"LET ME HELP YOU CLEAN UP, COWARD," Charlotte said to Cassandra as people started to leave slowly. Prom was still going on but half of the people left already, and Charlotte offered to stay back and help clean up.
Cassandra chuckled and shook her head, while her and Gordie danced together, "Why do you always call people coward?"
Charlotte shrugged, as she stood beside the dancing couple with a bottle of beer in her hand, "It's fun to say,"
Gordie laughed, as he listened to the two friends talk.
"Anyway, you don't have to worry about anything, you should just go home," Cassandra gave Charlotte a mischievous smile, "with Grizz."
Charlotte rolled her eyes, "Oh stop it, just let me help you clean up,"
Cassandra shook her head, "No, I don't want you to clean up. I just saw you run five laps around the room chasing Valerie, I'm sure you're tired."
Charlotte raised her eyebrows, "Tired? Hell no, I can do another five laps right now if you want me to,"
Cassandra laughed, "Just go home and sleep, Char, and you can help me with making decisions tomorrow morning. It's going to be pitch black dark outside by the time the prom is over.."
Charlotte frowned and narrowed her eyes. She knew Cassandra was referring to her fear of the dark.
"But we'll be together so I'll be fine,"
"Yeah whatever, I don't care what you have to say, I'm the boss right now and I'm ordering you to go home and rest."
Charlotte pursed her lips and stared at Cassandra. The two began to have a staring contest before Charlotte finally sighed.
"Fine, I'll go home, boss," Cassandra smiled in triumph, "But you better make me your famous strawberry milkshake tomorrow morning, I'm craving that."
Cassandra nodded with a wide smile, "Of course, I'll come to Grizz's house with the freshly homemade milkshake in my hand, first thing in the morning."
Charlotte broke into a grin when Cassandra mentioned 'Grizz's house' and nodded, "Pinky promise me."
Cassandra raised an eyebrow as Gordie released Cassandra for a second. He smiled and took a step back to let the two friends make a promise with one another.
"For the milkshake?" Cassandra questioned with a laugh.
Charlotte nodded, "Yes, I'm really craving that milkshake."
Cassandra chuckled and locked pinkies with Charlotte, "I swear, you're so childish sometimes,"
Charlotte shrugged, "Whatever, you still love me."
Cassandra grinned and the two girls wrapped their arms around each other. Charlotte hugged Cassandra tightly and whispered in her ear, "I'm so proud of you Cass, taking the role as our leader in this new place."
Cassandra released a content sigh and hugged Charlotte back, "And I'm proud of you, for being a strong girl in general."
The two released and Charlotte sent Cassandra wink, while also glancing at Gordie, "Well, Gordie, take care of Cassie here, I'm gonna go now, since I'm forced to," Cassandra smiled.
"Love you, Char," Cassandra called out with a wide smile.
Charlotte playfully rolled her eyes as she made her way to Grizz who was waiting for her, "Sure, whatever, I guess I love you too, Cass. Goodnight guys," Charlotte waved to Gordie and Cassandra before heading out with Grizz.
➖
"You used to tap dance?" Charlotte asked in disbelief as she laid on Grizz's chest. He had an arm wrapped around her body as they laid on his bed. She was wearing one of his t-shirts, that was like a dress on her, and no pants since the shirt was already covering her entire body.
The dress was beautiful and it made Charlotte feel pretty, but Charlotte couldn't do much in the dress, like squat to pick up something or sit with her legs slightly opened. She had to cross her legs every time she sat down.
After Charlotte said bye to Cassandra and Gordie, and then Clark and Jason on the way out, Charlotte and Grizz came back home to chill in his room. For the last hour, they spent their time laying in the dark talking about random things. The only light source was Grizz's tiny night lamp that only brightened one corner of the room.
"Yeah, I was not good at it." Grizz snorted, shaking his head as he gently rubbed his hand up and down Charlotte's side.
Charlotte let out a sudden wheeze, "I'm sorry, but you tap dancing? That's the funniest thing ever,"
Grizz raised an eyebrow and glanced down at her, "I may not be good at it but that doesn't mean I don't know how to do it. I'll stomp all over your toes."
Charlotte began to laugh even harder, as Grizz couldn't help but chuckle, even though he tried to pretend and act all intimidating.
"Prom was amazing," Grizz suddenly said, looking down at Charlotte.
Charlotte looked up at him with a soft smile, observing his features that were visible in the light. "It really was. You don't know how nervous and flustered you made me earlier. You got me fucked up."
Grizz slightly smirked, "I know, and I'm proud that I'm the only one that makes you like that."
Charlotte raised an eyebrow at Grizz, "Who said you're the only one that makes me feel like that?"
Grizz snorted, "What? Who else makes you feel like that? Clark?"
Charlotte smirked in amusement at the slight annoyance in Grizz's tone. "You seriously have to stop getting jealous of Clark, you know that I only like you. I mean, I fucking had a sex tape with you in public,"
Grizz laughed at Charlotte's joke, shaking his head slightly. After Charlotte caught Valerie, she began to blow fake punches at her stomach. Kyla started to play along and pretended to break the two up, as if they were actually fighting. It was a good show for those nearby that witnessed it.
"Anyway, do you wanna know who makes me all fucked up?"
Charlotte gave Grizz a blank look, "Really now?"
Grizz smiled cheekily, "Guess."
Charlotte just shrugged before slightly getting up from her laying position to lean up to Grizz. He watched her with dark eyes as she slowly latched her lips onto his.
