Outshine

It was an awful day. A very awful day. Terrible. It was raining, and the drops of water on the window made him feel down. Tate couldn't find a poetic way to dismiss the depressing weather. He could say that the clouds were crying but that would be cliché. It was a bad day, for him and his thoughts.

Trapped in his own room with his little furry friend, Titan, at his side, Tate got up and called Mac with the house's phone.

Mac was a boy of few words, the kind of boy who started to sweat when asked a question by the teacher in class even if he knew the answer. However, he wasn't the same boy on stage playing the bass, he wasn't the same boy with his friends around, he wasn't the same since Tate started talking about Cassie.

"Come to my house, we have to talk," Tate said straight to the point. "Call Cheese and Lip also."

"Alright."

"Is everything good?" he asked so the conversation wouldn't end there. After a few seconds listening to each other's breathing Mac responded.

"I'm sorry."

"It's all good." Tate started walking around his room with the phone in his left hand. "I don't know why I said that about the girl--"

"Cassie," he corrected as he stopped in front of his desk and doodled something on his notepad.

"Cassie," Mac said under his breath.

"I don't know what the hell is happening to you... why are you are acting so weird lately... but hey, I don't care, you're my friend, right?" Tate was wandering aimlessly in his room again, Titan locked on to each step. Tate lowered and caressed the dog's chin. "I won't let you ruin this friendship over a girl... or whatever."

"You won't let me ruin this friendship? So now it's my fault?!" Tate stopped for a second, a serious look conquered his face as the canned voice of Mac sounded in his ear. "Tate Ryder Hayes, you don't understand do you? you are the only responsible!"

Tate had to pull the phone further from his ear as Mac was shouting, but he still didn't understand was Mac was implying

"Responsible for what?!"

"You lead the band, you write the songs we play, you get most of the attention, you get the girls, you, you and only you. Everything revolves around you!" Suddenly Tate understood.

"You are jealous." Tate let out a tired laugh. "I can't believe it... and it's not because of Cassie... we're getting more and more fans everyday and you are afraid that I -- I outshine you?"

"I made us get into S.U.N festival, I created the band with you and you are the only one getting recognized for it. How do you think that makes me feel?"

Tate didn't respond.

"Did you know that Lip sings too? Did you know he's taking singing classes? Did you have any idea Cheese is an amazing songwriter? Oh right you didn't, because all you talk about is yourself, and we have to do everything your way--"

Tate hung up. He couldn't bare the hard words Mac, supposedly his best friend, threw at him like stones meant to shatter the glass house his ego lived in. Tate was shielded from most of the bad things that happened to him throughout his life, but lately that shield was breaking down.

He let out a deep breath telling himself everything would be okay, that it was just a small skirmish that would pass quickly. Every band struggles like that once in a while, right? But he could't help but feel the water on his eyes blur his vision. He wasn't going to cry. He was stronger than that. It was a small setback, it was nothing. And Tate always cared for his band mates, he always asked if they were okay. He convinced himself he wasn't the problem, but the truth was that Mac, Lip and Cheese, guys he could trust were the only thing he could rely on (apart from Lily) and now they didn't trust him.

After their talk, Tate still innocently wondered if they would come to his house to work things out.

➳

It was a wonderful day. Such a wonderful day. Fantastic. It was raining, the droplets on her skin made her feel alive, like the first day of spring when the sleeping world finally wakes up. Cassie could find a million poetic ways to describe that feeling even if they were cliché. It was a great day, for her and her thoughts.

She hadn't thought of Tate all night, his face showed up in her memory once in a while. Like a flash, it only lasted seconds before she forced herself to think of something elese. In Petra, for example, whom she agreed to meet that afternoon. About to get ready, Cassie pondered what to wear... a dress and jacket or jeans and a blouse.

The window was open, allowing the rain to spill on the floor and bed but she didn't care much. Cassie cleverly chose the blouse and jeans thinking ahead that she might feign being chilly in a cute but seductive voice and Petra might to the gallant thing and pass on his jacket. Isn't that what happens in the movies?

Her heart longed for Tate. Petra was okay, but Tate was her destiny... while Petra was a mere distraction.

She shook her head. It was wrong for Cassie to think of Petra simply as a way to put Tate out of her mind. She didn't want to use him like that and strongly considered canceling their plans.

In that moment she felt a celestial presence and noticed something out of the corner of her eye.

"Piero," she whispered, turning around and resisting the urge to hug him like a dear old friend. He smiled, something he doesn't do very often.

"It has been a crazy week, Piero."

"I'm glad you survived it," he said, sitting on the rain-soaked bed.

"I'm strong." Piero smiled again.

Whoa, he smiled twice today what is going on? she thought.

"Why are you here?" Cassie asked, while folding a crimson T-shirt and placing it in her closet.

Piero looked worried. His visits weren't something she dreaded, but that day she seemed... lost, her tender eyes brooding, her skin had a touch of pink, and her cheeks blushed with the color of concern.

"You were going out?" he asked.

"How did you know?"

"It's not everyday that we see Cascadia wearing a bit of make up."

Cassie blushed and smiled, making her face now as red as a rose.

"As you may know the clock is ticking. You only have two weeks left to complete your mission with Tate," Piero said, deflating Cassie's mood in a split second, her expression now somber and worried.

"Eighteen days to be exact," corrected Cassie. "But who's counting, right?"

"I don't know what will happen to you when... if... you aren't able to complete your mission. You might become human again. You could be sent away, we just don't know for sure and it's not something the Guardians have control over."

"Let me guess... the Aesterdis?"

"Yes, it will tell us your fate just when it happens, the future is still not written there which is strange since it always tells us what will happen before it actually does." The girl analyzed Piero's mind-bending comment before replying.

"The aesterdis is a creature of its own, an object or a machine with magic inside," she replied before adding, "and unpredictable."

"But it can be changed."

"Say what?"

"It's an old language that some of the guardians know. You can change someone's fate by changing a couple of letters."

"Why haven't you told me this before?"

"Nobody can change the Aesterdis. It is prohibited. And Guardians follow the rules."

"So... why are you telling me this now then?"

"Because Cassie, I don't want you to die. I don't want your soul to disappear into the universe. You love Tate... or you will love him. I know you've been trying to keep your distance from him but the truth is you can't. You can't make this mission a success because it's beyond your will."

"What are you talking about? I can do this... I will do it, Piero. Just give me a few more weeks please."

"Your strength and will have nothing to do with this."

He got up, casting a long, foreboding shadow over Cassie clear across to the other side of the room.

"I'm going to do something that is against all the rules."

"I don't understand," she replied, crossing her arms on her chest.

"Go... be with Tate."

"What... but what about the mission?" Piero walked up to Cassie and leaned over a little, placing his dark skeleton-like hands on her delicate shoulders.

"I will keep it a secret."

Piero's thick eyebrows were furled with a hint of sadness. Cassie couldn't anticipate what he was about to say next.

"Lying is not right, but I'll do anything to protect you. Your happiness is the most important thing to me, Cassie, so even if these are your last weeks on earth... I want you to experience love."

Cassie was speechless. Piero had always taken on the role of a father figure for her, but never to this extent, he never said anything beyond a few encouraging words like "be strong" or "you'll be successful."

"Having an emotional connection with your apprentice is prohibited too," Cassie reminded Piero while nodding and sheepishly smiling down at the floor.

"I guess I'm just a rebel at heart," Piero said with a smirk."Like you. Like Tate."

Cassie looked up and hugged him. "Thank you," she whispered affectionately.

Cassie canceled her plans with Petra.