What is the feelin' takin' over?
Thinkin' no one could open my door
Surprise, It's time
To feel what's real
What happened to Miss Independent?
No more the need to be defensive
Goodbye, old you
When love is true
Kelly Clarkson-Miss Independent
Cassie let out a sigh of relief as she walked out of the school and into the street, on her way to the train station. She usually comes home with her brother C.J., but he had new responsibilities as the school's co-captain of the basketball team, so he had to stay back to hold tryouts, much to Cassie's dismay. Today was really an underwhelming day, despite Simone and Ashley's assault on her. Thankfully, Simone wasn't in any of her classes, except that Ashley was in both her social studies and gym class, unfortunately. Ashley was just a lapdog and isn't worth a damn to Cassie. But Cassie was very careful to not count her lucky stars, because she'll never know when Simone will strike, and she wasn't bluffing. At least Cassie thinks she wasn't.
As she was halfway close to the subway station, her mind wandered off to none other than Drew Fernandez, the tattooed heartthrob that made all the girls go crazy whenever he walked by. Cassie didn't blame them though, he was really good looking. He was in her trigonometry class, as well as her social studies and English classes. However, Cassie was under the strong impression that Drew was nothing more than a douchebag and full of himself. He looked moody and reserved all throughout the day, but Cassie knew that he loved all the adoration from the girls, like he was all that. Why is he so friendly with someone like me?
She saw the look on his face when they were on the train this morning, she didn't know if it was a look of lust or if he was legitimately smitten by her and wanted to get her attention by helping her out with her stuff being dumped on the ground. But who was she kidding? No boy would be smitten by her. They would be smitten by someone like Simone, who always dressed the best. Cassie looked like a third grader with her overalls.
A tear rolled down her cheek as she went down the stairs to take the Jamaica Center-bound E train to get home. She took out her Green Student Pass Metrocard to get through the turnstiles. As soon as she stepped foot on the platform to wait on the E train as an F train moved out of the station, her eyes were met by none other than Drew, leaning on one of the lime green posts, with a face of somewhat despair. Drew's face lit up as his brown eyes laid on Cassie.
"Hey, Cassie," Drew greeted. "How you doin', you alright?"
"I'm Ok," Cassie replied, uttering a weak smile. "Could be better."
Cassie noticed the look of pity on Drew's face at her reply. But why would he care about her? She mentally shook off those thoughts. She doesn't know a thing about him. It wasn't fair to think this way. Cassie stayed silent before Drew spoke up.
"What do you think of your new classes?" he asked.
"They're cool," Cassie replied. "Except for trig, it's too hard."
"I know, it's like some foreign shit, but the teacher's cool and she looks like she knows her stuff, we'll be fine," Drew reassured.
Cassie smiled a little, much to Drew's apparent delight by the look on his face. At last, the E train pulled into the station. The doors opened, making Cassie and Drew step inside willingly and take seats close to the rear door. The train jerked forward to its next destination. The two stayed silent before Cassie glanced at his shoulder tattoo peeking out of the sleeve of his shirt. She couldn't help but comment on it.
"That's a cool tattoo you got there," she said.
"Oh, yeah?" Drew replied, his face brightening up at her comment.
"Mm-hmm, I guess that tattoo artist of yours should take a bow," Cassie replied.
Drew smiled, making Cassie's heart flutter, much to her dismay. She shouldn't be feeling this way about him, he was a douchebag. She noticed one of his two front teeth were crooked. For Cassie, it was cute. She mentally shook those thoughts away in disgust. Come on Cassandra, pull yourself together.
"Thanks, I got it for my eighteenth birthday this past March," he replied, peeling his sleeve upward, showing his tattoo to Cassie.
"It's really nice," Cassie said shyly, marveling at the articulate Japanese water wave designs of his tattoo. She then did a double take as she realized something he just said.
"Wait a minute. Eighteen?" she asked. He was two years older than her, an actual legal adult.
