CHAPTER TWO
ii. SOFT FINGERS

( ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* )

✧･ﾟCASSIDY LOVED LEARNING BUT DREADED GETTING UP EARLY FOR SCHOOL. It was a few minutes after seven when she begrudgingly awoke to the second snooze timer on her alarm clock; the green numbers '7:05' glared at her from the bedside table, notifying her that she was running later than usual. The house was quiet save for the sounds of chirping birds and the low hum of her sister's radio playing from her bedroom down the hall. Her dad had already left for work at six thirty in order to be on time for his shift at the police station and her mom, Naomi, was already awake and brewing a pot of coffee as usual.

Cassidy groggily trudged through her morning routine. She took a quick shower with her lavender body wash, dressed in a pair of light wash baggy jeans with a black long sleeved mock neck, and pulled her box braids that extended to the middle of her back up into a half up-half down style before she made her way downstairs to eat breakfast; the mismatched socks that covered her feet provided a thin layer of protection against the cool hardwood floors. The welcome aroma of espresso wafting through the air and her mother's warm smile greeted her as she entered the kitchen.

"Morning," Cassidy gave her a tired smile and grabbed the box of Eggo's from the freezer. After undoing the twist-ties that secured the open end of the packaging, she popped two of the chocolate chip waffles into the toaster.

"Good morning, Sleepyhead. Coffee's in the pot and there's eggs and bacon on the stovetop if you want any," her mother began placing her dishes in the sink.

"Thanks, Mom," she returned the box to it's rightful place and filled her favorite mug to the brim with the steaming liquid. Naomi shook her head as her oldest daughter poured an obscene amount of creamer and sugar into the cup. She grabbed some eggs and bacon from the cast iron pan on the stove and plated them along with her now-finished waffles.

"I'm working from home today. If you're not hitching a ride with your friends, you're free to take my car." Her usual ride, Jonathan, had called the night before to tell her he wouldn't be able to pick her up for school due to prior engagements.

"Okay," Cassidy started eating, "Does Ken need a ride?"

"No. She said you were taking too long so she just rode her bike to school," Naomi gave her a quick peck on the cheek and headed into her home office— a large cup of unsweetened coffee in hand— to make some important phone calls for her accounting firm, "And can you make sure her bedroom light is off? I swear that girl just enjoys running up the electric bill."

Cassidy scarfed down her breakfast in record time and guzzled her sugary coffee before jogging back up the stairs and into her little sister's bedroom. The younger girl's clothes were strewn chaotically around the room and comic books were scattered over the navy blue duvet of her full size mattress. Her newest volume of Wonder Woman lay open at the foot of the bed and hair products were cluttered on top of the vanity in the corner. She shook her head at the mess; after turning off the light as well as the radio that Kennedy left running, Cas continued in her quest of making it to school on time.

She walked back into her room to grab a sweater; it was noticeably warmer than the night before but still chilly enough to require at least a light jacket. She opened the door to her closet, the dream board she made at the age of thirteen was plastered to the inside of the door. Pinned pictures of star clusters, NASA logos, and her old science fair ribbons covered the camel colored base of the cork board. The teen reached past it to retrieve her oversized, charcoal grey zip-up with green embellishments woven throughout the fabric. Once the warm material of her sweater covered her arms, she quickly brushed her teeth and made sure that her edges looked okay before slipping on her shoes, her backpack, and some jewelry before leaving the comfortable temperature of her house and stepping out into the cool November air.

The commute to school was relatively short. By car, Hawkins High was only a fifteen minute drive from her home. The packed parking lot that was usually filled with teenagers was just about empty, the few stragglers already on their way inside. Cassidy parked her mom's black Buick Electra in a spot with ample side space and shouldered the thick straps of her bag as she headed into the building with a couple minutes to spare.

She walked through the halls with her headphones on; her Walkman placed securely in the back pocket of her lavender backpack as David Bowie played lowly in her ears. The pressure from her headset caused the posts of her tiny, diamond stud earrings to lightly dig into the space behind her ears.

