We Were Barely Seventeen, and We Were Barely Dressed

I woke up the next day and got ready. After getting completely ready to go, I went downstairs and left before my mom could say anything to me. When I got to school, I went to my locker and put my books away before grabbing my things for class.

“Hey, Cass! Wait up!”

I glanced behind me and saw Rylan walking towards me. I scoffed and started walking again towards my class. I got stopped soon after when he tugged on my arm.

“Hey. I guess you didn’t see me back there,” he said with his gorgeous smirk.

“Guess not,” I lied.

“So, since it’s Friday, we’re all going to go and see a movie. Are you in?” he asked.

“Uh, I guess so. Depends on what time. I got to work.”

“Oh, well, I think we were planning on going around like eight.”

“I get off at six so that should work,” I said icily.

“Is something wrong? Did I do something wrong?” he asked. His face held confusion.

“You did a lot of things wrong,” I said, glaring at him.

“What? What could I possibly done? We haven’t even seen each other since before school started,” he said while holding his hands up.

“Let’s just go back to the way things were before we were nice to each other,” I said, beginning to walk towards my class again.

“What? Back to when we hated each other?”

“Exactly.”

“Why?” he asked with concerned eyes.

“Look, my life is just a bit too messed up for my liking right now. School is back and that’s just going to be one more stress put on me. It was so much easier when we couldn’t stand each other. One less thing for me to worry about. I just don’t need any distractions,” I explained.

“Why can you make friends with so many people, but not with me? Is that too much to ask for? Just to be your friend? Whatever, Cassidy,” he said, stalking off.

I didn’t think lying to him would have been so difficult. It shouldn’t have been so difficult. So why was it?



I got done putting all of the kids’ toys back into their boxes and told everyone that I was leaving. When I got outside, Violet and Chace were waiting inside his truck.

Violet took one look at me and told Chace to take us back to my place. When we got there, Violet yanked me out of the back of the truck and straight up the stairs and into my bedroom.

“So what happened between you and Rylan?” she asked in a very serious voice.

“Nothing. I just don’t need the stress right now. My mom’s been bitching at me to get over Brylee’s kidnapping, and I don’t need anyone to distract me from her,” I said with a shrug.

“I know this isn’t about Brylee, Cass. What really happened?”

“Nothi-”

“Bullshit! This isn’t nothing, Cass. You just don’t randomly want to go back to hating someone,” she almost yelled.

“Someone told me of his ‘ways’,” I said.

“Who? What did they tell you?” she demanded.

“Tyler…something. He told me of how much a manwhore Rylan is and to keep my distance. He said that Rylan always pretends to like a girl just to get them in bed with him. I’m not going to be just another girl,” I said, defiantly.

“You’re not just any other girl, Cass. You’re more important than that. Rylan was a manwhore. I’ll give you that. He would sleep with almost anything with legs and tits. But isn’t it possible for someone to change? I know it’s too soon for most to notice, but you’ve changed him, Cass. He hasn’t slept with any girl in quite some time. He cares about you, Cass,” she told me.

“Well, even if that is all true, I seriously don’t need the stress right now. I really need to get back into searching for Brylee. My mom thinks she’s dead. I know she isn’t. I just know it, Vi,” I said, looking up at her.

She hugged me close to her body for about five minutes straight.

“Want me to help you get ready?” she suggested.

“Oh, I was just going to throw on what I wore to school,” I said, standing up.

“Honey, no. You can’t wear the same thing you wore to school. I won’t allow it,” she said, opening the door to my closet and walking inside.

She immediately started searching through my boring wardrobe to find something halfway exciting.

“You’re not going to find anything. I have horrible tastes in clothes,” I said, plopping back down on my bed.

She emerged from the closet about ten minutes later with numerous amounts of clothes articles.

“Hmm…I don’t know if I want you to wear this or this,” she said holding up two options.

“That’s your decision. I’ll just play Barbie and you play the little girl,” I said with a smile.

“Okay. This. I’ve decided on this one,” she said, throwing the clothes at me.

I took off my work uniform and slipped on the dark wash skinny jeans and put on the black t-shirt with a grey peace sign on it. She then threw a grey net style cardigan at me and my worn black converses.

“My creation is complete. Now let’s go. Chace is going to pick us up soon,” she said, texting away on her phone.

“Who am I to get in the way of your plans?” I said with a laugh.