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Cassandra descended her way down the staircase towards the breakfast table cheerfully. Today was her last exam of junior high and she was going to vacation to Miami with her parents.

"Good morning pap" She smiled kissing her father, Mr Smith on his cheek laughingly.

Little did she know the intensity of discussion that was happening on that very table before her cheerful smile interrupted it.

"Morning love" her father smiled.

"Good morning mamma" she smiled kissing her mother's cheek.

"Morning baby" her mother laughed kissing her forehead.

"Someone seems in a good mood today" Her father exclaimed passing her a plate filled with pancakes and maple syrup.

"Of course today is my last examination. I am planning to hang out with Ethan before we leave for Miami, So maybe I will be out a little late" she exclaimed digging in.

"Baby! Actually..." her mother started but her father cut her off.

"Of course love" he father smiled patting her head.

"Liam" her mother started.

"Not now Maria" her father said in a voice which made Cassandra look up between the two of them in suspicion.

This was the thing about her father, Liam Smith. He never raised voice or said anything to them in a stern way. Cassandra was so used to seeing her parents madly in love that this was a rare occurrence. It was her mother, Maria Smith who was short tempered but her father was always calm and handled the thing with a sort of patience that she never had. She had never seen her parents quarrel in all these years of staying with them, there were times when they would get way too carried away kissing when she was in the same room and she had to remind them that she was still there.

Her parents obviously had some arguments here and there but they made sure that she never had to witness them and if she did, they would very calmly tell her to go back to her room as the two of them sorted out the differences.

"Everything cool between the two of you?" She asked me to be her breakfast looking at them.

"Yes sweetheart! there is just something that we need to talk to you about" her mother exclaimed.

"No we don't!" Her father said in a stern voice narrowing his eyes at her mother.

"Liam you cannot keep doing this, she needs to know" Her mother replied now infuriated.

"No Maria! what she needs to do is go to her school and give her last junior high examination, that she has worked so hard preparing. Everything else can happen later" her father replied this time with even more emphasis.

"Wait a second! what is happening between the two of you? are you guys getting divorced or something?" Cassandra asked horrified.

"WHAT? No" The two of them replied at the same time with their face as horrified as their daughter's.

"Where did you even get that idea from" her mother asked suddenly angry.

"I don't know mama! It's crystal clear that the two of you are hiding something from me. which you want to tell me and Dada wants to hide, considering the fact that I have my examination today. What else can be such a news that it would disturb me immensely and ruin my examination that I have prepared so hard for?" She asked confused.

Maria Smith couldn't ignore the headache and anger she felt. There was no doubt about the fact that she loved her husband,Liam Smith more than anything and yet sometimes she couldn't help but feel like smacking him on the head. It would be completely untrue to say that she did not love Cassandra with every single piece of your heart, She Neither wanted to hurt her daughter nor wanted to ruin her examination she had worked so hard for. And yet this was a matter of grave concern and keeping her out of this was not going to be any help.

Who won the Maria knew how heartbroken she was when she realised she couldn't have more kids after Cassandra, She and Liam always wanted to have a huge family with a lot of little Liam's and Maria's running here and there But after she conceived Cassandra her womb could not be prepared to give birth to another child ever again.

But it was Liam who convinced her that they did not need to have more kids to be a happy family, He was the happiest man on this earth when he looked at Cassandra's little brown eyes and her miniature fingers as she held his index finger tightly in her mini fist, never letting him go. Now that was the reason Maria knew that Cassandra was the very apple of Liam's eyes and he could not even think about doing anything that could hurt her but there were situations when you needed to confront people irrespective of how much hurt it could cause them because lying or hiding things from people you love are not going to fix it, the only way to fix it was to confront your loved ones and work it out together.

Maria took a deep breaths as she threw daggers at Liam with her eyes and looked at her daughter's face that was contoured in confusion and suspicion.

It was finally Liam who shifted his chair towards his daughters and took her face into his hands as he started speaking.

"We need you to know love that we love you with Absolute every single piece of our heart. And your mother is not lying, there is indeed something that we need to talk to you about but I can assure you it's definitely not about your mother and me separating. Despite however bossy your mother can get I love her more than anything and a little less than you So I need you to go back to school with extreme free will and give your examination with no stress in your head. when you come back we will have a talk about the situation and this is nothing that we cannot overcome together as a family." Her father concluded.

"Ohk" Cassandra exclaimed a little irked.

"I guess I'll just leave now because I'm getting late for school" she replied skipping off the stool towards the main room to pick up her bag and leave.

Her parents walked towards the door as she left.

