Cassandra's POV
Freedom.
I walk out of the lecture hall after a tedious three-hour psych class. Man, the air conditioner in there was making it hard to breathe. I needed fresh air so badly.
Besides, it's finally the weekends! How can anyone not get excited about returning back to their bed after a hectic week? I know I'm most looking forward to take a good twelve-hour sleep tonight.
And then, my phone vibrated. It's funny. Setting your phone on silent is supposed to, well, make it silent. But my phone always makes the most obnoxious vibration sounds.
Bzzz. Bzzz.
I hear it, loud and clear, even though it's stuffed deep in my backpack.
I dig it out with one hand, surprised and relieved at the same time to see Kelsey appear on my caller ID. This woman has been sketchy for the entire week and even MIA-ed on me again last night. Usually when it happens, we would automatically associate it to her period days; but then I recall that just a week ago, she already did the whole I-can't-function-for-a-few-days phase.
There's definitely things she isn't telling me.
"Where on earth were you today?" I say as soon as I answer her call. I couldn't find her at lunch today and it was frustrating to say the least. She didn't even reply to any of my damn texts!
"Hi," she responds meekly. "Will you do me a favour, Cass?"
"Depends. If it involves me committing a crime, then no."
"It's nothing illegal," I can already picturing her rolling her eyes. "Please?"
"Did you run out of tampons? Need a pad? Leaked your clothes and need a change? Just so you know, service charge applies for every trip I make."
"No, Cassandra." I hear her sigh. "I need you to take a cab over and come get me. I'll pay you for the cab fare."
"What?" I splutter. "Where the hell are you?" I halt my footsteps and find myself standing like a statue in a crowded hallway. One stranger bumps into me from the back when I abruptly slam my footbrakes. This fucker must really not drive. He clearly doesn't know of a safety distance. "What's even going on?"
"Cassandra. I'll tell you when you get here, okay? You're out of class already, yeah?"
"Um, yes. But wait, I don't have to prepare bail money, do I? Because frankly, I don't think what I have in my-"
She cuts me off. "God, no. It's all good. They just won't let me leave without someone to pick me up."
"You know, this still doesn't sounds assuring, right? Who isn't letting you go? Should I be worried?" A couple of thoughts comes into mind. Did she steal something? Bullied a child? Ran into a dog? Why would any of those situations require me to go pick her up? Heck, I would've thought I would be the last person anyone would call for a ride. I don't even have a driver's license for god's sake!
"Nothing to worry about. I'll text you the address in a sec. And Cass?" She pauses.
"Yeah?"
"Don't tell anyone about this. Come alone."
I didn't want to interrogate her over the phone, and I trust her anyway. We have been hanging around too much for me to know she wouldn't want to sell me to an organ harvester. Although a million questions still swim around in my head about how weird this favour of hers is.
I contemplated to call up Carson to give me a lift, but then Kelsey's request of me keeping mum made me rethink. I quickly jog back to my dorm room to put down my backpack and switch my valuables into a light crossbody bag. I then book a cab to the address she sent me, which only consisted of a street name without block number.
Immediately pulling up my trusted Google, I type in the address to see that the entire street there consists of pet groomers, bakeries, hairdressers, clinics and even a museum in the area. Damn it. I hate having to guess.
"Miss, where do you want to alight?" The driver asks me.
"Um, give me a sec. I gotta call and ask." I inform him before dialling Kelsey. Why would anyone give an address without specifying which place exactly?
"Hello?"
"I'm here. Where exactly do I find you?"
"Pull up in front of the large Starbucks outlet. I'm just right beside." She instructs me and I relay the information to the driver.
I spot her car parked up ahead and paid for my fare. Right beside a Starbucks. Michael S M Women's Clinic & Surgery, the huge sign reads. What? Why would Kelsey be here? I keep questioning myself as I make my way to it.
"Thank god." Kelsey calls out when I step through the glass doors. She turns to a nurse who's passing by the sitting area. "My friend is here." She informs her.
Utterly confused, I walk up and join her. "What's happening?"
"Ah, okay." The nurse goes behind the counter and passes a slip of paper to me. "Will you sign this, Miss? It is an acknowledgement that Ms. Owens is well enough to be discharged with the presence of a caregiver."
"Discharged?" I flicker my gaze to Kelsey, only to see her blue-green eyes pleading, begging me to go with it. I briefly read through the few sentences, finding nothing suspicious about it before I sign my name. "Is that all?" I ask the nurse.
"Yes, Miss. Ms. Owens is free to go. Just make sure to have enough rest. If there are any doubts or if the side effects doesn't clears up, feel free to give the clinic a call and we can book you in."
"Thank you," Kelsey smiles weakly from next to me. She bends down and picks up her bag from the floor, almost falling over when she tries to stand up. I hurriedly hold on to her arm.
