Chapter Text
“Are you really going to do it today?”
And that was the million-dollar question. One Cass doesn’t have the answer to yet.
Everything is ready. She’s not sure she is.
She took a deep breath, trying to push all the doubt and anxiety away. It had to be today.
Cass Rhodes spent the entire summer break gathering up courage and planning how she was finally going to do it: confess her feelings to Elliot.
Elliot Martinez, his caramel eyes, golden skin and black curls have haunted her mind since the beginning of summer. He had just moved to town, and took a summer job at the Starcourt mall, forcing Cass to go there at least twice a week to spend all her savings buying overpriced orange juice from the place he worked at. And to be fair, the juice was watered down, but it was now her favorite drink in the whole world.
No one should look good wearing a bright orange shirt and a cap with oranges painted all over it, but Elliot made it work somehow. And it was not just about his looks – she wasn’t that shallow. She especially liked the way he smiled when he said “come back soon”, as if she wasn’t just an ordinary costumer, as if that was something he said just to her.
Seeing him was the highlight of her day. She had to tell him that.
Now, confessing your love for someone is never easy, but it’s especially hard if you’re Cass: she is extremely shy. Irremediably so. The kind that will wish they’re an ostrich just to be able to bury their face on the dirty ground at the smallest of inconveniences.
Cass barely just managed to mumble her order to him every time she saw him at work, how the hell was she going to tell him that she loved him?
She decided on a deadline, the day on which she must confess her feelings for him, no matter what: The first day back at school.
Elliot was the new guy, that fact alone adding an air of mystery to his persona that would make him even more interesting. If that wasn’t enough, being handsome like he was, it wouldn’t take long for him to become popular; to become unreachable to someone like her; to have dozens of more interesting girls at his feet. If she wanted to have any chance with him, any real chance, she couldn’t wait much longer. Whatever she decided to do, it had to be sooner rather than later.
She thought about flowers, about a big poster, chocolates and teddy bears, but she settled on a love letter; one that would concise all the deepest desires of her heart; one she spent way too long writing, re-writing and editing. She doesn’t have much courage in real life, but on paper? She could spill the contents of her heart shamelessly, and then edit half of it away, until it became somewhat acceptable and not so forward.
The current version was just a page long – as opposed to the first version, that was more of a love book - and she felt like it really portrayed how she felt. Still...
“You really think the letter is alright?” she asked unsure, keeping her voice down as she and her best friend navigated through the ever so crowded school’s hallway, arm in arm.
It was the first day back, the day she had both waited for and dreaded in equal measure. She was a pile of nerves at best, but at least she had Elise with her. Elise had helped her edit out every single version of the letter and was more than ready for this to be over.
“Yeah, I think is one of the best you’ve made” Elise offered with a smile.
“So it’s not the best one?” and now she looked at the light-pink envelope on her hands and the only thing she could think about was ripping it apart and starting over. Elise mentally slapped herself for stupidly opening the self-doubt gates.
“It is! It is!” Elise just about shouted, grabbing the letter before Cass could make any harm to it.
“You barely even read it!” And it’s true, Elise just skimmed through it, but that’s because it wasn’t much different from the last four versions Cass had forced her to read.
“I read it, Cassy! It is really good!” And now Elise was holding it high, and Cass was jumping, trying to reach it, as if they were kindergarteners, not sophomores.
“No, it’s not!” Cass was now 100% sure that this version of the letter, the one she had liked until two seconds ago, the one that was already sealed inside a pretty envelope and that she was on her way to deliver, was complete shit. Might as well be the worst couple of words she could have ever put together. Hence why she was jumping like a maniac, trying to get the letter from her best friend’s hands. Damn, why she had to be so short?
Elise temptingly brought the envelope down, but Cass knew her well enough to know it was just a trick: she would whisk the envelope away as soon as Cass reached for it. Cass decided to try and grab it anyway, fast and suddenly, but her friend was faster, whipping the envelope back. So fast it slipped from her hand.
Cass never understood the science behind paper airplanes. She was sure that she knew how to make one, at least in theory, but her planes only flew for about an inch, before doing a little loop and yeeting themselves to the ground. All the damn time. However, the envelope containing the essence of her heart was no paper airplane: It was a fucking ninja throwing star, flying at full deadly speed in the school’s hallway, ready to crush her dreams and whatever crossed its way.
Cass and Elise watched the trajectory of the little projectile like if they were in a movie and this was a slow-motion scene. It seemed to fly for what felt like forever, it seemed to go miles away. They both saw when it landed and who it landed on. Cass couldn’t think of someone worse for the pink envelope turned ninja star to claim as a victim.
It hit Eddie Munson in the eye.
Cass Rhodes was dead.