Exile

twenty two

"What's up with you and Forbes?" Tyler asked as he bounced the basketball on the ground. "Nothing's up." Matt answered. "I saw you two in the hall today, don't even deny it. You're tapping that." Tyler smirked. "No it's not like that. " Matt denied. "Never is. Until you become we people." Tyler said throwing the basketball into the hoop. "We people." Matt repeated. "Yeah . We can't make it to the party, we'll never miss a game, We don't like the color red . " Tyler listed out. "We hung out like twice." Matt defended himself. "Like I said 'we'" tyler said.

Matt noticed Cassie pass them practically speed walking. Her head was down and she looked tired and pale. "Hey you know Cassandra." Matt said as soon as she was at the school doors.

"Yeah, what about her?" Tyler said throwing the basketball again. "Are you two friends?" Matt asked. "Me and Cass go a good bit back.We were friends when we were in middle school. My parents and hers were friends ,that made us become best friends." Tyler told him.

"Do you two talk?" Matt asked. "Not anymore, why?" Tyler was confused why he was so interested in her. "Well, she disappeared at the same time as Vicki and she showed up at my house with Stefan trying to look for her." Matt explained. "She gives off bad vibes. She was a bit of a weirdo as well for the past few months. " Matt added on. "She seems fine to me. " Tyler shrugged.

"She gave me a look the other day." Matt told him. "Maybe she likes you." Tyler joked. "You should talk to her." Matt said making Tyler freeze. "Why?" Tyler asked slightly weirded out. "I'll come with you." Matt added on. "Won't that look like we are ganging up on her. " Tyler said. "Please ty." Matt begged. "Fine." Tyler sighed. He stopped for moment. "Cassie's not a weirdo. She's had a hard life. "Tyler defended the girl. "Not harder than my life." Matt scoffed.

Cassie didn't answer any questions that the teachers asked. She bit her nails and couldn't focus. Matt who was sitting near enough to her, noticed it and glanced at her every so often. She looked pale , nervous and anxious all at the same time. Matt paid attention to her closely.

"Ms Ellfire, Cassandra." Mr saltzman called when he noticed she wasn't concentrating . "Cassandra." He repeated finally snapping her back into reality. "Are you ok?" He asked concerned. "Yeah, of course, yeah." She answered nervously.

Cassie didn't know why she was so anxious. She couldn't help but feel as if something really bad was going to happen to her friend. She wasn't sure which though. She couldn't sleep either ,the fact that she might leave kept her up. "Are you feeling okay today ?" Mr saltzman said again when he noticed her staring into space again. "I'm fine." She nodded quickly. The teacher didn't believe her but decided not to push it.

"Cassandra." A voice behind Cassie said as she walked out for lunch. A warm hand grabbed hers turning her around. "Hello?" She said as if it was a question that she had guessed the answer to. "Can we ask you a question?" Tyler asked who was the one who took Cassie's hand. He couldn't help but notice how cold her hand was, it was a bit too cold in his opinion. Cassie was pretty sure they were going to ask the question either way so she just nodded . "It's about Vicki." Matt said. Cassie's face dropped. She hadn't been asked about Vicki since the Halloween party.

"What about Vicki?" Cassie asked trying not to sound as nervous as she was. "You and Vicki disappeared at around the same time and you both came back at the same time. Is that just or coincidence or...." Matt raised his eyebrow.

Cassie wasn't a bad liar but she had her moments. Nerves or if she's scared puts her off track completely. She stutters, plays with her hair, nervously laughs. "Of course it's a coincidence. I obviously didn't hurt Vicki." Cassie let out an accidental nervous laugh . Tyler knew that wasn't her normal laugh and wondered if maybe Vicki's disappearance was the same reason Cassie disappeared and was currently acting weird.