A/n:
Thank you very much for your support in my story! Here's an appearance of a new character, Tracy. If you watch Election, you must know where I get the references.
-
-
-

Tracy

I won't say that Cassandra Bellington is my bestfriend, because I don't go to school to make friends.

But she is surely close to one.

Cassandra and I met when we were in freshmen, the only two girls in our homeroom class that didn't find a partner for a silly group-project.

She comes from a wealthy family, like most students in this rich-only school do. But she's different. She doesn't  pursue attention and the popularity game didn't seem to interest her one bit.

That time, I know that being a scholarship student in a place exclusively for privileged kids, my standing is constantly on a rocky boat. So I become closely acquainted with Cassandra. It was both benefial for us. I could provide her new information. She could provide me the slightest bit of protection, and maybe a place in a good company after both of us graduate.

Until one day, the dumb blonde one from the Elites asked her to be his tutor, and Cassandra totally forgot her place.

She went into the Elite party one day, and the next day, she started crying everyday inside the girls's restrooms. Then, we almost didn't talk for three full months because she was too busy dieting and exchanging whispers from the pretty bimbos under Tyra's tyranny.

Am I jealous? Well, I'm not the one fucking up her grades just so that some rich kid notices me. I'm not the one who fucks up my metabolism and my food just because I can buy more skimpy clothes to fit on. I'm definitely not the one jumping the hoops those popular kids set up so that I can call myself one of Them.

I'm perfectly happy in my place.

It's just a weird feeling. One day, Cassandra comes to school, and... people just.. stare at her. Not in a mocking way, no. Not even in a perplexed way. They stare at her in awe. Amazement. Lust. Desire.

They stare at her the way they stare at the Elites.

And in that moment, I think I know what drove Cassandra to do what she did.

I understand.

But I still can't begin to let myself want that.

-
-
-

Calling Tristan a mess was an understatement.

His anger wasn't the kind that manifested in explosions of tantrums. He didn't scream or curse or even try to pick a fight. In fact, Cassie saw Tristan helped the lady janitor pulled out a big plastic bag out from the trash can, smiling to her afterwards and bidding her goodbye politely.

But she could see his knuckles turning white. The subtle veins popping around his temples, the menacing edge on his lips.

Tristan was angry, and his brand of anger was the kind that might bring catastrophe.

"Are you okay? Do you want to punch someone? Something to smoke? Snort some coke?"

Despite Cassie's attempt at rhyming, Tristan didn't budge. He walked her to her first class in complete silence. All the way, she could feel eyes gazing on their backs, and whispers starting to spread. Her little venture to the Elite's table must have circulated, and the fact that she was the first girl to hold hands with Tristan Arrington fueled the matter.

"Have lunch with me today," Tristan said before he dropped her off in front of her class. He lingered for a while, as if deciding whether to kiss her or not, but then he just gave her a weak smile and patted her on the head once. "Yup."

As soon as Cassie found her chair, she could already hear a girl whispering right into her ear. "Since when are you dating?"

Tracy was a petite redhead who packed too much fire residing within her small container. She was the captain of debate club, school magazine club, and any other clubs that required a lot of brain cells and no social life to excel at. In short, she was a slightly worse than Unseen, Unheard Of, but with enough willpower and self-respect to keep her from being the target of constant public humiliation. A league of her own.

"Wow, hello to you too, Tracy." Cassie never meant her reply to be so curt, and yet here she was. Maybe hanging out with Lucas and the others proved to be detrimental to her manners. "And I only started dating Tristan last month."

Tracy bit on the end of her pen. She always did that while she thought an answer of a very difficult question. Her face was a little round, but she wasn't overweight or anything. In fact, Cassie was sure that with the right clothes that didn't involve plaid or old-school dresses, Tracy would be pretty.

"So, your starvation strike finally bears some fruit, eh? You got yourself a boyfriend that's not some fat kid on the internet."

Cassie retracted her statement. Tracy could be really pretty, if only she wasn't sneering in 90% of her sentences.

"Hey!"

