StanfordBound2020: Yup. Those two are the worst type of friends. (face-palm). And on Chelsea stealing Hope's laptop, it reminds me of a joke I was told. "When a woman decides to get revenge, even the devil himself sits down to take notes."

Julian's P.O.V

So where were we last time? Cassandra and I seated on the couch with Hope crying on my shoulder; her laptop was opened in front of us and we were logged into her Statton page. Chelsea had posted some rather private information on the page. Wanna know what it was? Hope's diary for the last year. That's right.

Cassandra scrolled to the first entry and we began to read:

Here I am again, the same old situation

Why does the guy thing have to be so complicated?

I should've played it cool, instead I made a fool

Oh, the things I do...

Today, I promised myself that I was going to talk to him. Yes, him who made my heart beat. Him, who made my world spin. Every time that I see him, I think of him as perfection personified. Funny enough is, the moment I saw him walking down that hallway, I freaked out and ran into the classroom and hid like a fool. Silly Hope. Silly, silly girl.

We went to another entry:

The first time I saw him, I didn't know that he would constantly be on my mind. I didn't know that I would feel so incomplete all by myself. Hearing his voice, who knew that I would want to put it away, bottle it for a rainy day? I didn't know that I wanted to him to hold me so close, so close and so tight that our hearts would collide. But there it was. It happened. I don't know if it's that little four letter word or not, but I like this feeling; this feeling that makes you want to take on the entire world without a single care.

Another entry:

I don't buy it. A lot of people say that love doesn't exist anymore. All they say is that everything ends in heartbreak and that to hope for love is being naive. I don't know. Maybe, maybe not. But is it naive to want to be loved? Is it naive to want somebody to hold your hand and say 'I love you.'? Is it naive to think about somebody every morning when I open my eyes, every time I turn off the lights and every moment of my life? If that's the case, then I'll gladly be naive.

Hope's diary was full of beautiful drawings which served as decorations to her most private thoughts. And now they were open for the entire internet to read and make fun of. I looked over at Cassandra, who was deep in thought and was just scrolling down through the diary until she reached the end. Finally, she asked, "Do I want to see the comments made?"

I answered honestly, "That's up to you, Cassie."

She nodded and gingerly began scrolling down through the comments.

Cassandra's P.O.V.

Reading Hope's diary was difficult enough. Those were her most private thoughts and they were now under scrutiny by the internet. Beautiful thoughts on falling in love and hoping for it, but nevertheless, it was no one's business. I scrolled down to the comment section with a grimace on my face and yup, the comments were vile alright.

'Hope is a fucking liar. This diary... Proof that she wanted Asher from day one.'

'I can't believe that little skank hooked up with Asher. Totally trashy. :('

'Bitch acts totally innocent but inside, she's just a dirty whore.'

'Fucking ugly whore. The world won't miss her if she dies.'

In all sincerity, I was numb as I read the comments. I eventually just shut the laptop and wrung my hands and exhaled.

"Julian, Hope's right. These comments are even worse than the others," I remarked.

"Yeah, no kidding," he agreed.

"I can't believe how stupid I was... I didn't even put a password on my laptop!" Hope sobbed as she sat up.

Julian shushed her and rubbed her arms with his hands in comfort.

"Hey, don't blame yourself, chica. You couldn't have known that someone would steal it."

"Still, I wish I could have protected myself a little better."

"You can't change the past, but you could tell us more about Asher."

Julian gave her warm smile, which she returned, albeit weakly. She sighed and wiped her tears with the sleeve of her sweater and took her laptop. She opened her gallery and pulled up a picture of him and showed it to us. I whistled. I would give credit where it was due. Boy was fine as hell. He had black, curly, messy hair that was covered in a brown hat, a cute baby face, chocolate skin, warm chocolate eyes that were hidden by glasses and soft-looking lips.

"I can see why you like him. Boy is fine," I remarked.

Hope giggled a bit. Julian shrugged, "Looks kinda like a loser to me. My opinion though."

Hope rolled her eyes at him. "Of course you wouldn't understand, Julian."

"What's that supposed to mean? Of course I understand. Thing is, he's taken. You have to move on."