As she opened her locker to grab her textbooks for honors chemistry and AP english literature, an arm was slung around her shoulder and the familiar scent of warm vanilla enveloped her nose. Cas slid her headphones down to the base of her neck and continued to gather her things.

"Hey," She turned to look up at her friend, Stefanie. Stef already stood a few inches above her but because of the platform shoes she liked to wear, she was almost always around a head taller, "How'd you know I wasn't in class yet?"

She gave her a dopey smile, "Because you're always running late on Mondays."

"Hey, have you seen Jonathan yet?" Cassidy had a few rolls of expired film that she wanted to give him.

"Yeah, he's developing some pictures in the darkroom," Stef withdrew her arm from around the shorter girl's shoulder, "By the way, can you help me study for my Spanish test on Wednesday?"

During freshman year, Cassidy transferred her language class from Spanish to French after learning it during the eighth grade. She remembered absolutely nothing. "How am I supposed to help you if I'm taking French, not Spanish?"

"You took Spanish when we were in middle school, right?"

"Yeah, but I barely remember any of it," She loaded her thick textbooks into her arms and closed the locker door, "Can't someone more qualified help you? Y'know like someone from your Spanish class."

"Please? Everyone in my class thinks I'm an idiot," Stef frowned and scratched at the skin on the inside of her wrist. Her long nails scraped just above her sage green friendship bracelet—one of many that Cassidy crafted for her during her bracelet making phase two years ago. Her pouty lips twitched downward at the corners as she let out a light huff, "And they always get annoyed when I ask them for help."

Cas playfully bumped the side of her friend's arm with her shoulder in hopes of lifting her spirits, "I'll try my best."

Stef's eyes crinkled at the corners as she beamed at Cassidy; her dark, smudged eye pencil making her azure eyes stand out against her pale, faintly freckled skin. Stef gave Cassidy a quick squeeze and finger guns before leaving down the hallway toward her class a few doors down.

The shorter girl shook her head with a small smile just before a loud warning bell rang through the halls, signifying that first period was scheduled to begin in sixty seconds. With an exasperated sigh, Cassidy began her weekly Monday jog as the chemistry classroom was on the opposite side of the building.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Ms. Valdez had been teaching for a few minutes before the eyes of her students were drawn to the doorway. The rusty hinges of the chemistry room's entrance caused the door to creak as it opened, interrupting the older woman's rant about reaction rates and how everyone in her class should have this information imbedded in their brains by now.

Nancy Wheeler walked in late with puffy lips and flushed cheeks; her disheveled, mid length hair looked as though she attempted to fix her chestnut locks and gave up halfway through. Based on her appearance, it was wise to assume that she was probably making out with her boyfriend, Steve Harrington, in the bathrooms before class. She'd caught them in there once when she rushed into the ladies' room to change her tampon; from then on, Cassidy decided that she'd rather potentially get toxic shock syndrome than to risk witnessing what Steve and Nancy liked to do in their free time.

Ms. Valdez silently gestured for Nancy to sit down. She stiffly walked over to her usual seat, the desk right in front of the resident know-it-all's, and began to rustle around her bag. With a frustrated huff, she swiveled around in her seat and leaned over slightly; the curvature of her back caused the tips of her hair to lightly brush the wooden top of her desk as she whispered, "Can I borrow a pencil?"

"Here," with her thin forefingers, Cassidy held out a pencil that was a bit stubby from all of the times it had been sharpened. She had an inkling of what the Wheeler girl was going to ask and already prepared another in her hand before Nancy even turned in her chair. Ever since she started locking lips with the Steve, Nancy had become a scatterbrained mess and it seemed that forgetting her pencils was a new habit for Nancy, as she now asked for one just about every day during first period.

"Thanks," for a split second, the pads of Nancy's warm fingers gently brushed against Cassidy's as she grabbed it from her. Cassidy quickly withdrew her hand and returned to her notebook as Nancy turned back around in her seat; her swift change in position caused the sweet fragrance of her shampoo to waft back into her face.

