Persistence

IV

Cassidy was right - it was a pretty easy book to get through, but I had no idea how she could relate Jesus Christ to a man who turns into a bug.

I saw her sitting by herself at lunch as usual. I made my way over to her table and sat across from her. Her green eyes peered over her book. "Yes, Lucas?"

"Luke, but we'll work on it," I started. I grabbed The Metamorphosis and put it on the table. "Where the fuck did you pull Jesus Christ from?"

She laughed as she closed her book and turned to directly face me. "Gregor and Jesus are both the only sons in their family," she started. Cassidy's tone was very sophisticated and I was almost in a trance as I listened to her talk. "You can relate the part to when they feed Gregor old, nasty-ass vegetables to when they gave Jesus sour wine. They both died like martyrs. There's symbolism with the apple and there's a bunch of little details that you can relate to the Bible."

I nodded as I processed her explanation.

"Did any of that make sense to you?" she asked as she raised her eyebrow questioningly.

"Yeah," I answered. "Kinda."

Cassidy laughed under her breath and I swear this was one of the first times I've ever heard her laugh. "You know it's not a crime to ask for help, right?"

I smiled at her. "Can you please help me?"

She smiled. "Of course I will."

I let out a sigh of relief. "Thanks, Cass."

"Cassidy," she corrected.

"Really?" I asked. "Do nicknames just not exist to you?"

She shook her head.

"What about Cassy?"

"Definitely not," she said coldly.

"Well, you know you can call me Luke, right?"

"How about this," she started as she folder her hands on top of the table. "You can continue to call me by my real name and I'll continue to do the same. Okay?"

I rolled my eyes. "No offense, but you can be a stubborn bitch at times."

She smiled. "You're the one that wants to be friends. You can always back out whenever!"

"I already told you, I'm not backing out," I protested.

Cassidy started to gather her things together. "When are you free?"

"Huh?"

She placed a finger on The Metamorphosis book and tapped on it. "When are you free to meet up and work on your paper?"

"Whenever, honestly," I added. "Worry about your paper before helping me though."

Cassidy smiled. "My paper's already done." And that's when I realized she really was as perfect as I thought she was - perfect with some social flaws.

"How's tomorrow after school work?"

"Works for me," she said as she threw her bag over her shoulder. "Until then, Lucas."