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"i remember when we were just kids, we knew nothing at all."
━━━━━━☆☆━━━━━━━...‥・
despite the total wreckage of the shed built years beforehand, cassie gallagher found comfort surrounded by the shattered memories. it was as if her brain had taken a physical form. her finger traced the glass left from the picture frame thrown across the room until red was coating her skin. the blood was wiped across the shorts she wore without a care.
everything felt numb, at least until her eye caught the cheap metal award with her name engraved onto the back.
cassie gallagher, english scholar, 2007-2008
a laugh without a hint of humor came from the lonesome girl as memories she'd managed to smoke away crawled their way out of her subconscious.
"fiona! fi! look!" 12 year old cassie gallagher threw the front door open with her siblings piling in behind. lip was right by her side, his report card in hand.
since cassie had always been just a grade below lip, the competition between the two over test scores grew considerably as their birthdays passed. each year, the stakes grew higher until cassie inevitably let it slip between her fingers.
"102? how do you even do that?" fiona studied cassie's before doing the same with lip's. the latter rolled his eyes at the mention of cassie's english grade for the year.
"extra credit."
"no, she kisses the teacher's ass." the eldest boy spoke jokingly towards the nonchalant demeanor of the blonde who spent the entire year obsessing over the score behind closed doors. "don't act like it was easy, cass."
cassie finally turned to look at her brother with a graceful grin across her lips. "you're just jealous i'm a genius."
━━━━━━☆☆━━━━━━━...‥・
"cassie, if you miss another day, you'll fail the year."
it'd been a week since cassie had stepped foot inside the high school that made her want to rip her own skin off at this point. the consequences hadn't truly crossed her mind until the guidance counselor repeatedly spoke of the loss she'd endure if she remained on the road she was going, but even then, cassie struggled to conjure any care in the world.
"do you understand what i'm saying?"
"you don't have to talk to me like i'm stupid." it was the first response from the gallagher who had kept her gaze focused on the window leaving trees on display. "i get it."
