Cassie woke up in the morning to the nettlesome noise coming from her alarm clock, she slapped her hands on the head of the clock until the disturbance coming from it was gone. She groaned into her pillow and sighed lightly before slowly rolling her body to the edge of the bed. One by one, she placed her feet on the rug and then used her hands to push her body off the bed. She charged her phone cause the battery was completely drained and proceeded to perform her usual morning routine.
Once she got out of the shower she rummaged through her plethora of clothes, and even with the amount of clothes she had suffocated in her wardrobe, she still at that moment, felt like she had absolutely nothing to wear. After about ten minutes of searching, and the realization that she was getting close to running late for school, she settled for a pink and white sleeveless tank top that exposed her midriff and paired it with some white shorts. She curled her long brown mane and then combed it out so that it could be wavy. She sat in front of her mirror and put on some light makeup. On her left wrist, she put on a bracelet and then she finished off her look with strappy sandals.
The first thing that welcomed Cassie was the enticing aroma that she traced to the kitchen. She ran down the stairs and into the source of the tempting aroma. She met her mother alone sitting by the Island, placed infront of her was a bowl of fruits, and in her hands was a magazine. She took the free seat beside her mum and pick up a pineapple from her plate, before she shoved it into her mouth.
"Morning mum," she greeted with a full mouth.
"Morning," she replied with a look of concern on her face. "Are you alright Cassie?" She placed the magazine down.
"Yeah. . ." Cassie said slowly, she had her eyebrows scrunched and tilted her head to the right "Why wouldn't I be?" She asked and took another piece of fruit, this time a grape.
" When I got home at eight yesterday I found you in your room sleeping," she said.
"And what's your point? Don't I have the right to sleep in my own room?" This time, she stole a gulp of her mums orange juice.
"It's just that you've been talking about Tyler's game since last week and you didn't go, I was worried that you were sick or that you and Tyler got into a fight." She explained. On hearing that, Cassie spat out the juice that had been In her mouth on the table.
"Crap, crap, crap,crap, shit, holy crappy shit," Cassie blurted out and pushed herself back on the seat.
"Cassidy Annie Meyer mind your bloody language," her mother scolded and got up from her seat. "and clean up that mess" she ordered pointing at the mess Cassie had made on the table by spitting out the Orange juice from her mouth.
"I'm sorry," she grabbed a paper towel and wiped off the mess she made. " I promised Danny I'll be at the game and I totally forgot," she tossed the paper towel in the trash can.
"That's unlike you," her mum said, she had her hands placed on her hips.
"Uhh I had a ton of homework to do, and I took a nap in between and somehow I forgot about the game," Cassie lied effortlessly. As she spoke of homework, she realized that she had actual homework which she hadn't made any attempt to begin. She was so caught up in the events of the day before, that she had completely forgotten to write her English essay or to be present and Tyler's important game. To her misfortune, she had English first period and she knew that she did not have enough time to write a thousand-word essay, therefore she would have to come up with some reasonable excuse for her Mrs. Williams.
"Gotta go mum, love you." she kissed her mother on her cheeks, grabbed her bags and ran to her car. She threw her bag on the passengers side
She kissed her mum goodbye and then grabbed her bag. She opened up the door and walked outside to her car, she unlocked her car and got in. She placed her bag on the passenger side and pulle dput her phone from it. She had switched it off the previous night in order to avoid distractions, and she was so sure that she had a lot of messages to reply.
She powered on her phone and as soon as she did that, an avalanche of messages welcomed her, she stared down at her phone and clicked on the most important ones, starting with Phoebe's message.
Phoebe.
'Hey Cass, don't forgot the game tonight ;) - 5:29
'I meant forget! Stupid autocorrect!!! - 5:29pm
'Cassie, it's seven and you aren't here yet! you're always the first to get here...I'm here early and I feel the need to go back home because you're not here, you know how much I hate being punctual' -7:00pm. Cassie laughed at that one before going on to read the next.
'Cassie I'm really worried now, did you get arrested or something? call me, biatch!'-7:33pm
Danny
'Cassie where the hell are you? Tyler needs you' -7:20
'You didn't make it, did something go wrong?, I'm worried call me'-9:00pm
And then finally she went to the hardest message to look at; Tyler's.
Tyler.
'Babe, you're gonna be at the game tonight, right?'-6:00pm.
