Chapter 29 - Ghosts of the Past
CASSIE'S P.O.V.
I woke up to someone shaking me gently. I rubbed my eyes groggily before sitting up. "Waz da matta?" I mumbled under my breath and opened my eyes to see Dan staring at me worriedly. "Cassie, you remember how you told me about your past, right?" he asked. I nodded, how could I forget? "And remember how you said The_Hottest_Girl_In_The_Room was your sister?" he continued. "Actually, she wasn't my sister. She was one of the brats who I had to live with." I corrected him. "She's down stairs." he blurted out. "What?!" I yelled in shock.
Just then, the door to the apartment opened, and in came Phil, and her.
DAN'S P.O.V.
Phil walked into the apartment with the girl from down stairs. "Cassie!" she cried, apparently happy to be reunited. She rushed forward, probably to try hug her. Cassie just side stepped her and stalked over to Phil, who had a confused look on his face. "Why did you do that?" he asked Cassie, who was livid. "Philip Michael Lester, what is she doing here?" Cassie replied, ignoring his question. "She was in the lobby, handing out photos of you. When she saw me, she recognised me and asked for your contact details. I brought her up here because I thought you'd be here." he explained slowly.
"Uh, hello Cassie! I travel half the globe looking for you and I don't even get a greeting? That's down right rude, you know!" the girl butted in. Cassie slowly turned her gaze on the girl. "You know what's down right rude Amber?" Cassie asked. "I'll tell you what's down right rude. Ensuring I had no friends. Publicly embarrassing me. Making everyone I knew hate me. Telling me that I deserved to die." Cassie counted on her fingers. She remained surprisingly calm. Although she hadn't told me anything about this Amber girl, I knew she was trouble. "Can't you just move on from the past already?!" Amber rudely cut her off. "The past is what makes us who we are. If I moved on from the past, then I wouldn't be here." Cassie replied. She walked back over to the couch and plonked herself down. Switching on the TV, she called out, "You can go now. Don't come back."
Amber's face went red. "You can't tell me what to do, you little piece of -" I cut her off. "Shut up." I told her. "Would someone please tell me what's going on?!" Phil yelled over the top of us. Oh yeah, Cassie didn't tell Phil the story of her past. I stood up, grabbed Cassie and Phil, pulled them into my bedroom and closed the door. Cassie quickly explained to Phil who this girl was. "But what do we do with her?" Phil asked. "I don't want her to go to Cassie's apartment. The less they know about her the better." I said. Cassie shot me a thankful glance. "We don't know who else is here." Cassie pointed out, running her hands through her hair. "Or why they're here." she continued.
"Ok, this is what we'll do. We'll call the security guards and get them to remove Amber and after she's cleared the premises, we'll sneak Cassie out the back door." Phil told us. He dialled the number of the main desk and explained the situation. We waited until we heard the door open and the guard talking to Amber before we came out of my room. The guard, George was his name I think, had grabbed Amber's hand and had dragged her half way out of the apartment. "You can't stop me Cassie!" Amber was yelling as she swung her free hand wildly. "We have the papers. We'll make you come home."
George pulled her out the door and slammed it behind him. I turned to see Cassie, who had finally lost her cool. She had gone a deathly pale white and was shaking. Phil and I engulfed her in a hug to calm her down. "What do they want from me? What have I done to deserve this?" Cassie mumbled into my shoulder. "I thought I was free, but they want me back." A tear ran down her cheek. "I'm going to scout the premises Dan. When I text you, can you escort Cassie back to her apartment." Phil told me before getting up and leaving. Cassie also got up, explained she wanted to wash her face and left for the bathroom. About five minutes later, I got the ok text from Phil, and me and Cassie left my apartment.
***BACK AT CASSIE'S APARTMENT***
CASSIE'S P.O.V.
The first thing I did when I got back to my apartment was check the time. It was 1:37 in the morning, but I wasn't tired. "Are you ok Cass?" Dan asked. I shook my head. "To be honest Dan, I'm scared out of my wits. My past is coming back to haunt me. Did you hear what Amber said? That they would be able to force me to go back to Australia. I don't know what they're up to, only what they're capable of, and it terrifies me." I told him. "If you like, I could stay the night." Dan offered shyly. He looked at the ground and blushed. "Really? You'd do that for me?" I asked, slightly shocked. He smiled and nodded and started to say something along the lines of "That's what friends are fo-" but I cut him off with a hug.
Dan decided to go make us some hot chocolate, so I took the opportunity to check social media. Probably not the wisest thing I could have done. Amber and other people from my past had spammed me on facebook, twitter, YouTube, they'd emailed me - you name it, they did it. Many of my supporters had defended me against their mean comments, but some were posting saying they were confused. Worst of all, Amber had posted an explanation video, where she talked crap about me and twisted my past to make it look like I was the bad guy who had hurt her. The number of subscribers I had was dropping, and other people were commenting saying that they were disappointed with me, I was a slut etc. etc.
"Here you go Cass- what's wrong?" Dan asked, shaking me from my thoughts. He dumped the hot chocolate on the table and rushed to my side. Snatching my phone from my hands, he scrolled through the comments quickly. "I've taken hate before, but why do they believe her?" I asked, my voice thick with tears. Just then, my phone started to ring. It was an unknown number, and after a moments hesitation, Dan answered. "Hello?" he asked. "Hello Daniel. Hello Cassidy." said a voice I had hoped to never hear again. "Who is this?" Dan questioned, slightly aggressively. "Cassie, I'm so glad that we have finally gotten back in contact." he continued. "How did you get my number?" I asked, trying to sound confident. "All will be revealed in good time. I'll see you soon Cassidy." he said and hung up. "Cassie, who was that?" Dan asked, grabbing my shoulders. "That- that was my foster father." I whispered.
Dan didn't say anything for a moment. "You need to get some sleep. Tomorrow we'll re-think things, but I know from experience that the best time to do that is not 20 to 2 in the morning." He told me. I started to protest but he just rolled his eyes, picked me up bridal style and carried me to my room. "Dan, you sleep in my bed, I'll take the couch." I said. He gave me a 'are you kidding' look, put me down on my bed gently and walked back out. "Good morning Cassie." I heard him call. I really should go make sure he's okay, but I'm so tired. I'll just rest my eyes for five minutes.
Authors Notes
Well, how's that for tension? Cassie's past is coming back to haunt her. I've had a great idea which I will incorporate into the later chapters… :)
BYE :D
