Living Again

Chapter 14

Cassie's POV:

True to his word, Jake was waiting for me outside. I had no idea why he was doing this. He did say that he felt guilty since he knocked me down but it was my fault, not his. I was standing around, fixing the scarf on my neck to make sure that the mark that my father had left can't be seen. I felt bad that he had to do this. I didn't deserve his help, not for a person as worthless as I am.

"Hey" he greeted me, taking my bag.

People were staring. I fidgeted. "You don't have to do this. I'm perfectly fine to carry my own bag"

He laughed. "Yeah right. By the way, what's your next class?"

Seeing that he wouldn't budge, I answered and stayed silent as we headed towards my next class.

"Well, I'll see you later at lunch" he told me once I was seated and he put my bag on my desk. 

I looked down as I nodded reluctantly.

"Alright, see you later!" he started walking out. Once he reached the door, he turned back and saw me looking. He smiled and gave me a wave before turning around and walked off once again.

I could hear everyone whispering around me. I slid down lower in my chair.

~~~~~~~~

The bell rang, signalling that it was already lunch time.

"Don't forget to hand your essays tomorrow!" Ms. GIenna reminded as everyone hurried to leave the room and head to the cafeteria.

I slowly put my things inside my bag.

"Man, you're slow" someone remarked. I looked up. It was Jake. "Here, I'll do it" he reached out and quickly put everything in my bag. All I could do was stare at him. "Something wrong?" he asked.

I snapped out of it and quickly looked away. I shook my head.

I could see him cock his head in confusion then shrugged. "Come on, I'm starving" he walked off. After a second's hesitation, I followed after him.

Jake was awfully chatty as we were heading towards the cafeteria. However, I wasn't listening to him at all. I was feeling too hot because of the scarf.

Someone put a hand on my shoulder.  "You alright?" Immediately, I tensed. My vision blurred and I recalled what happened yesterday, the feel of a rough hand wrapping around my neck and squeezing as hard as he could, almost like squeezing the life out of me, eyes full of hatred. "Cassie?"

It took a moment for my vision to clear and I recognized Jake. I felt myself relax a little. I took a step back and his hand fell to his side. "I'm fine" I breathed out, the lie sounding too obvious, even to my ears.

Jake's POV:

I watched Cassie as we sat down at a table. I had packed a lunch today to avoid the lunch crowd. Cassie just sat there, staring down at the table, her hair covering her face.

"Aren't you hungry?" I asked. She continued staring down at the table. It looked like she didn't hear me. I raised my hand to tap her shoulder but stopped halfway as I remembered what happened earlier. She seemed prepare for the worst and the way she looked.

God, the way she looked.

She looked like she was seeing something else in front of her. Her eyes were blank as she stared at me, though  not really looking at  me. It was almost like she was reliving something. It took her a moment to recognize me. And to be honest, it freaked me out. I didn't know that it was possible for her eyes to look more dead than her eyes already were.

I thought for a minute. Picking up the sandwich that I made this morning, I tore it in half. I handed it to her. She looked at it for a minute before looking at me.

"I'm not hungry" she whispered.

"You still have to eat" she just continued looking at it. "Come on, eat even just a little" I insisted. She hesitated for a minute before accepting the sandwich. "That wasn't so hard, was it?" I told her cheerfully as she took a small bite.

She said nothing.

I sighed.

This might be harder than I thought.