'Babe, I need you, the game has almost started, you're on your way right?!-7:01pm
'Where are you Cassie, I need you' -7:45pm . She she knew that he was getting either really worried or upset at the time he sent that text. Tyler never called her Cassie, he always called her babe or any other term of endearment that came to his mind.
And then the final important message
'Babe, where are you? are you alright? Call me.'-9:20pm
After reading through all her text messages she noticed that she had a total of forty one missed calls from all her friends.
"Shit!" she cursed out loud in her car. She knew for sure that she had a lot of explaining to do. She was not ready for all the questions they would throw her way. She encouraged herself by thinking that they for sure had to understand. It was the first game that she had missed, and she knew they had no right to crucify er for missing one game, even if it was one of the mot important games that Tyler had played so far.
It was a quiet ride to school, most of it Cassie spent trying to think of a clever excuse or lie because she had done it so much that it did not seem wrong to her anymore, to her, it was an easy way out of any difficult situation. Apart from being worried about what to tell her friends she was also worried about what excuse to give her English teacher. She wouldn't be able to bear the disappointment look Mrs. Williams would give her, English was her all time favourite subject and she had never failed to submit any assignment at the due date. Apart from her dream of one day becoming a detective she also wanted to be a writer some day, and that why she loved English so much. She had dreamed to one day write a novel based off the unique cases that she would one day encounter.
She sat in her car for five more minutes to while away time. She knew that both Phoebe and Danny would be at their lockers which were beside Cassie's and she was not ready to face them. She would rather face the whole group together rather than having to explain the situation to every single one of them over and over again.
She could hear the school bell ring from where she was sat in her car, she sat there for thirty more seconds to give everyone time to go to their classes before stepping out. She stepped into the hallways and scanned it, absolutely no one was there, the coast was clear. Perfect, a smile crept on her lips as she made her way to English. She already had her books with her, luckily, and so she didn't need to pick them up from her locker.
She opened the door to her English class, Mrs. Williams wasn't in yet and so walked to her usual seat which was situated between Danny and Phoebe, avoiding any eye contact with her friends. When she sat in her seat Phoebe did the expected, she leaned in to ask Cassie questions.
"Where the hell were you last night?" Phoebe demanded, and as if on cue Mrs. Williams walked in, Phoebe leaned back into her seat. Cassie's love for Mrs. Williams doubled once she walked in to save her from Phoebe's interrogation.
Mrs. Williams asked for everyone to turn in their essays and Cassie sunk into her seat. Cassie looked round to see everyone pulling out their essays, even Tucker did his, and he never did any of his homework, she wondered what possessed him to have his assignment ready the one day she did not.
Mrs. William walked down each row to collect the assignment. She looked confused when she noticed Cassie's empty desk
"Cassie," she said adjusting her glasses "your essay should be on your desk," she said sternly.
"I don't exactly have it" Cassie said avoiding eye contact with Mrs. Williams
"What do you mean you don't have it Cassie? that's Tucker's usual excuse," the whole class laughed.
"I had a terrible head ache last night and was unable to do anything, I'm sorry, " she said very softly randomly fondling with her bracelet and still avoiding eye contact.
"You should have at least sent me an email, but I'll pardon you because this is your first offence. Bring it to my office tomorrow and you won't lost any marks."
"Thank you so much Mrs. Williams, I promise that will never happen again," she assured Mrs. Williams.
*
Classes passed by quickly and it was already time for Lunch. The seven friends met at their usual spot and walked to the cafeteria, Jesse and Matt were discussing, Tucker and Phoebe making out, while Cassie walked awkwardly beside Tyler and Danny who had not said a work to her all day. They grabbed their lunch and all settled at their usual table.
"It's time to address the elephant in the room," Phoebe said, a serious look on her face. "I've always wanted to say that," she giggled.
"I'm so sorry guys," Cassie blurted out. "I got so wrapped up in the investigation and I completely forgot, please forgive me," she pouted, batting her eyelashes at all of them.
"We were all so worried, you didn't even think to call. But I'm just glad you're okay so I forgive your ugly ass," Phoebe said.
"Thanks Phoebes" she replied hugging her Best friend.
"And you guys?" Cassie asked the rest of the group.
"I didn't even notice you were absent," Matt joked "it's cool, I was too busy checking out the girls in some short shorts," he whistled. Phoebe smacked him on the head "ow that hurt" he complained and she stuck her tongue out at him.
