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❝it would solve two problems❞
"Put your back straight," he stands next to her and she does so. He places his hand on the small of her back, making it go even straighter by the sudden touch. "Now punch the bag as hard as you can."
Cassandra punched it, the impact against the bag not strong enough to move it even an inch. She sighs and rubs her hand as it begins to ache.
Brad breathed out heavily, stepping away from her and thinking. "Can you do me a favour?"
"Sure. . ." She raises an eyebrow, unsure of what he may have to do. She fiddles with her fingers anxiously.
"I want you to think of someone you hate."
"I don't really hate anyone," she admits. It was true: perhaps the nearest to hate she had ever felt was when her mother and father would pressure her too much, even though it wasn't really hate.
"That has to be a lie," he argues. "What about your boss at work?"
"I like my boss," she responds. "You could name anyone I know and I would like them."
"What about college?" He asks. "You must hate someone in your class. What do you major in?"
"I'm doing science," she says. "I've always loved science and my parents want me to be a teacher, too."
"There has to be someone in your class who you despise," he says.
She thinks then, trying to remember everyone in her class that she could. It wasn't something she did often, simply because they had no relevance to her at all.
There was Jeremy, her partner who always copied off of her. He had black hair that was always combed back to the point where his hair reached his shoulders. He rarely cut it and if he did, it was because his parents told him. Mummy's boy, she thought.
And then there was Ebony. She was nice enough to hold a conversation with but you couldn't talk to her about intelligent things since she wasn't the brightest bulb.
But she remembered Sophie. She was loved by everyone except Cassandra. They went to school together and were best friends until they went to college. Cassandra liked this guy called Steve but Sophie was always jealous of Cassandra so decided to flirt with Steve, and even went so far as to sleep with him at a party.
"You found someone?" Brad asks, noticing Cassandra's facial features change as she thinks of Sophie. She nods and Brad puts his hand on her back again. "Imagine this bean bag is that person. Punch it as hard as you can, as if you were punching them."
She breathes out heavily, standing in the correct position. He watches her intently as she lunches forward, hitting the punchbag. Unlike last time, it moved, only slightly, from the impact and she sighs in relief.
