Trigger warning: mention of suicide
The first time Cassie met Lin, the latter girl was wearing a fitted pink jumpsuit, layered with a baby blue bomber jacket that was patterned all over with obnoxiously adorable illustrations of pugs and rainbows. In Lin's long black hair were citrus orange streaks that glowed stupendously whenever she and her high pigtails moved ever so slightly.
Cassie hated her.
Partially because she felt that she, being Marcus's new girlfriend, simply had to; but mostly because she knew that anyone looking at the two of them would like Lin better, and she wouldn't be able to blame them. So she would hate her instead in a silent act of protest against this inevitable fate.
Cassie knew that it wasn't fair, but Lin just occupied too many slots in Marcus's life. Childhood friend. First Love. Ex. And current best friend.
And not only that, Lin was also his neighbor; her bedroom window aligning with his in the cul-de-sac that selfishly cornered them in a little world of their own.
She was his bandmate too, her on the trombone and him on the clarinet. Their band coach jumped on any chance to duet them; and after attending just one rehearsal, Cassie could see why.
Her and Marcus partook in Model UN together on Thursdays; while Cassie, a nihilist without a real real grasp on Nihilism, was still going around gabbing about how all humans were inherently rotten and all one can do was just hope that total extinction would come sooner rather than later.
To top it all off, Lin and Marcus's parents were also very close friends, something about meeting at an archeology seminar in Greece before realizing that they had been neighbors back in Maine for eight years now.
This meant joined camping trips where the starry sky could make lovers out of anyone, frequent dinners where Lin and Marcus could no doubt bond over the lame jokes their parents made after just one glass of wine, and it meant extended funeral invitations where it would be more than appropriate for either one of them to reach out for the other's hand.
The biggest insult was that Lin didn't have to beg for any of these slots that she occupied in Marcus's life; whereas Cassie had to strategically bump into him in the school hallways seven times before he would finally say, "Hey, isn't your name Clarissa? I think we have History together."
