recap: Cassie was always inexperienced in socializing, especially around boys. Desmond was the most powerful guy in school. Desmond's bestfriend August asked Cassie to come to his party. Desmond then made out with Cassie, and called her 'easy' afterwards.
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Desmond
That Cassie girl was a total psycho.
At first glance she might be shy and sweet and smart, the typical nerd. I could see why August held her dear. Cut some pounds off her and make her moan, and she was already the sexy librarian all boys dream of.
But boy she was persistent. And psychotic. And quite a good kisser, actually. But psychotic, nonetheless.
Here is the list of the things that she tried in order to have a one-on-one time with me:
Monday: Gazing at me unabashedly for about forty five minutes and twenty seven seconds during the whole class of Chemistry.
p.s: I almost blew my hand off because of that.
Tuesday: magically appear in nearly every hall that I walked on. Gave me the creeps, and I had to go home early because of that.
Wednesday: Heard her crying and wailing and scratching (Boy, do I hope I heard wrong) inside the girl's restroom. My shitting time became even shittier because A: I hate the public restroom, And B: I know that all those wailing were because of me.
Thursday: Nothing happened, but that was because she spent most of her day in the infirmary. The nurse said she was exhausted due to sleep deprivation.
Friday: Fortunately, she was done with the extremes. This time, she came up to me personally, and without words, gave me a letter. It only said three words: I hate you.
I regretted every scandalous thought that I'd have about her. I regretted with my decision to take my chance with her. Hell, I regretted ever landing my eyes on her.
Sure, she was cute. Kinda. Well. A little cute. Kinda. She had these big dark eyes that resembled a little child, and this kind of innocence was the first thing that drew me to her, and this kind of innocence was the only thing that prevented me for breaking her even worse than this.
With other girls, I could sleep with them and leave them the next day. Sure, they'd kick and scream and curse, but I was already used to that. It's all part of their ploy, anyway. Playing victim, when they were the ones who started taking their clothes off. Blaming me as the 'heartless predator', because I gave them what they wanted: one mindblowing night with the Arrington's sole heir.
These girls were crazy, mindless whores. But I knew they'd be all right if I ignore them. Well, to an extend, anyway. But I always made sure to keep tabs to all of them, and within the next month, up to 95% percent of them had dug their claws to other guys.
But not with her. Not with Cassandra Bellington. She kept going all emo and dark even after weeks. Eating so little in every lunch, talking to no one, zoning out in class, and those thick lips of her never made as much as a small smile.
All of those angst, just because of one kiss.
I could never imagine what she'd do if I'd gone further than that.
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Chapter Two. Deceptions and Debaucheries
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The next few days flew in a blur. Cassie's eyes were in a constant bleary sate from way too much crying and chronic insomnia. She never knew that being rejected would hurt this much. This was different from when she broke up with Xxs8terboy91xX or Dr4g0n5lay3r666, or any of her virtual boyfriends. She had always known that they were chatting her up for fun. Besides, she had never seen them at all; it was easy to think that nothing had happened.
But with Desmond, it was all a whole different matter.
First of all, he was real. He was a living, existing human being, and he existed particularly excessively at school, the place where she spent most of her time. Knocking into him at the hallways, seeing him at the school cafeterias, having him in her class, his presence was everywhere.
But the worst part was noticing the way he deliberately not looking at her every time their path crossed. He did say that nothing happened between them that night, and the whole school sure did believe him. Everyone thought that Desmond Arrington cheated on the redheaded soccer girl, a pretty hot chick with defined abs and calves. Nobody knew about the incident between him and Cassie in August' Mother's room, nobody even noticed that she had been in the party. Even August had stopped talking to her.
Of course, for her own sake, Cassie tried her utmost to forget it. But it didn't seem that Desmond had done his part well.
It was the only thing that kept her going. That he still held on to that night, that he still hadn't forgotten her, that he still, if possible, maintained the previous desires he'd had for her.
With every new day, her hopes came up, and at the end of the day, her hopes were crushed into minuscule of pieces by the iron feet of Desmond Arrington.
Yes, he was that much of a monster.
After a full two weeks of that routine, Cassie felt almost numb. She knew that she was beyond stupid to let this thing bothered her this much, but her heart wasn't in her grasp anymore. She even went against her own policies and started downloading rock metal songs to ease her mind.
