For A Brief Moment

Chapter 32: She Knows

"Cassie," Chrissy spoke softly to her, understanding the anger that was not clear to the others. "Buttercup, what are you talking about?"

"A whitey," Cassie began, "Which Josh was so kindly going to explain to me last night before Greg interrupted, is what people refer to when someone is about to vomit or faint, as a direct effect of drugs, such as weed, or cannabis," she continued, educating them on something they were all clearly aware of. "Mix some alcohol in with that, and then you're in for a good night of vomit and hot flushes," she proudly spoke as she continued to take small bites of her food.

"Who brought drugs to my party," Sebastian angrily asked as he looked over the table, receiving an unamused look from Cassie.

"You tell me, Sebastian," she began, as he fell silent in his seat. "You see, me and Chrissy came down to the party around twenty minutes after the beer arrived. So either you are a lightweight who gets drunk after twenty minutes, or you had allowed yourself to have some substances beforehand." Cassie was a smart girl and once her puzzle began to piece together, it didn't stop until she had the full picture, using her walk not only to clear her mind of Brody but to focus on something that was troubling her, evaluating every interaction she could. "Now I must admit, you are very good at covering things up, such as the smell of weed, much better than let's say Greg or Josh over here," she began to lay the picture out for all of them, not one person wanting to argue whilst she handed them a thorough debate. "But after a few drinks, you slip and when I was holding Elijah's hair back as he threw up, you were more than happy to give him some clothes, not even drunk you would do," she was good, very good. "Unless," she turned round to Elijah, "Elijah dealt you the drugs and you wanted to show your thanks, without money being a matter." Elijah's face dropped, she was reading them all like a book, and hearing Jaxen laugh across from her, caused her attention to change. "Okay Jaxen, like your such a golden boy," she continued, "you wouldn't be caught dead sitting at breakfast with Montgomery unless you too got drugs off of him." Chrissy looked between the two that sat on either side of her, her grip realising from Cassie's. She was about to speak before Cassie looked her in the eyes. "Of course, as I said, you wouldn't be caught dead, so although your drugs were from Elijah, you didn't get them from him," she paused, her eyes almost watering as she continued, "Chrissy did."

They sat in silence, all ashamed of their actions and secret-keeping that they had all played a part in, in one way or another. Cassie took another bit of her pancake before dropping her fork to the plate, it clattering causing everyone to look up at her again. "I may like to look for the best in people, but it doesn't mean you get to lie." With that, she stood from her seat, picking up her plate, walking over to the sink, ready to wash it up.

"Cassie, I'm so sorry," Chrissy began.

"We didn't want to ruin your view on anyone," Sebastian added.

"We just wanted to protect you," Elijah added. She had heard that a lot recently, protect, safety, they had all said it to her at some point or another, but meaning it, that's another story.

"Not telling me something, isn't protecting me," she spoke harshly, not looking away from her plate that she was gently cleaning.

"We just wanted," Sebastian tried to speak but his words faltered.

"I'm not angry," she broke, turning to look at them all, analysing all their faces, her eyes resting on Elijah last. "I'm just a little upset, that's all."

"Like disappointed?" Max questioned.

"Yeah," she offered over to him; out of everyone at the table, Max was the only one who hadn't lied or offended her, even Dylan had hurt her with his words in the past, and lied. "Just a little disappointed." She spoke, sad and unsure before looking over at them all, seeing Chrissy on the verge of tears, caused a single tear to fall from her eye and slowly run down her cheek, she never wanted to hurt them, causing her face to light up as she wiped the tear from her cheek, a smile stretching across her face, "But nothing that good old pancakes can't fix, am I right?"