Disclaimer: I don't own H&A, or The Five People You Meet In Heaven, I'm just borrowing for a while.

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Don't Forget About Me

Chapter Five: Found

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Taylor was actually getting along with the geek? Taylor IS getting along with the geek. Oh me oh my, how much fun I can have this with this? I thought to myself, ignoring the pounding in my chest, and the small, annoying, twisting feeling in my stomach.

"Well, we could just leave you two love birds alone?" I said snidely, raising an eyebrow as I grinned maniacally towards them. "You seem to be getting rather cozy with one another and I wouldn't want to interrupt." I finished in a harsh tone.

"Like hell you wouldn't" Taylor snapped back at me. "You wouldn't leave us alone if you really thought anything was happening –too much opportunity for mockery. Too much opportunity for torturous comments. No, you'd rather stay than go." She finished firmly, sitting back into her beanbag and smirking.

Well, aren't we just a cynical bunch, I thought to myself, my eyes remaining on Taylor's smirk. That smirk has been overused by each of us already and it's not even eleven.

At least that's something we all have in common I mused before backtracking. No, wait not wholesome Henry, the parent's wet dream…He may be a jerk, but he certainly doesn't smirk. He rarely ever smiles. Not that I would if I were him, got nothing to smirk or smile about, I thought, snickering to myself before looking up and catching everyone's eyes on me, their faces set in slightly amused expressions.

"I'm trying to have a private moment here!" I said in a rather girly tone "And I'd prefer if you lot didn't interrupt."

"Well this whole 'escape plan' is your idea." Cassie said boredly, as if she were stating the damn obvious.

"And do you remember me asking you to come along?" I replied angrily.

"Yes, actually." Came the airy reply, as she pulled out a chair and sat down, settling herself as she continued. "Remember, only moments ago, you were a heartbeat away from dragging me from my chair?" she mused, cocking her head to the side, a small, knowing smile playing on her lips.

Groaning inwardly, I sat down and put my head in my hands, as if I were feeling the after effects of the alcohol from the night before. Spending time with females wasn't good for your head. They tended to be able to mess with your mind even if they didn't intend for it to happen.

"Look," Luke said, "Obviously you came here for a reason Cassie, and it wouldn't just be because Dalby threatened you. Because like he'd ever hit a girl. Henry, he might hit, and more than likely I'm sure punching me has come to mind."

"Punching jockie over there has come to mind more." I added in before Luke continued.

"Whatever, my point is, if we choose to follow Dalby out that door, we choose to do it for our own personal reason, not because we were forced into it." Luke said, talking his time to look each of us in the face, making his point clear.

Worst thing about that speech was, I could actually see why Taylor was hanging out with the kid. He was definitely the most normal sort out of everyone here, and knew his stuff when it came to putting down the teen queen of witches.

Speaking of witches, while everyone else had sat down, appearing content with their position for now, she was walking along the closest row of books slowly, her thumb running gently over their spines. It was as if she was searching for something that she remembered, but just wasn't able to find it.

In truth, with her believing we were all preoccupied, she may have believed she could have this moment to herself. Or she may have been lost in her own world. Either way, Id never seen her look so enchanting, so innocent. In that one moment, Matilda Hunter showed what natural beauty was.

Then, like a gun shot breaking the serenity of my vision, Henry Hunter screamed, "You'd like to hit me huh?"

"Talk about being hit with the slow stick one too many times. I guess that's one of the problems running around with a little ball and touching males can do to you." I replied halfheartedly, because it was both a cheap shot, and because the vision of innocent Matilda was still floating across my mind like a dream.

Taylor snorted, geek tried to muffle his laugh, Cassie rolled her eyes, but Matilda, for her own little corner of the world clutching a book close, she giggled. It was a soft, small giggle that became louder even as Henry turned to glare at her.

As she recovered, she said to Henry "Well he had a point. I always wondered why guys can tackle other guys in sport but wouldn't even dare to touch one another in every day life."

"Ahh the eternal question every girl will be forced to ponder for all eternity, 'Why males bond over sports?'" Taylor threw in, to which Matilda replied "Amen sister."

"Oh god," Groaned dorkus from his corner "They aren't going to bond over a guys inability to show feelings and emotions are they?" He finished, looking between Henry and myself.

"Maybe you should come join Lucas." Taylor said, "You seem to understand a girls mind fairly well." She finished, as Matilda nodded in agreement.

Who'd have thought those two would ever agree on anything? Leaning back, I decided once more that today was going to be anything but boring.

