To Be a Princess

→chapter eight

After it had become apparent that Autumn Town has been terrorized by an unknown force, the students had been rushed back to the school amid the chaos of the explosion. Everyone was abuzz with curiosity and confusion, the culprit of the explosion still unknown. 

"Who in their right mind would destroy such a nice fountain," May grumbled. A few days had passed, and although the initial shock had worn off, but that didn't stop her from bringing the topic up repeatedly. 

"Maybe they could piece the broken parts back together?" Ophelia said, trying to cheer her friend up.

"I wish. But some parts were probably lost or too small. It would be impossible."

"Do you think they'll find who did it?"

"If they don't, I'll find them myself and give them a piece of my mind. I've wanted to see it my entire life but never got the time to, but the first time I see it, it's blown into pieces."

As the two returned to the homework they had been procrastinating, Ophelia's thoughts quickly wandered to other things. 

"Penny for your thoughts?" May asked.

"What?" she replied quickly, snapped out of her thoughts. 

"You spaced out. You haven't touched your maths worksheet at all."

"Oh, sorry. I was just thinking about Cassie. She hasn't been in classes at all since the trip to Autumn Town. I'm kinda worried about her."

"Relax, she's probably just bunking off."

"Yeah, but still. I want to check up on her. I haven't seen her leave her room at all."

"Then just go check on her. What's stopping you?"

"Did you forget she hates me? If I just stroll in she'll tell me to go away."

"Bake her something. No one can turn down something sweet, hate or not." 

"You're a genius, May!" Ophelia stood up and rushed out of her room.

"I was half joking, but alright then," her friend smiled, returning to her homework."

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After having decided to bake cookies for Cassie, Ophelia rushed out of her dorm and started making her way to the school kitchens to borrow some ingredients. On the way there though, she bumped into Bianca.

"Oh, hello. Ophelia, was it?"

"Yeah."

"Where are you rushing off to? Someone would think there was a murderer chasing you," she joked, smiling at her.

"I'm just making my way to the kitchens to borrow some stuff. I'm going to bake Cassie some cookies to cheer her up."

Bianca's face brightened at this. "That's an excellent idea! And it's so thoughtful of you, after all, she's been a bit under the weather recently."

"It's a peace offering since we're not on the best of terms."

"Yes, I've noticed, it's a shame. You two look like you could get along well if you got over your differences. I'll tell you what. Her favourite dessert is blueberry muffins. She'll warm up to you instantly if you make her those."

"Thank you, Bianca, you're actually the best."

"There's no need. I just hope it works out for you two," she smiled, before walking away. 

She made a mental note to save a muffin or two for Bianca afterwards as a token of her thanks. Once she was in the kitchens, she was given permission from the head chef to look in the store cupboard for all the ingredients that she needed, before making her way back to her dorm.

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Two hours later, she had a steaming batch of muffins ready to served to Cassie.

"Those smell heavenly," May said, trying to snatch a muffin for herself.

Opi swatted her away quickly, "Hands off. These are for Cassie. You can have some later if she leaves any." May stuck her tongue out at her before jumping onto one of the sofas in the living room area.

"Have fun getting Freckles to stop hating you."

"Well it's not like giving her muffins will make her hate me more."

"You never know," May chimed in.

"Actually, I do. Bianca said that blueberry muffins are her favourite, so she'll at least thank me."

"Good luck then."

Ophelia made her way across the living room and walked towards Cassie's room. Knocking on the door, she waited for a response. To her surprise, the door was opened by Leo.

"You're not Cassie."

"Woah, how could you tell," Leo laughed.

"Sorry, I meant, is Cassie here?"

"Yeah, she's over there listening to music. Do you need her for something?"

"I made muffins for her to cheer her up. She hasn't left her room in a while, so I thought she might be feeling a bit down. You can have one too if you want."

"You're actually an angel. I love muffins." He took one from the tray, and before he stuffed his mouth with it, he shouted, "HEY, CASSIE, OPHELIA MADE MUFFINS FOR US SO GET YOUR BUTT OFF THE BED AND GO THANK HER."

Ophelia snorted as she watched Cassie give a pure look of annoyance in Leo's direction, before taking her headphones off and walking to the door.

"What do you need?" she sighed.

"I made you muffins."

"I'm not really in the mood for any. Why did you bother anyway?"

"I just wanted to make sure that you're okay. You haven't been in lessons at all these days."

"I'm fine, just going through some personal stuff," she shook her head. "If that's all, I think I'd like to close my door."

"Wait. Sorry. I also wanted to say sorry for all the mistakes I've made recently around you. I really didn't mean them. I just really wanted to be your friend. But of course, I'm not trying to force you or anything. If you don't want it I'm completely fine with that. Just know that I really am sorry," she said, giving Cassie an apologetic look.

"Thanks, I guess. You can keep the rest of the muffins unless Leo wants some. Leo, do you want any more?" she called.

However, he didn't reply. "Leo?"

She turned around, only to find him leaning against the wall in a weird manner, breathing heavily, and Ophelia noticed that his skin looked red and swollen.

"Are you okay?"

"Don't... eat the muffins."

"Hey, Leo, what the hell?! What happened?" She turned to Ophelia, panicking. "What did you put in those muffins?"

"Uh, blueberries?" she replied worriedly.

"You idiot! We're both allergic to blueberries!" She shouted. The plate of muffins dropped out of Ophelia's hands, the remainder of the muffins scattering across the floorboards.

What? Ophelia thought to herself. That can't be right. Bianca said that they were Cassie's favourite. Was she mistaken?

"Don't just stand there! There's an EpiPen on the first draw on the left of my desk. I think he's going into anaphylactic shock, hurry up!"

She rushed to the desk and searched around in the draw, her hands shaking. After finding it she quickly handed it to Cassie, who wasted no time in jabbing it into his thigh.

"Get out," she whispered.

"I'm sorry. I really didn't know."

"Just get out. Get a teacher. I really don't want to look at you right now."

With that, she ran out of the door, guilt washing over her. Her plans to cheer up Cassie had completely and utterly failed.