Rumours

The canteen was fit to burst. Students were pouring through the door at a pace the lunch ladies couldn't handle, as they handed out change and scooped steaming hot food onto plates and handed it out, beads of sweat forming on their foreheads. The queue was moving slowly, snaking out of the canteen doors and down the corridors.

The sudden want for canteen food wasn't that it had suddenly become delicious. No, it was the small fact that rain was bouncing down outside. It fell in thick sheets, jumping into big puddles that had quickly formed on the ground.

Fortunately for Cassandra Simpson, she was seated at a round table in the corner of the canteen. Her tray of untouched food sat in front of her as she watched Alex sit down opposite her, closely followed by Rian. The pair of them dug into their food, shoveling it down their throats like they hadn't eaten in weeks.

"You not eating those?" Alex asked, pointing to the plate of vinegar drenched chips on Cass' plate. She shook her head and pushed the plate towards him, watching him devour them in mere seconds.

Cass' eyes swept the room, taking in every face. Every unfamiliar one, every familiar one. She knew who she was searching for, yet that person didn't seem to want to be found. She sighed heavily and picked up her chocolate muffin, unwrapping it from it's plastic packet and taking a bite out of it.

"What's wrong?" Alex asked, watching his best friend as she rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"Do you think it's weird that Audrey's like latched on to Ashton?" She asked, picking up her bottle of water and taking a sip.

Alex shrugged. "After yesterday's performance, Cass, why do you even care anymore? Ashton's just being her stupid self, you know how she is. She'll come back when Audrey's fucked her over."

Rian turned to glare at Alex, "how can you say that? Alex, Ashton's your oldest friend, I thought you cared about her."

"I do, but - " he faltered, before taking a deep breath, "she's changed."

Cass nodded. "I agree with that, Alex, but I can't stop caring."

Jack made his way towards them and dropped his tray down and fell into the seat beside Cass. He opened his bottle of apple juice and took a long gulp, before quietly beginning to devour his food. He kept his gaze down, not daring to look at any of his friends while he ate.

"What's wrong with you now?" Alex asked, eying his friend suspiciously.

Jack shrugged, still not tearing his eyes away from his tray.

Cass glanced at the three boys surrounding her. Her best friends. Only one was missing. She looked around the canteen again, hoping to spot Ashton, preferably alone, so things could go back to the way they were. Before Hurricane Audrey had swept through their group and turned everything upside down.

Alex let a heavy, annoyed sigh escape his lips. "Cassie, what did Ashton say to you, yesterday?"

"When?"

"Yesterday, before we went home."

Cass shrugged, not wishing to re-live Ashton's poisonous words again. "She was just being bitchy. I guess it was a mood swing or something."

"It's the Audrey Cooper effect. She's already in Ash's head," Jack chimed up, his gaze heading across the room where she came into view. Ashton was sitting across from Audrey, the latter was eating a salad, poking at the leaves with a fork, whilst Ashton glowered in their direction.

"I want to know what the problem is. We haven't done anything wrong, so why is she suddenly going off with Audrey and acting like a fucking bitch? No offense, Jack, I know you love her and all, but she's just changing and it's all too fast for my liking," Alex folded his arms across his chest.

Jack shrugged in response. "Like I said, it's the Audrey Cooper effect."

Over on the other side of the canteen, Ashton was staring at her friends. Her eyes narrowed like slits as she focused on Cass. Audrey turned around, following her gaze and shaking her head, her bouncy blonde curls quivered with the action. She stabbed at a piece of lettuce. "Look at her, all over Jack, stupid whore."

Ashton shuddered slightly. Deep down, she knew Cass wasn't like that. She and Jack were just friends, nothing more. Cass wouldn't hurt her like that. But Audrey was picking up on things, she was pointing things out that Ashton had never noticed before. Cass was flirting with Jack on a daily basis, right in front of Ashton. She was beginning to resent her so called best friend more and more each day.

She scoffed, shaking her head. "What am I supposed to do?"

"Play her at her own game," Audrey stated simply, stabbing a tiny tomato and pushing it into her mouth.

Ashton looked at her questioning, before Audrey sighed, "it's clear that Cass likes Alex. She flirts with Jack, but she doesn't like him. No, Gaskarth has her heart. So, we've got to get him to turn against her somehow."

"And how do we do that?" Ashton asked, unsure. She had never heard Cass mention anything about liking Alex before, but she trusted Audrey. She had to. She was the only one that understood how she felt.

Audrey grinned. "Leave that to me."