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How could she just pretend as if nothing had happened? There she was, making friends with Dalby and Belle, but ignoring the fact that I was here… someone she used to be best friends with?

How do you just…recover like that?

Then I almost hit myself. It didn't matter to Matilda Hunter. She'd ignored me for four years, why stop now? That's the kind of cold hearted witch Matilda had transformed into, that's the witch four years of boarding school had created. And Boarding Schools effect on Henry… enough said.

When we were ten, he was this sweet kid who was always hanging around, like he couldn't find anything better to do. At eleven, he had this own friends, mostly because of footy. But he was still sweet. He would never let his mates pick on little Matilda and her somewhat strange friend Cassie. He was cute like that. Cute like a person I imagined would always be there for me, no matter what. Kind of how I imagined Matilda to be.

Then Jack had sent them away. Three weeks before we started highschool. That was it. No amount of tears from Matilda, no amount of silence from Henry could change his mind. And I started highschool alone, with a dark heart, and an even darker exterior. I hated the world, and the world hated me.

There were phone calls and emails to start with, as Matilda mocked the kind of people she was to become. Then, there became less calls, then a weekly email with minimal detail, then finally, nothing.

I cried for nights on end, at the loss of what I believe to be my best friend. I was a naïve child then. Now, I'm a teenager and not so naïve any more. When I heard from my mother that Jack had passed away, the stone heart I had created didn't even chip a little. There was just a dull, mindless look that was used any time the Hunter's were mentioned in our household, and this was no exception.

First day of year 11, they were there. Sitting on the benches, a crowd formed around them. Back from their own kind of dead. But I walked on by, my head turning the other way, my eyes devoid of any emotion. Matilda and Henry Hunter died around the same time my faith and belief in friendship did.

And as life continued, we lived in ignorance of one another. I lived in ignorance of everyone and everything. Until today. The fateful day that had thrown us together once more. The day fate stepped in to change our futures. When we managed to land in the first Saturday detention… together.

I looked up to find Henry shooting uncommonly hard glares at everyone, while a slightly amused smile graced the lips of Dalby, as he watched Matilda giggling. Doing what she does best, I thought tiredly, playing the mindless bimbo. But I also heard Belle Taylor laughing to the side of me. Looking around in bewilderment, I wondered what the hell was going on in this library. Maybe I'd been lost in my own world for far too long.

Looking down to the picture I had held tight in my art book, I considered what I'd really been drawing. There were shadows, outlines, of people, but I had yet to reach any substance at all.

Really, we were all simply shadows, waiting for our experiences to create the people we were going to be. But until we figured out who we really were, we pretended to know, because pretending was always a better option than being lost.

"Earth to Cassie." Dalby yelled. "The world is calling you."

"An attempt at humour from Mr. Dalby." I said, turning my head and looking towards him. "Something that must be applauded because not everyone can grasp the idea of wit, let alone use it." I snarled at him.

"Temper temper." Dalby bit back. "We just wanted to know what you thought of Henry's sexuality - does football provoke gay, straight, or confused thoughts about males?"

I just couldn't help it. All the pain that I'd thought I'd hidden away, deep in my heart. It all came flooding back to me. Every tear I cried, every hurt feeling I'd ever felt because they walked out of my life.

Looking towards Henry, I glared as I said. "Footballers are jerks… they are assholes who don't care about anyone or anything but themselves. It doesn't matter who they crush along the way, as long as they get to where they are going in life. As long as they get what they want." I said slowly and fiercely, my spiteful eyes remaining on Henry.

" And with him, well, he cares even less." I finished softly. "I'd go with gay." I said firmly, standing up and walking away quickly. If I'd stayed a moment longer, they would've seen the hot tears that had begun to pour from my eyes.

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Raise your hand if you ever thought you'd be stuck in a Saturday Detention, with the most unusual suspects someone could gather, who you were actually beginning to get along with.

Okay then, raise your hand if you ever thought you'd see Cassie Turner tear Henry Hunter to shreds, and, that he would actually look crushed by this rejection.

Not me. I wouldn't have raised my hands to having Saturday detention. And I wouldn't have believed in a million years Cassie would bring Henry down from his pedestal. Yet here I am, watching what could have possibly been my new hero walk silently away.

I can understand Belle, even Dalby telling the honest trust to the Hunters, but Cassie? She's the one who doesn't give a damn. Her attitude screams 'bugger off I don't care about you and your pathetic existence on this planet.' And yet, in the one moment, she obviously did care about something, or… someone.

