The mood in the house was down. Wes spent Rebecca some comfort, while Laurel walked around Sam´s body, taking in the gruesome scene. Cassy leaned against a wall, arms crossed over her chest, trying to get some peace out of that position. In the background you could hear Michaela´s shaky breathing and the group watched as Connor went over to the woman crouching in a corner, telling her harshly to stand up.
"Connor!" Laurel pushed him back and kneeled down in front of the woman who was having a nervous breakdown, telling her softly that they had to leave.
"She´s not fine, are you blind? Her little perfect brain can´t handle this." Connor meant angrily as Cassy grabbed him by his shoulder.
"Shut up okay? You´re not better." She whispered harshly as Laurel paid attention to getting Michaela ready to go.
"Don´t talk to me that way." Connor pulled away from the youngest and wanted to storm towards Michaela when Cassy reached for his arm to pull him back again. However, instead of getting him away from that situation Connor pushed her away, causing Cassy to fall back onto the ground and hit her elbow with a loud bang.
"Connor!" Wes shouted as he rushed to Cassy´s aid who sat up with a painful groan, rubbing her elbow.
"Are you out of your mind?" Rebecca inquired, when she watched Wes helping Cassy up and Connor looked at them open-mouthed.
"I-…I-" he stuttered as he walked back, straight against a bookshelf.
"It´s just a scrape." Cassy insisted when she saw a little blood on her fingers after pressing them onto the wound.
"Come on let´s clean this." Wes said
The beams of sunlight shining through Cassy´s windshield woke her up long before her alarm. It´s been a few nights that she had spent in her car and she now knew that parking near to a public restroom was crucial if she didn´t want people to find out about her living situation. Her back ached from the uncomfortable position and she now, more than ever, craved a strong coffee. After she got ready, she spent some time just sitting in her car and scrolling through her phone, seeing as she had some time to kill. She looked at her Instagram profile, where a picture of her and Lila Stangard, which she posted a few months back, was. The two were wearing their Middleton University shirts and sat in Lila´s bed, big smiles on their faces. Cassy exhaled deeply as the thought of her best friend being murdered made her feel even worse. She geared into first and drove to a coffee place nearby campus where she agreed to meet Frank.
"Morning." She yawned as she sat down on the opposite side of a small table in the back where no one could really see her and Frank. He huffed as a greeting which Cassy figured was the best she could get from him. "So did you find anything on my biological parents?" she wanted to know taking a huge gulp of coffee.
"Not yet." He murmured as he played with the spoon by his half empty mug. "Do you know anything else? Like names, siblings et cetera?"
"No I told you everything my parents told me. They gave me away when I was three, I am from Philadelphia and they had some problems…that´s all I know." Cassy answered worried he wouldn´t find anything but Frank seemed suspicious. He didn´t make any eye contact and it felt like he was holding something back. "Although I do have this memory…I always thought it was a dream but since I found out I was adopted…I´m not so sure anymore." She admitted and Frank looked at her from the corner of his eyes. "I´m in a yard…actually on a swing and there´s…there´s a boy that´s pushing me…he´s older…we´re laughing and having fun and then there comes this older man and he has this angry expression and pulls the boy away. They´re fighting and then he picks me up and that´s all…that´s all I remember…" Cassy told him and Frank now looked at her straight. He seemed thoughtful and concerned when a nod suddenly broke his expression and he went back to having the typical Frank-look on.
"Could be an older brother…I´ll look into it." He said standing up and picking up his belongings.
"Wait!" Cassy stopped him from leaving and looked at him with pleading eyes. "Annalise…is she still mad?"
"Listen. I´m here to help you find your family. We´re not friends nor colleagues…I won´t help you get back in her good graces. You gotta do that yourself." He explained before leaving her in the coffee shop, a worried expression on her face.
The school day went by pretty quickly and Cassy went to a nearby supermarket to get some groceries when she met Asher by the cashier.
"Hi." She smiled awkwardly while emptying her basket. He looked up from his phone and gave her a friendly smile. "So, you got a new client?"
"Not allowed to talk about it. Attorney-Client privilege." The man said with a click of his tongue and Cassy scoffed. "But yeah we do and the case is awesome." He whispered to her and she chuckled.
