A/N: I should mention that every chapter from here on out will probably have some form of strong language.
Trigger Warning: This chapter has mentions of abuse.
Kassidy POV
I was awake well before my alarm, and showered, dressed and ready for the day by 7. I was actually excited for school today for whatever reason. After yesterdays horrible day, today had to be better right? For whatever reason I was really excited to turn in my math homework, not only had I finished it, but I was pretty confident that it was mostly right. I walked down the stairs. My dad looked at his watch.
"Downstairs before 7:30. I'm shocked. What's the occasion?" He asked.
"I went to bed earlier?" I said and shrugged.
"Probably because you weren't staring at your phone all night. Maybe you should leave it at school more often." He grinned. I gave him an unamused look. I walked to the coffee pot and poured a cup of coffee and walked to the table to sit with him. He folded his paper and smiled.
"Its been a while, since we've had coffee together." He said.
"Well you know conflicting schedules." I said.
"I'm sorry, Kass. Its just work is really tough right now." He replied.
"I wouldn't think it would be so bad. this town is really quiet." I said with a shrug. "What are you working on?" I asked.
"You know I can't discuss my cases with you." He said.
"Doesn't hurt to try.." I muttered.
"So, how is school. Do you like it? Any friends?" He asked.
"Yeah. Its alright I have a few friends." I said and smiled.
"What about your teachers? Do you like them?" He asked. I wasn't sure why the simple question nearly made me choke. What was going on with me?
"They're teachers dad. No one likes them." I replied.
"That makes me look forward to parent teacher conferences..." He sighed heavily. "I know, you and your mother had that thing, but it nearly got you expelled last year Kass."
"Last year was rough." I said in my defense. Last year was absolute shit was a more accurate description.
"I know. But I know you. Please try to stay out of trouble." He said.
"Sure." I said and glanced away. Dad quickly changed the subject.
"So...any new boyfriends?" He asked. I put my head in my hands and groaned.
"Dad. Its the third day." I said.
"Well.. I was just curious. I know how things ended with Dy-" He started but I cut him off.
"Don't. Say. His. Name." I said narrowing my eyes.
"Honey. Hes not Voldemort. Bad things will not happen to you if you say his name." My dad said.
"He may as well be. We don't speak of him. Okay? Its too early for this. and your...odd references to the dark lord."
"Fair enough. I guess." Dad said and stood up. "I have to go to work. You staying late again?"
"Yes." I said. "Algebra is killing me." I added.
"Well its good you want to get the extra help, but I plan to be home early tonight and I was hoping to actually spend more than 15 minutes with you. I thought we could go to dinner."
"I'll ask if I can skip tonight."
"I'm sure your teacher wont mind. Its not like hes making you stay for detention."
Except he is.. I thought.
"Yeah. I'm sure he wont mind." I said and half smiled.
"Great. Why don't you meet me at Granny's after school?"
"Sure!" I said. He smiled and gave me a quick hug before walking out the door. I was excited, this would be the first time in what felt like forever that my Dad and I would actually have time to hang out. If, Mr. Jones would let me skip detention. That was going to be a fun conversation.
Killian POV
I sat at my desk eating a quick breakfast. it was about 15 minutes before the first bell would ring and I was still waiting for Kassidy to bring in her homework. Her phone, which was in my desk rang for what felt like the 100th time this morning. I was sure I was going to have her ringtone stuck in my head for the rest of the day. I opened my desk drawer and peeked at the phone. It was the same person that had called the past 10 times. Someone named Dylan. I assumed it was a boyfriend. However 10 calls and 32 text messages before 8AM was crossing into stalker territory. Why did I care? I shouldn't care. But I did.
"Mr. Jones?" Kassidy said walking into the classroom. I closed the desk drawer and found myself smiling at her.
"Kassidy." I greeted her and stood up walking around to the front of the desk. She smiled back and tucked her hair behind her ears. She had straightened it today. I preferred the curls.
Come on Killian...what are you thinking? I thought to myself. She handed me her homework.
"I finished it. I don't know how much of it is right but I really tried this time." She said. She was nervous. I could tell by the way she bit her lip and scraped the black polish off her thumbnail with her index finger.
"Well. We will see later wont we?" I asked.
"Yeah." She said. "So.. I had a question.." She said looking especially nervous now.
"Yes Miss Cole?" I asked.
"Well, you see. My dad. Hes going to be home early tonight and he wanted to go to Dinner. He wants me to meet him after school at Granny's." She said and glanced up at me.
"Did you tell him that you had detention this week?" I asked. Her face dropped.
"Well.. no."
"He hasn't asked why you have been late the past couple of days?" I asked leaning against my desk.
"He hasn't been home. He was last night but I told him I was just getting help with my math.." She said.
"Maybe you should be honest with him?" I asked.
