Brighde Reborn, page 12
“Don’t!” Roden yelled. He staggered, anger marking every move. “Let me do it.”
Tomas dropped Cay in a bundle on the grass and turned to his friend.
“Roden, calm down,” Tomas said, his voice darkly serious. There was a freezing chill in the air. My arms and legs were covered in goosebumps, and I could see my breath in swirls around me.
“No! I’m tired of being bullied all the time by these two idiots,” Roden growled, wiping blood from the cut on his lip. Cay had been bothering Roden? I thought he only had a problem with Trip. I was furiously shivering at this point, the air thick with the promise of snow. The grass around Roden’s feet was crisp with ice, and it spread to Logan as well as Cay, who was already on his feet. Suddenly, a door behind us burst open and out ran Trip and Deidra.
“Roden!” Deidra yelled. “Roden, please calm down!” Trip reached him first and nearly tackled him.
“Take a deep breath. Relax,” he said in a muted voice. The temperature rose, and I felt warm blood pump to my fingers and toes. The ice on the grass melted and evaporated, as if nothing had happened. There wasn’t a puddle in sight. My eyes widened as I watched the … magic take place. What the hell was going on?
“Bridget,” Cay called, looking over at me. “Remember what I told you?”
“Cay, don’t,” threatened Trip.
“Remember what I told you about who controls the weather?”
“Cay!” Deidra said impatiently. “Stop!” He didn’t acknowledge them.
“There’s more than what I told you. Ask him.” He nodded in Trip’s direction. “He owes you the truth.” Trip let go of his brother and swung at Cay, missing within inches.
“Trip, we should go,” Tomas suggested. Logan pulled Cay by the shoulder, out of the way of any further attacks.
“Promise me!” Cay insisted. “Promise!” I nodded, more out of confusion than the need to keep a promise to Cay. He seemed satisfied with my response and allowed his ridiculously tall friend to drag him away.
The ride home was quiet. Jenny got a ride from one of her girlfriends, so it was Trip, Roden, Deidra, Cole, and me in the car. We dropped off Cole first. Deidra walked him to the door and gave him a kiss on the cheek. I watched Cole’s face as she walked away. He smiled as he watched her climb into the car. We continued our commute in silence. Anger and frustration from both boys were practically palpable as Dee grasped her hands until her knuckles turned white. I was still reeling from Cay’s announcement. What did he want Trip to tell me? And what Roden had done with the grass and the air? Did he have … powers?
I looked in the side mirror back at Roden. He was still on the smallish side, not hitting his big growth spurt yet. His blond hair was mussed from the fight, and a bright blue-purple bruise was flowering under his skin. Overall, he looked frazzled. But his hazel eyes were what caught my heart. They were filled with defeat and disappointment. I didn’t know if he was upset about the fight with Logan or losing Jenny, but whatever the reason, he was beating himself up over it. I wanted to comfort him, but I saw he didn’t want to be coddled. He was barely tolerating Deidra rubbing his back like a baby who needed soothing. He was just insanely upset about what happened tonight. Roden and the other Findlay kids didn’t have powers. I couldn’t believe I’d let Cay into my head again. It was clear something was going on, and I wasn’t sure who or what to believe. Trip pulled into my driveway and got out, leaving the car idle.
“I’ll be right back,” he said to his siblings. They nodded but didn’t say a word. I slid out of the passenger seat, only waving goodbye at Deidra and Roden. We walked slowly to my front door, not speaking.
“Well, I guess this is good night,” I broke the never-ending silence.
Trip just nodded.
“I had fun,” I added. “You know, up until the end.” Trip barely looked at me. I could see he wasn’t just a seventeen-year-old boy in that moment. He was a young man with a family’s burden on his shoulders. Bending over to kiss me, Trip let his lips linger on mine. After all the excitement, a little romance was desperately needed.
He cleared his throat as he pulled away. “I’ll call you later.”
“What about what Cay said?” I asked. I didn’t want to bring it up given the situation, but I couldn’t allow it to dissipate from my mind.