And it did, in a way.
It gave her a new hobby, though, and it was writing dark lifeless poems. And that was what she was scribbling about at History Class when all of a sudden; Mr. Flynn snatched her notebook off her hands.
"And what are you writing about, Cassandra?" Mr Flynn's high-pitched voice echoed as his eyes followed the words on the book.
Cassie looked up; she hadn't even the slightest energy to be surprised, much less embarrassed. The whole class stared at her, and strange as it may sound, she wasn't even in the slightest bit fazed by that. She looked at Mr Flynn's face, which was looking back at her in pity.
Fortunately, he didn't read the poem onto the class, and gave it back to her. "I suggest you seeing Ms. Humblewood in her office," Ms. Humblewood was the alumnus of St. Pulkeria who now worked as the student's counselor. "You can go right now."
Cassie heard whispers growing from among the students. Usually, the children that were sent to Ms. Humblewood were the troubled ones: thugs, potential dealers, would-be-whores, and in some rare cases, cheerleaders who had gone fat over the summer. There was not a single history in which a golden student such as Cassandra Bellington going to that place!
Ignoring all the developing rumors, Cassie held her head down and dragged her feet out of the class. The way to Ms. Humblewood's office was unfamiliar in Cassie's eyes. The halls were darker, some lamps were broken, and there were faint traces of graffiti all around the walls.
Well, it was expected. After all, the ones who ever bothered to come here were the bad boys and girls. Obviously it would hurt their pride if they didn't mark the places they'd been somehow.
The door that led her to the young counselor's office was even worse. It had been repainted several times more than any of the school's other doors, and Cassie could see dents and scratches on the wood. Ms. Humblewood must have made a lot of enemies.
Carefully, Cassie knocked on the door.
"Oh, is that you, Cass?" a sickly sweet voice came from behind the door. "Come on in, don't be shy."
Cassie turned on the doorknob and stepped inside the room. The first thing that came inside her mind was 'Pink'. Pink walls, bright pink sofa, soft pink table, and a dusty pink carpet. With the sudden attack of the saccharine color, her stomach churned. She thought that therapy rooms were supposed to be comforting, not nauseating.
Ms. Humblewood's extra large smile appeared before her eyes. Her teeth were painstakingly white. "Sit down, Cass, and tell me your story."
Cassie winced. She had never been called Cass before, and she never wanted anyone to call her that way. "It's Cassie," she corrected.
"Oh, okay, Cassie, if you wish to be called that," and obnoxiously, Ms. Humblewood started writing down long paragraphs on her note.
"What are you writing about?" Cassie asked.
"Your mental state, Cassie," Ms. Humblewood answered with that big smile of hers. "My job here is to determine whether or not you are, and I quote Mr. Flynn's words, 'deeply troubled'."
Cassie was in loss of words. Ms. Humblewood didn't look at the very least capable of determining whether a person is insane or not. Just look at her! Cassie was sure that the woman was pushing forty, but she still forced herself to dress pink from top to bottom. There were trophies on the cupboard behind her, but it was dated over twenty years ago, and all of them were cheerleading trophies. Plus, her hair were fried platinum blonde.
"So what is your problem, Cassie?" Ms. Humblewood intertwined her hands, her teeth once again shone brightly.
"There's nothing wrong with me."
'Hmm.. denial... hmmmm...' she mumbled as she jot down the notes into yet another long paragraph. '... possibly broken home, or...' What the hell that was she writing about, damn it?!
"Soooo," Ms. Humblewood finally spoke up, and already the hair on the back of Cassie's neck stood up. "are you suicidal?"
Cassie wasn't quite sure what to answer.
Ms. Humblewood was oblivious at her frowning face. "Have you thought of slicing your wrist? Or drinking poison?" she looked at Cassie seriously for once second, before then started blabbering again. "Of by any chance, have you brought any sharp or any arms with you right now?"
Oh, for the love of God... What did she thought Cassie was? Some kind of a ticking bomb ready to explode? Now Cassie fully understood why all those thugs vandalized the environment around Ms. Humblewood.
"I've never thought of those," Cassie said, stressing each and every word she said.
"Sure, sure," said Ms. Humblewood easily. "Can I see the notebook?"
Cassie hesitated, but she wasn't planning to get the dumblonde wrote anything more about her. Slowly, she slid the book to her.
