Friends, Foes and War

࣪𖤐 Y3 | 6 . White Tulips

➵ 1 STEP FORWARD, 3 STEPS BACK —OLIVIA RODRIGO
'Cause it's always one step forward, and three steps back.'

The following Friday after practice, Cassie showers and chucks her pyjamas on. She had told her friends about her parentage the day after she found out, not being able to keep it a secret from them. Enzo was the first to hug her, then it ended up as a giant, messy group hug. Cassie's grateful to have her friends at times like those.

Since that day, they've done their best to distract her and take her mind off it, and she must say, it's helped.

Cassie heads up to the common room after Pansy asks her to braid her hair. Enzo is chatting away to Blaise before he notices Cassie. "Hiya." she smiles, approaching the boys.

"Oh, hi! How was practice?" Enzo asks.

"Good— Flint was being a cunt though, wasn't he Blaise?" Cassie sighs.

"Fuck me don't even get me started." Blaise groans.

"I'm not even joking when I say this, Enz. He was mid-way of telling us what we were doing and then he just walked off cause a girl was shouting his name. I ended up having to do the whole thing by myself." Cassie explains.

"I think you'd make a brilliant captain, Cass. You're the natural-born-leader type." Blaise comments.

Cassie smiles, "Really?"

"Hell yeah." Blaise grins.

"Are we gonna go down to the library?" Enzo asks, changing the subject in his own subtle way.

"Oh yeah. I just need to grab a jumper." she says, about to turn on her heel when Enzo interrupts.

"Here, borrow mine." he says. "Saves you going all the way down to your dorm again." he adds, trying to save himself.

Blaise gives Enzo a look— almost a smirk. Cassie narrows her eyebrows but stops when Enzo lifts his jumper over his head. Admittedly, Cassie's gaze flickers down to where his shirt slightly lifts up with the jumper. She forces herself not to make eye contact when he gives her the jumper with a smile.

It's a plain, grey jumper, yet it feels so special. The familiar vanilla scent of Lorenzo Berkshire makes Cassie feel at home. She resists the smile on her lips as she tugs the sleeves down her arms.

Enzo notices this, and smiles even more. "Come on, then. We'll see you later, Blaise."

"Yeah, see you." Blaise says with a wink.

As they walk through the stone corridors, Enzo holds him arm out and Cassie takes it, gratefully. "You spoken to Ced recently?" Enzo asks.

Cassie sighs, "Not really, if I'm honest. I think he needs space at the moment, so I'll give him space. I know him, he'll talk to me when he's ready."

Enzo nods, "As long as you're okay, yeah?"

"I'm fine." she confirms. "He'll come around. It's a lot to take in, all this. It's bound to be hard on our relationship, isn't it?"

"Yeah, I couldn't imagine it'd be easy to handle."

"I just hope he realises that I'm not giving up on him or our bond, y'know? I need him to know I'm not going anywhere, and I'll always be his sister."

"He knows, Cassie. He knows."

When they get to the library, the pair find an empty table by the window and find some books. Cassie already started the essay with Cedric on Tuesday, so she has a head-start. But of course, Enzo copies half of it.

As he's writing, Cassie takes notice of his eyes. He may of been tired, but his eyes were still glistening as always. Cassie wonders if they ever stop glistening.