Surviving - Rewritten

Chapter Four - Iris

Cassandra Blake

On Wednesday, Cassie made her way into school, still slightly in shock at the events that had occurred the day before. The new girl, after seemingly successfully making her way into Lucinda's clique, had then defended Cassie. Nobody had ever defended her before, and Cassie couldn't help but feel admiration for the girl.

Rebecca Taylor, which was what the girl was called, had then walked away to her next lesson before Cassie could even say thanks. Cassie wanted to thank her, but she also wanted to talk to her as soon as possible to warn her: she had to apologise to Lucinda before Rebecca got treated just as badly as Cassie did.

Her first lesson on Wednesday's was Science which Cassie hated with a passion. Cassie wasn't particularly good at science and her classmates never failed to remind her. Nor did her teacher for that matter.

Cassie made her way to a table at the back, wanting to hide in a corner. On the way there, she tripped over Blaise's foot causing everyone to laugh. Cassie blushed, but stood up and carried on walking.

Cassie sighed as Blaise looked over at her with a smirk. Blaise was stunning as well unfortunately. She had curly brown hair and emerald eyes as well as flawless caramel skin. She, like everybody else had hated Cassie since she was about eight.

"Watch where you are going next time" Blaise warned her, although the smirk just made Cassie believe that she had done it on purpose even more.

"Sorry" Cassie replied. Something deep inside her wanted to stand up for herself, but she fought the urge for she knew that she must have done something to deserve this. Her life was terrible for the most part and she tried her best not to cry or to show how much everything got to her. She wanted to believe that someday things would be better but at the same time she knew that they never would.

Cassie didn't know what she had done to make her family and school hate her so much, but it must have been something terrible for them to treat her like that. So, she would just suck it up and deal with it because she passionately believed that she deserved it.

A few seconds after the teacher began taking attendance, Rebecca Taylor came into the room with a sheepish smile. "Sorry I got lost" was all she said to the stern eyed looking teacher.

"Next time be on time" was all the teacher said, before carrying on saying people's names.

Rebecca walked over to the back, and to Cassie's surprise sat right next to her, despite the other empty seats around the room.

"Hi" Rebecca said with a grin. "My name's Becky. Cassandra, right?"

"Um yeah. I prefer Cassie though"

"Oh sorry. I hate when people call me Rebecca, I've just been thinking of you as Cassandra since I saw you yesterday. Sorry that I didn't really get chance to talk to you I just didn't want to be late to class"

"It's okay" Cassie said still extremely confused as to why someone was being nice to her. "Listen thank you for yesterday. But I feel like I should warn you, that you probably should just apologise to Lucinda and be friends with them. I'm not someone you should stay around, and if you're not careful then Lucinda and everyone will just be horrible to you too" Cassie explained.

Becky looked angry. "Look, I didn't defend you because I felt sorry for you and you don't need to thank me. As for Lucinda I'm not afraid of her, and I want to be your friend not theirs"

"Why?" Cassie asked in confusion. Why would someone as beautiful and seemingly confident as Becky want to be friends with her? And why wouldn't she want to be friends with people like Lucinda, Blaise, and Leah?

"Because you seem like a decent person, unlike them. And I'm not afraid of Lucinda, I've dealt with much worse. She's a 17-year-old girl who enjoys making other people miserable. She's just liked a wannabe Regina George. Why would I be scared of that?"

Cassie was confused "uh who's Regina George? And because Lucinda has a way of making everyone hate you. Everyone listens to her here"

Becky, however, still didn't look phased. "How do you not know Regina George? Have you never seen mean girls?"

"Um, no" Cassie replied, feeling stupid. She hadn't watched films or TV shows since she was little, for her father insisted that she didn't deserve to watch TV. She occasionally overheard programs that he watched but that was about it.

"Oh. It's just a film. Anyway, point is I'm not scared of her because she's pathetic" Becky said with a shrug.

Cassie wasn't sure how this girl could seem so nonchalant, but she couldn't help but feel guilty for all the hate that Becky would receive. However, looking at Becky and seeing determination in her eyes Cassie knew that it wasn't her decision; something told her that this girl wouldn't take no for an answer.

"Okay then" Cassie shrugged, knowing full well that Becky would regret it.

-

Later, that day Cassie was on her way home. She had avoided Becky at lunch but had ended up sitting with her in all four out of five classes that the two had together. Unfortunately, Becky didn't take textiles, so Cassie had Leah to deal with on her own in that one. Cassie was trying to convince herself that she needed to stay away from Becky in order to protect her.

"Cassie" a voice called, causing Cassie to freeze.

"Hey, I thought I'd lost you in the crowd" Becky said, sounding out of breath.

Cassie sighed. "Becky, if people see you hanging out with me, they will be horrible to you"

Becky narrowed her eyes at Cassie "I couldn't care less, and frankly you shouldn't either"

"Sorry, I don't mean to be rude I just don't want you to get hurt" Cassie responded, feeling guilty. She was only warning Becky of the inevitable though.

"I want to be friends with you Cassie"

"Why?" Cassie was exasperated. She hadn't had a friend in a long, long time and she couldn't understand why this girl wanted to be friends with her of all people.

"Because you seem nice"

Cassie rolled her eyes at Becky's stubbornness. Cassie seeming nice was not a good enough reason for Becky to put her reputation at risk. "Well, I'm not" Cassie argued childishly.

"Well then it's a good thing you don't get a say in this isn't it?" Becky retorted with a smirk.

Cassie huffed.

"Are you doing anything now?" Becky asked.

"No why?"

"There's this coffee shop I saw on my way to school, and I've been wanting to go. Maybe we could go now" Becky suggested.

"I don't like coffee and I don't have any money" Cassie deadpanned.

"I'll pay. They do things like hot chocolate and cake and tea too according to the menu in the window. Please, we'll only be out for half an hour at the most. Will your parents be okay with that?"

Cassie froze at the mention of parents. Her dad was most likely either out drinking or passed out on the couch and Cassie suddenly felt no desire to go home.

"Okay let's go to the coffee shop" Cassie said, giving in.