I'll Be Your Safety

One: September 1991

It has been one week since senior year started and I'm so ready to fling myself out the window. I have so much homework that I'm probably not going to do.

I walk out to the court yard with my guitar to find Cassidy, we only have two classes together which makes me really sad. We have been in every single class together since pre school and they decide now to separate us? Lame.

She's by the tree that stands tall in the back corner of the courtyard playing hacky sack with some of our friends. I watched her from a distance juggle the hacky sack with her feet and the back of her heels like a soccer ball. She used to play soccer freshmen year, she even started which was insane. Within that year she had some colleges coming to watch her play. After soccer season came basketball and for a girl her height she was a beast on that court. Then in the spring came along with track season and man that girl can run. She pole vaulted too, she cleared like seven feet. But for some reason, she stopped. She stopped playing soccer and basketball and running track. She just quit everything her sophomore year, which to this day bothers me to the core. Sophomore year everything changed. She picked up a love for cigarettes and weed. She went from top five in our class to just barely passing. I always wondered why a girl who took this school by storm freshmen year is now where she is today. It scares me to be honest, I don't want to lose her.

"JIMMY" I was snapped out of my thoughts by someone with chipped black nail polish clapping in my face.

"Jesus Christ James you okay?" Cassidy asked with deep concern in her pale green eyes.

"Yeah just thinking." I trailed off, trying not to give off the fact I was thinking about her.

"Oh. Well, what do you wanna do tonight? The Palindromes are playing at the Factory tonight, ya know Matt's band? We're all going" she pointed to the friends behind her, "you in?" She bit her freckled lips and pulled a half smile.

"Of course, who's driving?" I said as we joined the crowd of four behind us, all of them with a cigarette in between their teeth. Cassidy was already halfway through hers, I smoked slowly. To be honest I don't really like smoking but I started when Cas started and I can't really stop.

"If you all wanna sit in the bed of my truck that could work" Cassidy said while starting her second cancer stick.

"Seems chill. You guys want anything special tonight?" Lou said with a smirk. Lou is the guy you need to know if you want anything, he's practically a drug god. There's no way he's going to graduate but he just comes to school for food and a sense of security, he lives in random garages or my place when the folks aren't home, they hate him. They hate all my friends except for Cassidy.

"Just pot I think" Cassidy said now on her third cigarette, me still on my first.

"Alright, just come to my house around six, we'll spark up a bit there then finish the rest at the Factory." She put out the cancer stick and linked her arm with mine. She said bye to the others as we walked to her beat up truck.

"Are you coming over?" I asked while climbing into the passenger side. The inside reeked of cigarettes, weed, beer and some sort of fruity perfume.

She put her fourth cigarette in her mouth while shaking her head no. She lit it with a zippo lighter, taking a long drag and exhaling through her mouth and nose. "I have stuff I gotta do." She said, her green eyes looking empty.

"Is everything okay? Like I know you love smoking but this is your fourth one in the past ten minutes." I asked with heavy concern.

She revved up the engine as she said yes and just left it as that as did I. After being best friends with her for 12 years, I know to not pry but let her come to me. Of course I always check up on her but she likes to wait things out.

We pulled up to my small house, the grass dancing in the update New York wind. She hugged me goodbye, burying her pale, freckled face in my shoulder. We stayed like this for a few minutes until she let go.

"See you later Jimmy" she said as I got out.

"See ya Cas." She roared away in her truck, leaving me with the thoughts that have been eating my brain since freshmen year.