"Man, I don´t know how you do that honestly…now that the classes are starting to get more difficult and Annalise being so demanding." She acted caring and tried to hide the mischievous smile. "Do you even have a study group where you can get everything from the classes you miss because of her?" Asher looked at her with a worried look and couldn´t answer her question.
"Do you?" he wanted to know, now more interested in their conversation. Cassy looked at the cashier processing her groceries and she took some cash out of her wallet.
"I don´t miss classes anymore." She winked as she took the bags with her food and left the market. Her plan had worked just like she wanted it to.
Asher was just going through the files he got from Annalise on the Elena Aguilar case when someone knocked on his door.
"Hey there." Cassy smiled as he faced her in the doorway with a surprised look. "Brought my notes from TORTS." She let herself in and threw her coat on the couch.
"I don´t remember agreeing to a study group?" Asher scoffed delighted as Cassy looked around.
"I know. But…I brought brain food." She winked as she pulled a bottle of whiskey out of her bag.
"Where´d you get that from? I thought you were underaged." Asher mocked her as he took the bottle to the kitchen, prepping two glasses for them.
"Oh I have my ways." She noted as she wandered through the small apartment. She looked back to Asher once he offered her a glass and she took a small sip. "Oh that´s disgusting." She cringed and so did Asher by the taste of the cheap, burning liquor.
"So you wanna study here on the couch or…go to the table or…" Asher mumbled excited about the girl offering to help him.
"You look so tense…" Cassy came closer as she sat the whiskey down and took his glass from him as well. Their bodies almost touched and she looked up at him from under her lashes. "Maybe you need to…rest for a moment." She offered in a seductive tone as she walked around him, her fingers softly caressing his arm. "Actually, I heard that I´m a pretty good masseuse…" she pressed him onto the couch and started rubbing his shoulders. Asher cleared his throat, overwhelmed by her seduction but he enjoyed the attention. Cassy leaned in to whisper in his ear and she could see the goosebumps forming on his neck.
"Damn it." Asher grabbed the girl by her wrists and pulled her over the back of his couch, making her land on her back. It didn´t take long for him to lie atop of her and kiss her passionately which she quickly replied. They were eager and hot for one another and their hands wandered over their bodies in quick motions. Cassy pulled Asher´s Middleton jersey over his head and started unbuckling his belt while he opened the buttons of her blouse.
"You´ve got protection?" she asked breathlessly, as Asher pushed her skirt up.
"Coming right up." He smirked as he stood up to get a condom and tripped over his jeans hanging by his ankles. Cassy rolled her eyes as she took the opportunity to take her clothes off. "Got it." Asher held a condom wrapper up high and watched as Cassy walked to him towards the bed in only her underwear.
"Then what are we waiting for?" she smiled, pushing him backwards so he would fall onto the bed.
About 30 minutes later Cassy turned to Asher to check if he was asleep which he was. She wrapped her body in the sheets and started walking through the apartment as quietly as possible.
"Where the hell is it?" she thought to herself as she looked through the different papers lying on the table. When she couldn´t find what she was looking for, she widened her search area and after a thorough inspection of the coffee table she found a file on Annalise´s new case underneath the pile of the clothes they ripped off each other. "Too easy." She quickly crammed her cell phone out of her bag and took a picture of each file.
"Cassy?" Asher mumbled as he turned to his side but didn´t wake up. The girl put the file back onto the floor and picked up her clothing. She went into the bathroom to take a quick shower before heading out without a single trace of her ever being there.
It was the next day after classes and Cassy parked close to Annalise´s house. She had looked through the pictures she took from the file at Asher´s, studying them very strictly and learning everything about the case and thought she might have found something. Cassy hid as she watched her fellow colleagues drive by and park in their boss´ driveway. The girl waited a few minutes before texting Annalise to meet her outside.
"Didn´t think you´d come." Cassy admitted surprised by her former employer showing up at the front porch.
"I really don´t have any time for your excuses or cockiness I´ve got a case to get back to." The attorney crossed her arms over her chest and looked unimpressed but the student couldn´t stop her smile. "Alright that´s a waste of time." She said turning on her heel but Cassy´s voice stopped her.
"I know about your case. And I know how you could win it." She assured the law professor. "Gabriel Shaw, the leader, he was hospitalized in the Allentown Federal Prison only one day after the A.U.S.A interviewed him about your case. Convenient don´t you think. Especially after he had been perfectly healthy the past couple years."
