Disclaimer - I dizzont ozzizzle Cowizzle Beizzleboizzle. Translation: I don't own Cowboy Bebop.

THREE YEARS! Oh my, two years since I last updated this. You know what this means! UBER SUPER LONG AUTHOR'S NOTE! Because EVERYONE wants to know why I've been gone. Well, you don't, but whatever. Anyway, two years ago I was almost 16 and now I'm almost 18. I'm positive that my writing has undergone tremendous changes in the past two years so the new and improved chapters will likely be slightly different than the last four. I'll just leave it at that and let you (if there is even a "you") read and hopefully enjoy. And another thing, I've got the song "Crazy Bitch" (if you haven't heard it go listen to it NOW) in my head right now. I apologize ahead of time for making a random character sing it.

The Bebop High School Story

Chapter Five

"Thus ends another day in the hellhole they call a school," Cassandra commented to her white haired counterpart.

"It's not even the end of the day, you morons. This is lunch," Spike chimed in from behind the two.

Cassandra waved a hand at him in a silencing motion and lit the cigarette that was hanging from her mouth. "It's the end of my school day," she retorted, handing Vicious's stolen Zippo back to him.

"For real, I know exactly what I'm going to do when I get home," Vicious grumbled, lighting up his smokey treat and pocketing the silver lighter.

"Hey, guys, you're seventeen and this is a high school parking lot," Chris said matter-of-factly, materializing out of no where.

"Fuck off, Chris," Julia joked, punching him in the shoulder.

Chris, expecting a witty remark, just stared at the back of Vicious and Cassandra's heads in dumbfounded shock. "What the fuck is up with them?" he quietly asked Julia as they neared his car. Turning away from her to unlock his car, he didn't see the highly noticeable uneasy look pass over Julia as she bit her lip.

"I am so fucking tired," Cassandra muttered mostly to herself, "I know I should stay but there's no way I'll make it past biology-" her sentence was cut short by the Mario theme song emitting loudly from the pocket of her hoodie. Pulling the cell phone out of her pocket, she flipped it open and groaned loudly. "Fuck me! Son of a bitch!" she half screamed, half hissed.

"What?" she snapped into the phone. Leaning against the other side of the car, Vicious solemnly observed the rain clouds re-massing in the sky, pretending not to notice that Faye was standing nearby watching Cassandra with unabashed admiration.

"Yeah, you know what, you can go ahead and shove that up your ass!" Cassandra finished, dramatically snapping her little phone shut. Near tears, she sat down in the passenger seat and slammed the door shut, burying her face in her hands.

Faye stared open-mouthed at Vicious, trying to figure out what had just ensued here. Shaking his head and frowning, Vicious hopped in his car and slammed the door shut. One look told him almost all he needed to know concerning his childhood friend. Cassandra was staring straight ahead with bloodshot eyes, not looking outside, not really looking at anything, just smoking her cigarette in quiet thought. Silently, he started up the car and drove out of the school's parking lot.

"I'm not going home," she stated, suddenly looking over at Vicious.

"I know. I wasn't taking you home," he replied, glancing over at her.

Flicking her cigarette butt out the window, Cassandra pulled another one from her pocket and lit it.

"Put one out, light one up, something's got you pretty pissed off," Vicious stated, though the statement wasn't really necessary. "Is that Spike behind us?"

Cassandra poked her head out the window and squinted at the car behind them. "Rodger that," she grumbled, flipping Spike and Faye off as she did so. "Not today, buddy," she added in reference to the fact that Spike was expecting to chase them all over town.

"Hungry?" Vicious asked her as they sped past a Burger King that was very familiar to the two of them. A small smile crept over Cassandra's face as she looked at the restaurant that she, Julia, Vicious and Spike worked at.

"Taco Bell it is," he replied with a grin that made her feel like she had to smile for some unknown reason.

-30-some minutes later-

"So, what do you want to do, I really don't feel that tired anymore," Cassandra asked after they had gotten to Vicious's house.

Turning around from facing the refrigerator, a bottle of Jim Beam in hand, he arched an eyebrow at her. Arching one of her thin, feathery eyebrows in return, Cassandra shook her head.

"Fuck that, I remember, or should I say I don't remember what happened the last time I visited ole' Jim," she explained, crossing her arms resolutely. "Err, what did I do that night?" Her only response was a shrug and an ice cold bottle of something being shoved in her lap.

"Cheer up," Vicious said, plopping down beside her to light up another cigarette.

"Do you think we should just tell them?" she asked suddenly, holding up the same bottle of Jim Beam she had seen moments before.

"Tell them what?" he asked, looking over at her with slightly widened eyes.

"That the fucker came back, maybe I won't have to stay with you all the time. I can crash with other people during the week and shit," she explained, popping the cap off of the Jim Beam and chugging some of the potent whiskey. Snatching the cap from where it rested on Cassandra's leg, Vicious smiled evilly at her and threw it as far across his living room as he could manage.

"Uh-oh, I lost the cap, looks like we've got to drink the whole bottle," he said with mock surprise and a shit eating grin to match.

Pulling the bottle away from her lips at the end of her long tug, she shrugged and said "if you don't remember it, it never happened."

-Meanwhile, two hours later at school-

"Hey, Spike, do you think I could catch a ride with you today?" Faye inquired, running up to where Spike, Julia and Faye were standing around Spike's car for one reason or another.

"No problem, I was going to stop by and see what was up with Cassandra before anything, though. Guess you'll have to put up with me for a little longer," he replied with a laugh, earning a grin from Faye.

"Hey, if you don't work tonight I was wondering if you wanted to come over and play some more Mech Assault," Faye suggested, "hell, you guys can all come over, I think my mom had to leave early for some shit up in Oregon."

