The Heroes of London

Chapter 1- The Beginning

Cassandra's PoV

I sighed as I sat at my desk, watching the clock tick slowly. I tapped my finger on the wood wishing class would end. I looked away from the clock and at the other students in my class. There was the group of popular girls, sitting closely together, whispering among themselves snickering as who knows what. I rolled my eyes and looked next to them. The rugby and lacrosse players, each one dating one of the popular girls. Not really dating - at least to me. Every single one of them were cheating on each other with a different member of the group. My eyes trailed to three other students, the last three in the room besides myself. They were the nice ones of the class, helping one another, laughing, and doing other things that friends do. I frowned at them, averting my gaze back to my desk.
           I grabbed my pencil, flipping to a random page in my notebook. I scribbled some circles on the page along with a few other doodles until the bell finally rang. I slammed the book shut and shoved it into my bag. I threw said bag over my shoulder and walked out of class.
           As I walked through the halls everyone stepped aside, letting me through. They were scared of me. I bit the inside of my cheek as I headed to my locker. My slender fingers turned the lock to the correct numbers. 23,1,42. I opened the metal door, placing my backpack inside and grabbing a smaller one. I closed it much harsher than intended causing it to shake the few lockers beside it. I sighed, shaking my head, before walking out the school building and towards the parking lot.
         My car was one that stuck out like a sore thumb, in between all the older, cheaper cars in the lot. The blue BMW shining in the afternoon sun. The car beeped as I unlocked it. As I sat in the driver's seat, I placed my head on the wheel, sighing. I stayed like that for a few minutes before starting the car and driving off to the church for the weekly crochet club meeting.
            Granted, all the members were elderly women, but I did not mind. They understood me, always putting a smile on my face. I pulled into the church parking lot, parking beside a grey Chevy. I reached in the backseat for a ball of yarn with an unfinished scarf attached.
I entered the old building heading towards a classroom filled with laughter and the scent of roses. A smile came across my face upon seeing the women I was quite fond of. I sat beside Lucy, who was the grandma of Jacklynn, my only real teenage friend. Lucy had greyish, white hair. Her face was full of wrinkles, but the more noticeable ones were her laugh lines and the crinkles by her eyes.
Lucy looked up from her project as the chair squeaked under me.
        "Cassandra dear. Welcome," She greeted me.
        I gave Lucy a sweet, tired smile, "Thank you Lucy, it's nice to see you."
She smiled at me before starting her project back. "Tell me how school was, did anything exciting happen?"
I frowned and shook my head, starting on my scarf,"School was the same as always. Everyone avoiding me." I sighed, placing the yarn in my lap and looking at Lucy. "I don't get it."
Lucy gave me a soft smile, placing a hand on my shoulder, "Give it some time sweetheart, they'll come around."  I hummed in response, unsure if they would. Lucy took her hand off of me, starting once again on her sweater. I looked away from her, continuing on with my scarf.
Around 30 minutes later Lucy looked down at her sparkly watch."Oh my," She chuckled. "Cassandra,love, would you be a dear and get Jackie from her cross country meet? I have to run and grab some supper."
        I blinked at Lucy for a moment before nodding my head,"Yea I don't mind"
I gave Lucy a sweet smile before grabbing my things and heading out to my car. I placed the almost finished scarf in the backseat, moving some things from the passenger seat to the back as well before taking off to the school.
I sat in the park's parking lot drumming my finger on the steering wheel to the beat of the song I was currently listening to. I saw Jacklynn walk over, waving goodbye to a group of her friends. Jacklynn had her soft, blonde hair tied into a ponytail. Her hazel eyes gleaming with happiness. I watched as she sat in the seat beside me before driving off to her grandmother's house.
The car stayed silent as I drove. I bit the corner of my lip picking the skin off. I inhaled deeply before glancing over at Jacklynn.
"So," I paused, clearing my throat. "How was the meet?" Jacklynn looked over at me with a soft smile. I couldn't help a small smirk appear on my face as she smiled. To me Jacklynn radiated happiness. I always seemed to smile around her once we started speaking.
"It was great," She replied, a bigger smile on her face. "I beat everyone by a minute or so. And Coach brought my favourite water. " She held up a near empty bottle of water.
"Congrats, man," I tossed her a quick smile, returning my eyes to the road. I handed her my phone with Spots pulled open. "Why don't you pick some music for the rest of the drive?"
Jacklynn grabbed my phone and scrolled through my playlists before deciding on one. An Arctic Monkeys song started playing. I nodded at her choice. I glanced over at her noticing movement in my peripheral vision. I saw her shimming her shoulders dancing to the song. The corners of my mouth lifted slightly. I bobbed my head to the song, humming the lyrics.
I pulled up to the door of Lucy's house, dropping Jacklynn off. I waved goodbye to her as she shut the door to my car. I watched as she walked around to the drivers side stopping in front of my door. I rolled my window, giving her a confused look.
     "Did you forget something?" I glanced in the passenger seat and saw it was empty.
Jacklynn shook her head, smiling,"Nope! I was wondering if you wanted to come have dinner with me and Mimi."
           I was about to reply when my phone chimed. I glanced down at the glowing screen and saw a text from my father.