The two began to softly kiss again, but this time, Charlotte was the one to hold Grizz's face. After a moment or so, Charlotte was the one to move away first. Grizz tried to follow her and continue to kiss her but she chuckled and leaned away.
"Gee, I'm really curious as to who got you all fucked up."
Grizz playfully rolled his eyes as Charlotte glanced at the time. She noticed that it was one in the morning, and she sat up. Grizz watched her as she climbed over him and sat at the edge of the bed.
"What are you doing?" He asked her, while she reached for her phone that was on the table beside the bed. She began to search for someone's contact.
"I'm gonna check up on Cass, see if she's almost done cleaning up,"
"Cass?" Charlotte heard Cassandra's voice on the other side and smiled, glancing at Grizz who watched her with eyes that held a strong emotion behind them.
"Hey Char, you're still up?"
Charlotte nodded even though Cassandra couldn't see her, "Yeah, just wanted to check on you. Are you almost done cleaning up?"
"Yeah, I'm just about finished. I'm just trying to tie up the last garbage bag right now."
"There must've been a lot to clean, god you should've let me help you, or at least we could've done it the next morning."
"It's fine, Char," Cassandra chuckled over the phone, "It's all done now. Plus, you know I like to clean,"
Charlotte snorted and shook her head, "Yeah, I seriously don't know why you do, cleaning is like the worst thing to do."
"And you wonder why your mom is always giving you shit, Char. You're such a lazy bum,"
After watching Charlotte talk to Cassandra for a while, Grizz finally sat up and moved to sit behind Charlotte. His legs were on either side of her and his arms were wrapped around her waist as he planted soft kisses on her neck.
"Hey, I offered to help you clean, did I not?"
Charlotte smiled at the sound of Cassandra's laugh.
"That's true,"
Charlotte closed her eyes as Grizz began to nip at her neck.
"Anyway, I just wanted to see if you were almost done and if you were good. Are you alone or did Gordie stay back and help?"
"Well thank you, Char, I appreciate that. Also, no, I sent Gordie home. I sent everyone home,"
"You're impossible, Cass," Charlotte shook her head with a light smile. Grizz continued to work on Charlotte's neck.
"You should go to bed, Char. You, Kyla and Valerie danced pretty hard for one hour straight."
Charlotte laughed, "It's what we do. Anyway, I guess I'll go to bed. Get home safe and rest well, Cass, I'll be waiting for that delicious ass milkshake tomorrow."
Cassandra chuckled, "Yes, I even pinky promised—" Charlotte furrowed her eyebrows when Cassandra suddenly stopped chuckling and her end went dead silent.
"Cass?" Charlotte softly called out. Charlotte slowly opened her eyes and looked at the wall when she heard Cassandra's breathing quicken.
"What's wrong?" Charlotte asked into the phone as she heard Cassandra stutter in a confused yet frightened tone.
"W-What are you doing?"
Charlotte furrowed her eyebrows, "What do you mean?"
Cassandra seemed to remember that she was on the phone with Charlotte and began to stammer, "C-Char—"
Charlotte jumped when she heard a loud bang through the phone. Grizz stopped kissing Charlotte's neck, as he heard the bang through the phone too.
"Cass?!" Charlotte called out as Cassandra weakly gasped out.
"C-Char, i-it's—"
Another bang made Charlotte jump in Grizz's arms, as her eyes widen to the max. Charlotte's throat and lips ran dry as her blood ran cold.
"Cassandra?!" Charlotte called out into the phone but she heard a thud and she knew that it was Cassandra, and she was not okay.
She heard a faint exhale, and that's when Charlotte felt her mind shut down.
A scream woke Clark and Jason up. The two boys and their girlfriends woke up, and instantly moved to where the sound came from. They knew it was Charlotte's scream, and they could hear the fear in it.
"Char!" Clark shouted as he bursted out of his room, only in boxers. Gwen appeared behind him since the two shot out of the bed in an instant. They caught sight of Charlotte opening the door to Grizz's room and rushing out of the room, with only a t-shirt on.
Jason furrowed his eyebrows at Grizz as he ran out of the room as well, looking equally as worried as Charlotte. "What the hell happened, Grizz?"
Grizz only gulped and looked at everyone with conflicted eyes before running after Charlotte.
He was a few feet away from her as she ran to the direction where the prom was held. He was worried for Cassandra, but more for Charlotte as she was in an unstable state. She was scared for Cassandra but she was unaware that she was running through the dark, across the town. So he made sure he continued to run and keep a good distance with her, just in case she snapped out of her shock and realized that she was in the dark town, by herself.
The others had followed the two, completely confused with the situation. They were kind of worried too, since they've never seen Charlotte that scared before.
They slowed down their steps when they saw Charlotte suddenly fall to her knees, since they got weak at the sight in front of her. Grizz and the others' eyes widen at the sight of Cassandra lying on her stomach, with a pool of blood around her.
Grizz quickly kneeled down in front of Charlotte to cover her view of Cassandra, who was clearly not breathing as her eyes never blinked once.
"Don't look, okay?" Grizz shakily exhaled as he glanced up at the others.
"What the fuck do we do?!" Jason whispered loudly as Grizz shook his head.
"I-I don't know! Call Allie! Gordie!"
After being stunned from shock, Charlotte let out a heartbreaking sob when she finally snapped out of her shock and came to realization that the one who stepped up to take responsibility of everyone's lives, the one who was keeping everyone in line by enforcing order, the one who made sure that they were to survive in this new town, her close friend who was her complete opposite from her, was dead, and that there was no chance of saving her.
author's note
all of these theories have me messed up fr