So.
She just about makes it back to New York in time for the start of the new semester. Her one and only friend picks her up from the airport, smirking as she skulks across the airport in dark sunglasses, still slightly wobbly on her feet.
"Spain was as good to you as ever then?" he asks, taking the large suitcase from her as she rubs at her temple.
"Shut up, Lucian," she replies in a scratchy voice, but lets him lean forward to kiss her cheek anyway. "Oh god I need coffee," she groans, as they walk out of the airport together. It doesn't even occur to her to try and hide her hangover from him – after all, what else would he think she's been doing in the south of Spain for a month, if not hiding from tourists, students and the summer auditions under a haze of alcohol?
"How was the city without me?" she asks as they're cruising along the island on their way back to Manhattan.
"Delightful. Jonathan's opening night went fabulously – even Coric gave him a good review."
"Really?" says Cassie in surprise, pulling a slightly amused face that doesn't entirely cover the flicker of jealousy that passes over it. "I didn't think that uptight bitch had anything good to say about anyone." She goes back to staring out the car window.
It's enough to put her in a bad mood for the rest of the weekend, as she angrily starts preparing for the start of classes. Her anger soon turns, as usual, to a bitter resignation, which is still hanging heavily on her come Monday morning.
Still, it's a new year, and a new batch of naïve freshman to weed through in case maybe, just maybe there's one or two that are special. It happens every year, and each time adds further strength to her resolve that her teaching methods are her doing the right thing, pushing them until they break so they'll perhaps be ready for the brutal battle they have to wage in the real world.
As soon as the students arrive and start dancing any brief optimism she has vanishes, because they're all between nothing special to downright hopeless and christ these first few weeks are fucking exasperating.
There's a couple of new students that particularly look like she can enjoy taking a bite out of them to take the edge of the reawaken sting of regret and jealously that appears every damn year. A good quarter of the girls are overweight by her standards - when she spots one with an honest to god muffin-top she chuckles to herself, because that girl's clearly not going to make it past the third week of classes.
There's another who Cassie can't help but notice as soon as she turns around because she's throwing anxious glances in her direction every three seconds. She's clearly terrified, about as out of place as a goose in a pond full of swans, and added to that she's wearing a pink skirt, christ.
She scans the crowd of students as they begin leaping across the room, barking out her first criticisms of the year; and she's not being pointlessly vicious, however bad her mood is – these students are here to learn, and she's a damn good teacher.
As the goose-girl hurls herself past her, narrowly whacking her in the face until Cassie ducks out of the way, she notices with a pleased eye that at least the girl has a wonderful body, if only if wasn't for that unfortunately large nose…
After a brief lecture in which she rams home to the students that most of them stand no hopes of ever making it in the business and she is both richer and more fabulous than they will ever be, she zones in on her first victim. She's actually a decent dancer, but Cassie needs to make it clear from the start she takes no prisoners, and no one else has any obvious, big imperfections so far.
Oh hang on – Cassie almost laughs out loud as she turns round to see a huge nose basically hitting her in the face, with that small goose attached to it. The girl rolls her eyes at what she misguidedly judges as cruelty, and Cassie smirks as the most beautiful excuse for an attack presents itself.
"Hold it."
The music stops, and the girl looks unsuspectingly round to see who Cassie's about to launch on next.
"I'm sorry," she says blithely, pointing at the girl who realises with a start Cassie's talking to her. A smirk forms on Cassie's face as she continues, "Did my conversation with Muffin Top… offend you?" She shoots an almost questioning frown in the girls direction as she begins to circle her like prey (and really, she's about to be eaten alive if the terrified look on her face is any indication), and the girl instantly drops to an innocent subservience.
"No!" she says breathlessly.
"What's your name?" Cassie asks smoothly as she plays with her hair, and she would be lying if she said she wasn't being overly flirtatious because a) nothing like warming your prey up to you before you viciously strike, and b) the girl is pretty sexy up close, even with that nose.
She guesses instantly it's a massive insecurity though, and adds, "Little Miss David Schwimmer," even as she notices the gaudy 'Rachel' dangling from her throat. It's not a question, and the girl quickly repeats it.
"I bet you were a biiig star back Iowa."
"I'm actually from Ohio," the girl corrects her hopefully and god has she not realised yet she needs to keep her mouth shut?
"Ohio!" Cassie smiles, and the girl nods eagerly. "That's even worse," Cassie continues dryly, because she knows fuck all about Ohio but that expression needs to be wiped off the girl's face.
"So did you come all the way to New York City to tell me how to run my class?" she asks sweetly.
"No, I came to learn," the girl tells her, and well – she basically asked for it.
"Ok," says Cassie, turning away from her and swaggering away, because really, she's done with this girl now. "Lesson number one. Your piqué turns are pathetic and your stuck-up little attitude is really pissing me off. Music!"