"How do you know about the case, Gabriel Shaw and all those excruciatingly exact details?" Annalise wondered as she stepped closer.
"I don´t kiss and tell." Cassy had a smug expression on her face, seeing as her professor needed exactly that information. "You want my help?" Annalise nodded and the young woman followed her triumphing into the house.
"Guys we´ve got a new lead on the case and also a new member to the team." Annalise entered the living room where the other students were waiting for her. They wondered what she was talking about until their classmate showed up behind her. "At least for now." The professor gave Cassy a side eye and she swallowed down her pride and tried to hide her ecstatic happiness.
"Uh professor Keating may I offer my services on Gabriel Shaw I think I found-" Asher approached her but Annalise simply waved him off.
"Frank, Bonnie I need you to come with me to the courthouse. We need a permit to go to Allentown federal Prison and pay Gabriel Shaw a visit." The lawyer called her two trusted employees and they went towards the door. "You go and get something to eat I´ll meet you here in an hour again." Michaela and Connor walked by Cassy without even looking at her while Laurel offered her a smile.
"Good to have you back." Wes said, patting her on her shoulder as him and Laurel left the house. Asher threw her an angry look.
"You stole my file." He accused her but Cassy kept a straight face.
"I didn´t, it´s still at your place." She smiled and Asher was getting more frustrated by the second.
"You tricked me. You seduced me with all your…woman-ess!" he gestured wildly with his hands, however, Cassy still played it cool.
"I don´t know what you´re talking about…all we did yesterday was study for TORTS." She smiled and Asher scoffed. "Also,…" Cassy leaned in a bit whispering the following part. "…thank you for letting me take a shower." She pulled back and gave him a wink before also leaving the house.
Some hours later the students were sitting in Annalise´s living room while the client was in her office with her. Wes helped Cassy catch up on what she had missed with the case while the others talked about what exactly Frank was.
"I never believed that he was a lawyer." Michaela said annoyed by Connor making sexual comments about her fiancé Aiden.
"What does that mean?" Laurel asked, not liking Michaela´s tone.
"Have you heard him talk? That accent?" she continued and Laurel got defensive, saying that an accent doesn´t say anything about competence.
"Do you have a crush on him?" Michaela asked still annoyed and going through a file, which Laurel was quick to deny.
"You totally do." Connor mocked her and Cassy got sick of all the noise made about Frank.
"Y´all stop it alright? It´s none of your business. And Frank helps Annalise, he has a big set of skills, alright?" she interrupted them making fun of Laurel but soon Connor paid attention to her.
"Big set of skills huh? You two sneaking around with him?" he pointed at Laurel and Cassy who just gave him an eyeroll, relieved that Frank shouting, that someone should answer the phone stopped, Connor from asking more. Wes reached into his bag and pulled out a smartphone, leaving the room to answer it.
Asher was at the bonfire, drinking and dancing, trying to get the trophy Michaela stole from him off his mind, when he suddenly bumped into someone.
"Hey! Watch your step-" Asher suddenly turned to face Cassy as she caused him to spill his drink, but cut himself off when he saw the dried tears on her face. "Are you okay?" Cassy looked him straight in the eyes, unsure herself if she was okay. Suddenly she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his face to hers, pressing her lips onto his. It took a split second but Asher immediately replied the kiss, letting his cup fall to the ground and wrapping his arms around her waist. Cassy pulled away and they locked eyes, looks enough to make them leave the party together and go back to Asher´s place.
Cassy and Asher entered the apartment kissing passionately while they threw their jackets off of their bodies. He picked her up, not breaking the kiss and walked her to his bed, where he threw her onto the unmade sheets, watching as she unzipped her pants and he quickly took off his shirt before getting on top of her. They almost ripped off each other's clothes before continuing to kiss passionately. Asher put his hands around her wrists and pulled them behind their head as he paid attention to her neck, chest, all the way down to her panties before removing them carefully. Cassy moaned in pleasure, all thoughts of the terrible crime she was part of, gone like the wind. She pulled Asher´s head up and pushed him onto the bed, taking the lead as she sat on top of him. She unbuckled his belt and pulled down his pants, while Asher unbuttoned her blouse. Cassy was grateful, that it was dark inside so he wouldn´t see any blood stains that might have been on the blouse.
