Cassandra

The rest of the day went by in a blur, so I couldn't really remember it that well.

While I was crying in the bathroom, I realized that I was faced with two options. #1: keep crying in there until it was time to go home or #2: suck it up and head over to history class as if nothing had ever happened.

Though one was the easy way out and the most tempting decision, it would add on more negative attention to my already unwanted, growing pile so reluctantly, I was forced to choose two.

I shuffled out of the stall and took a good look at myself in the mirror.

Boy, was I a mess.

My eyes were red and sore from weeping so much and had begun to puff up. I didn't even try to clear away the dried up tear stains that had solidified on my face. There was no point anymore.

The bell finally went, semaphoring the end of lunch so sniffles, snotty-nosed and all, I plodded out of the bathroom and into the multiple bodies that flooded the halls.

That definitely was one of the hardest walks that I had ever taken.

The people who I had previously thought were my friends couldn't even look in my direction, while kids I had never even seen before flocked around me, bombarding me with questions that quite frankly, I didn't feel like answering.

All I could do was breeze past them all.

I was so out of it that I didn't even realize when I reach the door. Stepping inside, my history teacher, Ms. Rivera, was grading her last classes work while the few students sitting in their seats were all preoccupied with whatever it was on their phone screens. Unlike how some older teachers who would rebuke such an act, Ms. Rivers was young, in her early twenties at the least, and didn't mind it too much.

Miss Rivera glanced up at me and flashed a short, but sweet smile my way. "Good afternoon, Cass," she greeted, her Latino accent extremely distinctive in her tone.

I was too drained to even try and grin back. "'Afternoon" I purled back, soon spotting a seat at the very back of the classroom and descending in.

Burning holes in the desk with my eyes, distraught and beside myself after the whole situation, all of my thoughts circled back to the same, million-dollar question: what would happen next?

Dread filled me; The feeling similar to when you pause at the tippy top of a roller coaster. Holding your breath and waiting for it all to be over.

"Cassandra?" Ms. Rivera's voice pierced through my thoughts.

"Yeah?" I responded wearily, finally paying attention.

"Are you ok?" She asked. "You seem to be, how you say, up in the clouds today." Ms. Rivera pointed to the ceiling and chuckled at her own joke but no one was laughing with her.

Everyone was too busy turning around in their seats to look at me. I was sure they all knew what was up with me, I mean, they all did witness it happen for themselves.

Right then and there, I prayed that a hole would open up in the ground and conveniently swallow me and my desk whole. But nothing of that sort happened.

Instead, I had 62 eyes fixed on me, waiting for an answer.

I gulped visibly as my eyes fluttered back onto my desk and I sank down in my seat.

"I'm good," I muttered, almost inaudibly.

Ms. Rivera raised an eyebrow at me, a little bit more concerned. "Are you sure?"

'Please stop asking questions.' I solicited. I really couldn't wait for this conversation to be over.

I just kept my mouth shut and slowly nodded.

She gave me one last look, before turning back to the class and continuing her lesson.

"So! Who's heard of George Washington?"

♡♡♡

I flopped back onto my bed, completely exhausted after today.

The end of the day came and went and before I knew it, I was packing up ready to go home when over the intercom, the crackly voice of our principal echoed through the halls.

"As you may already know, today is the last day of school before the break so wishing you all a very merry Christmas in advance." Following that were some Christmas carols but I was too lost in thought to pay attention to them.

'Christmas break...' I thought, incredulously until realization dawned on me. 'Christmas break!' I exclaimed in my head. I had totally forgotten about it and after everything that happened, I guess it just slipped my mind.

The mention of the break gave me a very bitter-sweet feeling. Sweet because it gave me time to sort through my emotions and figure out how I would deal with all the drama when we came backd and at the same time bitter because Christmas break just meant I was that much closer to having to relive the incident all over again.

I pushed that last thought to the side, avoiding it like I always did; an attempt to ease the pain that it always brought.

Slinging my backpack over my shoulder, I started towards the door ready to pick up Eva like I usually did. After how she had been acting during these last couple of weeks, I already knew what to expect.