"I know what you're thinking, I didn't get left back for two years, I just started school late for some reason when I moved from Puerto Rico when I was seven," Drew explained.
"Ah, I see," Cassie replied, nodding her head in understanding. "Did it hurt?"
"No, not really," Drew said nonchalantly. "I kinda have a little bit of a high tolerance for pain."
"Oh, that's cool." You lucky son of a bitch.
The pair fell into silence as the train bypassed the 75th Avenue train station, until Cassie broke the silence, almost feeling comfortable talking to Drew. He didn't seem like a douche anymore.
"What brought you to Queens?" she asked.
Drew then sighed, as a frown appeared on his face. "My mom, my sisters and I moved here from Crown Heights," he replied huskily. " 'Cause of a divorce between my parents. My dad left without looking back, the bills were piling high 'cause he was the breadwinner, and the landlord kicked us out, and now we live in a shitty apartment in the projects at South Jamaica."
"You mean the 40 Projects?" Cassie wanted to know.
"That's right."
Cassie then felt sad for Drew, while feeling so much remorse from her past thoughts about him. She should stop being judgmental sometimes.
"I'm so sorry to hear that, Drew," Cassie apologized wholeheartedly. "It must be hard for you guys."
Drew scoffed, crossing his arms defiantly. "It was the easiest thing ever," he replied bitterly. "My dad's finally out of my life. Hijo de la gran puta."
"Geez, Drew," Cassie said, taken aback at his words describing his father. "You got quite the mouth."
"You speak Spanish, Cassie?" Drew asked, his face brightening up.
"A little bit," Cassie replied shyly. "But don't tell my parents I know some curse words."
"What d'you mean 'a little bit'?" Drew asked, with a smirk. "You don't have any Hispanic in you?"
"No, but I took Spanish classes during Freshmen and Sophomore year," Cassie replied. "My mom's black and my dad's white, by the way."
"Oh, I could have sworn you were half Puerto Rican," Drew said, looking stumped. "Sorry for my ignorance, though."
Cassie giggled. "That's OK, I get that a lot."
As the train moved forward, on the way to the Jamaica-Van Wyck stop, Cassie had another question for Drew that popped in her mind.
"What do you think about the school?" she asked.
"It's cool," Drew replied. "Except for those girls all over my personal space, I mean, back the hell up so I can breathe, damn!" he said, making Cassie giggle. "I'm like any other guy, what's so special about me?"
"It's 'cause you're pretty handsome with that tattoo," Cassie said innocently.
"I guess, but thank you," Drew replied. "I especially didn't like those two bitches from this morning."
"Oh, don't remind me," Cassie sighed sadly.
"I'm tellin' you, if that four-eyed bitch and that bootleg Beyoncé tried that shit in my old school, they'd get their asses beat, real talk," Drew spat out.
Cassie burst out laughing at Drew's description of Simone and Ashley. "Thanks for the laugh, I needed that," she giggled.
"Nah, I'm serious," Drew replied. "They not worth anything."
Cassie smiled at Drew. For the first time since Brianna left, Cassie felt her spirits go up a little after Simone and Ashley bullied her this morning.
At last, her stop was approaching. Cassie put her backpack on, getting ready to get off the train.
"I guess this is your stop, right?" Drew said.
"Yeah," Cassie replied, a little sad. "But it was great talking to you."
"Me too," Drew agreed, with a smile.
The train jolted to a stop, and it was a mass exodus out of the train as the doors opened. Cassie got up, fixing her backpack on her back.
"See you tomorrow, Drew," Cassie called, waving goodbye to Drew.
"Alright, Cassie, get home safe," Drew replied, bidding Cassie goodbye.
Cassie smiled at Drew, as she disappeared into the midst of the commuters eager to go home. For the first time, as soon as Cassie knew it, she developed a crush. On a tattooed eighteen-year-old. Her mother had better give her dad a pacemaker.