HYPNOTIZED We are terrible for each other, and, yes we are a disaster. But tell me your heart doesn't race for a hurricane or a burning building. I'd rather die terrified than live forever.
A/N: I don't own anything but Cassandra and Susan. Don't sue! I've decided to change Cassidy's name to Cassandra. Rider-on-the-Storm gave me a really good piece of advice, the name Cassidy doesn't really fit into the times and I'd really like it to be realistic! So I want to thank Rider-on-the-Storm and everyone else for thier reviews as well! If you notice anywhere that Cassidy hasn't been changed to Cassandra, please let me know, I'd hate to confuse anyone!
Cassandra awoke slowly, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Opening them, she was flooded with unfamiliar surroundings, after a minute she gathered her bearings, remembering that she was not in the large, well maintained California house she grew up in. Her beloved family home was replaced with a run down, paint-chipped, small house in Tulsa.
"Wake up, we'll be late for school!" Cassandra's younger sister, Susan said happily.
Cassandra silently cursed her little sister, unlike herself, Susan was taking this move extremely well. Susan looked at it as an adventure. Cassandra smiled ruefully remembering the number of times Susan had bounced in her seat and exclaimed "It'll be like an adventure! Everyone back in California will be sooo jealous!" a pillow, thrown at her head brought Cassandra out of her memories.
"You little!" Cassandra said, mock angrily, throwing the pillow in return. Susan caught it, laughing loudly.
" Seriously now, the bus will be here it 15 minutes! I don't want to be late for the first day of school!"
Cassandra rolled her eyes, smiling a little as she motioned her little sister out. Once Susan was safely downstairs, and out of her way, Cassandra began getting ready. She sighed again, looking in her full closet, she had no clue what to wear, or what the style in Tulsa even was. The Andrews family had arrived in Tulsa exactly one week ago, and Cassandra had been too busy sulking inside, thinking of how she wouldn't be graduating with her California group of friends, how she had been forced here, even though she had the offer to lodge with her best friend since pre-school, Angela, and how her father's fall from grace had forced them to come to crappy Tulsa. Looking at the clock told Cassandra that the bus would be arriving in 10 minutes. Cassandra bit her lip, she would have had a ride to school with Angela if she was in California, she thought bitterly. Tears welled up in her eyes, but she willed them away, picking out a plain white tank top and a short black skirt. Cassandra threw the pieces on, and walked to the bathroom. Her natural dark red hair fell in natural ringlets, Cassandra shrugged and figured it would do, and went to work on her make up.
"CASSANDRA YOU HAVE ONE MINUTE TO GET DOWN HERE!!" Susan yelled from the bottom of the stairs. Cassandra took one last look in the mirror, gave a nod of approval and made her way downstairs.
"You look nice honey, alright the bus stop is just across the street. Susan will be getting off two stops ahead of you at the Elementary school, please keep an eye on her and make sure she gets off!" Mrs. Andrew's consulted the bus schedule "You're the last stop, so that's easy. Make sure you go to the office, get your timetable, I called alrea--"
"Don't worry, Mom" Cassandra cut in, "I've done this a thousand times, I'll be fine" Cassandra dropped a kiss on her mothers cheek, grabbed her school bag and Susan's hand and was out the door before Mrs. Andrews could say another word.
" Aren't you excited, Cassy?" Susan asked, noticing how quiet her older sister was.
"I would be, if we were back in California" Cassandra answered bitterly
"Its like an adventure though" Susan looked up, and offered a small smile.
"Yea, yea, I guess so"
Cassandra and Susan stood at the bus stop waiting for the bus. Susan had been routinely checking her watch and announcing dutifully how late the bus was.
"You think we missed it, Cassy?" Susan asked worriedly as she craned her head down the street. Cassandra shrugged, but looked hopeful.
"But I don't want to be late!!" Susan whined. "Casssyy! Do something!"
"Alright, Susan. Don't worry I'll just telepathically speak with the bus driver, telling him that we are at the bus stop and waiting patiently to be driven to school" Cassandra's sarcasm was evident.
" Will you?" Susan replied, grinning.
"I'm sure that the bus is just running a little la--"
"Its here Cassy! Look its coming!!" Susan jumped up and down excitedly.
The yellow bus came to a lurching stop right in front of Susan who was still jumping up and down happily. The doors opened and Susan jumped on, Cassandra walked up the two stairs, smiled dutifully at the bus driver and found a seat next to Susan.
