Surviving - Rewritten

Chapter Twenty Six - I'll Stand By You

Rebecca Taylor

Becky smiled as she woke up the following Monday. She had a wonderful weekend with Stefan yet again and with her family as well. Everything seemed to be so much better now.

However, she realized that she had slightly neglected Cassie in the last few weeks, and she had turned down the invitations to coffee after school. With that in mind, she went into school looking for Cassie.

"There you are" someone said, making her jump out of her skin.

Becky turned around to see Blaise and scowled. She knew that for some reason her and Cassie were sort of friends, but she still didn't like Blaise. At all. "What do you want?"

Blaise rolled her eyes at Becky's attitude. "I'm just letting you know that you should pay more attention to Cassie. Your boyfriend isn't the only person in the world you know"

"And why would I take any advice from you of all people?"

"Look, I don't like you any more than you like me. However, we both are friends with Cassie now so lets just try and get along, okay? I really don't care enough about you to start drama about it"

Becky sighed "where was she heading last time you saw her?"

"The library"

Becky muttered a thanks and went off in search for Cassie. When she found her, she was sat in a corner reading a book. "I've been looking for you"

Cassie looked up and gave her a weak smile. It was only then that Becky noticed the dark circles under her eyes. "Oh, sorry. I just got to school a bit early and thought that I'd read a little bit before lessons start"

"It's okay. Shall we walk to form group together?" Becky suggested hopefully.

Cassie stood up and smiled at Becky. "Yeah. So how are things going with you and Stefan? I feel like we barely see each other anymore"

"They are okay. I'm really sorry that we haven't been hanging out as much lately Cassie, I do love you like a sister, I've just been so caught up in everything and I'm a terrible friend and-

"Don't" Cassie interrupted with a frown. "You're a great friend and you always have been. I was feeling a little rejected but, I get it. You liked Stefan for ages and its understandable to want to spend time with him. And now that things are better with your family, I get wanting to spend time with them too"

"But I want to spend time with you as well, and I'm sorry if I've not made that clear Cassie. I was wondering if you wanted to go to that café after school? And I'll buy you cake to make it up to you? Blaise can even come if you really want"

Cassie laughed as Becky said the last bit with a groan. "Don't worry. It would be nice if we could all be friends though, maybe we could all go shopping together on Saturday. Oh, and we could invite Leah as well."

Becky frowned at that thought in disgust; she didn't have a very high opinion of Blaise or Leah. However, she knew that Cassie was becoming friends with Blaise so she should try and be supportive. At least she would be spending time with Cassie on her own at the café. As for the weekend, only time would tell how disastrous that would be.

"Okay" she agreed with a sigh.

-

Becky sat at the café nervously picking at her cake whilst Cassie ate hers with a wide smile. Becky felt uncomfortable eating in front of people, and as much as she knew Cassie was too excited eating her own food to pay attention, she still felt anxious.

Still though, she made sure to eat it all for it was nice and she was trying not to feel as guilty eating. She had started therapy now and although it was a long process, she was starting to change the way she thought about eating.

"How are the anti-depressants going?" Becky asked, trying to stop thinking about how many calories the cake had. She realized that she hadn't actually asked yet how they were going.

"Um, it's a bit up and down. Some days I feel great, other days not so much" Cassie muttered, her grin disappearing.

"What do you mean? Are they not working?"

"No, its not that. They supposedly get better before they get worse and to be honest, they have already helped stop the nightmares. Everything I'm experiencing are apparently common side effects"

"Oh. Sorry, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to" Becky told her, feeling bad for intruding. Honestly, she didn't know much about anti-depressants and part of her had thought they would just help Cassie get better straight away. Now though, she realized that things weren't so simple.

"How have you been doing since everything happened?" Cassie asked, promptly changing the subject.

"Okay, I guess. I started therapy so that's been interesting and part of why I've been so busy. Some sessions aren't so bad, but some are really depressing"

"I'm sorry, I'm starting to realize that its never really as simple as it should be. But we're trying, aren't we? That must count for something"

"Yeah. I think it's important to remember that a lot of people do things in baby steps. Things won't get better overnight, but they will get better. And, we have already made those steps to start so we must be closer to having good mental health then we were before, right?" Becky asked, feeling hopeful. She felt bad that she hadn't talked to Cassie as much recently, but she was glad that they were both starting to get the support they needed, even if they still had a long way to go.

"You're right. I think sometimes it's so easy to convince yourself that it gets better overnight because when you think of how far you have to go it seems hopeless. But we've started making steps, haven't we? And at one point, that seemed hopeless too"

"Definitely. And we have each other, too. I know I've been caught up in my life a bit recently and I'm sorry for that but if you ever need me, just say and I'll be there as soon as I can. I'll always be there for you" Becky smiled. Cassie really had become her sister in the few months that they had known each other, and she would do anything for her.

Cassie smiled back "likewise. Now, enough of all this mental health talk, would you judge me if I bought more cake?" she asked seriously, causing Becky to laugh and think of how grateful she was that she had met Cassie.