Hope looked at him silently as he went on. "And about what these kids are writing? You need to find a way to block this shit out."

"Easier said than done. Do you think that it's easy for me to walk around school alone and knowing that every person who walks down that hallway hates me?"

"It's just words, Hope. It's not like they hit you."

She laughed humourlessly. "I wish they'd actually hit me and get it done with. Words have power, Julian. They have a way of making you feel like the most amazing person in the world or lower than the dirt beneath your feet. They mark you in a way that is very intimate."

"Are you serious?"

"Yes, I am." She sighed and stood up. "Look, I need to get some rest. Thanks for being there, but I feel like crap right now. I'll be in my room."

She took her laptop and walked upstairs to her room. We watched her walk up dejected and heard the door to her room lock after a few seconds. I bit my lower lip and murmured," As much as I hate to admit it, she's right. Words have power."

How would I know? I'd been bullied before I started up Avalon. I remembered those hurtful comments that my former classmates made about me; about my braces, my huge glasses, my pigtails and my love for computer games. Noone bothered to get to know me and they all just joined the 'Let's Make Fun of Cassandra' parade. But that was in another lifetime.

Julian squeezed my shoulder, which drew me out of my thoughts.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm okay." I gave him a weak smile.

Truth be told, I was hurting for Hope. I could feel her pain and my prayer was that she would be okay; that everything would be alright.

"Hey, Cass. Wanna play some Madden? Or I don't know, watch a movie or something? Chips, salsa and drinks on me," Julian suggested.

Mmmm. That was a tempting offer. And I could chill for a bit and be around if Hope needed me. I gave Julian a smile. "Madden sounds awesome right now. I'm game. Pun totally intended."

Julian laughed lightly and set up his Xbox and got some snacks from the kitchen. For the next hour, we were totally absorbed in the game. It was a welcome distraction from all the Statton drama. Once we were done gaming, we decided to watch the TV series 'Most Wanted.' Good shit.

A few hours later...

As Julian and I were watching 'Most Wanted', I heard Hope calling from the stairs.

"Hey, Cass?"

I turned in the direction of the staircase and looked at her questioningly. She beckoned to me with one hand insistently. I looked at Julian, who gestured to me to go to her with a light squeeze of my shoulder with his hand, which was around my shoulders. I got up and walked over to where she was standing.

"What's up?" I asked casually.

"I need your help with something. Could we go up to my room, if you don't mind?"

I glanced over at Julian, who gave me a subtle nod. I looked at Hope and nodded.

"Sure thing."

We walked up the stairs to Hope's room, which was right next to Julian's room. She opened the door and I followed her in. Her room had a mahogany bed covered in yellow duvets and cream-coloured walls that were covered in hand-drawn pictures of birds in flight and flowers. On the right side of the room was a mahogany desk and seat with her laptop resting on top of the desk.

Hope sat on her bed and patted her left side in invitation. I sat beside her and she spoke, "I was thinking about this stuff Chelsea and company were writing about me and I thought that if I could get Asher to have them stop, I don't know, they'd back off?"

She sounded unsure and looked at me hopefully to get the go-ahead from me. Okay, let's be honest, I was not for this plan since the whole time, I hadn't seen any indicator that Asher was against what Chelsea was doing. To add insult to injury, he had been silent the whole damn time. But I believed in trying.

"I don't see why not. But are you sure he'll listen to reason?" I posed.

"Yeah. I believe he's a good guy. I think he's just misunderstood, you know?"

Right. I gave her a humourless smile. Her tone of voice was more of trying to reassure herself that it would be okay. I had to admire her optimism.

"Lemme IM him. Could you stay here with me as I do this? Make sure I type the right thing?"

I nodded. "Of course."

She walked over to her desk and opened her laptop and logged on to the Statton page and clicked on Asher's page and found him online.

"Looks like he's online." She exhaled. "Wish me luck."

I put a hand on her shoulder in comfort. She began typing:

Hope13 Hey... have a few minutes to talk?

Ash_Cash_1 sure thing. sup?

Hope13: Have you seen the stuff that Chelsea and her friends are writing about me?

