It was finally Thanksgiving break and Cassie got to relax a bit.
She accepted the role of the murder mystery role.
She was told that she was going to be joining the cast the beginning of March, two weeks into filming, which she didn't mind.
She also had everything worked out with the school.
She will be able to film the movie and complete all of her school work while on set. Her teachers would send her all of her assignments and let her know when they will be having their tests. She will also be having an on set tutor. Whenever she has tests or quizzes, her on set tutor will be in the room with her to take the tests just to make sure that she doesn't cheat. The on set tutor will also be getting all the emails that Cassie will get and will be the one to send the tests to all of Cassie's teachers.
It was Wednesday.
The moment the school day ended, Cassie and her friends headed to the bakery.
The students from Randy's school went to the bakery. Randy was one of the many students who were there.
Cassie has only seen him three times since their date and each time was at the bakery.
Cassie and her friends at at their usual table when Randy came over.
"Hey," Randy said, his eyes on Cassie.
"Hi," she said.
Everything was awkward. No one said anything and they were looking between Cassie and Randy.
"Can - can we talk?" Randy said.
"Yes," Cassie said, standing up.
She followed Randy outside.
"I'm sorry," Cassie quickly apologized, "for not texting as often."
"I haven't been texting that much either," Randy said, "so no harm done."
Cassie smiled weakly.
"Our date wasn't great," Randy said.
"No, it wasn't," Cassie agreed.
She couldn't help but feel guilty about it. She really wished she enjoyed the date, but she didn't.
"Randy, I like you, but not like that," Cassie said. "I'm sorry it took me so long to realize it. I'm sorry for leading you on."
"I get it," Randy said, "and no worries. Yeah, um, after the date, I realized I didn't like you like that either. You're great and all, but..."
"We should stick to being friends?" Cassie suggested.
Randy cracked a smile and nodded.
"Friends," he repeated.
Cassie had an uneasy feeling about this. She has heard of people who had gone on dates and said that they'll be friends but it was just something to cushion the blow or just make light of the situation. She had a feeling this might be one of those situations but she hope she was going to be wrong.
"I'm sorry again," Cassie said.
Randy didn't say anything.
She wasn't expecting anything from Randy.
"I heard that you got casted in a murder mystery," Randy said. "Is it true?"
"Yes, but I can't talk about it," Cassie said.
"Is Harley Walker's mom going to be in it?" Randy asked.
"Um," she said, "you should ask him. I can't really talk about it."
Cassie wished she could talk about the movie, but she couldn't.
When she and her parents and their family's lawyer went over the contract, one of the things they found out from reading it was that Cassie can't really talk about the movie except that she was in the movie. Whatever isn't made public, she can't talk about.
Cassie has always been deathly afraid of talking about her movies to anyone except her parents or co - stars. Her parents and costars were the only people who knew what was happening in the movie.
"Um, I should rejoin my friends," Cassie said.
"Yeah, yeah, alright," Randy said. "Um, alright, I'll see you later."
Cassie smiled and said goodbye to Randy and reentered the bakery.
Randy didn't follow her in. He left.
"Everything okay?" Gabe asked.
"Oh, yeah, yeah," Cassie nodded.
"Are you going on another date with him?" Maya asked.
"No," Cassie said.
"No?" Zoey said, surprised. "Why not?"
"I don't like him like that," Cassie said. "And he doesn't like me like that either."
"So what are you guys going to do now?" Lucas asked.
"Nothing," Cassie shrugged. "We said we'll be friends..."
"But you're not sure if that'll happen," Harley finished.
Cassie nodded. "We barely talked to each other since our date. I wish I was surprised that this happening, but I'm not."
"That sucks," Lucas said.
"It does," Cassie agreed, "but you can't be friends with everyone."
***
It was Thanksgiving and Cassie helped her parents prepare everything for dinner that night. They were hosting Thanksgiving dinner.
Cassie's friends and their families were coming over for dinner.
Cassie helped with cleaning the apartment to make sure everything was clean and prepared for guests.
An hour before dinner, everyone came over. The adults sat in the living room while Cassie and her friends were in her bedroom.
Cassie's bedroom wasn't the biggest. That was never an issue for her. She didn't mind the size. All she cared about was having enough space for her things and if and when she had friends over, there was enough space for all of them, which it did.
Cassie and Zoey were sitting on her bed and Maya was sitting at the desk. Harley, Peter and Gabe were sitting on the bean bag chairs that Cassie had.
She had two of them and it was always something that her friends loved sitting on whenever they were over.
One of the two that she had somehow managed to hold Harley and Peter.
Zoey's younger siblings were too young to hang out with them and Gabe's siblings weren't that interested in hanging out in the bedroom.
Cassie didn't take it personally. She knew that Justin and Emma, Gabe's brother and sister, liked them and all, but this night specifically, they just weren't interested in hanging out with them.
The group stayed hung out in the bedroom until they were called for dinner.
They added a foldable table to the end of the dining table to fit everyone. The adults sat on one end of the table and the teenagers and kids on the other end.
***
The day after Thanksgiving, Cassie and her friends made a plan to go Black Friday shopping.
Cassie had a list of things she wanted to buy for herself and Christmas gifts for her friends and family.
She had done some online shopping over the past week to get some of the 'bigger' gifts for her friends and family and she didn't want them seeing.
Cassie, Zoey, Maya, Harley and Gabe spent the entire day shopping. They split up to make the most of their time. If they all wanted to buy some things from the same store, one of them would stand in line for all of them and buy it for everyone.
They paid each other back at the end of the day for everything.
"How was shopping?" Robin asked.
Cassie groaned.
Robin chuckled.
"I'm so tired," Cassie said.
She was practically dragging the shopping bags to her room.
"It was so stressful," Cassie said, "and chaotic."
"Do you need help?" Scott asked.
Cassie shook her head no.
Scott still helped her anyways, knowing that Cassie really needed help but she just didn't want to admit it.
Cassie put all the bags into her closet, not wanting to think of the gifts until the following day.
She knew she was going to spent Saturday writing notes and wrapping all the gifts. She hoped she would be able to drop everything on the same day, but who knows.
Worst case scenario, she dropped off the gifts the day before Christmas Eve.
Scott knocked on Cassie's bedroom door and slowly opened the door.
"Are you hungry?" Scott asked when he was inside.
Cassie's stomach growled, answering her dad's question.
"What do you want?" he asked.
"Um... chicken nuggets?" she said.
He nodded and went to the kitchen.
Cassie walked out of her bedroom and to the kitchen.
"Do you want French fries?" he asked.
"Yes, please," Cassie said.
She got a plate out and set it on the counter so it would be easier for her dad to put the chicken nuggets and French fries on the plate.
She stayed in the kitchen, just in case her dad told her to get something or do something, which he did.
He asked her to get some ingredients that he needed to make dinner for himself and Robin.
She helped her dad make dinner, knowing that he can't do everything on his own.