“Please, don’t ask me about that,” he whispered, taking my hand. “I really can’t tell you.”
“So, Cay’s not wrong? The story about your families is true?”
Trip closed his eyes. “Please. Just let it go. I can’t—”
“I know. You can’t tell me.”
He looked like he was going to cry. I reached up and wrapped my arms around him. “I’m sorry about everything tonight. I won’t ask you about it.”
He pulled me close, pressing me into his hard chest. “If I could, I would,” he mumbled into my hair. I pulled away again and kissed him harder this time, as if I could transfer comfort and the feeling of safety through our lips.
We broke apart. “I have to go, but I’ll call you later. Probably not tomorrow.”
“Good night, Prince Charming.”
“Prince Charming?”
“You called me a princess before. Every princess needs a Prince Charming.”
“Right. Good night, my fair maiden.” He bowed deeply.
“Good night,” I said, opening my door. He was gone before I even had a chance to take off my glass slippers.
Chapter 9
I woke up late on Sunday with my hair in a knotty version of my updo. I sat up, looking at my discarded dress and haphazardly thrown about shoes. I’d been so exhausted from everything the night before; I hadn’t even cared if my clothes ended up wrinkled or dirty. I checked my phone for messages, but there wasn’t anything from Trip. Bri texted me in our group chat with Annabelle, asking about the fight. Cay texted me, too, around ten in the morning.
[Cay: Did you ask him yet?]
I didn’t answer, still upset about his part in last night’s catastrophe. How could Cay be so callous toward Roden? I knew the family fighting was just tradition at this point, but when it reached a physical level it became barbaric and so … stupid! I got out of bed and went to the bathroom to brush my teeth and wash my face. The more I thought about Cay’s involvement last night, the angrier and harder I scrubbed. By the time I finished, my face was nearly as red as my hair. Oops. I took a deep cleansing breath and tried to think of something positive, like how Cole and Deidra looked like they were starting a new relationship or how much fun my friends and I had dancing. But my favorite part of the whole evening was Trip. I grinned at myself in the mirror. Just thinking about dancing with him and holding him made the butterflies from last night pop up in my stomach again. When he’d dropped me off, it’d been incredibly nice to kiss him. Even after all the drama. I heard my phone chirp from down the hall. I hurried back, hoping it was Trip. Nope, Cay again.
[Cay: Hey! Let me know when you ask him.]
I turned my phone off and threw it on my bed in frustration. As easy as it was to ignore Cay today, it would be that much harder tomorrow. I tilted my head back and groaned.
After digging all the bobby pins from my head and taking a long, hot shower, I was a bit more refreshed. I turned my phone back on only to see another text from Cay.
[Cay: What did he say?]
[Bridget: I didn’t ask him.] I lied.
[Bridget: He was a little distracted by how you punched his brother.]
Three little bubbles popped up as Cay texted back.
[Cay: I had to.]
[Bridget: Punch him?]
I pulled the towel from my hair and squeezed out the excess water as my phone chirped again.
[Cay: No. I didn’t plan that.]
[Bridget: What was the plan then?]
The bubbles came back but disappeared. I waited a moment but got no reply.
[Bridget: Fine, keep your secrets.]
I turned the sound off on my phone as I headed to the kitchen for breakfast.
Monday morning rolled around, greeting me with a chill in the air and frost on our lawn. It was only the first day of October, and I wanted to snuggle into my fur-lined boots and heavy sweaters. I already missed summer. Gathering my books and slipping on my quilted bomber jacket, I hurried to school, hoping to catch Trip before class.
I didn’t see Trip that morning, unfortunately, but I saw my friend.
“Hey, Bri!” I called, rushing to meet her. “Want to grab some coffee before class?”
“Hey! Sure,” she replied. We hurried down the hallway, hoping to beat the swarm in front of the coffee kiosk.
“How was the rest of your weekend?” I asked.
“Good. After the dance, Marco took me home.” She beamed at me. “He gave me a good night kiss.”
“Oh my goodness! Does this mean you two are a thing now, or was it just one, blissful night?”
