It had been three weeks since the Homecoming Game and two weeks since Nishan had been admitted to the school. He had transitioned seamlessly from Hearst. All the students loved him, especially the nerds, gamers and the hackers. Often, when Cassandra would go by the Nerd Hangout to talk to him, he would be either playing a video game, building a robot or doing an experiment.

On another happy note, they had sixty students in the school. The school had grown from just Cassandra being alone in the campus being visited occasionally by Autumn to a campus bustling with life; an accomplishment that Cassandra and her uncle were proud of. She had managed to get the school up and running by being herself and encouraging other students to do the same.

She smiled as she walked down the hallway to her locker to grab some books, feeling all happy inside. Along the way, she noticed Contessa and Dylan (a jock and a nerd, respectively) talking and holding hands. 'Love is in the air, ' Cassandra thought brightly. She beamed at the thought of students from different cliques dating without having any qualms or restrictions here; another thing she was proud of about the school.

She arrived at her locker and picked her books for her second class of the day, Psychology; an elective she took with Autumn, Julian, Payton and Nishan. She rushed to the classroom and she found the group sitted but huddled in a group. "Hey, guys" she greeted. "What's up?" she asked curiously.

They stopped their hushed discussion and looked up at her. Autumn stood up. "Hey, Cassandra. We just having a discussion. We were thinking about having a school overnight to celebrate the school and you know, bring us all together."

"Hmm... That's not a bad idea. I'll talk it over with the student council and see what we can get done," Cassandra said thoughtfully.

Autumn nodded and she sat just as Mr. Phillips came in, starting their first class of the day. During free period, Cassandra went to the student council and discussed the idea of them organizing a school overnight, the idea of which they were not averse to. They said that within one week, they would have everything prepped for the event to happen.

One Week Later...

The student council managed to successfully organize the school overnight. The picnic tables was holding an assortment of snacks; s'mores, chips, cookies, salsa and cupcakes, all arranged with the Preps' keen eye. Tents had been set up near bonfires which the jocks were helping light up. The nerds and gamers had brought a projector which they were setting up for some gaming. Cassandra could see Nishan and Eric looking at the stars with a telescope some distance away. "And that constellation to your right? That's Taurus," Cassandra could hear him say.

"I see it! Fun fact... I'M a Taurus!" Eric enthusiastically said.

Cassandra chuckled at this and thought, 'Looks like Nishan's made a new friend.'

Just then, Autumn ran up to her. 'Hey, Cass. So what do you think about the overnight so far?" she asked.

"This was a brilliant idea, Autumn. I'm glad we managed to organize something like this," Cassandra replied.

Autumn beamed at her response.

"Hey! Cass!" A voice called out.

Cassandra and Autumn turned around and saw Payton waving them over. "I'm trying to get people gathered around the campfire for some good old spooooky stories. Want to come?"

"I LOVE scary stories! I'm in!" Autumn said enthusiastically.

Cassandra shrugged, "I'm game!"

They walked over to where Payton, Julian, Nishan and some other students were huddled around a bonfire. Cassandra sat next to Payton, who was spotted next to Julian. Autumn was sitting on his other side. Once everyone was seated, Payton cleared her throat, "I'll tell the scary story first! Once upon a time, there was a girl getting ready for her Prom night. She tried on all of the dresses in every store... pink ones, blue ones, red ones, yellow ones--"

Nishan murmured, "Hoo, boy!"

Payton continued, "And she curled her hair and put on all her makeup and was all ready for her date to arrive. She went to sit by the door... and waited... and waited... and waited... The time came for the dance to start, and her date still wasn't there! She waited another hour, then another, and finally she realized... He wasn't coming!"

"What? That's it?" Nishan asked confusion written all over his face.

Payton snapped her fingers, as if remembering something, "Oh wait! There's something about how the Prom was held in an old orphan insane asylum... but I forget how that part goes..."

Everyone gave her a blank look until Autumn broke the silence. "So, who's next? How about you, Cass? Think you can tell a better scary story?"

"I don't know, chickie," Cassandra responded, unsure of whether she should tell her story.

"C'mon, Cass. Give it a go," Julian encouraged her.

Cassandra nodded and sighed, "Okay, I'll do it."

And she began narrating her ghost story. "Once, there was a school just like this one... and one dark and cold night, they had a campout just like this one," she began.

"Oooh, spooky," Autumn interjected.