Some time after they had finished Cassy quietly snuck out of the bed and put on her shirt. Not only did the feeling of regret quickly come over her but she remembered the terrible act she had been a part of. As she put on her shoes Asher woke up and asked her where she was going.
"What do you think? The Bonfire of course." She lied as she originally planned on going to the woods where she knew the others met.
"Wait I´m coming with you." Asher meant, getting up and tripping over his clothes on the floor.
Because Cassy helped Annalise with the facts about Gabriel Shaw, she was allowed to be in the room together with Michaela, Bonnie, Annalise and their defendant when they met him. It felt awkward as there was a sexual tension lingering between Elena and Gabriel. The prisoner promised he would help her selflessly. However, Cassy didn´t buy it. Why would he let her get off without any consequences? The five soon were in the car on their way back to the office, when Elena suddenly started giggling. Michaela, who was already annoyed by Cassy´s presence, rolled her eyes. Elena explained that she was looking for the thrill she felt back then when her group bombed the building and acted on their beliefs.
"Playing dress-up with my girls, having drinks with my friends, during sex with my husband – I´m never not missing Gabriel." Elena admitted and everyone in the car looked around awkwardly. "Oh my god please don´t tell Kevin that I said that." The client quickly added and Cassy cleared her throat.
"I get it." Cassy whispered to her and Michaela looked over to her colleague. "I do…sometimes you just have to get your mind off of things and sometimes doing something that seems reprehensible is exactly the right thing to do."
The following day the Keating 6 met at the house again and went through the files of their case. Cassy couldn´t stop thinking about how weird it was that Gabriel Shaw promised them he would say anything just so their client could walk free and not get anything in return. Bonnie walked in and ripped her out of her thoughts, telling them to clean their messes because another client would come in for consultation.
"Please tell me it´s the football player. I heard a rumor that the university wants Annalise to defend him." Asher said curious and Cassy looked up.
"You mean Griffin O´Reilly?" she asked quietly and both Asher and Bonnie looked to her.
"You know him?" she wondered but Cassy was quick to deny it and lied, that she only knew him from the news. Once Bonnie walked to her desk the others who clearly spotted the lie turned to her.
"I thought you were in Lila´s sorority?" Connor inquired and Cassy looked down onto the file she had in her hands.
"Yeah wouldn´t you know her boyfriend?" Laurel wondered as well and the girl sighed.
"Alright okay?" she hissed in a whispering tone. "I know him. And I also don´t like him. But I´m not even fully back on the team yet and if Annalise takes on that case, she can never know my relationship to the victim or I´m off the team again." She begged them to be quiet and before they could agree Griffin was already at the door and being invited in by Frank. He started telling the story of how the night Lila was killed went, while the others sat across him listening carefully and taking notes.
"We were drinking a lot and some of the girls wanted coke. So, I called Rebecca." The football star retold and Cassy just tried not to make any eye contact in fear he would recognize her. "She was friends with Lila. I knew she dealt."
"Lila was friends with a drug dealer?" Annalise seemed surprised, however, Cassy simply clenched her jaw being reminded of the huge fight she and Lila had over Rebecca mere days before her death. Griffin proceeded to tell them of how he and Rebecca got really high and started to hook up when suddenly Lila came into his room. Cassy huffed annoyed but quickly camouflaged it with coughing when Bonnie looked at her suspiciously.
"I looked for Lila all night. I called her friends, I went to her room…I was probably there when she got strangled on the roof." Griffin explained and Cassy had enough of his story.
"No you didn´t." she spoke up and all eyes landed on her. Her eyes were red and filled with tears from remembering that night. "You didn´t call her friends, you weren´t in her room…you weren´t even at the house! You called our sorority mother and asked if Lila had come home and when she said yes you hung up and never showed."
"I knew you looked familiar." Griffin finally recognized her and Cassy got angrier by the second.
"Don´t act like you were the perfect boyfriend because you weren´t. You didn´t even care for her." Cassy retorted and Griffin scoffed looking back and forth between Annalise and her. "If I had known what you did to her that night, what Rebecca did, I would have gone after her when she ran upstairs crying her eyes out. But I didn´t…I thought it was just another stupid fight about your virginity and saving yourselves for marriage." Cassy cried, the other students not knowing what to do or how to react to that.