"Be a strong girl. I am so proud of the girl that my baby has become" her father exclaimed.

"We love you." her mother smiled embracing her father.

"I love you both" she exclaimed walking out and climbing in the car.

********

"You can't keep avoiding telling her the truth" Maria Smith exclaimed to her husband when her daughter had left.

"I am not avoiding telling her. I just need her to finish her junior high normally before we drop the bomb on her head. This isn't her fault I was the one who did this and she does not deserve to get her last examination ruined especially after she worked so hard for it. As a father and as a husband it's my responsibility to look after the two of you. so I will come up with something or the other to handle the situation" Liam exclaimed.

That was his art he always knew how to say the right thing at the wrong time.

"How did I get so lucky to have you and Cass in my life" Maria Exclaimed her anger now flew away in the air.

"Don't worry Maria! I know these are the tough times but we are strong parents and cass is a brilliant girl, We will get through this together as a family" Liam exclaimed.

"I know" Maria replied him kissing him lovingly.

*******

Cassandra walked inside the school as everybody looked at her, It did not bug her anymore because they always did. She was the only junior in the cheerleading team, She was doing good at her classes and the most famous boy in the town and also the football captain of Springfield high was her boyfriend. There was indeed a lot to look at, also considering the fact she was super rich.

She walked inside to find her boyfriend Ethan, standing with Amanda, her best friend. The two of them looked in some kind of joking conversation smiling, If it was anyone else except for Amanda she would have assumed that they were flirting but she knew that Amanda would never do that to her.

"Hey! Guys" she smiled at Amanda before taking Ethan in her arms and kissing him in a long passionate kiss, Ethan kissed her back smirking indicating that the two of them were good to go.

Ethan Wasn't Cassandra's first kiss but he was definitely trying to be the guy who would take her virginity. That was exactly what the two of them had fought over last Saturday. Cassandra wasn't ready yet and she had cleared that to Ethan on multiple occasions, it was day before yesterday that is Saturday when the two of them were making out at Ethan's place when he started trying to remove her pants, Cassandra's refusal was immediate, that pissed him off more than anything and he stormed off before asking Cassandra to leave, the two of them did not talk over the weekend.

"Hey babe" she smiled at him.

"Hey there! Cass... come it's time for the exam" Amanda interrupted dragging her away.

Cassandra blew a kiss to Ethan before walking away. She never understood why she could never give in But something about sleeping with Ethan did not feel right, And she was not going to give up her virginity just because Ethan wanted her to. If he wanted her and if he loved her he would have to wait.

"You were missing throughout the weekend. I thought the two of us could study together and you know, me and Ethan also got into a huge fight this Saturday, so I wanted to talk to you but you did not pick up your phone" Cassandra asked Amanda.

"I am sorry Cass but I was busy throughout the weekend. my mother wanted me to babysit aunt Lucy's twins and I also had to prepare for the exam so I did not get a time to look at my phone." Amanda replied.

"Yeah I get it! do you want to know what me and Ethan fought over?" Cassandra asked. The truth was she actually wanted to rant to Amanda about the whole situation. She wasn't sure why she couldn't just give in to what Ethan wanted and she desperately needed to talk to someone about this, about this fear in her head that was refusing her to accept Ethan's proposal and who best to take advice from except for your best friend.

"Let me guess! You refused to sleep with him again" Amanda said rolling her eyes.

"Yes! I don't know why I do that all the time Amy! It's just that I don't feel like it's the right time" Cassandra tried explaining.

"You are 16 Cass, Not forgetting to mention that you are fucking hot and on the cheerleading squad. You give a fucking hard on every single guy in the school, But you tend to forget that Ethan is not a nerdy boy who is madly in love with you" Amanda spat, And Cassandra couldn't help but pause at her place and turned to look at Amanda, It almost felt like Amanda was spitting venom at her.

"Huh" Cassandra mumbled unable to say anything.

"What I mean to say is that Ethan is also one of the most popular guys in Springfield high, He is in his senior year, Captain of the football team. He can ask any girl to ride his dick and she will so if you think he'll wait for Your prude ass then you are thinking way highly of yourself" Amanda starting explaining but ending up spating again.

"You are my best friend Amy weren't you supposed to be on my side? What do you mean to say that I should have sex with Ethan when I am not ready? Just because he's a popular jock and his dick can't stay in his pants" Cassandra asked infuriated. She had enough of shit going through her head for this day.

"No! What I mean is that if you can't satisfy a guy then don't keep him tied to yourself" Amanda answered.

"You know what it's my fault that I turned to your slutty ass for an advice, I might as well just figure it out on my own" Cassandra spat before walking inside the class to get done with the examination.

