Cassidy's POV
I met a group of kids more of my style at school and started hanging out with them. I guess you could call them "punks" or whatever. One of the girls in the group, Naomi, approached me yesterday outside of school while sneaking a smoke. She is definitely a looker... short black hair, just above her shoulders, side bangs covering her chocolate brown eyes, little freckles on her cheeks, pale skin, and she was only about an inch shorter than me. But man, her rack... whew... her nice slender body... so fuckable.
I decided to sit with her group at lunch and definitely caught on to her flirty advances towards me. Let's just say I'm a huge flirt. Back at my old school, I wouldn't necessarily say I was a player... but, let's just say my numbers were in the double digits, if you know what I mean.
"You know, Cass, we can totally skip this lunch and go hang out somewhere else, in private," she said winking at me, putting emphasis on "hang out". God, it's been so long since I've been laid. I threw my arm around her shoulder and seductively whispered, "And what might this hanging out consist of, Naomi?" She giggled and started whispering very naughty ideas into my ear.
I felt eyes on me, so I took a second and noticed that to my right, Cheree was looking at me with a frown covering her beautiful face. Feeling guilty for some reason, I quickly unwrapped my arm from Naomi's shoulders and lost all sexual appetite for the girl next to me. Cheree looked away and continued eating her sandwich.
What really caught my eye, though, was Brooklyn sitting next to Cheree, and, even worse, her hand resting on her knee. That, my friends, was the first time Cassidy Rylee Schroeder, experienced jealousy. And I hated it.
Brooklyn's POV
I was starting to think that maybe the party at Cheree's place wasn't a good idea. With her having a panic attack and continually spacing out that day, I just didn't see it going very well for her.
It's weird that I was actually putting someone else before myself. But as I've said many times before, Cheree was different. Love makes you do things you wouldn't normally do.
After school was finally over, I met Angel and Lindy out by our cars to have a little chat.
"Sup, hoes," I said, nonchalantly leaning against Lindy's wonderful black Challenger. She scowled at me for such actions. "You know, Brooklyn, it's not very nice to refer to us in such a manner," Lindy said matter of factly.
"I need a favor," I said, lighting up a smoke.
"You really shouldn't smoke, B. Your cheer coach would ring your neck," Angel said with concern.
"Yeah, well, I'm no longer her problem."
I paused for a moment thinking of how to put what I was about to ask. I took a long drag, blew the deadly smoke out of my nose, and looked up at that two of them.
"I need you guys to at least try and keep an eye on Cheree tonight," I said, my eyes making their way to the ground waiting for their reaction.
First, silence and then...
"I fucking knew it!" Angel shrieked, startling both Lindy and I. "You fucking like her! I knew it!" she said with a smug smile on her face.
"Angel, shut up," I muttered, glaring at her.
Angel giggled once more before quieting down and getting a serious expression on her face. "B, it's okay. I'm not judging you. It's just adorable; you've been picking on her since freshman year, but I've always seen the looks you give her when you think no one's watching." She smiled genuinely at me. I smirked back.
"You know we will, Brooke." Lindy knowingly smiled at me. I knew Lindy always suspected.
"Good, because I don't trust people that go to these things. The fact that Danny and Layne, her best friends, talked her into this irks my balls," I said, taking one last drag and flicking it across the parking lot.
Lindy chuckled at my protectiveness and started to get into her car.
We said our goodbyes and I got in my car to go home and get ready.
Cheree's POV
Layne and I were riding back to my place with Georgi. He seemed like a down-to-earth guy. He kept on giving Layne the look of want and love. I sighed at this. I wish I had someone who looked at me like that. Love. Does it even exist?
The car door opened and Layne took off my seat belt, sighing. "Are you sure you're okay enough for this? We've been parked in front of your house for 3 minutes. You were staring at the back of the seat." I nodded my head to assure her I was fine and made my way inside my house.
When I walked in, my jaw dropped. I felt like I just walked into a nightclub. There was a big stereo, surround sound system set up in my living room, with strobe lights everywhere. All the lamps and pictures on the coffee table and side tables were replaced with bowls of what looked to be punch and ashtrays. Nooooo. No fucking smoking.
"DANNY!"
I heard footsteps running down the stairs. "Cheree!" he squealed. "Do you like?" he asked, hope in his eyes.
"Danny, no smoking! The ashtrays need to go," I said sternly.
Watching his face fall made me feel a tad guilty. "Babe, I have stuff to make it seem like no one was even here the next day. No traces of smoke. Let me take you on a tour!" Without even waiting for me to protest, he took my arm and dragged me around the house.
The punch, I learned, was actually jungle juice, which apparently is an alcoholic beverage but with punch in it. My fridge no longer had my goodies in it, but lots and lots of beer. Danny put coolers upstairs in my room which had all my personal items inside so no one would touch my food. The kitchen island was lined up with shot glass after shot glass. My dining room table had tons of snacks, and all my favorites too.
"I had to at least get your favorite foods, Cheree. I know you love some flaming hot cheetos. And!" He disappered and came back with..."Mountain dew, your favorite," he said, smiling at me. I couldn't help but smile back at how hard he was trying to make me comfortable.
Layne pulled me aside with concern on her face. "Hey, did you write in your journal today?" I shook my head no, and Layne frowned at me. "You know what your therapist said, Cheree. Whenever you have an episode, you need to write in your journal. It relieves your stress, babe," she said smiling sadly at me.
"Yeah, you're right. I'll be back." I ran upstairs, locked my bedroom door and did what I did best: write in Hailey. Hailey was what I named my journal. I liked to think that writing in her was like sharing secrets with my sister so that when she wakes up, it'd be like she hadn't missed a thing.
I sat down on my bed and got lost in my own little world.
Dearest Hailey,
I had another panic attack today. At least they're not as frequent as they used to be. Layne and Aunt Jessi have been helping me. Shoot, even Danny. When I broke down, I went to my happy place. Unfortunately, it was the last happy moment you and I shared together since God took you and mom away from me.
Some strange things have happened to me. I met this new girl, Cassie. She's beautiful, and I think I might have a little crush on her. She reminds me a lot of Brooklyn. Speaking of Brooklyn, she was actually the one that brought me out of my panic attack. I don't know how, but she did. She made my heart flutter a feeling I've never felt. Strangely, I liked it. Please come back to me, Hailey. PLEASE, just wake up. It's been 3 years. I miss you so much. I miss mom too. I miss our little family. I love you, Hailey.
A knock at my door startled me. I shouted for them to wait for a second and quickly hid my journal safely inside of my pillowcase. I got up to open the door.
"Um, Layne sent me to come and fetch you. People are already starting to show up," Georgi explained with a smile. "I know we haven't really got a chance to talk, but I'd like to be your friend if you'd give me the chance," he said, sticking out his hand for me to shake.
"Sounds like a plan, Georgi." I sighed and shook his hand.
"Well, isn't this nice? Shrimp, are you stealing my friends?" Brooklyn scowled playfully at me.
"Hmm, maybe," I said back jokingly.
She smiled at me and said,"Come on children, we have a party to rock." Brooklyn grabbed my hand and dragged me down my staircase. I liked the way her skin felt against mine...
Wait, what?
Next chapter, finally, the party. Some shit is about to go down.... -AC