I started to understand, as I saw the awkward glances between Henry and Matilda, that there was obviously something I had missed. Someone as 'whatever' as Cassie doesn't generally go around screaming at people, then running away from the confrontation unless something really huge happened.

Maybe being here wasn't necessarily a bad thing. At least I'd bare witness to the gossip that was sure to spread like wild fire on Monday… not that I cared about such trivial things, I quickly reminded myself before hearing Dalby crack up.

"Well," he gasped between laughs "I don't think she'll be giving you any, any time soon." He managed to say to Henry, before breaking into laughter once more.

Instead of shrugging it off, instead of biting back with some crude word directed towards Dalby, or ever worse, Cassie, instead of saying "Like I'd touch that with a ten foot pole"… Instead of any predictable, typical, Henry Hunter jockface retorts, he marched over and punched Dalby square in the jaw.

Just like that, as if Dalby had insulted a long time girlfriend, or Matilda, or his mother. Henry just, hit him.

I'd definitely missed something here, I thought, as Dalby picked himself up and stood up, his face in Henry's, as if waiting for more.

However they were at stalemate now. Both were fuming, their fists clenched by their sides, bodies against one another, faces almost touching. Anger radiating between the two bodies, waiting for someone to erupt.

"Henry" Matilda's steady, calming voice said "Henry, don't. It's not worth it. He's not worth it." She said, as Dalby turned to shoot her a sharp glare. There was obviously little or no love between them anymore, I mused, thinking about only moments before when they had teamed up against Henry together.

Blood is clearly thicker than water.

Sucking in a breath, she walked over to them, and gently tugged on Henry's shoulder, forcing him to back down. Her eyes spoke volumes, as her mouth never moved. They spoke of things though their eyes that I couldn't even begin to grasp.

Throwing one final look at Dalby, Henry turned and walked over to a chair in the corner and sat down, placing his head in his hands, becoming lost in his own tumultuous mind. Something had triggered him. Something had snapped inside. Because of her. Because of Cassie Turner. It was all too weird to grasp.

These people, we had spent the last four years in school together. The last six months for Henry and Matilda. Yet, it seemed we knew nothing about one another. Hardly surprising, I thought, because we hadn't spoken to one another before today.

But, as we grew to know one another today, they less, it appeared, we believed in ourselves and everything we had been so sure about before nine am.

Looking up, I saw Belle observing everything around her, no doubt wondering what exactly had gone on when she and I were away from the group.

I saw a look of concern flash across her eyes as they came to rest of Dalby, who was massaging his jaw, obviously still angry, as he continued to take deep breaths, trying to calm himself down, so he didn't suddenly lash out as Henry had done.

Belle's eyes looked towards his hands and his jaw, and I watched as her own hands itched to move, to massage and comfort Dalby. She wanted to be the one to mend him when he was hurt.

A hint of jealously momentarily swept through my own body. Why would she want to comfort him? I asked myself. She was smart, articulate, funny, witty, sly. What could she possibly have in common with him?

What did this jealously mean for me? Did I like Belle? Maybe.

I liked everything she represented. Like, one day, fi I ever managed to find the 'one' I imagined her to be like Belle. Not Belle exactly, but like her. So maybe I was jealous of all the Dalby's in the world, jealous of all the Henry's, who would always end up with the girl, before any of the Lucas' did. After all, the bad boy or the jock eventually sees the girl for who she really is. They always end up with the right girl.

Why would my story be any different? I thought sadly, opening my book and doing the only thing I could, beginning at the beginning.

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Wow, holy wow. Who'd have thunk it? Cassie a psycho, yeah sure, but a psycho who actually goes psycho? Unlikely, even in this school. And Henry actually having the nerve to hit Dalby? I'll admit, I have some admiration for the boy now. Some real, deep admiration. He can hit well actually, wouldn't say no to him defending me.

The moment Dalby hit the floor thought, something lurched in my stomach, and something vaguely resembling worry ran through my body, and it took everything I had not to run to him there and then. I held my hands in place as Matilda got Henry to back off, but as Dalby sat there, nursing his bruising jaw, I felt my hands wanting to touch his face, to sooth his pain.

Then, I just felt like slapping myself. Actually caring about what happens to Dalby? Actually worrying about him? I must be mad. Crazed, headed for the loony bin.

Looking between the two manly men, I considered their personalities, which, in this short amount of time I'd spent with them, I had come to believe we strikingly similar. Neither of them was unfortunate looking, in fact, to the right kind of girl, both would be rather attractive.