"He would freak out knowing I got detention on my first day." She said
"Well.. naturally." I said.
"Its. fine. Never mind I can tell him I can't make it." She said and frowned. I could see how much this meant to her and I couldn't believe the next words I said as they were coming out of my mouth.
"You can skip tonight." I said. She looked up at me. Her gray eyes sparkled.
"Really?!" She asked.
"Yes. Just don't tell anyone I let you off. I have a reputation you know." I said with a smirk.
"Thank you Mr. Jones!" She said and then she threw her arms around me in a hug. I was completely thrown. What was happening? and why couldn't I stop myself from embracing her? The hug went on for a few moments and I found myself not wanting to let go but I had to.
"Miss Cole.." I said looking down at her. She looked up at me.
"Yeah?" She asked smiling at me and then she gasped and quickly pulled away from me.
"I'm.. so...I'm sorry." She said fumbling over her words. The Princess of Sarcasm was nearly speechless. It was kind of cute.
No. No. It wasn't. I said to myself.
"Its okay." I said. "Oh! you left your phone here last night." I said and walked around to my desk and opened the drawer pulling out her phone and handing it to her.
"You are quite popular Miss Cole. Its been ringing all morning. Some lad...Dylan appears to really like you." I said. Her expression was not at all what I expected. It was a mix of fear, anger, and disbelief. She looked at the phone, and her hands began to shake.
"Kassidy?" I asked. "Is everything okay?"
"I have to go." She said and quickly ran out of the room. I went to go after her. Not entirely sure why, but the bell rang and students began to file in the classroom.
Kassidy POV
I paced back and forth in the girls bathroom as I read through the 30 something text messages. Why the hell did I not change my number? Dylan freaking Hendrixson my ex boyfriend from New York. My stomach turned as I kept scrolling through the messages.
Dylan:
Hey.. Kassi I've been thinking. I'm really sorry about what happened. I miss you.
Kass?
Kassi please talk to me.
Why the hell are you not answering your phone??
You found someone else didn't you?
Wow. That was fast.
Answer me damn it!
My hands shook and a tear fell from my face. I hated him. There were two people in this world that I hated. The drunk driver who took my mother from me, and this bastard. My dad loved him. He didn't know him. At least not the side of him that I did. He put on a good face for my parents. He was possessive, and obsessive and I thought when we moved, I'd finally be free of him. I was stupid to think he wouldn't try to reach out, after the violent way our relationship ended. I touched my cheek and for a second I could feel the sting from his hand slapping me across the face. I stared in horror down at my phone as he called again. I rejected the call and shut my phone off. I looked at myself in the bathroom mirror and felt pathetic.
You are stronger than this Kassidy.. come on. I said to myself and wiped the smudged mascara away. I sighed and threw my phone in my backpack and walked to class better late than never.
I walked into Biology nearly 20 minutes late which again brought everyone's attention from Whale, to me.
"I see, we are making a habit out of being late." Mr. Whale said. I just took my seat at the table with Ruby without a word and dug my biology book out and glanced at Ruby's book to see what page we were on before opening my book to that page and looking at Whale waiting for him to continue. He shook his head at me and continued his lecture.
"Where have you been??" Ruby whispered.
"Here and there." I said and shrugged. "Don't worry about it." I added.
"Uh..of course I'm going to worry about it I'm your friend. Its what friends do. Besides you dodged my texts all night!" She hissed.
I sighed. "I left my phone here last night during detention."
"Oh. Well still. I saw you this morning walking into Mr. Jones classroom so I know you were here. Where were you."
"Just back off!" I hissed.
"As thrilling as your conversation must be. If you are going to be 20 minutes late to class. Please have the decency to be quiet while I am teaching. Or don't show up at all next time." Whale said.
I shut my biology book and threw it into my backpack.
"What are you doing?" Mr. Whale asked.
"Leaving." I said.
"I didn't tell you, you could leave." He said.
"The funny thing is, I really don't care." I said and walked out of class.
Killians POV
I was in the middle of tearing into my senior class over their grades. When something caught my eye. I looked at the little window in my classroom door and saw Kassidy storming down the hall, looking more than pissed off.
Why aren't you in class Miss Cole? I thought and looked to my students.
"Work the problems on the board. I will be right back." I said and walked out of the classroom.
"Miss Cole." I said. She stopped in her tracks and turned around. If Looks could kill.
"Mr. Jones." She said.
"What are you doing out of class?" I asked.
"Oh. You know I thought I'd just take a stroll." She said and rolled her eyes.
The Princess of Sarcasm strikes again.
"On your own terms? or where you kicked out?" I asked.
"My own terms." She said. "Why do you care?" She snapped. Her words stung. Fine. If that's how we were going to play it.
"I care, because student's can't just walk the halls whenever they feel like it." I said and folded my arms across my chest narrowing my eyes at her.
