Chapter Nine: An Old Death, A New Friend

Everything seemed to be going well for Cassidy.

After the previous note, her assailants hadn't bothered sending another one, yet she knew there would be consequences for her defiance.

However, Cassidy didn't care, for she finally had other things to focus on.

Valerie's friends happened to be lovelier than she perceived them to be. Even though it had been two days since she met Raina, Timothy and Cameron, the brunette skater had gotten quite close to the trio, each for different reasons.

Cameron J. Vanderbilt was a light-hearted, jovial guitarist who didn't talk much unless it concerned him. He was the kind of person who was closed off around others but extremely open once you got to know him. Over the past three days, she had gotten to know all of them better, but Cameron seemed to be the nicest.

Alongside the guitar, he had a tendency to bake and had previously attended Miles' baking classes, that was how he met Valerie in middle school. The two had gotten along quite well, and eventually, Cameron introduced Raina to the Hensons, and the trio met Timothy along the way.

Raina and Valerie seemed to be the female equivalents of Cameron and Timothy.

The blondes were both lively and athletic while the brunettes were quiet yet fun. Cassidy couldn't help but feel like she fit into the brunettes' category too. It was why she felt naturally comfortable around the group as their personalities were quite similar.

That, however, wasn't enough to have her be comfortable to reveal her past. For now, she wanted to leave her past as it is until it was relevant to bring it all up, and chose focus on her present.

More specifically, their current English project.

Even though it was their fifth day of school, the year ten English teachers decided to assign them a short story project for the entire lesson. As luck would have it Cassidy happened to be paired with Raina.

"So, what would you like to write upon."

The artistic Hijabi leaned back in her seat as she contemplated the question, wondering which genre and topic would be suitable for a class project.

In the end, they decided against writing anything too extreme and chose a story surrounding the life of a feminist nineties girl. Cassidy was supposed to write the first draft, with a bit of help from Raina, and then the latter was supposed to edit and fix any mistakes or plot holes in their story.

They weirdly had a lot of inspiration for the idea, and the pair were done with their first draft before half of the lesson was complete. Rather than remaining in silence and mulling over the story, the two decided to initiate some light conversation. Unaware of where it would lead.

"So, why did you move to St Briston?"

Cassidy gulped at the question, averting her gaze as she thought of a reasonable answer. In the end, she decided not to stray from the truth and settled on a white lie.

"After my father's death, we needed a new start. Mum's new job offer provided us with that opportunity."

Her reply made Raina's expression change into one of pity as she smiled at Cassidy, subtly abandoning their story to reply.

"It must have been very hard for you to move on from his death. I'm extremely sorry."

The brunette skater simply shrugged, unsure how to reply to that.

"He passed away eight months back. I've healed from it."

This time her reply was a clear lie, one that Raina saw through. However, what Cassidy didn't realize was Raina understood her pain, having lost a loved one in the past year too.

"No one can heal from something so big in so little time. Trust me, I know-" Raina paused for a moment, unsure of whether she should be emphasizing. After a moment Raina decided to simply mention what transpired.

"My younger brother passed away a few months ago. I understand you were close to your father as I was to my brother.”

Cassidy yet again didn’t know how to react to such a confession, but attempted to consolidate Raina nonetheless.

“I’m sorry that happened to you. No one should go through such a thing.”

It felt like she was throwing the Hijabi’s words back at her, but Raina seemed to accept the sentiment and placed a hand on Cassidy’s shoulder in an attempt to lighten the tension.

“We might not know what the other has gone through, but we can help each other heal.”

Raina’s words held more truth than Cassidy would have liked, but it calmed her to know someone at Briston High could understand what she was going through.

No one at school knew what had transpired in Cassidy’s past, and if they had an inkling of an idea, they never mentioned it at school. Raina was the first person she opened up to by her free will.

In Lonam City Cassidy had never gotten the chance to properly explain the situation since the whole city had already caught onto what was going on. Everyone had their own presumptions, even though most of them were wrong.

Eventually, the brunette skater hadn’t bothered trying to clear things, simply letting people think what they wanted to. That seemed to change in St Briston as Cassidy had the freedom to reveal her story if and when she felt it was necessary.

Giving Raina the same liberty was crucial, for Cassidy knew what it felt like to have people presume. The only difference was while people might not know her story, most of the city was aware of Raina’s loss, and decided to bring it up during lunch break.

Cassidy and Valerie casually leaned against the bathroom sinks as they waited for Raina to finish her business. After their eventful English lesson, the brunette girls decided to take a slight detour to the washroom before heading to the cafeteria, Valerie following after them.

Raina hadn’t spoken much after the end of their conversation, and seemed to be deep in thought regarding what transpired. While Cassidy didn’t mind her silence, Valerie seemed to be anxious to understand what happened between them, and the blonde girl tended to get what she wanted.

“Did something happen in English?”

The question made Cassidy hesitate as she leaned further into the sink, mulling over her reply. On one side Valerie was the one who introduced her to Raina, and it would be unfair for her to keep secrets from the blonde, but it was also wrong to talk about Raina’s secret behind her back, especially when it was something so serious.

“Just things about our families.”

Her vague reply made Valerie frown as she abutted from the sinks, twirling to stand in front of Cassidy.

“Look, there are somethings about Raina that you can’t know yet because you’re not close enough.”

While Cassidy appreciated the netball player intrepidly defending Raina, she couldn’t help but find the reply slightly coherent if not rude. But she didn’t have to defend herself over the matter, for the girl in question exited the lavatory just as Valerie finished her statement.

“Stop pestering her Val, I told her about Omar.”

The name was unfamiliar, but Cassidy simply guessed it was Raina’s brother. Valerie, however, didn’t seem complacent with the revelation.

“You told her?!”

Cassidy couldn’t help but feel slightly agitated at Valerie’s tone, thus chose to answer her before Raina could.

“A conversation came up about dead relatives, she mentioned her brother to let me know that she can relate to my pain.”

That seemed to soften Valerie’s demeanour as she muttered a quiet ‘oh’ following it by an apology for her tone. Raina, however, didn’t feel like being left out of the conversation and said her piece.

“Mr Carlone and Omar both passed away around the same time, I thought it was common curtsey to console her.”

Her reply made Cassidy smile as Raina finished up and walked out of the bathroom, Valerie and Cassidy following right after. They allowed the Hijabi to walk in front of them as the blonde girl held onto Cassidy’s elbow, making her pause briefly.

“I’m sorry. It’s just that Raina's brother died because some Islamophobic kids tried to make him convert and stabbed him, she saw the whole thing. I just wanted to make sure the topic didn’t come up in an argument.”

The revelation made Cassidy frown as she realized she and Raina had a lot more in common than she presumed. They both not only lost someone but also witnessed the deaths, and that was enough to have her gain a little respect for the Arab artist.

Putting on a tough front and pretending to be alright after witnessing such an incident was incredibly hard, but turning to and embracing the religion that in a way caused her brother’s death was another level in itself.

Cassidy had constantly broken down after her father’s passing and continued to do so periodically on the days when Antonin’s death was too hard to bear. Raina, on the other hand, stood tall through it all and faced the music head-on, regardless of the repercussions.

As they entered the cafeteria Cassidy had to admit one thing to herself; their common struggle made her closer to the Arab artist than she thought it would.

People tended to bond over various things while forming new friendships, but theirs happened to be one that helped each of them express and be rid of their grief, and that was enough to have her lean against Raina and mutter a light thank you.

Who knew such pessimistic pasts would pave the way to future friendships?