Frankly My Dear, All's Fair in Love and War

13: Deception at its Finest

Tristan

She could have done better.

Much better than my brother.

Cassandra might not be experienced. She might be a creepy liar and she might be a little too good at acting, but she's also kind and smart and strong.

And I like having her near me. I like feeling her body against me. She doesn't smell all weird and musky like other girls. Instead, she smells so childishly strawberry. Her hair, her skin, even her accessories smell the same. I have the feeling that all kinds of lotions that she uses came from the same brand.

She's getting thin, though. So much thinner than when I first got into this agreement with her. She looks like a totally different person compared to the girl whom I noticed months ago.

Still, she's a good actress. I know that she always looks at my food whenever we eat together. I know that she always purposely leaves behind a huge portion of her meal. I know that she touches her stomach whenever she thinks nobody is looking.

And I'd hate for her to feel miserable about her eating habits. Because I find her better looking when she was a little bit fleshy. She has that kind of cheeks. The cheeks that look good when they're plump.

Oops. Maybe that's too much noticing. Maybe I need to stop looking out for her when I don't have to.

I can tell that I'm only alone in my situation. Because when Cassie looks at Desmond, her pupils dilate the way they never do for me. Her cheeks flush the way they never do for me. Her determination flares the way a girl still smitten to a guy will be.

That's the annoying thing about Desmond. He is cruel and heartless. He can treat people like shit and still get the love. He can act like the lowest trash in the compound, but he's still the true heir of the family, the original bearer of this powerful, all encompassing name.

And I'm still me.

       

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Cassie was dizzy. It had been exactly 16 hours and 42 minutes since the last time she gobbled something with a significant amount of calories inside her mouth. She ate a bowl of berry yoghurt for her 'Early Dinner', a concept that Tyra and her girls taught her to maintain her weight. She had cheated, though, because she asked her household assistant to fry her a single chicken nugget and she had savored it over the course of ten minutes.

Oh god, she was hungry. So hungry.

And it didn't help that the rest of the Elite Girls hardly ordered anything from the menu in Gastromaquia. Cassie had never been here. This was the kind of cafe where you'd visit with your friends, not a place to go alone.

Cassie deduced that it was another trick for the girls to stay slim. They never ordered their own food.

But they did steal a bit here and there from the boys.

There were a total of 8 people that managed to get to the cafe. 4 boys and 4 girls, Cassie and Tristan included.

And they were talking shit about everybody in the school.

"Did you see Madeline's skirts today?" Lila Harroway rolled her eyes. She was a very pretty blonde girl who played every single sports available in school. Her instagram consisted of her in either bikini or skimpy yoga-clothes or her riding on Becky, her pristine white horse.

Note: Lila was not part of the Haters Club.

Cassie knew for a fact that Tyra hated her with all her might, because before Desmond dated Tyra, he had dated Lila first.