Chapter 27 Friends
THE FIFTH ELEMENT 🌊🔥🌪️⛰️☯️
~Cassie's POV~
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“What? Me? No..no. No. In fact, I just got here. I woke up early and just wanted to experience the early morning fresh look and smell here. Yeah,” I said nervously. The lie tasted bad in my mouth.
I couldn’t tell him I slept here. What would he think of me? Homeless? Dramatic? Pathetic?
“Are you sure about that?” he asked me. One eyebrow up.
“Yes. Of course,” I said and did a nervous small laugh. It came out like a hiccup.
“So why did you sleep here? Don’t you have a dorm? I know you’re new here but you should know that it isn’t safe for a girl to sleep in an almost abandoned place like this.”
“Yeah, so what if I did sleep here. What’s it to you? You made it clear that we shouldn’t and can’t be friends. So I don’t think you have the right to ask me why I slept here. I mean unless you want us to be friends?” I said to him. Defensive. Arms crossed now, mirroring him. Pillow still there.
“Hmm. So if I agree to be your friend, you’ll tell me why you slept here?” he asked me and raised his eyebrow at me. That cheeky smile was back. Smaller. Realer.
“Yes,” I replied and smiled at him. Couldn’t help it. Stupid hope.
He pushed off the doorframe, took one step closer. Slowly But closer. I could smell him now— soap and something like smoke. Fire clan, duh.
“Fine. We’re friends now,” he said. Simple. Like it didn’t matter. But it mattered a lot. To me.
My brain short-circuited. “Wait, really? Just like that?”
“Unless you were lying about wanting to be friends,” he said, tilting his head.
“No! I mean— yes. I mean I do. Want to. Be friends,” I said. Words. Hard.
“So. Why’d you sleep here, Cassie?” he asked, soft now. No teasing. Just… asking.
I swallowed. Looked at my feet. “Madeline and I… had a fight. I snitched on her to her mom. Not on purpose. But she’s mad. And I didn’t want to sleep there with her hating me. So I came here.”
Jake was quiet for a second. Then, “You chose the floor over an apology?”
“I didn’t snitch! I... okay, maybe I did. But I didn’t mean to. And she wouldn’t listen to me. She just… iced me out.” I hugged the pillow tighter. “It’s dumb.”
“It’s not dumb,” he said. “Madeline Stone doesn’t forgive easy. My sister’s the same way.”
“Cara?” I asked.
He nodded. “Fire holds heat. And grudges too.”
I snorted. Then covered my mouth. He smiled for real that time. Quick. Gone.
“You should go back. Talk to her,” he said.
“She doesn’t want to talk to me.”
“Make her.” He shrugged. “Or sleep on tile again. Your call, friend.”
Friend. He said it twice now.
“Fine. I’ll go talk to her. But if she throws a shoe at me, I’m blaming you,” I said.
“Deal,” he said. “I’ll block it for you. Fire reflexes.”
I rolled my eyes but I was smiling. He stepped aside, holding the door open. Like a gentleman. Like he was trying.
“Thanks. For the… friend thing,” I mumbled, walking past him. Didn’t look at him.
“Don’t sleep in abandoned buildings anymore, Cassie. Our Deal’s off if you die,” he called after me.
“Noted,” I called back, and didn’t trip down the stairs. Win.
🌊🌊🌊
I knocked on the door to our room, waiting for Madeline to open up. Pillow still tucked under my arm.
I waited for a while. The hallway was quiet except for the hum of the wall lights.
I looked over to the other corner and saw Sage coming out of a room very close to mine. Like, three doors down.
I didn’t know her room was that close by. That explained the cold.
She locked her door with the key she was holding and turned to look at me. Hair wet. Uniform perfect. Face blank.
She looked at me and gave me a ‘do we have a problem’ look. Eyebrow up. Chin up.
I slowly looked away, but when I noticed her walking away I quickly looked back at her and watched as she left. Shoulders straight. No limp. No sign of yesterday.
I remembered what I witnessed the other day, her mom slapping her. The crack still lived in my ears.
And I kinda felt bad for her. Hate her, but still. No one deserves that.
Madeline finally opened the door.
We looked at each other for some seconds, and next thing I knew she hugged me. Hard. Bandaged wrist careful, but still tight.
“I’m so sorry, Cassie. I didn’t mean to take out my anger on you. I hope you don’t hold yesterday against me, and where the hell did you go to? You got me worried,” Madeleine said when she released me from the hug. Her eyes were red. Not crying. Close.
“I’m so glad you aren’t angry anymore,” I said to her and smiled.
“Would you come in already,” Madeline said and dragged me inside the room by my sleeve.
⛰️
After I took my shower, I wore something nice for the day. Jeans. Soft sweater.
“I just can’t believe my mom. Nothing I do is ever good enough for her. It’s like she doesn’t want to acknowledge that I’m a good daughter. Do you know she scolded me about the fight I had with Cara like it was my fault? I mean Cara started it all. Why was I the one that ended up being blamed?” Madeline said in one take, pacing.
Wow, she can talk. When she’s mad, the words just fall out.
“You know, a similar thing happened with Sage and her mom too. Is it like a norm here for moms to be overly strict with their kids?” I said to Madeline.
“Don’t even get me started with Sage. I think she has it worse than me though. Her mom is the principal and she’s really mean. One time she asked her two kids to stay underwater for a whole week as punishment for something they did,” Madeline said to me, shuddering.
“Underwater? How’s that even possible?” I asked. I pictured it. Dark. Pressure. Lungs burning.
“Are you forgetting they have water magic flowing in their blood? They’re like one with the water as I am one with the earth,” Madeline said to me, like it was obvious.
I suddenly remembered what I wanted to tell her last night. The purple haze. The slap. My powers.
~