The next few weeks for everyone definitely weren't the best for anyone.

After he heard the news from Cass, Andrew could barely function. He couldn't eat. He couldn't sleep. He could barely even think! You see, Andrew was lovesick. He had fallen head over heels with Cassandra but it was too late. She had found herself a boyfriend and he had a girlfriend. Victoria. Victoria, Victoria, Victoria. Things with her had gone from decent to bad, to worse for them. Andrew and Victoria were practically a celebrity couple at their school. A super couple if you ask me. But what everyone didn't know was that their relationship was kinda toxic. All they ever really did was make out and look "cute" together. And after their fallout, when they weren't doing any of those things, they were arguing. Over literally everything. And it's not like they hadn't argued before about stupid things it's just this time... Andrew felt guilty for kinda cheating on his current girlfriend making him defensive for everything. It's just Cass was so great. They laughed together, talked together but most importantly, they had fun together. Something that Victoria and Andrew could never achieve.

But I think things were even harder for Cassandra than for anyone else. Imagine being in a relationship with two totally different people! Even though her head knew she was dating James, Every other bone in her body was screaming "NO ANDREW!" Leaving her dizzy and confused. She just didn't know what to believe. On top of that, after she told Andrew about her newfound relationship, things with them... just changed. They shifted. There was always an elephant in the room with them. The 2 weren't able to just talk and have fun like they used to. It got to a point where slowly they just stopped talking altogether. They would sit in chemistry and just not speak to each other and when they had to, their conversations would be pinched and short. Obviously, things started to get awkward and the tension between them rose. But you wanna know what the worst part was? Cass was blaming herself for all the weirdness between them and it tore her up inside. On top of all that she had no one to talk to about any of this. She definitely couldn't tell James or Andrew about how she was feeling and she couldn't talk to Bella either. She tried her hardest to figure out what horrible sin she could've committed to get her outgoing and happy Bella so upset that she wouldn't even look at her but her mind was blank.

Speaking of Bella, after what happened with Cass, she vowed to herself that she would never speak to "that lying, boyfriend-stealing, idiot" ever again. She would avoid her no matter the cost, she would sit as far away from Cass as she could during lunch and Mathinators meetings (she even considered quitting because of her!) And whenever Cass would go up to her and beg Bella to tell her what she could have possibly done wrong, Bella would just give her a bunch of murderous glares and ignore her and when she persisted, Bella would look right through her like she was an invisible ghost or something. Sure she may have been acting a little bit unreasonable but can you blame her? Her (almost formal) best friend, who was practically a genius, wasn't able to figure out something as simple as her other friend's silly crush while it was the total opposite for Bella when it came to Cassandra and Andrew. In fact, she knew even before Cass told her about it! Then her best friend starts dating her crush?!? What kind of friend even THINKS of doing that??? What kind of friend does that make Cassandra?

But our fellow teens weren't the only people who were silently suffering inside. Eva was on the verge of brokeness and was getting closer and closer to the edge every day. she would return home looking sullen and depressed and wouldn't leave her room until it was dinnertime. Even while everyone was eating, she would sit and poke her food, not taking one bite. Then afterwards, head back to her room. One night, Cass had stealthily followed her upstairs to try and see what she could be up to and peeked through her door that had conveniently, been slightly ajar and what she saw was heartbreaking. Her energetic little sister that always had a smile on her face, was silently bawling her eyes out underneath her covers in her pitch black bedroom. Cass headed downstairs to inform her mother about what she had just seen and that's when her mom filled her in on everything that she knew. After Eva's first gloriously (not!) moody episode and Eva wouldn't open up to her, their mom went to have a meeting with Eva's teacher who had also noticed her sudden change in behaviour. Eva, who was pretty smart for age, had gone from being an A and B student to a C, D, F or I student. She wouldn't even attempt to finish her homework! Cass's mom had asked if anything was going on at school and the teacher, in response, went "not that I know of" and asked the same question back to their mom. Cassandras mom denied knowing anything. The 2 eventually came to the conclusion that the teacher would plan a session with the school counsellor and see if that would help with anything and in the meantime, they would just have to deal with whatever Eva was going through and try to support her the best they could. Cass's only question? how long would their support be able to go before it just ran out?

It seemed that the only person who was able to keep their cheerful outlook on life was James. I mean, why wouldn't he? He had gotten his girl and everything in his life had finally started to fall into place. Things, he admits, had started off to an awkward and cringy start but after their first date where he promised Cass that he would be a great boyfriend to her, he actually made an effort to keep it and it was smooth sailing for them from then on out. Or so he thought.

Then, finally, the day that would change everybody's lives for the better and for the worse, arrived.

The Snowflake Dance.