Faire Exchange: Chapter 19

Gregg breaks his own heart.

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Gregg wanted to scream, but it only came out as a dull whine as he stepped out the door to the playground. Martin and Jeremy kept starting to say something to him, but never managing to say it. He couldn't bring himself to make eye contact. After all, he was the freak who actually liked Rina! If only he could just go home, crawl underneath his covers, and sleep the rest of his life away. Maybe he'd wake up and all this would turn out to be one big nightmare.

His friends stopped. There was Rina, heading toward the swings, with a posse of third-graders growing around her.

Jeremy pointed the other direction, toward the playset, a mass of platforms, slides, and climbing equipment. "We can stay out of sight there."

Gregg straggled behind them, occasionally stealing a glance over his shoulder at Rina. Bad enough she could wring that confession out of him, but why in front of his friends? Why in front of Nadia? This would be so much easier to deal with if Rina were anyone else.

Underneath the platforms on the playset was an open space where the boys sometimes gathered to play cards. But today, it was going to be all business.

Sitting in a circle with Jeremy and Martin, Gregg felt like his goosebumps were about to poke through his shirt.

"It's okay, Gregg," Jeremy said. "We know you didn't mean to say all that lovey-dovey stuff. It was Rina making you do it. Good thing it backfired, huh? 'Bout time."

Gregg kept his mouth shut. Why object?

"But why did it backfire?" Martin said. "I thought you were gonna keep sweet-talking her."

Both of his friends were waiting for a response. What Gregg strung together was, "I must have been so deep under her spell that I wanted to warn her."

"Yeah." Martin nodded. "Yeah, that makes sense. Now, didn't she say something about a piece of candy?"

"Right, the candy. I, um, found it on my bed last night, and it had weird writing on it."

"And you actually ate it?" Jeremy said.

"Well, I… I don't know what came over me." Gregg let the lie hang in the air. Of course he knew. He'd been so stricken with feelings for Rina that he honestly believed the candy was a real gift, something she gave because she felt the same way. Of course the others would see right through it.

"Well, we know it had a love potion mixed in," Jeremy said. "Must have had a spell on it to make you want to eat it, too. Or something like that."

Right, or something. Enough so he'd say out loud exactly how he felt, but not enough to tell her everything she wanted to hear. Rina must have known how he felt, or else why target him? If so, how did she find out?

"One thing's for sure," Martin said. "She's gone too far this time."

"Somebody's got to teach her a lesson," Jeremy said. "It's not gonna be the teachers. I'm starting to think that Bangle's never gonna get here."

Gregg peeked around the playground. He wished Nadia were here, or Danny, though he had no idea how either of them would be able to help. Gregg could picture the gawk on his brother's face. Hey, bro, that girl I was talking about? Turns out she cast a mind-control spell on me. What do I do?

"We gotta set the record straight, though," Martin said. "Word of this gets out, nobody's gonna wanna get near Gregg again."

"Nobody's gonna know for sure if she cast a spell or not," Jeremy said, "except for us."

And Gregg knew they were right. He was never the most popular kid, but he was never hated. If people thought—or knew—he liked Rina, he'd be a total outcast. Sure, he'd still have Jeremy and Martin, they were always loyal; but even they might turn out to have their limits.

Rina was beautiful, and he knew there was something good in her despite everything. But she wasn't worth all this anguish.

He remembered when Kaley Orduroy got a crush on Clark Ferris in fourth grade. Kaley wasn't exactly the prettiest, and Clark wasn't exactly the nicest, and the way they interacted, you couldn't ignore either of them. It was time to take a page from Clark's book.

"I know what to do." Gregg crawled out from under the playset. If he couldn't have Rina, he'd at least make sure he could keep his friends. "I'll be right back."

Rina was down by the swings, just like yesterday, flinging the third graders back and forth higher than any of them had gone before. Gregg ran up. "Hey, Rina!"

She looked at him, still holding her glowing hand toward the swing set.

"Remember how I said people were afraid of you?"

"Yes?"

"Well, there's more," Gregg said. "You're also ugly! And you're stupid! And you're mean! Oh yeah, and your ears look stupid!"

Her face changed with each statement, and it was the last that really did it. She threw her hand in his direction.

Gregg ran.

A lightning bolt struck the ground beside him. He sped up as much as he could, as more bolts blasted off left and right. He zigzagged across the playground toward the school building. It hurt enough to say all those horrible things. That would be nothing compared to one of those bolts.

As soon as he had a chance, he swerved around a corner. But he wasn't safe yet. He could still hear thunder behind him. He had to keep moving.

He rushed inside and hid in the nearest boys' room.

Now he just had to avoid Rina the rest of the day, and hope she didn't take anything out on Jeremy and Martin.

At least now they'd know who he really cared about.

The bell rang and ended recess. Gregg took a deep breath in and let a long breath out, then opened the bathroom door. The fifth graders were streaming in, and Gregg spotted Martin and Jeremy. He waved for them, and they ducked into the boys' room.

"Dude, you okay?" Jeremy said.

"Fine," Gregg said. "Just worn out. Is it safe?"

"It should be. Rina didn't really chase you that far."

"She didn't?"

"Nope," Martin said. "She fired at you, ran for a bit, then… well…"

"Well what?"

"Well," Jeremy said, "she started crying."

Gregg's heart crashed straight down into his stomach. Because of him? Sure, maybe she was a relentless bully, and maybe she did use that mind-control candy on him, but the fact that he'd made a girl cry… It made him feel less like a boy, more like a slimy reptile.

Which meant even if she did change somehow, he'd lost all chance he ever had with her.

"Anyway, we better get back to class." Jeremy sighed. "Don't worry, Gregg. At least you don't have to sit with her the rest of the day."

"Okay. Yeah. Great." Gregg trudged behind his friends as they walked out of the restroom. He hoped this was worth it. He'd hurt a girl's feelings and broken his own heart for these guys. He was going to need them to see this through.

"Oh yeah," Jeremy said, "we were thinking of hanging out after school."

"Okay," Gregg said. Hanging out after school would be nice. They could all use something normal after all of this. "You guys wanna come over to my house?"