Before I would act all cheery, to see if I could liven up her mood while pretending like everything was still fine and just as it was in the past, but soon, when I realized that my feelings weren't being reciprocated and she made it pretty clear that she wasn't in the mood to talk, I gave up. I let her have her silence but I must say, it made our walks so much more awkward.

Just then my phone dinged. It was a message from Mom.

'Don't forget that Eva stayed home today so you don't have to pick her up, ok?'

"Oh yeah!" I exclaimed out loud to myself, quickly typing back 'k', sending it, stuffing my phone back into my pocket and rerouting my direction so that I'd just head straight home.

When I got to my house, the first thing I did was call out "Is anyone home?" Silence was what I got in response until I heard rustling in the living room.

"Hello?" I hesitantly asked again. No answer and more movement. Being really paranoid at this point, and my imagination running wild, I carefully removed my shoe, wondering if it would a strong enough weapon to use if someone was in my house.

Without thinking, I jumped into the living room, squeezed my eyes shut and screamed "HIIIIIYYYYYYYYAAAAA!!!" Then proceeded to whip my shoe as hard as I could into said room.

The shoe hit something with a loud smack and a high pitched voice cried, "Oww that hurt!"

I opened my eyes and let out a huge breath of relief. It was just Eva sitting in front of the T.V with a giant mug of hot chocolate in one hand and a plateful of cookies on her lap.

"Eva!" I exclaimed at her. "You almost gave me a heart attack! Why didn't you respond when I first called?"

She picked up my shoe from off the floor and threw it in an attempt to hit me back. I caught it just in time though and she scowled at me, before shrugging. "I had cookies in my mouth and Mom always says I shouldn't talk with my mouth full." She turned her attention back to the television.

I rolled my eyes at her response, then looked around. "Speaking of Mom, where is she anyway?"

"There was an emergency at the hospital and she said she had to go and I could watch some shows while I waited for you to come home."

"Oh," I replied. Then, out of curiosity, I asked: "You feeling any better?"

"Yup." She shot back without a moment's hesitation.

Smirking a little bit, I continued speaking with an idea up my sleeve. "So... you wouldn't mind going to school tomorrow?"

Eva turned to me, panicked after realizing what she had said. "Um I mean..." she trailed off then abruptly fake coughed. "See I'm still sick so I don't have to go to school, yay!" Her words stumbled awkwardly out of her mouth.

I laughed "Eva, don't worry it was a joke; today was the last day of school and now it's officially Christmas break so stay home as long as you want."

"Christmas break? Oh good." She sighed as if a weight was lifted off of her shoulders. It raised a bit of suspicion but I didn't dwell on it because then she would shut down and who knows when she would start talking to us again.

After some more seconds of awkward silence, I finally concluded, "Well if you need me, I'll be in my room, ok?"

She just nodded and kept her eyes on the screen.

And that's how I ended up here on my bed, mentally prostrated after today.

While I was lying there, my phone buzzed for a second time. 'Must be Mom again,' I thought but much to my surprise, it wasn't. It was Lily, one of the girls who was in Mathinators with me.

Lily sent me a video; the first second an image of me and Bella in the cafeteria during our fight. The air in my room instantly changed and became freezing cold. The last thing I needed right now was to have to relive that whole episode again while I still trying to recover from it.

I was going to send 'I've already seen this, I should know. I was there.' But Lily beat me to it by eerily saying 'I know what you're going to say. Just fast forward to after it.' I deleted my old message before I could send it and pressed on the video but didn't play it just yet. I hesitated and was more than a little skeptical at first but, like always, when my nosy self couldn't wait another second longer, I sighed and wasted no time taking out my earbuds to click play and finally watch what was on it.

The sounds of yelling and arguing from me and Bella were the first things that flooded my ears and I physically cringed at it. "Fast forward," I said in a very sing-songy voice, scrolling across so I could find the part I needed.

When I reached the part where I was storming out of the cafeteria I stopped scrolling and let the video playout normally from there.

