This is Me Trying ⭑ Rafe Cameron

ten

CHAPTER TEN
[10]
song: culling by fein

Kiara found Cassie first, quickly catching up with her after second period. Cassie had made a quick escape to the door the moment the bell rang, hoping to avoid any conversation during passing period. But to no avail as Kiara latched onto her arm.

"Yo," she starts, slightly confused by Cassie's urgency. She tries to read her face for a moment before she continued on, their classmates flooding into the hall past them. "We tried to pick you up this morning but your grandma said you'd already left."

Cassie clenched her jaw, looking around the hallway for some excuse to pull her from this conversation. "Yeah, I had to get here early today." She says quietly, readjusting her bag on her shoulder.

Catching glance of John B, Pope and JJ, who came out of a classroom down the hall, Cassie felt the urge to curl into a ball and hide, knowing her next period was spent with all of them collectively.

"I'm going to the bathroom." She says quickly, not giving Kiara the chance to get another word in before the blonde had turned on her heel to leave. Cassie shoved open the heavy door, almost knocking over a girl who was on her way out. "Sorry." She mumbled, walking over to the farthest stall.

She stepped inside, locked it quickly behind her, and leaned against the wall to attempt a deep breath. There was nothing more humiliating than crying at school, and she promised herself the night before she'd get it all out then so she wouldn't do it now. But seeing her friends, or who she thought were her friends— made it quite difficult.

She really did try not to let her mind go to the darkest places. She tried to push down the thoughts of betrayal, and hurt, but it was impossible when she was already having these thoughts before she'd found out the truth. These thoughts that she wasn't really a Pogue; she'd already joined the group late, and on top of that, missed a year with them— a year in which lots of dramatic, life-changing events took place.

She was out of place. She always had been. And her brother sending her way because no one knew how to deal with her, was just confirmation in that.

She shuffled through her bag, searching for a mint, or a piece of candy, or gum, anything that would replicate the feeling of a pill as she felt those urges slowly crawling back into her routine.

When she'd found nothing, she came back out of the stall, texted a girl, Aubri, she knew who usually had something— even if it was just weed— and told her to meet her here. Aubri'd only sold to Cassie a few times. Before she left, Cassie always bought from Barry, which was her first of many mistakes. But he was cheaper, and that's who everyone in the county bought from.

Aubri, wasn't, technically a dealer. She just did drugs. And if she felt like it, she shared them.

The final bell was ringing when Aubri finally came into the bathroom. Cassie leaned up from the wall and put her phone away, nodding in the girl's direction. "Hey." She greeted her, awkward, ashamed.

Aubri eyed her suspiciously. "What do you want?" It sounded rude if you were to listen in with zero context, but she was genuinely just asking the question.

Cassie took a breath, thinking. "Um, what do you have?"

Aubri glanced under the stall doors to ensure there was no one else in here. "I've got like an eighth on me right now, and a few gummies but that's it." She says, reaching into her backpack to pull them out.