“I hope the former and not the latter, but who knows? He texted me yesterday about how we should go out again.”
“When’s the date?” We stood in line at the kiosk, not fast enough to beat the morning rush.
“Next Friday night. I think we’re going to the movies.”
I squealed and did a little dance. “Maybe soon we can double date!”
“That would awesome!”
“How was the rest of your weekend?” she asked, changing the topic. I debated telling her everything about the fight, all the behind-the-scenes details, but then I remembered how Roden looked on the drive home, and I just couldn’t.
“It was okay. Sunday was a slow day for me. I caught up on all my homework.”
“Okay, seriously?” she looked at me skeptically.
“What?”
“There’s a huge fight involving two of the hottest guys in school. One has a sudden interest in you, and the other is the little brother of your boyfriend. You aren’t going to give me anything about it?”
“You didn’t ask!”
“I was giving you the opportunity to volunteer the information. As a best friend, I didn’t think I had to beg!”
“Beg about what?” Annabelle asked, sliding in line next to us. There were a few complaints from underclassmen behind us, but we ignored their whining. Being a senior had a few extra perks.
“Details about the famous fight,” Bri answered. We moved up.
“There’s nothing to tell,” I said. “May I have a large coffee, light and sweet?” The barista nodded and poured my drink.
“Please! The whole dance was about that fight after you left,” Annabelle said. “You are the only witness who wasn’t involved.”
“Dee wasn’t involved,” I pointed out, handing money to the cashier. I took my cup and moved out of the way.
“Orange juice, please,” Bri ordered. “Roden is Deidra’s brother. She was involved in one way or another.” She paid and took her drink.
“Fine. What are you dying to know?” I asked dramatically.
“Everything,” Bri demanded. She gulped down her orange juice. “I didn’t see what happened. What was the fight even about?”
“Oh, I know! Logan was making out with Roden’s date, right on the dance floor!” Annabelle sounded scandalized.
“I heard Roden bribed his date to dance with Logan so he could start the fight,” Bri gossiped.
“Why would he do that?” I questioned.
Bri shrugged. “To up his reputation.”
“That doesn’t even make sense,” I pointed out. “That’s insane.”
Annabelle was the last to receive her drink. She paid the barista, and we headed toward the senior wing, seeing as it was too cold to hang out in the Square.
“Well, if you know so much, why don’t you tell us?” Bri sniffed.
“Nice try. All I know is Roden was upset Jenny had danced with Logan. That’s all.”
“Jenny? The sophomore with the dark hair who’d won the science award last year?” asked Annabelle. I nodded. “Well, that makes sense. She’s also got a huge crush on Logan. Poor Roden.”
“She does? I didn’t know that.” I took a sip of coffee. My goodness, I loved this delicious concoction.
“Oh yeah. She tweeted about it all weekend, how she got to dance with her favorite senior. It was really annoying,” Bri responded.
“That’s funny. I heard Logan didn’t even know her name when he asked her to dance. Someone posted that the whole thing was a set up by Cay,” Annabelle disclosed. “I wouldn’t put it past him. He’s got this weird grudge against any of the Findlay kids. I bet he bribed Logan to provoke Roden so he would get kicked out of the dance.”
“Can we really give Cay that much credit? I mean, come on, he’s cute and a total ass, but he’s about as smart as a stop sign,” Bri said, brushing a strand of recently-dyed pink hair out of her face. I thought about that. When I’d hung out with Cay that one time, I never got the impression he was the dumb bully we all knew. Clearly, he was smarter than we all give him credit for. But why was he playing the village idiot?
“Either way, I feel really bad for Roden. He’s so sweet and cute. Like a small puppy,” Annabelle commented. We stared at her.
“That’s a weird thing to call him,” I told her. The bell rang, alerting us for first period. “See you at lunch.”
