Bullworth Academy

It's not what it seems

Cassandra was stopped by Petey in the hallway. "Alex, wait. Didn't you say you were going to walk with me to class." "Did I ? Sorry, I forgot." Cassandra looked aimlessly as she followed the boy to their first class. "Ah, sweetheart. We meet again." Gary sat in the desk in front of Alex. He had turned around and leaned on the surface of her desk. Cassandra ignored him as she waited for the teacher to arrive. "How are we this morning, love?" Gary raised an eyebrow at the girl while leaning in. "Fine." She huffed and rolled her eyes. Gary narrowed his eyes, focusing in on the girl. His eyes lit back up as Cassandra's met his and something clicked. "You don't seem well this morning. Are you sure you're feeling ok?" He sarcastically asked. Before she could answer, Ms. Windsor entered the room and sat next to Cassandra. "Cass-?" Cassandra slammed her book on the ground and carefully picked it back up. "Alex and I switched places for today. No one knows it's me. Please be discreet about it." Cassandra earnestly said in Korean. "Ah, I'm not sure I understand but I will follow along." Ms. Windsor smiled. Geography class went on as normal and the hours were coming to an end. In the last few minutes of class, students were studying amongst their papers. Gary leaned back and stretched, "Wait until we get out of class, Alex. I've got something to ask." He smirked as he sat back up in his seat. Cassandra gulped. It was bad enough Cassandra gets an uneasy feeling watching Alex hang out with him but it was an even more intense feeling when in his presence. The bell rang all too soon as Cassandra waited until everyone exited the class, she waited for the scarred boy. Sure enough, he had waited and looked over his shoulders. "Cassandra," he slowly made his way towards the uneasy girl. Reminding herself of who she is, she swallowed her fears and leaned against the wall. "How is she?" He look up at her. "The bloody hell if I know." Cassandra spat while crossing her arms. "Don't you and Cassandra dorm together?" He inched closer. "Yeah. She was sleep when I got there." She retaliated. "And where did you go?" He got in her face. "Why does that matter to you?" She stood up and looked into his menacing eyes. He held his hands up in defeat and chuckled. "Fair enough, just wondering, love." "Don't call me love!" She spat. She quickly gathered her books, bumping into him as she exited out into the halls.

~~~~~~~

It was the afternoon, lunch time in fact. "Cassandra won't you join us for lunch?" Derby said tugging her side as they walked with each other. 'This man is delusional.' Alex thought. The entire time they walked, Derby seemed like he always needed some sort of physical contact with her. It made Alex sick to her stomach. How obsessive could one person be over another, especially if one is already engaged. That's right engaged. Derby is engaged to Pinky despite them being cousins. "I'm afraid not, Derby. I've got to catch up on my studies. I'm a little behind. I promise I'll come around later." She said cupping his hand in both of hers. "But could I be of any assistance?" He offered. "I'm afraid not. I'm taking a foreign language, erm, daddy's orders." She smiled. "What language?" "Korean. My advisor actual is Korean, she helps me from time to time." Alex adds more pep to her step to pick up the pace. "I'll see you again Derby, okay?" She cocked her head to the side. "Alright then, if you need anything, I am just a dial away." He huffed and shook his head. She could see in his face he wanted to tell her something but was restraining himself. As they parted ways, Alex could see the pain in his eyes. He didn't want to leave her side just yet. His heart ached more than ever just to be in her presence. Alex left the academic building running into Johnny. "Vincent. I mean Johnny." She stuttered. "Cut it out Alex, you know I know it's you." he laughed. "Oh yeah, tell that to everyone else. They fell for it." She shrugged. "Whatever, but I'll play along. You want to be treated like ya twin. Let's do it." He said grabbing her hand and running. "Hey boys, Cassandra here, decided to join us for lunch." Johnny shouted to his boys. They leaned against the wall of the garage. "Ah man, 2 years of it and I'm sick of Edna's food!" Hal complained. "That shite is wack, mate. I don't know how others do it." Alex said. "Alex?" Hal squinted. "Damn it! Argh!" Alex covered her face in embarrassment as the rest of the greasers stood in confusion. "Look, Cassandra and I decided to make a bet and trade places for today. Can you just go on and pretend I'm Cassandra?" Alex said running her fingers through her long locks. "Fine then." Hal shrugged. "As a reward for keeping it a secret, I'll run out to get you pizza." She said searching her bag for her sister's keys. "You da bomb, Cassie." "Cassie? You guys call her Cassie?" Alex looked up in confusion and amazement. "Yeah" "Funny, I didn't think anyone else called her that besides me." She said unlocking the car and getting in. "Johnny, you're coming with me. We'll be back." She said opening the passenger door for Johnny. He gets in reluctantly as if he's afraid to even touch the car in fear of tainting it. Alex pulls out of the garage, Hal whistles at the sight of the car. Alex revs the engine before heading through the gates and off campus. "How have you been lately?" Alex says. "Alright I suppose." Johnny scratches the back of his head. "I mean, just curious after yesterday's..discovery." She replied. There was silence. "Look, this is Alex speaking, I believe that Cassandra cares about you. She was worried you'd act out. She kept waking up last night to make sure you were still there and okay." Alex glanced over at Johnny who was staring out the window. "And if she isn't around to help, just know I'm here." She adds. "Why does Cassie hang wit us?" He sits up in the seat. "To be really honest with