Half an hour after Kyle left, the door opened to reveal Melissa.

"Did your guest leave, miss?  Is everything alright?" She asked tentatively.

"Yeah, he left," I said, and hesitated. I wondered why she would think anything was wrong.  Did she overhear anything suspicious?  Was she allowed to know about Kyle, or was I not allowed to tell anyone about him being my bodyguard?

Finally I said, " and everything's fine."

I decided I'd ask Kyle later.

And I also chose that I trust him more than I do Melissa.

Was that weird?  Probably.  But everything was weird lately anyway.

* * * * *

I walked into my classroom ten minutes early.  I had arrived to school early, and I didn't feel like waiting outside.  I was tapping my fingers on my desk as I stared at my notes for class when a girl walked in.  She had long blonde hair that she had assembled into one long braid, tied with a red ribbon.  She wasn't like many other girls, and wore black flats and didn't have her skirt rolled up.

It was Wendy Reed.  Her father was a business owner, and she was a shy, quiet girl.

She gave me a small smile and slipped into her seat.

I kept on staring at my notes, reading the words but not processing them.  My mind was elsewhere, somewhere in a swirl of morning sleepiness.

"Hi." Wendy suddenly said, her voice sounding loud in the quiet classroom.

I looked up, knowing it was only me in the classroom.  Unless she was talking to herself, which I sort of doubted, she was talking to me.

"Hi." I said, and she stood up and took a seat next to me.

"I just wanted to say, that uhm, I know how it is to be bullied."  Her words stumbled over each other clumsily and she seemed nervous.

"Oh, okay." I said, slightly confused.

"It was when I was in sixth grade," she blurted, "my dad didn't want me to get indulged in his wealth, so he sent me to a public school for middle school.  I was bullied because they were jealous and I was different from them, and I finally persuaded my dad to get me into a private school afterwards.  Worst year of my life."

While she talked, her eyebrows were furrowed, a little angry-looking, and I knew that she was trying to comfort me.

I gave her a smile, "it's stupid, isn't it?  The whole concept of bullying?"

Wendy seemed pleased that I was carrying on the conversation.  "Yeah, and it makes you feel terrible.  Well, I don't know about you, you seemed fine, but it made me feel terrible at least."

I almost laughed at how talkative she was.  I always thought she was really quiet.  "It made me feel terrible as well."

Wendy's eyes filled with sympathy.  "They're all jerks, you know.  Those guys who think they're all cool and popular.  Especially with Zayden, and those Heywood brothers—"  She immediately clamped her mouth shut.

"I'm so sorry!" She squeaked, and I burst out laughing.

"Trust me, you don't have to apologize for that.  If anything I'm glad at least one person realized they're assholes."

Relief flooded Wendy's features as she said, "yeah.  I've never really liked the entire crew."

I nodded in agreement, and she gave me a smile.  "Well, I just want you to know that I know how you feel, and that I understand you."  I thanked her, and she went back to her seat as Mr. Sullivan marched into class along with several other students.

* * * * *

In my trigonometry class, I was surprised when Kyle walked over to sit next to me.  We didn't have assigned seats, but he usually sat alone at the corner of the room.

"Hello, damsel in distress," he said to me, with an amused smile on his lips.

I shot him my best glare.  "Don't call me that."

Kyle studied me for a second, and then he said, "you got new notebooks"  I glanced down at my new notebook and text book I had to get renewed thanks to whoever ripped my previous ones to shreds.

"No shit, sherlock." I snapped, not liking the knowing smile he was giving me.  It made me feel like he was keeping a secret from me, and it got on my nerves.

He shrugged.  "Observation is a good skill to have."

I rolled my eyes and ignored him for the rest of class. I hoped that no one thought much of Kyle sitting next to me.  I didn't want to attract even more attention than I already had.

When class ended, I let out a relieved sigh and shot out of class.  I stuffed my things into my locker and set out to the park, until someone called my name.

"Cassandra!"

It was Wendy's soft, girly voice calling through the crowd.  She had on a vibrant smile and I walked towards her.