The camera followed me until I was out the door, unable to be seen and it slammed shut, then racing back to Bella, it zoomed in on her face to capture her reaction. The cafeteria went apprehensively quiet, so silent that you could probably hear a pin drop. All eyes on her.

Bella glared at everyone, then snapped aggressively, "What??" Just as Andrew stood up and yelled "Cassandra! Wait!" and began speed-walking towards the door.

My heart lept and my smile grew. The fact that Andrew was going to head out to go look for me was the highlight of my day.

Right when he got close to the door, Victoria stepped in front of it, blocking his way. She looked worse than mad. I can't really describe it but it was a side I had never seen from her. A much more dangerous one.

It was a full-body shot of her so I was finally able to see what she had on. A cute, fuzzy pink sweater with ripped baby blue jeans and the same pink converse sneakers from earlier.

Victoria's eyes blazed with anger, her jade green orbs more prominent than ever.

"So it's true, huh?" Her tone was so mean, so cold, it sent chills down my spine.

"Victoria," Andrew started. That was when she exploded.

She stomped her foot down on the ground abruptly, as if she was some toddler throwing a fit, awarding her a collective flinch from every single person in that room.

"Don't Victoria me!" She spat. "How dare you leave me for stupid Glassandra!"

Unconsciously, she glanced the phones way and suddenly, Victoria went from a total demon who would be prepared to kill someone at any moment to a Barbie doll, laughing in a very carefree manner as if someone just told her the funniest thing ever. The sight completely horrified me.

"Oh, this is a joke! I get it now!" She smiled and leaned in to kiss Andrews cheek. My heart may or may not have broken a bit at that. "I should've known you would never do that to me, Andie-poo."

I cringed. Hard.

Victoria turned on her heel and started heading in the direction of the person with the phone but Andrew grabbed her wrist before she could get too far. "If you think that, then you'll be disappointed."

She examined his expression, trying to detect if some sort of lie was woven into his sentence but when she found nothing, her smile dropped.

"L-Let go of me!" She stammered, wriggling her arm out of his grasp. Then, in a very stern voice, she demanded: "Now tell me, what is that supposed to mean."

Andrew released her and sighed. He blew raspberries then looked away. I think we both knew what was going to come next.

Finally, he spoke. "Yesterday. When we were at the dance and I left you because... because you were drunk with Kennedy and Hunter..." The room went up in whispers at that last statement and Victoria looked around in horror. I guess she was used to gossiping about people in front of their faces and not vice versa.

She gave him a withering look and whisper-hissed at him. "What do you think you're doing??"

Andrew answered simply, "Telling the truth."

Clearing his throat but never taking his eyes off hers, he continued. "I went outside and found Cassandra. We talked and joked with each other like we usually did and... it was nice." He broke out in a smile and I couldn't help but grin back at him through the screen.

Then his lips pursued into a serious, thin line. "But after, she told me how she accidentally saw you and Hunter together in a drunken kiss, during the dance."

Victoria's eyes widened in panic as she blurted out "it's not what you think, I-" but Andrew interrupted her. "Don't worry about it."

She gave him a perplexed look. "Really?"

He stepped back a bit. "Yeah, wanna know why?"

Victoria rolled her eyes and flicked her hair to the side sassily "Well obviously, duh."

"Because it gives me an even better reason to break up with you."

Her eyebrows shot up in disbelief, then she scoffed. "Um, excuse me?"

Andrew held his gaze. "I said, it gives me a reason to break up with you. I want to date Cassandra." Whispers filled the room yet again while I slapped my forehead in embarrassment. Way to make me the center of attention again, Andrew! But I couldn't stay mad at him for too long. It was just impossible.

"So this is really it? You're leaving me for her?" Her eyes narrowed down to little slits as she spoke.

Andrew nodded as he leaned back, all his weight going onto the nearby table he had put his hands on. "Yup."

She chuckled bitterly. "Then you must be more stupid than I thought."

Andrew, who I knew for a fact would never hurt a fly, suddenly glared at Victoria (she must've hit a nerve or something), making his cerulean coloured eyes 10 times more captivating than ever before. I don't think I've ever felt more intimidated yet turned on, well, ever.