Ms. Humblewood started reading the notes, and once her eyes darted on the poem, she read it over and over and over again, while still mumbling something unintelligible. Either she didn't understand the meaning Cassie's choice of words, or she was trying to comprehend the deeper meaning of her poem.
A few seconds later, Ms. Humblewood called to her. "What's repugnant?"
It meant 'extremely distasteful', but no way she was going to tell her that. "It means absolute happiness."
"Ah! So that means this phrase here, 'Your actions, your words, they're repugnant', you were praising someone?"
Cassie nodded.
"So I'm confused. Is this a suicide note or a love letter?"
Cassie fought the urge to storm out the room immediately. She thought that her school was capable enough, so why don't they hire someone smarter than her?!
"It's a lyric," the lie came surprisingly smoothly. "From a popular song."
At this, Ms. Humblewood's face lightened up. "Is it top forty?" at the sight of Cassie's nod, her beam went on from ear to ear. "Oh, why, so there has been a grave misunderstanding between you and old Mr. Flynn."
Okay, so this is going great.
"I may be 39, but I'm still following the new songs, too, especially from the top 40," Ms. Humblewood gushed. "But I think I've never heard of this lyric before..."
Okay, maybe not so great.
"Yeah, it's a newcomer in this week," Cassie said, trying her best to sound convinced and confident.
"Oh, right," unexpectedly, the teacher agreed to her, nodding so enthusiastically that Cassie almost thought that somewhere out there, a song with that lyric truly existed. "It's that rock singer, right? Umm, what's the name?"
"Sparkling Zombies. It's a band," Cassie started enjoying this, especially now she found out that Ms. Humblewood was desperate to look young and hip. "and it's a ballad."
"Right, how could I forgot," the smile was so big and shiny and natural. "How was the song again?"
"You left me in pieces, you imbecile. And your actions, your words, they're repugnant," Cassie sang in whatever tune that came to her lips.
"Oh, I love that part!" Ms. Humblewood was even more ecstatic than before.
Playing the part, Cassie's smile was also huge, and she kept nodding. They kept talking about the nonexistent song for a few minutes, and just like that, Ms. Humblewood tore up all the pages that she wrote about Cassie and threw it to the trashcan.
"Wouldn't want a sweet, sweet girl like you to have troubles, don't we?" she smiled as she winked to Cassie, who was already on the front door.
"Go Sparkling Zombies!" Cassie put her fist up in the air, and on her cue, the poor teacher did the same. "Go Sparkling Zombies!"
After Cassie closed the door, she exhaled sharply. There goes one major problem...
"You are absolutely brilliant," suddenly a male voice zapped her.
Cassie's eyes widened as she saw a familiar guy approaching her. It was Lucas Montgomery, one of the A-listers, which made him part of Desmond's tight circle of friends. There were a lot of rumors going around about him, nearly all of the rumors involved Lucas's penchant for manipulation and trickery.
Like all the Elites of St. Pulkeria, Lucas was good looking. It was mandatory for all of them to look good. Lucas was tall and lean with dirty blonde hair and clear blue eyes. He was a bit tanned, but that was because he always travelled to the beach every weekend. He wasn't afraid with accessories. Three piercing on the left ear, one on the right. A few leather wristlets, and his fingers weren't naked either. He knew he was attractive, in an artistically bedraggled kind of way, and his eyes showed that.
In other words, like Desmond, Lucas was trouble.
"Hi, Lucas, if you don't know me already," he offered his hand, but Cassie kept her hand tight on her side.
"Okay then," he didn't seem offended by this. "You're Cassie, right? Straight-A student, daughter of the Bellington's Button Company?"
For him to know her name and pedigree was a shock to Cassie. Nearly everybody here had a stunning ancestry that having a button company wasn't something to be proud of.
"I heard the whole conversation with you and Ms. Humblewood. You are an amazing liar, I've never expected something like that coming out from your mouth!" Lucas said, his dark eyes twinkled in excitement as one of his thick brows shot up to his forehead.
Cassie ignored him and started walking away.
Lucas wasn't giving up and started following her. "Can you repeat that thing you did again, Cassie? I mean, to be able to do that so flawlessly, you must have done it in daily basis, right?"
