Chaos In The Flesh

Chapter 14

Beep. Beep. Beep. Anomaly detected. Section 8212 392025.

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"Wake up, Blondie. Lunch is over."

Cassie groaned and kicked Tim, who was sitting across from her at the lunch table. She could hear his hiss of pain and felt the toe of his shoe collide with her ankle. She tried to kick him back but felt the hard aluminum seat instead.

The cafeteria was bustling with energy as students were packing away their lunches and getting ready to move to their last two classes of the day.

Cassie picked up her head and pried her eyes apart. She had taken a forty minute nap instead of eating. That decision was going to kick her ass later, but if she didn't take that nap, she may have gone straight home and gone to bed instead of doing everything that she would need to get done.

"Already?"

"Well, maybe if you slept last night instead of last minute studying because you took a sparring class earlier in the day, you wouldn't be so tired." Sarah said, poking her back. She wore a bitter scowl like a fresh face of makeup. "C'mon. Let's go."

Cassie unwillingly stood up and heaved her backpack on her back. As she stood up, Anasi rushed over with a pained expression.

"Cass, I'm going to need your help at the football game on Friday night." Anasi kept her pace as she explained, "Mary-Grace said she promised to help out at the bake sale at the game, but she just dropped out. It's only going to be me and Sarah, but I honestly don't think–"

"I'll be there, Anasi." Cassie said, looking down at the bubbly ray of sunshine. Someone from across the hall yelled hello and Cassie waved back towards them, but she didn't break away from Anasi. "Anything you need me to bring or pick up?"

Anasi visibly relaxed as her shoulders dropped. With a little reassurance, all the tension in her body disappeared. "No, everything is in the cafeteria kitchen and the money is with the advisor. Just show up around 6pm to help set up. Thank you soo soo soo much!"

She waved goodbye as she went down another hall to her next class. Sarah had already disappeared from the group, going to one of her music classes on the opposite side of the school. Tim was the only one remaining with her, and that made sense because they shared health class.

"Were you planning on going to the game?" He asked as they walked towards their classroom. Cassie gave someone a high five and waved to another person before answering.

"I was actually planning on going out to dinner with my mom. We haven't had much time together because of her research and my schoolwork." She quickly said. Some girl ran up to her and gave her a quick hug, saying something about a book club meeting time before running off down the hall again.

"You should have told Anasi that and gone out with your mom instead." Tim reprimanded. "Your life doesn't need to revolve around your friends."

Cassie rolled her eyes. "Thanks for the advice. I'll put that in between the "already heard before" and "useless" folders in my brain cabinet."

Tim made a face. "I'm trying to look after my friend, but with your attitude, might as well let you crash and burn to learn your lesson."

They paused in front of their classroom and stood next to some of the other students who were on their phones. As Cassie began to strike up a conversation with one of the cheerleaders, Tim stood right next to her, quietly observing how quickly Cassie was willing to move on from their conversation.

A defense mechanism. Tim concluded.

As their teacher walked towards the classroom, Cassie broke away from her friend and whispered to Tim, "Mom would've blown me off anyway because of work anyway."