"Okay, I'm positive that Mum already drilled this into you, but on the off chance… you know when to get off? You know you have to go to the office and get your timetable? If you can't find a classroom ask someone, okay? The bus arrives after school at 2: 40 and you get off at 2:30, so be here. Don't forget--"
"Cassy!" Susan whined "Stop it, I got the full speech already"
"Okay, good" Cassandra smiled fondly "Its going to be different then California, but I think you can handle it"
Susan nodded and mumbled quietly "I can, but can you?"
Cassandra let out a breath "I'll be fine, Suz, don't worry. It just sucks to be away from my friends, and I'm graduating this year, I don't want to graduate alone." a short, awkward stretch of silence enveloped the sisters and Cassandra smiled, for her sisters sake " That's enough of the pity party, I'm sure we'll both make some friends and Tulsa won't be such a bad place after all"
"I know so! This is my stop! Bye Cass, I love you!" Susan grinned as she bounced off the bus, blowing her older sister a kiss.
"I wish I was that optimistic" Cassandra grumbled under her breath.
Cassandra sighed angrily. The school office wasn't co-operating and she was already a full 5 minutes late.
"Look, my mum already called in this morning, everything should be in order"
"Please, dear, just take a seat. I'll figure this out, just give me a couple minutes." the blonde secretary replied, absent-mindedly
"I'm late, though. This is my first day." Cassandra mumbled, exasperated.
"Take a seat, Ms. Andrews" came the reply.
The secretary left the small, plain looking cubicle for a couple minutes, looking around the plain stark-white room, without even the warmth of a couple of cheap pictures, Cassandra realized her only option was to take a seat like she was asked. The room made Cassandra miss California even more, her school was bright and airy, with high ceilings and extravagant murals, this school had none of the charisma and comfort she was used to. This school she decided, not my school. My school is back in California, where I belong.
"Mrs. Andrews? Yes, yes, we have your schedule now, sorry for the earlier mix up it seems that 'Andrews' was spelt 'Andews' on your timetable. Its all fixed up and ready to go. Have a good day!" the secretary smiled broadly, with pink frosted lip stick on her front teeth. Cassandra, still bitter from the timetable incident took pleasure in this and forgot to mention anything.
"Thanks" Cassandra mumbled moodily as she walked out the door, checking her timetable. First block: English lit 11. Back in California, she had neglected to take English Literature, not knowing that it was an requirement to get into the program she wanted to take in College, and now she was stuck in an grade 11 class.
Cassandra resumed checking her schedule, happy with the other classes. Next thing she knew, she was on the rough, dirty floor of the school her books scattered haphazardly around her. Cassandra could feel her face turning uncomfortably red as she scrambled to collect her books and other belongings, still on the floor.
"Oh man, I'm really sorry," Cassandra looked up, a tall lanky boy with a greased down duck-tail said, bending down to assist her. Cassandra noticed that his eyes were not staring into hers, but rather the ground around her. Cassandra clucked her tongue sympathetically, thinking he must be shy. Only when she reached over to get a pencil by her shoe did she realize what the lanky boy was really staring at. Through her ordeal, her skirt had flicked up exposing a rather large amount of her bare thigh and a small amount of her white panties. Blushing furiously, Cassandra stood up, grabbing the stuff that she could manage and all but ran in the direction of the girls' bathroom, ignoring the calls from the boy. After a couple of splashes of cold water on her face- which had completely ruined her coat of foundation- Cassandra figured that it was about time to get to her first class. Cassandra walked down the small hallway, with the faded and dirty once white paint now chipping. Faded, rude graffiti was scattered in small sections of the wall, near the bathrooms and it looked as though long ago someone had attempted to remove the filthy words and drawings but had not been successful. Cassidy matched the number of the classroom to the number on her timetable and knocked hesitantly. The door opened, revealing a portly man, with receding salt and pepper hair and a thick moustache dressed in a plaid suit.
"Can I help you?"
"Yes, um, I'm Cassandra Andrews, I'm supposed to be in this class"
"Your 15 minutes late"
Obviously, Cassandra thought, trying to hold back a roll of her eyes, instead she offered a sweet smile "I know, sir. I'm really sorry, today's my first day and I had a little trouble finding the right classroom."
Cassandra didn't miss the meaningful glance the teacher gave to the office, which was only 15 feet from the classroom. She felt the familiar feeling of a blush creep up her cheeks.
"Okay." The teacher mumbled, "Well, guess you'd better come in, I'm Mr. Jones. Would you like to introduce yourself to the class?"