Kassidy looked around her.
"Really? Because.. I kind of think I'm doing that." She said. I never thought, I'd meet a student that I wanted to hug, and strangle at the same time. Yet here she was.
"Kassidy, what is wrong with you?!" I asked with a little more emotion that I had intended.
"Nothing. Whale got onto me because Ruby wouldn't shut up. So, I left." She said. I sighed.
"You couldn't just spare me the sarcasm and start with that?" I asked.
"Would it have mattered?" She asked and looked away from me.
"Yes.." I said and approached her. She stepped back.
"I have to go." She said.
"Where are you going?" I asked.
"I don't know.." She said.
"I have a free period next period. Why don't we look at your homework?" I suggested
"Are you suggesting I skip history class?" She asked a small smirk on her face.
"Were you honestly going to go?" I asked with a raised brow.
"No.." She said.
"I'll tell Miss Mills I needed to see you about your homework." He said.
"Okay.." She said. "I will go to the library until the bell rings and then I will come back." She said and smiled.
"Right. See you then." I said and turned and walked back to my classroom.
What the hell was I doing?
It was a few minutes after the bell rang. Students had cleared the classroom, or more so fled in terror? I waited for Kassidy not entirely sure why the thought of her not showing up upset me. The door opened and Kassidy walked in quickly looking over her shoulder before shutting the door.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"Dodging Ruby. I kind of snapped at her in Biology before I left. So I'm sure she's going to want to talk about that." She said. I shook my head.
"I don't understand you girls." I said. She walked over and pulled a chair up to the desk next to where I was currently sitting and sat down. I looked at her, trying to read the emotions on her face. Something seemed off with her from the moment I gave her, her cellphone back this morning. I didn't want to make her uncomfortable. I didn't want to pry but I found myself needing to know everything about her.
"So..my homework." She said suddenly breaking me from my thoughts.
"Right." I said and shuffled through the stack of papers on my desk until I found hers. I took a moment to look over it, smirking at the scribbles of frustration and areas where she erased, and wrote, and erased, and wrote again.
"What?..is..it awful?" She asked. "Its awful isn't it."
"It...needs some work." I said honestly. "But you got a few of them right." I said. "Do you have anyone that helps you at home?" I asked. The look on her face suggested it was possibly too personal of a question.
"my dad fell asleep half way through his lo mien." She said with a frown on her face.
"Your mother?" I asked and instantly regretted it. Her eyes welled and her lip trembled.
"I'm sorry I didn't mean to.." I started but she shook her head pushing back her tears and clearing her throat.
"Its okay." She said and pointed to an equation on the paper. "This one really stumped me." She said changing the subject.
"Kassidy, you got this one right." I said.
"Oh.. I meant this one." She said and pointed to a different one.
"Kassidy are yo-" I started.
"Can we just talk about my homework?...Please." She said. Her voice shook slightly.
"Yes. Of course." I said and cleared my throat trying to focus on showing her where she went wrong. But she stood up suddenly.
"I think.. maybe I should just go to class." She said.
"I think, you should stay here." I said and then sighed realizing that, that was way too forward of me. She looked at me with a look of both confusion and curiosity.
"I just mean.. you seem upset and Miss Mills can be, a little much."
"I'm fine." She said.
"No, You aren't." I said.
For fucks sake Killian. Shut. your. Mouth. I thought.
"No.. really I am." She said and stood up. "I will see you in class later?" She said.
"Wait, why don't you get a head start on tonight's homework. Its a study guide for Fridays test." I said and handed her a packet.
"Test?" She asked with panic in her voice.
"Yes. there's a test every Friday." I said. She sat back down and looked through the packet like she was watching someone be murdered.
"That's.. 2 days from now." She said.
"Yes, But If you can do these equations, they are all on the test." I said.
"I am so going to fail this test." She said and face planted my desk.
"No you aren't." I said. Of course I was just trying to make her feel better. I'd seen her homework It was going to take an act of God for me to prepare her for this test. I pulled out my copy of the study guide and took my pen and wrote down the answers onto hers.
"The answers are here. You just need to show the work that leads to these answers. I can help you. If you let me." I said.
"Why are you being so nice to me? Where is the guy who gave me a week of detention my first day?" She asked raising her head.
I smirked. "I save the softer side of myself for special people." I said.
"..you think I'm special?" She asked and tucked her hair behind her ears batting those long eyelashes at me. I was mentally kicking myself. What was wrong with me? What was it about this girl that made me loose control of the things that came out of my damn mouth.
"Yes." I said. Her cheeks turned a light pink color and she smiled. I cleared my throat and tapped the paper on my desk.
"We are going to go over this until its drilled into your head. And if you score anything less than a B on this test. I'll give you detention next week too." I said giving her a serious look. She chuckled.
"There he is." She said with a grin.