Cassie sat on the steps that led to the main room's doors. She had arrived late; fifteen minutes before the next bell. She had decided to wait, listening to the lessons from the stairs and taking notes from there.
"Miss Bailey," a voice behind Cassie said. "Aren't you supposed to be in class?"
Cassie turned abruptly, her notebook sliding off of her knees. Mr. Foster stood behind her.
"I-"
"I don't want excuses, you're lucky the bell's about to ring," Mr. Foster, said, cutting her off.
"I just got here. It wouldn't make sense to go to class."
"Oh. You should have at least tried."
Mr. Foster left just as a small crowd of teenagers streamed into the hall. Cassie's friends, Emma Basiq and Sage Stormman met her. "Hey," Sage whispered. Emma looked at them curiously but didn't say anything for a second, until starting an extremely loud conversation.
"When did you get here?" she asked. "You didn't miss much."
"Um, just now," Cassie said.
"Oh."
She opened a sketchbook to a few pages in and started writing. Cassie read over her shoulder.
"Sage and Cassie," Cassie started.
Emma snapped the sketchbook shut, but not before Cassie saw numerous drawings with captions featuring question marks and scribbles. "May I see this?" Sage asked. They had been quiet until now, but they had clearly heard Cassie.
"Noooo," Emma said. "It's private."
Sage and Cassie exchanged glances (glances that were a little too long) before following Emma to the cafeteria.
The cafeteria was loud and filled with talking, like "did you hear?" and "ooh, Ryan."
Sage rolled their eyes at that. Ryan was popular. Too popular. And very annoying. Emma caught up with her other friends and Sage and Cassie sat down at a small table.
"What is it with Ryan?" Sage muttered. "Everyone likes him."
"Are you okay?" Cassie asked.
"Yeah, I'm good. I just don't like how everyone is so obsessed with him. Can't we talk about something else? Anyway. . ."
Cassie watched them carefully. "So, why do you think Em was writing our names?"
"Ugh, doesn't matter, I'd rather not think about it."
They paused.
"Sorry. I'm just in a bad mood."
Cassie nodded. "That's fine. I still want to find out about that. Maybe at the sleepover later?"
Sage looked at Cassie, almost shocked. "I forgot about that."
"Can you still make it?"
"Yeah, I'm sure I can. My parents won't care, they've been ignoring me lately. . ."
At this Sage trailer off, looking out the window, but not before Cassie saw a single tear stream down their cheek.
"Well, yeah, I guess I do want to know about that."
Cassie nodded. "Yeah. . ."
*
Writingnerd here again. Hi. Warning, this story does have some romance, but not kissing, just light, implied, stuff. It's not anything beyond a hug. But if you don't like that, that's still okay!
I hope you like it and if you have any good title ideas, pls help!!! :D