"And who says you weren´t the one strangling her on that roof?" Griffin said angrily.
"Stop it!" Cassy shouted as she stood up and threw her notepad on the floor. Frank looked at her worried while Annalise was finally catching up to what was going on. "You know I would have never hurt her, you bastard!" she cried as she stormed out of the room into the bathroom where she leaned over the sink crying.
"I´m gonna ask you this just once…" Annalise suddenly stood in the doorframe and Cassy looked up, meeting her eyes through her reflection in the mirror. "Do you know anything about this case that might incriminate you?" She shook her head softly and swallowed, thinking she was gonna be thrown off the team again.
"Lila and I…we go way back...we knew each other from high school, so when I came here, I knew I was gonna join her sorority." Cassy started explaining as she slowly turned around. "But she changed. Lila saving herself for marriage? That was not the Lila I knew. And I didn´t like who she was when Rebecca was around. We had a fight a few days before she died. We fought about stupid stuff like Griffin, Rebecca, drugs, why she was so absent…and then we didn´t talk to each other."
"And you didn´t think it was important to tell me that you were best friends with the number one murder victim in this town?" Annalise came closer, her voice as intimidating as ever and Cassy simply sobbed, saying it wasn´t of importance until now. Annalise sighed, stepping back and crossing her arms.
"You´re gonna throw me off the team now? Again?" Cassy shrugged and Annalise was silent for a moment before shaking her head.
"No. If I take that case you are going to be my insight on what was going on at the time, understood?" the woman asked and Cassy nodded relieved.
"But don´t you think it is kind of suspicious to have me on your team? I left the sorority after her death." The student let her boss know Annalise exhaled annoyed.
"As long as you don´t lie to the authorities about it…we can handle it." She wanted to turn and leave when Cassy suddenly told her she might already have lied to the police about her and Lila´s relationship. "We´ll figure something out. Fix your face now and come back to the room, I´ll finish up with Griffin."
Some hours passed in which none of her peers really talked to Cassy about her outburst.
"You guys coming to that law review party tonight. It´ll be EPIC!" Asher said motivated and the others nodded agreeing.
"I think I´m gonna stay home. Not really in the mood." Cassy sighed but Laurel wasn´t having it. She was still trying to make up for stealing her strategy.
"Come on…it´ll be fun…free beer…" she tried to cheer her up but Cassy reminded her once again that she was under 21. "We´ll figure something out. You need fun tonight…and you need to get completely wasted." Cassy snickered, making the others smile as well and she eventually agreed to go with them. Not much after, the group found themselves at a bar again and Cassy was doing a round of shots with Asher and his friends.
"I am so drunk right now." She laughed out loud when her colleague handed her a beer, placing his arms around her hip. "Bottoms up!" she cheered and put the bottle to her lips when Laurel pulled her away from Asher´s grasp.
"Okay I know I said you should get wasted, but not as wasted to sleep with Asher." She trying to take the beer bottle away, but Cassy held onto it tight.
"Objection…you can´t take my stuff that´s theft…also…" Cassy leaned in with a grin and whispered the following part, "I already slept with him."
"What? Ew gross." Laurel grimaced and Cassy simply giggled. "Just don´t push it too hard okay?" she made sure and the younger girl nodded as she sat down on a bar stool with a relaxed sigh. She looked around the room trying to make out different faces but her vision was already blurry.
"Frank!" she suddenly shouted and ran towards the bearded man who seemed disappointed and about to leave. "Where you going?"
"Home. This party is for kids." He huffed and Cassy, who couldn´t really keep her balance anymore smiled holding onto his arm.
"No stay it´s fun…come on dance with me!" she whipped her hand which held the bottle around, spilling some of the beer onto Frank and herself. "Oops I´m sorry."
"Okay I think you had one to many…come on we´re gonna get you home." He took the bottle and put it on the floor before taking her and pulling her to his car. Once they were pulling out of the parking lot he asked her for her address.
"Just take me to my car." She leaned her head against the cold window, looking outside at all the flashing lights.
"You´re not gonna drive, I´ll take you. Where do you live?" Frank laughed as he continued driving, watching her from the corner of his eyes.