But then she sees the girls face form a steely look of resolve out of the corner of her eye and something in Cassie recognises that kind of determination instinctively, and knows she needs to be knocked down another peg.
So she zones in on the girl again even though the boy dancing next to her is about as turned out as a kangaroo, and maybe she enjoys yelling, "Higher! Higher!" at her a little too much, but it gets the result she was looking for. The girl just isn't good enough, and falls to the floor.
Crouching down on the floor next to her to finish her off definitely isn't necessary, but she wants to relish in the power she has over this painfully ambitious girl who is clearly used to teachers loving her. And then with the utterly dejected look now plastered across the girls face, she's definitely done with her for today.
Christ she's forgotten how much she hates freshman, and wakes up in a fucking terrible mood when she remembers the class of bumbling fools she has to teach again. She wears her makeup heavier than usual, because it's like war paint, and she just feels like she has something to prove today; to the world, to herself?
But it makes her late for class so she skips breakfast and makes her smoothie in the studio instead. She's angrily tossing fruit into the blender when Benjy walks in, and he's one of the few students she has the tiniest of attachments to. He was the weakest of the weak when he first arrived, and broke down sobbing at least once a class for the first semester; but he persevered, her methods worked and now he's her TA.
Was.
"Oh stop it doesn't matter!" she berates him kindly when he tries to play himself down, because he's probably never going to be more than a flying monkey however much she pushes him and he deserves this bit of happiness. She drops in a little anecdote about her own first performance as if it was just yesterday, as if she's still a real performer… and he's still terrified and adoring of her so he laps it up.
She's being honest when she says she's proud of him, and shoots him a fond look as he hurries away to start his career. But when she turns back to her breakfast suddenly everything feels so fucking pointless, and the pain and regret and humiliation that someone a tenth as talented as her can get cast when she's laughed out the theatre rises up in her chest. She needs to make it go away, and as she pours rum into the blender the pain turns into anger.
Her anger finds a home when she walks into her class to see that Rachel girl practising pitifully at the barre. She's wearing a darker skirt today thank the lord which her ass actually looks kinda cute in; maybe the alcohol's gone to her head.
"God almighty Schwimmer," she says joyfully because this is just too easy. "Is it possible you're getting worse?"
She stops dancing, because she clearly hasn't learnt Cassie just does not care about whatever she has to say for herself. "I've been practicing a lot, I've just... had a little bit of a rough week," Rachel tells her hesitantly.
"Aww," Cassie replies mockingly, scanning her lesson plan because the rum's definitely hitting her and she cannot remember for the life of her what she's supposed to be teaching today. "You tired? You lonely? You homesick?" She doesn't even have to turn round to know she's hitting Rachel where it hurts, but she really does not have time for whining when today has just been one big fucking reminder of how good these kids have it. "Well you better decide how bad you want it. Because this school's filled with people who will do whatever necessary to make it in this business."
When Rachel rushes over to whine about Cassie picking on her she loses her temper because honestly, she needs to learn when people are actually trying to help her, as opposed to blindly encouraging her delusions about her own talent. From the stunned look on Rachel's face she's clearly offended again, though.
"What's your problem now?" Cassie sighs, scowling, but she's really not expecting the response that follows:
"There's just alcohol on your breath," Rachel replies in a shocked tone, and fuck. The whole class has obviously been listening to this exchange and they're now looking over in silence as Cassie thinks fast.
"It's Listerine," Cassie tells Rachel scathingly, but the thought of that stuck-up, un-talented little girl nearly humiliating her in front of her students and costing her another career pushes her over the edge and she will not let any of these students (that girl) think they can ever forget who she is and how good she is.
"I might not be a wide-eyed ingénue anymore," she tells them fiercely as she saunters round the classroom, "But I can still dance circles around any of you." And with the alcohol buzzing through her system she jabs a finger at someone to start the music, and turns round to teach this girl a fucking lesson.
She smoulders round at her students as she begins to sing, and they all look suitably impressed. But when she turns to face Rachel she sees a look in the girl's eyes that drives her wild, and fuck if she's not going to try and seduce this girl just because she can. And from that moment on she's performing for her.
She smirks to herself as she begins to clap, locking Rachel's eyes with her own and then beginning to whirl around the dance floor with alcohol and adrenaline and something else rushing through her and she knows how good she looks. She catches a glance across at Rachel as she's dragged across the dance floor and it spurs her on even more.
And then when she starts singing about this innocent girl marrying her and turns to the front Rachel's eyes are wide and she feels a buzz at the knowledge clearly no one has ever sung to (seduced) this girl like she is right now. It's fucking hilarious.
It's fucking hot as hell.
She's having the time of the life when they reach the chorus and maybe she loses a touch of finesse as she whirls her hair around and loses herself in what she's doing, but it works, because when she marches forward and kicks her leg high into the air the girl actually closes her eyes and honestly has someone this gay never actually fucked a woman before?