To say no was a lie. Cassie had always tried not to lie directly, but she had been living her life as a character that she invented. At highschool, she might be plain old Cassie, a golden student, a teacher's favorite, and an all-smiling wallflower. But at several chatting websites, she introduced herself with different names, with different personalities according to each guy she was chatting with.
She didn't know when or why she started doing that. Maybe she was bored with her nondescript life.
"Oh, so you did! You're going to be very happy to join me, then!" there was no end to Lucas's chattiness, and Cassie began to get annoyed.
"I'll have nothing to do with you, or anyone from your little elite club," Cassie spat.
"You mean, this club that Desmond has?" Lucas's smirk appeared. "You're also part of his club, don't you know that? Desmond has the entire students of St. Pulkeria under his palms. I play the part as his loyal subordinate, and you as the poor, crushed wallflower."
Cassie gasped at the truth of his words.
"Did I hit a sensitive spot? Oops." Lucas put a hand on his mouth.
"You're all just the same," Cassie hissed, her chest was heaving with all the hatred that she buried and couldn't let go. "Just because you're popular and strong, you think it's okay to hurt the others that are not as strong."
"Well," Lucas scratched at the back of his blonde head. "That might be true. For Desmond especially."
Cassie almost couldn't believe what her ears were hearing. "I'm sorry?"
"I said, Desmond Arrington is an asshole," Lucas grinned. "A major one."
Her jaw kept dropping, and she had to use her hand to close her mouth. "Do you think it's wise to badmouth about your King?" she mocked. "He could crush your social status in any moment."
Lucas's eyes twitched. Suddenly, his smiling face looked dangerous. He took one step to Cassie. "Yeah? Like what he did to you?"
"I-I don't know what you mean," Cassie took a step back.
Lucas took two steps towards her. "You know exactly what I meant," he said, and although his tone was amiable, there was something dark dripping from his words. "He broke your heart, didn't he? He brought you to August' Mother's Room, but the next day he told us that he had been humping that redhead chick, Penny."
As tears welled up on Cassie's eyes, she looked up to see Lucas's face. He was staring down at her, his eyes showed no mercy, all the humors were gone. Cassie fought back the tears. "I was the stupid one."
"We are all," Lucas said. "We're stupid enough to give him enough power to rule above us. We're stupid enough to make him think he can treat us like trash."
Cassie clamped her mouth shut, since she sensed that Lucas's temper were growing into something lethal. He stomped his foot, his teeth dug deep onto his lower mouth. "I hate Desmond Arrington. You're not the only one who does."
"I... I thought that everyone feared him..."
"Well, of course. His family is rich enough to make ours eat the dirt. And he has connections from all around the world! Our future jobs depend on him almost entirely."
Cassie sighed. It sounded pathetic, but it was true. The Arrington family was big and ubiquitous. People tend to not get into the Arrington's black book, making enemies with such dangerous people was a guaranteed torture.
"We're so helpless," Cassie said. "He's such an asshole, but I couldn't do anything to get back at him."
Lucas snorted. "You're not totally helpless if you join us."
"What?"
Without elaborating anything, Lucas grabbed her arm and started dragging her through the halls. Cassie tried to protest and pounded on him, but it was of no use. Lucas was an athlete, and chubby, soft Cassie had no chance to win against him.
"What do you mean joining?!" Cassie asked for the three time.
"It's our club, the most elitist club that ever happened in St. Pulkeria," Lucas said. "And it's much more cooler than anything Desmond could ever manage to build."
"I thought you're his friend."
"I am," the words came easily from his mouth. "But I can't deny I also want to see him fall from his throne."
"If this little club of yours is so mighty, then why I haven't heard of it before? Don't give me BS, Lucas!"
"Geez, why does everyone thinks that my mouth is only good for BS? I also can do oral."
That doesn't really inspire confidence...
"Well?" she challenged him.
"We have to keep this secret, okay?" Lucas said in considerably lower voice now. "Or else I'm dead meat. It's supposed to be a secret club after all."
"Just quickly tell me the details, and the reason you're so eager to make me join."
"Trust me, you're going to beg me to let you join if you heard the name. And by the time you know our members, you'll kill to join us," Lucas grinned yet another of his Cheshire cat grin.
"It's called 'The Secret Society of Desmond's Haters Club.'"
Upon hearing that, Cassie couldn't help but snort as laughter fill up her whole mouth.