A Deal With the Devil

Chapter 41

I'm so sorry everyone, these past couple of months have been rough. College is draining and it's just been hard to find motivation. Thank you for being patient with me, I appreciate it so much and as always - enjoy.

Ashley's POV

One Month Ago

It started out like any other day really, nothing noticeably different. The cool, calm, quiet morning; the silence only broken by the chirps of birds.

The sun rose and light spang into existence, bringing colors and shades into the once dark sky.

Teens crowding sporadically about the quad, some on their phones while others talked.

We were waiting where we usually did - me, Katie, and Allison. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary, it wasn't supposed to be anyway.

They were whispering to each other, throwing wide eyed glances. I didn't know what it meant.

"What are you guys talking about, is everything ok?"

They both looked up at me like a deer caught in headlights, like they were so focused on their own conversation that they forgot that they weren't alone.

Allison seemed to shake out of it first. "Yeah," she started, "I was just trying to get Katie to calm down, she's just really stressed right now."

Confused, I look at Katie. "Is everything ok?"

She's not meeting my eye, choosing to keep her eyes on the ground.

After a moment she finally spoke, "I hope that it will be."

I raised my eyebrow, "Okay? I'm sorry that you're going through something Katie, have you talked to Kassandra about it? I know that she always makes you feel better."

I tried to cheer her up, Kassandra always at least made her smile a little but that didn't seem to be the case today, if anything it made her look ashamed, guilty even.

What was going on?

I was surprised when she answered, "I texted her... but she hasn't gotten back to me."

I started to worry, that didn't sound at all like Kassandra.

"Did she say that she was busy doing something before you texted her?"

"No, I haven't talked to her since school ended yesterday."

She was the type of person to text back right away. I mean sometimes she took a little longer than others but she always replied before school the next day.

But what did Katie tell her?

"What did you do?"

She finally looks up at me with wide eyes, "What do you mean, what did I do? I didn't do anything!"

I stepped closer to her,"I know for a fact that Kassandra always answers, especially if it's you, so what the fuck did you do Katie?"

"Guys!" We both look at Allison as she motioned to Kassandra. I caught Katie's eye one last time and mouthed 'this isn't over.'

She just looked away from me to Kassandra.

She looked so fucking guilty when Kassandra walked up, tensing.

"Hey," Katie said.

Kassandra was wearing baggy clothes as always, and I mean it worked for her but it made her look so small. A thin hoodie, faded and worn, it was black but turning a to a shade of gray almost. Her backpack hanging off her shoulder but only by a thread. Tattered converse on her feet.