She throws herself to the floor and crawls towards Rachel, letting her know exactly what it would be like if Cassie did that to her. And then she throws in a few extra moves where she opens her legs as wide as possible, and jumps up and reaches towards Rachel and she's pretty sure how turned on she is is plastered all over her face, because the girl looks terrified.
She completely disregards all of the other students and performs to Rachel alone, who is literally gripping onto the table as her teacher sings that she wants to be with her, the rolling of her hips telling her exactly how. From the look in Rachel's eyes she wants it too, and as she chants out, "Who cares what they're gonna say?" she shoots a raunchy grin at Rachel and yeah this is a full-blown seduction now. And fuck if Rachel doesn't look turned on by it, her innocent little face pouting at Cassie who leaps towards her and rolls her hips at her and pretty much leaves the rest of the class and the other dancers alone to shamelessly flaunt her sexuality at this girl until she's left in no doubt that she wants Cassie - because that's how good she is.
By the end of the dance Rachel is looking equally parts desperate and terrified that Cassie is about to jump on her any second, and stares at her almost expectantly for a few seconds as Cassie regains her breath. She's overwhelmed by alcohol, adrenaline and lust and is basically about to lose it, so she forces herself to retain control for a single moment, snaps at Rachel, "You're not just on my list, Schwimmer. You are my list," (because who, frankly, after that is left in any doubt that it was all about Rachel?) and sashays out of the class before she collapses, tries to jump her student, or both.
She can't wait til she gets home (and it's not like she hasn't had sex in this office before) so she slams the door of her office behind her, locks it and rips off her soaked leotard before thrusting two fingers into herself hard. Another hand slides up to pluck at her nipple as a long groan rushes out of her throat, as if she's been holding it in from the moment she started dancing. Her fingers move faster as images of Rachel's stunned and undeniably turned on face rush through her mind, remembering how her eyes followed her round the dance floor, raking over her body at every move…
Her breathing becomes more erratic as her hips thrust to meet her fingers, curling to hit that spot right there and the hand playing with her breast moves up to run angrily through her mussed hair. For a split-second a single clear thought of what the fuck runs through her mind before she's hit with an image of Rachel's uncomprehendingly-aroused expression as she slowly lifted her head to look at Cassie and she's pushed over the edge, a strangled cry emanating from her throat and it's such a good thing her office is tucked in a far corner of the building.
Her fingers slow to a stop as she leans, panting against the door, one hand thrown up behind her. She stares round at her office, coming down from her rush and laughing to herself as she realises one tiny, obnoxious and terribly naïve little girl caused this in her.
She successfully ignores Rachel for the first half of the lesson, because she is not someone who likes to lose control, and doesn't want Rachel to start thinking she's in any way more special than she already thinks she is just because her dance teacher has a casual attraction towards her (and maybe got off three more times once she'd got home until her body had stopped trembling).
She's in a slightly better mood than usual, though, after inducing such a blatant reaction from her dancing in such an uptight student and leaving the class in no doubt of how good she is – and she caught Rachel practicing late after class the night before, so she decides to be fair.
"You, Miss Schwimmer, show me your piqué," she says indifferently with a vague wave of her hand, but can't help a small lick of her lips as she scans the girl's round, round ass, which she definitely did not think about last night.
She's slightly less horrendous than earlier in the week though, so maybe she has learnt to do what she's told, and Cassie decides she deserves a little help. "Ok, give me another one. Centre yourself this time."
And she does, so Cassie tells her in a reluctant tone, "That's better, slightly," nodding her head to the side in concession and what, disappointment that she's beaten the girl down so easily?
"Are you gonna roll your eyes at me now?" she asks almost kindly for her, because Rachel knowing who's boss is good for her, because then she can get better.
"No," Rachel replies, and Cassie waits. And when she adds, "But I'm going to keep getting better until I'm the best you've ever seen," Cassie turns round with a pout, and she laughs because this game is apparently still so on.
"Oh you're mouthy! And you've got guts! ," and all niceness is gone now because how can this barely acceptable dancer without any genuine talent honestly think she can beat some of the once-in-a-lifetime students who have passed through Cassie's class? "Good, I like it. I like that spirit in my students." And she kind of wants to see how far she can push this girl, so she leans right into her personal space and she can almost feel Rachel's determination to not be turned on this time (and really, who does she think she's kidding?)
"Because it'll make it more fun for me, when I'm making your every waking moment hell on earth." She stays there for a moment, waiting to gauge Rachel's reaction, and when she stands steely-faced, Cassie pulls back and smiles to herself, partly surprised and a little impressed that Rachel's managed to find some self-control out of apparently nowhere, and partly at the thought of how much fun she's going to have with this girl.