slightly diminish once she was a good distance away from the building, but it didn’t leave entirely.
They took the long way and walked around the side of the bakery until they came to the front entrance and the bus. Mr. West was there along with Mr. Brimwell. For an irresponsible chaperone, Mr. West was quick to see that there was a problem. He read the agitation on Claire’s face and instantly became alert.
“What happened? What’s wrong?” he asked.
“There was an unfortunate accident on the catwalk,” Claire spoke up, her face red with embarrassment.
Mr. West’s eyes went wide in fear. His bald head looked like a pendulum as he began swinging it back and forth, trying to take a head count of his pack of unruly students.
“Yeah, Brody almost died!” Steven blurted out. Savannah let out a high-pitched squeak of alarm.
“He fell backward off of the catwalk, but Grimes…I mean Mina, saved him!” Frank yelled.
Nothing else could be heard over the roar of voices as everyone spoke up at once trying to relay their own version of the death-defying story. Mina was uncomfortable with all of the staring, so she tried to maneuver to the outside of the crowd and duck behind Nan, who was no longer preoccupied with her phone.
Mr. Brimwell paled and looked to Claire. “Is this true? How could you have let this happen?”
Claire pinched her lips together angrily. “It wasn’t my fault. They were messing around on the catwalk, and a support cinch failed.”
Mina’s stomach dropped and she felt sick. None of them knew the real reason. None of this would have happened if she hadn’t dropped her chewed-up, number two pencil. This whole mess started because of how clumsy she was and her inherent bad luck. It was another epic disaster to add to her list in her sock drawer at home. She felt so disheartened.
