Spellbound - Cara Lynn Shultz [42]
“You try to hurt another girl again—and if you so much as think Emma’s name—you’re done.”
“Oh, is that another promise, Brendan?” Anthony scoffed.
“It’s a guarantee,” Brendan answered, his fists clenched so tightly his knuckles were straining against his skin.
“This ain’t over, Brendan. You picked the wrong guy to mess with, bro,” Anthony sneered, gesturing wildly. Anthony stormed away, kicking my backpack on his way out of the quad. Thankfully, there was nothing breakable in it. Unlike my reputation, which looked very fragile at the moment.
After the door slammed behind Anthony, Brendan turned to me, still immobile and shocked in the same spot against the door. My jaw had literally dropped. Brendan leaned down so he was eye-level with me. He tucked the tips of his fingers under my chin and shut my agape mouth, his eyes searching my face.
“Emma, are you all right?”
I nodded, then reached up and touched the back of his hand with just the tips of my fingers.
We stood there for what could only have been a second, but the warm feel of his hand under mine burned its way into my memory. He slowly slid his hand along the side of my face, cupping my jaw, and my hand tightened around his.
“Thank you,” I whispered, staring up into his eyes as his thumb stroked my cheek. I heard someone yell, “Yo, I think they’re gonna do it!” The sound of laughter made its way through my pounding head.
Suddenly aware of his audience, Brendan straightened up and we both dropped our hands.
“No problem,” he said, cocking his head to the side. He surveyed the crowd the altercation had attracted and scratched his black hair, making it even messier.
He dropped back down to my eye level, crossing his arms.
“Are you going home now?” he asked me softly.
“I’m going to my cousin’s,” I said. “I should at least tell Ash that her good name has been restored. And that she literally gets guys fighting over her.”
He smiled, then turned those intense green eyes on me. “I wasn’t fighting for her.”
I just stared back, confused and thrilled by what Brendan had just said.
Then a look I couldn’t quite identify flickered across his face. Slowly, he reached out his hand and picked up my charm, turning it over.
Brendan dropped it suddenly and, nodding curtly at me, whirled around on his heel and headed back inside the school.
Everyone in the quad was whispering and staring at me—the only one of the three left. I grabbed my backpack from under the bench and raced out of the quad, onto Park Avenue, and I didn’t stop until I made it to Ashley’s house.
She had already heard the news. Catharine and Vanessa were also in the quad, filming the whole thing and texting a play-by-play to my cousin. Between exuberant hugs that were wet with tears—this time, of joy—she kept returning to her laptop, where she was replaying one of several videos which had already been uploaded to Facebook.
“You have to watch this!” Ashley giggled, her eyes, puffy from crying, crinkled up in the corners.
“No thanks,” I said, not able to relive it; if I saw how close I came to having my face smashed in, I might lose all composure.
“I cannot believe you did that!” she marveled, shaking her head at me. I picked, absentmindedly, at the hem of my plaid skirt.
“I’m just tired of people like him,” I said, suddenly exhausted. “People who take advantage. I wanted the right person to win. For once.”
She grinned and I added, “At least your reputation is restored.”
The status of my reputation, on the other hand, was debatable. I was the girl who hung out with witches and picked fights with boys. I didn’t care so much about what everyone at school thought of me. I only cared about what Brendan thought…and I couldn’t wait to get to school the next day, in spite of the certainty that I would be the number one topic of conversation.