Cassandra nodded shortly, walking into the classroom. She was fully aware of the 56 curious eyes boring into her. She noticed with dismay that the girls clothing were quite a bit more conservative and the boys of the class looked like clones with matching madras jackets and Beatles haircuts. Already screwed it up she thought nervously, wrapping a ringlet of hair around her index finger.
"Well.." Cassandra began lamely "I'm Cassandra Andrews, me and my family--"
"My family and I" Mr Jones interjected, a small smirk on his large face.
Cassandra turned her head and rolled her eyes, "Alright. my family and I, " She enunciated every word clearly, staring Mr. Jones in the eyes. " have recently moved from California. I'm in grade 12...and yeah.. I guess." She shrugged, twisting a strand of her hair, a nervous habit.
"Alright, well, welcome then Ms. Andrews" Mr Jones nodded " Sit in any place you'd like."
Cassandra fought the urge to roll her eyes again, there was only one available seat in the classroom, it wasn't as though she had a choice. Part of her wanted to grab a chair and sit in the very back of the class, without a desk, just to piss him off. Choosing to be mature , she made her way to the second row and sat beside a boy who looked a little young to be in a grade 11 class. He had sandy brown hair that was longer then most boy wore their hair and soft, sweet features. His clothes were a little e beat up, torn blue jeans and a regular black shirt, but not bad overall. Cassandra smiled as she sat down, and the boy turned his head. Oh great she thought to herself already no one wants to associate with me. Mr Jones went over the classroom expectations, which served to bore Cassandra completely. Just before the bell rang, Mr Jones had the class sign a form, saying they agreed to the expectations. The form came to her and she realized with dismay that she had left her pencil in the hall in her quick exit. After mustering up a little courage, Cassandra turned to the boy beside her
"Hey.. Sorry, can I please borrow a pencil?"
The boy answered her with a nod, fished around in his back pack and produced a chewed pencil. He blushed a little as he noticed the condition of the pencil. Cassandra smiled to show him she didn't care, took the pencil and signed the form. After signing her name in curly, girly handwriting, she passed the form to the small, dark haired girl on her right. Cassandra turned back around to face the boy, holding out the borrowed pencil.
"Thanks a lot, um.. I didn't catch your name" Cassandra mumbled, handing back the pencil
"Ponyboy" the boy whispered softly and for a second she wasn't sure if she heard him right.
"Well, thanks then, Ponyboy" the name felt funny coming out of her mouth and she hoped that she hadn't misheard, he hadn't protested or made any attempt to correct her, so she figured she was safe. Finally the bell rang and announced that first period was finally over.
Cassandra laid her forehead on the cool glass window of the school-bus. The rest of the school day hadn't been anything interesting, though the rest of her teachers had treated her significantly better then Mr. Jones had. She hadn't ran into Ponyboy in any of her other classes and felt a pang of sadness at the thought, he seemed to be a decent guy. The rest of the kids kept a wide berth around her, and for the life of her, Cassandra couldn't understand why. Her style was a little different, for sure, her skirts a little shorter then the standard knee length skirts of the other girls, and her top wasn't as extravagant as the blouses the other girls wore, but Cassandra couldn't believe that her clothes were the reason the other students seemed to want nothing to do with her. I'll wear more conservative clothing tomorrow, Cassandra amended in her head. Back in California, Cassandra wouldn't have been shunned for her style of clothing. More of a reason I should have fought harder to stay at Angela's! Cassandra thought miserably, knowing that she was missing Angela's annual 'back to school' barbeque. The last barbeque that was held before the summer months disappeared and the cold winter replaced it. Tears welled up in her eyes for the second time that day, and she had a harder time forcing them back. The bus stopped and Cassandra looked up, noticing that her little sister was getting on the bus, her red ponytail bobbing with every happy step she took.
"Hey Cass! How was your first day?" Susan didn't give her sister a chance to respond and kept chattering excitedly "Mine was soo great, the teachers are really nice and the kids are nice too and I've already made a friend her same in Cheryl and shes my age and likes everything I do! We even look alike the teacher said we could be twins" Susan went on chattering happily, not noticing her sisters unhappy expression until they were almost at their stop.
"What's wrong, Cass?" Worry creased her little forehead.
"My first day wasn't as good as yours, Kiddo" Cassandra shrugged
"Didn't you meet anybody interesting? No one was nice? Not even the teachers?"
"Not even the secretary" Cassandra answered, trying to make a small joke to lighten the mood
"Oh." Susan was quiet for a minute "Tomorrow will be better, I bet!"