Lifelines

Chapter 9

Currently I was sitting in Mr. Thompson's office staring at all the plaques on his wall. I've never been here before. My whole school record had always been clean. What if colleges will see this as an act of defiance? I'll never be accepted anywhere!

"Ms. Barnes, from what I hear you intentionally hit a softball at Ms. Travers and then charged towards her. Is this true?" That is complete bull!

"Excuse me? Who told you that?" I snapped and Mr. Thompson just glared at me. "They would like to remain anonymous." He calmly responded. I rolled my eyes and slumped back in my chair. "It's not true. Sandy threw the ball at me twice before throwing an actual pitch. I just swung the bat and it accidentally hit her. I ran over to her to make sure she was okay and she flipped out. She's the one who pushed me down and tried clawing my eyes out. I was only defending myself!"

I replayed what happened as I spoke and Mr. Thompson looked quite amused by the time I was finished. It seems as if his whole authoritativeness vanished into thin air.

"Please sit down Cassandra." He motioned towards the seat and I cautiously sat down. "It seems I can't give you any punishment since I heard from multiple students and your teacher that you did nothing wrong." I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Unfortunately, I won't be able to suspend Ms. Travers because according to her story she was "acting in self defense." He put air quotes around that and rolled his eyes. I'm starting to like this guy. Even he knows Sandy Travers is full of bullshit. "So, I'm off the hook?" I asked and he nodded telling me I could leave.

I practically skipped out of the office and nearly collided with someone but stopped short. Carson stood in front of me with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Hey. What did Thompson say?" I then told Carson of our conversation and how I wouldn't be penalized for anything.

"I'm sorry by the way." He told me as we walked to Luke's car. "About what?" I acted oblivious because I didn't want him to think he affected me too much. I was starting to notice that in some weird way, he did. "I uh, shouldn't have snapped at you at lunch." He awkwardly kicked a rock that laid by his foot. "It's okay." I said and gave him a light smile.

"Listen Cassie about last night,-" "Cass!" I heard my name being called and turned my head to see James coming our way.

He stopped in front of me and flashed a charming grin my way, completely ignoring Carson. "I was wondering if you wanna hang out tonight. Maybe grab a bite to eat?" His hair fell in his eyes and he pushed it back swiftly. "Oh, I uh," I look back at Carson who was directing a death glare at James. Why did he hate him so much?

"Sure. Your place or?" I answered and James face lit up.

"My parents aren't around right now so I was thinking yours if that's okay." If only I had a place. "Actually, my place is going under some renovations currently so I've been staying with Carson and Lucas but I don't see why you can't come over. Right Carson?" I faced him so James couldn't see my expression. I gave him a pleading look. He plastered on a smile. "Don't see why not." Carson then walked off to the car leaving James and I to follow.

When all five of us got back to the house, to say Cheryl was overwhelmed would be an understatement. Man could boys eat. We all sat in the living room where I was awkwardly squished between James and Carson. Austin and Luke sat on the love seat and looked at the three of us with amused features.

"I'll pick a movie!" I shouted, probably with too much excitement, and went over to the display case of DVD's. I pulled out a couple which consisted of Listen to Your Heart, Love Actually, Stuck in Love, and The Notebook. I immediately shoved them all back into the case.