Cassandra

Turning the corner, I was blown away with what I saw.

The person standing in front of me was none other than...

"James?" I exclaimed out loud, feeling confused.

James was standing in front of me, fake flower petals and candles all over the floor leading up to him.

"Hi," he began with a weird grin plastered on his face.

'Is this some kind of joke?' I thought to myself, now feeling a bit more irked than confused.

"Uhh...hi James, I'm just waiting for someone." Starting to feel annoyed that James showed up when it was supposed to be me and Andrew's big moment.

James smirked at me, suppressing a huge smile.

"And who could this mystery guy be?" He asked with his arms crossed like he already knew the answer.

I glared at him. He was really starting to make my blood boil and was definitely being more stuck up than usual.

"None of your business!" I snapped a little bit louder than I had expected.

I thought I saw his smile falter just a little just for a second but then he was back to his normal, pricky self.

He stepped closer to me "It kind of is."

I felt myself blush but I didn't know why. "And why is that?" I crossed my arms and looked away, avoiding his gaze.

He chuckled softly and lightly grazed my cheek.

I wanted to stomp on his foot, tell him not to touch me and ask him what he was doing here and where Andrew was, but I didn't.

Instead, I just stood there and felt myself shiver a little at his touch, looking up at him with big, round eyes.

"You really don't know, do you?" He asked. He looked a little bit disappointed.

I shook my head in silence.

He sighed and grabbed my hand. "Well, don't worry I'll explain it to you.

I wanted to yank my fingers out of his grasp but I couldn't.

I felt like I couldn't even move.

I couldn't react.

I couldn't think.

It was like it wasn't my life anymore, like I was watching a dramatic movie or something through the eyes of someone else.

It felt freaky.

He lead me to a bench that wasn't so far off and we sat down, together.

Still, with his hands on mine, he said "Cassandra, I've loved you since I first laid my eyes on you. You're smart, pretty, funny and everything I ever wanted in a girl. And I know that I haven't been..." He paused, blushing and looking away whilst adjusting his glasses "...the most direct with my emotions, but I really do like you. A lot."

I had so many questions racing through my mind; so fast that my head started to spin.

'How'd he know all those things about me? How come I didn't know or notice anything before? WHERE WAS ANDREW???' I wanted to find out so bad but my brain had shut down and I just sat there in silence, looking down at my lap.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is..." he knelt down and held my hand.

My voice hitched in my throat.

"Will you, Cassandra Kivetsky, be my girlfriend?"

That was it.

I wanted to scream, I wanted to cry, I wanted to do everything in my power to leave the situation and change it to Andrew asking me to be his girlfriend, but I couldn't.

In fact, what came out of my mouth next surprised me just as much as it surprised him.

I politely smiled at him and just said "yes."

He burst out into a grin, stood up and tried to lean in and kiss me.

Now my brain, finally deciding to wake up and function properly made sure that, before his lips could reach mine, I turned my head so he planted his kiss on my cheek.

"Sorry, it's just..." I started in low voice, barely audible.

"No it's ok we can start off slow." He finished for me while running his hand through my hair. and putting an arm on my shoulder.

I squirmed uncomfortably.

"Yeah..." I trailed off, looking into the distance.

We stood there in silence.

Just when I thought that the silence was about to kill me, James cleared his throat.

"Umm... do you want me to walk you home or something?" I could tell he was just as uncomfortable as I was.

I could hear alarms go off in my head.

If he went to drop me off at home, we would have to get Eva from school and knowing her she would poke and prod him (and me) with a bunch of questions that in all honesty, I don't think any of us had the answers to right now.

Then, she would tell my mom who would turn it into the biggest thing ever, asking me what he was like, if I had kissed him yet, all that stuff I really didn't want to have to explain that to her either.

I shook my head at him and concluded with: "no I'm good, I have to do some things anyway." I prayed he wouldn't ask what those things were, or even worse, if he could accompany me to do those things!

But luckily, he looked more relieved then curious and nodded while saying, "yeah, ok. I have some things to do too so I guess I'll see you around."

"Sure." I swiftly nodded at him, glad our conversation was finally over, already backing away slowly, ready to leave.

I turned around and started walking away as fast as I could, but stopped when I heard from behind me "bye bye, girlfriend."

Flinching at the word 'girlfriend', I forced myself to turn around and look him in the eyes to respond.

He was smirking at me, waiting eagerly to hear what I had to say back.

A bunch of witty comebacks swirled about my head but I mumbled under my breath "what's the use", pursed my lips and finished with an unamused "bye."

Disappointment shone in his eyes at my dull answer at first but eventually, he left.

Once I made sure that he was gone, I speed walked to the nearest corner, leaned my back against the wall and let my head sink in my hands.

I felt like crying but the strange thing was, no tears came out which I felt was even worse.

Sitting there, I replayed all those horrific events in my head, trying to make sense of it all but had no such luck and was failing miserably.

I did know one thing though.

That back there, was an absolute trainwreck.