"There was a group of people sitting around a campsite trying to get a fire going. Then a cloud passed over the moon, and it was pitch dark... When the sky cleared, and they could see again, all but three people were dead... torn to pieces by a mysterious assailant! The three left were... a preppy party girl... a nerdy mad scientist tech guy... and a sweet, artistic girl."

Fifteen minutes later...

The faces of the students looked ashen as Cassandra continued narrating the story. Cassandra had to restrain herself from laughing at the looks on their faces. They looked like they were about to pee their pants.

"The last victim reached up. With their dying breath, they pulled off the killer's mask, and saw the face of the artist!" Cassandra finished.

"What?! Artists are a peaceful people!" Autumn exclaimed.

"I could see it. All that angst...It's always the quiet ones." Nishan remarked.

"Hey!" Autumn pouted.

"See? That's exactly what I'm talking about!" Nishan pointed out.

"Well, Cass, the night's almost over!" Payton said.

"Yeah! It was a good night. Kinda sad it has to end, though." Cassandra wistfully said.

"Though I'm kinda surprised no-one has coupled up here at the bonfire," Payton commented.

Cassandra smirked at this and asked rhetorically, "Sure about that?" and she pointed her head towards Autumn and Julian. Autumn's head was lying on Julian's shoulder and they were holding hands. Autumn looked up at Julian and she smiled at him before planting a gentle kiss on his lips. Julian blushed at this and he turned to look at Cassandra, who winked at him and smiled.

Payton gasped and squealed, "OMG! So cute! Did not see this coming, Cassandra! I actually thought you and Julian had a thing for each other!"

"Naah...Figured that we worked better as close friends..." Cassandra trailed off.

She remembered that discussion that she had with Julian two weeks back about their status of their relationship.

Two weeks ago...

Cassandra walked into the Jock Hangout, gym bag in hand after a long day of school and was eager to put in some work on the training dummy. She entered the changing room and got dressed in her classic black yoga pants, workout shoes and sports bra. She walked out and went towards the training dummy and began working on her punches and kicks. For about 20 minutes, she trained in silence, the only thing playing was music she had set up on her phone. She was so engrossed in her martial arts that she didn't notice Julian come in and go to the changing room nor did she notice him sneak behind her. She only noticed when he put his hands over her eyes and everything became dark. She gasped in surprise and tried to wiggle out of the firm hold but she couldn't. She then smelt a familiar waft of spicy, cinnamon cologne and instantly, she knew who it was.

Cassandra smirked deviously and she elbowed Julian in the gut, who gave out a groan of pain and she took his arm and twisted it slightly and raised her arm in a fist and stopped it a few inches from his face. "Hey there, Vega," Cassandra greeted with a sultry smile on her face.

"Sup, Cass," Julian gasped out. "Damn, you got skills."

"I haven't shown you the full set yet," Cassandra teased as she let go of his arm and relaxed.

Julian straightened himself up and smirked, "Oh, I'm willing to see your skills at work."

They got themselves into fighting stances and Julian began by throwing a few jabs and crosses Cassandra's way, all of which she blocked effortlessly. Cassandra retaliated with a few of her own and changing them up with some kicks, one of which landed on his arm. He hissed slightly in pain and Cassandra saw this as an opportunity to do a footsweep. She hadn't realized that Julian had been faking and he jumped over her leg and tackled her. They both landed on the training mat, with Julian straddling her.

Cassandra purred, "I never knew you play dirty, Julian."

"Don't act like you don't like it, Sage," Julian said with a slight growl.

They both laughed at this and Julian then asked, "When are you ever going to make good on that flirting, anyway?"

Cassandra looked at him then smirked once more. She crossed her legs around his neck and brought him down on the mat then she straddled him in turn. She brought her face near his and brushed her lips against his cheek and whispered, "I don't know, Vega. Do you want me to make good on it?"

Julian put a hand on top of her thigh and another behind her neck. "I certainly wouldn't be complaining about it."

Cassandra simply smiled and she asked, "What about Autumn?"

Julian gave her an uncomfortable look and enquired, "What about her?"

"I see the way you look at her, Julian. You like her a lot. Don't think I haven't noticed those looks you give her when you think no-one's watching. I know this much," Cassandra elaborated.

"She wouldn't like me, Cassandra," Julian said after a while of silence.

"Says who? She likes you too. The both of you are too scared to make a move on the other just because you think you'll mess up. You better ask her out before someone else does."

"What? You Dr. Love too?" Julian asked with some sarcasm in his tone of voice.

