silent tears fell down mina's cheeks. how could her mother say these things? mina refused to look at either of them, staring at her plate of uneaten pasta and letting her mother's words, words she knew were truth, sink in. she could have stopped her mother, but mina knew that sara was only protecting her.

sara pointed her fork at brody accusingly, a giant meatball stuck on the end. "i've seen it all before. this will fade, it won't last and you will leave mina for another. we aren't like you people. you two are oil and water. but how we live our life is of no concern to you or your family. my daughter doesn't challenge your choices or way of life, so don't do it to us. you haven't earned that right or proven yourself worthy." when sara had her say, she placed her fork down and began slicing the meatball into bite-sized pieces. placing a piece in her mouth she chewed slowly, challenging brody with her eyes.

mina was stunned at how well brody took the news. he listened and never once questioned sara's sanity, maybe because it was her mother, and not mina herself, who was explaining things to him.

instead he was quiet, contemplative. "that explains a lot," he said finally. brody stood and excused himself from the dinner table. "thank you for dinner and an enlightening evening, sara. mina." brody nodded his head in both their directions and let himself out the front door.

"what just happened, mom?" mina asked. her lip began quivering, tears flowing freely. her heart felt like it had been ripped in two.

"i think you've just been dumped."

chapter 14

sara looked at her daughter, who was clearly devastated, and immediately adopted a softer tone. "i'm so sorry, honey. i judged him wrong. i thought he could handle the challenge of the truth, that he could even be the one."

"what do you mean, mom, 'the one'? i don't want 'the one,' just a boyfriend."

"that's not your fate, mina. anyone you're not serious about - and even those you are serious about - are going to get hurt. think about it. fairy tales time and time again tend to have a hero who will battle it to the end to save the heroine. i was hoping he would fight for you more, challenge me, tell me i was wrong and be your knight, like your father was for me. but i misjudged him. i'm sorry." sara tried to put her hand on mina's, but mina jerked it away.

"just...leave me alone. for a little while. can you least do that for me, after you drove him away?"

mina tried to ignore her mother's hurt expression and went to the living room window, peering out to the street below. sure enough, brody's car was gone. still silently crying, mina went to the front door, locked it and put a chair in front of the handle. she then went to every window, checked and locked all of them. going to her bedroom, mina grabbed a throw blanket, opened her window and crawled up the fire escape to the roof.

the roof was mina's one retreat from the world. as the only tenant in the small building, mina had the space all to herself, and could lavish the roof with fun items, her own personal touch. since it was twilight, she went to a small electrical outlet and switched on the power, illuminating the small space with strands of white christmas lights and various illuminated patio lights. last summer mina had dragged up two lawn chairs and had even planted fake plastic flowers in all the planters.

italian music played softly from a restaurant down the street and mina collapsed in a lawn chair. wrapping herself in the blanket, mina watched as steam rose from various vents and chimneys across the building's roofs. she cried herself to sleep, unaware of the eyes that watched her.

chapter 15

mina spent the next morning avoiding everyone, and trying unsuccessfully to transfer her classes with the school office. it would mean giving up homeroom with nan, but mina was desperate. she didn't think she could stomach brody's betrayal and jared's discord at the same time and survive. she had looked for brody's car on the way to school and in the parking lot, but didn't see it. he wasn't even at lunch. mina pushed her food around on her tray and waited for nan to join her.

along with feeling guilty and depressed, mina had opened her locker to find another note. quite a few actually; her locker was stuffed with them. some said loser, fake, gold digger but the one that scared her most was the one written in red ink.

i know who you are! you're dead!

mina couldn't figure out what she could have done to cause this kind of discord. she had tried to live a quiet and unnoticed life, and had been relatively successful until the school field trip. for two whole days she had been a celebrity, but after that news died down, she was back to being boring mina. except now someone was trying to intimidate and bully her through notes. her best bet was to try and finish whatever tale she was in right now, and move on to the next as soon as possible. if only she could figure out what the story wanted from her. what did she need to do to reach the ending?

she was so deep in self-pity that mina didn't notice when someone sat down next to her, until they began talking.

"it doesn't have to be this way between us, you know." mina looked up to see jared leaning against the table, dressed head to toe in black with black jeans, black shoes and jacket.

"i've decided that i would rather not get to know you, since you don't care enough to explain things to me or even help me. so if you're not going to do either, then you're just a thorn in my side. now, please, go sit elsewhere." mina started to stab her chicken-fried steak with a vengeance.

jared looked at mina's lunch and laughed. he had a very engaging smile, which only made mina's mood turn darker. why should he be so cheerful when she felt so, well, grim? "tell you what," he said. "you live out the week and i will agree to help you."

mina turned on him angrily. "did you ransack my house?"

"what? no." jared's smile fell from his face. "i did not, nor have i ever, entered your home. but i probably know who did." his dark brows furrowed together in thought. "strange, i wouldn't have thought him smart enough to try."

"who, jared? if you know something that could protect my family, then you need to tell me." mina was getting more frustrated by the minute. one minute he was charming, the next minute he was as elusive and vague as the best politician.

"grey tail wouldn't have gone there on his own. he would have been sent by someone with enough power to sway the wolf pack." jared looked worried.

"wolf pack! jared, what are you talking about?" mina felt the hair on the back of her arms rise in fear.

she didn't get an answer to her question, because pri and savannah brought their trays and sat down next to mina. they began chatting like they were long lost friends.

jared leaned back and watched the exchange with narrowed eyes.

"so, mina, what do you think of the theme for this year's dance?" savannah asked, drawing attention to her white blonde hair by flipping it over her shoulder.

"what theme," mina asked, barely hiding her annoyance.

"they're calling it "enchanted." we're all supposed to dress up as famous storybook characters."

"i hadn't heard, i guess. i've been pretty busy." mina answered. she had visibly tried to not cringe when she heard the theme. how ironic was that? she had been so distracted she had forgotten completely about the dance, but then she did recall nan texting pictures back and forth with people of possible dresses and costumes.