you, I dunno. Something about you guys is something she really enjoys if she tends to favor your clique over Derby and his clan." She said. "I would too if I were her. Derby makes me wanna vomit." She added. Alex entered the pizza parlor and placed the order. Johnny and Alex waited in line until their pizzas were done. The cashier gave them a couple's discount and winked. Johnny and Alex looked at each other and winced. On their way to the car, they couldn't contain their laughter. "I could have never imagined." Alex said entering the car and starting it. "Won't you hop in boyfriend." She teased. "Don't mind if I do." He chuckled. The cashier may have been mistaken but it left a thought in Johnny's head. "Back on the subject of ya twin, she's got an awful lot of time on her hands." He shoved his hands into his pockets. "Yeah, when she's not studying, she's in clubs and talking to friends. From this school and other schools." She said. "Other schools?" "Oh yeah, you don't know." "Ah now ya gotta tell me." He sat up again. "The reason we are at Bullworth is because I've been kicked out of every other school. Cassandra just happened to tag along for the ride." Her eyes were glued to the road when she spoke, she laughed. "Ohh, so you're a troublemaker." He said "I like it... not afraid to stand up for yourself." He stated. "Cassandra loves meeting new people. Many of which fall in love with her, she's turned down everyone of them. When I asked why she just laughed and said for me to wait and see." She said. Johnny gulped at the sworn thought of him possibly confessing to this girl. Johnny has been told he's been territorial but the mere thought of asking the girl who everyone at school drooled over made him uneasy. His chances of her approval to his offer narrowed the more he thought about it. It wasn't a feeling he had with Lola, it was a sense of that he was out of her league. Not by social class but mainly outnumbered by the people around him. He didn't understand why he had these thoughts. He wasn't even fully sure that he even liked her. 'What am I thinking? If I really liked her, I'd go outta my way to impress her.' Johnny thought. They arrived back at the school with the pizza as the greasers cheered on 'Cassandra'. They laughed and joked as she sat on the hood of her car. Hours seemed to pass until a certain someone walked by. "Cassandra? What on earth are you doing ?"Gord hurriedly rushed over to her taking her hand, pulling her off the car hood, and brushing her off. "I was just out eating lunch." Alex said. "Derby was wondering when you were coming back.." Gord shook off the fact he knew Cassandra had a diverse amount of friends. He was more concerned about getting his point across. "Why? Is there something urgent?" She tilted her head to the side resting her index finger in her cheek and puffing out her cheeks. "No. He was just curious.." he said looking around for a floating excuse to latch onto. Alex sighed, "If Derby is so concerned on seeing me why doesn't he come confront me himself?" Alex waltzed a slow circle around the brunette preppie. "Well, erm," Alex waited with a bored face and began to walk off. "Fair enough, you've convinced me. I'll go see him." Her giggled chimed like silver bells. "We'll talk later," Alex whispered as she brushed past Johnny. Heading back to the cafeteria, 'Cassandra' sat across from Derby. "There you are," he sighed an evident sigh of relief. "Here I am," Alex said in a light, melancholy tone. "Can I ask you something Cassandra...I-In private?" He swallowed deeply. Both Alex and Derby got up, leaving the cafeteria to occupy the hallway. "Gord told me you were hanging around those putrid monkeys. Are you by any means harmed?" He said looking for any signs of assault. "No, not at all." She shook her head and furrowed her eyebrows at his comment. He could tell she wasn't happy with his choice of words. He deeply regretted it. "I had just brought them pizza," Alex's eyes darted for the ground. "You bought them pizza..I see. You brought them food because you felt sorry for the less fortunate. Truly what a kind soul you are indeed," Derby basked in glory. Attempting to blindside her from his careless remarks. "No." Alex shook her head. "Then, they must have made some sort of deal with you. A compromise maybe? I didn't think they were that civilized." Derby rambled. "No," Alex shook her head furiously her hair flew in her face. "You just don't get it do you?" She flipped her hair from out of her face. "Is it or is it not okay to have friends?" "It is indeed. We are your friends practically your family." Derby didn't know where she was going with her question but played along. "No, I'm talking about besides our clique. Having other friends here at Bullworth." She reworded. "Well you may," "Shouldn't everyone here have the right to be treated as the human being they are?" Alex tapped her heel. Derby fell in silence. "Cassandra, my dear, what are you getting at?" He took hold of her hands. "Listen, I truly care-" "No, you listen! If you really cared you'd stop thinking about yourself and start to think of others. It may do you some good," Alex yanked her hands back and returned to the prep table. The preps became silent when Derby and Alex returned awaiting their approval to continue on their conversations. Derby distracted himself by talking to Pinky. Her constant nagging of him being late to their dates didn't seem to keep his interest for long. He began to trail back to his thoughts making him feel worse than what he had before and taking in all of what 'Cassandra' said. Alex was having an earful from Gord on his constructive criticism of how she dressed. Alex felt it would be useless to spend the rest of her time just sitting around when she wasn't truly wanted and stood up from the table. "I must be going. I have somewhere to be. Hope to see you all later." Alex said softly as she stood up and walked out.