"Owens." I say in a stern voice, losing my patience. She had better tell me what's going on now.
"I know, I know." She sighs, grabbing on her bag strap. "Let's just get out of here first."
I walk her out the clinic and help her to a random kerb to take a seat. We simultaneously whip out our cigerattes. I glance to look at her face which is paler than usual, her eyes hooded.
"Are you going to talk or not?" I impatiently tap my foot, staring down at her from my standing position.
"Yeah." She rests her chin on her knees. "I, uh, I had a procedure."
"What is it?" My tone softens. God, is she ill?
"D&C. Dilation & Curettage." She takes a draw from her stick. "I found out I was pregnant."
"What?!" I roar, my eyes widen at her revelation.
"Yeah. Then found out yesterday that it wasn't growing anymore. In short, I basically had another miscarriage. The procedure was to clean out the tissues inside me." She explains, her gaze focusing on the cars driving by the street.
My legs instantly move me towards Kelsey and I squat down right in front of her. "Why didn't you tell me?" I ask her softly.
"It's all so sudden, y'know. One moment I was just told I was pregnant, then the next, not anymore." She lets out a deep breath.
I place my hand on her knee; feeling for what this girl had to go through, especially knowing she'd a traumatic experience once. "It- it was Zacson's?"
She nods, shutting her eyes.
"Did you tell him?"
She doesn't responds.
I furrow my brows. "Is that a no? Why didn't you?"
Her eyes flutters open, now glossy. "It doesn't matter. I haven't even been seeing him for awhile now." She confesses, struggling to keep her tears at bay.
"He's still ditching you for that bitch?" I narrow my eyes.
She shakes her head lightly, letting out a humourless chuckle. "She's pregnant too." I watch as she unlocks her phone and shows me a photo of two bodies on a bed. "And then I found this." She chuckles again. "He doesn't need to know."
"What in the fuckery is this shit?" I yell, scrutinizing the photo in all angles. I badly wanted to believe it's an edited photo of some sort, but Kelsey assures me that she was the photographer herself.
Then she sighs again and I can see how she's emotionally and physically drained. "C'mon, let's go." She slowly gets up. "I'm tired."
"Hold up, hold up. You're not driving us back." I order her. She's still weak and having woken up from GA not long ago.
"But I can't just go home without my car. What am I going to say when Wayne asks me? Just say that I conveniently forgot about it?"
"I don't care. Tell him the truth. Or," I consider about it. "Come to my dorm first. You can stay the night there and we decide how to get your car back tomorrow."
"Are you sure it's okay?" She asks worriedly.
I haven't actually seeked Paige's permission seeing as she's my roommate, but I believe one night shouldn't be too much of an inconvenience. Besides, Kelsey isn't a stranger to her.
"Duh. It sucks that you didn't tell me any of these earlier, but I want you to know that I'm always here for you, you idiot."
———
We take a cab back to campus, the trip mostly silent other than music playing on the radio. Kelsey spent the whole ride slipping in and out of sleep, while I busy myself texting Paige to inform her of our guest who needed refuge for a night. Thankfully, she said it's no problem.
When we arrive, I had to lightly shake Kelsey awake. I carry her backpack over one shoulder, and let her lean against me on the other side as I grab ahold of her shoulder and arm to help keep her upright.
"You're so exaggerating," she chuckles. "I can walk, y'know."
"Bitch. Don't tell me what to do." I glare at her mockingly, helping her climb the stairs one step at a time. This stupid dorm doesn't have a single elevator.
"Take my bed," I instruct her when we step into my room.
"I feel bad."
"Cut that crap." I fall back onto Paige's unoccupied bed and Kelsey follows suit lying down on my bed. Both of us share a comfortable silence until I realize she fell asleep again within minutes. Man, she must still be feeling drowsy from the anesthesia.
I'm just about to leave the room and grab some food for the both of us when I hear two knocks at my door. Almost no one ever comes to my dorm, other than my neighbours who occasionally needed an Advil or a pad.
I immediately feel my blood rushing when I swing open the door to see that cheating d-bag standing at my doorstep. Fucking hell. I used to see him in a good light, but now he just proved to me he's literally nowhere better than any of our exes.
"What do you want?" I say through gritted teeth, scowling at him.
He seems taken aback by the venom in my tone. "Uh, sorry, did I come at a bad time?"
"What. Do. You. Want?" I repeat.
He tries to peer through my ajar door, probably searching for who he came for, and I quickly step out of the room—closing the door behind me. This mother fucker has the goddamn nerves to show up here.
He sighs, raking his hand through his hair. "I don't know what I've done to you, Cassandra, but I just wanted to ask you something."
"Ask."
"I-I thought I saw you and Kelsey coming up here. She hasn't been responding to me. She didn't come home last night."
"I don't think I heard a question." I raise a brow at him.
"Where is she? I need to talk to her." He says, getting visibly annoyed.