"No. I'm a friend who cares, my dear," Cassandra replied.

They looked at each other for a moment, Julian digesting what Cassandra said before nodding. "Okay, I'll think about it."

"And Julian, to whether I'll ever make good on my flirting, here's your answer," and Cassandra leaned down and gave him a deep and passionate kiss which caught him by surprise but he returned it with the same passion she gave before Cassandra pulled away and stood up. She offered her hand in assistance and Julian took it. Cassandra helped him up and told him, "Think about what I said."

She walked off to the showers, her fingertips on her lips as she smiled leaving Julian with some food for thought.

Present Time...

Cassandra was drawn out of her flashback when Payton began handing out cupcakes to everyone. "I don't know who brought these, but they sure look good," Payton remarked.

"Let's take a picture guys!" Autumn said enthusiastically.

Everyone huddled together for the photo. "Okay everyone! Say bonfire!" as she snapped the photo. The group posed, cupcakes in hand. Once done, they dispersed. Suddenly, Julian's phone buzzed with a text. As he looked down at the text, Cassandra was about to have a bite of her cupcake, that is until Julian smacked it out of her hand with a yell, "Don't eat that!"

Cassandra gasped in shock and asked, "What the hell?"

Julian just shook his head and showed Cassandra the text he got. Cassandra's eyes widened in understanding and surprise. She looked at Julian and they nodded their heads in understanding. They went round the camp stopping people from eating the cupcakes. From one student to another they went yelling, "Don't eat that cupcake!"

The other students were understandably shocked but they took the duo's word for it and helped them spread the word round.

Cassandra looked around for anyone still with a cupcake in hand. She saw Autumn and Nishan about to devour the treats. Problem was, they were on different sides. Talk about dilemmas. She ran for Autumn, bounding over tree roots and slippery patches of grass.

"Autumn! Don't eat the cupcake! It's a prank!" Cassandra shouted.

Autumn froze, the cupcake barely touching her lips.

"A prank?!" Autumn exclaimed.

Cassandra pulled it out of her hands and she panted, "Hearst High. Ipecac. Long story."

Cassandra spun around... and saw Nishan running a chemical analysis on the cupcake with a pocket lab kit. "Hmm. Ipecac. Odd choice of frosting, if I may say so..." he said to himself.

She let out a sigh of relief and led Autumn back to the campfire, where the others had gathered once more in confusion.

"Would someone please explain why we had to throw away perfectly good cupcakes?" Payton enquired.

"Those perfectly good cupcakes would have had you living on the toilet the whole night, sweetheart," Cassandra replied bluntly.

Payton's mouth formed an 'o' and Autumn asked, "Who would do such a thing?"

Just then, a car pulled up next to the campfire, and a group of Hearst High cheerleaders rolled down the windows...to reveal the faces of Kara, Mia and the other cheerleaders from Hearst.

"How's the little campout going? Enjoying your cupcakes?" Kara asked gleefully.

"Of course you would be the ones behind this prank," Cassandra snorted.

"Just a little present from us to you, sweetheart," Mia said, blowing a fake kiss to her and twiddling her fingers.

"Yeah? Well, it turns out that your stupid plan was too stupid to work. No one ate your cupcakes!" Payton pointed out angrily.

Mia gasped in shock, "What?! How... how'd you know?"

"Someone must've warned them. No way they're smart enough to figure it out on their own. Don't worry, girls. We'll figure out who the traitor is," Kara sneered.

Kara's car sped off into the distance, leaving the others to stare after them. Cassandra gulped, "Welp. That's gonna be trouble."

"Ain't that the truth," Julian agreed.

The rest of the night went on without a hitch, though for Cassandra, she felt that there was more drama on the horizon. And boy, was she right.

Author's note:

Hiya guys!! Super sorry about this late update, but school has been a killer and I was struggling with some parts of the story. Anyway, I decided to ship Autumn and Julian for this story. I saw that they were a good match for each other. I guess I felt that Cass and Julian had feelings for each other but Julian's feelings for Autumn were much stronger and Cass didn't want to ruin her friendship with Julian, hence deciding to be close friends with him rather than date. The song for this chapter was It's Always A Good Time by Owl City. The flashback song was Down by Fifth Harmony. Anyway, thanks for being patient and following this story. Not too sure when I'll update next but I'll do my best! Reviews and ideas are welcome as always but no flames please! Bye bye! Canary out! : )