There was an ever so gentle flicker of disappointment. “Oh, I see.” Mina lied. A sour taste crept into her mouth. She didn’t see how Nan was willing to wait until after the concert to see the boy she likes. But at the same time, she was going to deny Mina from spending time with Brody.

She felt the stab of jealousy and could almost see it rear its ugly head in the tone of her own voice. “That is nice of you,” she bit out.

Whatever beautiful moment they had shared moments ago was ruined by her own jealousy as she imagined the rest of the night playing out in fast forward–Brody, Nan and all the band members would be laughing, eating bags of Skittles, and singing karaoke together. What? Where did that come from? She tried to calm her nerves and remember where they were going. She was so distraught over the images her own mind created, she didn’t even care when she gave directions to her own house.

Brody was really quiet the rest of the drive, as if he could sense Mina’s inner turmoil and dialogue. He cleared his throat gently when he pulled up in front of the Wong’s restaurant.

“You live in a Chinese Restaurant?” Brody asked, unaware that he had already asked this question weeks ago and that he already subconsciously knew the answer.

An intense moment of déjà vu overcame Mina, and she turned to look at Brody and spoke slowly, watching his face closely for any hint of recognition. “Not in-above it.” All of her waiting was for naught. He didn’t react differently.

“Cool.” He ran his hand through his hair and turned to look at her. “I’m sorry this night didn’t turn out the way I had hoped.”

Mina stepped out of the car. “No, it didn’t,” she mumbled back, feeling defeated until she remembered something. “Um, Nan’s party at Imperial Lake next weekend. Are you going?” Her knees locked up, and she would have slapped herself in the forehead for how dorky she must have sounded if only he hadn’t been standing next to her.

Brody pondered a minute as if checking an imaginary calendar in his head before answering with a grin. “Yeah, I got the invite, I wouldn’t miss it.”

Awkwardly, she waved goodbye, unsure of what else to do at this current stage of their non-existent dating status. She knew she was farther along in the relationship in her mind than he was. But it made her forget her spat with her best friend and even her current situation. Mina was floating on a cloud of hope.

Mrs. Wong was sweeping the front sidewalk to the restaurant. She waved enthusiastically at Mina as Mina went up the steps to the Grime’s apartment. It was obvious from Mrs. Wong’s gestures that she wanted to speak to Mina and hear all of the juicy details involving the very attractive boy dropping her off. For some odd reason, she was obsessed with Mina’s life and with giving her dating advice, even so far as to once suggest Mina’s kissing Brody. Thank goodness she had probably forgotten that embarrassing conversation had ever happened.

For once Mina was actually beginning to understand the reasoning behind the Story’s resetting her life and the events occurring prior to the completion of a quest. In short, it did give her a second chance at first impressions. What high school student wouldn’t want a chance to redo her first kiss, first dance, and biggest mistake?

She really hated what the Story had done and had become really depressed over losing her boyfriend. But at the same time, she was now free again to try and rekindle the flame, without all of the previous awkwardness. The only thing to do now was to make absolutely sure that none of her friends, schoolmates, or boys she liked in the future ever became a part of the curse surrounding her, so she must make sure they never found out about it.

That was it; she would do everything she could to make sure they never had anything to do with the Story or her family’s quests. If they weren’t pulled into it, then their memories wouldn’t be erased and their lives wouldn’t be reset. It seemed simple enough.

Smiling, Mina managed the last few steps to the landing and inserted the key into the lock. She opened her door and stepped into her home. It wasn’t much, a tiny retro kitchen with a Sixties dinette set for four and appliances that had seen better days. A small sofa and wooden rocker filled up their very small living room along with an old TV, which was rarely used. Their apartment only had one bathroom, but luckily it did have three bedrooms, which was rare for their units. Well, Charlie’s room wasn’t legally a room, because he didn’t have a closet and it looked as if it had originally been a part of Mina’s room at one time. The previous tenants, or the Wong’s at some point, must have built a wall between the two rooms to make a storage room or office. Either way it had a window and gave the Grimes each enough privacy.

On the living room rug, Charlie was playing cards, what looked like a loose version of solitaire, but Mina could tell right away he was cheating. For one reason, she could see five aces and six queens, so there were obviously multiple decks in play, and he kept shuffling cards from the back to the front.

Mina chuckled, and Charlie looked up and made a loving brotherly face at her, which meant he scrunched up his nose and stuck out his tongue. Mina crossed her eyes and mimicked the tongue gesture. Charlie’s face lit up in joyful glee at his sister’s retaliation. Sara was making popcorn in the microwave and looked like she was getting ready to settle down with a good book. Mina said hi, snagged a handful of popcorn out of her mother’s bowl and retreated to her room with a quick comment about studying.

Once her door was closed, she grabbed a light jacket purposely ignoring the various hoodies hanging in her closet. She clutched a small brown paper bag that she’d left on her desk, threw open her window, and stepped out onto the fire escape. The building was old and still had a rarely used fire escape, which led to Mina’s rooftop retreat.

It was every teenager’s dream to have a retreat of her own. It wasn’t grand, but it was solely Mina’s. The few lawn chairs that she had dragged up to the roof were mismatched and slightly broken dumpster finds, but she thought they were perfect. She had also decorated the roof with various fake plants, Christmas lights, outdoor party lights, and a lone pink flamingo. Faint music from the Italian restaurant down the road song drifted to her haven plus the mixed smells of Chinese and Italian food always created the oddest aroma of home.

She pulled out the crumpled paper bag and removed her latest curbside find, a medium-size garden gnome with blue pants and red pointy hat. She wasn’t sure what possessed her to save this somewhat chipped piece of clay, but it looked lonely. To be honest, she kind of felt sorry for the statue.

Twisting a stray lock of hair around her finger, she scanned the various ledges and shelves she had stacked with knickknacks and plants. She decided to place the gnome next to one of the few living plants on the roof, a rose bush. Placing him in his new home, Mina stood back and picked up a stick and pretended to knight the little fellow over both shoulders.

“I dub thee, Sir Nomer,” she spoke in a kingly tone of voice, her heart soaring.

“Well, that’s a stupid name if I ever heard one myself, and I’m pretty sure I’ve heard lots of stupid names.”

Mina froze at the male voice that seemed to come out of the air, and she stared at the garden gnome in disbelief. “Did you just say something?” she whispered to the gnome.