♘ Be Brave ♘

XLIV

We walk out of the dorm hand in hand, and head over to the Pit. By the time we get there, most relatives are gone, but Mrs. Reyes is still there. "Want to go say hi, at least?" Cassandra shakes her head. "No. I must look like a disaster... and I don't want my mom to worry."

I smile. "You look beautiful. Come on." Cassandra rolls her eyes.

"Oh, okay. Fine." Once her mom sees us, she rushes to hug Cassandra, and they both start crying.

"Oh, my girl... Oh, I missed you so much..."

Cassandra laughs. "I missed you, too. So much."

Mrs. Reyes kisses Cassandra's cheek. "Let me look at you." She steps back and observes Cassandra. "Why do your eyes look red? Were you crying? Is something wrong?" Cassandra looks over to me, no doubt unsure of what to say. Thankfully, I'm an expert liar, what with having to make up stories every other day to justify my bruises and injuries.

"Cassandra's been sneezing a lot lately. Must be the time of year. It gets kind of annoying after a while." I grin, and Cassandra laughs nervously. "Yeah. It's nothing, though. I'm sure I'll be fine in no time." The look of relief on Mrs. Reyes's face speaks volumes, so we have obviously managed to convince her that everything's fine.

"And who is this young man?" Mrs. Reyes looks at our entwined hands pointedly, and we let go of each other. "Oh. Um. This is my...boyfriend." Cassandra blushes, and I try not to laugh. "Good to meet you, ma'am. I'm Matt." Mrs. Reyes smiles. "Yes, hello again. Thanks for bringing my daughter to me."

I'm thankful that she didn't ask me what my last name was. "No problem." Zeke comes up to us and says, "Sorry to break this up, you guys, but we have to go train to make up for the time we spent not training. You know how these pansycakes are."

Mrs. Reyes frowns. "Pansycakes?" Cassandra chuckles. "Just slang, mom." Mrs. Reyes clasps her hands together. "If you say so. Well, I don't want you to get in trouble, so I'll let you go...train. Just be careful, alright?"

Cassandra nods and embraces her mom. Mrs. Reyes glances at me over Cassandra's shoulder and whispers something only Cassandra can hear, but I assume she's talking about me, because Cassandra laughs and exclaims, "Mom!"