*******

Cassandra wanted to nothing more than to jump up and down with happiness when she was done with her examination. She was not only just officially done with her junior year but also managed to answer all the questions effortlessly, thanking to the fact that she had spent last one month working her ass off to study and score well.

When she walked out she couldn't find Ethan at his regular spot. So she pulled out her phone and typed him a text asking him where he was.

To Ethan: where are you?

Ethan: I am busy babe! You want anything?

To Ethan: we were supposed to hang out before I leave for Miami!

Ethan: sorry!

Cassandra was angry now, She obviously could not hang out with Amanda after the argument they had in the morning and now Ethan was ditching her.

She dialled his phone but he did not pick up. She kept calling him again and again until he finally did.

"What?" He scowled.

"We were supposed to hang out Ethan! I am leaving for Miami and I'll be coming back after weeks and my last day in Springfield and you cant spend it with me? What the fuck is so important?" She asked.

"Cass..I...ahh..I" He moaned.

"What the fuck Ethan! Where are you?" Cassandra growled.

"I ..I am in ...at my house" he breathed out.

"Who are you with?" She spat.

"With my hand!" He growled and Cassandra couldn't help as she turned red.

"If you want you can come here and help or I'll see you when you are back from Miami" he growled hissing at the end.

"I'll see you in two weeks I guess" Cassandra quickly hanged up before walking to her car and driving off, unfortunately not noticing Ethan's car in the parking.

********

Cassandra drove towards her house finally parking when she noticed a couple of police cars standing outside her house.

Everything else was blurred to her, She did not recognise as she got down from the car, feeling that dreadful feeling inside her chest as she walked inside her house.

There are times in our life when we are almost anticipating meeting the worst news of our life and yet we try to make ourselves believe that it cannot be happening and try to console ourselves with lies that we know our lies. That was the exact thing Cassandra was going Thru expecting the worst possibilities as she walked closer to her house step-by-step.

Something in her mind was telling her to stop anticipating the worst things and telling her it could be something minor like a fire in the house and that would be fine as long as her parents are fine. She could not ignore the dreadful feeling she filled inside her stomach as she walked towards her own house, The place that she had spent her entire life happily. Apart of her wanted to run inside the house but she was scared of what she was going to see and another part of her just wanted to turn away and run outside afraid of what was waiting for her.

Cassandra clinched her fist as she walked inside with only one thing in her mind praying desperately that her parents were fine. When she was just about the front door an officers stopped her.

"You must be Cassandra smith?" He asked.

"Yes officer" she mumbled but her own voice sounded foreign to her. It was like she wasn't breathing anymore afraid of the possibilities waiting for her.

"Please come with me" The officer said but he was not taking her inside the house instead outside.

"No" she protested.

"I want to see my mother and father first" she exclaimed.

"Miss! I need you to accompany me to the garden" The officer said with more emphasis this time.

"No! First tell me where are my parents?" She asked stubbornly.

"Sweetheart" The officer first time exclaimed with care like finally realising that she was just a child as his eyes filled of pity But Cassandra didn't want his pity all she wanted was her parents.

"Take me to my parents" she exclaimed with rigour this time but the officer looked at her helplessly like he couldn't take her to them, as a matter of fact nobody could take her to them now.

When the officer couldn't help her out she forcefully thrusted his hand away and ran inside the house where she could see more officers at the different parts of the house, her house, The house that her father built for his two favourite ladies, the house that she was born in, the house where her father taught her to walk first time, to drive a bicycle and to drive a car, The same house where her mother baked cookies for her and they sat together at the dining table laughing and giggling as they talked about their day.

This was the very nightmare she wanted to wake up from, the very day she wanted to forget and yet she knew that this day was going to be a memory for her future nightmares.

"Miss you aren't allowed in here" one of the officer exclaimed looking at her with pity yet again and yet she couldn't see to focus on him. She couldn't focus on anything. She eyes were only focused on finding the whereabouts of her parents.

"Ma'am pls follow a officer in the garden. We are sorry.." she didn't let him finish as she dashed up the staircase.

She didn't care if she wasn't allowed in there, she didn't care if the officers were going to drag her ass forcibly, she didn't care if she was trespassing and could be going to jail, for the first time she didn't care about anything, not about officers, not about Ethan being mad at her, not about her argument with Amanda, not about her grades in her exam, the only thing she cared about was her parents. The only thing she wanted is to see them fit and fine.

Dashing up the staircase she ran inside her parents room but what she saw made her blood freeze and she felt like she was choking.