"Well, I'm afraid you're not going to find her here." I fake a sarcastic smile before turning away from him, heading to buy the food I planned to. I know better than to stay there conversing outside the door where Kelsey is resting in. She probably wouldn't want to hear or see him.
Fake fucking two-faced dickhead.
"What did you just say?" He follows after me. Darn it, I didn't think he'll hear me.
"You clearly heard what I said." I mutter, not stopping.
"Seriously? Have I offended you, Cassandra?" His strides matches mine, keeping up to my pace.
Seeing as we're a distance away from my room now, I halt and spin around. "You know what, Zacson Gray? I used to have a lot of respect for you. And then newsflash: Not any fucking more." I give him the biggest stink-eye of the century.
As if sensing that I'm about to leave again, he rapidly puts up his arm to block me. "Fuck, wait. Is this about what I've done the past few weeks? Neither of you even heard my explanation yet!" He tries to defend himself.
Before my mouth knows what not to say, I scoff. "Explain? Explain what? That Becca is pregnant and that you were abandoning Kelsey to go to your side fucking chick? Just vanish, you twat!" I can no longer hold back.
I have never in my life hit someone physically but right now, all I want to do is throw a damn rock in his head.
"What the-" his eyes widen. "Who told you that?"
I shake my head at him. "You are literally a fucking piece of shit. One isn't enough, you had to impregnate two?" I clap my hands. "Jerkbag of the damn year."
"Wait, what? Fucking hell. I'm seriously confused right now. Becca was the one who made me promise to keep her secret! That was why I couldn't tell Kelsey the truth, as much as I wanted to."
I had to keep my arms crossed in order to stop myself from swinging my fist at him. "Seriously. You don't fucking deserve that girl. The only reason I'm the one arguing with you here is because she is too good for you! That idiot was scared to ruin things between all of us so she kept quiet! She didn't even tell me shit until I found out today. You don't deserve her." I shake my head again, my voice laced with anger and disappointment.
He begins pacing around me, continuously messing up his hair. "Can we quit beating around the bush for a second? I honest to god had no clue that she's this upset."
"Upset?" I sneer. "She's not upset. She's fucking broken."
"I wouldn't ever do anything on purpose to hurt her, Cassandra!" He exclaims. "Just let me see her, I have to explain. Please."
"I don't think so. I highly doubt she even wants to see you anymore at this point." I turn away, getting ready to end the conversation. "I hate that I have to be the one doing this because she simply won't stand up for herself. You should be glad it was her you had. Because trust me, if it was anyone as crazy as I am, I would have castrated you. Go to hell, Zacson Gray." I walk off.
"But I didn't even cheat on her!" He grabs onto my forearm to stop me.
I turn back around and snicker. "Funny how you still try to lie after being found out. Can't even have the guts to admit to it. I look down on you!"
"Admit what?! I helped Becca as a friend! She needed someone and we have been friends for years. I couldn't just not help her! Albeit it was unfair for Kelsey, I know that, but it would've been selfish of me to not lend a hand." He continues to defend himself.
I no longer know why I even try reasoning with this bastard. My own eyes even begin to well up, thinking about what kind of situation Kelsey was in. "Then, who was there for Kelsey? Where were you when she needed you the most? Right, in bed with your other baby mama." I force a smile. "Great talk."
"Stop right there." His eyes abruptly turns cold, his voice deepening. "Why would you think I have anything to do with Becca's pregnancy?"
Oh, we are finally getting to this?
"Think?" I laugh humourlessly. "Don't you get it yet? She was the one who went to Kelsey herself and told her you're the sperm donor."
"Why would she say that?" He furrows his brows. "I haven't even slept with her for a long time, I swear."
"Gosh. I didn't know two weeks is your definition of a long time."
"Two weeks? What the hell, Cassandra? What exactly are you talking about?" I see him clench his jaw, hard.
"Are you dense? Do I have to spell it out for you?" I roll my eyes. "Kelsey didn't believe that bitch until she caught the both of you in bed with her own fucking eyes! Two weeks ago! She had a picture to prove, you lying cow testicles!"
"I did not sleep with Becca! What in the fuck is going on? Her boyfriend left her after finding out she's pregnant, that's why she tried to ask me to stay with her. It wasn't even anything inappropriate for fuck's sake! I did what a friend would do—help her when she's unwell, cook and accompany her to the docs. That was it, I swear to god!" He swings his fist into the wall behind him.
I shrug. "What does it matter anymore? While you were busy taking care of someone else's unborn child, you lost your own." I wasn't supposed to let him know as per Kelsey's wishes, but I didn't think it's fair for her to suffer on her own.
"Wh- my child?" He frowns. I give his slow ass brain a moment to piece two and two together. Then his eyes widen as realization final-fucking-ly dawns on him. "She's pregnant?"
I smile sadly. "She was. Not anymore."