To Live Is To Fight (#2)

Chapter 45

Decisions, decisions.

I decided that I deserved some reward for making it through the morning traffic in the hallways and started limping away to the restaurants.

It was pretty sad that I didn't have friends in University and the thought of making some was tempting as I trudged over the open field to where the restaurants were at.

Thinking about friends reminded me of Penelope and Monic.

And Jake, of course.

It hasn't been the same since Penelope and I moved away to our Universities and I don't doubt she's already being swarmed by a bunch of friends.

Monic, the last time I heard from her, she sounded stressed and upset. I assumed it had something to do with Jake when she avoided talking about him when I brought their relationship up.

There was just so many things going on and I imagined having to keep my fighting secret from another soul. I was tired of the lying and sneaking away. I was lucky enough that my parents are away most of the time but I don't have it in me to build a friendship off of lies.

Maybe, when all this was over, I can start living a normal teenager life. I can start making friends and worry over normal teenager things instead of being friendless and worrying over the safety of my loved ones.

I stopped my wandering mind when I reached the bustling food corner. It was a small building full with different restaurants serving varied cuisines. I looked around, not having been here since I enrolled. I slowly walked up to the sushi corner and faced the guys behind the counter.

"Hey, what can I help you with?" He flashed me a pearly white smile and I gave him a brief small one before placing my orders.

After I gave him some notes to pay for my food, he handed me the sushis in a clear plastic container along with some tissues and chopsticks and my change.

"Enjoy!" He gave me one last smile and winked at me. I tried not to grimace at how flirty he was being.

Have I ever mentioned how bad I was at handling flirts?

I sat down at one of the empty tables and opened up the plastic container. I opened up the small bottle of soy sauce inside and poured some on top of the sushi.

I was about to wipe my soy sauce stained fingers with the tissue when I caught the numbers scribbled on the tissue.

I could feel my eyebrows furrowing at the sight. I didn't see him picking up a pen and scribbling anything. He was picking out the sushis I wanted and putting them into the container the entire time.

How the hell did he manage to scribble his number on the tissue paper then? Did he keep a stash of tissue papers that has his number scribbled on them?

'Now that's not desperate at all,' my conscience sarcastically stated and I rolled my eyes along.

I wiped my fingers on the other side of the tissue and picked up my chopsticks. I broke the chopsticks in half and started eating my sushis while considering saving the guy's number.

I mean sure, it looked pretty desperate but he might turn out to be a nice guy with charming qualities. Nice enough to give out free sushis on a date?

I almost laughed at myself. Who was I kidding. I shuddered lightly when I realized how much I sounded like a manipulative bitch. The thought of manipulative bitches reminded me of Sonia; ol' good queen bitch Sonia who loved making my high school life a living hell.

I gobbled down the sushi, lost in my thoughts as I reminisced my high school experiences. High school wasn't half bad after Adam came along. I started having fun after he popped into my life.

When I finished all my sushis, I threw away all my trash and braced myself for the ruthless current of students I'll have to fight against to get to class. Not to mention the excruciatingly painful looking stairs.

I sighed to myself. 

Come on, Case. You've been through worse, this should be a cake walk.

I mentally pat myself on the back for the pep talk and started my walk back to the building where my next class was at.

After what seemed to be a decade later, I was finally at the base of the stairs. I was going to be late if I didn't get on with it so I took one last breath and prepared myself as I gripped on the stairs' handrail.

I pulled myself onto the first step of the stairs with the handrail and kept doing so until I was almost ten steps up the stairs.

I was about to take another step when someone patted my shoulder and caused me to turn around and face a redheaded girl.

"Hey, are you okay?" She asked me.

I gave her a tight smile and nodded my head. The truth was that my body was straining to keep going with all my bruised limbs flaring up in pain with every step I took.

"Let me help you, you look like you're struggling." She offered, a small smile still on her face.

She had a fairly medium build and I had no doubt she's strong enough to help me up these stairs but still, I hesitated, doubts and fears clouding up my mind.

What if she started asking questions? I really didn't want to lie to a potential friend. What if she's one of the bad guys?

"Come on, if we don't get moving, we're both going to be late." She coaxed.

I finally caved in, dismissing my thoughts and let her lift my arm and wrap it around her shoulder. Her arm wrap around my waist and I bit in the hiss of pain I felt building up when she grazed my back.

I let her bear some of my weight as we climbed the remaining steps of the stairs.

When we finally reached the top of the stairs, we let each other go and I blew out a relieved breath. I hope going down won't be as hard as climbing up.

I only had three classes for today and I hope that my body will start feeling better tomorrow.

"Thank you for helping me," I said to her, making my voice as sincere and gratifying as I could. She turned to me with a smile, "No problem."

"I'm Raven," she told me, holding her hand out and I took it. "Cassandra."

"Well, I'll see you when I see you, Cassandra." Raven said, glancing at the watch around her wrist.

"Right, better get to class. Thanks again for helping me," I told her, waving as we parted ways.

As I walked down the halls, I smiled to myself in relief when I realized I didn't have to lie to her.

The fighting will end soon and I might already have someone to befriend when it's all over.