Detours • kenneth san jose

9. Cassandra

Cassie 2.0

"I'm okay, don't worry about me anymore."

Smiling at my mom, Tita Claudine, Danielle, Sarah, and Serris, I tried to tell them to already stop worrying about me. Gabe handed me a towel and then Sean let me wear his Lewser hoodie to keep me warm. Then my dad announced that we're all going home because it was a long day.

Walking to the car, I hopped at the backseat as I closed my eyes as my mom and Tita Claudine contnued fussing about what happened earlier. But I just closed my eyes and thought about all the happening during the past hour, I closed my eyes and sighed. Kenneth was discharged from the hospital. Dance competition. Tension and nervous of the team. The team slayed. I accidentally hugged Kenneth. Kenneth smiled. The team won. Cathy poured her frappe on me. Kenneth got mad. Kenneth pushed Cathy. And now, here I am wearing Kenneth's shirt. But I think I'm missing something. Think Cassie, think. Then I suddenly remembered what Cathy grunted to Kenneth earlier.

"Why? Are you ashamed of this girlfriend of yours who's so ugly and fat and can't dance? Be matured! I've heard so much about you and you cannot even dance contemporary!"

"Ugly and fat and can't dance."

Can't help but think, am I really that ugly? Is that how everyone thinks and looks at me? Maybe that's why Kenneth doesn't like me. But I'm not fat. My mom and Tita Claudine always make sure that I'm always fit and slim. And I'm sure that I can dance, even if I'm not good like Danielle, Mathew, Serris, Gabe, Sean, or even Kenneth. Cathy's words makes me sad. There's got to be something more, there's something more that I'm missing.

Finally, before dad drove, Tita Claudine and Tito Cres, along with Sean's parents kept on asking me if I was finally okay. And I also kept telling them that I was okay and they don't have to worry about me. I was lying, of course. Uhm, how will I be okay? When a woman hysterically shouted negative things about me then poured a frappe all over me? Duh.

When we got home, I hurriedly went to my room and prepared for a warm bath. I seriously need to calm down because I'm the type of person who would always take in all negativity. Then after bathing, I looked for my Stitch onesie because I was feeling it for the night. Gabe, Danielle, and I love Stitch so much. We have matching onesies and even the Stitch stuffed key chain. I wanted to go downstairs, but I was too lazy. Though I'm hungry. So I texted Gabe to get me some snacks while I waited for it on the dumbwaiter. Thank goodness for this cool thing, my mom was the one who decided that I have this one because when I was younger, they would usually use it for me when I can't go down to eat since I was too sickly back then.

Checking my phone, I saw paparazzi photos of the commotion earlier. Wow, I'm in the news. And it really travels that fast. Do they really have to show the part when Cathy poured her frappe on me? Gosh, what a shame. Apparently, the CADC team will be suspended until the next three competitions. And as for Kenneth, the ALDC got a warning. Goodness' sake, Kenneth wasn't suspended. Because if he was, the blame would be on me and I wouldn't forgive myself for that.

Trying to remember everything again, I kept on replaying everything that happened.

Kenneth was discharged from the hospital. Dance competition. Tension and nervous of the team. The team slayed. I accidentally hugged Kenneth. Kenneth smiled. The team won. Cathy poured her frappe on me. Kenneth got mad. Kenneth pushed Cathy. Kenneth pulled me for a hug. "I'm sorry". Towels. Shirt.

There's definitely something that I'm missing out. But I can't! My mind kept on buffering and I tried to remember and then I felt my head pound hard like there was a thud. My mom and Tita Claudine always warned me about flashbacks. They said that I should stop doing such once I started to feel a sting of pain in my head.