Dalby, with his smoldering, bad boy looks, and Henry with his, well, that smile and those dimples. Both were fighters, were easily aggravated and annoyed, and both had short tempers. They spoke their mind and believed they were always right. To sum it up, they were typical teenage males, who would probably get along famously if they didn't hate one another on principle.

Dalby hated Henry because he was popular and abused that popularity, and Henry hated Dalby because that was simply what the popular people did. Hated and ignored those who didn't fit into their world.

It's just the kind of cruel people they were. And Cassie, well, she noticed, and she called him on it. I can't help but think there was something more behind her anger. Something that had been hidden away, deep down in some forgotten box.

Maybe it was the way her face twisted into anguish, like a childhood pain she'd just remember had come back to haunt her. But even weirder, how Henry had reacted. While I love a good biff as much as the next person, Henry had lashed out at a remark that even the dullest minds in the world could have counted with a snappy comeback.

The day was quickly becoming one of the weirdest of my life. Must be the lack of air getting to everyone. Or the overall general lack of brain cells, I smirked at my own joke, as my eyes fell on Lucas.

Before they had come looking for us, we'd been getting along, like actual, real friends. He knew wit, he knew sarcasm, he knew humour and he knew intelligence. There was something I was drawn to, something entirely attractive about the Nerd, that I just couldn't grasp.

Maybe it was his complete lack of concern for the events that had just occurred around him. Or maybe it was because he saw people before he judged them. He knew them as them, before he decided whether they were worthy for attention or not. Maybe it was because he was the complete opposite of any other guy in this school.

Sighing, I rubbed my temples, attempting to stop the headache that was threatening to take over. Being in detention made you think way too hard, I thought, as I looked up and caught Matilda glancing at me. I offered her the smallest of smiles, which she quickly returned before sitting down quietly in a corner and immersing herself in a … was that, a book? An actual, hard cover, more than one hundred words per page book? Not a magazine, but a real book.

Sitting back in what could only be some kind of… admiration, I watched as her eyebrows creased and she bit her lip, becoming list in another reality, another world, which was beginning to look more inviting than this world.

Glancing around the room quickly, I began to realise that each and every one of us were losing grip on the reality we'd strived so hard to hold onto. In front of our very eyes, our worlds were slowly, surely, falling to pieces.

My own reality was being tested every minute I say here, mulling over Dalby, or offering somewhat encouraging smiles to Matilda. Or bonding with Lucas. We were loosing touch, with no one but one another to pull us out.

But were any of us really ready to take that step, towards something akin to friendship, I wondered as I pulled out my diary, wanting to collect my thoughts, and put them all onto paper.

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As I sat massaging my freshly bruised knuckles, I pleaded silently with someone, please, please don't let him kill me later.

Yes, okay. Dalby scared the shit out of me. And I'd hit him. A damn good hit too. I don't know what came over me, but when Cassie had looked at me like I was less then human, like I didn't deserve to be here, I'd just, snapped.

She'd looked at me like I was someone who should be forgotten. Ironic, isn't it? Just when you remember, you in turn, are forgotten. Forgotten the moment you want to be remembered… for who you used to be… for who you could be once more.

Cassie Turner. How had you come walking back into my life? More importantly, why? You were always that girl who called me on my bullshit. You knew I wasn't a charmer deep down. You knew, once upon a time, I had no friends except for you and Matilda. You knew the real me.

And you made me ashamed of who I had become.

But she didn't see that. She just saw the jerk, the player who was too cool for anyone else.

Before we went away, Cassie knew the real me. Sometimes, I wondered if she had been the only one who ever got me.

And I'd forgotten she'd ever been a part of my life. I am a jerk, I thought angrily, I'm a dickhead and an idiot, I'm no better than the people I'm friends with either, I thought, considering the rude, obnoxious, dumb behaviour of my friends towards anyone they hadn't deemed 'worthy'.

And for the last half-hour, everyone had been no so subtly glancing between Matilda and myself, trying to figure out what had happened. What had gone on to make Cassie yell like that, to make me hit Dalby that hard.

I looked over to see whether Matilda was still trying to get a grasp on the situation, but she was curled up, her legs tucked under her body, head propped up by one hand, while the other hand held a book that was open in front of her.

Her eyes had become a little glazed over, all misty, like she was trying to hold back tears. Her face, usually cold and composed, was becoming pained and saddened. She was allowing her face to show her emotions. Wearing her heart on her sleeve, so to speak. So unlike Matilda.