"Sweet! Seriously, you guys should come see the system that Faye's got, it kicks ass," Spike said with a grin.

"Well the almighty BK Lounge says that we both have to work closing shifts tonight, so we've got to get our happy asses to work in about a half an hour. It's one of those damn 4 to close shifts, so annoying," Julia groaned.

"Doesn't Cassandra work tonight, too?" Chris wondered.

"I don't think so. I know she works tomorrow, though, she closes the kitchen with me," Spike explained. Julia and Chris nodded their assent, slowly walking towards Chris's car.

"See you guys tomorrow!" Julia said, the two of them waving their good byes.

Turning over to Faye, Spike shrugged and said "looks like it's just the two of us and Cassandra and Vicious if they want to come."

"That's cool with me," Faye replied, walking over to the passenger side of Spike's car.

Moving right along…

"…So that's why my mom threw me out of the house the first time," Spike finished, relating his tale of woe to his new found friend, Faye, as they pulled into the driveway of Vicious's house.

"Wow, I though I was the only one who had it bad," Faye replied with a measure of awe in her voice. "I thought you said that Cassandra's house was over that way somewhere," she asked, pointing in a north easterly direction.

"She does, but I bet she's here right now," he explained.

"I've got a cell phone, I could have just called her," Faye replied, waving a cell phone in Spike's face. "And don't even start, I bought it myself."

Laughing, Spike shrugged and said "I wasn't going to start, I know you're not a spoiled little brat. You're too real to be one of them." Faye smiled at him, and in return a silence settled over the two of them.

"Well, let's go see if she's here since we're already here," Spike suggested, waving his hand at the front door. Faye nodded and the two of them walked up the stairs to the small patio. Flinging the screen door open, Spike marched inside with a bewildered Faye directly behind him. The living room was vacant, but the shoes Cassandra wore almost every day were laying on a mat next to the doorway along with the same pair of shoes Vicious was wearing earlier that day.

"Hey buttmunchers, where are you?" Spike yelled, walking down a hallway to where he knew Vicious's room was.

"Wha-bu-you didn't knock you just waltzed on in here, you never know what they might be doing," Faye stammered.

"I'm not too worried, I do this all the time and they both do it to me," he replied, poking his head in Vicious's room. "Found you!"

Faye looked in after Spike to see Cassandra passed out on what she assumed to be Vicious's bed, hugging an empty bottle of Jim Beam like a childhood stuffed animal. At the foot of the bed, which was really just a box spring and a mattress, Vicious was sitting playing some video game or another.

"So I'm willing to bet that you're half-popped," Spike ventured, jerking a thumb at the passed out Cassandra.

Shrugging, Vicious looked up, his gaze going directly to Faye. "Hi Faye, hi Spike, and yes, I am," he said, sounding, as Spike had said, half-popped. "She passed out about an hour ago, I'm guessing that's why you stopped by?"

"Pretty much, what the hell is going on, man?" Spike inquired, plopping down on the bed next to the passed out Cassandra.

Vicious looked from Faye to Spike to Cassandra and back again, arching an eyebrow at the newcomer standing in his doorway.

"I can leave if you want me to. I mean, if this is something just between you guys that's cool, I'll just go chill in your living room or something," Faye offered.

"No, you're good, Faye, sit down somewhere," Spike said, waving his hand around the room. Shrugging, Faye sat down beside him and glanced at the slumbering Cassandra.

"Her dad decided to come back for one reason or another," Vicious muttered, looking uneasily at Spike.

"I thought he was in jail for, like, 20 years," Spike exclaimed, starting to sound irritated.

"Yeah, so did she," Vicious remarked, flicking a piece of his red/white hair out of his eyes and looking strangely at Faye. "Uh, Faye, you look a little queasy."

"Err, I'm fine," she replied with a deep breath. Jail? Why the hell didn't she ever think of that? Just call the cops and get that bastard of a step father arrested, duh! On the other hand he seemed like a clean cut business type of guy, there was no way the cops would believe her. In her deep state of introspection, she hardly noticed that the girl she was sitting next to had woken up and was observing her with a confused expression plastered across her features.

"Faye?" Cassandra asked. Moving to an upright position, her head immediately decided that was a bad idea and she promptly resumed laying down.

Leaping out of her ponderous state, Faye's eyes jerked over to Cassandra. "Uh, y-yeah, that's me," she stuttered with a stupid grin.

"What's up?" Cassandra wondered.

"I, uh, just stopped by here with Spike to see what you were up to and how you were doing," she managed to put together.

Squinting at the empty bottle of liquor, Cassandra responded, "I'd offer you a shot but it looks like it's all gone. Oh, shit, I remember, you asshole!" she exclaimed, sitting upright suddenly and pointing at Vicious. "You're the one that 'lost' the damn cap, but I wound up drinking most of the shit."

Jerking themselves from their conversation, Spike and Vicious both looked at the suddenly conscious Cassandra. "My bad," Vicious started, "but where are you staying tonight? You can stay here if you want."

"You can stay with me," Faye blurted, not aware of what she was saying until she had finished. "Um, I mean, I guess you really don't know me, but, err…"

"Sweet!" Cassandra exclaimed, "That would kick ass, making new friends kicks ass!"

"Cassandra, you're drunk," Spike stated; Cassandra shrugged.

GAWD! That's it for now, hooray for uneventful ness. Well, you're probably thinking WTFBBQ WHY OC? I WANT S/F FIC DAMN YOU! Mehmehmehmeh, you'll get it. Just shhh and read more. And review, I appreciate those.