"Do you want to have lunch with me?" She asked, and I couldn't help but feel happy.  No one had ever asked me to have lunch with them before, at least not in this school, and it almost felt like I had a group of friends or something.

I tried not to grin too widely and exclaimed, "I would love to.  Oh, and call me Cass."

She shot me a grin and I followed Wendy to the dining hall.  I got a bowl of soup and pasta, and she led me to her usual seat.  There were three other girls already sitting there, and I started regretting deciding to sit with Wendy.  The other girls were looking at me wide-eyed, shocked that Wendy would bring me along to sit with them.  They were unlike Wendy, and like the majority of the girl population, wore a lot of makeup and high heels which couldn't possibly be comfortable.

I slipped into a seat across from Wendy, and the girls all watched my every move.

"Girls, this is Cassan—" she paused and smiled at me, "Cass."

I smiled a tight-lipped smile and waved at them.

"I'm Shannon." A girl with a streak of green hair in her raven black hair said, waving her perfectly manicured hands at me.

"I'm Lily." A girl with white-silver hair—literally silver, it reminded me of a waterfall—and dark eyes said.

Finally the last girl, a girl with curly dirty blonde hair and blue eyes said curtly, "Nova."  She eyed me skeptically, and chewed on a gum rather loudly.  

"I was sort of feeling bad for her, you know, after everything that happened, so I thought she'd like to sit with us and she could do with a few friends."  Wendy said.  I knew she meant well, but her statement made me feel pathetic and so unpopular.

I already knew I was unpopular, but how she said it, well, made me sound like a loser.

I ate my food uncomfortably as the four girls yapped about how Keiran Edwards was so cute but so dumb and how Kara Jennings was the most annoying girl at our school and whatnot.  I knew everyone they mentioned, and agreed to a lot of them, but I didn't feel comfortable about talking about them like that.  I hated it when someone spoke behind my back, so why should I do it as well?

"So Cass," Lily suddenly addressed me, "how do you get your hair so silky?" I didn't know why she would ask me of all people, because she had the silkiest, shiniest hair I've ever seen.

"Uhmmm....I brush it?" I said.  I honestly didn't do anything to my hair, except for wash it everyday.

Lily, Wendy, and Shannon laughed, thinking I was joking.  Which I wasn't, but I laughed with them anyway.  Nova was still looking at me strangely, and I shuffled awkwardly in my seat, resisiting the urge to squirm.  I hated when people stared at me, especially when I could see the person.

The girls talked about the new type of lip gloss that looks good whenever, and I soon finished my food and I wanted to go put it away, but I didn't want to leave the table either.

But then I couldn't leave anyway, because Nova started talking to me.  "I don't mean to pry," she started, making it sound like it was her every intention to pry, "but what actually happened with Zayden?"

All three girls in my seat directed their attention to me.  "It was just...he took me out on a date.  And I refused when he started making a move on me."  I shrugged it off, wanting to change the discussion.  but it was obvious Nova wasn't finished yet.

"Oh come on, we're all girls and we're all friends.  You can tell us."

I tried staying calm.  "Really, it was nothing."

Nova rolled her eyes.  "Well, Zayden, he's quite the good-looking one, and you can't possibly not have any feelings towards him.  Did he take you to his house?  Are you sure you two didn't do anything?  I mean, if we were to switch places, I don't think I could resist him if he touched me—" she laced her slenders fingers down her arm, "like that."

Nova's low, lingering voice sent a shiver down my back.  Flashbacks of that night started flooding my mind, and the color drained out of my face.

"I said, Nothing. Happened." I said loudly, making the grins fall off the everyone except Nova's faces.  Nova studied me with her piercing gaze and small smirk, and I glared at her before taking my tray and stomping off.

I wished I hadn't joined them.  Socializing with the students of Lockwood Academy never goes well.

* * * * *

I haven't written an author's note in a long time so....this is one.  This chapter is short but oh well I wanted to end it here.  Anyway, please vote and comment, I love them!  Oh and Summer Daydream has over 4.5K reads, which I am so happy about!  If you haven't read it yet, you should check it out!  OK thanks for reading :D