Cassie (Book #1 of the "Cassie" Series)

Chapter #27: Crash (Chad and Naya's POV)

A/N: So, like Chapter 13, this chapter deals with the topic of abuse, so if anything is triggering for any readers, I understand completely if you skip this chapter. This is also the first chapter of the story told from two different POVs, but I felt it was necessary to do so to get the full story, so half of it is Naya's and the other half is Chad's. Basically, this is what happened at Chad's house during Cassie's Thanksgiving dinner.

Naya's POV

9:05 pm

"HURRY UP!" Tony's voice boomed across the dinner table. We were having a small Thanksgiving dinner, as usual. I missed when Thanksgiving actually used to be an event. The whole family, Mom and Dad together, before Dad died. Even after Dad died, Mom would still invite his family around for Thanksgiving so we could still be close to him, but of course, Tony forced her to cut them off as well, telling her "he's dead, let him stay dead". I missed him like crazy, all the time. My Dad was a superhero to me, compared to this monstrous villain sitting two seats down from me. The seats were all spaced out, as if no one could stand to be near each other. Chad on one end, Tony on the other, and me sitting on the side opposite Mom. Chad didn't dare to even look at Tony, while I just stared at the hole in the wall, created from one of Tony's outbursts.

"I'm going as fast as I can, Tony!" Mom yelled back from the kitchen. She sighed, coming back in with a beer and gently placing it down on Tony's coaster. She put a pie in the middle of the table and began cutting it, her hands shaking with every single slice of the kitchen knife. After running into the kitchen to put the knife in the sink, she joined us.

"Bon appetit!" she said, forcing on a cheery smile, pushing her blonde hair back. Living in a household as the only black-haired person also made me miss Dad, and yet, made me feel closer to him still. Chad always resembled Mom more, with blonde hair, similar features, the same defined cheekbones. I always looked more like Dad, I had his jet black hair, his smaller nose, and fuller cheeks. The one thing Chad and I shared from both of our parents was Mom's tanned complexion and Dad's green eyes.

"So, Naya, how's school been?" Mom asked, trying to make conversation in this tense environment. I looked up at her and glared as if to ask why she had to put me on the spot, but nonetheless, I twirled my fork into the pumpkin pie and shrugged.

"Fine, I guess." I replied quietly. "I passed my sociology test, I'm pretty proud of that." 

"Chad, dear, how did you do on your sociology test?" Mom turned her head to face down the table, looking at Chad picking his food. 

"Failed." he said nonchalantly. Mom pouted and sighed.

"Guess you needed to study more, then." she said in a soft voice, almost as a whisper. 

"It's because he's always out with those two little girlfriends of his." Tony's voice suddenly chimed into the conversation. "Maybe I need to meet them sometime, tell those two little girls that they've got to run along, what they're doing hanging out with you, I'll never understand." 

"I'm not letting Cassie or Hope anywhere near you." Chad gripped onto his fork, looking ready to jump across the table and jam it into Tony's fat neck at any second. 

"Ah, so that's their names then? A little slutty sounding, but they're your friends, so that doesn't surprise me." Tony said, a sly smirk creeping across his face as Chad stared back with anger showing in his emerald eyes. "I've seen them around, they're pretty little things, eh? Just too pretty for you."

"Alright, that's enough." I spoke up without really meaning to. Tony whipped his head around and stared me down.

"Shut the fuck up. No one told you to talk, little girl."