From The Ashes We Rise

Chp 21: An Old Friend

For the last few days, Kyran and I spent most of our time with Cassidy. She had gotten out of that crushing phase since I've told her countless times that I wasn't looking for a relationship. At least she took it well, unlike Megan.

Cassidy was quite a cool person once you got to know her. She's a shy kid, kinda like me, so she rarely got hyper unless she's with the right people. She told us that ever since Megan started spreading rumours about her, nobody wanted to be friends with her or even give her a chance to explain herself. Well, I've changed that and she seemed to get more used to having people to keep an eye on her.

Her actions after I told her about my shapeshifting ability were way different from both Sammi and Kyran. She didn't ask me as many questions about them and she was accepting the weirdness. She was also very mischievous and would try all sorts of things to trigger my powers unexpectedly, which I never looked forward to.

She stopped after a while when she realised I could predict her every move. Kyran usually kept me from trying to kill her on several occasions during that period of time. However, her reactions were more hilarious than mine as she flailed around helplessly and fled when I intimidated her as various kinds of predators.

"Ebony, please get off of me..." she whined as I lay on her back, reading a comic. I snapped out of my reminiscence and craned my neck to look down at her. We were in the library, me, Kyran and Cassidy.

"Never," I whispered. Our position on the carpeted floor caught the attention of Kyran, who was sitting on a couch not far off. He smirked as he watched us.

After a while, I felt like she was gonna die and rolled over. She sat up, inhaled deeply—and loudly—as she tried to fill her lungs with air.

"Not...cool..." she panted, clearly unamused by what I did. I held in a laugh as she stood up and bent her back backwards, hearing the bones crack slightly in the process.

"I needed a pillow."

"Well it's not necessarily me, right?" she hissed, picking up the book she was reading.

"I couldn't help it. You're very cuddly." She blushed as she started to play with her hair. I felt a warm presence around me as I turned to find Kyran wrapping his arm around my shoulders. He had on a goofy grin and raised his eyebrow.

"I thought you said you're not looking for a relationship," he whispered.

"Yeah, I wasn't. I'm just trying to escape her fury."

Cassidy smacked me with her book and tried to look angry. Unfortunately, she just made herself look even cuter. Her small Asian face was not meant for that kind of thing.

"You're so cute when you're mad," I added, grinning while rushing over to the couch to steal it from Kyran.

As I sat at his place, Kyran smirked and went to sit on me. His entire weight was being exerted on my lap and I winced.

"Kyran. Kyran, no. Please get off. My legs can't handle you, please get off!" I whisper-yelled so as to not disturb other people.

Kyran chuckled and stood up. It was now Cassidy's turn to laugh at me. "Weak," she whispered as I quickly stood up.

I scowled at Kyran, who was busy giggling away next to her. I went over, rolled up the thin comic book I was holding and whacked him. He yelped in surprise and pain and staggered slightly.