Today was changing everything. Not even half way through the day and already we were changing… our beliefs, our feelings, our memories, everything.

Generally, I don't believe in deep thought, but that's all I appeared to have partaken in since this morning. Which could possibly be the scariest thought ever.

Beginning a conversation now, with anyone, would be both awkward and complicated, I thought, imagining the questions or the snappy remarks that would be made.

"You'd punch people for picking on Turner any other day Hunter, or just today? She must be something of a side dish for you." Dalby would say, implying what he believed to be the obvious.

"What happened there? What happened before to get us to there? What the hell is going on?" Lucas' nerdy curiosity would get the better of him… and me. He'd be the next one I hit if he did that to me.

Belle would stare at me, doing her weird, psycho analytical thing, as she tries to figure out where my anger and aggression comes from. Good luck with that, I'd tell her. And once you know, tell me, won't you.

And Matilda? She'd look at me with sad eyes, knowing, remembering deep down who Cassie was to both of us. And in her usually cold eyes, there would be something similar to pity, and I didn't think I could handle her pity either.

So I did the only thing I believed to be suitable at the time.

I stood up angrily, knocking away the chair I'd been sitting on, and I walked away from the group. Walked away from their judgement, their analysis. From their hatred and their pity.

I ran, because running from your problems is easier than facing them. It delays it for that little but longer. I would find out later, however, that you can't stop the inevitable.

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I looked up just in time to see Henry storming off in another direction, much the way Cassie had done earlier. He simply needed time to cool off, I thought, to figure out everything in his head. Henry needed to do that to exist. I, on the other hand, shoved the last half hours moments into the back of my mind, where it would collect dust, without being dealt with. That was simply how I existed. How I worked.

I wasn't going to deal with the emotional repercussions of the resurfacing of my one time best friend who I'd worked so hard to forget. For her sake, I thought sadly, not mine.

Opening the book I held in my hands, I reread the page I had been on before Henry's quick exit. I'm not a reader by nature, but there was something overwhelmingly beautiful about this hidden part of the library. It was like an oasis in a desert. To me, there was something magical drawing me towards these books… the one in my hands in particular.

The five people you meet in heaven.

It wasn't particularly thick, and the writing wasn't small either. The language was easy enough to understand, especially for someone who, well, wasn't exactly dumb, but English isn't his or her forte.

The story simply flowed. From one event to the next. From one moment in time to another. From one painful memory to the next even more heartbreaking memory.

And this man, he was only about to die.

But death is simply the beginning, I thought as I slumped back into my chair and tried to become comfortable once more.

"No story sits by itself." I read. "Sometimes stories meet at corners and something they cover one another completely, like stones beneath a river."

All lives intersect/ Even if you don't want them too. And we all influence one another. Take us. The six people with nothing in common. Yet, we all know one another. We've all seen one another; we've all influenced what we think about, how we behave, who we are. Who we want to be.

This book, for all it's simplicity, was conveying the most significant message I may ever learn. That no matter who you are, your actions have consequences for you, but also for everyone else around you.

Closing the book, every painful memory I had hidden away deep within me resurfaced. The months of tears, before I left, then after I left. It all hurt too much to remember, so I left it all behind. Cassie was the one person, aside from Henry, who would be able to see past my lies into my soul. She had known me better than I knew myself.

We had spent every possible minute together, bonded from kindergarten. Other people joked she was the third Hunter twin. And when I left, I couldn't just forget that to begin with. Then I'd been offered a new life. One that was seemingly perfect, but underneath it was lonely and cold and full of pretending.

And I accepted it. Changed myself completely. Became someone new. Someone the old Matilda, along with Cassie, would have mocked. Someone they promised each other they'd never become.

It all came rushing back so quickly, as I felt hot tears prickling in the corners of my eyes. Furiously, I wiped them away, hoping that no one would notice.

Thankfully, Henry chose that exact moment to come running up, causing a racket by knocking over another chair. Dalby, Belle and Lucas looked up at him as he said two words. "Hyde's coming."

For a moment, there was silence. Then, we bolted. The last thing any of us wanted was another Saturday detention.

A solitary thought crossed my mind as I sprinted as best I could to beat Hyde back.

"What about Cassie?"

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AN: Thanks Nicole, you're a star.

The Five People You Meet in Heaven is a real book. And a brilliant one at that. More drama coming, I promise, and more interaction too. Thanks for sticking it out with me!