I left my friends, their information rolling around in my head. If Cay had set Roden up, what was his endgame? I didn’t believe it was just to mess with him, and lately, he’d been kind of nice to Trip, so I couldn’t believe that idea. Had strategically planning the fight merely been a ploy to get me to believe his story, knowing I would somehow get drawn in? I still had my doubts about the goddess weather stuff, but coupling that story with Roden’s weird icing incident … maybe Cay’s story did have some credibility to it. Except I didn’t know the whole story. I guess I’d have to talk to someone about this. I really didn’t want it to be Cay if I could avoid it.
“Hey, so did you ask him?” Cay asked as soon as the final bell rang.
“No. We didn’t have time to hang out this weekend,” I answered, swinging my bag over my shoulder.
“What about when you saw him today? Like at lunch?” He pressed. I took a deep breath. Lunch had been jam-packed with talk about the football game and gossip about dresses at the dance. Much to my relief, no one had brought up the fight. Because of all the social news that needed to be discussed, I hadn’t been able to excuse myself to speak with Trip. On top of that, I didn’t think it was a conversation that should be held in school. I couldn’t risk someone hearing us.
“Nope. We haven’t really been alone.” We left the classroom and turned down the hall.
“Come on. You expect me to believe you didn’t think about Saturday night at all?”
“Rumor has it you bribed Logan to dance with Jenny to get to Roden. Is that true?”
He wavered for a moment, probably debating what to tell me. “Yes, but not for the reasons you think.”
I scoffed. “Just when I believe you’re not the jerk everyone tells me you are…”
He threw his hands out in front of him and begged. “Bridge, I swear!”
“Why would you do something like that? And spare me the family warfare story again. It’s getting old and, quite honestly, rather predictable.”
Cay ushered me into a corner, allowing the other students to file past us. “What do you remember from the story?”
“There were goddesses, they controlled the weather with a talisman, it went missing, and now you and Trip hate each other.”
“Right, but you’re missing the main point. The goddesses had the power to control the weather with the Amulet.”
“Okay.”
“They had children who had children…” he prompted me.
“I’m not following you down this hole, White Rabbit. Get to your point.” I crossed my arms.
“Okay, think about this: Beira and Brighde had powers they got from their mother, so when they had children, those children had powers.” He waited for me to fill in the blanks.
“Right. So, every child born into Beira’s or Brighde’s family line has powers?” I asked, skeptical.
“You don’t believe me? How about believing your own eyes?” I moved to leave, but Cay stepped in front of me. “You saw what happened last night; you felt it.”
“The below-freezing temperatures? The ice? You’re telling me that freaky, frozen grass incident was Roden?”
Cay’s lips parted into a smile slowly spreading across his face. He tapped his nose twice, pointed at me, and disappeared into the last remaining group of students who hadn’t left yet, leaving me hanging in a corner by myself.
I couldn’t wait anymore. I needed to talk to someone else.
Chapter 10
The urgency to talk to Trip was so overwhelming; I thought it would crush me. Forcing myself to wait until the majority of the kids left, I got into my car and took off. I couldn’t sit in after-school traffic trying to make it to his house. Sitting in my car at a light, I revved the engine a few times, more to release some tension than to rush the person in front of me. She didn’t see it like that and flipped me off just as the light turned green. I didn’t take offense; that’s the Jersey thing to do. Giving the middle finger was practically “hello” in this state. I needed a plan of action for when I saw Trip. I knew I’d promised I wouldn’t say anything to him, but Cay wasn’t going to leave me alone. He was forcing my hand. I headed home first to get my thoughts in order.
I let out a breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding. My phone buzzed from inside my purse, and I jumped. At the stop sign, I looked at the screen. It was a text message from Dad. I’d check that later. Driving slower than a snail, I turned onto my street. When I pulled into my driveway, I peeked down the street at Trip’s house. The silver Audi was parked in its usual spot, next to the black Escalade. I closed my car door and went inside for a snack. The refrigerator hummed in the background, the ticking of the clock on the wall getting louder and louder. I bit into my apple, savoring the sweet juices as I chewed. Forget it, I couldn’t take this anymore. Walking out onto my front yard, I figured I would probably go mental before I got any real answers. I’d promised Trip I wouldn’t say a word, but I had to know if Cay was right. Before I could protest, my feet were marching me down the street.