Ash_Cash_1: Yeah. Good shit. Pretty funny.

What the fuck?

Hope13: Funny? Are you serious?

Ash_Cash_1: Don't get your panties in a twist. It's all good fun at the end of the day.

Hope13: Maybe it's all a joke to you. But you aren't the one who has to walk down those hallways with everybody hating on you.

Ash_Cash_1: Well, what the hell do you expect me to do about it?

Hope13: I don't know, talk to them? Set the record straight about what happened at the party?

Ash_Cash_1: Yeah, so here's the thing, sweetheart, there's no way in hell I'm getting involved in that girl drama.

My jaw clenched in anger.

"Don't let this idiot worm himself out of this easily," I growled.

Hope13: Please, I'm begging you. Say something to them so this can end and everything can go back to normal. Please. I lost my friends from this, I lost my reputation. Do something.

There was no immediate response. It was a tense few moments right there. Then her laptop binged with a response.

Ash_Cash_1: Like I said, girl drama. Not getting involved. I'm out.

Then the screen read, "You can no longer send messages to this user as you have been blocked."

"Damn," I swore.

I looked at Hope, whose eyes were still on the screen, tears flowing from them.

"I thought he cared about me. I actually thought he cared about me." Her voice quivered, her words oozing with hurt. It broke my heart to see her this way. "After we kissed at the party, I saw a future where we were dating and in love. Now it's clear I was deluding myself. Maybe I should do everyone at the school by disappearing."

"Hope, look at me," I requested.

She looked at me with her sad brown eyes.

"Don't say that. We're going to figure this out, okay?"

She nodded and wiped her tears with the sleeves of her jumper. She stood up and said, "I need some space right now. Thanks for being here but you've done enough for now."

I stood up and as I shut the door to her room, I saw her get into her bed. Little did I know that I was looking at somebody who was slowly being drained by life.

I went back downstairs and I found Julian looking at me expectantly for feedback.

I shook my head sadly and told him, "She needs some space."

Julian sighed and nodded. "I can't stand seeing her like this, Cass. Knowing that she's in so much pain but I can't do a damn thing about it. It's hurting me."

"You're wrong," I said simply. He gave me a confused look. "You can do something about it by being there for her. Tell her that you love her and that you care. Be there for her."

Julian slowly digested this and gave me a soft smile.

"Will do."

I smiled back. My only hope was that things would be okay.

A few days later...

I was at the Jock Hangouts, rummaging through my bag for my water bottle after a rigorous workout. Julian walked in, looking stressed out.

I decided to skip the formalities and asked, "Julian, is everything okay?"

He gave me an exasperated look. "What do you think, Cass?"

I bit on my lower lip. "Right. Dumb question. Sorry."

Julian sighed and looked down. "No. I'm sorry. It's just...it's just that those online comments about Hope are worse than ever. She took a few days off school and you should have read those comments. They were along the lines of, 'Good.That little bitch is out of the picture. I hope I never see her ugly ass here again.' "

I grimaced. "Damn."

He continued, "Yeah. All she's doing right now is just staring off into space after looking at her laptop. It's really bad. It's like she's like a zombie."

"We need to do something about this. We can't let it go on."

"Yeah, we can go see home and check in on her," he suggested.

"No. We do that later. We need to go confront Chelsea once and for all. She's the only one who can get this to stop."

Julian looked at me in shock. "Are you crazy?"

I shrugged, "Maybe, maybe not. But it's time we confronted the dragon. Or what say you?"

Julian contemplated this for a few moments and nodded. "I'm with you, Cass."

I didn't waste any time. I put on my hoodie and grabbed my bag. This was going to be one heck of a showdown.

Author's note:

And I'm back! :) Sorry about my prolonged absence, but all of a sudden, I was swarmed with school work and all. College can be a real bitch. I also had some gaming tournaments which took priority as well. Hopefully, you all enjoy this chapter. I had started working on it immediately after uploading the previous chapter but I never managed to get the time to finish up, but here we are now. This chapter, we get some insight into Cassandra's past and why she can relate to Hope's situation. Please read and review. Sorry for any grammatical errors made or any typos. Bye bye! Canary out! ;)