"I'm just saying, Cassandra." Tracy never called her by 'Cassie'. She never called anyone by their nickname. Always the full, obnoxiously long names that their hip, rich parents gave them. "It's just not like you to be acting like this. First you're crying in the toilet because of some boy. Next, you're losing half of your body and dating the biggest manwhore-"

Cassie's breath hitched.

As self-absorbed Tracy was, she finally realized that she was crossing the line. "I know that my words are harsh, but that's only because they're true."

"Tristan is a good person, and not nearly as promiscious as the grapevine made him to be."

"I'm sure that's what he told you," Tracy wasn't losing her mojo. Once she had decided on something, she would pursue it until she got it, and what she wanted now was to pull Cassie's back to the comfort zone of Unknown Territory.

The sad thing was, Cassie knew that the redhead was doing this for her sake. Cassie was one of the few students Tracy didn't mock for being 'stupid trust-fund kid' or 'a teenage pregnancy waiting to happen'. In fact, Cassie and Tracy were sort of friends, with both of them totally ignored by the rest of the school due to their disinterest in the whole Popularity Brouhaha.

"You know that the whole thing is not worth it, Cassandra," Tracy's whisper sounded more menacing than a friendly fire. "We're just six month away from graduating, and then you can look back and laugh at these idiots for acting like they owned the world."

And that's another sad thing: Desmond really did owned the world. At least, the little kingdom that surrounded him was real. The money, the people, the companies, the finance stock. Hundreds, thousands of people relied on him on daily basis. He wasn't just powerful at school. Furthermore, Cassie knew his family would actually set him out to be one of the biggest mogul in the world. Cassie didn't know much about businesses, but she knew that Desmond's cruel streak would only grow worse if nobody ever teach him anything about losing. Cassie's family owned a humongous button company, and Cassie knew sooner or later she would have to interact with Desmond or the likes to keep her company float. Aside from avenging her broken heart, this was also good practice for the real world.

Of course a girl like Tracy Lynn wouldn't understand that. Her mother didn't even bother to register her last name because she came from a lower-middle family. Her surname would bring no substance to a place as prestigious as St. Pulkeria. Tracy was here solely because of scholarship and at the first two years of her attendance, most of the students liked to remind her about that.

She was strong, however. Incredibly so. Because Tracy never broke down during the whole onslaught and she always fought back as hard. Sometimes even harder. In another world, she could have been an inspiring heroine in her own story.

But this was not Tracy's rags-to-richest's story. This was Cassie's road to revenge.

"Just mind your own business, Tracy," was all Cassie gave to her.

The dismissal left a sour note on Tracy's furrowed eyebrows. She didn't like to be dismissed. She didn't like her advice to be left unheeded. She was smart, she was ambitious, and she was right. Tracy opened her mouth, and Cassie braced herself for something hurtful.

But then the hurtful words came from another direction, instead.

"Oh my God, Trashy. Are you autistic or something? The girl obviously just wants to be left alone." Tyra's standing behind Tracy, her glossed lips were upturned in disgust.

Tracy might be strong and proud, but even her zeal glowered in the face of the Queen of St. Pulkeria. She only turned around to face Tyra, mouth trembling as she scrambled for a retort.

But of course Tyra was faster at donning out words designed to crush a girl's self-confidence. It was something that she had been practicing, and very good at, since she was young. "Isn't it enough that your education is a case of charity? Do you want your friendship to be one, too? Just get out of here."

Tracy still froze on her chair. She gritted her teeth so hard that the corner of her lips almost split. "You're a mean girl."

"A future valedictorian and that was the best you could have done?" Tyra's smile was slow and dire. Cassie blinked, then Tyra's face turned into ice. "You have three seconds."

Tracy managed to get her bag and papers and pencil and various stationaries out of her desk in under three seconds. Her back was arched low as she scurried away to the other corner of the class, as if she was trying to appear smaller.

Cassie watched as Tracy's pitiful back found another place at the very back of the class. She kept her head down, but her hands were on her face. She hoped that Tracy wasn't crying.

Tyra sat next to her. "I hate that mousy little girl."

