𝐈'𝐝 𝐁𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐈𝐭 𝐓𝐰𝐢𝐜𝐞

𝒇 𝒊 𝒇 𝒕 𝒚 𝒕 𝒘 𝒐

Cassandra's POV
(December, 13, 2021)

'Hey, it's Hailey. Leave a message..'

"Hailey.. um, I'm so sorry for getting you like that, I'm so sorry that something always goes wrong with us. I'm just sorry. Please- please call me, please come back." I pull the phone away from my ear, pressing the red button, ending the call. The call she didn't answer. It's been three days since I've seen Hailey and it's been three days since anybody's heard from her. I'll never understand why she constantly feels the need to disappear, and cut off communication like this. She does it so simple, as if multiple people don't depend on her, as she doesn't mean anything to anyone. Like, no one would care if she left. Everyone cares. How can she not get that?

"Morning," Dad greets, sitting his cup of steaming coffee on the table, taking a seat in the chair across from me. "Morning,"  I reply softly, staring down at my powered off phone.

"You okay?" He asks, after a while.

I glance up at him, raising my head off the table. "You don't really wanna know."

He sighs deeply. "I wouldn't have asked if I didn't," I stay silent and he starts talking again. "I know you don't like me, Cassie."

"I'm glad you're aware of that," I give him a tight lipped smile.

He checks his watch before looking back at me. "You're two hours late for school, but you're dressed for it. That means you got up but something prevented you from leaving the house."

I shake my head, looking down at my phone. He think he know me. He don't know shit. Nothing changed about him. He probably just ain't have his morning beer yet. "Hailey hasn't talked to me in three days and I have no idea where she is. Apparently she does this kind of thing a lot but the last time I saw her, we had some kind of fight because she was supposedly cheating on me. She freaked out, Dad. I didn't know what to do. I went about everything wrong and what if she never comes back because of that? I really want her to come back. What if she don't?"

"Then she don't come back. That's up to her. You have no control over that." He answers simply and I really don't like that answer.

"Okay," But I take it. He picks up the newspaper from the table and reads in silence while I go back to my phone.

After about twenty minutes of mindless strolling on Tiktok, I realized I wasted this perfectly good outfit on nothing, seeing I made the selfconscios decision that I ain't going to school], so I went upstairs to change. I put on some black leggings, a purple t-shirt and some socks. As soon as I was done I heard someone knock on the door. "Dad?" I called out. "Yeah, I got it," He responds.

I go down the stairs anyway because I'm nosy and when I reach the fifth to last step he unlocks the door and swings it open. "Um, is Cassandra here?"

"Oh, wow.. you do say her name weird." He squints.

Hailey pronounces it like a British person would pronounce it. Like, Kuh-Saan-Druh. But everyone else pronounces it like, Kuh-San-Druh. It doesn't even matter. "Dad," I eye him, and he takes the hint, walking away. I step in front of the door and we come face to face. She looks so much better than when I last saw her. 

"Hi," She gives me a weak smile.

"Hi.." I smile back. She goes silent for a second and I notice she's still shaking a little. What is that? "Hi," She repeats, as her smile fails to stay plastered on her face. We go silent for a couple minutes, and it honestly feels longer than that. So fucking awkward and for what?

"Um, these are for you," She pulls out a bouquet of lilies and I take them with a soft smile. She takes a step back, subtly tugging at her oversized jacket with her fingers "..got these for you.." she mumbles the last part, repeating herself, and I nod.