"I'm not stupid," he said in an unnaturally calm voice. I held my breath, not sure what would come next.

"YES, you are!" Victoria barked rather loudly, drawing out a collective gasp from the cafeteria audience surrounding her.

"No one in their right mind would ever dare to break up with me. I mean," she did an up and down gesture towards her body. "I'm pretty, I'm sporty and..." she reached into her back jean pocket and pulled out a white, petite, pill-shaped looking box; holding it up with confidence for everyone to see.

"And I have Airpods!" Victoria boasted with pride.

The room roared with laughter. I couldn't help but snicker a bit with them at Victoria through the screen.

I have never seen anyone turn so many different ugly shades of red.

Victoria turned to the crowd, giving everyone extremely menacing stares and shrieked "Shut up! All of you!!" But that only made them guffaw even more.

Andrew, who had been laughing the hardest, finally collected himself and asked the entire room, "Who here would date Victoria, right now?"

The camera zoomed out of their faces so it could pan around the room and much to my surprise, no one, not a single soul, raised up their hand. And this is the girl I thought had the entire world wrapped around her perfectly manicured finger and who everyone practically worshiped. I guess I was wrong.

Victoria's eyes shimmered as her face crumbled with defeat. And to be honest... so did my heart a little bit for her... which I thought was a bit strange. I mean, she was the one who was mean to me, telling me to stay away from Andrew, kissing him passionately when I had entered the room, just being a terrible person in general? She deserved it. It was only karma and revenge is served best cold or something, right?

Right...?

Victoria's voice trembled as she tried to speak up but was failing miserably. "Don't do this Andrew, this is all a mistake. The truth is... the truth is that Andrew, I need you, ok? I need you. You-you've been with me through thick and thin and I just can't imagine my life without you in it as my boyfriend and... and just please don't leave me ok? Please?"

She was practically begging at this point and she looked so pleading; so helpless that I'm sure I wasn't the only one who was surprised in that room because I know, for a fact, that Victoria Deloris never, EVER lets anyone in on her true feelings. Ever.

Let's just say that after Victoria's little speech, no one in the room was laughing. The air became thick and sticky and was dripping with tension. I could even feel it oozing out of my phone and into my room.

Andrew shifted his weight on his feet and looked down. His eyebrows scrunched together as if he was making an important decision and then, eventually, he spoke.

Jamming his fists deep into his pockets, he mumbled, "Well maybe you still need me but..." his eyes stayed glued to the floor. "But what if I don't need you anymore?"

That was all the clarification Victoria needed. She blinked back her unshed tears and stared him down with her lips pursued into a straight line. "Fine." She stated simply just as the bell went. Everyone stood up and was eager to leave the drama-filled situation. I think they had had enough, if not too much, tea for one day.

The last-minute of the video was of Victoria turning to her two friends and demanding that they leave but instead of following behind her blindly like lemmings, Scarlette and Allison both shook their heads and shrugged. I guess they finally realized that their leader wasn't the coolest person they had cut her out to be. "Traitors!" Victoria hissed before zipping out of the cafeteria and into the busy halls never to be seen again. That was when the video ended.

I was shocked. At everything. Sending a quick 'thanks for sending me this' message to Lily, my head sank into my pillow in order to reflect on what I had just seen. I found this task difficult though.

I couldn't help but feel like I was at fault here. 'But that can't be right,' I thought to myself. 'I wasn't even there when this all happened.' Victoria got what she deserved. After being so cruel to everyone around her, it was only fair that the one thing she loved was taken away from her. Andrew. If anything I was only a mere pawn in pushing her in the right direction and teaching her a lesson. There was no way I was in the wrong.

I guess I must've dozed off at some point during my reflection time because I had a dream that I was running away from something. Beats me what it was, but it felt like I needed to get away from it no matter what it was. When I woke up, it was later in the evening and Mom had finally returned home. I got up so I could go greet her but I couldn't quite shake off the same 6 words that kept repeating over and over again in my head, making it throb.

This is all your fault, Cassandra.