Perfection (Kai Smith x OC)

Chapter One

Cassie got to school and ran to her friends. She had two groups of friends. Her regular friends and her ninja friends. Right now, she was with her ninja friends.

"The worst villian we've ever faced must be Morro," one of them said.

"No way! It was definitely Chen!" someone else laughed.

"What do you think, Cassie?" Kai asked.

Cassie pretended to think. "You know when Lloyd was stealing candy instead of being the green ninja?" Everyone nodded. "That's got to be the worst villian we've ever faced," Cassie joked.

That's when a group of cheerleaders came up to the ninja.

"Can you help me with my homework, Cassie? I didn't understand it, and you're so smart," someone asked.

"Yeah, and can you help me memorize my lines for the play? I forgot them," another begged.

"You only have one line," Cassie reminded her.

"I just can't remember it!"

"Kai, want to go on a date?"

"Cassie, what's the square root of x squared?"

"Isn't pi 12.786?"

"Kai, date me!"

"Help me, Cassie!"

"No, help me!"

"Help me!"

"Stop!" Cassie screamed, putting her hands up. "I can't breathe with all your complaints. Stacy, Bella, use a calculator. Fiona, your line is 'Oh no, it's Maleficent!!' Keri, I'll help you with the homework during lunch. Everyone happy?"

Everyone nodded except four girls who were all fawning over an uncomfortable looking Kai.

"Date me! I'm smart!"

"I'm prettier. Date me!" a girl yelled. She grabbed ahold of Kai's bright red shirt and wouldn't let go.

"I'm the richest! Date me!"

The cheer captain, Lacy, pulled two of them away. "You guys are all so immature," she snapped, before dropping the girls and walking away. All of her fellow cheerleaders ran after her.

Cassie pinched the bridge of her nose. "Some of those girls really give me a headache."

Kai sighed. "Yeah."

"It's so weird that people ask you out and you complain about it," Jay said.

"Well, I don't like them," Kai explained.

"So, you do like someone?" Nya asked her brother teasingly.

"Of course not!" Kai yelled, way too quickly.

"Your face is more red than your shirt," Cassie laughed. All the ninja joined in.

"Who do you have a crush on, Kai?" Lloyd teased in a sing-song voice.

"Nobody!" Kai snapped. "I don't have a crush on anybody!"

Cassie laughed. "Yeah right. We're your friends, you can tell us."

"At least tell me, I'm your sister," Nya begged.

"We defeated so many villains together, we will always be here for you," Jay said.

"We could help you get your crush," Cole said.

"But we have to know who it is first," Cassie pointed out

"We are the ninjas, we can do-" Lloyd suddenly stopped, noticing something behind Cassie. Cassie spun around.

"Daphne!" Cassie yelled. She and Daphne hugged. "How's it going? I thought you were on vacation with your family."

"We were, but we just got back," Daphne said.

Cassie smiled. "Good to see you again."

"Were you guys talking about . . . ninjas?" Daphne asked. "Because I could've sworn I heard you say that you were the ninjas."

Lloyd quickly came up with an excuse. "It's for Halloween. We're going to dress up as the ninja."

"Yeah, I'm going to be the purple ninja," Cassie said.

"Oh . . . I thought we were going to dress up together for Halloween," Daphne said sadly.

"We were?" Cassie asked.

Daphne nodded.

"Well . . . we can do it next year," Cassie said.

"That's what you said last year," Daphne mumbled, but nobody else heard her. In fact, they were all pretty much ignoring her.

"So, tell us, Kai, who's your crush?" Jay smirked.

"Selena Gomez?" Lloyd laughed.

"That was one time, five years ago! Let it go!" Kai said, trying to suppress a smile.

"Let's be more realistic," Cole decided.

"How about Cassie?" Nya smiled. "You got a crush on her?"

"Of course not!" Kai said, just a bit too quickly.

Nya laughed. "You're blushing again!"

"Shut up!" Kai rolled his eyes.

Everyone laughed, even Kai.

Daphne sighed. Ever since Cassie had started hanging out with Kai, Nya, Lloyd, Jay, Zane, and Cole in ninth grade, she had been ignoring Daphne more and more. It had started when she paired with Nya on a project instead of her. Then Cassie wanted to go to the Smith's house over winter break instead of her house. Then she didn't text Daphne at all when she was on vacation. Daphne was used to everyone wanting to be around Cassie - who wouldn't want to hang around perfection? - but normally Cassie would rather be with Daphne. At least Nya wasn't in the play, so they could bond over that. Daphne was playing Fauna and Cassie was, of course, playing Aurora.

Cassie smiled. "I heard that there is going to be a group project on Ms. Hale's class. Groups of three."

Nya, Cole, and Jay linked hands. "I hope we get to choose our groups," Jay said.

Lloyd frowned. "I'm not in Ms. Hale's class."

"Me neither," Zane said.

"Well, I guess we'll have to find someone to be in our group," Cassie told Kai.

"How about your best friend?" Daphne asked, a tiny bit of bitterness seeping through. "I understand that you're perfect and that everyone wants to be around you, but maybe you could hang out with your 'best friend' for a day. Would that kill you?"

Cassie's mouth fell open. "Daphne, I'm so sorry. I didn't realize you felt that way. I've been dealing with a lot and-"

"I don't want to hear your excuses!" Daphne snapped. She turned around. She knew, right then, right there, that she was getting revenge on Ms. Perfect.

Cassie ran after Daphne, but eventually stopped, realizing that it was useless.

Cassie really had been going through a lot. Her mother had cheated on her father. They were getting divorced and both parents wanted custody of her. Neither of her parents were all that nice, so she sort of wished she could be with neither. She had been putting on a happy exterior, but on the inside, her whole life was falling apart. A tear fell down her cheek, but she wiped it away and put a smile on her face.

But that was okay. She was Cassidy Lockhart, she could handle anything.