The Ward of Castoria

  *****

  Second period was still the class Bryn dreaded going to. In the final weeks of school, Kayla was becoming bolder and bolder with her spiteful comments. Bryn continued her policy of ignoring them and told herself it would be over soon. In the minutes before class started, Bryn pulled out a book and waited for the inevitable comment as Kayla strolled near her desk. When the bell rang, Bryn realized something was different. She saw Kayla quietly talking to her friend. Kayla must have walked right by her and not said a thing.

  Bryn spent the entire period in a perplexed state. Not once did Kayla look her way. Not once did she say anything mean during the free time toward the end of class. When the bell rang for dismissal, Kayla got up from her desk and Bryn braced herself for a rude comment. Instead, she left without saying a word.

  Bryn saw Kayla one more time that day and was even more surprised by the result. After school, she had decided to spend some time in the library before going to her father’s office. Bryn wanted to check out a few more novels to read so she found a step stool to sit on as she looked at covers which interested her.

  After a few minutes, she heard Kayla’s voice quietly talking to Mackenzie and Lauren in the next aisle over. They were discussing a club car wash they were in charge of organizing. Bryn tensed up even more when she realized all three Evil Stepsisters were rounding the corner and entering her aisle. Kayla was eyeing the books on the shelf, apparently trying to find a specific one. Bryn thought that at any moment, the three girls would begin their usual attack on her. She was amazed she had remained unnoticed this far.

  Kayla took a few steps in Bryn’s direction. Suddenly, she knelt down and was eye level with her. Even though Bryn’s heart was pounding a mile a minute, she found the resolve to look at Kayla with an expectant expression on her face.

  Kayla grabbed a book off the lower shelf, stood up, and said, “I have a couple buckets at home I can bring to the car wash. Do you have any?”

  Lauren whispered back, “I have no idea. I’ll ask our maid later.”

  Then the girls left the aisle without even a backward glance. Bryn watched them leave with wide eyes and a disbelieving smile. She was stunned by her good fortune. She had absolutely no idea what brought about this unusually inattentive behavior.