Tangled Fates

chapter three.

C A S S I A

Lunch comes around and I meet up with Liliana and Soleil. We sit at our designated lunch table and briefly explain how our day has gone so far.

"Ugh, I cannot believe that Mr. Nicholas quit. Now I have to actually participate in gym class or I'll fail." Liliana says, sitting vertically from me and putting her bag on the table. "It can't be that bad now. Who is the new teacher anyway?" I put a french fry in my mouth.

"Some middle-aged lady. When I had her class, she was going on and on about how the youth must be active and in shape. It's ironic, to say the least, have you seen her body? Shit is botched." Liliana responds. I raise my eyebrows in shock. "Wow...okay," I say as I chuckle surprised at her feelings toward the new gym teacher.

"S'cuse me, are you Soleil?" A voice says, making Sol look up from her phone. "Yeah, I am.." She trails off, replying to Matteo, one of Lorenzo's friends. "You were in Ms. Gardner's class, right?" He asks, holding a notebook up that I'm assuming is Soleil's. She nods in response and looks at the notebook reading the name on it. "Oh, that's mine. Thank you...Matteo is it?" She questions, looking at him. He nods, pursing his lips together. "No problem." He responds, as he walks away and to his friend group where they're all staring and patting him on the back when he returns.

The rest of the lunch period flies by, and I'm seated in Biology class, waiting for the teacher to enter.

Unfortunately, I don't have this class with either of my friends and people have already found their seats close to or next to theirs. The seat next to me is empty but I don't mind. The teacher enters and begins her lesson.

"Good afternoon, students. If you're new here or you haven't had my class before, my name is Mrs. Cherith and I will be your biology teacher for this school year. I also want everyone to keep in mind that this class has mixed grades, so everyone might not be on the same level-"

*door creaks*

I hear the door open so I turn my head to see who's entered. You've gotta be kidding me.

"Ah, Lorenzo! How are you, my dear?" The teacher exclaims. Why is she so excited to see him? And is she not going to mention that he is almost 15 minutes late to class?

"Mrs. Cherith. Good afternoon." He says, walking towards her with his hands in his pockets. "Sorry for the lateness, I got confused with my schedule." He continues, smiling at her and making steady eye contact.

"No worries. If you may, have a seat. There should be one right near.." she trails off, looking for an empty seat.

Please don't look here.

Please. Don't look here.

"Ms. Williams." She turns back to him and smiles brightly. He looks towards me, the corner of his mouth quirking up. "Great. Thank you, Miss," he says, touching her lower back and once again - flashing a smile.

Kill me now.

He strides towards me, with his backpack slung across one shoulder. Once he finally arrives, he shrugs off his varsity jacket and I look at the way his biceps flex as he throws it to the side and sits down. "Williams." He calmly says as he leans back in the chair and manspreads. Ew. What a disgusting sight.

I look at him and roll my eyes. He isn't even worth my attention, so I'll just act like he doesn't exist. Plus, it's only for today, right? Tomorrow he'll know better than to sit next to me. I open my notebook and write my heading to try and distract myself. But it isn't working. I feel a set of eyes just peering into my soul. What is he playing at?

I turn towards him and take a deep breath. "What." I say. 

"..Nothing just, you look different." He gestures to my face, and then to my hair. Tilting his head, he runs his eyes across my face.

"Are you done?" I reply. Why is he even speaking to me? Junior year we had no classes together, and the only time I saw him was in the hallways. We never spoke. He shrugs and turns around, attending to the teacher. Weirdo.

The rest of the class speeds by and Lorenzo doesn't even seem to acknowledge my presence which I'm grateful for. The bell rings and I'm the first one out. The perk of being a senior is not having many classes. I go into the changing room to change for cheer practice, feeling a bit bittersweet as this will be my final year as co-captain. When I'm cheering, it makes me forget about everything else and makes me fully in the moment. I immerse myself in cheer and cheer only, and it makes me feel validated.

I change into my clothes and fill up my water bottle on the way to the field.

"Cass, over here!" Sofia yells, waving her hand at me to come over near the bleachers. Sofia is the captain of the cheer team, and she is a damn good one at it. She is also very passionate about the sport and even wants to continue when she's in college. I've always thought about it but I'm not yet sure if I want to go all the way. 

"Hey, girls. How has your day been?" I ask the rest of the cheer team, making conversation. I feel the sun beaming on me as I set my things down on the bleachers. We chat for a bit and get to practicing a new routine Sofia and I created over the summer. We're practicing for a while when I see the football team entering the field.

Since we shared it for the majority of junior year I don't think much about it, and continue with our cheer. "Break time. 5 minutes!" Sofia yells as she walks over to her bag. Finally. It is blazing hot. This is the type of weather you pass out in and it doesn't help the fact that we live in California. I walk over to my bag sitting on the bleachers, when I hear someone yelling.

I turn around and the last thing I see is a football being thrown into my face.