We Were Barely Seventeen, and We Were Barely Dressed

The rest of the week seemed to fly by. Rylan and I didn’t talk about the kiss and went back to being just friends.

It was the first day of school and the sound of the alarm going off brought me back from dream world. I quickly got up and started to get ready.

My clothes consisted of a blue All Time Low t-shirt, denim washed out skinny jeans, and my old converses.

My mom practically force fed me before I had to leave. I walked outside and turned towards the direction of the school while reaching inside my purse to grab my iPod. I quickly put the ear buds in and made my way towards the school.

When I got to school, I took my schedule and a map of the school out of my purse. I found my locker and quickly made my way towards where I thought my first hour class was. Needless to say, I got lost along the way.

“Umm, excuse me. I’m new here. Do you think you could help me find my class?” I asked a random boy.

“Oh, sure. Where are you going?” he asked, turning towards me. And wow, was he hot! He had brown hair and pretty, chocolate brown eyes. I was momentarily stunned.

“Oh, uh, AP Literature with a Ms. Michaels?” I said, glancing down at my schedule.

“Oh, I’m going to that class now. I’ll walk you there. By the way, I’m Tyler,” he said, extending a hand.

“I’m Cassidy. Nice to meet you,” I said, shaking his hand and smiling.

I followed him down the hall and waited until we got to the classroom. I walked inside and took a random seat. I didn’t even notice that Tyler had followed me.

“So, when do you move here?” he asked.

“Um, the beginning of summer.”

“Why haven’t I met you before?”

“I don’t know,” I responded, feeling kind of awkward.

“Well, surely you’ve made some friends. Who do you hang out with?”

“Adam McFarleigh, Violet Henderson, Haylee Jay, Mick Kalert, Chace Thompson, Maria Chesanova, and Rylan Everson,” I said, listing all of the friends I had made this past summer.

“Oh, you hang out with Rylan?” he asked, shocked.

“Yeah. Why?”

“Well I don’t want to sound rude or anything, but you better watch yourself. He’s kind of the school manwhore. Has he tried anything with you yet?” he asked. He must have notice me pause. “Don’t answer that. It’s none of my business. Just watch yourself with him. He has this trick where he pretends to like a girl and in the end just screws them and leaves. It works really well for him. He can land almost any girl. It just breaks the girl’s heart in the end,” he explained, not even realizing he had just released a ton of information that was helpful to me.

So, Rylan’s just playing a game, is he? Well two can play that game. And to think that I was actually starting to have feelings for that…for that…for that conceited asshole! How can he play girls like they’re nothing? Well, I’m done with his nonsense. No longer would Rylan Everson have any effect on me.



I walked out of that class feeling angry and energized.

All I could think about all hour is how I fell right into his trap. I was just another name that he intended to add to his list. Un-fucking-believable.

I found my map and schedule and started to make my way towards my next class; World History.

I sat down in the back corner an waited for the rest of the seniors to file in. Violet walked in along with Mick. They spotted me in the back corner and came and sat by me.

“Hey, are you okay? You look…pissed,” Violet said, clearly confused.

“Oh, yeah. I’m fine. Just learning a lot on my first day,” I said with a forced smile.

“Okay,” she said slowly.

We turned to the front of the room as the bell rang. Our teacher, Mr. Oliver, started the lesson with some basic things we would be covering this semester and went over some of his favorite things. He seemed nice enough.

I sat there the rest of the class, and plotted on how to get Rylan back. He needed to learn that Cassidy Graham won’t take his shit. I’m done pretending to be happy around everyone.

My little sister is gone. My parents are in denial. My crush is the school’s whore.

What do I have to be happy about? Sure, I’ve got some great friends, and sure, I’m healthy, but why do I have to put on a smile just for everyone else’s sake?



After school, I went to work. Seeing all the little kids just made thoughts of my sister run through my head. I left work as soon as my shift was over.

Rylan was a nice distraction from my sister, but now that I had written him off, Brylee was the first thing that came rushing into my head.

When I walked into the house, my mom immediately noticed my change in attitude from this morning.

“I’m assuming your first day of school didn’t go like you planned?” she asked.

“No. Everything changed. I’m done pretending to be happy, mom. I can’t take it anymore,” I said, plopping down on the couch.

“Is this about Brylee?” she asked softly.

“Of course it is. I just miss her so much,” I said as tears were brought to my eyes.

"It's time to move on, Cass," my mom whispers as she gently strokes my hair.

"How can you say it's time to move on?!? I'm not giving up on her! She was everything to me! I can't just forget about her!" I yelled, standing up as the tears started to cascade down my face.

"Cass, it's been two years. I think it's safe to say there's no hope. I'm sorry."

"How could you even say that? I can't believe you. You're a bigger bitch than I thought you were," I said, running up to my room and locking the door.

I can't give up on her. Not yet. She's worth more than that.