"Yeah, it's not like anyone died because of your absence, it's cool Cass" Jesse said.
"Yeah, what they said" Tucker said nonchalantly, as he chewed obnoxiously.
"And you Danny bear?" Phoebe said putting on her best puppy dog face.
"You broke your promise Cass, I mean you should have called or something."
"I totally forgot okay, I promise I will never miss another important day again," she said pinching his cheeks.
"It's alright, so how did the case go?"
"It was totally amazing," she gleamed and then she narrated the whole story to them, especially the fact that she discovered important information that the police has been hiding from the public, and the fact that she saved an innocent guy from arrest.
They all congratulated her and encouraged her,all but Tyler, he had been quiet ever since they got to the cafeteria.
"Babe?, you've been quite for so long please say something," she pleaded massaging his knuckles. He didn't speak, instead he got up and walked out, she looked at the rest of the guys for help but they were either not paying attention or they just stared at her not knowing what to say. She ran out to look for Tyler, she could not understand why he was unable to forgive her like everyone else did.
It wasn't hard to find him, she simply just followed the sound of a locker being punched. She found him punching the locker and then he leaned his back against his locker with his eyes shut and his fingers clenched.
"Babe?" She asked making sure not to go too close to him, she had never seen him angry before and she didn't know what he'd be like and so she kept her distance.
"I'm sorry okay, I got distracted and I forgot okay? I'm only human, I am bound to make mistakes okay? Mistakes are inevitable and I'm so damn sorry," she pleaded stepping a bit closer.
"Did you know that a representative from Stanford was there, and I was so distracted looking for you, waiting for you to show up that I totally messed up, the coach told them to keep an eye out for me and I made a total fool of myself. So thank you so much because I completely embarrassed myself I front of the one school I wanted to go to Cassie, the only freaking school I wanted," he said kicking the locker this time. She was shocked that a teacher hadn't heard them yet because he was making a whole lot of noise.
"Wh- what?, now that is not fair Tyler Bridgewood," she said yelling with a tear coming out of her eyes " you cannot pin that on me, it's not my fault that you were distracted."
"Yes it is, because you promised me that you would come and Danny assured me that you were coming before the game started. With all that's been happening in town I was worried that something bad happened to you. The least you could have done was call Cassie, just one call would have put my mind at rest, but there you were poking your nose into what is not your damn business. You're not a freaking detective so leave solving crimes to those who are okay?you just have a stupid passion and the stupid detective is just trying to humour you," he rose his voice. He gave the locker one last punch and then walked away.
And she just stood there, frozen. His words cut deep, they were so hurtful. She didn't realize when the tears started rushing out of her eyes like a tsunami. Someone put a hand on her shoulders and she turned around to see that it was Phoebe, she was so relieved, she didn't want any random person to see her crying. She hated feeling weak, she hated people giving her sad faces and feeling sorry for her, she hated the word 'sorry' being addressed at her.
"Not here you don't," Phoebe said pulling her into the girls bathroom, there were a few juniors inside and Phoebe yelled at them to get the hell out and they ran out for their dear lives.
"I'm so so sorry Cass, I heard everything, he was being a total asshole but he loves you, he'll come around with time," she said comfortingly she stepped into one of the bathroom stalls and grabbed a roll of tissue, she cut some and handed it over to Cassie.
"Come on, wipe your tears."
"Ph-Phoebe you you don't understand" she said between sobs " we have never fought like this before, I've never seen that side to him before and do you know how much it hurts that I" she said pointing to herself "was the one to bring that side of him out, all I had to do was remember, I should have called. He has been talking about Stanford for as long as I can remember and now his chances have been ruined because of me, his destiny had been changed because of me and I don't know if I can live with that guilt."
Phoebe pulled her in and hugged her tightly, she tucked a strand of her behind her ears and cupped her cheeks "look at me" she said lifting up Cassie's chin "Tyler loves you more than he loves himself and give him a day or two and his anger will burn out okay? and he is the best player in school Stanford will be at a loss if they don't pick him, and if they turn him down screw them, there are other schools. He'll come around okay" she said placing her hands on Cassie's shoulders
"Promise?" Cassie asked with a sniff.
"I promise," Phoebe assured her.
Cassie washed her face and reapplied her make up before going back out, she had her next class with Tyler and her heart couldn't handle seeing him so soon after the argument and so she opted for going home instead.