Cassie didn't particularly like her, but she wouldn't as much as called her ambivalent feeling 'hatred'. "You didn't need to go that far."

"Please. I listened to her rambling about Tristan and us. And if you know half the things she's spewing about me and my friends, you'll find my tell-off is equivalent to 'turning the other cheek'."

"She's no saint either, but-"

"Don't ruin this by talking about that bitch. Desmond was fuming after you two left. It's a good sign."

Straight to business. Typical Tyra. This must be how she would manage her father's multi-billion make-up company. "I don't know about Tristan, though..."

"Oh, he hears about those things all the time. He will be fine."

"Yeah, but..." Cassie remembered Tristan's fallen face. She closed her eyes and that was all she could see. She only got to know him for less than a week, but he proved to be a whole lot different than what the rumors had painted him. Softer. More sensitive. Still not believing the whole 'harmless' front that he was putting on, but she didn't think of him as a savage monster anymore.

"What? Don't tell me that you've grown to care about him. The only reason why he agrees to this faux-date is because he wants to date other girls that are not you. Ugh. I should have just told everyone that you were a lesbian. It would be easier for you to keep your feelings in check."

"No," Cassie hated looking like a weak, undisciplined person in front of Tyra. "I just don't know if he can handle it and do something that will make us look even worse. Like punching Desmond in the face."

"That's not gonna happen. Tristan respects his father too much to do such visible damage to his other son."

"You thought of everything, do you?"

Tyra's eyes twinkled. "Why do you think I manage to keep Desmond by my side for over six months?"

"So why not you, then?" Cassie finally asked the question that had been bothering her mind lately. "Why are you not the one in my position? Try to lure him to real feelings. Try to really break him."

Tyra being silent was not something that Cassie could familiarize herself at. The murmurs of the class started filling up the whole corners as Cassie waited for Tyra's answer.

Tyra played with her hand, the first sign of her thick walls lowered down. "What did you feel when Desmond started seducing you?"

It was such an unexpected question that Cassie flinched. She wasn't sure if she wanted to share about this. "S-Shocked. Well, it's definitely not unlike the books that I've read. But a part of me felt like I didn't deserve it. Like it was all a prank. And sure enough, it turned out to be one."

"Liar." The smile on Tyra's face was smug, satisfied. "I saw you walking up the stairs with my boyfriend at that night. You were beaming and not in the slightest bit flustered. You felt like you won, even though you knew that you're going to sleep with another girl's boyfriend. You managed to get Desmond Arrington's attention."

Cassie felt like it was best for her to not add anything. Tyra wasn't wrong. It was more vulgar than what Cassie would have described, but she was on the right track.

"And that's what made you're up for this job, Cassie. Because for a second there, when you were talking with those glassy eyes of yours and your impeccable body-language, you managed to convince me that you were this little innocent girl who never had a single bad thought in your whole life. But that's not true, isn't it?"

They stared at each other, both knowing that Tyra didn't need the confirmation of her assessment.

"I may be a great planner, but I'm not a good liar. Coincidentally, you are. Lucas also told me about your little snitch with the bimbo who runs the school counseling."

Cassie cringed as she remembered the little lie she told Ms. Humblewood. She could detect the older woman's weak points and capitalized on her need to stay relevant to the younger generation in just a snap of the fingers.

"But listen to this, you little liar," Tyra's voice took a sudden turn of animosity. "At the time being, I don't care if Desmond sleeps or have little love affairs with anyone. It's not relevant, and I want my share of oats, too. I only want to take him down a peg or two."

The next words were mere whispers, but it was the most terrifying thing Cassie had ever heard. "But I'm going to marry him, and you will not get in my way."

Tyra pulled away, her face a complete 180 than her threat. She smiled sweetly at Cassie. "Bye girl, see you at lunch!"

She air-kissed Cassie's cheeks, and then strutted away from the class, fully knowing that her sway held the attention of the 26 students that were there. Including Cassie.

Cassie waited until Tyra's figure completely disappeared from the door, and shuddered.

———

Thank you for reading! Tap the vote button if you like the story! And comment, please! Comments make me write faster! :)