BODYS ; M. MUNROE

PROLOGUE

★彡

THE LIGHT from Cassandra's phone illuminated her tear stained features. For the past ten minutes she'd been staring at the three photos, one video and two texts her sort-of friend, Amelia, had sent her.

will's here. not 'sick' like he said.

Cassandra sniffled, clicking the photos once more, they were poorly lit, but it was obvious it was him, lips attacking another girl, a blonde, his hands at her waist, likely in the midst of pulling her onto his lap.

thought u should kno srry cass :(

The video blinked to life, the fourth time she'd opened it. The music at the party in the video was loud, the flashing strobes obstructing Will's face. 

"Don't you have a girlfriend!" Amelia yelled in the video.

"What? No, she's a frigid bitch, fuck 'er!" Was Wills loud reply, in the background, his friends laughed.

Cassandra blinked, wiping her eyes, realising she was crying again. She opened the side pocket of her coat and dropped her phone in, pulling out a packet of cigarettes, she flicked the top open and sighed once more, contemplating.

"Cassandra~" Mike's somewhat slurred voice rang out behind her, for a moment, she'd forgotten she was at a party herself. Over her shoulder, and back towards the lodge, was Mike; she wasn't sure if he was sauntering or if he was beginning to lose his balance. "Cassandra, what are you doing out here on your lonesome?" He put his hands on his hips, his stance angled both to her side and opposite her.

Her brows pinched, even drunk he still insisted on using her full name. Eager to deflect, she cleared her throat, and folded her arms against herself, tucking the cigarette packet between her arm and side. "What are you doing out here?"

Mike gestured to the untouched snow. "Wanted to write my name."

It took a moment for her to realise what he meant, her nose crinkling in disgust once she had. "Oh, Mike that's so gross." She shook her head, tutting as he dissolved into a fit of laughter. Cassandra turned away, expecting him to not be gentlemanly enough to move further away to do what he wanted, as she did so, she lost her grip on her cigarettes, the packet dropping near her boot. 

Mike's brows shot up, thinking it was her phone, he eagerly reached down and grabbed it, blinking rapidly as he stood up. Seeing they were instead cigarettes, he frowned. "Thought you quit."

"I—" She faced him once more, surprised. "You remember?"

Mike scoffed, taking offence. "I happen to have an eidetic memory, thank you very much." He stepped forward, holding the packet between his index and middle finger; his eyes flickered over her face, noticing the drying tear tracks on her cheeks, the dull redness in her eyes. "Hey, what's going on?"

Briefly, Cassandra closed her eyes. Somehow, Mike was always the one to catch Cassandra at her worst moments. She plucked the packet from his fingers, and ran her thumb over the top of the box.

"If you really must know, about half an hour ago I got a smidge of signal, and received texts from my sort of friend who showed and told me that my boyfriend was cheating on me." Cassandra spoke quickly, embarrassed; her hand clenched the cigarette box tightly.

Mike's brows shot up with surprise and intrigue. "Oh?" He cleared his throat. "Oh... Geez, sorry Cassandra, if it makes you feel better, I always hated the guy." He raised his hands.

"It doesn't." Cassandra mumbled. "Thank you though, I suppose that's as comforting as Mike Munroe gets, hm?"  She laughed humourlessly.

"That's..." Mike blinked, averting his gaze, he scratched the back of his neck.

Cassandra hugged herself, confused with Mike's behaviour, but she chalked it up to being drunk. "Um... Didn't you need to—"

"Michael!" The annoyed voice of Emily cut Cassandra off, he turned to face her, his signature class president smile immediate.

"Heyyy, my little sugar plum." Mike pulled Emily toward him, and Cassandra turned away, feeling as if she was invading their moment, despite being outside first.

Emily scoffed, but her heart wasn't in it, obviously enjoying her boyfriend's affections. "Ugh, you're so gross, anyway, we're ready now — Jess' is writing the note." Emily tilted her head to face Cassandra. "Cass, you coming?"

"Hm?" The girl turned, rubbing her hands on her arms. "What's going on?"

~

EVERYTHING HAD been a blur, and left Cassandra feeling sick. Hannah running out the bedroom in horror as her friends snickered, slowly revealing themselves to her, had left a bad taste in Cassandra's mouth. How could it not? She was in that very room too, not knowing what was happening until it was too late.

Cassandra's mouth fell open, her hand quickly covering it, she looked around at the group, and found Mike already looking at her; Cassandra averted her gaze, her eyes meeting Sam's, who had walked in right after the damage had been done. The two girls were the first to leave the bedroom, they ran after Hannah and outside of the lodge.

"Hannah! Hannah?" Sam cupped her hands over her mouth, yelling out into the trees, Cassandra was behind her, the rest of the group, aside from Josh and Chris, following shortly after.

Beth pushed past the group, shuffling forward until she was at the front. She looked over her shoulder, the quickly covering steps of Hannah's sprint her only clue something was wrong. "What's going on? Where's my sister going?"

Cassandra crossed her arms, her eyes met Mike's once more, who opened his mouth to say something to her but she turned away, hugging herself tighter.

"It's fine... She just can't take a joke." Tutted Jess, waving the situation off entirely.

Emily placed a hand on her hip. "It was just a prank, Han!"

"You guys are jerks!" Beth squinted at the group, turning, she quickly ran after her sister, her figure getting confused by the flurry of snow.

Mike sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Should we go after her?"

"Y'know Mike, I think you're the last person she'd want to see right now." Sam turned to look at him, slightly glaring.

Cassandra shook her head, frowning. "I don't blame her." She kept her eyes fixed on her boots, aware Mike was looking at from her peripheral. "We should just... Wait here until they get back."