And for the rest of the class period, while she attempted to focus on taking notes during the lecture, her brain was a little preoccupied. When she skimmed over what she'd written in her composition book after class, she became annoyed with herself. Cassidy realized that she'd mostly scribbled gibberish while she was busy wondering how the hell Nancy Wheeler got her hands so soft.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

The rest of her morning classes were filled with Cassidy raising her hand to answer just about every question the teachers would ask and her classmates rolling their eyes at her; this inevitably resulted in Cassidy rolling her own hazel eyes right back at them. Even though all of her core classes were honors and AP level, her frequent hand raising still received groans of annoyance from her peers. It didn't bother her too much, though. Cassidy felt that if they were tired of hearing her voice, they should have raised her hands faster.

After purchasing her lunch in the crowded cafeteria, Cas made a beeline for the exit, maneuvering around the loud table of Dungeons and Dragons kids and almost tripping over their leader's leg— who hadn't realized that it was extended into the walkway. She made her way outside to the the circular metal tables on the quad and sat across from Jonathan, who was snapping pictures of the students and scenery. The tables were usually crowded during the warmer months but not many people enjoyed eating outside when when the weather was cooler.

"Hey, Cas. Sorry I couldn't pick you up today," Jonathan looked away from the lens to greet her, "I haven't seen you all morning. Did you get to school okay?"

"It's fine," Cassidy assured him, "I just took my mom's car," She placed her tray down and took a large bite of her burrito. The warm tortilla filled with beef and beans soothed to hunger cramp that was formed in her stomach over the past few hours.

Jonathan lifted his camera again, but frowned when he noticed he used all of his exposures; the boy stopped to rewind his full film roll and put it into a small compartment inside of his weathered camera bag.

"Oh, before I forget," She opened her backpack and grabbed the clear ziplock bag filled with expired rolls of film that she found in an old box her garage. She plopped them in front of her male friend; the canisters made a slight clink against the oxidized surface of the table, "Think you can get some cool shots with these?"

"Heck yeah I can," Jonathan gave her a crooked grin. He opened the bag, loaded one of the canisters into the empty film compartment, and began to loop the edge of the film strip into the take-up reel.

He looked as if he were going to say something else but was interrupted by Stefanie greeting the two of them with a cheeky smile and her favorite phrase, "Hey bitches."

Stef plopped herself down beside her shorter friend and placed her tray of nachos down, "You're definitely coming over on Wednesday, right?"

Cassidy gave her a quick nod and a hum of affirmation and went back to eating her burrito.

Jonathan picked up his camera again and took a few shots, excited to see how his pictures would look with the new film, "What's happening on Wednesday?"

"I have a Spanish test on Friday morning and I want Cas to help me study for it."

"Wait, now I'm confused," He lowered his camera, "Didn't you only take like a year of Spanish in middle school? I thought you were taking French."

"Yeah, I am."

Jonathan decided to let go of the matter. When it came to Stef—who she'd been friends with since fifth grade— Cassidy would do just about anything to help her out, even if it meant trying to remember as much of a language as possible within three days just so she could understand the material on a single test. Besides, it was common knowledge that she was never one to back down from a challenge.

They ate their lunches in a comfortable silence until an obnoxious laugh sounded from behind them. The trio looked over to the table where Carol and Tommy H sat, loud as usual while discussing very intimate details that no one around them wanted to hear.

Stefanie scrunched her freckled nose, "They're so gross."

As if sensing their gazes, Carol turned and rolled her eyes at the group, to which Cassidy and Stef — Jonathan was feeling a bit shy — responded by flipping her off; she turned back around and began talking to her boyfriend about some pool party.

Cassidy thought a pool party in November just sounded like a terrible idea, even if the weather warmed up a little. She felt the urge to tell them what a bad move it was to go swimming in the fall, but then she remembered that she really didn't like them and hoped that they'd just learn their lesson not do it again.

To Cassidy, stupid teenagers + cold weather + pool equaled disaster; however, she didn't realize just how right she was about the matter until it was too little, to late.

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THANK YOU FOR READING!

sorry this chapter is so long and
has a pretty slow pace! the next
one is sure to be much better!