"Just bring me to my car!" Cassy repeated angrier and Frank shook his head again.
"You´re not stupid, come on just tell me where you live."
"My car! Okay?" she finally admitted and turned to him with an angry look on her face. "I live in my car." She slurred, placing her head on the window again. Frank looked at her concerned, deciding to let her crash at his place that night.
The next morning Cassy woke up by the sound of a coffee maker. She looked around the strange environment, her head pounding.
"Hangover-cure´s on the coffee table." She suddenly heard Frank´s voice from the kitchen and only then realized where she was – Frank´s couch. She peeked over to a thick, green liquid in a tall glass and took it, quickly rejecting it for the fish smell.
"I should leave…we need to be in court soon." She slowly stood up, dizziness taking over her body.
"Here." Frank threw a blouse, towel and toothbrush towards her.
"With all due respect, I´m not gonna wear something some skank wore when she hooked up with you." Cassy looked at the blouse disgusted but Frank simply filled his coffee into a thermocup.
"We don´t have time to drive to your car. Get ready. You take your coffee with milk?" he asked and Cassy nodded walking towards a door, she thought to be the bathroom. "No, next door. That´s the broom closet."
"Seems like a place I would fit in right now." She pointed at her messy hair with a soft giggle before entering the bathroom.
Frank and Cassy were the last to enter the courtroom and walked to their people who were already sitting, talking about last night.
"Oh yeah, we all saw that sloppy make-out." Asher told Laurel, meaning the guy she hooked up with the night before. "In fact Frank was so grossed out he had to leave…and took Cassy with him." He continued and the two of them watched Frank and Cassy take their seats the row in front of them. The trial started only moments after and the prosecution called Gabriel Shaw to the stand. Cassy got anxious, feeling like he wasn´t going to hold up to his word. And in fact, he twisted the story, saying that the bomb was all Elena´s idea. It felt like Cassy´s stomach was doing summersaults and she had to get up and leave the court room. Once she got out of the restroom, where she threw up all the shame and beer of last night, she noticed Annalise and the others standing outside the courtroom.
"We have to rebuild our defense. This moment right now…this is when you proof your worth." Annalise told everyone before they split up and walked into different directions. "God, Cassy you look terrible." She meant as she turned to the hungover girl. "Go home, there´s nothing you can do here in that state."
"No, I want to help please." She begged her boss who just walked right past her.
"Don´t worry you got your spot back, permanently. Just go home." She said while walking away and Cassy furrowed her eyebrows, wondering if that change of heart only had something to do with her insight on Lila. She looked to Frank who simply shrugged and followed his boss, leaving the girl behind.
"That´s the last one." Wes said when he put a trash bag full of Sam´s burned body parts into Connor´s trunk.
"Everyone get in the car." Connor ordered in a shaky voice, his eyes staring into nothing. Cassy stretched her back out and sat down in the back of the car when suddenly Michaela started gasping, repeatedly telling them to wait.
"Just get in the car, Michaela." Connor was shivering from the cold and the slow realization of what just happened coming over him.
"Oh no…M-m-m-m-my ring…my engagement ring is gone." Michaela stuttered looking at her hands and the four others were getting worried as well, getting out of the car to calm her down and helping her find her ring.
The next day everyone found themselves back in class. Cassy heard from her peers that Elena had disappeared the previous day and they couldn´t continue with the trial.
"I´d like to announce the new owner of the trophy." Annalise said and everyone in the class got anxious, hoping they would get it. The professor proceeded to talk about the recipient very highly, saying they showed compassion for the less fortunate and fought for their rights, before handing it to Wes, who wasn´t less surprised than the rest of the students. "From this point on I´d like to ban any further discussion on the Lila Stangard murder in this classroom, as I am representing one of the defendants."
"No she didn´t.." Cassy thought out loud, thinking Annalise chose to represent Griffin.
"Rebecca Sutter." Annalise announced and Cassy´s face went blank. She hated that girl and now she had to work for her.
After class the Keating 6 and their professor went to the jail Rebecca was in, wanting to talk to her before the prosecution did. They were too late however and the prosecutor told them that their client had just confessed to the murder. Cassy stared through the window into the room Rebecca sat and looked at the group. Cassy just felt all the anger coming up as she looked into her eyes.